Bringing Many Sons to Glory
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Good morning. I hope you’ve had a great week this past week - I certainly know for my family it has been a busy, productive week but it certainly seems like we got a lot accomplished this week - more than I think we thought we would.
And yesterday we had the church work day and got a lot accomplished there - both inside and out - and the church and the grounds look great, so than you all to those that were able to come out and help with the clean up.
And if you were here at 930 this morning, our children, youth, and adults were able to have Sunday school for the first time in a year - and that is a great accomplishment for the Kingdom that I think many of us have been looking forward to for quite some time.
So a lot of things that went on this week and today, and it’s not over yet.
Because for those that may be like me and get busy and sometimes forget what day it is, I want to remind everyone that next week is Easter - and I hope and pray that you have been able to invite some folks to church, and if not then you’ve only got one week left, so grab some cards and let’s pack this place out next week and see first hand what God is doing in our community. now -
Let’s pray.
So if you were with us last week, you’ll recall that we discussed how man fell in the Garden of Eden and his glory was removed. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus Christ gave up glory and came into this world and for a little while was made lower than the angels.
And this week - this week is an important week in history. Today is Palm Sunday, and it’s called Palm Sunday because they were taking Palm leaves and placing them on the ground before Him as He entered the city. It’s the first day of the traditional Holy Week or Passion Week and today in the historical sense marks Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem - take a moment and look with me at John 12:12-16:
The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
And this story can be found in all of the Gospels, but I really appreciate how John has described the events because He covers what the disciples at that time were thinking as well as how they came to understand in the end.
And this week in Hebrews is appropriate as we look at that last part of the account of those events of that week as found here in John: but when Jesus was glorified.
And when He arose from the dead and ascended back to Heaven, He regained His glory and now, according to John 17:22-24 He shares that glory with all who trust Him for salvation:
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
So as we look at that triumphant entry, Palm Sunday, we are going to look at that triumph - not the entry into Jerusalem, but rather that triumphant entry into His glory. And the way we’re going to look at this is through the results of His suffering and the relationship that we have because of His suffering.
And I know that the word suffering doesn’t sound very triumphant, and we see that the disciples as they went through the process certainly didn’t feel very triumphant at first - but after He was glorified they were able to see through that suffering the glorification. And so the first thing we see is
1. THE RESULTS OF HIS SUFFERING - v.10
It’s the results of His suffering that bring Him glory and that in the end brings us to glory -
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Verse 9 reminded us that Jesus tasted death for everyone.
Verse 10 says for it was fitting and means that what God did through Jesus was consistent with His character. It was consistent with God’s wisdom.
The cross was a masterpiece of wisdom. God solved the problem which no human or angelic mind could have solved.
As a result, Jesus, in His humanity, knows human life in all it’s joys and sorrows, all it’s temptations and trials.
We see creation, who Colossians tells us was created by Him and for Him:
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
All things exist for Jesus according to Hebrews 2:10, again laying claim to the fact that Jesus was there at the beginning of creation.
And then last week we discussed that fall of man from his dominion and those results of sin and the call on all of creation, and then we see through that the salvation that can only come by way of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at that middle part of verse 10, bringing many sons to glory -
In Creation, He made us - and as we discussed last week, we were made to have dominion and glory, but that was all lost at the fall of man, but take a look here -
In Salvation, He bought us - In our fallen state, we belonged to this world, a slave to sin, and death, and hell. But Jesus paid the ransom so that we could be restored to Him. He’s the only one that can do that.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
We are no longer our own, and we are no longer slaves to this world. We have become temples where the Holy Spirit resides in each of us that are in Christ -
I’m a car guy, and I really want to bring this point home. And if you’ve been here very often these past few weeks, you’ve probably seen me out there working on at least one of the vehicles. So we’re going to look at cars to bring this home, but you can easily replace cars with homes or just anything where you have expectations of the purchase.
But most if not all of us have cars that are here. And when you go out and buy a car, you generally tend to spend a lot of money to buy a car that meets your needs and that is dependable and does a good job of getting you from point a to point b.
And when you spend 20, 30,50, 70 thousand dollars on a car, you have those expectations of that car - because you bought it at a price, you paid a large some of money to spend time in and drive places in.
Are there things that can happen to that car that are unintentional - sure. you could get a flat tire, or whatever.
But then there are things that are not regular. Sometimes you buy a lemon. Sometimes you buy an unreliable car, or sometimes you may even buy a fixer upper car - and you can spend a lot of time inside those as well.
Now of course there’s a specific difference between us and cars - we have choices, and cars are manufactured, but the point is this - Jesus paid a high price for you. And you were a fixer upper or a lemon in the beginning, make no doubt about it. But if you’ve become a new creation in Christ, you should be striving to become a believer that glorifies God in everything that you do. He commands us to do so - you don’t have an option of staying a lemon, you don’t have the option of remaining a fixer upper, because all the time if you are following Him He is making us new - broken people made new.
The results of His suffering are that He placed us in His family as sons and daughters, and placed us in His future kingdom with His glory-His glory that was greatly proclaimed on Palm Sunday - Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
And He’s purchased us and He’s provided the preparation and instructions. Now He’s preparing the place.
And there are 2 truths that we see in this -
1 - Jesus is Salvation’s founder. He’s the one who opened the doors so that you and I could receive this foundation.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
He blazed a path through the wilderness of our sin to bring us home to glory.
A founder is one who starts something. A founder starts companies, cities, countries, but Jesus - He’s the founder of our existence and He’s the founder of the solution to our sin, the Founder of our faith.
