Let's look at John chapter 13
again. And I want to just especially
note a few phrases from John 13. The title of my message is
From Glory to Glory. From Glory to Glory. In verse
1, you notice in the middle part of the verse that his hour was
come that he should depart out of this world and in verse 3
the latter part of the verse he says that he was come from
God and went to God he had come from God to this earth he was
going to go back to God verse 4 right in the middle of
the verse It says, and he laid aside his garments. Here's an illustration. He came,
he laid aside, we'll see this in just a moment, he laid aside
his garments. And then in verse 12, in the
middle of the verse, and had taken his garments, he put them
on again. In the meantime, when he laid
aside his garments, he put on a towel. From his garments, to a towel,
and to his garments again. From glory to earth, to glory
again. And that's basically what I want
to talk about tonight for the next few minutes. In John chapter
17, the Lord was praying and He was talking about the glory
that He had had with the Father before the world was. And then He says He wants His
people, those the Father had given Him, to be with Him that
they may behold His glory. He's in His glory now. We know something of the glory
of God because you remember Moses said, show me thy glory. And
what the Lord did was put him on the rock and then put him
in the cleft of the rock, put his hand over him, passed by,
and he saw the aftermath, the hinder parts, he saw the aftermath
of what it looked like when God passed through. And then he said,
this was his glory, that he will have mercy on whom he'll have
mercy. He'll be gracious to whom he'll
be gracious. He'll be compassionate to whom
He will be compassionate. That's His glory. That's the
glory of God that we experience with Him right now. Mary and
Martha, He told them that if they would be patient, they would
see the glory of God. And He stood before that tomb,
after He told the men to open it up, and He called, Lazarus,
come forth! And the glory of God, a dead
man comes to life. That's grace. A dead man comes
to life. That's mercy. A dead man comes
to life. That's compassion. That's his
glory. They saw the glory of God. Paul said it this way in 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. He said, For ye know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be
rich. And we are enriched tonight,
aren't we? We've been enriched by His grace. We've been enriched
by being together here. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
2. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Paul writes to us beginning in
verse 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. What was his mind? Well here
it is. being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. He took upon him the form of
a servant, Do you remember Isaiah said, behold my servant, mine
elect? Well, that's repeated by the
Lord by Matthew when he talks about our Lord in Matthew chapter
12. Hold your place there. We're
coming back to Philippians chapter 2, but go to Matthew chapter
12. Matthew chapter 12, go down to
verse 18. Matthew writes for us to see
our Lord. Behold my servant whom I have
chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will
put my spirit upon him and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry,
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and a smoking flax shall he not quench,
till he send forth judgment unto victory. Don't you like that
phrase? Till he send forth judgment unto victory. And that's who
he is, he's the victor. He's the almighty. He is the
servant. He took upon him the form of
a servant. The Lord of glory left his glory
and became a servant. Not only that, he was, back to
Philippians chapter 2, he was made in the likeness of man. He left his glory, God himself. God became man. He came in the
likeness of man. He says in Hebrews chapter 10,
a body thou hast prepared for me. That holy one, Mary was told,
that holy thing that is in thee. That Holy One, that's who He
is. When we see Him coming to this
earth, it's God Almighty, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords
in a little baby. That's why Simeon said, I have
seen the salvation, thy salvation, when he looked upon that eight-day-old
infant. I have seen thy salvation. He was made in the likeness of
men. He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,
it says here. He came to be the substitute
for us. Can you imagine? God Almighty,
God who does what He will, when He will, where He will, to whom
He will, however He wants, He does it. substituted himself for sinful
man, for his people. He was obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. No wonder In Revelation
it says He was the Lamb of God from the foundation of the world. Spotless, sinless, perfect from
the foundation of the world. And He's the one who bore the
sins of His people. He was made to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He bore all the sins of all His
people for all time. He didn't miss a one. If he would
have missed one of them, which one would he have missed? If
he would have missed one of them, would have been one of mine.
