 So, this morning we have moved from the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and we're going into John now. We're only going to cover this this morning, and it will be short because there's a lot to John. However, there is a handout that can help you not only this morning follow along, but also do a study on your own after the lesson to get further familiar with these texts and to study this this theology for your understanding of God's glory. So please go on to the Sunday School Lesson Channel to get the lesson that I have submitted this morning. And I'll read the introductory quotation and begin from there. And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that believing you may have life in His name, John 20 30 through 31. That's an appropriate way to introduce John. He spends much time revealing the glory of God through various signs. And there is a whole point about that, the second Roman numeral. So just to remind everybody that we just covered the synoptics, and we sought to look in the synoptics to see the glory of God in Christ Jesus, particularly in His birth, His incarnation, His transfiguration and His second coming. And the track we're kind of running on to go to these events, go to these things in these scriptures is the word doxa. We're kind of using that as our track to run on to help us navigate through these gospels. And as another reminder that using that word is helpful, but it is limited and it's not exhaustive. So please don't feel like you've got an introduction or a survey of the entire synoptics or the entire John after this morning. But just remember that all we've looked at is the word doxa in various key places in the gospels. So that you could challenge yourself with looking into it further and not being content with what you have. So for John, since we've already covered the incarnation, we've already covered the transfiguration and the second coming. And we've already gone through doxa some, even though I'm still going to use that term and because John uses it more than the other three combined. We're not going to look at those events. We're going to focus on these three bullets this morning, primarily the last one. And the first Roman numeral is God's glory revealed in the only begotten sun. And Roman numeral two, God's glory revealed in signs. And Roman numeral three, God's glory revealed in the cross and resurrection. So for the first point, since we aren't going to spend a lot of time on these first two, in order to get to the last point, I would like to kind of look at these texts. And if you've heard it before, remind you or instruct you again or instruct you for the first time, some fundamental truths with who Christ is and him being the way in which we can learn of God and his glory. And it starts off with the eternal Son of God. So John really hits on this when he uses the word doxa. He wants to make sure that his readers know that Jesus is not a man merely. He's not a prophet merely. He is God, a very God. He is the second person of the Trinity. The eternal Son of God come from heaven in the flesh incarnated. So he starts right off. Let's look at John chapter one, verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. And if you remember the word, John has already used it in verses one through three, which was one of our memory verses from last lessons. And I want to read that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him, nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. This is very clear here in first John or John chapter one, verse one, that the word is not to be personally identified with God, but is with God and has no beginning. In the beginning was the word and the word was God. It doesn't mean there that he is with God. The word is with God and then changes and now is that God. It's saying there that the word was divine deity. The word was all that God is as divine and uniquely God, holy set apart and only God Jesus, the word is. He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him. And then back to verse 14 and the word became flesh. This is the incarnation which we discussed two weeks ago and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. So they, the, the glory that they're beholding of the word is coming through his life as a man. John is reflecting back on walking and handling Christ and he's thinking of the words and works of Christ and all the prophecies fulfilled. And he's growing and his constantly growing just like any other believer. And at the time he writes being carried along by the Holy Spirit, he, he says, we beheld his glory and he's just thinking about the life of Jesus Christ. He knew that this is not merely a man. This is that the second person of the Trinity. This is God from heaven. When I looked into his eyes and when I touched his hands, I was talking to my creator and he's writing that to remind of right off the bat when he gets into his book. That's who this is that I'm writing to you about and the purpose that he has for writing all this about Jesus he puts in John chapter 20. It's that you might believe and have life in his name. And there is much packed in there in that word glory because it's not dealing merely with the transfiguration when he saw a radiant glory shown around them in Christ transfigured before him. He's not limited to that. He's talking about Christ dwelling among them. So it's his words, his acts, his everything that came from him as a form of communication to John. John said that was a revelation of the glory of God. And it says the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. So that's the point there is God's glory is revealed in the only begotten