I want to make an announcement
before we start, mainly for the folks that are,
might be watching. But I've found more and more
people don't realize that we upload our live feed after the
service, Jeff does, onto YouTube. And sometimes the live feed might
buffer, might have some other problems. But the YouTube feed
is always clean and it doesn't have any problems. So within
10 minutes after the service is over, the services, the full
service is on YouTube and there's a button on our homepage that'll
take you to that link. Okay? Did I say all that right?
I used the right language? Okay. All right. Daniel chapter 10 at verse 8. Therefore, I was left alone. We're sitting in this building
amongst family and friends and there's a good number of us here. But if the Lord speaks to our
hearts, we'll not be aware of anyone but us. We'll be left
alone with God. That's our hope, isn't it? So
easy for us to get distracted by other people and other things. Might God be pleased to pull
us aside and to reveal to us a great vision. Oh, we're not looking for the
kind of visions religious people tell them. We're looking for
that revelation of Christ made clear through the eyes of faith
in the Word of God. And there remained no strength
in me. While we were yet without strength,
without strength Christ died for the ungodly Isaiah chapter
40 verse 31 says they that wait upon the Lord shall exchange
their strength for his strength Paul said when I was weak then
I was strong for his strength is made perfect in my weakness
Daniel says I'm without strength without strength there remain
no strength in me Long as we have some ability, we'll not
know of his ability. He has to make us completely
disabled, without strength. For my comeliness, my strength,
my beauty, my ability, my comeliness was turned in me into corruption. I was deceived. in thinking that
I had something when I had nothing and I retained no strength. That's our hope this morning,
isn't it? The Lord will give us that vision, pull us aside
all by ourselves, turn our comeliness into corruption, leave us with
no strength that we might have His strength, His strength. Let's stand together. Brother
Tom, we're gonna sing number 19 in the spiral hymnal, number
19. Sovereign ruler, lord of all,
prostrate at your feet I fall. You are holy, wise, and just. I'm a creature of the dust. All things move at your command,
governed by your mighty hand. Heaven, earth, and hell I see,
Fulfill all your wise decree. Dares a man resist his Lord,
Stand against the Sovereign God? I will bow before your throne,
Seeking grace in Christ your Son. ? Through His blood and
righteousness ? ? Lord, I plead with you for grace ? ? If you
will, you can, I know ? ? Grace and mercy to me show ? ? Will
you, Lord, my soul forgive ? ? Grant this sinner grace to live ? I've
no other hope but this, Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now I'm conquered by your grace. In the dust I hide my face. Give me Christ or else I die. I upon your grace rely. ? Oh, for mercy now I plead ?
Grant me, Lord, the grace I need ? Turn, O turn to me and say
? All your sins are washed away ? In my Son your debt is paid
? He for you the ransom made Please be seated. For God's call to worship, please
turn with me to Exodus chapter 11. Exodus chapter 11 and we'll
start at verse 4. Our I've heard many times the doctor
this and doctor that intellectuals and religion have accused gospel
preachers of spiritualizing the scriptures. And I will tell Brother
Greg or anyone, if you're ever accused of that, I would say,
yes, I'm guilty and thank God that I am. Because if you don't
see Christ throughout this book, you've never saw Christ at all.
I hope as we read this we can see Christ. Verse 4, the people
of the Israelites are leaving Egypt. The Lord is preparing
them, preparing Moses. And Moses said, Thus saith the
Lord. Go with Brother Graham, that
is all we need to hear. Ok, here it is. Here is the truth. Let's
pay attention because this is what is going to happen. About
midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt. And all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh
that sits upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant
that is behind the mill. No one's going to escape this.
And all the firstborn of the beast, not only the human beings,
but the animals. And there shall be a great cry
throughout all the land of Egypt, such that there was none like
it, nor shall be like it anymore. and thankfully for the words
but against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move
his tongue against man or beast that ye may know how that the
Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. The Old Testament, what does
Egypt represent? God is going to put a difference
between His elect spiritual Israel and the law. And we are here
this morning to hear that difference declared. That difference is
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He made us to differ. We look the same physically.
