Jesus Before Abraham (John 8:48-59)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:04.799 If you're able, please remain standing and let's turn to John Chapter Eight. 2 00:00:08.390 --> 00:00:17.230 We continue in our reading of the gospel of John, John Eight versus forty 3 00:00:17.269 --> 00:00:29.699 eight through fifty nine. This is God's word. Let's give our attention to 4 00:00:29.899 --> 00:00:36.770 it. The Jews answered him. Are we not right in saying that you 5 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:42.850 are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered. I do not have 6 00:00:43.009 --> 00:00:47.649 a demon, but I honor my father, and you would and you dishonor 7 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:52.399 me. Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who 8 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:56.679 seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say 9 00:00:56.719 --> 00:00:59.600 to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death, 10 00:01:00.759 --> 00:01:03.310 the Jews said to him. Now we know you that you have a demon. 11 00:01:03.870 --> 00:01:07.909 Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, if anyone 12 00:01:07.989 --> 00:01:11.790 keeps my word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our 13 00:01:11.829 --> 00:01:18.349 father Abraham, who died and the prophets died? Who Do you make yourself 14 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:23.579 out to be? Jesus answered. If I glorify myself, my glory is 15 00:01:23.739 --> 00:01:29.500 nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he 16 00:01:29.739 --> 00:01:34.689 is our God, but you have not known him. I know him if 17 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:37.930 I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a 18 00:01:38.090 --> 00:01:41.849 liar like you. But I do not know him. or I'm sorry, 19 00:01:41.849 --> 00:01:46.650 but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father, Abraham, 20 00:01:46.730 --> 00:01:51.280 rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. 21 00:01:53.079 --> 00:01:56.000 So. The Jews said to him, you are not yet fifty years 22 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:00.799 old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, truly, 23 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:07.549 truly, I say to you, before Abraham was I am. So they 24 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:12.750 picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out 25 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:16.659 of the temple. My God bless his word to us. He may be 26 00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:39.289 seated. I want to begin by remembering the reason why God has given this 27 00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:46.199 book to us, the reason that John Records in Chapter Twenty, verse Thirty 28 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:51.319 One. He says that these things, which would include what I just read, 29 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:58.360 these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, 30 00:02:59.550 --> 00:03:02.830 the son of God, and that by believing, you may have life 31 00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:09.150 in his name. That's why John wrote these things, that's why God wrote 32 00:03:09.189 --> 00:03:15.620 these things through his servant John, that we might understand who Jesus is as 33 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:19.699 the Christ, that we might understand who he is as the son of God, 34 00:03:19.900 --> 00:03:25.099 but do more than understand, believe, which means not just to understand 35 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:30.449 and agree to the truth or the truthfulness of what he's saying, but to 36 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:35.009 trust in it as well, to rely on Jesus and to rely on him 37 00:03:35.050 --> 00:03:40.409 alone for our salvation and in doing so have life, eternal life, in 38 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:46.759 his name. That's why he gives this things to us, and our passage 39 00:03:46.759 --> 00:03:53.599 helps us, as the others have done, to understand exactly that. The 40 00:03:53.719 --> 00:04:00.789 passage ends with Jesus going out from the temple. This is a significant thing 41 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:10.659 because this is not the first time that God has left his temple as a 42 00:04:10.819 --> 00:04:16.899 result of the sinfulness of his people. You can go back and listen to 43 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:23.939 some earlier sermons on this, or there are some books I can render recommend 44 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:30.290 to you afterward, but I'll point out that the world began with