Son. So God, the Father sent God, the Son to become man and fulfill the covenant of redemption to save a people and this only begotten of the Father is not referencing Jesus's incarnation or his humanity. It's referencing his eternal sonship. There are some people who have trouble receiving this monogonace and interpreting it only begotten because in their mind they can't remove themselves from thinking about begotten being birthed or from a Father. And they want to say only begotten is unique or just the only like only or unique. But it is begotten. The word is clearly begotten. And if you go to John three sixteen for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son for God did not send his son. I'm reading from verse seventeen into the world to condemn. But that the world through him might be saved. God the Father sent his son. That means prior to his humanity prior to his incarnation, he was the son. That's speaking of his eternal sonship. And I wanted to give you a brief reminder of that definition before we move on. Eternal generation, which it's related to eternal sonship. It's the establishment from all eternity of the filial relationship of the second person in the Trinity in the Trinity. Here's a more technical term for those who are more familiar with this inter-Trinitarian theology. Another way of stating this is the eternal mode affiliation of the second person in the Trinity. It describes his relational order of his personal subsistence to the Father. So when we say the word subsistence, we're talking about not the substance, the divine essence. We're talking about that mode or form of substance or the way in which he exists. And the way in which the second person of the Trinity exists or subsists is in a relational order to the personal subsistence of the Father. And that relational order is one of sonship. It's not stating that Jesus is not co-eternal, all-powerful. He is God, a very God, and is, I would like to find where, yes, they are co-eternal, co-substantial and equal in power and glory. What we can state emphatically is that in contrast to the human father-son relationship, there's no derivation of being or existence, of subordination or posterity in time. So that's a difficult thing. But what we're trying to, Calvin had labored hard with this to rid theology from some poor error from some church fathers. And what he wanted to be careful was to maintain was the divinity of Christ, but also this distinct sonship of Christ. And that's where you get the statement, Jesus is co-eternal. And he, what I just read, derivation of being, if he got his divine essence from the father, then he would not be very God or very God. What he gets from the father is related to his personal subsistence. All right, well, let's move on. Calvin said each person is auto-theos, they're self-existent. And both, God is, when we think about the being of God, he is unbegotten and that's the being. But then when we think about the personal relationships of the trinity, the father is unbegotten, but the son is begotten of the father. There's a difference there between the father and the son. And that's when the Bible uses the term only begotten. OK, well, let's move on. And if you want to get into that with more thought, I think this dictionary is helpful. It's dictionary of theological terms by Alan Cairns. It's reformed. And I can share more information with you later, but let's keep moving. The father and the son glorify one another. Turn to John chapter 5, verse 41. I do not receive honor from men, but I know you that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe who receive honor from one another and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the father and he goes on. That word honor in the ESV gets translated glory. It's doxa. And there's one of the usages and meanings of that word doxa is honor. And you could word it that way. I do not receive glory from men or honor here. So that's a use of that word can mean honor. But one of the things that we can learn here is that the son and the father have interaction in glorifying one another. Jesus says, I have come in my father's name. So what Jesus was doing was not self-willed or independent of the father. It was in subjection to the covenant of redemption voluntarily, a commitment. And he has come in his father's name. To come in the father's name is to glorify the father insofar as he reveals him, which being the son of God and the bosom of God, he does that perfectly. And he's rebuking these Jews because he says if another person comes seeking their own glory, you're gonna receive him. But the moment somebody comes seeking to glorify God, you reject it. And that's exactly what I'm doing. You're rejecting me because you reject God. And John seven, 16, Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory. But he, that's Jesus here, he's referencing himself in the third person. But he who seeks the glory of the one, that's the father, who sent him, that's Jesus, is true. Jesus seeks the glory of the father who sent Jesus. And what you can see here is that what the goal of our Lord, Jesus Christ, which was perfectly fulfilled and obtained was to glorify the father. He sought to do the will of the father. So everything he's saying is the words of the father. Everything he's doing is what the father has willed him to do. And what you can see here is that in our understanding of glory, the glory of God, we can focus on the substance of the divine essence and talk about various attributes of God. But as our theology of God grows and we continue to study the glory of God, we must maintain a Trinitarian theology of God's glory. We must see that