Glorify the Son (John 17:1-5 Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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October 9, 2023

Sermon Notes: notes.cornerstonesj.org Glorify the Son

16:56: I shoot my shot, Mary, I shoot my shot, you can't say I didn't shoot my shot.
17:02: No, it's very good that you do. All right, good morning.
17:32: Just trying to wake you up. All right, good morning, we're glad everybody's here.
17:39: We're going to go ahead and get started. That music was just a juke to summon you to come sit down.
17:46: We're going to open in prayer, but first, two quick announcements. One is that a week from tomorrow, we have a congregational meeting.
17:55: So Monday night on the 16th at seven o 'clock, everybody's invited. Please come, even if you're not a member, you're welcome to come and hear about what's going on in the church.
18:05: We have some big plans, big ideas. So very, very important meeting. We'd love for you to come.
18:11: The second is that beginning next week during second service, now you're second service people.
18:16: So you would have to come to church first service. But during second service, we're going to start a new believers class.
18:24: It will be a pretty long class, just learning the basics of the faith, about the practices of prayer and certain doctrines and just the basics of Christianity.
18:35: What are we calling that, Michael? Foundations in Christianity. All right, Foundations in Christianity. That goes with the theme of the cornerstone and yeah, foundations.
18:44: So there'll be a foundations class beginning next week during second service. And we'll go for a number of weeks.
18:50: All right, let's open in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we could come into your house.
18:58: We were glad when we heard, let us go to the house of the Lord. Help us now Lord to give you the praise, the glory, the honor that is due your name.
19:08: Help us to sing from the heart. Help us to listen to the word and be changed by the hearing of the word.
19:15: We consecrate, we commit this service to you God. And we pray that you would be honored and glorified through this hour of worship.
19:25: We ask in Jesus name, amen. So let's stand together and praise the name of the
19:31: Lord most high. From the ends of the earth.
19:46: From the depths of the sea. From the heights of the heavens.
19:56: Your name be praised. From the hearts of the weak.
20:05: From the shouts of the strong. From the lips of all people.
20:14: This song we raise
20:20: Lord. Throughout the endless ages.
20:27: You will be crowned with praises Lord most high.
20:36: Exalted in every nation. Sovereign of all creation
20:44: Lord most high. Be magnified.
20:52: From the ends of the earth. From the depths of the sea.
21:03: From the heights of the heavens. Your name be praised.
21:12: From the hearts of the weak. From the shouts of the strong.
21:22: From the lips of all people. This song we raise
21:31: Lord. Throughout the endless ages.
21:38: You will be crowned with praises Lord most high.
21:47: Exalted in every nation. Sovereign of all creation
21:56: Lord most high. Be magnified.
22:04: It is great to praise the Lord this morning together, isn't it? We are here to sing to each other the praises that only
22:13: God the Father and God the Son and Holy Spirit deserve. It's amazing, during the first service
22:21: I mentioned something I was thinking about. About how we celebrate and how we honor celebrities.
22:28: If you've ever met a celebrity you feel like, wow, this is an amazing opportunity to meet this wonderful person.
22:35: The president or a movie person, you know, it's exciting. And you get to talk to other people about it.
22:42: Say, oh I met this person and it was neat because they talked or they did this. We should be honoring and celebrating
22:49: Jesus Christ even more so than those celebrities. We come to a place, amen, amen.
22:57: We need to honor Him and glorify Him even more than we do the falseness that's out there.
23:04: It's amazing, sometimes we turn our eyes to sports or celebrities and honor and talk about them.
23:11: But we should be talking about our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all creation.
23:17: And I really am encouraged by you singing worship songs to Him and Him alone.
23:23: Because He is worthy, He's all -sufficient. Let's sing together. All -sufficient merit
23:48: Shining like the sun Of fortune
23:54: I inherit By no work
23:59: I have done My righteousness I forfeit
24:07: At my Savior's cross Where all -sufficient merit
24:16: Did what I could not In love
24:30: He condescended Eternal now in time
24:38: A life without a blemish
24:43: The Maker made to die The law could never save us
24:53: Our lawlessness had won Until the pure and spotless
25:02: Lamb had finally come It is done, it is finished
25:11: No more debt I owe Paid in full
25:18: All -sufficient merit Now my own
25:30: I lay down my garments
25:38: Any empty boast Good works are all corrupted
25:47: By the sinful host
25:52: Dressed in my Lord Jesus A crimson robe made white
26:01: No more fear of judgment His righteousness is mine
26:11: It is done, it is finished No more debt
26:19: I owe Paid in full All -sufficient merit
26:27: Now my own All -sufficient merit
26:42: Firm in life and death The joy of my salvation
26:51: Shall be my final breath And when
26:58: I stand accepted Before the throne of God I'll gaze upon my
27:09: Jesus And thank Him for the cross
27:15: Yes, I'll thank Him for the cross It is done, it is finished
27:24: No more debt I owe Paid in full
27:31: All -sufficient merit Now my own
27:38: It is done, it is finished No more debt
27:46: I owe Paid in full All -sufficient merit
27:54: Now my own Now my merit Now my own
28:02: Merit now my own We can continue to sing
28:10: No matter if we have sound or not Amen? Alright Majesty Lord of all
28:23: Let every throne Before Him fall
28:30: The King of kings O Commodore Our God who reigns
28:43: Forevermore On Him, Lord of life
28:54: Who triumphed o 'er the grave
29:01: And rose victorious in the strife
29:08: For those He came to save His glory now we sing
29:20: Who died and rose on high
29:28: Who died eternal life to bring
29:35: And lives that ever may die
29:41: Majesty Lord of all
29:48: Let every throne Before Him fall
29:54: The King of kings O Commodore Our God who reigns
30:04: Forevermore All hail,
30:11: Redeemer, hail For He has died for me
30:21: His praise and glory Shall not fail
30:28: Throughout eternity All hail
30:34: All hail, Redeemer, hail
30:40: For He has died for me
30:46: His praise and glory Shall not fail
30:54: Throughout eternity Majesty Lord of all
31:10: Let every throne Before Him fall
31:17: The King of kings O Commodore Our God who reigns
31:26: Forevermore Praise God who reigns
31:33: Forevermore You're the God who reigns
31:43: Forevermore Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Good morning.
