Let's return together to John the 13th chapter, John 13 verses 31 to 32. As you're turning there, let me tell you that John 1331 through 1431 is a block of scripture that is essentially punctuated by questions from Peter and Thomas and Philip and Jude following the leaving or the exiting of Judas. It's focused on their anticipated separation from Jesus as the concern begins to grow in them about the separation. chapters 13 through 17 take us as it were into the holy of holies with Christ. We are leaving the temple and the courts of the Gentiles and the women and the courts of the priest and now we are taken to the very place of the curtain which would separate us from the holy of holies to their listen to the great high priestly prayer of our priest Christ ultimately in the 17th chapter. And so as we approach this portion of scripture we need to understand that Jesus is now very intent on explaining and disclosing to his disciples those essentials which they must need to know after his departure concerning his purpose and their purpose to follow. For what they will see with their eyes would appear to be defeat as Jesus is drug and manhandled as Jesus is whipped and beaten and killed through crucifixion. It would seem that the calls would be lost and Jesus will reframe all of that that they are about to experience by these explanations that will follow in the next few weeks. John 1331, these verses show the heart of Christ and if they show the heart of Christ then they show the heart of the gospel. Let's begin this passage together. John 1331 and 32. When he and I remind you that is speaking now Judas Iscariot the betrayer. When he had gone out Jesus said now is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. May the Lord bless the reading of his word and the hearing of his people. The departure of Judas into the night has in essence removed the leaven from the group of disciples. The disciples have now been purged of that element which would never belong to Christ in salvation. Jesus is now left with those who are his own. When he speaks of his own sheep and his sheep knowing his voice now Jesus is in an environment with these disciples who know him and whom he knows in a salvific sense the betrayer has gone out into the night has essentially by Christ's command for him to do what he would do now been cast out into the night. He was told stay and belong to me or leave casting him out into the darkness. Jesus now left with those we find that Jesus is unrestrained in his teaching as he was restrained while Judas was there. This passage is the beginning of what's referred to as the farewell discourse of Christ. When the Greeks arrived in our narrative we know that Jesus then announced that his hour was at hand with Judas's departure to betray him. Jesus is now announcing that the hour has arrived. We could go back and read you recall when those Greeks arrived there seemed to be a transition point where Jesus recognized and acknowledged to the disciples that they were entering a new time in his ministry that they were approaching the end. Now Jesus by way of repetition and reframing this is now saying the time has now come. We are now there. There is no place else to go. There are no other events to look forward to now as the time. These farewell discourses such as we find here by Jesus we recognize it as a farewell discourse because these were traditionally given by leaders at the end of their life. In Genesis 49 Jacob begins his with a symbol and listen oh sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel. In that discourse he did a few things. Favored status was given to Judah which the tribe of David was to ultimately come from. Then in Deuteronomy 31 through 34 Moses gives his farewell discourse. In that discourse he established Joshua as a successor. He gave instructions to follow and he gave a final blessing to Israel. If we were to look in extrabiblical that is literature outside of the Bible contemporary to the Bible we would find there recordings of those 12 sons of Jacob that gave farewell discourses and their discourses are modeled same as the biblical one. There are instructions there are blessings and there are prayers that are offered. And so we find a pattern in farewell discourses. There's a concern for the care and the comfort of those that are left behind and our study in the midweek on Wednesday we are studying Philippians together and the teacher in the video presentation or the DVD presentation we were watching mentioned that in that letter Paul felt he was at the end of his life and like many of us if we were to look at war letters that are written home now for those who felt whether it's from the Civil War or whether it's the current war those who felt they were going into the final battle of their life. Often their letters home would not be pleased of regret or it wouldn't be angry letters and tone about their leaders of the war it would be hope for the comfort and for the joy of those left behind. And so we find in this farewell discourse that same pattern that there is a concern a genuine if we can call it pastoral concern for those who would be left behind their comfort their hope that they would not be left in despair then there are also commands. Again following that same pattern of farewell discourses commands and exhortations to obey the law and then there was the passing on of blessings the discourses of Jesus contain the same there'll be instructions words of comfort and promise in fact even the title comfort her helps us to recognize when Jesus is offering them these words of comfort and then ultimately that high priestly prayer a prayer for blessings that would be given to them. D. A. Carson a great commentator of scripture he sees the gospel of John primarily as an evangelistic scripture an evangelistic book meant for Jews of the dysphoria what we mean by that is Jews not living in Jerusalem those Greek speaking or