We speak some of the same words. We even do some of the same actions
but let it be known right now. God has made his people to be
different. The world don't see that. I thought
real quickly, I thought, you know, people come from thousands
and thousands of miles to this area, don't they? But it is of no value eternally. If they knew the difference,
they'd be sitting in here this morning. This is where eternal
life is found. And we pray that God would be
pleased this morning to bless us. Lord, we confess to you, if not
for your sovereign grace, there would be no difference. But we
thank thee, Lord, that before the world began, you determined
to put a difference between us and this world. And we confess
that you've told us that we are strangers in this world and pilgrims
just traveling through. And we plead with you this morning,
Lord, that you would send your spirit to your servant, Brother
Greg, and wherever your people gather. Lord, that you would
speak to us through them. Give them clarity of mind and
heart. Enable them to speak, Lord. Take
their bodies and let your voice speak. And we plead with you,
Lord, as your people, Oh, God, give us the faith by your spirit
to believe. Stop us, save us, Lord, save
us from ourselves. Give us the ability to hear,
to believe and to rest and look to the Lord Jesus Christ as our
only hope. And to give our hearts the ability
to give you all of the glory. We ask this this day, we pray
especially for the lost sheep who may hear your voice through
the preaching of your gospel that this may be the day when
God reveals to them the difference. We ask it again for Christ's
name, amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Approach, my soul, the mercy
seat, where Jesus answers prayer. There humbly fall before his
feet, for none can perish there. Thy promise is my only plea,
with this I venture nigh. Thou callest burdened souls to
Thee, and such, O Lord, am I. Be thou my shield and hiding
place, that sheltered in thy side. I may my fierce accusers
face, and tell them thou hast died. O wondrous love to bleed
and die, to bear my cross of shame, that guilty sinner such
as I may plead thy gracious name. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to John chapter 12 please. John chapter 12. Yesterday morning I walked out
to the end of our driveway to get the mail and I noticed there
were police cars parked down the street and my next door neighbor
was standing there and he proceeded to tell me about this man that
I had seen, I'd never met him, 48 years old. He had bought a house in our
neighborhood and was renovating it and he had just got it finished
and was about to move his family into it. And yesterday morning,
they found him dead of a heart attack in the living room of
his home. Now, the neighbor I'm talking
to is 52 years old and he's already had a heart attack. And he said
to me, he said, aren't you shocked? I said, no. What I'm shocked
about? is that men will prepare for
their children's college funds, they will prepare for their next
vacation, they will prepare for retirement, but they won't prepare
for dying. And my neighbor said, yeah, you're
right, you're right. Most of what goes on in religion
today is for the purpose of preparing
you to live a better life, to take advantage of all the things
that this world has to offer, to be a better person. The message
of religion is to give you something to do or to affirm what you are
doing. and to say with the false prophets,
peace, peace, when there is no peace. Men have made a covenant with
death, and that covenant is based on the promise that they have
made to God, and they think they're keeping their promises, and based
on that, they don't have to worry about dying. One thing I've learned about
God's people, is that the Lord has put on their hearts a love
for Christ and a concern for their immortal souls so that
all they want to hear is about how can I be right with God. Tell me about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Tell me what He has done. I need
to know. I remember Todd saying one time
from our pulpit, he said, I love to hear preaching that makes
me sure that I'm a child of God. Well, that's the only kind of
preaching I want to hear. And the only thing that's going to
make us sure is to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in John chapter 12, there
are some Greeks, the scripture says, These were Gentiles who
were in Jerusalem and they heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and
they approached Philip. And they said to Philip, Sir,
we would see Jesus. Now that's the title of this
message. Sir, we would see Jesus. If we haven't seen Him, Well, you have your Bibles open.
