Glorify, Glorified, Glorification

John 13, the Upper Room Discourse. I'll tell you what I was going to do. Verse 31 is where I want to dive in. I was going to read to you v. 31-35. And I was going to deal with a new commandment. The commandment concerning love. And I had verses pulled out of 1 John and 2 John, along with this text. And I was getting all set to really develop this. And I had some other materials. And you know what kept catching my eye? Verse 31 and verse 32. Glorified, glorified, glorified, glorified, glorified five times. And I just started thinking, you know what? I don't think it's good to pass up that much glory. Because I started thinking, where is the term glory, or glorified, or glorify? Where is it used five times in two verses anywhere else in the Bible? And I started thinking, I don't think it is. I think that this is the highest concentration of this kind of talk. And then, you know, this isn't the only place in these chapters right here where you get that kind of verbiage. And so I thought, OK, I'm going to stop in my tracks. I'm not going to move on to this new commandment yet. We're going to think about the glory of God first. So look at the verse 31. Verse 31, when he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified. And God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Little children, you had a little while, I'm with you. You will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, where I'm going, you cannot come. So glorified, what's that mean? Again, I want to emphasize, nowhere else in your Bible is glorified that verb. And it's the verb doxazo in the Greek. Nowhere else is it found five times in two verses. And I would just say this, hermeneutics 101, the last two Saturdays with the men, we've been thinking about hermeneutics, how to properly interpret Scripture. And one of the things that you want to look for in Scripture is repetition. And I'll tell you, the more I got to thinking about this, and the reason that I didn't think I could just move past this is because it's no minor repetition. It has to do with the glory of the Father and the glory of the Son. And folks, the glory of God is bigger than anything else. But what's it all mean? I mean, it may be the most substantial thing, but if we don't grasp what it means, then it's no good. I can't comprehend it. It may be the most glorious thing, but if I don't see the glory, then you know what is happening here. You know what happens in this book? God is seeking to communicate His glory. But if we just read across it and it's a dead letter, it doesn't really register. Does anybody else here want the real thing, like reality? You don't want dead religion. I don't want that. So we know what the setting is. Look at it. When He had gone out, who's that? That's Judas. Judas, you know what makes it special as well, right at this point, is there's no more a betrayer in the room. All of a sudden, the room is pure. Think about that. Can you imagine if we were able just to take churches and eliminate everybody who wasn't real, and you just narrow it down to all the people? And that's basically what's happened in this upper room. You have Jesus and His 11 faithful disciples. And what's so special is now there's not this cloud of Judas being there. Now, with his whole heart, he looks these men in the eyeballs. Do you know what the foundation of the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone? These guys are the foundation. And He's going to pour some of the most intimate, special teaching into these guys. And this is the point at which that very intimate setting starts. So we want to capture that. Now, look what He says again. Now is the Son of Man glorified, but not just the Son, God. He's talking about His Father. And they're both glorified. And if God the Father is glorified in the Son, God the Father will also glorify the Son in the Father Himself and glorify Christ at once. Now, look, I can imagine those 11 men. I always try to put myself in their place. They're hearing this, glorify, glorify, glorify. You can know that they're hardly grasping the meaning. But the thing is, I ask this, do we grasp it? See, there were things that Jesus was saying. You guys will get this later. So Jesus taught them a lot of things that I know are going over their head at this point. But what we don't want to do is have it go over our head. And so just a very quick word study. The word glory, which is the noun. Now, I recognize we've got the verb five times in these two verses. But let's think about glory. That's the word doxology. And we know the word doxology. But listen, listen, I pull up my Bauer, Danker, Artin, Gingrich lexicon, and this is what glory is defined as. Now, we're going to look at Scripture and try to really substantiate this definition. But just listen to how the BDAG lexicon. Glory is this, the condition of being bright or shining. Brightness, splendor, radiance. And you know what, you all know that. When we use the term glory, something has a glory. And Paul, doesn't Paul speak that way? All the stars, they all have a distinct glory. Or the sun, we recognize how it's used that way. A state of being magnificent. It's got to do with the greatness of something or the splendor of something. So that's the noun. That's glory. But let's talk about glorify, doxazo, because that's what we have here. What does that mean? Well, again, back to my lexicon. Listen to this, to influence one's opinion about another. Now, isn't that crucial? Because when it says that the Father is going to glorify the Son, hear it, to influence one's opinion. God glorifies the Son so that all of our opinions about the Son are influenced. It's to influence one's opinion about another so as to enhance the later's reputation, enhance their being praised, honored, extolled. And that's