The Father is glorified when
the Son is glorified. Now, if you'll turn to John 17,
I'll show you that in our Lord's prayer, the prayer of the great
high priest, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father is glorified when
the Son is glorified. In John 17, verse 1, the Master
said, But it said, These words spake
Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven. And he said, Father,
the hour is come. Glorify thy Son, that thy Son
may also may glorify thee. If I want to glorify God this
morning, that's the way to do it. Glorify the Son. Preach Christ. Exalt Christ. Look at 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." Another scripture, John 16, we talk about the Holy Ghost
the paraclete, the comforter whom the Lord would send, the
Holy Spirit who regenerates us and teaches us. What's the ministry
of the Holy Ghost? Well, John 16, verse 13, "'Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he'll guide you into
all truth, for he shall not speak of himself, not from himself
or about himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, what he receives
from the Father, that shall he speak. And he'll show you things
to come, and he'll glorify me." Not himself. He'll glorify me,
the Son. That's the ministry of the Holy
Spirit. I said last Sunday, when we exalt and magnify Christ,
we're in tune with the heavens. The heavens declare the glory
of the Lord. We're in tune with the angels.
The angels worship the Son. We're in tune with the seraphims. They cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty. We're in tune with the Holy Spirit.
He is sent to glorify Christ. That's what he says. He will
glorify me. He will receive of mine and show
it to you. Back to John 13. Back a couple
of pages. John 13. John 13, verse 31. Therefore, when he was gone out,
that is, when Judas received the sop and went out, Jesus said,
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. Do you see that? Read the next
verse. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself. and shall straightway glorify
Him. That's what this is all about. I have a little article
on page 3 in the Bulletin. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Because the Father is going to
honor those who honor the Son. When the Son is honored, the
Father is honored. When the Son is honored and the
Father is honored, God will honor the one who honors the Son. I
promise you that. I promise you that. On the back of the bulletin,
I told my class this morning, there's an article back there
by old brother A.D. Mews. He wrote it in 1954. I haven't
seen that article since 1954. It came out in his paper. After
he'd been to Ashland in the first Sovereign Grace Bible Conference
in 1954, he went back home and wrote that article on the back
of your bulletin. in his paper, distributed it
over the country. How I came to be in possession
of that article is a pastor friend in Louisville found it and sent
it to me. I hadn't seen it since back then.
But he said in that article, if every Baptist preacher and
every Presbyterian preacher, and those are the two denominations
that today still exist, in whose creed and catechism and confession
of faith, the sovereignty of God in salvation, in depravity,
in man's fall, in man's election, in man's redemption, in man's
call, in man's perseverance. God's sovereignty and salvation,
his free and sovereign grace, it's in the creed and catechism
and confession of faith of the Presbyterians and the Baptists.
And he said, if every Baptist preacher and Presbyterian preacher
in America for the next five centuries would sincerely and
diligently preach this message, what happened in the Garden,
what happened back yonder in the covenant of grace when God
chose a people and gave them to Christ, what happened on the
cross when Christ didn't try to save people, He did save people,
a substitute, oh, the bleeding Lamb who died for His people,
and effectively put away all their sins. And what happens
when the Holy Ghost uses the Word, the seed of the Word, and
opens the heart of a sinner, and regenerates him, and brings
him to knowledge of God's grace in Christ, and converts him? And what happens in time and
eternity when God keeps His people, and preserves His people, and
saves them, and makes them like Christ? He said he guaranteed
it. Revival would break out in this
country. Revival would break out in this
country. It'd be an upheaval like you've
never imagined in all your life. It'd be an upheaval. But the
Son's got to be glorified. He's got to be honored. If the
Son is honored, the Father's honored. And if the Father's
honored, He'll honor those who honor the Son. Those who preach
an effectual, oh, victorious Lord. I'll show you that in John
chapter 5. John 5. Turn over that. John
chapter 5. This is what the Lord is saying
here. John 5, verse 20. He said, "...for the Father loved
the Son, The father loves the son. He loves his son and shows him
all things that himself doeth, and he'll show him greater works
than these that you may marvel. For as the father raiseth up
the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. For the father judgeth no man.
