God's Own Interest
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God’s Own Interest
God’s Own Interest
When our Lord Jesus asked His disciples in , “Who do you say that I am?”
Matthew 16:
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
Jesus explained that this truth was revealed to Peter from His Father who is in heaven. As Jesus continued the conversation, He came to verse 21 where Matthew explains that things changed in the teaching. And I want you to look at the exchange and notice something very significant.
Matthew 16:21-23
21 From then on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to You!”
23 But He turned and told Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns, but man’s.”
Peter was not thinking about the “God’s concerns, but man’s.” He was not concerned with God’s Own Interest.
This was the very problem in the Upper Room. The disciples had faulty perspectives. They were looking at Christ’s death from their own viewpoint, giving little thought to God’s perspective of the death of Christ. They were weak in faith, selfish, and they wanted Jesus to stay with them and take care of them. When it comes down to it, they weren’t much different than the multitudes who followed Jesus to be fed. For the disciples, it was their problems, their expectations, their hopes, their ambitions, and their desires.
Their desire was humanistic of sorts, but certainly not desiring the will of God.
We tend to respond the same way when bad things happen, especially with the death of loved ones. We may wonder, “Lord, why did you take my loved one?” But when a Christian dies, sorrow is normal, tears are healthy, God did not make us not to grieve — but we are not to grieve like the world grieves.
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
We know that the death of a Christian is the ultimate release from the body of sin, eternal joy, and an uninhibited view of God’s glory.
Jesus’ death on the other hand, was no release from a body of sin. He was sinless, but ravished by the curse of sin. He bore the sins of the guilt of His people, “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.” He would be under the wrath of God, a payment for the sins of His people of all time. He suffered triumphantly as we saw this morning. And He anticipated it all willingly in obedience to His Father. As the cross drew near, He revealed to His disciples the fullness of God’s Own Interest.
28 You have heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
29 I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe.
30 I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me.
31 On the contrary, I am going away so that the world may know that I love the Father. Just as the Father commanded Me, so I do. “Get up; let’s leave this place.
John 14:
It must have been a jolt when Jesus said, “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.”
If they had been more concerned with God’s interest, rather than man’s they might have learned the reasons for His joy.
4 triumphs won at the cross.
I. He would be Fully Glorified.
I. He would be Fully Glorified.
“I am going to the Father.”
We do understand that before His incarnation, our Lord Jesus is in utter perfection of eternal glory. He was in perfect fellowship with His Father with a perfection and intensity we cannot possibly comprehend.
But He left His glory behind and came to earth, not as a conquering king, but as a baby born in a humble stable. He lived modestly. He suffered hatred, even from the religious leaders. Truly...
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.
It’s incomprehensible to our human understanding that the Lord of Glory was willing to humble Himself so completely.
8 He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.
Philippians 2:
He condescended to share His riches with us.
2 Corinthians
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though He was rich, for your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty you might become rich.
Because the Son humbly obeyed the Father, Paul continues in
9 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
9 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth —
He is to be worshipped as God specifically because He humbled Himself, He is exalted to the uttermost and ultimately every knee will bow before Him and confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
There has been much confusion and twisting of verse 28.
28 You have heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
He did not refer to His essential being as the Father being greater, but rather His role as humbled servant. He subjugated Himself to the Father’s will. “Your will be done.” This is why He told Philip, “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.”
He approached the cross knowing what lay ahead. He knelt and prayed to His Father in
4 I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.
5 Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.
He was looking ahead to the full expression of His glory and so found joy as He approached the cross. Listen to what He told His disciples in .
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how it consumes Me until it is finished!
II. The Truth would be Documented.
II. The Truth would be Documented.
29 I have told you now before it happens so that when it does happen you may believe.
He knew that even the 11 didn’t fully believe everything about Him. And He did one thing to strengthen their faith — He Predicted events. One prophecy after another came true.
5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men.
6 “He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?”
8 And they remembered His words.
5 So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground. “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” asked the men.
6 “He is not here, but He has been resurrected! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee,
7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day’?”
It happened just like He said.