what happens with God. Something is revealed so that the reputation of God is increased in our thinking. That's what's so critical about the glory of God. And this book, why? What happens when we study it? What are we supposed to do? Our idea of who God is, the more we recognize what's in this book, our thinking should be increasing, increasing, increasing. Who our God is, it should enhance our view of who He is. It doesn't change who He is. It only enhances that. But listen, when a man or a woman is glorified, now that's different. And listen to the lexicon definition there. To cause, to have splendid greatness, to clothe in splendor. You see, the idea is where there is no glory, God puts glory. That's what happens to us. That's how we're glorified. So that's just the lexicon. But as always, what we really want to do is pull the meaning from Scripture. Now you can try to follow me here if you want to. I'm going to give you some addresses if you want to quickly turn there. But if you just want to listen, that might be more profitable. You won't be distracted then. And you know most of these verses, but let's feel them. Listen to this. Remember the situation where they couldn't get into the building. They've got a guy, he's got palsy. They want Jesus to heal him. It's the whole thing's packed. They tear the tiles off. They lower him down. Now listen to this. Once Jesus healed him, he rose and immediately, this is Mark 2.12, by the way. He rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all so that they were all amazed. And listen to this, and glorified God. There's our word, glorified God. How? By saying, we never saw anything like this. Now you want to get that. Do you see how that enhances? Remember our lexical definition, how that enhances the reputation of God? When people say, we've never seen anything like this. Brethren, let me tell you something. Use this in your prayers. Because I'll tell you this, if our life here doesn't look any different than dead religion, and we can never come away from life in this church by saying, wow, we have never seen anything like that. What is this saying? You see what happens when I say, wow, we've never seen anything like that. What that said, that glorifies God. When you recognize that it's God that did that thing. And so that's what we want. We want God to put Himself on display so that we're constantly saying that. That's a very good thing. And that has everything to do with God's glory. You don't want to miss that. Or how about this? Luke 23, 47. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, in other words, Jesus, and everything that happened on the cross, this is a Roman centurion. He glorified, that's what the KJV says, the ESV says praised. But this is our same word, doxazo. He glorified God. How? Again, by what He said. I want you to recognize this. Be careful how you talk. Do you know that by the way you talk, you can either communicate unbelief and that God is small, or you can communicate that God is big. And listen to what this guy said that glorified God. He simply said, looking at Christ, certainly this man was innocent. Wow. Do you see what he did? He simply stated a fact about Christ. You know what? There are lots of misconceptions about what glorifies God. Sometimes people can have this idea. Well, mechanical worship, we'll recall, all come in and kind of monotone drone and prayers, and people have this deep sounding holy voices, and they're in this beautiful chapel. Do you recognize? You can stand out in the city center, and as people walk by, you tell them truths about Christ. That may be glorifying God far more than a lot what happens inside chapels and steeple-topped buildings across this nation. It's declaring, you see, we wanna recognize. When it comes to God, the Father, and God, the Son, one of the ways to glorify Him is simply to proclaim what's true about Him. Parents, proclaim what's true about God to your children. You wanna glorify God in your family? Right there. Among your neighbors, your coworkers, that's what you do. Declare that. Oh, we have such wrong ideas. Listen to this. Jesus said in John 16, 13, when the Spirit of truth comes, He said, He will glorify me. How? How is the Spirit supposed to glorify the Son when the Spirit comes? He will take what is mine and declare it to you. But do you see it? He's gonna take what's mine. What does that mean? Truth that has to do with me, and He's going to declare it. Let me tell you this. You wanna glorify God? Be very deliberate to talk to everybody about the realities of Christ. When you cut hair, when you go to Tesco, when you go back to school, when you're out there working with these British people, I mean, the reality is this. You're gonna install some furniture in somebody's house. You know what? It can be very easy. And look, there's no place to say, well, I gotta be professional so I could never do that. Oh, no, no, no, no. Your primary purpose in being in this world is to glorify God. And one of the best ways you can do that is simply in whatever context, and I'll tell you this, God has context for everybody in this room that nobody else in this room has. You come into contact with people, you often are coming into contact with people that are not coming into contact with any other Christian but you. You know what you wanna do? Don't be silent about the glories of Christ. And what are the glories of Christ? Anything that's true about it. Say it, speak it. Or then there's this, 2 Corinthians 3.10. That chapter has to do with the old covenant versus the new covenant. You know what that says? That the old covenant, that what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it. In other words, the glory of the old covenant never changed. It's just that the glory of the new covenant is so much more glorious. Why? Because, oh, we're