He hath committed all judgment to the son. that all men should
honor the Son of Christ, even as they honor the Father. He
that honoreth not the Father, the Son honoreth not the Father
that sent him. That's God's will and God's purpose
that we honor the Son. And I'll tell you this, we learn
a lesson. Look at Colossians chapter 1
a moment. This is the the will of God. In Colossians 1, 17, talking
about our Lord Jesus Christ, He's before all things. And by
Him all things consist. And He's the head of His body,
the Church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things, everything, He might have the preeminence. The preeminence. Honor the Son. Sing about Him. preach about
him, talk about him, pray about him, the Son. God will honor
those who honor the Son. And here's something we need
to learn. Now listen carefully to me. The Holy Spirit does not
reach out to something novel or spectacular or new in order
to glorify the Son. You say, how does one honor the
Son and glorify the Son and magnify the Son of God and exalt the
Son of God? Well, the Holy Spirit doesn't
reach out for something natural or something novel or something
new or something spectacular in order to glorify Christ. Our
Lord's glory is found in Himself, in Himself. That's where His glory is found
in Himself. We do not need great buildings.
You see churches and congregations aspiring to build colossal, unusual,
religious-looking buildings. We don't need those things to
glorify Christ. We don't need crowds to glorify
Christ. A lot of emphasis today is placed
upon how many, how much, how big, how great. We don't need
artists, celebrities, sports figures, kings, Hollywood stars,
politicians to glorify Christ. Let me tell you, all of this
and these distract from his glory. Something up here this morning,
unusual, international, spectacular, novel, materialistic. Glory to God. It distracts from
His glory. Take your attention away from
Him and turn it on the person. That's all. We don't need tongues, speaking
in tongues. We don't need spectacular healings. That doesn't magnify and exalt
the Lord by Christ. It takes away from His glory.
We don't need emotionalism. We don't need religious cheerleaders
in the form of preachers. We don't need famous preachers.
The more famous a preacher becomes, the more infamous his Lord becomes. Right. The more credentials he
gets on the end of his name and the front of his name, the less
effective he is in preaching the gospel. It happens every
time. They become taken up with him
and his biographies and his writings and his supernatural wisdom and
colossal information, intellectualism, and the cross of Christ is made
of non-effect. I'm telling you the truth. Lord,
bring him down that he may exalt you. Strip him that you may have
the glory. Because when a man's heart is
lifted up with himself and pride and accomplishments, you can
forget his people here in the gospel. Our Lord's great glory and chief
glory is not found in buildings and crowds and people and kings
and celebrities and artists and accomplishments and intellectualism. His chief glory is His goodness,
His goodness, His grace, His deity, His name, not mine, His
name. God's given Him a name above
everything. That in the name of Jesus, every
knee will bow. Every tongue will confess, He's
the Lord. He's my wisdom. He's my holiness. He's my sanctification. He's
my redemption. He's my life. He's my hope. Don't take a candle and try to
show me the sun. Don't take your waxy human candle
and show me the sun. Just move out of the way and
let me see the sun. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
33. Exodus 33. Exodus 33, Moses. said to be, said to be the meekest
of all men. He made a, he made a request.
In Exodus 33, 17, and the Lord said to Moses, I'll do this thing
also that I have spoken, for you found grace in my sight.
You're not better than other men, you found grace. You're
not wiser than other men, you found grace in my sight. You found favor with me. And I know you by name." We got a lot of folks today talking
about how they know the Lord. I'm more interested in him knowing
me. He knows me. He said, Moses,
I know you by name. I know my sheep. And Moses said,
well, Lord, I beseech thee, show me your glory. And he said, all
right, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.