I want you to notice in verse 9 of that same chapter. Much people of the Jews, you
remember what the Jews represent? The religious. Much people of
the Jews therefore knew that he was there, and they came not
for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also,
whom he raised from the dead." What a description of modern
day Christianity. They came not to see Jesus only.
They wanted to see the evidence of this miracle. They wanted
something to stimulate their curiosity. Modern-day religion
is like a three-ring circus. They got a little something going
on over here, a little something going on here, a little something
going on over there. We came not to see Jesus only,
but we came to see the miracles as well. We want to We want to
see the bearded lady. We want to see the exciting things
that are going on that stimulate our flesh. So if we get tired
of looking at one thing, we can look at something else. And so
religion today is all based on drama and choirs and music and
programs and ceremony and all those things that stimulate the
flesh. And what does the Lord say? That
which is of the flesh is flesh, and the flesh profiteth nothing."
Nothing. There's no profit to the soul
from those things which stimulate the flesh. The only thing that
profits the soul is what these Greeks said. Notice, go down
with me. You see, the truth is, that the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the true church, is the only place in the whole world
where we can see Jesus. The only place. Nothing wrong with entertaining
the flesh. We live in the entertainment
mecca of the world, don't we? Indulge yourselves in those things
if you want, that's fine. But I'm not going to waste your
time. And I don't want you to waste my time appealing to the
things of my flesh. I want you to tell me about Christ.
Tell me who He is and tell me what He's done. Don't give me
something to do. And don't show her up the covenant
that I have made with God. What does God say in Isaiah about
those covenants that man makes with God? God says, I heard your
covenant. You have a covenant with death
and with hell you're in agreement. You're not going to hell, I know.
You think everything's okay. I will disannoy your covenant.
There's only one covenant that will save. And that's not, now
covenant is a promise. The covenant that saves is not
the promise that we make to God, it's the promise that God made
to God. God the Father promised to give
His Son a bride. God the Son promised to do everything
necessary to redeem that bride and God the Holy Spirit promised.
to make everyone for whom Christ died and everyone that God chose
willing to believe on Him in the day of His power. Now that's
a promise that cannot change. That's an eternal promise of
grace. That's where we hang the hopes
of our salvation, not on promises or works that we have done, but
by His grace, by His free and sovereign grace. That promise
cannot be disannulled. The promises that we make, well,
they're just about that, aren't they? But his promises are sure
and steadfast. Verse 20, and there were certain
Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast. The
same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,
and desired him saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Now, there's
no evidence in the scriptures that the Lord Jesus Christ gave
these Greeks an audience. But he did answer their question.
He gave the answer to Philip. And Philip was to take the answer
back to them. You want to see me? This is how
you're going to see me. And nothing's changed. Nothing's
changed. If the Lord has put on our hearts
a desire to see the Lord Jesus Christ, this is how we're going
to see him. This is how we're going to experience
him. This is how we're going to know
him. Now, nothing else is said about
these Greeks, but I have a strong suspicion that these Greeks were
there on the day of Pentecost and heard Peter preach and part
of God's church. We want to see Jesus. That's
all we want to see. Don't tell us anything else.
Don't waste our time with anything else. We've got other places
we can go to have these other needs that we have met. We come
here because we have a need to see the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our only purpose for being
here. We're not here for the entertainment.
We're not here for the drama. We're not here for the programs.