gonna get into it in just a second. The new covenant says so much more about who God is than the old. See, the old has types and shadows and a lot of it was clouded and shrouded and veiled. And that's the whole point. There's a veil. It has to be taken away. And then we behold the glory of the Lord. Or there's this, John 15.8. By this, my father is glorified. How? That you Christians bear much fruit. How is God glorified that way? Because do you recognize this? When you bear much fruit, how does that reflect upon God? Let me spin it. When you tell people you're a Christian, but you don't look any different from the world, guess what? You're making a statement about God. You may not be trying to, but you do. Why? Because you say you're a Christian. The moment you say that, you're saying what? You are a person that's been saved by Him. You are a person that God has laid hold of and brought into His kingdom, transferred you into the kingdom of His beloved Son. And what? You're no different than anybody else? What is He so impotent? You see, your life when you profess Christ is a reflection on who God is. Just remember that. Or how about this? John 17, four. Jesus says, I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. Now that's key. Why? Do you recognize that everything that Jesus did, do you recognize what that does? Is it tells you who the Father is. That's why the Father's glorified because He sent His Son. And guess what? Jesus said that every single work that He did, it wasn't His work. It was the work of Him who sent Him. Guess what? It's the God, the Father, who said, my Son, the very first thing I want you to do when you go down there, that'll be recorded as the first miracle, turn water into wine. Show them the kind of God that I am. That ought to blow you away. He didn't say, you know, go down and wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. Show them my wrath right off. That's not what He did. And He sent His Son into the world. Wow. He sent Him to heal, cure lepers, cast demons out, have mercy upon people, feed people, and turn water into wine. My Son, show them I'm that kind of God. You talk about glorifying Him. I love to tell people out on the streets about the fact He turned water into wine. Why? Because the vast majority of the world, including our own children oftentimes, think of God as basically a killjoy, just frowning all the time. And God's saying, no, I'm gonna send my Son into the world and I want to see who I really am. How about this? John 21, 18. Peter, when you're old, what's gonna happen? He says, I'm gonna show you the kind of death by which you're gonna glorify God. You know that at the end of John. Now, look, how does that glorify God? I'm gonna deny myself of life so as to not deny my God. You see what that says? God's glory and honor are more important to me. God being proclaimed accurately, His gospel being proclaimed is more important to me than my life. You see how God's glorified by that? What that says is my God is so valuable. It's more valuable than my life. You see, that's one of the things about fasting. When you say, I need God, I need to find God, I need the reward of the Father, I need Him to draw near to me. And you say, I'm not gonna eat. Or even in 1 Corinthians, it says married people don't have intimacy. Walk for a season of prayer and they find, you know what happens when you say no things in your life so that you can say yes to God? You see the value you're putting on Him? You're declaring by the decisions you make that God is glorious. And you want that more than you want anything else. That's huge. Or how about this? When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified God saying, again, it's by what they speak. How did they glorify God? What did they say? Then to the Gentiles, also God has granted repentance that leads to life. One of the ways we glorify God is, let it be known that God is the God of salvation. Salvation, it belongs to Him. He's in control of it. Or how about this Romans 1.21? Although they knew God, they did not honor where the word is glorified. And Him as God or give thanks to Him. Do you recognize? You see, one of the big thrusts right there in Romans 1 is this. When you don't give thanks to God, you don't honor Him. Why? Because when you give thanks to God, what are you doing? You're recognizing something about God. You're recognizing He is the Father of lights. You're recognizing that every good and perfect gift comes from Him. You're recognizing everything is from His hand. You haven't received a single thing that hasn't been given you from heaven. That's exactly what you're acknowledging. You're not responsible ultimately for these things. You're not responsible for the money, for the gifts, for the place and status you have in life, for being saved. Ultimately, what makes you different from the lost guy out there? God's grace. And see, when we acknowledge that, wow, what humility on our part. And humility on our part always goes with this. You see, the thing is, proud people don't exalt God because they're exalting self. It's humility and exalting God, glorifying Him, go hand in hand because we go low, He goes high. We're attributing to Him what's a reality. And listen, God's glory is absolute. Say, what do you mean? I mean that every single thing that's true about God, everything that we could speak, if you speak a reality about God, that reality about God is true to the absolute sense, to the uttermost, it's true. If you show that God is kind, God is kind to the uttermost. If you show that He's merciful, to the uttermost. If you show that He's wise, He is absolute sense, He is. That's magnificence. It's just unrivaled, it's unsurpassed in God. And the thing we need to recognize is this, when we glorify God, I really want to emphasize