Jan. 12, 2020 - The Prize of Glory
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· So last week we looked at the Centrality of the Cross…
· And 3 things that it accomplished…
We saw how at the cross:
God is glorified
Death and sin were conquered
All of mankind is judged
· And what we also saw was that THOUGH it SEEMED like the cross would be something that Christ would SHY AWAY from…
· He tells us – NO – this is the very reason I came!
· And He said – What shall I say then, Father save me from this hour?
· And it makes us contemplate – How we view the Christian life…
How we view – Gospel suffering…
Do we constantly PRAY for God to SAVE US FROM THE SUFFERING?
Do we constantly PRAY for God to SHOW us a DETOUR around this suffering?
· And so LAST WEEK – Christ really elevates the Death that is coming for Him…AND…
· Finishes the passage by calling for people to WALK in the LIGHT…
· Yes – it’s HARD…
· But that apart from the light – you STUMBLE in the darkness…
· It was a CALL TO FAITH…to believe in the LIGHT…
· And now this week, we come to our text…
36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
· Coming out of last week and into this week’s passage, we see that John makes the point that – EVEN though Jesus had performed MANY signs and miraculous works…
· The people were not believing in Him…
· And you can imagine how this affected John…
*Have you ever just sit and been BAFFLED at how many people REJECT Jesus…
…Are apathetic to Jesus
…Are just NOT interested in Jesus
EVEN though THEY hear about ALL THAT’s AT STAKE?
And they DON’T EVEN look into seeing if MAYBE it’s true…?
· I have had MANY conversations about this VERY THING!
· And I always come back to the same thing John brings up today!
We’re going to see that Romans chapter 9 is going to help us with this today…
But first let’s swing back around to verse 37…
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
· Now – the reality that SO MANY people were still not BELIEVING in Jesus – called into question the faithfulness of God…
· WHY?
· Because God had previously said…
23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
1 “At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.”
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
· Well – fast forward to our text today – and we have Jesus doing CRAZY miracles…
· And you’d think that BECAUSE He was doing these crazy things…that people would just be BELIEVING in Him left and right!
· But that wasn’t the case…
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
· The BELIEVING Jews at this time – they KNEW the OT promises of God…
· Yet they look out at the landscape of BELIEVERS out there at the time and it was - SLIM-PICKENS!
· And it COULD have caused people to DOUBT God’s faithfulness!
· SO – What does John do?
· The same thing Paul did in Romans 9…
· See – some people may have looked at the LACK of believers and thought it CALLED INTO QUESTION God’s faithfulness
But we’ll see that Paul and John KNEW that God was in control…
Paul starts Romans 9 by laying a foundation…
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
· Paul here is pointing to the reality that the Jewish Nation (Israel) – is by and large…UNBELIEVING – and not turning to Jesus…
· SO does Paul QUESTION God’s faithfulness when he looks out and sees UNBELIEVING Israel?
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
Paul is saying – NO – I look out and see UNBELIEVING ISRAEL and I KNOW who’s in control of all of that!
· I actually see God’s PLAN – Paul says…
9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,
11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
Do you see Paul – ELEVATING God’s CONTROL over the BELIEF of ISRAEL…?
· This is the same thing we see in our passage today in John…
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
· This question in Isaiah GOES OUT – LORD who has believed?
I’m looking around and I see NO ONE…Who has believed???? Anyone??
And this takes us to Romans 11
1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”
4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
· Elijah here was FREAKING OUT – And yet God replies – NO – I’m IN CONTROL HERE!!
· And it’s THIS CONTROL that John references in our text…back to John 12…
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
· So John looks out at the UNBELIEVING landscape and instead of DOUBTING GOD…
· He’s actually EMBOLDENED to Glory in His control!
Now what I want to do from here is focus on the remaining verses in our text today…IN LIGHT of what we’ve already seen!
· I think it will help to set up where we’re heading…
· What I want to look at is…
How Isaiah responded to GLORY…
Compared to…
How the BELIEVING Jewish leaders responded to GLORY…
And in the end - I want us to CONSIDER how God’s GLORY has impacted each of us...
Let’s look at the final verses…
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
Back to v41:
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
· What are the first 2 words of this verse?
· ISAIAH SAID!!
· So SOMETHING here has caused Isaiah to SPEAK…
· What did he speak?
· We just walked thru it…
“Lord – who has believed what we’ve spoken about?”
“He (God) has blinded their eyes…and hardened their heart”
· He’s saying – God is in control – the people don’t believe because God hasn’t allowed them to believe…
· These are HARD things to say…hard to believe…
· And YET – Isaiah speaks these things!
· WHY?
Verse – “because he SAW His glory…”
Now – who is Isaiah referring to?
· Whose glory did he see?
Let’s go to Isaiah 6 to look at the passage John is pulling from….
1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
So Isaiah here sees a vision, and **(EXPLAIN)
And he says - I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne...
My eyes have seen the KING, the LORD of hosts! (Yahweh)
· So John takes Isaiah’s vision and John applies that vision to – JESUS…
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
The “him” of v37 is Jesus…the “him” of v41 is - Jesus!
John applies Isaiah’s VISION of the GLORY of Yahweh - to Jesus Christ
So Isaiah sees the glory of GOD – and what’s the RESULT?
· First 2 words – ISAIAH SAID!
· And not ONLY did he SPEAK – but He spoke HARD things about God!!