31:59: Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, your word in Psalm 122 tells us,
32:08: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And so, Lord, we ask for peace in Jerusalem.
32:15: We pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones. We pray for your peace to come into their heart, that they would, most of all, come to know the
32:26: Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Father, we pray for a revelation of the
32:31: Son in Israel and in the surrounding nations and the peoples that surround
32:37: Israel. God, that you would bring light to the Gentiles and to Israel, that you would save in the midst of this dark hour that Israel is facing.
32:51: In Jesus' name, amen. Yesterday morning, I woke up early, so I just began to read the book of Isaiah.
33:01: And I had a number of hours, so I ended up finishing reading the book of Isaiah and then turning on the
33:07: TV to see on the news that Israel was under attack.
33:13: I don't know if you have a chance to see, but Netanyahu has called this attack from Hamas worse than the 1973
33:25: Yom Kippur War. And he even said, this is our 9 -11. They're under attack by militant
33:34: Muslims who crossed a border fence and mercilessly massacred even families and took hostages and brought them into the tunnels.
33:46: And still there are many being held hostage at this time. It is a very sad development, but having just read the book of Isaiah and seeing how the nations raged against Israel and Israel's God, and then to turn on the
34:03: TV and see that the surrounding nations are still raging against Israel was quite a surreal experience that Israel has returned to the promised land and there are still surrounding nations that would like to see them destroyed.
34:24: I took my introduction to today's sermon and I wadded it up and I threw it in the trash can.
34:33: It was going to be another one of my stories. I like to open with a relevant story, but this one was like, eh, only so -so.
34:39: I thought instead today, what we're going to do is look at this book of Isaiah, which spoke so profoundly to me yesterday, and look at the theme of glory in Isaiah.
34:52: Take about half the sermon in Isaiah and then take the second half of the sermon in John 17, 1 -5, because to understand the glorification of the sun, we need that Old Testament background.
35:08: We need to hear from Isaiah. The word kavod, which means glory, the
35:16: Hebrew word kavod, is used about 200 times in the
35:22: Old Testament, 50 or so in the book of Psalms, but it is used 38 times in the book of Isaiah.
35:29: 38 of the 200 uses are in the book of Isaiah and I would say that that word, glory, summarizes the book of Isaiah.
35:39: It is about the glory of God. What is the glory of God? Anybody ever had that question?
35:46: What is the glory of God? You want to know what to do if you ever wonder something like that? Take your question, what is the glory of God, and put it in GotQuestions online.
35:58: I'm not joking. They have a tremendous answer on gotquestions .com.
36:04: What is the glory of God? The glory of God is the beauty of his spirit.
36:10: It's not an ascetic beauty or a material beauty, but the beauty that emanates from his character, from all that he is.
36:21: The glory of man, human dignity, and honor fades, but the glory of God, which is manifested in all of his attributes together, never passes away.
36:34: It is eternal. So it is the beauty of his character manifested in all of his attributes, his love on the one hand, but also his holiness, his justice, his wrath.
36:47: The full display of God's attributes is his glory.
36:54: It is the beauty of who he is in his character. And this is the theme of the book of Isaiah.
37:01: I'd like for us to look at three aspects of his glory as revealed in the book of Isaiah.
37:08: So I'll have you flipping a lot of pages this morning in Isaiah, but if you'd rather just listen, that's also acceptable today, because there will be a lot of flipping.
37:20: We begin with the first point, the glory of God is revealed in the sun.
37:25: The glory of the son of God is revealed way back in the Old Testament.
37:31: Now that's remarkable, because Isaiah was written 700 years before Christ came.
37:38: Yet in chapter 4, verses 2 to 6, we see the son of God presented as the branch.
37:49: The branch. This imagery of the branch is one who comes from the stump of Jesse.
38:00: That's Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1, which refers to King David.
38:07: David is the son of Jesse, and from David will arise a branch.
38:16: In Isaiah chapter 4, verses 2 to 6, he's described this way, in that day, the branch of the
38:23: Lord shall be beautiful and glorious. A beautiful, glorious branch.
38:31: And as you read the rest of chapter 4, you see that he will be like a shade of refuge for Israel.
38:38: Do you remember Israel in the desert? They traveled by day following a pillar of fire and camped at night under the pillar of fire.
38:48: The cloud by day, the pillar of fire at night. And this represented his glory, his
38:53: Shekinah glory, the presence of God over Israel. Jesus will be that branch, that covering, that will come from the stem of Jesse, the root of Jesse, a son of David, as Jesus is a direct descendant from King David.
39:13: Next turn to chapter 7, verse 14. It says, therefore the
39:18: Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name
39:28: Emmanuel, meaning God with us. The glory of God in a son given to us, who of course, according to this prophecy, will be born to a virgin.
39:40: That is amazing. This is very unlike anything else in the history of the world.