it. We're not adding. All we're doing is declaring to people, often to ourselves, and you want to talk to yourself. One of the things you want to do is when you're reading Scripture, you need to be telling yourself, wow, God is glorious. God, look at Him. Really see what Scripture is saying. But God's glory is absolute. We never add to it. God says things like this, Isaiah 42.8. I am the Lord, that is my name. My glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols. And you know what? That's not pride on God's part. God would be dishonest if He denied His glory. Do you recognize? We're not trying to make God glorious. He is glorious. And what this book is is revelation. That means He is revealing that glory to us. That's what's happening. Now, when you think about the Son of God, let's think about His glory for a second because it's different. You say, how is it different? Just in this way. With the Son, He veiled His glory. Did He not? Now, doesn't Scripture say this? John 17.5. Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. You know what that says? It says that in some way, when God the Father sent His Son into the world, He was saying, Son, you're rich, but I want you to become poor. I want you to empty yourself and go there and do this. It doesn't mean that He lost His glory. It just became veiled. Listen, when God breaks out and the priests have to run out of the temple on Solomon's day, the glory is pretty obvious. But when Jesus comes and He shows up here and He basically is like a root out of dry ground and He's going around with no form, no majesty, no beauty that we should desire Him, then you see what's happened. It's basically what it is, is men don't see it. And they mock Him. They think little of Him. They reject Him. But listen, though He's veiled, it doesn't mean that there isn't glory there. You remember how John talks? It says, in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh. He humbled Himself. He veiled it. But John says, nevertheless, we've seen His glory. Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. And I'll tell you, what makes the difference? Who do men say that I am? You know what most men said? Yeah, some said John the Baptist. Some said different things. But you know who most of them thought? He's an imposter. He's a guy that we ought to just get rid of. We ought to kill him. But what causes us to see the glory? Oh God, open our eyes because that's what's gotta happen. What makes the difference between anybody in the world who sees the glory and who doesn't see the glory? You know what it was like before you were saved? Oh, if there was one thing that I can say happened to me when God saved me, it's Christ became so big and such beauty as I never saw before. And so, listen, He is, and you know where this is, the radiance of the glory, the shine, the brightness. He is that radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint. He radiates glory if we but have the eyes to see. And you remember what He said? You remember? It's like, oh, there should be more glory, they thought. John wrote afterwards, we saw His glory. Now the Spirit had come, His mind was open, He sought. But even in that day, it's like Philip is saying, we wanna see the Father, we wanna see the Father, we wanna see the real glory. Oh no, Philip, you've seen it already. Because if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Wow, so that's it. It's with Christ, it's glory that He had with His Father before the world began. Then it's veiled, and then it's unveiled. And I would just ask this, is there a new glory with Christ? See, Christ is not exactly like the Father in this. There is a glory with the Son now that the Father will never have. Can you tell me what that is? He became flesh, the incarnation. Look, there was a point when He took upon Himself humanity. Do you realize that now forevermore, God is going to be wrapped in humanity, bearing these wounds? And there's gonna be a glory there that the Father and the Spirit are not gonna have. And then we talk about people being glorified, Christians. And listen to this, 2 Thessalonians 2.14, to this He called you, Christian, through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow, what's that? You have been called to obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Obtain it how? Well, you're gonna obtain it because He's going to be yours forever. You're going to obtain it because when you look upon Him, you're gonna be transformed into the same image. But you know what? Here's the thing, we right now, you know how we started out? What does Romans 3 says? We've all gone astray and we're all what? Do you know what it says? Worthless is the word that I'm looking for. Worthless. You know what sinners are in God's sight? Worthless. You know what kind of glory that means we have? Zero. It means God's gonna get glory in Himself on us, but it's by casting us into this fire and showing us how His justice works. But listen, somebody gets saved. And then what happens? 