God's glory is manifested in the father, in the son, in the Holy Spirit and how they are relating to one another. It's the basis for many of the things that we don't realize, the one and the many. Salvation, communion. So to grow in our theology of the glory of God, we must continue to advance upon what's revealed of God in his Trinitarian name. And what you can see here is that the son seeks to glorify the father. No one can accuse Jesus of acting out your self-proclaimed Messiah. He's very clear, you will not get that. And the father's attesting to his sending of the son through these signs later. Go to John 17 and then we'll move to the next point. Jesus, I'm reading from verse one, Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Pay attention to that. The hour has come, glorify your son, that your son also may glorify you. As you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, oh Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. What you can see here is that the father and the son glorify one another. They in and of themselves, not that there are three gods, there's one God, but the second person of the Trinity being fully God seeks and does so outwardly towards the father and it's internal with the Trinity so I don't wanna get carried too far outwardly there but seeks to glorify the father. To delight in the father. We have a question. Is there a question from Ms. Pamela? She said, we desire to glorify God in all we do but in times where we fail in doing this, is this rejecting God? Yes, I mean, when I hear you say the word fail I think of sin, you might not mean that but if I take that to mean we sin, that is a form of disobedience and rejection of God. Our standing with God and our security isn't based on that sin, it's based on the works of Jesus Christ. So we know as adopted children in union with Christ that although we have sinned and by God's grace with the Holy Spirit convicting us of that sin are ashamed and sense the rejection in our conscience that we have set forth towards God that simultaneously in the recognition and repentance from that, we know that God is not far that he is our father and he has redeemed us by the blood of the lamb and we have died to sin so that it will not have rain over us and we have been raised to newness of life and if you don't fight sin from that position you will not overcome sin. We must overcome sin not from putting ourselves back up underneath a works based sanctification but we must put ourselves in a justified state of grace recognize that with remaining sin we have disobeyed God and that he is set his son, our intercessor, our high priest on his throne that we might be able to come in time for help and for grace to help us overcome that sin. So what the Christian does instead of running from God when they see their sin is they see their sin and they fly to God. Yeah, but to be sensitive about sin and grieved over is a good thing. So me saying that is not intended to throw a wet blanket on the evil, the sinfulness of sin. And actually the more you put those two together sin is exceedingly sinful seen in the glory in the face of the glory of God and in his word with a renewed mind and then in the context of the cross it's exceedingly sinful, right? And yet God has saved me. God has called me with an effectual calling and given me the guarantee of the Holy Spirit and is fulfilling the promise of his salvation by Christ. When you put those things together and you don't throw one out but you keep them together and you deal with this one in light of this one you have power by God's grace to overcome this and this only heightens your love of God and your fear of him as you see it and turn from it. So let's go. Now I just wanted you to see from John chapter 17 that the son is praying and the hour has come and he's saying father glorify me for this purpose that I also may glorify you. And the father glorifying the son and making manifest the glory of his son the son in turn will take that and return it back to the father. So you can see this inter-Trinitarian glorifying father to son, son to father. That should help us in our theology of the doctrine of God and the glory of God is that we need to be careful not to have a theology that's man centered but God centered. Christ came and he saves and he loves us. The father sent the son and his love for us is beyond comprehension. However, the son is seeking to obtain that purpose to fulfill a greater purpose and that is to glorify the father. So we want Christ to want to glorify the father and it ought to bring us comfort to know that he does and vice versa the father to the son because of God's reveal will and his promises in covenant. All right, let's go to God's glory revealed in sons. I'm not gonna go to every one of these signs and sure, yeah, Pastor Michael has a text that he's gonna share. Thank you, just when you were talking about the Trinitarian aspect of the glory of God and how the father glorifies the son in order that the son might glorify the father. And I was just thinking about John chapter 16 it's just the chapter before when the Lord Jesus is comforting the disciples after he tells them that he's going to be leaving them but and their hearts are going to be heavy that they are going to be sad. He says in verse 12, I still have many things. So John 16, 12, I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. When the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his authority but whatever he hears, he will speak. It's like almost exactly what Jesus said. The son was saying about the father. Yeah, what Jesus was saying of himself that the son does not speak on his own authority but