If he would have missed one of them, there would have been absolutely
no hope for me. But he didn't miss a one. Not
one. He was the once for all offering
for us. Once for all Hebrews hold your
place again in Philippians chapter 2 we're coming back Hebrews chapter
9 Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 Let's begin
with verse 24 Hebrews 9 Verse 24, For Christ has not
entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the
figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as a high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others, For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this to judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin. unto salvation chapter
10 verse 10 he says by the which will that's
verse 9 then said he lo I come to do thy will O God verse 10
by the which will we are sanctifying through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once For all's in italics, you can
have it there, it doesn't make any difference. But just say
it once. He did it once. That's all it
took. Verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins, how long? Forever. Forever. Verse 14. For by one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. You see, He's the one, He bore
all the sins of all His people for all time. The sins of His people are paid
for. The blood has covered them. He has redeemed them. They are forgiven. Back to Philippians chapter 2. He's the God-man eternally. Verse
9. Here's his exaltation. After
all this, now look. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, things in heaven
and in earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father God
has highly exalted him as a matter of fact so highly exalted that
at his right hand he's seated his own son he's seated at the
right hand of God He so highly exalted him that he gave him
a name which is above every name. We call him the Lord Jesus Christ
or Jesus Christ our Lord. What a name. Lord, to whom we
bow and surrender. Jesus, our salvation. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Christ, the
anointed one, the anointed prophet, the anointed king, the anointed
priest. Every knee shall bow to him.
That's how exalted he is. Every tongue will confess that
he is Lord. Now you can do it now. He calls,
come to me. He calls, believe on me. He says,
whosoever, you put your name in there, will call upon the
name of the Lord, shall be saved. Is that whosoever you? And he says that this is to the
glory of God the Father. One time our Lord said, Father
glorify thy name. And the Father spoke from heaven,
I have glorified it and will glorify it again. My son, my
son, I have glorified it and I will glorify You see, He gets
all the glory. From beginning to end, He gets
all the glory. All that is just an introduction
to get to where I wanted to go. I wanted you to see His humiliation. How He humbled Himself. I wanted
you to see how God the Father exalted Him. But here in, as we read in John
chapter 13, he discarded his garments, he put on a towel,
and then after he had washed the disciples' feet, he put his
garments on again. I got to thinking about that.
While he was here on earth, there's some clothing that tell us many
things that our Lord Jesus Christ did for us. But first I want
us to go to Revelation chapter 1. Revelation chapter 1. You see, our Lord in His glory
was clothed in righteousness and holiness. Revelation chapter
1 beginning verse 12. John says, And I turned to see
the voice that spake with me, and being turned I saw seven
golden candlesticks, and in the midst of the seven candlesticks
one likened to the Son of God, clothed with a garment down to
the foot, and girded about the paps, With a golden girdle, his
head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow,
and his eyes were a flame of fire, and his feet like a divine
brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of
many waters." What a picture. What a picture. One of these
days, I'm going to see that. Just like John did. I'll have
to go over there to be with Him. That sounds good to me too. To
be with my Lord for all eternity. And to see Him in His glory. To see Him with that clothed
with a garment down to the foot. around his perhaps a golden girdle,
his hair like white as wool, white as snow, his eyes a flame
of fire, his feet like a divine brass. What a picture we have
here. John saw what our Lord looked
like in his glory. But so did Peter, James, and John before
that. They went up on a place that
we call the Mount of Transfiguration. Our Lord called them to go with
Him, and they went up there, and He was transfigured before
them. And in Matthew 17, it says that
His clothes were white as light. Mark chapter 9 says, His raiment
became shining, exceeding white as snow, as no fuller on earth
can white them. Pure, righteous, holy. One of these days we'll see Him
as He is. And you know what? We'll be clothed
in His righteousness and holiness. We'll be clothed just like him. Well, he was clothed in righteousness
and holiness. That's what his garments of glory
look like. Turn to Psalm 45. Psalm 45. In Psalm 45, God the Father describes
His Son. Verse 2, Psalm 45, Thou art fairer
than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips.
Therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon
thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty write prosperously,
because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right
hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king's enemy, whereby the people fall under
thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
the right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness, hatest
wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh
and aloes and cassia. Out of the ivory palaces whereby
they have made thee glad. What a picture of Christ in his
glory. But he became a man. Another
picture. Go with me back to Mary and Joseph. A taxi was made. They had to
go to their home cities. Joseph was of Bethlehem. They had to go into Bethlehem.