a kind 45 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:34.769 of temple dwelling of God. The Garden of Eden was in many ways a 46 00:04:35.850 --> 00:04:42.560 temple of the Lord, the place where he, God dwelled with mankind and 47 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:47.560 they were close and they were intimate. was from this place that streams of 48 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:53.589 water flowed out into the earth. Imagery that's picked up and built into the 49 00:04:53.629 --> 00:04:59.750 architecture of the temple in Jerusalem later on, imagery that is picked up again 50 00:04:59.790 --> 00:05:05.310 in revelation when the streams of water are said to flow from the throne of 51 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:12.060 God. The temple is a place that marks God's dwelling place with his people. 52 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:15.300 Of course we remember what Solomon said, the one who, the king, 53 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:20.339 who built the temple, the first temple. He said in his prayer 54 00:05:20.379 --> 00:05:25.730 as he dedicated the temple, that of course God cannot be contained by a 55 00:05:25.810 --> 00:05:30.649 building made with human hands. The temple of the Lord is not a place 56 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:33.850 where we box God in, but it is a place where God places his 57 00:05:34.009 --> 00:05:38.360 name. In fact, there are scriptures that point to the fact that the 58 00:05:38.519 --> 00:05:46.279 temple is simply the footstool of God in which he reigns in heaven. Is 59 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:49.350 Sort of one of the pictures that's given to us. Nevertheless, it is 60 00:05:49.430 --> 00:05:54.470 a place where he puts his name, a place where he is with his 61 00:05:54.589 --> 00:05:57.949 people, and so it is a remarkable thing in the old testament when the 62 00:05:58.029 --> 00:06:03.379 spirit of God, coming in this form of a cloud, descends down upon 63 00:06:03.500 --> 00:06:08.019 the temple, just as it did, just as he did, rather, 64 00:06:10.019 --> 00:06:14.660 when he came as a pillar of smoke and fire and led the people through 65 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:17.970 the Wilderness, right where the spirit of God led, the people followed. 66 00:06:18.329 --> 00:06:21.850 They were to be together. That was the whole point, that God was 67 00:06:21.889 --> 00:06:31.170 saving his people, he was drawing them together. So when the people sinned 68 00:06:31.209 --> 00:06:40.600 and in Ezekiel's vision he sees the spirit of God leaving the temple before the 69 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:46.990 enemies come in to destroy it's a scary thing. This is not the way 70 00:06:47.110 --> 00:06:51.269 things are supposed to be, but nevertheless this is the consequence. When man 71 00:06:51.910 --> 00:06:57.790 sins against God, as we read earlier in Psalm Twenty four, who can 72 00:06:57.870 --> 00:07:00.939 dwell on God's Holyholl who can belong and be in the presence of God, 73 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:04.660 the one who is pure, the one who is clean? And so when 74 00:07:04.860 --> 00:07:11.379 Israel sins against God, when Israel does the things that God it exactly the 75 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:16.490 things God has called them not to do. God says he will depart from 76 00:07:16.490 --> 00:07:23.889 them, and he did. Nevertheless, God promises in the Old Testament prophets 77 00:07:23.970 --> 00:07:30.399 that something new and something greater will come a person, a temple. I'm 78 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:33.439 various images, these old testament images, that are promised that in the future 79 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:39.839 these things will happen and God will establish himself among his people in a permanent 80 00:07:39.879 --> 00:07:44.350 way, in a final way, in a way that is not dependent upon 81 00:07:44.550 --> 00:07:50.269 their obedience to the law, but on his on his work in us, 82 00:07:50.509 --> 00:07:57.350 on his changing on our hearts, on his cleansing on our our eyes, 83 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:03.379 cleansing our hearts and putting his law in us. And this is what he 84 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:09.379 does when Jesus comes. You remember, one of the names that Jesus is 85 00:08:09.540 --> 00:08:18.569 given is Emmanuel, God with us. You remember Jesus says that in three 86 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:22.250 days the the temple, will be destroyed, our right in three days it 87 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:24.810 will be raised up again, and he says he was referring to his body. 88 00:08:24.850 --> 00:08:31.840 Jesus is going to be the new temple. Jesus