what the father gives the son, the son speaks earlier in John. So he for and now he's speaking of the spirit. He will guide you into all the truth for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. And so you have the father glorifying the son that the son might glorify the father the father and the son sending the spirit so that the spirit might glorify the son that the son might glorify the father. Amen. That's very helpful too to continue with that. And thank you very much, Pastor Michael. It says that he will take what, why will he glorify me or, you know, he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. It reminds me of how no one has seen God at any time but the only begotten who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him. It's, there's that glorifying of the father in the sense of declaring him exegeting him, making him known. And that's exactly what the spirit is doing here is glorifying the son and making him known. And that's what we wanna do is we want to receive what has been revealed that we might know them. Know our God, our triune God, father, son and spirit. Amen, amen. And that's a good application. And we could go into later, even here, but also, because Jesus says he breathed on them in John and he says receive the spirit and forgive sins. And that's alluding to later the church and having the doctrine of the keys and having authority given to them by Christ to go and preach the gospel to every creature. So an application is in our New Testament era is let us glorify God, the father, son and spirit by declaring what we know of them from the scriptures. Amen, that's a great application. All right, let's go to God's glory revealed in signs. And I'm just gonna read them and then stop it too and go to the purpose. If you will remember in John chapter two, actually I'm gonna look at that one because it's the first one and John makes it so clear. Let's go to that one. We're not gonna read all the texts. There were six water pots in verse six. Verse 12, he went down to Capernaum. He and his mother and his brothers and his disciples keep going. Did I miss it? I skipped it. Oh yeah, verse seven. Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water and they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast. And they took it when the master of the feast had tasted the water and that was made wine and did not know where it came from. But the servants who had drawn the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and he said, every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, but the guests have well drunk when the guests have well drunk. And then in the inferior, you have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of signs, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. You can see that the appropriate outworking or effect of Jesus manifesting his glory is that the elect believe. So here we can see a relationship between the work of turning water into wine and it being a means by which we come to better understand the glory of God. So that's why they're called, that's why John calls them signs. A sign is not something that points to itself, it's something that points to something else. And this sign is pointing to the glory of the sign for the purpose that you might know who you put your trust in. And as you look at the signs, if you study these on your own with this lesson later in the week or with your kids, you wanna continue to remember that's why John is putting these things in here. It's not just to be wowed by the supernatural. That's true, we ought to be awestruck, that's why they're called wonders. However, there's a purpose and we need to remember that purpose from John. John puts it here in the front and he puts it there on the end. These, that quotation I read to you in the beginning that we might have life in his name. So we need to, as we're thinking about the glory of God and the work and the sign, we need to think about what it's teaching us of God and his sufficiency to save us. Robinson. Kind of a question from Sister Nikki from John 17. I have two questions. Do you want me to ask them at the end or kind of ask them? No, no, this is good, I like it like this. Okay. All right, John 17 verse 22 says, in the glory which you gave me, I have given them, and I think in her version it says shared, that they may be one just as we are one. So the question is how, can you explain how John 17 to 22 relates what glory is shared with us? Okay. Well, not using particularly that text, I can interpret that text because of the analogy of scripture and the analogy of faith. And when I say the analogy of scripture, it's like comparing scripture with other scriptures that speak to the same thing. But the analogy of faith is scripture gives us clear revelation dealing with topics. It's not organized that way, but we can, in our finite minds, study justification by faith and go to the Bible, see how Paul brings it out in Romans and Galatians and get a thorough going, very clear infallible understanding of justification by faith from scripture. Of course, it won't be comprehensive, but it will be infallible for what is rightly interpreted. Well, with that doctrine, we can use that doctrine that's clear to help us interpret scripture. That's the analogy of faith. So yes, there's scripture compared with scripture, but there's also an analogy of faith when something says to me, that looks like salvation by works. Well, I know it's not because the Bible's so clear on salvation's by faith alone and Christ alone. And I don't want to get carried away. You can get carried away with analogy of faith and take vague things and make that your basis