Would you turn back to Luke chapter
18? Verse 31, Then he took unto him
the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
And all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and
spitted on. And they shall scourge him, and
put him to death. And the third day he shall rise
again. Now this is one of at least three
different occasions that the Lord told his disciples about
what was going to take place with him. He was going to Jerusalem,
he was going to be put to death, and the third day he would be
raised from the dead. Now apparently the disciples
either were not listening Or they didn't really believe what
the Lord said because they should have been there waiting at the
tomb for him to come out three days later. He told them in no
uncertain terms that that is exactly what would take place. Now look what verse 34 says after
he made this statement. It says, and they understood
none of these things. And this saying was hid from
them. Neither knew they the things
which were spoken. Now they heard this simple gospel
truth and they didn't understand. They had this hid from them.
Who hid it? God did. It was not yet manifest
to them. Now one day would be, but not
yet. and they did not understand any
of this. And Mark's account says they
were afraid to ask him about it. They heard these things and
it, wow, I can almost hear Peter saying to John, what did the
Lord mean by that? I have no idea. They did not
understand this statement. Now what the Lord says is the
most basic gospel truth. Look at verse 31 again. Then
he took unto him the twelve, and said, Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning
the Son of man shall be accomplished. Now he was going to Jerusalem
to die. Once again, Mark's account of
this same passage of scripture tells us that when he was headed
toward Jerusalem, the disciples were so amazed and afraid, because
they knew that if the Lord went into Jerusalem, he was going
to be in trouble. Everybody there hated him. They didn't understand
that this was why he came to die, and they were scared to
death. If we go with him, we'll die too. Everybody's against
him. And they were very nervous at the thought of going to Jerusalem.
But the Lord said, all things that are written concerning me
shall be accomplished. Now, don't you love the prominence
and the preeminence of the Bible in the gospel? I do. All things that are written shall
be accomplished. I'm so thankful that we have
this book that we call the Word of God. Somebody says, do you
really believe that this Bible, this book, is the inspired, inerrant
Word of God, God-breathed? I do. I do. I believe it with
all my heart, and I don't have any trouble believing either.
Somebody says, well, how can you believe something like that?
Well, if God's all-powerful, He is able to preserve his word. I have no problems with that
at all. I believe the Bible is the word of God and I believe
all things that are written shall be accomplished. Oh, once again,
I'm so thankful for the scripture. What a glorious book. It speaks
of our glorious Lord. And the scripture, he says in
verse 32, for he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles. Who delivered him? God did. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. God delivered him over
to the Gentiles. I love that scripture in Romans
8, verse 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not also with him
freely give us all things? Now, why did the Father deliver
him up? Remember, these are the most
basic truths of the gospel. Why did the Father deliver him
up to the Gentiles to suffer and die? Romans 4.25 says, He
was delivered for our offenses. He was delivered for our offenses. This is His great work of substitution. My offenses, what a name for
sin. My offenses became His offenses. He became guilty of the very
sins that I've committed in thought, word, and deed. My sinful nature,
He became guilty of all those sins and He was delivered up
for our offenses. This is the great work of substitution.
And because of that, he, the son of God, the scripture says,
and the Lord tells his disciples, he shall be mocked, he shall
be spitefully entreated, and spit it on. Now that's the act
of utter contempt in it, isn't it? When someone actually spits
on somebody. They cleared their throats and
they spit in his face. And they shall scourge him, beat
him with a cat of nine tails, and put him to death. And in
Mark's account, he tells them what exactly kind of death it
would be. The death of the cross. The crucifixion. They shall crucify
him. And they all knew what crucifixion
meant. That was the Roman means of killing the basest of criminals. But all these things were hid
from them. Now what does this tell us when
we read where the Son of God shall be shamefully entreated
and spit it on and scourged and crucified? Well, first of all,
in this we see the utter contempt of men toward the Son of God. Now I want you to listen to this. When you go to work in the morning
or go to school or whatever it is you're doing, you're going
to be around people who actually in their hearts hate Jesus Christ. Now they may not hate the Christ
of their own making that they feel comfortable with, but the
Christ of the Bible, men hate. And if you love him, there was
a time when you hated him. You don't anymore because of
the grace of God. But understand this, this is
what men think of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one time men were
allowed to do what they wanted to do, and all restraint was
removed, they killed him. They nailed him to a cross. And
please understand, this is how bad you and I are by nature. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that about yourself? And so, if God left me or you
to ourselves and let us do what we wanted to do, we would be
one of those people killing the Son of God. Now, I also see in
these statements by our Lord how God views sin. Now, you think about the way
the Lord was treated. He was scourged. He was spit
upon. He was crucified. He was hated. God delivered him
up to this because this is what God thinks of sin. When sin was
found in Christ, the sins of God's elect became his sins.