Hellenistic Jews that had been spread out because of the times where the Jews were carried off into captivity or in when Rome came and they caused Jews to be shipped out to thin out the population and dilute the race of Jews and so the book of John is written to those who have a Jewish background who have a Jewish way of viewing things but Jews not in Jerusalem and so as we understand that John is written towards that we find chapters 13 through 17 still holding true to that form of evangelism still holding the purpose of evangelism Carson goes on to argue that the farewell discourse is mainly focused on Jesus' mention mission rather and what follows his departure clarifying the purpose of his death and his exaltation and glorification and the coming of the Holy Spirit so if it's evangelistic literature how are we to understand the thrust of evangelism if it's evangelistic literature what does it teach us about evangelism we find in reading this farewell discourse that if John is a model of evangelistic literature evangelism is less on how is teaching less on how someone becomes a Christian though that is a part it is certainly in John 3 we have explored that we must be born again we must repent and turn to Christ but we find in this farewell discourse a focus on what it means to be a Christian Jesus in this discourse is not describing the house he's describing what it means to be one who is called a Christian one who is called in Christ as Jesus turns to this last discourse the most important matter is God's glory isn't that interesting that in an evangelistic message the first thing mentioned is not the cross of Christ is for the salvation of man that's a true statement none of us would deny that and it certainly is a scriptural statement but in Jesus' priorities Judas has left he turns to his disciples and what he wants them to understand is that all that follows is for the glory of God it's about God's glory that's what all of this is about it's about God's glory in fact if we were to cheat a little and look at John 17 verse 1 and verse 4 we would see there Jesus doing the same father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may glorify you verse 4 I glorified on you own earth having accomplished the work you gave me to do so the context of the cross is in the purpose of glorifying God the cross is the means by which we understand the glory of God so what is it that we would understand about it then our church fathers which we respect and turn to so often certainly grasp this when in their children's catechism the very first question was what's the chief end of man the chief end of man they described was not to believe now we might have certainly accepted a catechism that taught us that man's chief end is to repent and believe in Christ but that's not what they put they reflect Jesus is teaching which the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever it's implied the only way to enjoy him forever is to repent and receive Christ but man's chief end is to live to glorify God our reception of Christ's savior is glorifying God but we are to glorify God and enjoy him forever so let's consider together then what Jesus teaches about what it means to glorify God he starts out by saying now now is the son of man glorified now is he glorified why the word now was Jesus glorified now it's not just symbolic that Jesus's approaching victory his victory in the cross it is a celebration of his actual victory as he's now vanquishing the spiritual kingdom of darkness even in this moment when Judas has just left to betray him and it appears that victory is assured for the prince of darkness it actually is signaling the end of the prince of darkness because and and also the end of Jesus's incarnate ministry with the Jews but it signals his victory over the kingdom of darkness in this Judas is like the poise drops of poison which are dropped into the cup from which Jesus was meant to drink but from which the prince of darkness drinks instead he finds this prince of darkness that the taste of defeat is in his own tonic for he is the one who would seek to poison that which Jesus would drink from but instead he finds the poison in his is in his own cup by accepting the ministry of Judas in the betrayal of Christ he has essentially secured his own defeat as Jesus will be resurrected in glory and ascend to the right hand of God now Jesus will announce the advent of his spirit and the establishment of his church to which the scriptures teach us the gates of hell cannot stand the church is testimony to the victory of Christ the church is testimony to the victory of Christ over the kingdom of this world the church would not exist had Satan secured victory in the crucifixion of Christ but because the church exists and is indwell by the spirit of Christ we are now assured that the gates of hell which gates or static will not stand against the oncoming militant crushing power of the church of Jesus Christ but they will be torn down now Jesus says now is the son of man glorified at that moment it was as if it was all opened up before Jesus he could see in his divine knowledge all having been accomplished already we speak in many of the same terms though certainly not with the assurance that Christ would but we speak in the same terms when we are negotiating something with someone or a task and somebody looks at us and we ask them well when do you think you'll be able to get that done and they might respond with something along the lines of consider it already done what they mean is it so assured that it will be accomplished it so assured that it will be finished that in your mind you just consider this already completed Jesus in his divine knowledge of the will and the plan of God and the glory of God sees all aid out before him and perhaps in his humanity we might determine he actually was already longing for it to have passed for certainly in Gisemite he shows a