We're here to hear. Isn't that what Cornelius said
when Peter went to preach the gospel to Cornelius? And Cornelius
said to Peter, he said, I've gathered together all my family
and friends to hear, H-E-A-R, We're all here, H-E-R-E, to hear,
H-E-A-R, whatever God has told you. That's why we're here. And that's why we're here. We're
here to hear, aren't we? We're here to hear because that's
the only thing that matters. I wanna know that I'm saved. I want to know Christ. This is
life eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus
Christ whom thou has sent. What did Paul say? I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them but done. Oh, I just want to know him. Might that be the prayer of our
hearts? Sir, you come next Sunday. I've already had the placard
made. I'm in the process of getting
it framed, but right there on the back wall is going to be these words, large
enough for me to see them from here. They're there for me. They're
there for me. I've got them already on the
pulpit right here. Sir, we would see Jesus. If we're going to see him, we're
going to see him first and foremost glorified. Notice in verse 23,
and Jesus answered them. He didn't give them an audience,
but he did answer their question. If they want to see me, They're
gonna have to see me glorified. Jesus answered them saying, the
hour is come that the son of man should be glorified. Let the world see their Jesus
as a pitiful beggar pleading with his creatures to let him
have his way. When God said, you thought that
I was altogether as thyself, what does religion do? Religion
makes Jesus a God who's in the heavens wringing his hands, begging
men to let him have his way. If that's the Jesus you've seen,
that's another Jesus. That's not this Jesus. That's
not the Son of God. That's a figment of your imagination. That's an idol. If you think
that Jesus is waiting for you to do something in order for
him to be able to do what he did, work, that's another Jesus. But that's the Jesus that's being
preached today. You know, you've got to make a decision. You've
got to do this. You've got to do that. You've
got to keep this law. No, the hour is come. And it is come. It is come. It's not coming, it is come,
that the Son of Man should be glorified. Our God reigns sovereign. When those disciples stood on
the Mount of Olives, gazing up into heaven, the angel came and
said, men of Galilee, why stand you here gazing up into heaven?
This same Jesus, which has been taken up from you, will come
in like manner. And when he comes again, he's
gonna be coming as a reigning sovereign, not as a suffering
servant. But what do men see Jesus as? Well, they see him as a babe
in a manger. They see him as a suffering servant. They put
him on the walls in their churches, on crosses. No, our God reigns. He's seated at the right hand
of the majesty on high. He hath done whatsoever he wills. He is a successful sovereign. And if we see him, that's how
we're going to see him, aren't we? We're going to bow to him. We're going to cast our crowns
before him. He has ascended into glory. He's seated. He's seated. How many times? The Old Testament
priests, out of all the pieces of furniture that were in the
temple, the one piece that was never there was a chair. Why?
Because their work was never over. They were sacrificing lamb
after lamb after lamb, shedding the blood until the Lamb of God,
the One who is without spot and without blemish, shed His precious
blood on Calvary's cross And God said, I see the travail of
his soul. I'm satisfied. And God raised
him from the dead and brought him back into glory. And the
Lord Jesus Christ said, I've gone to prepare a place
for you. Gone to prepare a place for you. When the Lord Jesus
Christ is, Isaiah said, God's word, would accomplish the purpose
for which it is sent. It would not return unto him
void. It would not return unto him
empty. Now that's a great comfort to
every gospel preacher who preaches God's word, believing that God's
going to make it effectual to the hearts of his people. But
don't lose sight of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is
the living word of God. He is the Word that was made
flesh that dwelt among us. We beheld His glory as the only
begotten of the Father, the One who is full of grace and full
of truth. And when He ascended back into
glory, He did not go back empty-handed. He went back with the names of
those for whom He lived and died. Todd preached that to you a couple
of weeks ago in my absence. All the blessings of God are
in the heavenlies. in Christ Jesus right now, right
now, already glorified there in Christ. He's a successful
Savior. They're asking me to see me?
Tell them that the hour is come that the Son of Man should be
glorified. We have a glorified Savior, don't
we? We don't worship a Savior that's depending on us for anything. We worship one whom we depend
upon for everything. Everything, don't we? I go and prepare a place for
you. We have a glorified savior. If
we see Jesus, and that's our only concern, That's our only
concern in being here. I pray that God will put that
on each one of our hearts. Our only concern would be to
see Jesus. If you see him, you're going
to see him glorified, reigning sovereign, interceding on behalf
of his people and waiting to that set time that the father
has given for him to return and gather together his church. and
bringing end to this world. We have a glorified Savior. Glorified. Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. Now the Lord's
answering the question. Sir, we would see Jesus. Tell
Him to look for Him glorified. Tell Him to look for Him dying
for a purpose. Except a corn of wheat fall into
the ground and die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit. Much fruit. Now, the hope of
our salvation is not believing that Jesus of Nazareth died on
a Roman cross 2,000 years ago. it is believing why he died how
that he died according to the scriptures I think there's over
3 billion people in the world right now who identify themselves
as Christian 3 billion how many of those people would say I believe
that Jesus died on Calvary's cross I believe that he's the
son of God. I believe that he raised from
the dead. I believe that he ascended into glory. How many of the people,
most of all of them, all of them would say they believe that.