Moses, that's my glory. Where is his grace and mercy
found? In Christ. in the sacrifice of
Christ. So if we would honor our Lord
Jesus Christ, if we would magnify Him, if we would exalt Him and
glorify Him, we must not look to anything outside of Him, outside
of Christ, but we must preach that which is already His and
always has been His. His deity found only in Him. His holiness. Pound only in Him. Not in any other creature, but
in Christ. His holiness. Don't talk about
yours. Talk about His. His love! Don't talk about your love for
Him. Talk about His love for you. You want to glorify Christ? Don't run around here and give
your testimony about how much you love the Lord. Herein is love. Not that we love
Him. He loved us. We love him because he loved
us. His glory is found in his deity,
in his holiness, in his love, in his grace, in his mercy, in
his person, in his gift, unspeakable gift, in his incarnation, in
his life, in his death, in his resurrection, in his ascension,
in his return. John 6. Look over there with
me a moment. John chapter 6, verse 28. Well, they said unto him, John
6, 28, Then said they unto him, Well, what shall we do? That
we might work the works of God. Tell us, put you, how to serve
the Lord. Tell us what to do. the works
to do to serve the Lord. What do we do to do the works
of God? Jesus answered and said to them,
this is the work of God, that you believe on Him in God's
name. That's the work of God. Believe
on Him. Love Him. Adore Him. Exalt Him. Preach Him. Walk with Him. Learn of Him. Rest in Him. Trust in Him. Do what you do for His sake. That's how you serve God. That's
how you serve God. Our Lord is most honored and
glorified. His sheep are most edified. His
church is most perfected. His will and purpose accomplished
when we glorify Christ and magnify Christ. Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. That
you love one another as I love you. Everything is based on Him.
For Christ's sake! For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. An old servant of the Lord was
asked one time, Just what is your creed, neighbor? What is
your creed?" To which he replied, My creed,
sir, is Jesus Christ. I know of only one true body
of divinity, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Christ is not only my
creed, Christ is my life, and Christ is my hope of eternal
life. I want you to turn to Isaiah
53. The old Jews used to say about
Isaiah 53, one particular Jewish writer said this, it is a difficult
prophecy. The one I just read to you a
few moments ago, who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm
of the Lord revealed? He shall grow up before him as
a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form
nor comeliness that we should desire him. We hear it as it
were our faces from him. He was wounded, bruised, chastised."
Oh, they said that's a difficult, difficult prophecy. No, it's
not. It is an impossible prophecy. My Jewish friend, it's not difficult,
it's impossible. If you deny Christ, it's impossible. There is no reason, rhyme or
reason, there's no understanding, there's no meaning to these words
at all without one person, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. He's
the key. That's right. This prophecy is
not difficult. Not difficult. It's impossible.
And I would recommend to everybody who opens their Bible to Isaiah
53, if they don't love Christ, know Christ, believe Christ,
rest in Christ, leave it alone. Flee from it. Run from it as
fast as you can. It'll damn you someday. That's right. You don't want to know
anything if it's going to damn you. No. And if you don't see
Christ in this Scripture right here, don't read it. Don't read
it. Now, He's the key. And you go
back to chapter 52 to find the key. Chapter 52, verse 13. This Bible was written in chapters
and verses originally in the Greek and the Hebrew. It was
written in books and paragraphs. The translators have tried to
help us, and it's helpful to put it in chapters, but this
just reads right straight through. Start with verse 13 of Isaiah
52. Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently. My servant. Who is this, my servant? It's Christ. He took upon himself
the form of a servant. Back in chapter 42, he's called,
Behold my servant, mine elect, whom I upholdeth, in whom my
soul delighteth. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I'm well pleased, my servant. Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
my servant shall deal prudently. What's that word? My servant
shall deal wisely. And my servant shall prosper."