certain dread for the for enduring the physical torment he will be made to endure but nevertheless here he is acknowledging it's done now now in all that follows we will glorify God and I will glorify God and God will glorify me and himself in me by the cross of Christ Jesus begins his lengthy farewell them with this idea of glory he says this five times and two verses five times he uses the word glory and two verses James voice that the great legacy has left us as a as a preacher of the scriptures distinguishes two nuanced uses of the word glory or docks if we were to look at it in Greek only mentioned that because we get our word doxology and we get our word orthodox or orthodoxy from this word glory a doxology is a song that is to glorify God to give glory to God that's why we sing it glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost glory be that's a doxology the first use which he distinguishes is to simply have a good opinion or honor and pray someone to have a right opinion it's a present emphasis away of glorifying in the present that's why we use the word orthodox orthodox means to simply hold a right opinion or to hold a true view about God this goes back to where we began our service with with an exhortation that that I had given to be orthodox is to know and to hold to be true a right view of God based on the teaching of God concerning himself to not view God as he presents himself is to by definition be unorthodox to hold a view that is not right which is incorrect about God to be orthodox is to hold a right view of God so we might then say assuredly our worship for example our worship expressions are a testament to his glory when they are based on a right understanding of his revelation of himself and where our worship does not reflect God's revelation of himself it is a testament of our unorthodoxy or our lack of understanding of God of his character and of his eminence and his transcendence then there is the second use if the first use is more of a present and very practical use where we would organize our lives and our worship and our ministry to reflect the truth of which God reveals concerning himself and in those actions we glorify God because it is a testimony of the truth of God lived out in our lives if the present use as practical as it is is how we would understand one word one way of using the word glory there is a second one which is a future emphasis this is going to be the revelation of God in future in the sense of Christ is here using it to describe the crucifixion the resurrection and his ascension to glory how is it that God is glorified in the crucifixion in the time of Christ crucifixion we know was the most humiliating the most degrading method of execution there's nothing heroic there was nothing admirable and certainly nothing glorious or glamorous in crucifixion it represented complete domination and capitulation by one's enemy by the one who would oppress usually it was reserved or it was supposed to be always reserved for criminals but in Jesus' case we know he was not criminal Jesus is now emphatically stating that it's even through this that he will be glorified what does this mean the cross of Christ becomes the full crime of history or the center of gravity of history it's the central event around which all else orbits all that came before all human history which came before points forward to the cross all which comes after points back to the cross the cross is that full-crum of history on which you are either on one side of the cross or the other Calvary is where we understand that's our benchmark for where history began and ends at the cross at the cross the utter depravity of all mankind was addressed and so if history is one way of glorifying God because the cross itself becomes the focal point in the center of everything in human history the second one is that there the depravity of man and the lostness of man was corrected as man was saved the gravity was that which separated man from God like the iron curtain of the Cold War days would separate east and west Germany or like the great wall of China would separate China from her enemies we understand depravity separated man from God and there was no way around under or above except through Christ who destroyed the wall the depravity of man is something that the scriptures have mold over in a number of places such as in Psalm 14, 2, 3 and 7 the Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man to see if there are any who understand if there are any who seek after God they have all turned aside together they become corrupt there is none who does good not even one oh that salvation for Israel will come out of Zion you hear the desperation of the Psalmist saying God in heaven is looking down on his creation and he's going is there anyone who seeks after the truth concerning me it's not that they don't believe in God the fool says in his heart there is no God men look at creation and acknowledge there is a creator and a God but man would not seek after God as he is in himself Romans 5, 12 and 15 therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sin but the free gift is not like the trespass for if many died through one man's trespass much more have the grace of God and the free gift by one man Jesus Christ abounded for many must add to that Romans 5, 18 therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men so in summary the fall of Adam is reversed for those who are in Christ the fall of Adam is reversed at the cross the curse is reversed at the cross death the dominion of sin and Satan are all destroyed at the cross and through that victory and through that reconciliation God is glorified because only God could accomplish this and only God could do it and so God is glorified how is it that God then is glorified at the cross through these actions because these actions show him to be both just and the justify let me explain in Romans 3 26 