2 Corinthians 3.18 says, as we behold the glory, what is the glory of the Lord? It says you see His beauty. As you see what is true of Him, what happens? That breaks in upon you. Somehow the Spirit who is the Lord begins to work and manipulate and operate and cause you to begin to shine. Remember what glory is? And you move from one glory, one degree of glory, glory to glory, from one degree to another. And so what happens? Your shine, your magnificence. And then what happens? You come to the day you die and you behold Jesus Christ and you see Him face to face, and then you become as He is. And you can't even fathom what that means. Neither can I. So back to our text, folks. That was just a preliminary. That was a precursor to looking at what glory is. Okay, now back to our text. Let's read it again. Verse 31, when He had gone out, Jesus said, now, that's what I want you to notice. Now is the Son of Man glorified. And at the end of verse 32, it says God will also glorify Him in Himself and glorify Him at once. Now, I want you to think about that. Now, you know what Christ is saying? I know my glory has been shrouded, veiled, but now, you know what? There's gonna be such magnificence of the Son of Man. I'm gonna really shine now, is what He's saying. And something about me, something about my Father is about to be revealed that hasn't been revealed, that is going to be so extremely marvelous and spectacular and mind-blowing. When? Now. Now, at once. That's what He said. But what's He referring to? I mean, I look at this and I say, oh, okay, what's He referring to? What does all this have to do with? Now, here's one observation. Look at, just think, listen to this. John 17, five, which is part of this whole upper room. Jesus, when He's praying to His Father, says, now, now, the same now. Father, glorify me. How? In Your own presence with the glory that I had with You before the world existed. Now, right there, it sounds like He's talking about ascending up, sitting at His Father's right hand and being glorified that way. Or there's this. John 12, 16. The disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done by Him. And what goes hand in hand with that is John 7, 38. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of His heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive. For as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now look, there is one sense in which Jesus could talk about His glorification, being that He's going to go to this very unglorious cross, spring out of the grave, be ascended, coronation, King of Kings, take the throne, seated after making purification of sins, and He's going to be glorified. And He definitely is using the term that way. However, I think that there is a more immediate glory only here men can't see it. Men naturally do not have a proneness to see the glory here. Guess what? You know this. Men have no problem seeing the glory when somebody is whisked up to heaven and sat on a throne. Nobody has a problem seeing the glory there. But there is a glory and a more immediate glory that men don't see. Now look here with me, John 12, 23. Just turn back a chapter. Look at this. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Did you see the same language there? The Son of Man is going to be, now is the Son of Man, the hour. It's now over in 13. It's the hour in 12, 23. But what hour? What hour are we talking about? All you have to do is look at the next verse, verse 24. Truly, truly I say, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies. If it dies. Or you might drop down to 12, 27. Does that help explain the hour of His glorification as well? So you see, we have it again. Now, now is my soul troubled. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. You see this hour, that's the now. But for this purpose, I've come to this hour. What hour? Well, the hour that's causing so much trouble to His soul. Father, glorify Your name. Voice came from heaven. I've glorified it and I will glorify it again. You see what the Father is saying? My son, I've been glorifying You all along. And I've been glorifying myself in You all along. It's not a one-time thing. That I'm only going to continue to make You shine and me shine. Notice the next verse. Notice verse 31. Behold the glory here. Now, you see this hour, now is the judgment of this whole world. What's that all about? When's this judgment? You see, He's going to the cross. This is a crucial moment for the whole world. The whole fate of the world is being settled on that cross. It's a crucial turning point. Do you realize what's happening at the cross is basically the declaration of what's gonna, it's the judgment. It is the decisive decision. It's basically a declaration on all mankind. Do you recognize Jesus is the pivotal man of history? He's the man. His going to the cross is that upon which all of humanity is in the balances. That's what's happening here. And then you notice the next verse. What's gonna happen? Now will the ruler of this world be cast out? You see all hinges on this. What's gonna happen? He's going to the cross. What happens at the cross? He leaves captivity captive. The devil is being robbed of his position. This is where his head is being crushed. This is where he's being thrown down. Now listen, but you see men, they don't see it. Do you know what happens when Paul comes into the first chapter of Corinthians? First Corinthians, you know what happens. People, what do lost men say about the cross? It's folly. You know what it says. It says Christ crucified is a stumbling block. Why? Because men don't see any glory in it. You know what they see in it? Failure. They see foolishness. It's folly to the Gentiles. It's a stumbling block to the Jews. And you know what? This even was the case with the disciples. Do you remember this? Jesus says, hey guys, I have to go and I have to face the religious leaders in Jerusalem. You know what they're gonna do to me? They're gonna do this, this, this. They're gonna kill me. Remember what Peter said? Did Peter look at that and say, wow, that is going to show the glory of the Father and the glory of the Son in ways that we could otherwise never see it. Say what he said. You know what Jesus had to say? Get behind me, Satan. Why? Because Peter was seeking to resist. For this hour, I've come. Father, can I? I mean, I'm under distress. Major soul distress, but this is the hour for which I come. This is the hour that the Son of Man is going to be glorified. This is the Father's gonna be glorified and the Father even speaks. I've glorified my name. I'm gonna glorify it again. You better believe it. He's