You put that word right there, prosper. It's already in your
margin of many Bibles. My servant shall prosper. He
shall not fail nor be discouraged, Isaiah 42 says. He shall be exalted. God hath given him a name above
every name, exalted him above every name. He shall be esteemed,
bestowed, and be very high. My servant shall. My servant. given a name above every name,
King of kings and Lord of lords, but first the serpent, first
the cross, then the crown, first the serpent, the sin offering,
the substitute, and then the reigning king." And verse 14 says, "...as many
as were stoned." That word is amazed. That word is astonished. Many were astonished at thee. They were stunned. Everything
about him astonished people, stunned them. His birth, born
of a virgin, laid in a manger. His family, his friends, were
offensive, astonishing. His followers, his disciples,
nobodies from nowhere. His doctrine, contrary to everything
the religious folks were teaching. His knowledge, His power, no
man spake like this man. As many were astonished at Him,
startled. His death, His burial, His resurrection. He was a subject, but especially
in His death, watch this, they were astonished, they were amazed,
especially in His death, because His visage, His face, His appearance
was so marred more than any man. They beat him. They pulled out
his beard. They slapped him in the face.
They put a crown of thorns on his head. His visage, his appearance,
his face, they stripped him naked. They nailed him to a cross. If
the true victim of that cross could be painted,
nobody would buy the picture box. Nobody. His visage was marred. His appearance
was marred more than any man who ever lived. He didn't even
look like a human being hanging on that cross, swollen, beaten,
lacerated, punished. His visage was marred more than
any man. His form more than the sons of
men. Let me read you something over
here in the Psalm 22. It says here in verse 6 and 8,
I'm a worm and no man. I'm a reproach of men. I'm despised
of the people. And all that see me laugh me
to scorn. They shoot out their lips. They
shake their heads, saying, let's... He trusted on the Lord. Let's
see if God will have him now. That's who we're talking about. But verse 15 says... What verse
13 said, verse 12, He'll be victorious. He's not going to stay dead.
So shall He sprinkle many nations. He not only startled them and
astounded them, but He saved them. You have to talk about
the blood of sprinkling. So shall He startle. Amazing,
astonished they were at His person, at His gospel, at His doctrine,
at His death, at His blood. But he said, even, verse 15,
the king shall shut their mouths at him. All these that shot out their
lips and said these dreadful things, one day they'll shut
their mouths. For that which hath not been told them, they're
going to see. They're going to see the hand
of God in all this. They're going to see the person
of God in all this. They're going to see the power
of God in all this. They're going to see the salvation
of God in all this, in that little baby born in Bethlehem's manger,
in that man in the carpenter's shop, in that despised, despicable,
horrible person nailed to a cross and laid in a tomb. They're going
to see someday even kings will shut their mouths. And what has not been told them,
never have they ever. I've preached the gospel in some
places and had people say, I never heard that before. I never heard that. What's never
been told them, they're going to say, that which they've never
heard, they're going to say. Substitution, effectual, particular
substitution. Blood on a cross, the death of
God. to reconcile sinners. The death
of the God-man, God whose holy requires holiness, God whose
just requires justice, God cannot pass by the guilty. Sin's got
to be paid for. God will punish sin. That's what
He did in the cross, on the cross. See, all right, and Isaiah 53,
now look at it. I'll move quickly. So who has
to believe this report? You do, don't you? Oh, what a
pleasure to preach here, preach to people who see and hear and
understand. But joy it is, you don't have
to compromise the Word. A preacher doesn't have to sit
in his study and say, now, I've got to be careful not to say
this, that'll offend this person, and not say that, that'll offend
this person, and not bring this out because they don't like this,
and they'll quit, and they'll quit giving. No. Who hath believed this report,
this message, this gospel? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? What's the Lord's arm? That's
His power. His power and wisdom. Christ crucified. That's the
power of God. That's the arm of God. My arm's
not short that I can't save you. But who believes it? Every prophet
of God who's ever lived has spoken those same words right there.