Mary was great with child. They got into Bethlehem and could
find no room. So they stayed in a stable. That night, the Lord Jesus was
born. and she wrapped him in swaddling
clothes. The glory of the majesty we've
just learned about, how glorious he was, and we have not even
touched the surface, how glorious he was, there he
lays, in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. If you would, rags. Maybe even horse blankets. These
were some of the interpretations of the word that's used for swaddling
clothes. The Lord of glory came to this earth and they wrapped him in swaddling
clothes. That's all these poor people had. Aren't you glad he
came to the poor? He didn't come to a king's palace. He came to a poor family. Just
like he still does today. He comes to the poor in spirit.
The people who are impoverished. Whose sins have destroyed them.
And when they see that, all they can think of is, I'm a great
sinner. but he's an almighty savior almighty
savior this speaks of his incarnation his virgin birth the virgin shall conceive Isaiah
said and bring forth a son and thou shall call his name Emmanuel
God with us that's who he was A son is given to cover what's
going to be upon his shoulders. His name is going to be called
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. Gray is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. 33 years he walked this earth. And according to Paul and Romans,
in due time, he died for the undaunted. He had one reason of coming.
Didn't matter so much that he was born in a stable. Didn't
matter so much that he was born with swaddling clothes wrapped
around him. What mattered was why he came.
He came for your sakes. He came for my sake. He came
as the only salvation that man would have. Then the next time
I noticed was in what we read here in John chapter 13 and he
laid aside his glorified garments of eternity and he came to this
earth and placed himself in space and time and he took upon him
a towel. And after he had washed his disciples'
feet, he was again a servant. I then be your Lord and Master.
You said that right, he said to his disciples. But learn what
I've done. Oh, it's not the washing of feet. Years ago, I went to a church
called the Free Will Baptist Church. And they washed each
other's feet. after they had washed and scrubbed
and cleaned out toenails before they ever got there. But they
washed each other's feet. They said that was an ordinance. This is not an ordinance. This
is not an ordinance. He didn't expect us to wash one
another's feet. What he was was teaching a lesson.
You're clean everywhere. If the Lord Jesus Christ has
called you and delivered you, you're clean everywhere, but
you walk in this world. I don't guess it's feasible to
be here at church with God's people all the time, but that's
when we feel the best and enjoy the best. As soon as we walk
out those doors and we get into the world, we start getting dirty so that's why he said if we confess
our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness now are you clean through the
word which I have spoken unto you he said to his disciples he was that servant think about those garments There was a lady who had an issue
of blood for 18 years. Spent everything she had on doctors. She had nothing left. She heard
that Jesus Christ was passing that way, and there was a crowd
of folk there. But she wormed her way in, squeezed
her way in, and said to herself, if I could touch but the hem
of his garment, And she squeezed her way in and
she touched the hem of his garment and she was made whole. When I think about that I think,
oh if I could just touch the hem of his garment. If I could
just touch, I mean that would be enough. On somebody else he's
spitting and made the blind eye see. Well I wouldn't mind that
either. If that would help me to see,
yes it will. Oh, if I could just touch, that
would be enough. Then he was clothed at his crucifixion
and death. They parted his garments amongst themselves. You remember that woven garment
from top to bottom without a seam? Evidently that was precious to
those soldiers gambling at the bottom, at the foot of the cross.
They had taken off his garment. There he was stripped naked. He says in Hebrews chapter 12
verse 2, that for the joy that was set before him, he endured
the cross, despising the shame. What a spectacle these people
were looking at. Cheering, crucifying him and
finally got him on the tree. Let him call on God if God will
have him. There's something wrong with
this man. We'll not have this man to reign over us. We'll kill
him. People are doing the same thing
today. Emotionally, mind, All kinds of books written against
so-called atheists, popping up and telling people there is no
God. But they parted his garments
among them, they stripped him naked and he substituted himself. That's why he was there, for
your sakes. Those garments were taken away
from him. for your sake. You remember they also, before
they got him to the cross, they put a scarlet robe on him, put
a crown of thorns on his head, put a reed in his hands, and
they mocked, bowing before him, and called him the king of the
Jews. And then they started hitting
him. They took the robe away. And
they drove those thorns into his brow. He did it for your sakes. That's
why he came. That's why he came. Then you remember, they took
him off the cross. They laid him in Joseph of Arimathea's
new tomb. They wound him with linen clothes. From head to foot. put spices on the linen, on the
linens, and they left him inside that tomb. They pulled that stone
against the tomb. As a matter of fact, some of
the Jews said, well, he told the disciples that he'd come
out of that tomb. Three days. Set a guard. So they set a guard. Pilate said, well you've got
soldiers yourself, have your own soldiers go out there. The
Lord put them to sleep. And he came out of that tomb. The angels rolled the stone away,
he came out of that tomb. And they came, Peter and John
came running to see what had happened after they were told
that Jesus was not in the tomb. Mary even said, I talked to him. Do you remember Mary? She said, what, she's supposed
to be the gardener? I said, where have you laid him? I'll go get him, I'll go take
care of him. And he said, Mary. So I had to say, Mary. And she knew exactly who it was.