and standard and then have a work interpretation of other things, but that's why I say clear. Well, one of the things is, ontologically, the being of God, he is incomprehensible and unique, infinite, and other, holy, separate, categorically different. We are not in the same category as God. So when we're talking about God, the Father, Son, and Spirit, we're going to use a whole lot of creation words to help us better understand that, but we're seeking to take what God has communicated through those means that we can understand, to understand the invisible. We're visible. And why am I bringing that out? Because when we're talking about glory of God and glory of the Son and glory of the Spirit, we know that my glory I will not give to another. So in one sense, the Bible shows that this glory that God has is intrinsic to himself and cannot be shared with any. And yet there is another aspect to God's glory when he outwardly declares and extrinsically, that means outwardly, manifests it to others in saving and turning water into wine and giving us new life in the Spirit and justifying us that God's glory is outworking to bring about these effects. And of course, it reciprocates back to him in praise, but that effect that is occurring in believers where they are brought into union with Christ does not make them divine or share in divinity. So when it says that the glory there, I know from ontologically what the Bible teaches about God and about man, that there is the intrinsic glory of God which he possesses and is that cannot be communicated to man who's finite. It's entirely his and only his. And that goes along with Isaiah 42, I think, where he says, my glory I will not give to another. But there is another sense in where God causes us to commune with him and he gives us a new heart and causes us to do his will by the Spirit and puts us into vital spiritual union with his son. And when he does that, we are partaking in some sense of this outward working of God's glory. I hope that helps. Okay, and there's another one. From Ms. Betty, when Christ took on the form of man, he condescended and took the form of man. So Ms. Betty wanted to know prior to his incarnation, what form that Jesus has prior to becoming. He's invisible, he's all those things that we used to describe God, he is. He is righteous, perfectly and infinitely. She's saying before the incarnation, right? Yeah. What form? Yeah. Oh, yeah, John four, he got a spirit, but that's not even like an angel spirit or our spirit. This is talking about God who is immense and omnipresent. So even our understandings of spirit can be wrongly thought of when we think of God. It's not like he's a massive fog and takes some kind of fog-ish form. That's not it, he's invisible. There's no form physical to him. So when I hear the word form, I think physical and that's already a wrong way to go about trying to understand Jesus or the Son of God before the incarnation. He is, I wish we had that quote from Charnock. Yes, Stephen Charnock, where he is this and he's not that. He is this and he's not that. We're saying this and yet without that. I know that I'm not doing justice by quoting it, but the point is is that physically and dealing with the material of creation and space, space gets its existence because God created. Well, before creation, there was no space. There was no one inch. It takes meaning with the creation. So before the incarnation and before creation, the Son of God is omnipresent. He knows no bounds and he knows no present place. Like he knows no limits. So it's hard to describe him as a form being God or very God. Hope that helps. Let's go to Lazarus, John 11. I wanna get to the third point we're almost out of time. John 11, and this is where Jesus resurrects Lazarus. And if you will remember, they asked, let's go to verse 40, verse 39. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha said, Martha, the sister of him who was dead, that was Lazarus said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? And they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me and I know that you always hear me. But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Now, when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face wrapped with the cloth and Jesus said to him, loose him and let him go. That was a manifestation of the glory of God. Their understanding of God had to fundamentally grow and change there. They had to say, she was saying, there's a stench, Martha. What would she say afterwards? If Jesus says I'm going to resurrect and whoever I choose and in the end day there will be a resurrection, Martha would have a better understanding through that sign of the power of God, of the glory of God. So when God says he makes that which is nothing something and he calls that which is dead to life, that sign should tell you, spiritually speaking with a dead sinner like me, an unrighteous ungodly man who has no hope apart from God. When he comes and God alone comes and calls me, I'm gonna come out like Lazarus. It's no one will hinder God in whatsoever and nothing, not even death will hinder him or even so much as slow him down, alive. God doesn't even have to work to do that. He just commands it. He just wills it. He doesn't even have to do anything. That sign should teach us about the power of God and his glory and this is a healing. We know that the death he has experienced is a part of the curse. It's a grace that he's been resurrected. It's going to show that God is going to create a new heavens and a new earth. He's gonna call all those that were dead that he's chosen to life. So we need to trust his Messiah. We need to trust the sign who is