39:46: Chapter 9, verse 1. There will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
39:53: In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.
39:59: But in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the
40:04: Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
40:12: The light of the world is none other than Jesus Christ. And he will appear and display his glory.
40:18: Where will he do his miracles? In Galilee. The northern regions of Israel, where Jesus focused his ministry.
40:27: Galilee of the Gentiles. Dishonored? Has anything good come from Nazareth?
40:34: Yet the king, the light of the world, will light up Galilee. And farther down in chapter 9, verse 6 and 7.
40:42: For to us a child is born. To us a son is given.
40:49: And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called
40:54: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
41:02: This is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, displayed in his glory. A son given to the world.
41:10: This is the Son of God. We mentioned chapter 11, verse 1. The shoot from the stump of Jesse.
41:17: This is that branch. The glory of Israel is the person of Jesus Christ.
41:23: But turn now to the most famous revelation of the Son. You know where to go, Isaiah 53.
41:37: But this prophecy actually begins three verses earlier in chapter 52, verse 13.
41:44: The prophecy is famous because it speaks of the one who is bruised and crushed for our iniquities.
41:51: The punishment that brings us peace is laid upon him. By his wounds we are healed. But notice the first verse of this prophecy speaks to the glory of the
42:02: Son of God. Chapter 52, verse 13. Behold, my servant.
42:09: This is Jesus, the servant of God. Shall act wisely. He shall be high and lifted up.
42:16: And there is a double meaning here. It speaks to his exaltation. He shall be exalted. The glory of the
42:23: Son. But the glory of the Son, as we shall see today, is in his being lifted up on a cross.
42:33: The exaltation of the Son is in his humiliation. That he would be lifted up from the earth, pinned to a cross to suffer shame from those who reject him.
42:45: Just a couple chapters earlier, chapter 50, verse 6, we are told that his beard will be ripped from his face and he will be spat upon.
42:55: There are few things as dishonoring to a man than to spit in his face.
43:03: And this is what would be done to the Son of God. Dishonored. And yet this act of his humiliation would result in his glorification.
43:15: So the first great theme of Isaiah is the glorification of the Son. The Son given to the world, promised, born to a virgin, a
43:25: Son given, the light in Galilee, who would ultimately be rejected, spat upon, his beard pulled from his face, the stripes of a scourging laid upon his back.
43:41: In all of this though, verse 13, chapter 52, is the exaltation, the glory of the
43:48: Son. Second point. The nations that glory in themselves will be humbled.
44:00: The nations that glory in themselves will be humbled. If the glory of God is the theme of the book of Isaiah, then we are to be on guard against counterfeit glories.
44:17: Those who exalt themselves and lift themselves up will be humbled. Isaiah chapter two, verse 22.
44:24: Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?
44:30: The nations, although they are only man, will exalt themselves in glory. We look at what is happening in Israel right now.
44:39: And the best description of it is that there are prideful nations surrounding
44:45: Israel. God has placed Israel in the promised land. And surrounding nations that worship false gods are raging against the
44:57: God of Israel. And so it is now, as it has been in the days of Isaiah and throughout time, that the nations rage,
45:05: Psalm two. They rage against the God of Israel. They exalt themselves.
45:11: They think that the promised land should belong to Allah. Yet Yahweh has planted a nation there, ethnic
45:19: Israel, in the promised land. And they will never stop raging and desiring the destruction of Israel until the prince of peace comes at the second coming.
45:31: Notice how the nations exalt themselves in pride. We'll move quickly here.
45:36: You can look these up later, maybe take note, or you can watch the video later if you want to have a deeper look at any of these nations.
45:44: Chapter 10, verse 13, Assyria exalts itself in pride.
45:50: And in that very 10th chapter of Isaiah, God will humble Assyria. Chapter 13, verse 19, 13, 19, the nation of Babylon.
46:00: Where is Babylon in modern day terms? It is
46:06: Iraq. In the Mesopotamian river valley between the Tigris and Euphrates, the southern part was
46:13: Babylon. The nation of Iraq. Chapter 13, verse 19,
46:19: And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pomp of the
46:25: Chaldeans will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. Pride goeth before the fall.
46:33: As Sodom and Gomorrah exalted themselves in pride and in sexual sin, God humbled them.
46:39: And in the same way, those who exalt themselves in pride will be humbled like Babylon.
46:45: Babylon exalted itself. Glory of the kingdoms, splendor and pomp. The theme here is the glorification of man humbled under God's judgment.
46:57: Chapter 16, verse 6, Again, you have now the pride of Moab. Who is Moab? This is the tribe east of Israel.
47:06: At the bottom and to the east of the Dead Sea, just outside of Israel, is a nation called
47:12: Moab. In chapter 16, verse 6, we have heard of the pride of Moab.
47:20: How proud he is of his arrogance, his pride, his insolence in his idle boasting.
47:28: He is not right. God will humble those who exalt themselves.
47:34: Chapter 17, verses 3 and 4 have a similar judgment against Syria, Damascus.
47:42: That, of course, is the nation just north of Israel. And as we look at the map today, just north of Israel, there are peoples intent on the destruction of Israel.
47:54: They are called Hezbollah. They issued a statement after Hamas invaded, and they said they are in direct communication with the leaders of Hamas, which is down to the southwest, where the
48:06: Philistines were. Remember Samson, when he was contending with the
48:13: Philistines, because of his disobedience to God, God allowed his eyes to be gouged out.