How many of them have any understanding as to the fruit that he brought
forth as the result of his death? I brought this out last week.
You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration when the veil
of our Lord's humanity was taken away for just a moment and the
radiance of his deity shined forth like the noonday sun and
Peter, James, and John were forced to the ground. And Matthew and
Mark and Luke all recount this story. Matthew and Mark tell
us that Moses and Elijah were speaking with the Lord Jesus
Christ in that vision. and that unveiling of his deity. Luke tells us what they were
speaking about. And Luke says that they spake
of his decease, which he should accomplish. Now, when do we ever talk about
a person's decease being an accomplishment in the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh,
when he bowed his head on Calvary's cross, when he said, it is finished. He accomplished everything that
God required of him. Everything. I must be about my
father's business. Those are the first words that
came from his unfeigned lips at 12 years old. The first words
recorded in the word of God. Woman, did you not know? Remember
when Joseph and Mary were looking for the Lord? And after three
days they found him and they rebuked him and he said to them,
did you not know? You know who I am. Mary knew
who he was. Joseph did too. That I must be
about my father's business. What was his father's business?
To save his people? to save his people, Moses and
Elijah to fulfill the requirements of the law and to answer all
the prophecies. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he spoke with them
about, what his decease would accomplish. You shall call his
name Jesus for he shall save his people. Sir, we would see
Jesus. If we see Him, we see Him glorified. Most of the world don't see Him
glorified. They see Him having abdicated His throne to
man. The one lie that men believe
is the lie of free will, don't they? They believe, well, you
know, yeah, God is God and He's sovereign. until he comes up
against my free will. And he has sovereignly chosen
to abdicate his throne to me when it comes to the choices
that I make as to when I want to be saved. No, no. If that's the Jesus that we see,
we haven't seen the one who is. And we haven't seen the one who
has brought forth much fruit by his death. That's what he came to do. And
that was prophesied at the very beginning in the garden, wasn't
it? When God said to Adam and Eve, the seed of the woman. She thought that her firstborn
was the seed of the woman. No, he was a murderer. It was
a reference to the seed of the woman that would come. through
the lineage, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God will crush the
head of the serpent. He's going to get the victory.
He's going to deliver his people. He's going to save them by his
work of redemption. He's going to do everything that
God requires of them. He's going to do it for them.
He's going to be successful at it. So have we seen Jesus? Seen Him
glorified? Seen the fruits of His labor? The fruit of His work? The salvation
of His people? Look at verse 25. He that loveth
his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this
world shall keep it unto eternal life. Oh, I know what the world
says. Y'all just need a better self-esteem
when they hear us talk about ourselves. That's the problem
that the world has. That's not our problem. They're
esteeming themselves way too highly, aren't they? We just
read what Daniel said when he saw the Lord Jesus Christ glorified. What did Daniel say? My comeliness
was turned into corruption and I was left with no strength. Here's what happens when we see
Jesus. We see our absolute total inability to do anything to help
ourselves. We see our need for God to do
it all. Lord, I can't lift a finger to
save myself. I can't make a decision. I can't
perform a work that would be satisfactory to you. I'm completely
without strength. When Job saw the Lord Jesus Christ
through the preaching of Elihu, what was the first words out
of his mouth? Behold, that word means I see something I never
saw before. Behold, I am vile. When Isaiah saw the Lord Jesus
Christ, what did he say? Woe is me, I'm undone, I'm a
man of unclean lips. I live among a people of unclean
lips. What did Paul the Apostle say about himself? In me that
is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. To will is present with
me. But how to perform that which is good, I find not. O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me?" This is the answer that
the Lord is giving to Philip to go back and tell those Greeks.