gonna glorify his name as Christ goes to the cross here. Listen, this cross is where God puts himself on display and shines above and beyond any other place, any other thing that he's done. The crucial, the central message of all Christianity is bound up right here and right in this truth. Look, there is a spectacular glory in the message of Christianity and it's found in something that is so bloody and terrible and in mind of man is so backward. It just like, it doesn't make sense. Men just can't see the glory there. Peter, he stumbled at this. At what? The very central message that we have for mankind. And here is the heart and soul of the glory of Christ. For this purpose, I've come to this hour to glorify you, Father, not to men. You know what to men? It's offensive. It's foolish. It's shameful. You know what it looks like? It looks like failure. Oh, some savior there, he didn't conquer Rome. That's what we, you know what MacArthur points out? I heard him say this once that they have found in certain places in the Roman empire where they've dug up whatever. They have found these scribblings on walls of a man on a cross with an ass's head. That's basically the mindset. And you know what? Even think about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus, they don't even, they don't know who he is. And he's telling them, well, he's asking them, what's happened? And they said, are you the only stranger around here? Don't you know what's happened? All this happened? And what? You know what it seemed like to those two guys on the road to Emmaus? It seemed like failure. Why? Because listen to their words. Our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. But of course he can't be. Why? Well, he's miserably defeated on the cross. We thought he was the one, but of course he's not the one. You see, that's exactly how they're talking. But for this, Jesus says, for this purpose, I come to this hour. This is the hour above all hours. And you know what he says there in John 12, 32? When I am lifted up from the earth, this is the hour I've come for. Remember, this is the hour the son of man is going. And unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, and he says, here it is, when I'm lifted up, I'm going to draw all people to myself. By the cross alone, salvation becomes possible for all men. Death on that cross is absolutely essential. That grain of wheat has to, it must fall into the ground and die. Then and only then is he going to bear the much fruit that's talked about there. It's the cross and the cross alone that reveals the glory of salvation. And I just ask you all this, what do you think? You see, this is the test. What do you think about the cross? That's the question. Was it a failure? Is that what you see there? Was it just Jesus being passive? We don't want to resist. He remained quiet before he was on trial and before Pilate. He just didn't answer. Before Herod, he just kept silent. Is it just passivity? Is that all it is? Was it preventable? Did it have to happen? Do you look at the cross and this is like the greatest strategy? Or is this just, you know, some people just think this was just a poor gesture of love. Well, he didn't really accomplish anything. He was just showing us how much he loved us and that he was willing to die for us. But as far as anything atonement happening or anything, I mean, the Muslims absolutely deny that they don't want to even think about this. This is the point of Satan's attack in false religions all the time. It did some great injustice. Is that all that was? Jesus speaks of glory. Do you see it? Is the lifting up of the Son of Man, like he talks about here, is that glorious to you? I mean, do you see something in that that you just feel like, wow, that's the greatest truth in the world. And I ask this, where do we find glory in the cross? Where is it? You know what you find when you look at Scripture? The heavens declare the glory of God. You know what it says in Psalm 8? That they're all the work of his finger. Paul faults men in Romans 1. Why? Because God put himself on display in the creation. But what can they see in the creation? They can see his divine nature. They can see that there is a God and they can see a demonstration of his power. But you know what? That's as far as creation goes. God's glory, does it shine in creation? Oh, you better believe it. The more the scientists find out, the more it shines. You can't get around that. I mean, it's there that we can see. This hasn't happened by accident. There is so much design. Even the guys that reject it all, just listen to them talk. Mother nature did this. Or they personify nature. They personify evolution. They recognize there's design. It just speaks. But that's what's put on display there. Men by the creation can recognize that God is a creator, right? But beyond that, you know what? The cross reveals what creation never can. See, what do you mean by that? Well, just this. In the cross is where the real glory is. Look, creation is the work of his finger. You know what? God had no moral dilemma there. His own attributes. You know what an attribute is? It's that which is attributable to somebody. It's the characteristic. It's the nature. That's what an attribute is. You can attribute a certain characteristic to God. That's what we're talking about. The thing is that when God created, he basically brought the whole creation out of nothing. But when it came down to saving, suddenly God is in a moral tension with himself. How is my justice? That's an attribute of God. That is attributable. You remember this. The glory of God's justice is that that justice is absolute. It is infinite. Do you recognize that it is the person of God who it's his being that declares what the gospel is? You see, the gospel is determined by the very character of