48:19: It says he was taken to Gaza. That's where Hamas launched their attacks from, from Gaza. But Samson humbled the people by destroying the
48:31: Temple of Dagon, pushing it down upon them there in southwestern
48:37: Israel, in the Gaza Strip, in the city of Gaza. The Temple of Dagon fell.
48:43: In communication with Hezbollah, as they're called today, in the north, Lebanon, we have the judgment also of Syria.
48:50: Chapter 17, verses 3 and 4. South of there is the nation of Egypt.
48:59: Chapter 19, verse 11. The princes of Zohan are utterly foolish. The wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
49:09: How can you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the ancient kings?
49:17: You know what God did to humble that kind of bravado? Egypt, of course, they had their pharaohs, our sun gods, and their wise counselors considered themselves descendants of the ancient kings in all of their glory, in all of their pride.
49:34: God said to Isaiah, brace yourself, strip yourself and walk about naked for three years.
49:44: Because Egypt will be stripped naked, their buttocks exposed, and carried into captivity in Assyria.
49:55: Seems very strange. But what is God doing here? He is shaming them as they parade in their glory, exalting in their pride.
50:06: God will debase them. He will humiliate them. He will carry them away captive from Egypt to Assyria.
50:15: Chapter 20, verses 3 to 5. That's where you find the
50:21: Egypt judgment. Chapter 21, verse 16. A similar judgment on Arabia. Right now you have the
50:27: Arabians, Saudi Arabia, making pact with Israel. But even so, so much of the population in Saudi Arabia under the
50:36: House of Saud would like to see the destruction of Israel. Verse 16 of the 21st chapter.
50:43: For thus says the Lord to me, within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
50:52: What does God do? Here's our second big point. He takes the pride of the nations and He debases them.
50:59: He will not allow His glory to be defiled among the nations. He will debase them.
51:07: The same of Tyre along the seacoast to the north and to the west.
51:13: Chapter 23, verses 7 to 9. Ends this way.
51:18: The Lord of hosts has purposed it to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
51:29: Y 'all see it? This judgment of the nations, the table of nations from Isaiah chapter 13 to the 23rd chapter, that section of judgment on the nations, those who exalt themselves in pride,
51:44: God will humble before the God of Israel. Last point regarding the glory of Israel.
51:51: The glory of Israel will be restored in a remnant people.
51:58: And amazingly, this will include the grafting in of Gentile nations, the very ones that want to destroy
52:06: Israel. Many of them will be part of this remnant. But Israel itself will be established in the land as a remnant people that glorifies
52:16: God. So we Christians know something that the world doesn't know. When they're watching
52:21: CNN and Fox News, they don't know that the rebirth of Israel was the very hand of God on May 14th, 1948.
52:31: Ethnic Israel reestablished in the land, even though they don't know their God. God is sovereignly doing this.
52:39: We know where this ends. With the king of kings, the prince of peace, appearing to reign for a thousand years on earth from Jerusalem as the center of his kingdom.
52:51: So let's look at a few verses that explain this regathering of a remnant people to glorify
52:57: God in Israel. Chapter 27, verses 12 through 28, 5.
53:06: Beginning at Isaiah 27, verse 12. In that day, from the river
53:15: Euphrates, that's Iraq, that's that Mesopotamian river valley, all the way to the river
53:21: Euphrates, to the brook of Egypt. That's the borders of the promised land.
53:28: That's Israel's inheritance. All the way from the Euphrates to Egypt, hasn't been seen yet, but it will be in the millennial kingdom as the land of Israel.
53:38: The Lord will thresh out the grain and you will be gleaned one by one,
53:44: O people of Israel. There is judgment, the gleaning, the threshing floor. But this ends gloriously, verse 13 and following.
53:51: In that day, a great trumpet will be blown. Aren't you waiting for that day? And those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the
54:03: Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem. Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim and the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine.
54:19: Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong. The Lord has one who is mighty and strong.
54:30: There is one who can accomplish this. His name is Jesus. Like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest, like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, he cast down to the earth with his hand.
54:43: Chapter 11, verses one to five, we'll talk about him destroying the wicked by the breath of his mouth.
54:51: He is the king. The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot.
54:59: Armageddon. And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, which is on the head of the rich valley, will be like a first ripe fig before the summer.
55:08: When someone sees it, he swallows it as soon as it is in his hand. But look at verse five.
55:13: In that day, the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory.
55:20: This is what we need to understand, church. The glory of God is central here. The very glory of God will be a crown and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people.
55:35: There will be a remnant Israel that will be a crown, a glory to the king of kings, to Yahweh when he comes in the flesh.
55:50: Church, the glory of God is the central theme of scripture.
55:57: It is not even the redemption of us, a people, for his name.
56:03: It is the glory of God. Chapter 42, verse 8.
56:14: I told you we'd be flipping a lot. We're almost done, but keep up. We're almost there.
56:19: Then we jump to John. Chapter 42, verse 8. An integrating theme of the book of Isaiah and indeed of all of scripture.
56:32: I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other.
56:40: My glory I give to no other. Nor my praise to carved idols.
56:46: Chapter 43, verses 6 and 7. I will say to the north, give up.
56:52: And to the south, do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.
57:00: Israel was scattered in Diaspora. When Babylon crushed the south, they were brought into exile and then returned to the promised land.
57:09: Again, the Roman Empire, the last of the great empires that Daniel foresaw, they sent
57:15: Israel into exile. But God brings them back from the north and the south, the east and the west.
57:21: Isaiah 43, verse 6. Then it says in verse 7.
57:28: Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom
57:35: I formed and made. Israel is the glory of God displayed on earth.