Who believes what I'm preaching? Who believes this message of
grace? Who believes this message of love? Who believes this message
of mercy? Who believes this message of
a crucified Redeemer? Who believes it? I'll tell you
who believes it. Those to whom the arm of the
Lord has been revealed. It's revelation. He opened my
eyes that I might see. He opened my ears that I might
be. Our Lord said, whom do they say that I am? Well, they've
got a lot of different opinions about you. But whom do you say
that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And
we believe and assure, thou art the Son of God. Watch this. There's nothing in
him that would appeal to a natural man. Listen to this. He'll grow
up as a tender plant, That's a weak baby born to a poor family
laid in a hayloft. And as a root out of a dry ground,
he was the root of Jesse. Who's Jesse? That's what they're
asking these days. Who's Jesse? Well, Jesse was
somebody back yonder in David's day. Jesse was David's daddy.
He's the root of David's father. It don't mean anything. Not then,
it didn't. A root out of a dry ground. No
form, no comeliness. A carpenter in a poor man's robe.
No form, no comeliness. Nothing to recommend him to people.
Who gets the attention today? Certainly a man wouldn't who
has no property, no money, no office, no following, and no
influence. A carpenter in a run-down hick
town. That's what's said. We know who
he is, he's the carpenter. And when we shall see him, there's
no beauty that we should desire him. There's nothing about him
grand or eloquent, nothing to suggest, even suggest a king. Only anointed eyes can see who
he is. Only anointed eyes. No beauty.
He's despised. He's rejected of men. Everybody
who was anybody turned thumbs down on him. He was despised because of the
loneliness of his birth. He was despised because of the
poverty of his parents. They didn't even have room for
him in a local hotel. Can you imagine any person of
any influence at all not even being able to get a room? He was despised because of his
lack of education, just, I'll teach us. He was despised because
of the people with whom he associated, friend of sinners. He was despised
because of the doctrine he preached. This is a hard saying, who can
hear it? He was despised because he claimed
to have an elect people. My sheep hear my voice. He was
despised because he told them that God was his Father, and
he and the Father were equal. He was despised because of his
death. Despised. And I'll tell you,
you preach him as he is there, and you'll be despised. That's
right. We have itching ears. Tell us
what we want to hear. not what we ought to despise. It's all right, a man of sorrows,
whose sorrows, our sorrows, acquainted with grief, from the cradle to
the cross, his life was a life of sorrow and grief. And we hid,
as it were, our faces from him, literally turned our backs away
from him. We didn't esteem him worthy of
a glance. We esteemed him not. We, what's
this? We hid our faces from Him. It'd be more correct if He hid
His face from us. Can you imagine, can you imagine
the slime and filth of this old nature refusing to look at holiness
itself? I can understand holiness itself
not looking at this. We esteemed him not. But watch these next six statements.
Would you and I really believe the report? Would we understand
the report? Would we really see the arm of
the Lord? Here it is. Surely, surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows. Matthew calls it our sicknesses
and infirmities. And my friends, Don't let some
untaught fleshly preacher tell you that
what he was bearing on that cross was our human sicknesses and
infirmities. No. No, we're going to bear them
until they take us out of here. That's right. What he bore on
that cross was our soul sickness and infirmity. And if you get
taken up with some kind of understanding of what we are by birth and nature
and practice in the sight of a holy God, you'll be more interested
in Him bearing your soul sickness any day than your asthma and
arthritis and rheumatism. He bore our sicknesses and our
infirmities. He bore them. He carried them. He carried them. All right, what's this next line?