God. You can never get away from that. And so what happens is when you come to scripture, Paul says there in 1 Corinthians, he says, you wanna see the power of God? You wanna see the wisdom of God? You know where that's found? It's found in the cross. It's found in Christ crucified. Such things about God merge. Such, this is how Christ can say, now is the son of man glorified. Now the father is going to be glorified in the son. Folks, it's precisely here that we find the glory. And listen, I'll tell you this. Our most glorious days as Christians are always going to be those when we lay hold upon the attributes of God. Do you know this? The awe, the wonder of Christianity is when you are in your Bible and you suddenly just, it explodes in upon you. The spirit of God brings it home. It's real. It testifies in your very mind about some specific characteristic of God. That is when Christianity is glorious. And you know what? When that's not happening, you can put anything else in its place and the glory is gone. That is where the glory is. His nature. God himself is the glory. What's true of him is the glory. It's revelation of himself that's the glory. And remember this. God is a complex of attributes. What does that mean? It means he's not one attribute. Complex, simple is when you have one. Complex is when you have lots. There are lots of characteristics about God. You see, God comes along and how is his justice? How is his righteousness? How is his holiness? How is it that his wrath, his anger, and his fury, his hatred of sin, how is it going to be upheld when he also desires to show love? And again, God's attributes are absolute. How can I show a creature of mine, my love in the greatest, most absolute sense? And he says, the way that can happen is actually with a sinner where my attributes are being pulled to destroy him. And yet my other attributes are being pulled to preserve him, not only to spare him and pardon him, but to bring him into my own family, make him the bride of my son. How are all of my attributes going to be put on display? You have to realize this. When God created the heavens and the earth and he formed all of this and he brought Adam and Eve into the garden, you recognize his main purpose was not to prevent Adam from sinning. He could have easily done that. His main purpose was a stage in which his glory is going to be put on display. That's what's happening. What do you see in the cross? Do you see something pathetic? Do you see failure? Do you just see some Jewish carpenter that was defeated by the leaders? Do you know what God means for us to see? He wants to say, you want to see my holiness? You really want to see it put on? All we have to do is stop for a second, say, ask the question, wait, wait, wait. Who's on that cross? Yeah, we see two thieves. Who's in the middle there? It's the son of God. Who? The one that God said, this is my beloved son. He said, I am well pleased. He said, this is my servant in whom I delight. He's called the beloved. This is the one I love who is a direct reflection of me. I am so pleased with him. That's who's on that cross. Well, how's he gotten there? Listen, God, you know what I was just reading this morning? How, remember when the two sons, the middle sons of Leah, they went out and they killed all the guys in Shechem and what happened? You know what, as they traveled on, it says that God put the fear of Jacob on all those Canaanites so that they left him alone. They didn't come after him and kill him like he feared they would. You know this, could God have put the fear on everybody in Jerusalem that they not touch Christ? Did you ever notice how many times Christ just kind of, we don't even know what he did. He just disappeared through the crowd. Did you ever notice that when he said, I am he, they all fell down? Think he could have got away if he wanted to? You think God had, you think it would just absolutely easy for God to have delivered his son? Absolutely. My counsel shall stand. This is what God says. I will accomplish all my purpose. He does according to his will among the hosts of heaven, among the inhabitants of earth. None can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? You know what? God put his son on that cross. That was his plan and that was his purpose. Why? You know why? Because sin must be punished. God's righteousness demands it. He is righteous to the uttermost and he is just. And I'll tell you in God's courtroom, every single sin must be paid for in the absolute sense. And when that sin is against an infinitely holy God, that's why it demands hell forever. And he says, you know what? My justice that throws men and women into hell, it's got to stand. And that's why there are men and women in hell right now forever. He says, all you have to do is look at Sodom and Gomorrah. Look at the world and I saved only eight souls. You know what that says? That says God is serious. Look at Nadab and Abihu, boom, they're dead. Look at Uzzah, boom, he's dead. Look at Ananias and Sapphira. You know what all those things tell us? God's justice is absolute. It is infinite. And you know what God says? Look at that cross. You want to see something? Who is on there? The son of God. Why? Because I cannot pretend that you have not sinned. I can't do it. I can't go there. He is absolute in his attributes to the purest, most absolute sense. All God's attributes are absolute. We have to recognize that. Every sin has to be punished in accordance with God's absolute justice. And that's why the son of God in whom he delights hangs on that cross because sin's got to be paid for. And if it's not going to be paid for in us and you don't have the wherewithal to pay for it, that's why hell is forever. And my son's got to die there. Even if his own beloved son is the one who has to offer himself up