pointing to him to save us, to save us from sin today. It's sad, but we wallow in sin at times as if there were no body to save us and we recognize our inability to overcome that which seems to have such great power and it's almost like the grave itself. And Jesus is saying, here, don't be like Martha, you know. Didn't I say if you would believe you'll see the glory of God? If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will grant you strength. He will cause you to overcome that sin and you will bring out new heart motives, new forms of righteousness in ways that you haven't ever lived. So those are the signs. And that's the John, I'll just read it again at the top there. And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God and that believing you may have life in his name. Let's go to the last point. God's glory revealed in the cross. In John, Jesus frequently is cited saying that his hour had not yet come. My hour had not yet come. What was the hour? And in John 70 says it, John 12 and other places. John 2, John 7, 30, John 8, 20. There's this anticipation of the hour of Jesus being glorified. Yes, he was glorified by the Father in his words and in his works, the signs. But there's this particular hour that's coming where the Son of Man will be glorified. And what that's referencing isn't just the resurrection or the exaltation of Christ where he is resurrected in a sins. It includes the cross. And I want you to see that. So go to John 12. Oh man. As I was meditating on this and trying to better understand why the cross being that it was the shame which he endured, the suffering, the imputation of sin and guilt, the Gethsemane prayers and him saying, if you know, let this cut past for me. Why is it the time of his glory? Why is it, why do we include this in his, the hour has come for the Son to be glorified? And it has to do with the number of things but particularly what's occurring at the cross, what the Messiah is doing in the name of the Father to fulfill salvation. And let's look at that though. John 12, verse 20. Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to the worship at the feast and Philip came, then they came to Philip who was from Bethsaida of Galilee and asked him saying, sir we wish to see Jesus. These are Greeks, these are Gentiles. Philip came and told Andrew and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus but Jesus answered them saying, remember prior to this, the hour's not come, hour's not come. This event of the Greeks coming seeking Christ, the Gentiles was for Jesus the clear indication that the hour had come. He says the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And look at what he says, most assuredly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone but if it dies it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life and his world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me let him follow me and where I am there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me him my father will honor. Now my soul is troubled and what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour but for this purpose I came to this hour. Father glorify your name. He's talking about the cross. He knows that from this point forward he is setting his face to go to Jerusalem and there it will terminate in his death and that's why he uses the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies and then he goes into if anyone does not hate his life. So what shall I say? Father saved me from this hour? He knows that it's a time of suffering but then he's saying no, this is the purpose for why I came. Well the grain when you take a seed in an agricultural society knows this very well but when you take a seed if I just set it right here it's not gonna do anything. If I want a bunch of apples off this apple seed and a tree that bears apples and I leave it right here it's not gonna grow any apples but what I have to do is put it in the ground and then with proper fertilization and water that seed will actually cease to exist in the way that it was. It will die so to speak but what will come forth from it is a tree and off that tree will bear all these apples and that's what Jesus is saying is unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone but if it dies it produces much grain. It's in the death that the grain comes out and what that's a figure of speech pointing to is it's in the substitutionary sin bearing death of Jesus Christ for his people that their sins are atoned for and that they have the foundation for their new life and then all these people who in history were justified and all those to come that will be justified all on the basis of this death this life and this death found in this person the son of God and he's saying I must die I must die and immediately he's thinking about those that will that he came to die for you will imitate me that's why he goes into the discipleship you know Peter uses that he was despised and rejected and he suffered leaving us an example that we too might so the Christian life is one of a form of suffering and it has particularly to do with your own agenda and self-willed lifestyle your own idolatrous self-glorifying direction in life must die we look at a grain of wheat dying so it brings forth life and we look at Christ dying and atoning for sin that it brings forth life and salvation and justification for people and everything and so the life of a believer he must hate his life and die to that that he might bring forth fruit unto God that's the whole thing where he who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life you can see there he's talking about the temporal and eternal temporal