The Glory of Christ in the Cross

Glory in death. Let's read of it in chapter 12 and beginning at verse 20.

! Andrew and Philip, in turn, told Jesus.

Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.

But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven.

I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered. Others said an angel had spoken to him.

Jesus said, This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out.

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Pastor. We look at the cross as the low point for Jesus. In many respects, it was.

Jesus took another view of the cross, and we read it. The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And we struggle with this idea of glory, glory and death.

We don't like death. We don't like weakness or humiliation or suffering. We like to be sufficient. We like to feel strong, qualified, competent.

We don't like to have others look at us and feel pity. But Jesus saw his glory as coming in weakness.

Whatever glory he had up until this point, he could say, Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. This is taking the glory to another step, another height.

And this evening we are going to turn our attention to the idea of, or the glory of Jesus Christ in his crucifixion, in his death. And here the problem is not what to say.

The problem is what not to say. The cross is the Son, with all the radiance of glory pouring out of it.

It isn't something so much that you can stand back and say, Oh, I see some glory here, and I see some glory there. It's all glorious. It's the supernova of the Bible.

It's the supernova of history, where glory most keenly and brilliantly shined out. The glories of the cross will echo and flow for hundreds and billions of years into the future.

And it will make me throw my crown at his feet and say, Not unto me, not unto me, but to you be glory forever and ever.

And forever and ever, that's what we will be doing. Forever will not exhaust the theme. And so we have to begin somewhere, and we have to realize that we are not going to be able to say everything.

And so we will begin with a simple melody. We'll contain ourselves in what we see in John chapter 12, what I had read for you.

And we're going to see four things tonight. The first is that four ways that we see Christ's glory in his death. And the first is that in death, Jesus brings life to many.

And then second, Jesus in his death judges the world. Judges the world. Third, Jesus in his death drives out the devil.

Fourth, Jesus in his death draws all men to himself. So first, Jesus in his death brings life to many. Now you saw that some Greeks wanted to see Jesus.

And that's interesting because that's what this whole sermon series is about, is seeing the glory of Christ. Well, these Greeks had heard about Jesus. They wanted to see Jesus.

And so they came to Philip. Philip, who was from Bethsaida, who probably had, who spoke Greek, who was probably more comfortable with Gentiles. And so they come to Philip, and Philip tells Andrew, and they're both uncertain as to what to do with this request.

Jesus hasn't always been so willing to speak to Gentiles. You can think of a few occasions of, for example, the Syriophenician woman.

He wasn't so keen to talk to her, at least at the beginning. So they're uncertain of what to do with this request. So they go to Jesus together. And in effect, Jesus' answer was this.

It is now time for all men to see my glory. It's time to bring in the Greeks. It's time for all men to come. But it will happen through my death.

They will see me, but they will see me first as crucified. My death must be first. Until I die, I have nothing to offer them.

Look at verse 24. I tell you the truth. That's amen, amen. In other words, this might be hard to believe.

This might be hard to understand. But this is the way it is. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

So a kernel of wheat, as long as you have it in your hand, as long as it's above ground, enjoying the sun, enjoying life, then it remains only one.

Yes, it has life. It has life unto itself. But only if it dies can it multiply. Only if it is buried and covered can it multiply.

And can it give its life to others? And Jesus says, that's what I'm like. Unless I die, yes, I have life.

Yes, I have life unto myself. But the only way my life can come to others is through my death. My life stays with me. But if I die, I'll bring many to life.

I'll produce many seeds. And you see what they're like. They're people just like him who are willing to give their all, to give their life, to serve the Father. And so dying, in dying, Jesus is able to multiply himself.

Through death, he gives life to others. And it's life like his life. In dying, he makes many Christians, many followers of Jesus Christ.

And where their master is, they are right there with him. Now, before he died, he had about 120 followers. And then he dies.

And 50 days later, he has thousands of followers. Thousands of people who are willing to lay down their life for him.

And that number only kept growing. And that's his glory. This is the glory of his death. His death is not the end. It is the beginning.

His death isn't the end of his movement. It is the beginning of a tsunami that spread from Jerusalem to Samaria, to the ends of the world.

And his blood will never lose its power until all the ransomed church of God is brought home. And that his death is still producing life throughout this world.

That's his glory. So his death in apparent weakness is his great power to give his life to many, to bring dead souls of men to life.

And so his death wins us for God. His death brings us into fellowship with God. Why can we have life and life to the fullest? It's because he laid down his life.

And so we have a new place in the family. We have all the blessings of the new covenant. Forgiveness of sins. Knowing God because he died. So we have life.

And life everlasting because he didn't keep his life. So he laid it down. And so now he is glorified in an incredible new way.

And now we say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for what you've done for me. Because you died. You love me. You gave up yourself for me. Now you have my heart.

His death wins all the worship and all the affection and all the service and all the work of our hearts. And for eternity, we will love and we will serve and we will worship him.

Because what he did for us on the cross. Those few hours on the cross changed everything for us. It gave us life.

Life with God. So there's glory in the cross. Because in dying, he gives his life away and others begin to share it.