57:43: A people called out to be his particular people, a chosen people to represent him.
57:51: His design is to glorify himself in this people. But moving along, chapter 48, verses 9 to 11.
58:04: For my name's sake, I defer my anger. For the sake of my praise,
58:10: I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.
58:16: I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. If I would say there's one verse that summarizes this theme in the book of Isaiah, it's verse 11,
58:25: Isaiah 48, 11. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it.
58:32: For how should my name be profaned? My glory, I will not give to another.
58:41: This is Isaiah's theme. And in the regathering of this people Israel to glorify
58:47: God, we see in chapter 60, verse 1 and 2, we see that he is shining a light to the nations.
59:00: And this light is his glory displayed. Arise, shine, for your light has come.
59:07: Now notice now it is the people, Israel. And as we're about to see, the remnant includes
59:13: Gentiles like us grafted in. Although I think we do have one ethnic
59:18: Jew who's part of this. Arise, shine, for your light has come. And the glory of the
59:24: Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples.
59:30: But the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you.
59:36: The nation shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.
59:43: We finish in the last chapter, 66. In verse 8, we have prophesied the return of the
59:56: Jewish people from their captivity. They were brought in exile to Babylon and now they will be brought back to the promised land at the decree to restore, to come back into the promised land.
01:00:10: But it also pictures another fulfillment which happened in our day 75 years ago when
01:00:16: Israel returned to the promised land. Chapter 66, verse 8. Who has heard such a thing?
01:00:24: Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day?
01:00:30: Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she brought forth her children.
01:00:39: Isn't that an amazing prophecy? That Israel would be born in a day.
01:00:46: And on May 14th, 1948, the nation of Israel was reborn in a day after World War II, signed back into existence and recognized on the world stage and the people returned to the promised land.
01:01:03: The book ends this way, verse 18 and following. Isaiah 66, 18.
01:01:09: For I know their works and their thoughts and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues.
01:01:17: They shall come and see my glory. Church, Israel is this lighthouse to the nations, but God in his design is bringing from all nations a people to worship and glorify him.
01:01:32: And then the Gentiles also included the nations gathering, verse 19.
01:01:38: And I will set a sign among them. And from them, I will send survivors to the nations.
01:01:47: Missionaries, called out ones, survivors sent out to Tarshish, Pul, Lod, who draw the bow to Tubal and Javan to the coastlands far away that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.
01:02:04: And they shall declare my glory among the nations. Do you see what is that issue in the book of Isaiah?
01:02:13: It is the glory of God among the nations. The nations that exalt themselves against God will be humbled, but in the end,
01:02:23: God himself will exalt himself in calling together a people that worship him, that know him.
01:02:32: And the book ends with a terrifying picture of judgment. Those who refuse this offer of grace, that are not part of this new humanity in Christ, verse 24, and they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me.
01:02:51: For their worms shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.
01:03:03: This picture in Isaiah of the glory of God exalts him to the highest place.
01:03:11: We learn, first of all, that the son of God is revealed, even in Isaiah, to be the glorious one whom
01:03:20: God has sent to rule as the prince of peace. He is the son given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
01:03:29: We learn, second of all, that there will be nations that rage Psalm 2.
01:03:36: They will rage against the rule of this king, refuse to kiss the son, lest he be angry.
01:03:42: And God will humble them from their prideful place. Those who attack Israel will be humbled.
01:03:52: And we learn, third of all, the third major point is that God will have a people, including
01:04:03: Israel, a remnant that is restored in the promised land, in Jerusalem, from the
01:04:09: Euphrates River to Egypt, representing him, a remnant that is light to the world, believing
01:04:16: Jews, but grafting in from all the nations, from the farthest coastland, together to worship the king.
01:04:26: There will be a light to the world that glorifies God. There will be a people.
01:04:33: So turn with me now, we're halfway done this sermon, to John 17, one to five.
01:04:45: The glory of the son is the first thing for which
01:04:50: Jesus prays. When you think of John 17,
01:04:55: I think we all know that here in the text, he's in the upper room, he's been in the upper room, and he's taught them.
01:05:04: That teaching ends at chapter 16. He no longer is addressing them after 1633, but in 17, he begins to address the father.
01:05:18: When you think of the high priestly prayer, in the holy of holies, Jesus addressing the father, what's the first thing that comes to mind?
01:05:29: For many, it is the unity of the church, praying for unity, because that is such a theme in John 17.
01:05:37: But I'd like to say to you this morning that the first thing is the most important thing.
01:05:45: The first thing is paramount. The first thing in Jesus' high priestly prayer is the glorification of the son before Jesus prays for the church, his apostles in verses six to 19, and then all of us in this room, future believers, in 1720 and following.
01:06:07: Before he prays for us, he prays for himself. That sounds very counterintuitive to the
01:06:17: American Western worldview, where we, our individual selves, tend to be at the center.
01:06:27: Jesus puts himself as the first issue of his prayer.
01:06:32: Let's read it. John 17, one to five. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
01:06:41: Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son, that the son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
01:06:55: And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
01:07:03: I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
01:07:09: Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
01:07:19: Notice that in verse one and in verse five, like bookends to this section, the prayer is that the father would glorify the son, glorify me, says
01:07:35: Jesus. This was Isaiah's central concern, that God only would receive glory.
01:07:48: And this is the sticking point of human existence. People are happy to be entertained.
01:08:02: We love celebrity culture. We love sports. We love anything and everything that glorifies ourselves or glorifies man.