the cross was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and just a fire of the one who has faith in Jesus at the cross gee God is proved to be just because he couldn't allow sin to go unpunished he couldn't allow sin and death to reign in his creation and over his creation a universalist would say and believe that if one person if one person is lost then Jesus has failed that the cross was not adequate if one single person and all of creation is lost then therefore Jesus failed what they failed to understand is that if all are lost but one the cross still shows the glory of God as being just because God will not allow sin to go unpunished the character of God is true and it is right and God will not allow sin to go unpunished and so if if the cross saves only one because it shows God as just it still shows the glory of God at the cross God is proved to be the just a fire because punishment involves a price God sent his son Hebrews 10 14 for by a single offering he is perfected for all time those who are being sanctified so God is just and that sin must be punished but he's also the just a fire in that he will save and all of this is at the cross the cross also shows God's holiness William shed a great theologian wrote holiness is a general term denoting that quality in God whereby he is right in himself and all his actions God is right in himself and all his actions holiness is manifested in the moral law it's manifested in the physical law holiness is expressed in divine feeling toward right toward wrong towards sin and toward obedience holiness is what calls Jesus to utter the words my God my God why has thou forsaken me because in his perfect holiness God could have no part with sin and as Jesus was made to identify with the sin of man own the cross God was made to turn his face away from him and that humanity of Jesus that had known the presence of God suffered to death holiness is that quality which man is commanded directly to cultivate holiness is what we've been commanded to cultivate whether it's Old Testament scriptures in Leviticus 192 speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them you shall be holy for I the Lord your God him holy or whether it's in the New Testament in 1 Peter 1 15 as he called you as holy you also be holy and all your conduct what does this mean as God looked at the cross and could have nothing to do with sin but had to despise sin because his judgments were right concerning what is sin and what is righteous and what is good and what is evil so we also are called to have the same disposition to judge that which is right and what is wrong and what is sin and what is evil and have nothing to do with that which is evil they have nothing to do with that which is wrong this has been lost on the church and the great hymns of faith have sought to teach the church what the Bible tells us of holiness and great hymns such as take time to be holy by William long staff verse one of that hymns says to spend time and prayer and in the word and in fellowship with Christians rather than with unbelievers verse two look not to the world but to Jesus as your guide verse three follow and live by God's word no matter whatever life circumstances may be and verse four take time to be holy be calm and thy soul each thought and each motive beneath his control thus led by his spirit to fountains of love thou soon shall be fitted for service above God's hatred of sin at the cross shows his holiness and finally the effects of the cross on God's glory if we have such a restrictive view of the cross as applying only to me and nothing else that has served only that purpose then we have two restrictive view so that we're not able to perceive truly the glory of God man is not all that lives and thinks in God's creation while Jesus is not the mediator for angels they nevertheless have a keen interest in the cross some scriptures that are of interest concerning the effects of the cross on those other than the redeemed fusions three nine through ten to bring delight for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places those who are not of flesh those who are angelic in the heavenly places are made to know the mysteries of God because of the work at the cross God is revealing himself not only to man but to those who exist in heavenly places flippians two ten so that so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth Hebrews 1 6 again when he brings the first born into the world he says let all God's angels worship him and then lastly 1 Peter 1 12 it was revealed to them that is the Old Testament prophets that they were serving not themselves but you and the things that have been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sit from heaven things into which angels long to look so Jesus presented to us image of the invisible God but Christ's mission and character are those of ineffable benevolence pity love tenderness as well as purity devotion magnumity and righteousness God came to the loliest creature that creature that failed to obey and made himself like that creature in the incarnation and by doing that to the loliest of creatures all of those even the angels above are made to wonder and to glory in God his own incarnation and work are revelation of God's character because they show forth his justice his love his tenderness his grace his forgiveness his purity by the cross and exaltation of Christ we know of God and all creation and the angels know of God and they also know of his glory when we end our prayers with Father may this all be to your glory what we are praying is that Father may our lives and our actions all be ordered according to a right understanding of all that you have revealed so that our lives bear testimony of your justice of your grace of your purity of your truth of your mercy and all of this is seen at the cross and so Jesus points to the cross his the cross and me at the cross will glorify God