And we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
You know what I see there? I see Jehovah-Jireh, Genesis
22. Abraham goes up the mountain
and puts his son on the altar and raises a knife. And God says, hold it, Abraham,
stay your hand. And Abraham looked over and there
was a lamb, a ram caught in the thicket. He brought the ram over
and put it in the stead of his son, took Isaac off the altar
and put the ram to death. Spared his son, but the heavenly
father didn't spare his son He who spared not his own son He
actually the father you say well the Jews crucified Christ I know
that the Romans Nailed him to the cross. I know that the people
consented to his death. I know that but I'll tell you
who did it all father He delivered Christ into their hands by his
determinate counsel and foreknowledge. And they did what God the Father
determined before to be done. The reason Isaac was spared is
the substitute died. The father slew a substitute
instead of his son. And the reason I'm spared is
the father slew his son and made him my substitute. That's right. And I go for it. That's what
it says here, "...he bore our griefs and scared our sorrows
like the scapegoat of old. We did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted." But, watch this third statement, "...he
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities."
I see the Passover lamb there. The Passover lamb, Christ our
Passover, bruised and slain, blood shed and put on the door. And God passes over. And what's
this? And the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. I see the atonement. I see the mercy seat sprinkled
with the blood. Atonement. Peace. Christ came
down here. The angels said, I'm going to
preach on this tonight. We bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people, unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior, Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you,
you'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying
in a manger. And then he was joined by a host of heavenly
angels, and they cried, Glory to God, peace on earth." Peace. What peace is that? There's no
peace on this earth. There's people killing each other
all over this earth, people hating each other. There's no peace
on this earth. There's peace between God and His people. And
there's peace between His people and their God. That's the peace
that Christ came to perfect. And in closing, oh, what a blessed
remedy here. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. That is our major problem, our
own way. Your ways are not my ways, he
said. And that's what got Adam in trouble, all his people. But thank God, this sixth statement,
the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. And this is what that's
saying, the Lord made the iniquity of all believers to meet on Christ. And His wrath met those iniquities
there. And one word defines His redemptive
work, substitute. Substitute. Now I want to show
you six things. Just a statement, six statements
for these next verses. The substitute. Now verse 7 says,
he's the silent substitute. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
he opened not his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughters, as sheep before shearers is done, he opened not his mouth.
He voluntarily took our sin. He's the silent substitute. Verse
8. He's the suffering substitute.
He was taken from prison and from judgment. Who shall declare
his generation? He was cut off out of the land
of the living, for the transgressions of my people was he stricken."
What did Isaiah say when he saw the Lord? I'm cut off. That's what my suffering substitute
experienced. He was cut off. My God, why hast
thou forsaken me? So verse 7 says he's a silent
substitute. Verse 8 says he's a suffering
substitute. Verse 9 says he's the sinless
substitute. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth. None in his mouth. Never. Sinless. Sinless. That's the only kind of substitute
that can atone, is a sinless substitute. Verse 10. Successful substitute. Yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord will
prosper in his hand." Oh, he's successful. He cannot fail. Verse 11 tells us he's satisfied
too. He sat down satisfied. Verse
11 said, He shall see of the travail of his soul be satisfied.
What is travail? Birth pains. When a mother brings
forth a child and they've all over and they put the child in
her arms, she's satisfied. All the pain and suffering and
agony, worth it, as she looks at her seed, her child. He shall see the travail of his
soul. See, his body didn't necessarily, it did, but that's not the scope
of his suffering, his bodily suffering. He made his soul an
offering for sin. And he'll see the travail, the
birth pains of his soul, and be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many, not everybody, many, for
he shall bear their iniquities. And he's satisfied. And verse
12 shows us his His sovereign, supreme Savior, the King now. His reward. I've come in my rewards
with me. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, that is, I'll give him many nations,
and he'll divide the spoil, the spoil of the victory, Not of
the strong, we're not strong. Not with the strong, but of the
strong. He's going to divide the spoil of the strong with
his people. Glorify me with the glory which
I had with thee, and glorify them with my glory. He's successful. Because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bared the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors,
and he's victorious. He's the supreme, sovereign substitute. It's done. It's finished.