01:08:15: But there is one central concern in Isaiah and in all of Scripture, and that is, church, the glory of God.
01:08:23: Now, the central issue in Jesus' day was the glory of Jesus on display, but rejected by men.
01:08:32: In chapter 12, verses 41 to 43, Jesus quotes,
01:08:40: John recounting this, quotes Jesus from the book of Isaiah. I want you to turn back, and this will be our last trip backwards in the
01:08:48: Scripture. John 12, 41 to 43. Isaiah chapter six.
01:09:04: Isaiah is transported to see the throne room of God. And in the throne room of God, there are burning ones, seraphim, with six wings.
01:09:14: And all day long, they cry, holy, holy, holy. The whole earth is filled with his glory.
01:09:22: Come on. Isaiah was seeing the
01:09:29: Son of God. Look at chapter 12, verses 41 to 43.
01:09:34: Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
01:09:43: Isaiah chapter 12, verses 41 to 43. Follow the pronouns.
01:09:51: Back up into the text. Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus Christ.
01:10:02: Verses 42 to 43, nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him.
01:10:08: But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.
01:10:14: And here's the central issue of your life and mine and everybody else in the world.
01:10:23: They love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
01:10:32: That's the issue. When they saw the miracles, they could not deny that the power of God was in this man.
01:10:40: When they heard the authority with which he taught, they knew God was speaking through him. But there were many who refused to repent and believe in him because they loved the glory of man more than the glory of God.
01:10:58: Isaiah 2, 22. In whose nostrils is the breath of man.
01:11:06: The glory of man versus the glory of God. So the main idea today, and it's understandable now that we have
01:11:16: Isaiah, comes from John 17, 1. Jesus actually prays for his own glory.
01:11:25: Now that is one prayer that we are not to emulate except to agree with him in his glory.
01:11:33: We are not to pray for our own glory. We are to pray for his glory because he is
01:11:40: God. Yahweh in flesh. The word made flesh dwelling among us.
01:11:45: We have beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father, full of grace and truth.
01:11:53: John reveals the glory of the son of God to display him as Yahweh, worthy of worship.
01:11:59: And some will come and bow the knee and worship and praise and give him glory, but others will not.
01:12:06: John 17, 1. He lifted up his eyes to heaven. Even the posture of Jesus is honoring to God, his father.
01:12:14: He's glorifying his father in all things. Church, in the same way, there ought to be times in your life, and I would suggest this be alone rather than in the assembly because I don't want you to be a distraction to other people who are worshiping, but there ought to be times when you get alone with God and you lay down on your face.
01:12:36: The word worship in the Greek is proskuneo. It means prostrate oneself.
01:12:43: The proper posture of worship before a glorious God is not just this flippant thing that we so much take for granted, but the king of kings in all of his glory, we should lay before him.
01:12:59: Here, Jesus turns his eyes upward to heaven. He's respectful. He's looking at his father.
01:13:06: And then it says, Father, the hour has come. The hour has come.
01:13:16: When they took him in Galilee of the Gentiles, a light to the world, they took him to the edge of the cliff to throw him off of the cliff, but his hour had not yet come.
01:13:27: When he was under assault in Jerusalem, when he proclaimed himself to be the living water, and then again the bread of life, they sought to arrest him.
01:13:37: John 8, they sought to stone him. His hour had not yet come. Here in the high priestly prayer, he says,
01:13:46: Father, the hour has come. To what does he refer?
01:13:53: The cross. The crucifixion. The hour of his being lifted up as foreseen in Isaiah 52, verse 13.
01:14:04: The lifting up of the son in disgrace, in humiliation, in exposure, rejected by men, scorned and mocked and whipped.
01:14:16: The hour has come. He will go to the cross that next day.
01:14:25: All of this begins now. And he's praying to his father, the hour has come.
01:14:32: Glorify your son. Did you know that the humiliation of the son is his glory?
01:14:39: He turns the cross into an instrument of our worship.
01:14:45: A symbol of approaching him. He was lifted up on a cross to die, and yet now he is glorified for having died for us.
01:14:55: And the father likewise in that. Verse two, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
01:15:06: A couple things need to be said about that. This is very important. Many teachers are telling us nowadays that the central theme of Scripture is redemption.
01:15:17: And everything must be read through this redemptive lens. And so in the
01:15:22: Old Testament, they'll often just look for symbolic interpretations that they can make look like the story of redemption.
01:15:31: But the central theme of Scripture is not us. There was nothing in us that was so valuable that God made us the center of the story to save as many people as he can.
01:15:48: That was not the teaching of the Scripture. Now listen. The central theme of all of Scripture is the glory of God.
01:15:59: And that glorification of God includes the redemption of a people. It also includes the eternal judgment of a majority of people.
01:16:10: And that's hard for us to understand. If you think redemption is the central storyline, you'll never understand it.
01:16:19: But in the salvation of a particular people that will forever praise his name, you see the love of God displayed perfectly.
01:16:28: That he would love sinners like us. In the judgment of a people, you see the wrath of God displayed.
01:16:37: His holiness in trampling underfoot the wicked. Because the glory of God is the theme of Scripture.
01:16:45: What do we have here in verse 2? The gift, the central gift, listen church, is not the gift of salvation to us.
01:16:55: That's derivative. The central gift is a people that the
01:17:02: Father gives to the Son. Do you see it in verse 2? Since you have given him authority over all flesh.
01:17:12: The first gift is authority that Christ would be glorified and have all power to take from the lot of humanity.
01:17:21: A people for his own possession. Titus 2 .14
01:17:26: To give eternal life to whom? All whom you have given him.