They want to see me? Tell them. The Son of Man has
been glorified. The corn of wheat is going to
produce its fruit. And they're going to hate themselves. They're going to hate themselves. If you don't hate your sinful
nature, if you don't hate your inability to believe on God with
all of your heart and all of your mind and all of your soul,
if you don't hate your sin, you've not seen Jesus. You've not seen
Jesus. I don't know any other clearer
way to put it, but that's what the Lord said. That's what the
Lord said. God's people see themselves without
any holiness, without any righteousness, without any ability, without
any power, completely dependent upon Him for everything. And
knowing that in Him, in Him, there is power. In Him, there
is holiness. In Him, there is righteousness.
in him there is everything that God requires of them. They've
seen Jesus. Verse 26. The Lord's still answering
this question. Lord, there's some Greeks out
here that want us to talk to you. They want to see you. Tell
them this. Tell them that the hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified. Tell them that the corn of wheat
must fall into the ground and die. And in so doing, it will
bring forth much fruit. Tell them that when they see
me, they're going to hate themselves. And fourthly, verse 26, if any
man serve me, let him follow me. Where I am, there shall also
my servant be. If any man serve me, him will
my father honor. Tell him to find out where I'm
at and come to me. Oh, we were so presumptuous with
our little Jesus back in religion. We thought anywhere we went and
anything we do, he was obligated to follow us. So we would traverse land and
sea to make one disciple and turn him into twice the devil
that we were ourselves. That's what we did. Why? Because
we had a little Jesus that was trailing us. He was following
along behind us and he was putting his blessings on everything we
did. The Lord says, you want to see
me? Find out where I am and there you will be. Now where is that? How do I know if I've seen the
Lord Jesus Christ? Because I know where he's at.
I know where he's at. I know that in the preaching
of the gospel he's pleased to make himself known. I know that
when he's lifted up in the preaching of the gospel, there I will be
drawn to him. I know he inhabits the praise
of his people. I know that he walks among the
candlesticks in Zion. I know He is where two or three
are gathered together in His name. There He is in the midst
of them, and I just want to be where He's at. I just want to
be where He's at. If we've seen Jesus, we'll find
out where He is, and then we'll get where He is. It's not any
more complicated than that. We won't have our little Jesus
on a leash following behind us, getting him to do what we want
him to do. Where else is the Lord Jesus
Christ? Where else is He? He's in His Word. He's in His
Word. He makes Himself known by His
Word. He's not in the clouds. He's
not on the license plates. He's not speaking through visions
and dreams, He reveals Himself in His Word. I want to know what
God's Word says about the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus saith the
Word of God, thus saith the Lord. Don't give me an opinion. Tell
me what God says. Verse 27, the Lord is still answering
this question. Now is my soul troubled, and
what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour?
But for this cause came I unto this hour." For this cause. What was his
cause? What was his cause? His cause
was to glorify his father. His cause was perfect obedience
to the covenant of grace that He made with His Father in eternity
past. His cause was to save His people. His cause was to satisfy the
demands of the law and put away their sins once and for all.
That was His cause. And He says, is my soul troubled? Yeah. Am I going to run from
this? What was his cause? We hear him
in the garden of Gethsemane, father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be nevertheless, not my will,
but I will be done. And his cause was to drink down
to the bitter dregs of God's wrath, the sins of his people
and satisfy the demands of God's justice. That was his cause.
Nevertheless, not my will, but I will be done. His cause was
to obey God. For this cause came I into the
world. He set his face like a flint
towards Jerusalem. His cause was to save his people,
to lay down his life for the sheep. His cause was not to make
an offer of salvation that man could accept or reject. His cause
was to satisfy God's demands and save a particular people.
And he did just that. He did just that. His first words,
what did we say they were? Did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? And what were his last words?
