Truth For Life

Bob Lepine: How is God glorified by Christ's crucifixion? How did death on a cross become a symbol of power, triumph, and glory rather than the ultimate symbol of defeat? Alistair Begg explores the answers today on Truth for Life as he takes a closer look at what Jesus asked of God the Father when the hour had come.

Alistair Begg: Ephesians chapter 1. A large part of this is just one very long sentence that Paul wrote. It's broken up in our English to help us. Ephesians 1, verse 1: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Amen.

Let me encourage you now to turn to the New Testament once again and to John chapter 17 and follow along as I read the first five verses. When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."

Our gracious Father, we pray now for the help of the Holy Spirit to quicken our hearts and minds, our understanding, so that we might lay hold of the great and precious truths of your holy Word. In ourselves, we are incapable, but by the Holy Spirit, we are enabled. And so, we look from ourselves and to you, and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

This chapter takes us into realms of the Godhead and realms of theology, realms of the mysteries of grace that is almost unparalleled in the whole of the New Testament. I think it was Archbishop William Temple who said that this is for the New Testament the Holy of Holies. Certainly, during the past week, I've been confronted again by the grandeur and by the vastness of this particular psalm. And I've been confronted by the fact that every attempt to dissect it, or to analyze it, or to frame it inevitably bows before simply reverence and awe.

I've spent the time reading it and rereading it and imagining what it must have been like for the disciples themselves to be within earshot of the actual audible statements by Jesus when he addresses his Father in this way. And in attempting to grasp it, the best we can hope for is that we will be grasped by it. Because in being given access to this, and the Holy Spirit has determined not only that the disciples would have the privilege of hearing it but that we would have the opportunity to read it, we're brought to a place where the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, opens his heart to the Father, and we stand on holy ground.

When Moses was confronted by the burning bush, remember the word of God to him was, "Take off your sandals, Moses, for the ground on which you find yourself standing is holy ground." I want to try and make it through the first three verses this morning. I want us to notice first of all what Jesus asks. Then to notice, secondly, the work to which Jesus is assigned. And then thirdly, to understand the way in which Jesus assures us of the nature of eternal life. I mention that now; it may not appear that I'm following my own outline, so you can fill in the blanks for yourself.

The context is set obviously between all that Jesus has just said, the Upper Room Discourse recorded for us in chapters 14, 15, and 16. And then when you get to the end of 17 and you go into the beginning of chapter 18, we are moving then to the desertion of the disciples and the crucifixion of Jesus. And it is for that reason that Jesus lifts up his eyes to heaven. It is interesting that we're given the posture of Jesus, that he looks up and out and beyond himself, God addressing God, and he says, "The hour has come."

When we went through the Gospel of John, at least looking at the "truly trulies," we were aware of the fact that this notion of the unfolding purpose of God throughout time as it relates to eternity is there in order to help us at least to understand this: that things are making progress to the great moment. And it is of this great moment that now Jesus is speaking. Back in chapter 2 at the first miracle that is recorded for us in Cana of Galilee, he addresses his mother, reminding her that his hour has not yet come.

In chapter 7, when they came to arrest him, we're told by John no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. In chapter 12 and in verse 23, when they come to him and they are inquiring about him and the Greeks are seeking him, Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." And then we had one of our "truly trulies": "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

He then goes on to make application of that: "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." Here we are at the pivotal event of all of human history. That would be challenged by many today, perhaps by most today. We all recognize that in the unfolding story of humanity, there have been key points along the way. 1776 matters, doesn't it? When finally George III was sent home and the thirteen colonies decided that we would be able to do it on our own.

This followed on, actually, from something that had happened in the 15th century in Scotland when the Scottish people had sent Edward II back home in order that we in Scotland could enjoy the privileges that we've been enjoying over here, such as they are. But 1776 is nothing in comparison to this. Jesus is going to go on and say in verse 18, "For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." Out of the lips of Jesus himself as he comes now into the presence of his Father and as he prays, he understands exactly what is before him.

He is the very embodiment of the truth that he has come to proclaim. On that occasion when Jesus makes that statement, Pilate's response is somewhat superficial, I think, when he says, "What would you actually say is truth?" "I came," he says, "to bear witness to the truth," and Pilate says, "What is truth?" which is, of course, a very contemporary response, isn't it? Because we're living in a world where we recognize that again and again, the notion is that there is no ultimate truth.