and eternal he loves his life temporarily you want to keep your life let's say I want to keep my life in this world I want to do what I want to do I want to live unto a ripe old age and die the way I want to die well you're going to lose it in eternal life but if you want to have eternal life lose your life it's not meritorious it's not speaking of works based salvation it's talking about the necessity that is enabled by Christ and will occur in the life of a believer as proof of their salvation it's still a necessity so having said that let's go to John 19 and I think we're really close the hour has come also Judas is going to Judas is going to take and leave from the Lord supper and the son will say that his time has come again that the hour of the son has come and in John 19 after this Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished this is we don't I put in here entire account 18 one through 1942 so we could go through two chapters to look at the account that John gives of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and I'm only hitting on this one place and I think from here you will better see that this is in conjunction with the resurrection glorifying God glorifying the son it's the hour of his glory knowing that all things were now accomplished that the scriptures might be fulfilled said I thirst now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there and they filled a sponge with sour wine put it on his hip and put it to his mouth so when he had received the sour wine he said to tell us die it is finished and bowing his head he gave up his spirit that word of it is finished is full of truth and very glorious if you remember Colossians Colossians 2 14 and you being dead in your trespasses and a circumcision of your flesh he has made a life together with with him having forgiven you all trespasses having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us and he has taken it out of the way having never done it before and he has taken it out of the way having nailed it to the cross having disarmed principalities and powers and that's another thing he said in another place is talking about how the Satan would be judged at the time of his crucifixion it's because of what Christ is accomplishing having disarmed principalities and powers they're disarmed the weapons of their warfare are produced as worthless now they have no way to bring men into the condemnation for their sin when the Christ has atoned for it he's taken the sin that they labor to put them under heavy judgment and greater forms of condemnation and he has nailed it to the cross so when he's on the cross he's a worker he's the high priest he's not just the lamb so he's offering up himself to God and when the priest was dressed up in all his garb he was glorious in the midst of offering on the day of atonement his sacrifice and that's exactly what Jesus is doing he has prepared the lamb he is the lamb and he is offering it and he knows he's not like clueless or he knows exactly why he's suffering he knows he's atoning for the sins of his people and his spirit you think about like the suffering that we can't even comprehend that he endured hell upon hells and what's his spirit like it's one of humility it's one of desiring that God be glorified and it will be done in saving them it's not reluctant and he said when I'm lifted up I'll draw all men to myself and that's exactly what he's done so I'm sorry that I'm getting emotional and that it might distract you but it's hard when you begin to meditate on it and God giving you some understanding of that glory there it's very precious and I hope that you will it will not elude you but that you will grow and your understanding of not just seeing Christ as glorified and his humanity being resurrected yes and we didn't even get to go there but in John 20 he manifests himself to Thomas and Thomas says my Lord and my God and he says blessed are you but also in the work of Christ as the sin bearing atonement when he uses the title son of man he predominantly almost all the time is thinking not just humanity and it's more than that it's suffering sin bearing suffering and I don't I have that down here I was gonna read it but we'll stop there so please know that God's glory is revealed in Christ on the cross as well as the resurrection ascension and session and it's because what Christ is accomplishing on the cross when he says it is finished is he is suffering unto death for his people he's giving the basis for which they will be forgiven and that work that he's accomplishing in the midst of that infinite suffering is glorious it's a perfect work so there's much we could say about the love of God and then an application but for times sake let's stop there we did get some application in the midst of it and plus I have some study questions for you to think over gracious father in heaven we praise you for revealing so clearly and thoroughly your glory and the glory of the son and of the spirit we praise you for the life of our Messiah your son we praise you for his finished work and his glory and resurrection and we look forward to partaking of the new heavens the new earth glorification because Lord we will be with you we will be with you in a way that although we have in some sense now will be fulfilled and consummated in that day and we pray that you would come Lord Jesus and that all your enemies will be made your footstool and that you would finish that which has been accomplished in the application of our salvation thank you for this church and I pray that we would grow as the study continues and that our worship this morning would be in faith acceptable on your site amen.