God didn't turn his eye or his face. Now, how many times when
you should have punished your children and you should have
done something about what they were going to do, you just turned
your head? You didn't want to deal with the difficulty and
the problems that would cause you, and it's your kid. You didn't
want to. You turned your head. But you know that God refused
to turn his head. When sin was found on his son,
God killed him. Because God hates sin, and all
sin must be punished. That's the God of the Bible. That's the living God. The God
who punishes all sin, even if it's found in His Son. No mercy. You know, when the Lord cried
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It's because
he really was forsaken by God. He was left to himself. He bore all the wrath of God. So all that stuff we're reading
about the men did, these were men in God's hand and God caused
this to happen. And this shows the unspeakable
love of God towards sinners. that He would give His Son for people like me and you. That
is the unspeakable, indescribable love of God towards sinners. And then our Lord said in verse
33, that he shall rise again. Yes, he was delivered for our
offenses, but he was raised again for our justification. Now, who
is he that condemneth? I love the way Paul says this,
you know, you watch him. I'm a big sports fan. You know
that I'd always irritates me in a way how, particularly in
football games, how after a big play, they'll start taunting
the other players. You've seen him do that. Go on, bring it on. You
try to the taunt, the taunt. Well, you know, Paul is kind
of taunting here. When he says, who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? God justified them. Who is he
that could condemn? Come on, bring it on. It's Christ
that died. I've got an answer to you. Yea,
rather that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And what a glorious justification
this is. There is therefore now no condemnation. Right now, there is no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. He'll rise again. You see, this
is the stuff of faith. Even the thief understood this.
The thief on the cross who there was hanging there, seeing the
Lord, and somehow he knew who the Lord was. He knew he was
the Lord. And he said, Lord, remember me. when you come back in your kingdom.
You're not going to stay dead. You're going to rise from the
dead. You must be victorious. Remember me when you come back. Now, look
at Luke's assessment of the disciples' understanding. In verse 34, like
I said, we've been given the very basic gospel truths. The
scriptures, Christ's life, Christ's death, Christ's resurrection,
What it means, we've been given the most elementary, basic gospel
truths, and verse 34 says, and they understood none of these
things. And this saying was hid from
them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. Now, we know
they came to understand, but here's my question. When is it
that I understand? Not when is it that I have the
facts, because they had the facts. When is it that I understand? When is it that I hear with hearing
ears? When is it that when I hear,
I'm actually exercising saving faith with a God-given understanding? Because what the Lord said was
unmistakable. They didn't understand, they
didn't know, it was hid from them. When is it that a man truly
understands when he's hearing the gospel? Well, turn with me
to John chapter 12, verse 16. These things What all the Lord
had said in John chapter 12, this was shortly before his death,
these things understood not his disciples at the first. He would
say things, whoop, they didn't have any idea what he's talking
about. No matter how plain and clear it would be, they didn't
understand. You know, this is a reminder
to us that any true understanding only comes by revelation. If
I understand anything, it's because Christ has revealed it to me. But look at this statement again.
These things understood not his disciples at the first, but,
look at these next four words, when Jesus was glorified. When Jesus was glorified, then
remembered they that these things were written of him, and that
they had done these things unto him. Now, there is no understanding
apart from some understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ being
glorified. Now, the glory of Christ is the
end of all things. Amen. That is God's purpose. If I'm forgiven, it's to glorify
His Son. If I'm saved, it's to glorify
His Son. God's agenda, God's purpose,
God's end in all things is the glory of His dear Son. And everything is means to that
end. The glory of Christ is the reason
for all things and everything. Now, there's a book out recently,
and they even named it a movie, about Stephen Hawking, The Theory
of Everything. And physicists are trying to come up with a
E equals MC squared, something like that, some kind of formula
that explains the origin of the universe and explains everything.
Everything can be understood in this one theory. Well, I got
that. I got that. Everything is done for the glory
of Christ. I know that. And it's that simple. Everything is done for the glory
of Christ. And there's no understanding,
there's no manifestation or uncovering, there's no true knowledge without
this, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, when Jesus was glorified. Now, what is glory? That's a hard word to define,
isn't it? What is glory? Well, the word
is also translated dignity, honor, worship, and praise. The glory of Christ. the dignity
of Christ, the honor of Christ, the worship of Christ, the praise
of Christ. Christ is said to be the brightness
of God's glory and the express image of his person. And when
Peter recounts the transfiguration, when the glory of Christ's divinity
bursts through his humanity, Peter says he received from the
Father honor and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from that excellent glory, this is my beloved son, in whom
I am well pleased. John said, we beheld his glory. the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. You will remember
Moses' request in Exodus chapter 33 where he's interceding for
the children of Israel because of that great sin of the golden
calf with the Lord. And at one point he says, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. Now he'd seen the parting of
the Red Sea. He'd seen the smitten rock. He'd
seen manna come from heaven. He'd seen the giving of the law.