There is no absolute morality; I make up my own rules. There is no ultimate truth; I am able to decide my own truth. There is no creator God; I am a product of myself and my own plans and designs. I want to pause there for a moment and acknowledge the fact that we need our Bibles to understand the truth. We need our Bibles to understand the truth about ourselves. Because by our very nature, we have a skewed understanding of ourselves, and we need our Bibles to show us who and what we really are.

We read from chapter 1 of Ephesians purposefully. And when Paul moves from chapter 1 into chapter 2, in chapter 1, he's describing the wonder of God's electing love, that he has called us into the presence of his Son and united us with him and with one another. Then he goes immediately to chapter 2, and he says, "But let's not forget what we were." And as you turn to it, you realize that he describes the human condition outside of Christ. Our predicament is not that we're incomplete.

It's not that we are simply looking for a way to get on in life. No, says Paul, "As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and in your sins." You had no ears to hear the voice of God; you were dead and you were deaf, helpless and hopeless. Where else but from the Bible are we going to find such an acknowledgment of the position of humanity? If we were to go out just around our community today and ask questions like, "What do you think is wrong with man?" or "How did we get ourselves in this position?" and so on, there would be all kinds of answers.

But it would be a very limited number who would say, "Well, of course, outside of Christ, we are dead and we are deaf." Again, think about that. We rehearsed the creed this morning. We're familiar with the Westminster Confession, the Shorter Scottish Catechism. Question number one of the catechism is, "What is the chief end of man?" What does man exist for? Man qua man, men and women, humanity? And the answer that we give is, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever."

The problem is that we're committed to glorifying ourselves. We glorify ourselves. In fact, in John chapter 5, when Jesus is speaking about the people who were very proud of their religious background, he says to them, "You know, it's a very interesting thing to me that you believe. How can you believe? You say you believe, but how can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" Well, of course you don't believe; you refuse to come; you don't seek the glory that comes from God.

This is of vital importance because, you see, the essence of sin is not in particular acts and actions. The essence of sin is actually in the fact that we do not glorify God. Romans 3:23: "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." We were made by him, we were made for him, and our chief end is to glorify him. Why are we in the mess we're in individually, personally, familiarly, nationally, globally? We glorify ourselves. Again, this is very important in a congregation like this.

Respectable people do not regard themselves as sinners. And part of the reason is because of the way in which we conceive of sin. When we conceive of sin as being particular acts and actions, as long as we are not related to those individual acts or actions, whatever you want to call them, whatever they might be, then we're able to excuse ourselves. We're like the fellow in Matthew 18: "I thank you that I'm not like other people. Certainly not like this person. Certainly not like the one across my desk in the office, certainly not like that person. I'm actually not a sinner."

What then is the gospel? The gospel is not an appeal to our better instincts. The story of the Bible is the good news of what God has done for us in our deadness and in our deafness. You see, the appeal of the gospel only drives itself into the heart of a man or a woman when we understand the way in which our condition is explained: dead in our trespasses and sins. And Paul says, "And the mystery of the gospel is that he has made us alive together with Christ."

Why pause on this? Well, because it is to this that Jesus is referring when he asks the Father, "Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you." He is referring to the mission that he has been given. His whole mission in life was to glorify the Father. 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, "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.

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 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. You say, "I used to be an unhappy person and now I'm happy." Big deal. I share that with you. I got into Christian Science; I found it tremendously helpful. You know, I used to be fairly clueless, but now I've got purpose in my life. Glad you can tell me about that, because I found the exact same thing in following Buddhism. You see where we are with this?

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. 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.

Number one, in the cross, God's power is displayed. In the cross, the Father is glorified in that his justice is established and revealed. God just can't forgive sin. 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.

Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth For Life with Alistair Begg. He's titled today's message "The Hour Has Come," and we'll hear the conclusion tomorrow. Here at Truth For Life, we really enjoy hearing how God is using Alistair's teaching to impact listeners from around the world. We got a letter recently from Haley who lives in San Diego. She wrote and said, "I'm forever grateful to God for the blessing of Alistair and the teaching from Truth For Life. Born and raised Jewish from South Africa, it's still an unfathomable mystery how God broke into my life and stole my heart 15 years ago. I listen to the program and I still get excited each day to search through the sermon series on the app. Thank you for making them available for free."

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When you become a Truthpartner, we'll say thank you by inviting you to request the books we recommend each month. We're currently offering a three-pack of Alistair's book, *The Man on the Middle Cross*, that you can use to tell others about Jesus. I'm Bob Lepine. We hope you'll join us tomorrow when we'll consider the immensity of what Jesus has secured for all who believe and trust in him. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.