is going to be 89 00:08:31.960 --> 00:08:41.509 the one and whom the in whom the spirit dwells with God's people. We 90 00:08:41.750 --> 00:08:46.909 are going to be, Peter says, the Living Stones Build Bolt on this 91 00:08:46.990 --> 00:08:54.590 foundation of Christ in which the spirit of God dwells with us. This is 92 00:08:54.669 --> 00:08:58.179 what we all have to look forward to. But at this moment, what 93 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:01.139 we are seeing is sort of the same old repetition that we have in history, 94 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:09.100 where God's people even come against God in such a way that he has 95 00:09:09.220 --> 00:09:18.649 to leave them, even leave the temple. Now he does this because the 96 00:09:18.769 --> 00:09:24.639 people are angry obviously they want to kill him. They says, they picked 97 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:28.879 up stones. That's because they were going to throw the stones at him to 98 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:35.080 to kill him. And it was because of a lot of things that Jesus 99 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.629 was saying, but especially there was sort of this last straw, at least 100 00:09:39.629 --> 00:09:43.350 at this moment, where we read in Verse Fifty Eight. Truly, truly, 101 00:09:43.389 --> 00:09:52.539 I say to you, before Abraham was I am. Jesus is telling 102 00:09:52.620 --> 00:10:03.019 the people in Jerusalem that, before Abraham existed, he did this is a 103 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:11.289 very clear declaration of his divinity, a very clear reminder that Jesus is Jehovah 104 00:10:11.289 --> 00:10:16.529 or Yah way again, thence the claims of Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, 105 00:10:16.529 --> 00:10:20.600 who say that Jesus is not Jehovah, Jesus is not Yah Wagh, that 106 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.960 he is one of the created beings. Awesome, yes, but different. 107 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:31.960 Not The case. Jesus clearly says that he is the I am. He 108 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:39.029 uses this language to evoke the burning Bush that God revealed himself in when Moses 109 00:10:41.429 --> 00:10:46.870 was called out of Egypt and was called by God to go back to Egypt 110 00:10:46.190 --> 00:10:50.940 to call his people out of slavery. What name Shall I give them? 111 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:56.419 Yeah, where he tells them. However, you pronounce that Jehovah Are Yah 112 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:00.059 Way. This is the name that God gives to his people. This is 113 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:05.250 how Jesus is is speaking about himself. He is identifying himself with this same 114 00:11:05.529 --> 00:11:11.009 God, the God whom they call, as he puts it, or the 115 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:16.570 the God, the father, whom they say he is our God. He 116 00:11:16.769 --> 00:11:22.639 is declaring his divinity in a very clear way. Remember John, two thousand 117 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:26.039 and thirty one that you may believe. He is the son of God, 118 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.000 a different kind of son, though, not like Adam, not like Abraham, 119 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:41.230 not like you and me, but eternally begotten. Abraham wasn't just Jesus 120 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:45.629 is older mother. For those of you who don't know, the scripture is 121 00:11:45.710 --> 00:11:48.740 very well. Yet Abraham was the father of the people of God, who 122 00:11:48.779 --> 00:11:56.620 lived about two tho years before Jesus. Imagine if I told you before John 123 00:11:58.899 --> 00:12:05.409 I was, that I existed before the writer of this Gospel. You would 124 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:15.690 say that guy's crazy. Right, it's unbelievable, because humans don't live that 125 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.240 long for one for another. As they say, you're only you're not even 126 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:26.080 fifty years old. We mean you were before Abraham. Well, it's true. 127 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:33.029 Jesus is not yet into middle or even late age at that time. 128 00:12:37.509 --> 00:12:43.620 It's also true that Jesus was not born until two thousand plus years after Abraham 129 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:50.460 was born. Jesus did not become human, did not take on humanity, 130 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:58.100 until thousands of years after Abraham existed. And then that we are similar to 131 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:03.929 Jesus and that we are exactly the same. Life begins at conception, and 132 00:13:03.129 --> 00:13:09.850 Jesus had not yet been conceived until long, long after Abraham was worn. 133 00:13:11.929 --> 00:13:16.399 But Jesus is different than us. Though fully human, his conception was very 134 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:22.919 different than our conception. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb 135 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:31.509 of a virgin, and the he who was conceived was not a new person. 136 00:13:33.269 --> 00:13:37.750 He was the son of God, who had always been the son of 137 00:13:37.830 --> 00:13:45.340 God and was now becoming incarnate. In other words, he was taking on 138 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:54.899 flesh. Jesus did not begin to exist in the when when he was born 139 00:13:54.940 --> 00:14:01.250 or when he was conceived. No, Jesus had always existed. Even to 140 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:09.169 use the word had as a bit of a stretch. Jesus operates outside of 141 00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:13.840 time, because Jesus is God, and God is the one who has created 142 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:20.799 time and space, and that's why he speaks in this way before Abraham was. 143 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:28.789 He doesn't say I was, but he says I am, to identify 144 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:33.950 himself with Y'all way and to identify himself with as the one who has eternally 145 00:14:35.750 --> 00:14:43.940 existed. He is that same God who met Abraham's one of Abraham's children, 146 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:48.379 the servant Moses, out in the desert and revealed this glory to Him. 147 00:14:48.539 --> 00:14:54.169 He is the same God who was on Mount Sinai and revealed himself in this 148 00:14:54.330 --> 00:14:58.610 Glorious Way to Moses when he came up on the mount and to receive God's 149 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:07.159 law. And it's in those glorious things that John also points our attention to 150 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.679 by telling us about what Jesus said. That's the second thing I want you 151 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:16.399 to notice this morning. Is Not only does Jesus so clearly state his divinity 152 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:22.309 and in terms of time, but he also states his divinity in terms of 153 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:28.389 glory. Jesus, in other words, identifies himself as not just before Abraham 154 00:15:28.590 --> 00:15:35.139 in time, but above Abraham in importance. He helps us to understand this 155 00:15:35.340 --> 00:15:41.019 by telling us about this is one about this one essential aspect of God's being, 156 00:15:41.139 --> 00:15:48.019 his glory. So let's spend a few moments and talk about glories. 157 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:50.129 That we can understand what Jesus is saying here. Remember, this is how 158 00:15:50.210 --> 00:15:54.929 this all began. They accused him of having a demon, and he says, 159 00:15:54.490 --> 00:16:00.850 I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, 160 00:16:00.009 --> 00:16:06.519 and he is the judge. Or notice again when he says in Verse 161 00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:11.440 Fifty Four, I if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It 162 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.759 is my father who glorifies me. Of Whom you say he is our God. 163 00:16:18.669 --> 00:16:22.110 What is Jesus mean here? How is it that he is not glorious 164 00:16:22.309 --> 00:16:26.429 but God, or is glorified but is God? Let's let's make sure we 165 00:16:26.509 --> 00:16:30.070 understand this. First of all, what is glory? Hey, it's a 166 00:16:30.149 --> 00:16:34.019 word you're probably all familiar with. You might have even said it from time 167 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:41.539 to time. A sunset, for example. Wow, is glorious. But 168 00:16:41.659 --> 00:16:48.649 what is glory? All borrow from reformed theologian Herman Bobbing, who puts it 169 00:16:48.769 --> 00:16:55.049 this way. He says the glory of the Lord is the splendor and brilliance 170 00:16:55.529 --> 00:17:02.200 that is inseparably associated with all of God's attributes and his self, revelation in 171 00:17:02.360 --> 00:17:10.720 nature and grace. The glory of the Lord is the splendor, the glory 172 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:18.829 of the Lord is the brilliance that is inseparably associated with all of God's attributes. 