He'd seen all these things, yet he says, I've not seen your glory. I beseech you, show me your glory. What a request. And God answered
his quest. He said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you. I proclaim the name of the Lord
before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And
I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And God says, that
is my glory. I have heard people deal with
the sovereignty of God and the dispensation of his grace, him
saving whom he will and passing by whom he will. And they said,
well, that's true, but it's a doctrine of secondary importance. It's
not something that needs to be brought out in the forefront.
Well, when the glory of God becomes a doctrine of secondary importance,
I'll believe that. But you and I know that God's
glory is his great end in all things. Now, the glory spoken
of in our text is not his essential glory. Now, he had an essential
glory before he came into this world as the son of God, because
of his relationship with his father, because of the dignity
of his person. He's God, the second person of
the blessed Trinity. But the glory spoken of in John
12, 16 is an achieved glory. a glory that he wouldn't have
had unless he had come and finished the work the Father gave him
to do. He said in John chapter 17 verse
4, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished. Oh, I love that. I have finished. I have completed. I have accomplished
the work thou gavest me to do. How glorious. That means my salvation
was finished before I was ever born. And that excludes any kind
of works on my part. And I love it that way. I delight
in that. He said, I've glorified thee
on the earth. I finished the work you gave
me to do. We read in John 7 39 of Jesus not yet being glorified. This took place because Jesus
was not yet glorified. Well, He had His essential glory,
but the glory He achieved as the Savior of sinners had not
yet been accomplished. But when He said, It is finished,
the Father was glorified, and His glory was achieved, and all
the elect were completely saved. Now listen to this scripture.
As a matter of fact, turn with me. Turn with me here to Hebrews chapter
10. I want you to look at this with me. Verse 11, and every priest standeth. One article of furniture that
was not in the tabernacle was a chair. You know why? Because the priest's work was
never finished, never. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering times, oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now that is His glory, His achievements,
His completed work on Calvary's tree in behalf of His people. In His work of salvation, He
gets all the glory. and absolutely none goes to me
or to you. And if you're a believer, you
like it that way. You love it that way. Our salvation
was a means to this end, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence we read in 2 Corinthians
4, verse 4, of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, or the gospel
of the glory of Jesus Christ. And we read in 2 Corinthians
4, 6, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the
darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, the Scriptures,
the wicked treatment of Christ by men, the crucifixion, His
resurrection cannot be understood unless we see His glory in these
things, His honor. His worship, His praise, His
dignity. Truly we are saved to the praise
of the glory of His grace. Now I'm gonna make this statement,
and I dare say many of you will disagree with this because you'll
think that it ought to be you, but I really believe this from
the very depths of my heart. I believe in glory. I will be
the greatest instance, the greatest example of just how much salvation
has to be all of grace. I believe that about myself.
I believe I'll be the greatest example of someone who truly,
Christ gets all the glory in that man's salvation. There's
nothing he can glory in. I believe I'll be the greatest
instance of salvation by grace. Now I know I've got some people
who would argue with me about that. They'd say, no, I am. Well,
we can have this argument. That's a good argument to have.
Paul said he was the chief of sinners. No, Paul, you're wrong
there. You're wrong there. You didn't
know me. And that's the way every believer feels. He gets all the
glory in salvation. And listen to this. Faith, repentance,
and love are all vitally connected with his glory. Romans 4.20 says,
Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Now that's the very stuff of
faith, believing that he is able and nothing else is needed. And
the scripture says that glorified God. What about repentance? We read in Revelation 16 verse
9 where they repented not to give him glory even after they
were scorched with flame from heaven. They repented not to
give him the glory. You know something an unbeliever
will never do? He'll never have a change of mind about the glory
of Christ. He's always going to think, I've
got some glory coming somewhere. But when God saves somebody,
they're given a change of mind. a complete change of mind and
they give Him all the glory. Psalm 2911 puts it this way,
in His temple doth everyone speak of His glory. That's just the
way it is with God's people. Now you've understood, you've
had the gospel revealed to you, You come to know when you personally
glory in the Lord. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. Verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren,
How that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. And you know that's true today
just like it was then. I don't know, there may be some,
but I don't know many professional athletes or movie stars or politicians
that are famous and well-known who believe the gospel of God's
grace. I'm not saying there's not any. There certainly could
be. I don't know. But the Bible says there's not
many. As a matter of fact, there was one woman who said, I'm very
thankful for the word, the letter M. I'm glad it said not many
because what if it said not any? She was a very wealthy woman.
And she said, I'm very thankful for the word M. But still, this
is the case. Not many wise men after the flesh.