01:17:35: What are the prepositions there? The you and the him. It is the
01:17:41: Father who's giving to the Son. That's the issue. That the
01:17:46: Father has given to the Son this possession that will include from among a remnant in Israel as the apostles were in Paul and will include from all the
01:18:00: Gentile peoples from Panta to Ethne every ethnic group called out
01:18:05: Ekklesia is the called out ones to belong to him. Now church, you won't understand
01:18:11: John 17 until you get this point. Because it's repeated not just here in verse 2 but twice in verse 6.
01:18:21: Jump ahead with your eyes. I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
01:18:29: Yours they were and you gave them to me. That's the gift. The gift of the church to the
01:18:36: Son. It's the Father's gift. Picture it like a wedding. The Father will give a great gift to the groom.
01:18:46: And that gift in this case is the bride of Christ. A bride, a people called out from among the world to glorify the
01:18:58: Son and thus glorify the Father. I said it's repeated 6 times.
01:19:05: I'm sorry, 5 times. It's twice in verse 6. It's also in verse 14.
01:19:18: Nope, it's 9. It's 2 twice in 6 once in 9 and once in 24.
01:19:23: In verse 9, I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me for they are yours.
01:19:33: Even in contradistinction to all humanity, this is not praying for everybody.
01:19:39: Did you catch that? He's praying for this people, the church, the called out ones, the ones who will belong to him.
01:19:47: This gift from the Father to the Son. He says it again in verse 24. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me.
01:19:59: The gift of the Father to the Son is the issue. Alright, so then, church, should
01:20:06: I just be preaching to the elect? Should we stop going out and broadcasting this gospel to the whole world because God has a particular people that he's giving to the
01:20:17: Son? Charles Spurgeon said, if there was a giant E tattooed on the heads of the elect, then you could just preach to the elect.
01:20:30: But Spurgeon said, until God gives me the roll call of the elect, I am going to preach the whosoever will gospel.
01:20:37: That is the gospel we are to preach today. So, church, Jesus is revealing something very sacred here.
01:20:45: Something very deep. And that is that the Father is gifting a people to the
01:20:51: Son. These elect ones that he knows. And church, you don't know the identity of the elect.
01:20:59: It could include the most hardened sinner that you would never imagine would ever come.
01:21:06: So we go out preaching the whosoever will gospel. We preach to whoever will listen to us.
01:21:14: We preach it far and wide and God does his business of regenerating the hearts of those who are lost.
01:21:22: God will call out this people by quickening them to understand, giving them ears to hear, eyes to see.
01:21:29: God can do that. We can't. So what is our part, church? It is to go be the light, reflecting the light of Christ, telling anybody and everybody the good news of the
01:21:40: Son of God. So verse 2 is not our marching orders.
01:21:46: It is a deep mystery that reveals to us something we need to be reminded of.
01:21:54: That we're not the center. We are a people for his possession because he is the center of the universe.
01:22:02: And derivatively, we get eternal life from this. Look at verse 3. This is eternal life. That they know you, the only true
01:22:10: God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. Eternal life here is not a perpetuation of time.
01:22:20: It's not time that just goes on forever. It is a quality. Eternal life is to know the true
01:22:30: God. You guys have all heard of Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt.
01:22:41: There are many celebrities in the world who steal glory and who reject the glory of God.
01:22:47: These two in particular, Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt, were professing
01:22:55: Christians. And both of them left Christianity for the same reason. Oprah walked away from Christianity when she was 27 because of the biblical teaching that God is jealous.
01:23:13: Let me tell you, Oprah, God is jealous. That he demands that he and no one else gets our highest allegiance and our affection.
01:23:25: It was a stumbling block to her that God desires to be worshipped. Brad Pitt turned away from his boyhood faith.
01:23:31: He was a Christian in profession. But he says,
01:23:38: God says, you have to say that I'm the best. It seemed to be all about ego.
01:23:46: And so for Brad Pitt, it was too big a pill to swallow.
01:23:52: And so he left Christianity because this God wants to be worshipped and adored and it seems to be all about ego.
01:24:03: But C .S. Lewis went the other direction. C .S. Lewis was a militant atheist into his adult years.
01:24:12: And he used to say that it seems like this egotistical God who wants to be worshipped is like a vain woman who wants compliments.
01:24:24: But the hound of heaven tracked him down. And his eyes were opened to see the glory of the
01:24:31: Son of God who is worthy of worship. And C .S. Lewis came to understand this.
01:24:38: If Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey are all the talk of the town and everybody wants to know about their glory, there's something gross and grotesque about that.
01:24:56: Part of it is that she so advocates against the Supreme Court decision to protect life.
01:25:06: But even if it's not Taylor Swift, imagine it's
01:25:11: Britney Spears or whoever the celebrity is. See how God abases that which puffs up.
01:25:22: There's something gross about the adulation of man, the elevation of man in whose nostrils is breath.
01:25:32: But there's something entirely right about the worship of the one who created all things.
01:25:40: The reverse would be true. If Jesus did not glorify himself, that would be grotesque because he is the central and the highest value in all the universe.
01:25:54: And here's what really caught C .S. Lewis when he was on the run.
01:26:00: He realized that when we talk about these athletes and these celebrities, imagine he said a game, a football game, and after the game is over, imagine if nobody talked about it.
01:26:12: The game was just over and everybody went their way. It would feel incomplete and unsatisfying.
01:26:20: But after a wonderful performance, your team wins the championship, to talk about it and to praise the glory of what happened is to be satisfied and joyful and to complete that joy.