173 00:17:19.349 --> 00:17:22.910 In that way, we're a we are talking about as we are talking 174 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:27.349 about an essential attribute of God. But bobbing is saying, and it's rightly 175 00:17:27.470 --> 00:17:30.299 saying, according to the Scriptures, that is, that glory is not something 176 00:17:30.339 --> 00:17:37.779 that is attached to God right like, as though he was something else, 177 00:17:38.140 --> 00:17:42.980 and then glory is then added on like a plus or a benefit. No, 178 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:51.650 his glory is an inseparable part of who God is. But you don't, 179 00:17:51.690 --> 00:17:53.170 as we always as you want to learn, to think of God. 180 00:17:53.410 --> 00:17:57.009 We don't think of him in parts, you know, sort of like one 181 00:17:57.089 --> 00:18:02.839 eighth glory and one eighth something else, and so on so forth. God 182 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:07.039 is one, and so that's why bobbing puts it in this way. inseparably 183 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:15.630 associated with all of God's attributes, his wisdom, his power, these things 184 00:18:15.789 --> 00:18:19.589 have his glory in them. They are glorious. Every aspect of God is 185 00:18:19.670 --> 00:18:27.140 glorious. His eternality, his immensity, all of these things God totally in 186 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:34.140 and him in and of himself is glorious. But in addition to this, 187 00:18:34.619 --> 00:18:41.490 God's glory is also then revealed to us in two ways bobbing says, in 188 00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:47.809 nature and in grace, which is why we can look at a sunset and 189 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:57.359 say that's so glorious, because it has splendor, it has brilliance, it 190 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:03.160 has an awesomeness to it, because it is marked by the God who made 191 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:08.480 it, the glorious God who made it. It reflects something of his nature. 192 00:19:11.109 --> 00:19:14.829 All mankind is aware of this, whether they ever come into contact with 193 00:19:14.950 --> 00:19:18.509 the scriptures or not. They see the world and the things that God has 194 00:19:18.589 --> 00:19:25.980 made and they say wow, look at this thing, this glorious world. 195 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:33.819 Unfortunately, what Paul tells us in Romans is that people then exchange the glory 196 00:19:33.259 --> 00:19:41.369 of the immortal God for creatures and things. So instead of seeing that sunset 197 00:19:41.490 --> 00:19:45.289 and letting their eyes open and their jaws drop and a breath come in and 198 00:19:45.690 --> 00:19:49.970 then go out in praise to God, they start singing the praise of the 199 00:19:51.049 --> 00:19:57.680 sun or of the clouds or of the colors. They begin to worship the 200 00:19:57.880 --> 00:20:07.869 created things instead of recognizing that these things are revealing the creator. This is 201 00:20:07.950 --> 00:20:11.829 one way in which God, the Glorious God, reveals himself to us through 202 00:20:11.869 --> 00:20:18.190 nature. But he also reveals himself to us, as bobbing says, in 203 00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:23.180 grace. In other words, he comes into this world to reveal himself in 204 00:20:23.339 --> 00:20:32.019 a new and especial way and in particular through his son. God has spoken 205 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:36.250 in various times in various ways, the author of Hebrews says, but in 206 00:20:36.289 --> 00:20:41.049 these last days he has spoken to us in his son, who is the 207 00:20:41.170 --> 00:20:51.839 exact imprint of his nature, in Jesusness, in Jesus, the fullness of 208 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:59.440 God and his glory dwells, which is how sad it is that the people 209 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:04.029 here are causing, are acting in a, let's say it put a repulsive 210 00:21:04.109 --> 00:21:10.670 way to Jesus. Here is the glorious God come into the world in this 211 00:21:10.789 --> 00:21:17.029 saving way, and they are repulsing him, they are accusing him of having 212 00:21:17.069 --> 00:21:23.940 a demon, they're tying to him these specific negative connotations of things in this 213 00:21:25.059 --> 00:21:37.690 world, here Samaritan, when what he is is the all forever God to 214 00:21:37.849 --> 00:21:44.890 save us. And Jesus has been demonstrating this. He's been remonstrating hit the 215 00:21:44.970 --> 00:21:48.039 glory of his kingdom, in turning water to wine, the healing of his 216 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:53.880 kingdom and causing lame people to get up and walk and causing people who are 217 00:21:55.559 --> 00:22:00.160 in death or near death to to rise up and live. This is God, 218 00:22:00.470 --> 00:22:04.910 