Truth For Life

Guest (Male): According to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Is this genuinely your day-to-day experience? Today on Truth For Life, Alistair Begg challenges us to stop and consider the immensity of what Jesus has secured for all who believe and trust in him. Let's open our Bibles to John chapter 17.

Alistair Begg: It's quite amazing and wonderful. In John chapter 6, Jesus says, "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me." When you read on in the Gospel, he says, "I don't write my own sermons." He doesn't actually say that; that's a paraphrase, I made that up. He says, "The words that I speak are the words that my Father gave me to speak." He actually says that the works that he does are the works that the Father has given him to do.

And so the Father glorifies the Son in bringing him through the cross, through the grave, to the place where the head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned with glory now. It’s so vast, you can’t really get your arms around it, can you? It’s just amazing. And yet in the eyes of the world, the unopened eyes of men and women, the cross is a signal of defeat.

What is there any glory in the death of this man hanging as a bloodied wreck outside the city walls? How does this work? Glorify your Son. Father, glorify me. And note not only that, but as the Father glorifies his Son in the cross, the Son triumphs over the rulers and over the authorities. In Colossians chapter 2, you have this amazing reminder of this.

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses. You see how easy it is for us to so personalize our Christian lives that it almost seems trivial to people because of the way we speak about it. No, it's something vaster than this.

He made us alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. Giving us our little couplet, you know: "He came to pay a debt he didn't owe because we owe a debt we cannot pay." I am completely in your debt because I do not glorify you; I glorify myself.

I'm not really interested in you. I just want to get on in my life. I want to do better than I've been doing. Is there anything that you can tell me that could help me along the road? That is a vastly different story from this. He set aside these demands, nailing them to the cross. Now listen to this: he disarmed the rulers and the authorities and he put them to open shame by triumphing over them all.

Father, glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you. The claims made by Jesus are vindicated because what was planned before the creation of the world was accomplished in time. And in this, the Father is glorified. How is the Father glorified? How is God glorified in this? Well, in so many ways we don't have time to recount, but number one, in the cross, God's power is displayed.

Who else can raise the dead? Who else can bring the predicament of humanity to the point where it is dealt with in the blood of his Son? In the cross, the Father is glorified in that his justice is established and revealed. God just can't forgive sin. You hear people talk about forgiveness as if, well, you know, God, he has to forgive; it's what he does. That's what God does, you know, he forgives sin.

The idea is that he somehow just passes over it. It's like a father who says, "Well, I'm not going to worry about it, I don't really care, just go on to your bedroom and let's get on with life." Not for a moment. He doesn't ignore it. He doesn't treat it as if it never happened. Because the way of salvation by which the Father is glorified is consistent with the character of God.

He is a just God. Therefore, justice must be served. Therefore, sin must be punished. His power is displayed, his justice is revealed. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. We sang about it this morning in Wesley's great hymn, "And Can It Be," as we sang about Adam's race. Coming back to last Sunday, if you can remember that far back, as we went back through again the way in which the story of Genesis 1 through 3 unfolds.

And we reminded ourselves that Adam disobeyed God as our representative head, and as a result, we all sinned in Adam. The disobedience of Adam is then superseded by the obedience of Jesus, because Jesus is actually the captain of our salvation. Jesus is the one who dies in our place, and there is salvation in nobody else.

The Father is glorified not only in his power and in his justice, but also in his love and in his mercy, because he doesn't exact punishment on guilty sinners. Remember what the Bible says: in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We are the ones who are deserving of punishment, and the sinless one bears the punishment that we deserve. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan.

Oh, the grace that brought it down to man. Oh, the mighty work that God did span at Calvary. Because mercy there was great, and grace was free, and pardon there was multiplied to me. And there my burdened soul set free at Calvary. This is Christian testimony. He bestows grace to sinners at the expense of his own dear Son, whom he loved from before the foundation of the world.

Look at that, chapter 17, verse 24. "Father, I desire that they also, this would come weeks from now, whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me. Listen, because you loved me before the foundation of the world." This, you see, this is what I'm saying to you: the grandeur and the vastness of this is just completely mind-stretching.

That it takes us back into pre-creation eternity, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit co-equal, co-eternal, live in a communion of mutual love and satisfaction and fullness and joy. And he empties himself and steps down into time, and he does it for sinners. Well, he asks that the Father will glorify him so that he might glorify him.