What were his last words recorded before he bowed his mighty head
and gave his spirit the ability to leave? It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit." In total confidence that he had done exactly what
God had sent him to accomplish, he commended his spirit unto
his father. Have you seen Jesus? Oh, that
we could see him like this. This is the only hope of salvation
we have. He's the only, that's why he
said, I'm the way, I'm the truth and I'm the life. No man can
come to the Father except by me. There's no hope anywhere
else outside of me. Look at verse 28 and I finish.
Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from
heaven saying, I have both glorified it and I will glorify it again. John chapter 17 verse 4, I have
glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, O father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. If we see Jesus, we'll see that
every part of salvation is to His glory. We'll not rob Him
of any of His glory. We'll see that in election, He's
glorified. In creation, He's glorified. In redemption, He's glorified. In adoption, He's glorified. In sanctification, Now that's
where the reformers take the glory of Christ away, don't they?
They say, well, yeah, God did it all to save us, but now we
got to do our part to be sanctified. And when sanctification, he that
sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all as one, he
gets all the glory. And in glorification, he gets
all the glory, doesn't he? Let him, turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1, and I'll close. 1 Corinthians 1. Here's a summary
of everything we've been saying. Might God put it on each of our
hearts and might he enable me and whoever else stands in this
pulpit to say, sir, we would see Jesus in his glory, in his
accomplished work, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 27,
and God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound
the wise. The worldly wise can't understand
this. They think we're a bunch of ignoramuses. They really do. They think, as
I said in the first hour, we're some sort of backwoods Neanderthals
believing the Bible and the miracles of God are true. Don't you know
that science is the source of authority? Have you not been
educated? This is not for the wise. Father, I thank thee that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Are you willing to be accused of being without wisdom? I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise. I will bring nothing to the understanding of the prudent.
God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the
things that are mighty, those things which have no power and
the base things and the things that are despised have God chosen,
yea, the things which are not to bring to naught the things
that are. When the Lord Jesus Christ is
pleased to make himself known, you're just not intimidated by
the accusations that the world makes. God brings to naught those things
that the world thinks are wise. You see the things that the world
says are wise as foolishness. Verse 29, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. We are the true circumcision.
to worship God in the spirit and believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and have no confidence in the flesh. But of him, that
first pronoun is the father, but of him, the father, are you
in Christ Jesus? It's the father that puts you
in Christ Jesus. When did he do that? Eternity
past. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, redemption, that according as
it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Have you seen Jesus? He's a glorified
savior who accomplished the work of redemption and successfully
obeyed the demands of the father. When we see him, we hang all
the hopes of our immortal soul on him so that when that appointed
hour comes, when that appointed hour comes, we'll be prepared
to meet him in all of his glory, see him as he is, and be made
like him. Oh, what a day that'll be. Just
like for my neighbor, It's coming, it's coming, isn't it? What a glorious day, what glorious
hope. Our merciful Heavenly Father, oh, how we need Thy Spirit in
order for us to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Give us eyes of
faith. Cause us, Lord, to believe on
Him. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 311 in the hardback temple,
let's stand number 311. We're going to change three words
in that last middle of the fourth verse where it says, dying, risen,
pleading, rightly understood pleading, God the Son pleading
with God the Father, it's okay, but let's just change those three
words from dying, risen, pleading, to risen, interceding. We would see Jesus for the shadows
lengthen across the little landscape of our life. We would see Jesus Our weak faith
to strengthen, For the last weariness, the final strive. We would see Jesus, the great
rock foundation, where on our feet were set by sovereign grace,
not life nor death with all their agitation can thence remove us
if we see his face. We would see Jesus ? Other lights are paling ? Which
for long years we have rejoiced to see ? The blessings of our
pilgrimage are failing We would not mourn them, for we go to
thee. We would see Jesus, this is all
we're needing. Strength, joy, and willingness
come with the sight. We would see Jesus risen interceding,
then welcome day and farewell mortal night. Thank you.