I read a story this week, and in it there was this meeting between Satan and Jesus, and it goes like this:
Satan says “who do you think you are”
Jesus responds “I am life. Some call me Captain Salvation”
Now bear in mind that the KJV and NKJV translates the word for founder into captain, but the same definition is applied here. Continuing on in the story.
Satan replies to Jesus “Instead of being called Life, some say that you died, but you don’t look dead to me”
Jesus - “I was dead, but I am alive forever”
Satan - “how can that be”
Jesus - “I am the Resurrection!”
And that’s exciting folks! Because look with me at
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and because He bought us and because we have faith in Him even though we may physically die here on this earth, we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we will have eternal life with Jesus!
And the second truth that we see from verse 10 is this, not only is Jesus salvation’s founder, He’s it’s completor as well - that last part of the verse there, to make perfect through suffering.
This doesn’t say that Jesus was imperfect. It says that he qualified or completed it. Jesus had to make things complete, His work on the cross had to be complete, He had to become a spotless sinless man to be able to pay that ultimate sacrifice once and for all - perfect.
Number 2
2. THE RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE OF HIS SUFFERING. v.11 - 13 - FELLOWSHIP
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
There are 2 words that describe our relationship - brother and children
Brothers (and sisters) verse 11 speaks of complete identification of the Holy One with a people He is making holy.
Jesus is united to us, and we are united to Him, because we are spiritually united, and we all have one source.
Jesus is not ashamed of us.
His sanctifying work on the cross is so perfect that God sees us in Him, as perfect as He is.
Back to that car analogy, if Jesus was a Lamborghini and I was a Yugo, when God looks at me because of the work that Jesus did He sees a Lambo.
And that’s the work of Christ. It’s miraculous, it’s magnificent, and it’s so perfect that He can bring us into the presence of angels and more than that, the presence of the Father and say that we are His brothers and sisters.
Verse 12 quotes Psalm 22:22
I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
In Psalm 22, the Lord is prophetically seen on the cross, comforting Himself with thoughts of the people who would forever be identified with Him as a result of His death.
The gospels give us the facts of the crucifixion, but this Psalm gives us the feelings of the crucified here.
After describing the death of Jesus in verses 14-21, it has Him in the midst of the church declaring the name of the Father and singing praise to the Father. And look at what it says in Matthew 28:10:
Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Then there was the other word, children.
And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
Now this is a quote from 2 Samuel 22:3 and Isaiah 8:17-18.
And in Isaiah 8 we read of the impending Assyrian invasion and toward the end of the chapter we see this:
I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
The outward circumstances in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 8 were unpromising, but in the eye of faith looked beyond appearances to the ultimate triumph.
One day, in the presence of God the Father, God the Son will confess those of us that are in a relationship with Him joyfully before the great congregation that is in Heaven.
Let’s pray.
Father God thank you for revealing yourself to us and thank you for your triumphant entry into glory. Thank you for the Word that tells us of the story of your glory in the beginning, how you set it aside to come to suffer for us to have a relationship with you as you were glorified through all of this and now are preparing a place for us.
As you keep praying today, I want you to really take a moment and just think of the greatness of our King - and on Palm Sunday He triuphantly entered a city where He knew He had to suffer - He knew all of that before He even entered the city. He knew that He had glory, He stripped Himself of that glory, and through a massive amount of physical and inner anguish and suffering that He was going to return to glory, and He was redeeming us through all of that. He is better than anything this world has to offer. He has done the work to bring those of us in Christ to glory with Him.
Father, show us the perspective we need to see your promises fulfilled and your greatness. Show us your presence that is alive and flowing today. Open our eyes Lord to your all day every day glory, that we can see that you are THE way and THE truth and THE life, and that we can live our lives fully devoted to your current and coming Kingdom.
And as you remain in prayer there are some here that may have realized that they don’t have a relationship with Christ. Maybe you’ve been a churchgoer for years, but you don’t know God personally. Maybe you’ve been trying to “find God” on your own, maybe your family were believers or took you to church or maybe you just haven’t wanted anything to do with religion because the darkness has felt good for you. Maybe you’ve always looked at God in the past and never really looked at Him as ever present and as the ruling King, and you feel like there’s something missing - you’re tired of looking around in the dark, and the Light is what you need and that Light is a living relationship with Jesus Christ.
And there are those of you who Christ desires to reveal Himself to today. So today, call on His name, Jesus, the Son of God who to save you was born in a manger without an earthly father so He didn’t inherit the sin nature, so that He could be your Savior, becoming sin on the cross, shedding His blood, dying, and being raised to life so that anyone who calls on His name will be saved. That’s why you’re here.
If that’s you, if God is calling to you to draw into a relationship with Jesus, answer Him today. If you don’t know how to start, you can simply pray something like this:
Dear God, I know that I am a sinner. Lord I believe that you came to free me from the bonds of sin and hell, and Lord I thank you for what only you could do. Lord I choose you, to follow in all that you are and to walk in the Spirit in a relationship with you, and to spend eternity with you. In Jesus name, amen.
Father, thank you again for this body, and Father as you are speaking to those here today, I pray that they will follow you where you lead, that they will see you revealed, and that we will follow in your presence today.
Questions for the Week
1. As we look forward to Easter next week, have you prayed for those in your life that do not yet know Christ to come to a relationship with Him?
2. List the people in your life that do not know Christ, and pray for them this week. Share the message of Christ with them and invite them to our Easter service next week - and pray for others in the body to do the same!