this is his glory, this is our jaw dropping, eye opening, 219 00:22:06.470 --> 00:22:11.630 take a deep breath in and say wow moments. This is what Jesus is 220 00:22:11.829 --> 00:22:17.059 doing and has been doing in his earthly ministry, and now they're accusing him 221 00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:30.490 of having a demon. So what does Jesus say about this glory? What 222 00:22:30.609 --> 00:22:41.890 Jesus reveals is that the glory that God has in himself is is shared between 223 00:22:41.930 --> 00:22:49.440 the persons of the Trinity in a way that God glorify, in this mysterious 224 00:22:49.599 --> 00:23:00.390 way in which God glorifies himself, and Jesus gives us some ways to help 225 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:07.069 us understand that. This is helpful because it helps us to understand something of 226 00:23:07.309 --> 00:23:12.740 the nature of God and something of the nature of this man who is standing 227 00:23:12.859 --> 00:23:19.539 there at the temple saying these things. The first thing he says is I 228 00:23:19.900 --> 00:23:30.130 glorify or I honor the five her he says I do not seek my own 229 00:23:30.250 --> 00:23:34.609 glory. He then says in Verse Fifty Four, if I glorify myself, 230 00:23:34.890 --> 00:23:41.400 my glory is nothing, and then he attaches to that a second statement, 231 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:48.920 which is that it is the father who glorifies him. He says, I 232 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.839 do not glorify my our I do not glorify myself, I do not seek 233 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.029 my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the 234 00:23:56.069 --> 00:24:00.589 judge, and then he later identifies that as the father. So Verse Fifty 235 00:24:00.630 --> 00:24:03.869 Four. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my 236 00:24:03.069 --> 00:24:11.420 father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our God. So 237 00:24:11.579 --> 00:24:15.339 Jesus is saying. You're saying that this God of Abraham, the God of 238 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:22.579 Moses, that he is your God, and Jesus is saying. What I'm 239 00:24:22.700 --> 00:24:29.250 saying to you is that that God that did those things is my father and 240 00:24:29.529 --> 00:24:42.480 he is glorifying me as I glorify him. How is this work? How 241 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:48.720 is this possible? Well, one is it is the inner penetrating glory of 242 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:56.069 God, as God glorifies himself, as the three persons of the Trinity. 243 00:24:57.390 --> 00:25:02.269 But JESUSS has, I think, in some something more specific in mind, 244 00:25:02.269 --> 00:25:11.700 and it is this that he has laid aside certain aspects of his glorious nature 245 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:18.819 to take on humanity, and not just to become human, but to take 246 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:26.849 on our side of the Covenant, to take on the responsibilities that man owes 247 00:25:26.009 --> 00:25:33.450 to God. He becomes under God in a way, not according to his 248 00:25:33.809 --> 00:25:40.440 essence, not according to who he is as a person, but as he 249 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:45.640 takes on the obligations of the Covenant and on the other obligations of obedient to 250 00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:49.630 make himself a servant, to make himself obedient, even to the point, 251 00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:57.269 Paul says, to the point of death, death on a cross. Jesus 252 00:25:57.589 --> 00:26:04.980 humbles himself in this way he becomes not glorious, and that's a contrast that 253 00:26:06.140 --> 00:26:14.339 people struggle with. You are alive, they say right now. You're not 254 00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:19.210 yet fifty years old, and yet you're saying that you but were before Abraham. 255 00:26:19.250 --> 00:26:23.250 Right they have. They've struggle to see how this man, how, 256 00:26:23.369 --> 00:26:30.049 this one who doesn't seem very glorious, he is as glorious as he says 257 00:26:30.089 --> 00:26:36.680 he is, that God is glorifying him, or that you can imagine, 258 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:40.920 even at his birth, the great contrast of the angels, the heavenly host 259 00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:45.359 singing glory to God and praise in the highest peace on earth, and down 260 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:59.390 below is a human baby in a cattle stall. Not Very impressive. Right. 