Now secondly, we see his glory in that in his death, Jesus judges the world. He judges the world. Well, we don't have time to look at verses 27 through 30.

But in these verses, Jesus says, I'm troubled. He comes to the cross and he's not a spectator. He comes to the cross as a real man.

With the knowledge that he is going to suffer. And he is troubled. His heart is in anguish and God speaks to encourage him.

But to tell us indeed that through the cross, God says, you will bring glory to me. This is what I have set up for you to do.

This is the path of obedience. And so he goes forward knowing that he is going to bring glory to God. And in telling, when God speaks, he lets everyone know that this is his appointed path.

That indeed, Jesus does bring glory to God through his death. Now in verse 31, Jesus says, Now is the time. Now is the time for judgment on this world.

Now. That's the same now as the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Now at the hour when the Son of Man is to be glorified.

This is judgment on the world. Now, how does the cross bring judgment, condemnation upon the world?

Well, the presence of Christ in this world was a test. It was a test of the world's character. The world was put on trial by the presence of Jesus.

The world has an opportunity now to show itself for what it is. To show itself what they really think of God. And it's a test of their character.

All kinds of men can say they love God. Now here is where it's going to be proven. And what do they do? They crucified the Lord of glory.

Their own acts tested them. Their own acts condemned them. And so in the crucifixion, it was them announcing judgment upon themselves.

As they condemn him to death, they condemn themselves to death. As they judge him, they are judged. So just think of it.

How can this world survive? What chance does the world have now? His blood is on their hands.

His death is their death. His judgment is their destruction. They murdered the Lord of glory. And instead of begging him to save them, instead of falling down and begging him to rescue them and give them life, they mocked him and shamed him and put him to death.

And so every nail that went into him was a nail in their own coffin. Every shameful word was an infinity of shame for them forever and ever.

In his blood, the world wrote its own death warrant. So now in this hour, the hour when I am to be lifted up, Jesus says, this is the hour of my glorification.

This is the hour in which the world is judged. So the cross is a strange victory, but it is Christ's victory over the world.

It seemed like the world won. It seemed like a great setback for God. It seemed like a great setback for God's kingdom. But the cross was just the beginning of the end.

It was the writing on the wall. It guaranteed this world's end. It guaranteed their doom. Now let me give you an example.

And it's a bit far-fetched because if you're going to talk about these things, you're going to have to use your imagination. So let's say that Bremen High School football had a great year.

I don't know how they're doing. But let's suppose they had a great year. They beat Gymtown. They won the conference. They humiliated LaVille. They beat Plymouth. And they're really riding high.

They're looking back over all their victories. And they're thinking, we're really something. And in a crazy, insane fit of arrogance and pride, they challenged the Baltimore Ravens to play.

It's far-fetched, I know. But they challenged the Baltimore Ravens to play. They're so insanely arrogant that they thought they could win. And they boasted of their victory.

And they mocked the Ravens. And they said they were soft. They were undisciplined. They don't have the knowledge that we have. They don't have the skill. They're no match for the mighty Bremen Lions.

So this went on and on. And they were posting YouTube clips about how good they were and how bad the Ravens were. And so the coach of the Baltimore Ravens finally said, that's enough.

It's time to put an end to this madness. So they signed the papers. We will play. We'll play a scrimmage. They set the date to play. And the Baltimore Ravens came to town.

And they destroyed Bremen. Every single Bremen player ended up in the hospital. How else would it be? Bremen didn't gain one yard.

And Baltimore scored on every single kickoff. And we could ask, when did Bremen lose that game? Well, didn't they lose the game as soon as they dared challenge them?

Wasn't it over the day they agreed to play? Everything after that was inevitable. The cross was man's challenge to God.

This is what we think of you. This is what we'll do to you. They crucified the Lord of glory. Now, is there any possible outcome? Except for this world to be destroyed by fire.

The judgment of the fallen system of mankind. Hasn't judgment already happened? In one sense, it has already.

They've signed their death warrant. And they've poured it out upon their own head. God has won. Christ has won. The world is guilty.

That was the end. It was as good as the end. Christ threw down this world.

And he threw it down by suffering. And at the last day, he will only end what he started. So let's apply that in a couple of ways.

First, to unbelievers. What are you doing with Christ? His presence in the preaching of the word is as much his presence as it was for those Jews.

And you are already guilty. You're already guilty because you're already a part of that doomed world. You've already aligned yourself with the murderers of Jesus.

You've taken your stand. And you've taken your stand with those who killed Christ. And so you stand condemned. The game is up.

You've lost. You will be destroyed unless you repent. The folks in Jerusalem heard Peter say, you handed him over.

You disowned him. You killed the author of life. And then he said, repent then and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped away.

That times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Isn't that amazing? You. You. You did it. You killed the author of life.

So repent. That God might have mercy upon you. If you found that you have signed up with the murderers of Jesus Christ and you've taken your stand against him and against the God and against his anointed, then what do you do?

You repent. You repent or you'll be destroyed. The judgment of the world has already happened. In that one sense.