as the punishment, it's got to be paid for. And you know what we see? It's only here, not in creation. It's only here that we collectively see these attributes coming together, coming together, coming together. And you know what happens here? The glory of God's justice, it kisses God's mercy. And there's a text. I was looking for it. I didn't find it. I was looking for it quickly. And it just talks about certain attributes of God meeting together. But you want to recognize this. God's wrath, God's holiness meets with God's kindness and God's compassion at the cross. You see, that's how scripture speaks. God so loved that he what? That he showed that his wrath was real. His justice was real. And yet at the same time, he so loved. His love was so real. You see how they come together? We don't have to perish, but he gave his son. Oh, that word gave, four little letters. But what does that mean? Christ is recoiling. He's saying, my soul is troubled, but I'm going to be glorified. What can I say? Deliver me from this. He's like, this is the very hour that I've come into this world. This is where it all meets together. And what else? The wisdom of God. You know what? God is very wise in how he created all of this creation. But Christ is where you find the wisdom of this cross. The wisdom in God to be able to bring together all of his attributes at once and make them all shine at the same time. Do you recognize that the scripture says that he who justifies the wicked is what? An abomination. What does God do? What does God do in salvation? He justifies the wicked. He justifies the unrighteous. How does that happen? You see, there's a tension in God himself. You know what? You know what the world wants us to think? I had a friend that I went to high school with. After I got saved, I was telling him, Keith, here's the gospel. And he was basically saying, well, you know, in the end of it all, God's love, right? In other words, unrepentant, unsurrendered, but God's love, right? He says, kind of the world wants to look at it with God's love. And so it'll all work out in the end. But you know what? That kind of love, that's unrighteous love. That's the world's notion of love. It's just injustice. It's like God just put his justice on the shelf. How can all these things be reconciled? I mean, what are we supposed to do? Just imagine that God's gonna pretend that it didn't happen and say, well, you know, let's forget about your sin. When his justice, his righteousness, his glory, the glory of wrath, the glory of a need to punish sin just screams, it can't be. Your own word says this is an abomination. That's not just his word separate from him. That's what he says. There is something resonating in God that says that is abominable to do that. But how am I gonna express love to people who have raised their hand and they just, in the most wicked things imaginable, they deserve hell. How am I gonna show such love to them that is unequaled, unparalleled? I'm gonna crush my son, my own son. I'm gonna crush him on that tree. And you see, when he did that, why do you think Jesus is recoiling? Because the cup's gotta go to his lips. He can say, oh, now is the son of man glorified. But how? God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It all comes together. I just ask you this right here in the end. Have you seen the glory in the cross? And what happened there? We find it all at the cross. All that's true of God is coming together here. Christ, there he is. He's the center. He's the man. He's accomplishing this salvation. We find it all at the cross. He routes the enemy there. He's gonna draw all men. He pronounced it. It is finished. What? That which satisfies all of these glories of God all at once. He's done it all. Like captivity, this is the hour of all hours. And I just ask you this. Have you seen the glory of it? I mean, you show you do. When you come and you confess, you realize you're under condemnation. You deserve to be on that cross. You deserve to be forsaken. You show that you feel it by that. And look, you'll never glory in the cross until you feel your own helplessness and hopelessness and say nothing about your own morality. Nothing. Where you recognize I deserve for God's perfections and his glories to be unleashed on me as a sinner and I'm guilty and I deserve it. But you'll begin, when you recognize your own works are filthy rags, you'll begin to glory in that cross. When you see you're foul and you're vile and you realize your own guilt and shame. Look, if you glory in you, you'll never glory in the cross. Because when you come to the end of yourself, you realize the one who died on that cross, who he is, this is the beloved of God. What happened? That was the God man. God crushed him. God poured his soul out like water. And then now God can say to sinners, because of what my son did, I can seat you with Christ in heavenly places. Through all the coming ages, I can lavish on you the riches of my grace, beyond your wildest imaginations. You're in my family. I'm going to bring you right into the heart of the Trinitarian love, with the love that I've loved my own son. I'm going to love you. And I'm going to bestow a glory on you, that when you see him, you're going to be like him. You're going to be swallowed in the glories of who I am and who my son is. And you see all of it's like, this puts God on display like nothing else ever could. There's a wisdom here. And you know, one of the reasons we don't see it is we just become so acclimated, accustomed. We're just so used to it that we don't realize this is just mind blowing. God give us all eyes to see. Father, thank you for this time. We want to have our God glorified in our midst. Put yourself on display. Oh, put yourself on display. Open eyes to behold your glory. I pray for it in Christ's name. Amen.