Fulfilled prophecy is the greatest proof that God’s Word is true. Only someone who has an agenda to reject the truth dismisses the fulfillment of Prophecy.
19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He.
There is deep significance in His words. The translators add a word at the end or the verse. They add the word “He.” The text literally states — “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am.” He was using the name God gave to Moses at the burning bush — I am.
From Peter’s denial of Christ, to all of them leaving Him to Judas.
Think of what He told them about Judas Iscariot.
18 I’m not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: The one who eats My bread has raised his heel against Me.
Their minds must have flashed back as they sat in the room at Pentecost thinking about it all, when the final promise to send the divine Helper and suddenly He came. And listen to Peter.
14 But Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them: “Men of Judah and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you and pay attention to my words.
15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it’s only nine in the morning.
16 On the contrary, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
17 And it will be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
Acts 2:14-
One by one every promise Jesus gave His disciples came to pass. The fulfillment of His prophecies fully documented the truth that He is God.
Christ being fully glorified and the truth being documented reveal God’s Own Interest.
III. Satan would be finally defeated.
III. Satan would be finally defeated.
30 I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me.
John 14:
The devil tempted Adam to sin and fall into a state of sin and rebellion. Christ had to defeat Satan decisively and He told them this was what He would do.
Notice He refers to the devil as “the ruler of the world.” That’s because the world is Satan’s domain and it’s his evil system in place as the whole world is oppressed by the ancient serpent.
Jesus had overcome Satan in God’s provision to flee to Egypt and escape Herod’s slaughter. He overcame Satan by resisting the three great temptations. He overcame the Devil by not reviling against the wicked religious leaders and the Roman government. From the night of His birth to the night of His death, Satan fought against Christ. Finally, His death resolved the ancient conflict that began with Lucifer’s rebellion against God. The outcome would be decided on a Roman cross.
31 Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
32 As for Me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself.”
33 He said this to signify what kind of death He was about to die.
He went to the cross knowing it was the final blow that would wipe out Satan’s power.
When the mob came to arrest Him in the Garden, Jesus asked them,
52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests, temple police, and the elders who had come for Him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal?
53 Every day while I was with you in the temple complex, you never laid a hand on Me. But this is your hour —and the dominion of darkness.”
This dominion of darkness or power of darkness is reference to Satan. Jesus understood the cross as the conflict with Satan, fulfilling the prophecy of
15 I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.
Christ became man with the express purpose of destroying the devil and his works.
8 The one who commits sin is of the Devil, for the Devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the Devil’s works.
8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
That was God’s Own Interest. And since the cross, the power of Satan has been broken. This was cause for His disciples to be joyful not grievous. So, His leaving them would bring victory over the devil and joy to their hearts.
Test
IV. Finally, God’s Love would be Demonstrated.
IV. Finally, God’s Love would be Demonstrated.
31 On the contrary, I am going away so that the world may know that I love the Father. Just as the Father commanded Me, so I do. “Get up; let’s leave this place.
John
His disciples would look at the cross as a terrible thing.
Matthew
21 From then on Jesus began to point out to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, “Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to You!”
We won’t let such a terrible thing happen. When actually, this was the very best thing to happen. Jesus would go to the cross — “so that the world may know that I love the Father. Just as the Father commanded Me, so I do.”
While it’s true that His death demonstrated love for His people, here Christ emphasized His love for His Father. It is the supreme act of love that Christ would die in accordance to the Father’s will.
And this is amazing — though He spoke of obeying His Father’s will, this is the only time He specifically affirms His love for the Father.
But remember His instruction to His disciples. Obedience is the fruit of authentic love.
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commands.
Many people claim to love God. But it is all superficial love, if you do not obey God.
And now he was going to give His disciple emphatic proof of His love for His Father.He would die according to the Father’s plan. He would die because He loved the Father.
Difficult days lay ahead for the disciples and Jesus sought to give his last instructions and teaching to them.
And what did He give them here?
He gave them an understanding of the cross from God’s perspective. He gave them what was God’s Own Interest.
Before we begin to criticize the disciples for the lack of understanding and for the concern of their own problems — How many times are we not the same?
Do you know how you can tell whose interest you have in mind?
What do you pray for?