Not many mighty. Not many noble are called. But, verse 27, God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which
are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are nothing. How do you define nothing? Can you put it in a box? Can
you label it? Nothing. That one who has nothing. God hath chosen the things which
are not to bring to naught things that are that no flesh should
glory in his presence. But of him are you. in Christ Jesus. Doesn't tell us when we were
placed in Christ Jesus. It tells us of Him we are in
Christ Jesus. This eternal union with the Son
of God. What amazing grace that God would
cause me to be in His Son, in the Beloved, excepted am I. That's the only place I want
to be found, is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, He says, that no
flesh should glory in His presence, but of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God, God did this, Of God is made unto us wisdom. I am fit for fellowship with God. This is true of every believer. Wisdom. I'm fit for fellowship
with the eternal, immutable God of glory. I'm wise enough for
Him to want to have fellowship with me and have communion with
me because in Christ, I'm the very wisdom of God. That's the
only people God can have fellowship with. Of God is made into us righteousness. Now I know this as sure as I'm
a foot and a half high. The only righteousness I have
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's the only righteousness
I want. I don't want to have anything
to do with anything else. I just want to have His righteousness,
period. Nothing else. I don't want anything
else. But beloved, every believer has it so that I've got a righteousness
to where God will have fellowship with me. and he's made into us sanctification. Now I love saying this, he is my personal holiness. You know people think of holiness,
they think of being holy and doing holy things and if I do
this I'm holy, if I don't do this it might mess up my holiness.
No, for one thing, there's no degrees of holiness. You're either
holy or you're not. You don't become more holy by
doing this or become less holy by not doing that. No, your holiness
is Jesus Christ. He is my sanctification. Is He your holiness? That's what
I want to ask you. Do you really believe that He
is your holiness before God? I do. It's what every believer
believes. That's what it is to glory in
Christ. And then He's made unto us redemption. He's my full payment. God's satisfied with His redeeming
work, and I am satisfied with His redeeming work. And there's
nothing I'm lacking. Now this is what it is to glory
in Christ. This is what it is to understand.
You understand when you glory. in His wisdom, His righteousness,
His sanctification, and His redemption. That, verse 31, according as
it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Where are you glory? Can you say, my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. We glory in Him. there will be a future manifestation
of his glory. The scripture says he's coming
with the clouds and great glory in Mark 13, 26. And I love that
passage of scripture in Matthew 25, verse 31, when the son of
man shall come in all his glory with all the holy angels and
just sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be
gathered all nations And he shall separate them one from the other,
as the shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. But we're looking
forward to that great manifestation of his glory when every eye is
going to see him. And heaven itself will be beholding
his glory. In John chapter 17, verse 24,
he said, Father, I will that they whom you have given me be
with me where I am that they may behold my glory." Now, if
the glory of Christ is not everything to you, you wouldn't enjoy heaven. You really wouldn't. If you were
brought into heaven, you'd want out. Because in His temple does
everyone speak of His glory. And because He is glorified,
we are too. 1 John 4, 17 says, As He is. Well, how is He? Is He glorified? Is He completely glorified? Has
He achieved all the glory that He could ever have? Yes. As He is. So are we in this world. That means right now. I have
his very glory. He gave it to me. And we, every
believer, is actually glorified in Christ. I love the way you
can only handle this by faith because you can't take it by
sight. You can't look at yourself and say, yeah, I'm glorified.
I can see that. No, no, you don't see that. But you believe it
because the Bible says it. He has made us to sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This is something that
can only be entered into by faith, not by sight, but by faith. But
every believer is glorified. I was listening to a man preach
on justification just a couple of days ago, and I remember he
brought justification in such a way as it's this right we have. It's almost like diplomatic immunity.
If you're justified, nothing's going to happen to you. You're
not going to be condemned. It's just as if you've never sinned.
He actually used that term that I used in the past. It's just
as if you've never sinned. And I thought, that doesn't help
me at all. I don't want to be just as if I never sinned. I
want to have never sinned. Because just as if I'd never
sinned means I really did, but it's not counted to me. That
doesn't do me any good at all. I have to be utterly without
sin. And that's what Christ accomplished
for his people on Calvary's tree. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now, I love what John said when
he was quoting Isaiah. He was quoting Isaiah 6 and you
can read it in John 12. He said, these things said Isaiah
when he saw his glory and spake of him. Now, anybody that ever sees the
glory of Christ, I know what they're going to be speaking
of. You can be sure of this. They
will speak of Him. Let me quote Psalm 29, verse
11 for the third time tonight. In His temple, in His body, His people, In his temple doth everyone speak
of his glory. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would give us this understanding this revelation, this knowledge
of the glory of your son. And Lord, give us hearts to revel
in and delight in the glory of your son and his completed, finished
work. Lord, we're so thankful that
he finished the work that you gave him to do. And Lord, all
of our salvation is found in His glory and His completed,
finished work in our behalf. And Lord, we rest in that. We
believe that He is our salvation. I bless these words for the Lord's
sake. In His name we pray. Amen.