261 00:26:59.910 --> 00:27:03.859 Where is the robes and where the horses and the chariots and the great 262 00:27:04.059 --> 00:27:08.940 incoming of the Messiah? That's what Christ means. The anointed one, the 263 00:27:10.059 --> 00:27:15.250 Messiah, but Jesus is that one. John is telling us. Jesus is 264 00:27:15.769 --> 00:27:22.210 the promised coming one that God's promised to send to bring about the final conclusion 265 00:27:22.250 --> 00:27:27.730 of all of these things. And what God's plan is, and what Jesus 266 00:27:27.730 --> 00:27:33.440 is helping us to understand, is that he has become humble, not because 267 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:41.400 he's not glorious, but to save us. Jesus has become humble, he's 268 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:47.470 taken on human flesh so that God might glorify him, because because of his 269 00:27:47.630 --> 00:27:53.589 obedience, where mankind was supposed to obey, was supposed to fulfill the righteous 270 00:27:53.670 --> 00:28:00.420 requirements of the law and live with clean hands and a pure heart and obedience 271 00:28:00.460 --> 00:28:07.660 before the Lord, with God forever together. And man failed at that and 272 00:28:07.819 --> 00:28:12.130 instead brought separation, got kicked out of the guard and got separated from God. 273 00:28:12.329 --> 00:28:19.890 God now becomes men to bring man and God back together again. Now 274 00:28:21.009 --> 00:28:26.839 that's not glorious, I don't know what is. If the all glorious God 275 00:28:27.160 --> 00:28:34.359 and King comes into the world becomes one of us to save us who are 276 00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:41.230 rebellious and sinful and despicable and don't deserve to be anywhere near this glorious God. 277 00:28:42.109 --> 00:28:47.269 But yet he becomes Immanuel, God with us, to save US and 278 00:28:47.309 --> 00:28:52.190 draw US near to him. If that's not a jaw dropping, eye opening, 279 00:28:52.349 --> 00:28:57.579 take a deep breath in and say wow, kind of moment, what 280 00:28:57.900 --> 00:29:03.660 is? But this is what God has done, this is what God has 281 00:29:03.700 --> 00:29:08.180 done, this is what God is doing here, and that's why God glorifies, 282 00:29:08.380 --> 00:29:14.329 that's why the father glorifies Jesus, because he has done his will. 283 00:29:15.970 --> 00:29:18.809 He has done he has completed this that he is, he is in the 284 00:29:18.930 --> 00:29:26.720 process of completing and will complete this covenant that existed before creation was even made, 285 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.559 that God would elect a people for himself, that he would save them 286 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:33.920 out of wrath and out of darkness and draw them into his glorious light, 287 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:44.869 that he would make sinful creatures like you and me glorious, shining, radiant, 288 00:29:45.829 --> 00:29:51.470 worthy of belonging in all the splendor and Brilliance of Heaven, worthy of 289 00:29:51.509 --> 00:29:57.940 dwelling on God's Holy Hill. How does that happen? It happens when we 290 00:29:57.980 --> 00:30:07.849 are made glorious in Christ and that's why picking up stones to kill Jesus is 291 00:30:07.049 --> 00:30:18.289 exactly the wrong thing to do, right. But nevertheless, in God's amazing 292 00:30:18.369 --> 00:30:26.519 grace, he uses this to ultimately bring the events of the world to a 293 00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:33.119 point where his son would die on a cross outside of the temple, in 294 00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:38.670 order to establish a new temple, a new dwelling place for God that is 295 00:30:38.869 --> 00:30:45.630 permanent and forever, one that we belong in, one that we are a 296 00:30:45.869 --> 00:30:55.220 part of, as he dwells in us. And so, instead of picking 297 00:30:55.299 --> 00:31:00.140 up stones to throw them at Jesus, instead of repulsing Jesus or being repulsed 298 00:31:00.180 --> 00:31:04.930 by Jesus, instead of separating ourselves further from God, our reaction ought to 299 00:31:06.009 --> 00:31:11.089 be to do as Abraham did, as he says. What does Jesus say 300 00:31:11.089 --> 00:31:18.529 about Abraham? He says, your Father Abraham, rejoiced that he would see 301 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:25.079 my day. He saw it and was glad. Now, how did Abraham 302 00:31:25.160 --> 00:31:34.430 see Jesus's Day from two thousand years away? By faith. By faith he 303 00:31:34.670 --> 00:31:40.789 believed, that scriptures say, he believed the promises of God, and those 304 00:31:40.990 --> 00:31:45.029 promises by and that, through believing in those promises, the righteousness of God 305 00:31:45.349 --> 00:31:53.099 was imputed to him. He believed God and through faith God gave him the 306 00:31:53.099 --> 00:32:00.779 Gift of Heaven. And the promises were to Abraham that through his offspring, 307 00:32:00.690 --> 00:32:07.690 all the world would be saved. Praise God, let's Pray