She ran, told the disciples, Peter and John ran there. They looked inside and what they
found inside was the linen clothes were laid out flat. And what they had wrapped around
his head was laying in another place. He was alive. He was alive. His death, burial, and resurrection
mean a lot to us, doesn't it? The scripture tells us. And then,
right after that, he ascended to his father. Cloud received
him out of the disciples' sight. He was clothed in his glory. Flesh and bone body is what he
said. Don't have a flesh and blood body, have a flesh and
bone body. And by the way, that body is
going to be seen for all eternity. He's clothed in eternal glory,
clothed in majesty. He went back to be with his Father,
the God-man who, glorious before the foundation of the world,
glorious from His resurrection and His ascension on. That's who we're talking about.
He's seated at the right hand of the Father. Salvation has
been accomplished. It is finished. There's not one
thing left to do. If you did it, you'd mess it
up. It wouldn't be grace. It'd be worse. Salvation is accomplished. The
Father is satisfied. Oh, he's satisfied with his son. And because he's satisfied with
his son, he's satisfied with the sons that his own son is
bringing the glory. They look at him. Father looks at him. And he sees us just like him. Just like Him. He's the once
for all offering, the ransom, the payment for all of our sins.
The sheep are accepted in the Lord, in Christ. All authority
is given to Him, right now. He gives eternal life to whomever
He will. All that He would give eternal
life here, He gives eternal life to whomever He will. He intercedes. He's there sitting at His throne,
and He's interceding for His people. He's praying for us. And don't you think God will
hear His prayer? Don't you think the Father would hear His prayer?
As a matter of fact, when we pray, He intercedes for us when
we pray. Because we don't know how to
pray as we ought. So we make our feeble prayers.
Brad and I were talking about it the other day. Public prayer. I've never cared really for public
prayer. Now we have to do it, I know.
But isn't there a lot of pride and jibber jabber in public prayer? But we have one that takes that
prayer, and because our sins are all forgiven, past, present,
future, he takes that prayer and he makes it perfect to his
Father. What a glorious God we have in
Jesus Christ. All authority is given unto Him.
He makes the Gospel call. And when he makes the call, people
come. I remember the day or whatever
time it was that the Lord said, son, it's time for you to quit
believing these old free will and religious ways and know the
truth. And he told me the truth. Pastor
got up here and preached the truth time and time and time
again. And finally, I called Peggy and
I said, Peggy, I've learned something. She said, what is it? And I said,
I've learned that God is sovereign and does what he wants. And that
I'm a sinner and I'm dependent on him. I have to have him. I have to
have him. Turn with me to one more passage,
Hebrews chapter 6. He's clothed in eternal glory,
clothed in majesty, Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6 go down to
verse 17 verse 17 we're in God willing more abundantly to show
under the airs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
to have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. I like that,
don't you? We've got a hope that's the anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth in that within
the veil. What hope is that? It's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the one that entered in
the veil for us. Verse 20, Whither the forerunner
for us is entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. Why did he do that? For your
sakes. For my sake. For his people. For his sheep. Who are loved
with an everlasting love. From glory in time to glory. Heavenly Father, thank you for
who you are. What you have done for us in
that wonderful covenant of grace. And by your sovereign free grace,
your son came to be surety, our forerunner, unchangeable,
forgiving our sins, the majestic one, limited himself to time
and space, and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Oh,
how thankful we are. for a God who is sovereign, a
God who is in control, a God who knows us, and thankful Lord
for a God who is merciful and gracious to us. Your people. Bless your people tonight and
throughout the week. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and sing a stanza
or two of amazing grace, and then we'll be dismissed. But
Larry Criss will be with us on Sunday, looking forward to that.