After SEEING the GLORY of GOD – Isaiah spoke of the SOVEREIGNTY of God!
· Isaiah wasn’t CONCERNED how his message would be received!
· Isaiah wasn’t concerned if the people would HATE him…
· Wasn’t concerned if people would AGREE with him…
· Would slander him…
· Not a CONCERN!! Why?
· He SAW the GLORY of God!!
· Just like the apostle Paul right?
· PAUL was a persecutor of the church…BUT THEN
o Jesus MET him on the road to Damascus…CHANGED!
o And NOW – Did Paul care at that point what PEOPLE would think of his NEW MESSAGE??
o NO!
What about you?
· Has your ENCOUNTER with the GLORY of God IN CHRIST caused you – TO SPEAK
· To speak a new MESSAGE of HOPE to the world?
· OR – does the FEAR of man still reign in your life?
· Listen – IF the FEAR of man still reigns in your life – KNOW THIS – we MUST pursue the GLORY of God in Jesus Christ…
o And we’ll get into some ways to do that…BUT
o If the fear of man still reigns over you…
o Know that you’re NOT ALONE
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
· SO on the one hand – we saw ISAIAH – who saw the Glory of God in Christ…and BECAUSE of that – SPOKE the truth of God
· And on the other hand we see here – some of the authorities…they came to BELIEVE in Jesus – BUT
o They did NOT speak – why?
o They FEARED man (the pharisees)
o They didn’t want to be thrown out of the synagogue…
· The fear of Man – CLOSED their mouths…
· They would not speak the truth of God!
· They didn’t consider that the TRUTH they had would be BETTER for others…
· EVEN IF it meant suffering for them…
And like I said before – maybe that’s where you’re at!
And you KNOW IT!
· We should know that this issue – this FEAR issue – is a GLORY ISSUE
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
· They did not CONFESS truth – BECAUSE – they…
· LOVED the glory that comes from man MORE THAN…the…
· Glory that comes from God
· So these LEADERS who believed yet kept their mouths shut –
· They would RATHER PLEASE man – than please God!
· BECAUSE they believed that the REWARD they would receive from MAN for falling in line with man’s beliefs…
· Was MORE VALUABLE than the reward they would have received from God for PROCLAIMING His truth in obedience… (REPEAT)
· SO HOW DO WE HELP OURSELVES in this…
· How can we become MORE in LOVE with God’s GLORY…than man’s GLORY!??
Let’s look at this passage to close us out...
18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
· Followers of Jesus – beholding the glory of the Lord (present tense)
· Are BEING transformed (present tense)…
· From one degree of glory to another…
So HERE’s the BATTLE…
· IF the glory of Christ is what we adore MOST…
· THEN this progression will play itself out in our lives… (We will be TRANSFORMED into THAT SAME IMAGE…)
· But IF the glory of man (sex, power, influence, status, comfort) is what we adore MOST…
· THEN we will become MORE LIKE those things in our lives…we will become more CONFORMED to THOSE THINGS…
As John Piper has said:
“You become most like what you admire most.”
· And so we come back to this IDEA that we’ve been chewing on in Bible Study...
· FIGHT FOR JOY IN GOD!
How do we do that?
Distinguish between temporary and circumstantial comfort or satisfaction and real, lasting joy.
Put yourself in the path of God’s grace. Do the kinds of things that incline your heart more and more toward Jesus, that remind you of who you are in him.
Engage yourself in Jesus’s mission in the world. Sharing the good news we’ve tasted will increase our enjoyment of the Savior.
In order to see this more clearly....let’s look at each of the main words [IN THIS]...
SLIDE:
FIGHT for joy in God
Paul says- “I PRESS ON to MAKE IT MY OWN - WHAT? the PRIZE of the upward call of God in Christ!
WE FIGHT!
JOY in God doesn’t just PLOP itself down on your lap as you KICK your feet up on the couch of SIN...
It’s A FIGHT...
And PART of that FIGHT is KEEPING an ETERNAL perspective in life...
What will that do?
It will keep our AFFECTIONS on the things coming AFTER the grave...
…and NOT ON the circumstances of today
It helps us SEE THROUGH the SUFFERING...
And when we DO THAT - God’s GLORY is exalted! Remember - it’s a GLORY thing!
We ALSO fight to PLACE OURSELVES in life - UNDER the waterfalls of God’s GRACE
What are some of those WATERFALLS?
Hearing God’s Voice - in His word
Having God’s EAR - In Prayer
Sharing God’s Love in FELLOWSHIP
So we FIGHT...
Fight for what?
SLIDE:
Fight for JOY in God
David cried out -
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
David was FIGHTING - FOR JOY!!
Whats the background of Psalm 51?
David’s LAMENT over his sin with Bathsheba…and what came of it...
David’s JOY in God had diminished....and he knew it was VITAL in moving forward!
So we FIGHT - For JOY...
Joy in this world??
SLIDE:
Fight for joy in GOD
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
With our JOY ROOTED in all that God is for us in Christ Jesus...
we seek to live out and experience...
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
I WANT the JOY of the LORD - to be mine...
And this world wants NOTHING MORE than to ENTICE you to EMBRACE all that it is...
to SPEND your life - PURSUING IT!
On the ONE SIDE - the world says - GLORY is found HERE!
And on the other side - Jesus Christ says - MY GLORY will be your DELIGHT!
Which are you pursuing?
Let’s pray