And he recognizes too that he has an authority that he has been given. We'll spend less time on this for your encouragement, but you notice verse 2: "Father, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh." Now, we go immediately wrong if we think that this is suggesting the transfer of something from a superior to an inferior.

That as if somehow or another, the Father in a superior position gives an assignment to the Son who’s in an inferior position. Now, the Bible makes no bones about the fact that that is not the case. God is one being eternally in three persons, equally God, knowing, loving one another. And it is this one who has been assigned authority over all things.

I thought about this a lot. I don't really know much to say to you except it means what it says. You've given him authority over all flesh. If you read your Bible this morning, part of it was Psalm 24. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth in every mine. He is sovereign over the nations of the world.

He has been given authority over all things. Colossians: in him all things hold together. That's what he's saying. This is the reality. You'll never read this in a textbook. You won't read this as you learn history at your school or at university. No, we need the Bible if we need to know truth. The truth about ourselves, the truth about history, the truth about God, the truth about it all. The truth.

And again, we live in a culture where the idea is, of course, it's a ridiculous search; it's not there. Oh, look at what it says, it's so glorious, isn't it? "Since you have given authority over all flesh to give eternal life, to give eternal life." We don't earn eternal life; we receive eternal life. It's a double giving, you will notice.

Taking us back to our studies in chapter 6. That the Father has given to his Son as a gift, a people that he has purposed from all of eternity to make his very own. And it is the prerogative of the Son to give eternal life to those whom the Father has given to him. The Bible is clear: God ordains men and women to salvation. We read it in Ephesians chapter 1.

And God ordains the means whereby men and women come to salvation through the preaching of the Gospel. You realize Paul, having given you this great paean of theology and of the wonder of God's amazing eternal love, he says, "And so it was with you when you heard the truth, the Gospel of your salvation, and you believed."

God doesn't believe for us. God has entrusted from eternity to his Son a people, and the Gospel is proclaimed, and the voice of Jesus is heard, if it is heard at all. And the voice of the mere preacher knocks as it were at the outside of the door, but the voice of Christ, you see, knocks at the heart. Then you see, there’s that flash of Wesley’s light.

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. This is Christian testimony. This is not weird theology. It can be the dungeon that woke for me as a boy at primary school when the Sunday school teacher explained to me, "Alistair, you’re a bad boy. Jesus is a good God. Jesus has come to do for you what you can’t do for yourself, Alistair. And if you will trust Jesus, he will come and live in you and fill you and make you and use you."

And I said, "Okay. Okay, I believe." I understand enough knowledge, I assent to that truth, and I entrust my life to it. Doesn't matter if you're 7 or 70. Doesn't matter if you're bright or dumb. Doesn't matter if you are prosperous or fearful. This is the story, the eternal call of God. Everyone who looks and believes.

If you’re a Christian this morning, you have been given to Christ by the Father. You have come to Christ as a result of his call. And you today are being kept by Christ. Unless, of course, you've started to come around because you just want a little direction in your life, a little religion, a little something just to keep you going. What a tragedy to be an unconverted believer.

He asks, "Glorify the Son that I may glorify you." He receives the assignment to grant eternal life to all those whom God has given him. And then he clarifies, just in a phrase or two, he clarifies the nature of that eternal life that is a gift. "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

The time has come. You think about it, we quoted him last week, Horace, remember what was that, 65 BC? And all those idols and Greek and Roman philosophers and so on had been parading their wares and suggesting the solution to life and so on. And when, if you like, God had given humanity time to absorb a lot of that stuff.

Then he says, "Now Son, now's the time. Go down and tell them the truth. Tell them the truth about themselves so that they might face the reality of self-glorification. Tell them the wonder of what you’ve come to do. Son, glorify me as I glorify you." There is no saving knowledge of God outside of Jesus Christ.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. He's the one who said, "I've come that you might have life, that you might have it in all of its fullness." And he's not suggesting that eternal life means life as we know it now, just going on and on forever. Think quality, not quantity. Because Jesus is about to complete the mission for which he’s been sent, verse 4. That’s next time.

But let me end in this way with just a comment. I mentioned earlier the danger of our Christian lives becoming introspective and subjective, rather than God-centered and objective. So that when we talk about our Christian life, we tend to talk about ourselves. And of course, there is a way in which we can explain to others our understanding of how we’ve come to Christ.