01:26:36: And C .S. Lewis said, that is precisely what we were made to do.
01:26:43: So you're delighting your joy, your life in another as you praise, as you worship, as you adore
01:26:53: Christ. Your joy and his glory are only flip sides of the same thing.
01:27:03: You find your purpose because you're derivative from him. You're only complete and satisfied and joyful when you're talking about the highest value.
01:27:14: And guess what? You can go on and on talking about who won the Super Bowl, maybe for years, but you will go on and on for all eternity talking about the
01:27:26: Lord Jesus Christ and what he did on that cross. See, this is the point of your life.
01:27:32: It is Christ and him crucified. To live is Christ. And when you discover his glory, his value, and your life becomes all about him, now you're really alive.
01:27:43: Eternal life, everlasting life is a quality, not a duration. Wow. That's verse three.
01:27:52: He gives you this everlasting life. This is what it is to be alive. Verse four,
01:27:57: I glorified you on earth having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. This is where you are complete, when you are working for his glory.
01:28:07: When you're that missionary who's willing to go lay down your life in Gaza, as there are missionaries there right now and we should pray for them.
01:28:19: Your work being his glory. You find joy in dying to self.
01:28:26: Now that phrase is a little bit tricky, by the way. When Jesus said that we are to die to ourselves, he meant our old man.
01:28:38: This is deep. Listen to this. We are not to abandon ourselves to follow
01:28:44: Christ. Abandon ourselves is tricky language. We are to let go of the old man of the flesh in order to take hold of that which is life indeed.
01:29:00: If you gain the whole world and forfeit your soul, what have you gained? Nothing.
01:29:06: It's not in your self interest to chase after the things of this world and of the flesh because when you catch them, you die with them and you're buried with them.
01:29:16: But when you die to the things of the old man, it is in your self interest to take hold of the things of God.
01:29:27: What I'm saying is dying to self is not dying to your self interest.
01:29:36: It's letting go of a lesser thing for rewards in heaven. That's an important distinction.
01:29:46: Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before him. He endured the suffering of the cross for a joy which is the people of God worshiping him, us, completed and holy in his presence for all eternity.
01:30:02: He chose this over that. And when you live for the glory of God, yes, you'll have to die to some dead works of the flesh.
01:30:14: But you will be given something far greater and it is in your interest to let go of this to take hold of that.
01:30:23: That great exchange that Eliot spoke of, the missionary who went to Ecuador, Jim Eliot, he is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
01:30:39: This is our work. Verse five, he just repeats it so we're done. And now
01:30:44: Father glorify me in your presence. Jesus prays for his own glory.
01:30:51: As we've studied Isaiah, we understand why that is good and that is right because he is God, the son of God come in the flesh to be glorified amongst men.
01:31:01: He had this glory before the world existed, he says. Take that Jehovah's Witnesses.
01:31:09: He's always existed with the Father, glorified
01:31:15: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And after accomplishing the work of redemption, he returns to the right hand of the
01:31:21: Father to be worshiped and adored forever. Church, let's pray.
01:31:30: Father, we confess that we are prone to misplace our worship.
01:31:39: We tend to glory in man and woman in whose nostrils is breath.
01:31:50: When you are the eternal God, I pray, Lord, that we would let go of these lesser things to take hold of that which is life and deed.
01:32:01: Teach us, Lord, to live for your glory, that the glory of Jesus Christ would be the central concern of our lives, that we would understand all things through this, that you deserve glory.
01:32:20: And so, Lord, again, we do pray for the nations that surround Israel. We pray that you would use this conflict to bring many to saving faith.
01:32:32: We do pray for the peace of Israel. We do ask that you would soften the hearts of those people,
01:32:42: God. One day, they will look upon the one that they pierced and mourn for him.
01:32:49: Let it be, God. Open their eyes. And, Lord, most of all, we are looking for you,
01:32:59: Prince of Peace, to come. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. In your name we pray.
01:33:06: Amen. What is our hope in life and death?
01:33:31: Christ alone, Christ alone. What is our only confidence?
01:33:41: That our souls to Him belong. Who holds our days within His hands and comes apart on His command.
01:33:56: And what will keep us to the end? The love of Christ in which we stand.
01:34:08: Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal.
01:34:18: Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess
01:34:26: Christ, our hope in life and death.
01:34:37: What truth can calm the troubled soul?
01:34:43: God is good, God is good. Where is
01:34:49: His grace and goodness known? In our great
01:34:55: Redeemer's blood. Who holds our days where failures arise and runs above the stormy tribes.
01:35:08: Who sends the waves that bring us nigh unto the shore, the rock of Christ.
01:35:18: Oh, sing hallelujah. Our hope springs eternal.
01:35:28: Oh, sing hallelujah. Now and ever we confess
01:35:36: Christ, our hope in life and death.
01:35:48: Unto the grave what shall we sing? Christ, He lives,
01:35:55: Christ, He lives. And what reward will heaven bring?
01:36:04: Everlasting life with Him. There we will rise to meet the
01:36:11: Lord. Then sin and death will be destroyed.
01:36:17: And we will feast in endless joy when
01:36:23: Christ is ours forevermore. Oh, sing hallelujah.
01:36:33: Our hope springs eternal. Oh, sing hallelujah.
01:36:42: Now and ever we confess Christ, our hope in life and death.
01:36:57: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
01:37:04: His judgments and how inscrutable His ways. For who has known the mind of the
01:37:10: Lord or who has been His counselor or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid.
01:37:17: For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.