But it’s all about him. It’s about looking at him. It’s about looking to him. When the writer to Hebrews is urging his readers, he says, "You know, what are you going to do? How will you escape if you neglect so great a salvation?" The salvation, the story of salvation of what is happening here as Jesus prays is, as I say again, vast.

It's historical. It's rational. You don't have to remove your thinking cap. It's empirical; you can put it to the test. Part of the challenge for us as well in navigating this is that contemporary notions, it's trendy for philosophers, for professors of history, for politicians to let it be known that there is no great explanation of our existence.

There is in their terminology no metanarrative. There is no big story. It's ironic because to say that is to create your own metanarrative, which is that there is no metanarrative. But anyway, what they're really saying is Freudianism is taboo, Marxism is really trashed, and so on and so on and so on. And so by and large, make up your own.

Because after all, there's no creator God. After all, there is no ultimate morality. And after all, there is no reliable truth. Therefore, go ahead, you're going to have to make it up. But what struck me this week was: what if Christians, what if believing Christians, are actually buying that notion?

And that in seeing their existence in Jesus in such personal terms, this is about I, me, and mine, they lose sight of the big picture. And in losing sight of the big picture, they fail to explain the story in terms of the totality of it. That God made the world and it's good. Sin entered into the world and it became bad.

Jesus came in order to make it new. And one day in a new creation, he will make it perfect. Good, bad, new, perfect. The metanarrative. Where do I fit into that? I fit into it in an amazing way that God from all of eternity entrusted me to his Son, who in turn gave to me eternal life. This is vast.

That's why when Paul, again in Ephesians, talks about comprehending with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, the height, the depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. He reminds them of the fact of the way in which they have entered into an inheritance which has become theirs.

Having been predestined according to the counsel of his will. Why? So that you might be to the praise of his glory. He says you heard it, you believed it, you were sealed with the provision of the Holy Spirit. And now you live to the praise of his glory. I have no words. I have more inside me than I can get out of me. I hope you do too.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Alistair Begg on Truth For Life. We’ll return in just a moment to close today’s program. Now, as we look ahead to Easter next month, we want you to consider becoming intentional about sharing the true meaning of Easter with those who have yet to meet Jesus.

And to help you do that, we’ve created a little tract that speaks to the brokenness so many people feel but can’t put words to. In fact, it’s titled "Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?" This is a small three-and-a-half by four-inch pamphlet that presents the Gospel in simple, easy-to-understand language.

It draws from Alistair’s teaching to explain the whole storyline of the Bible: that God made the world good, and sin made it bad, in Jesus it’s restored, and one day it will be made perfect. These little tracts are perfect to have on hand to give to friends or neighbors or coworkers, or leave behind at places you may frequent, so you can introduce others to Jesus.

At the end of the tract, readers are given a link to the Gospel of John so they can go deeper, as well as a link to a full message from Alistair that explains more about God’s plan of salvation. Again, the title is "Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?" and you can buy five tracts for a dollar or a pack of 25 for just $5. You’ll find them on our website at truthforlife.org/tract.

By the way, if you serve as a pastor or an elder in your local church, mark your calendar for September 29th and 30th and consider joining Alistair in Valencia, California, for this year’s Basics Pastors Conference. It’ll be a time of refreshment, fellowship, studying God’s Word together as Hershael York joins Alistair in encouraging those who serve in the local church. You can learn more and register to attend at basicsconference.org. Now, here's Alistair to close with prayer.

Alistair Begg: Our God and our Father, forgive us for big thoughts about ourselves and small thoughts about you. Forgive us when our preoccupation with the wonders of your grace just has to do with whether we're managing, coping, getting on. Forgetting that the reason that you drew us to yourself was in order that we might be to the praise of your glory.

Lord, we need to understand this as a church in order that we might live amongst one another in a way that is humble, in a way that acknowledges the fact that we are simply the evidence of your amazing grace and kindness. So that we might go out into a world where there's stabbings in Taco Bell, where there's shootings up the street, where the chaos and clashing reality of a world gone south living for itself needs not a story about how to get completion, how to do better, but how to be transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your dearly beloved Son. Fill us with these thoughts, Lord. For Jesus' sake, amen.

Guest (Male): We're glad you joined us today. If you are a follower of Christ, do you realize that God had your salvation planned even before the world existed? Tomorrow we'll hear how each person of the Trinity is involved in salvation. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.