In that one sense. That when they crucified Jesus, they wrote their own death warrant against themselves. So you stand judged. And the word is escape the wrath to come.

It's coming. Escape and be saved. Now secondly to believers, don't you see that the cross is our guarantee of victory over this world?

It's our guarantee of victory over this world. The world is strong. And it's strong. It's one of our greatest enemies.

I'm sure we're going to see about later in Sunday morning. It's one of our great enemies, but it's on its way out. Its judgment is clear. The world doesn't have a chance.

So don't love it. You're loving something that God has devoted to destruction. And also don't be afraid of it either.

Christians, we have this tendency to swing. One of those two things. We either love the world or we're terrified of it. But don't love it. And don't be afraid of it either. This world may kill you.

Men might persecute you to the death, but that will only bring you to mansions of glory. They cannot do anything to you. That will hurt you forever. This world is dying.

The sword is in its own heart. So don't be afraid. If your enemy had a sword driven right through their heart, would you be terrified of it? All of its screaming, all of its noise, all of its yelling and fuss, all of its threats, they're threats of a dying man.

So don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to stand up. Don't be afraid to be different. Don't be afraid to follow Jesus when the whole world is opposing you. Don't be afraid to let go of the railing, because the ship is going down.

And you will triumph if you stand. You will triumph if you overcome. Now we come to our third point.

In his death, Jesus drove out the devil. Drove out the devil. Verse 31. It says, Now is the time for judgment on this world.

Now the prince of this world will be driven out. Now what does that mean? What does that mean? That's a very interesting thing to say. Because obviously the devil is very much active.

He goes about like a roaring lion. He's very much active. So what does Jesus mean here? I think he means very much the same thing in the sense that the world stands judged at the cross.

The cross is Jesus' great victory over the devil. It looks like, this is where it looks or deceiving, it looks like Satan is winning as Jesus dies.

It looks like Satan and his kingdom have triumphed. But the cross, and this is the way Jesus saw it, this is my great hour. This is the hour that I'm victorious.

This is the hour that I'm glorified. So Satan has ruled over the nations of this world with uncontested power. Remember God said, let them go.

Let them go their own way. But the cross is the turning of the tide. The cross is the great battle that decides the war.

And it made Satan's defeat inevitable. Inevitable. Remember Genesis. He will bruise his heel.

He will bruise his heel. Satan bruised his heel. But what did Christ do? Crushed his head. This is the hour of Christ's glory. It's the time for Satan's head to be crushed.

It's time for Satan to fall back and his kingdom to go into permanent decline. It's time for him to be driven out of the nations and for Jesus and his kingdom to come to this earth.

It's the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified. So it's the battle that everything hinges on and everything is different after that. It was September 1862.

The American Civil War was at its height. Things were precarious for the North. Britain and France were weeks if not days away from recognizing the Confederate States of America and then allying themselves with the South.

and with Britain and France on the South Side who knows how the war would have turned out. The North was war weary. It hadn't won any battles of any significance.

Lincoln had showed his cabinet the Emancipation Proclamation. And you know what his cabinet did? They just sat there in stunned silence.

That thing it wasn't going anywhere. They didn't have a leg to stand on. They didn't have a chance. And now the South was on the move and they were invading Maryland.

The armies met in a 30 acre cornfield in Antietam. And there was a sunken road that ran through the battlefield.

The cornfield changed hands several times and the North lost hundreds and thousands on that sunken road as they came up over the crest of the hill.

The South just shot them down. It was the bloodiest day in American history. Four times more men died on that day than died in the Normandy invasion of World War II.

But the North eked out a victory. And from that day on it was different. That day changed everything.

See now Britain and France can't ally themselves with the South. And on the back of that victory Abraham Lincoln could issue the Emancipation Proclamation which changed the complexion of the war completely.

So Antietam was the turning of the tide. It was the beginning of the end of the South. It was the beginning of the end of slavery. The cross was the end of Satan's kingdom.

It was the beginning of the end. It was the end of slavery of men to Satan. It was the beginning of the end. It was Jesus' great victory over the devil.

Listen to Hebrews 2. Since the children have flesh and blood he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death that is the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

The cross was our emancipation proclamation. It was the emancipation proclamation that Jesus said from now on these my children are set free.

Well how did it free us? How did the cross free us from the clutches of Satan? Well Satan only has one effective weapon. He can lie.

He can cheat. He can steal. He can murder. And all those things they're lies. It's all based on lie. But he does have one honest effective weapon. And he has only one way of daunting men and holding them captive to death.

And it was their unforgiven sin. As long as Satan has unforgiven sin that he can accuse us of. That he can say they've sinned.

Then he actually has God's justice on his side. Then he could speak into our hearts you deserve to die. And when you die it's going to be terrible.

Because you're going to get what you deserve. Look at what you've done. And with unforgiven sins Satan the accuser could come into the courtroom and stand and say God you need to give them justice.

Give them what they deserve. serve. And he could take out the law and he could say look at what they have done. They've broken your law. Give them justice. But what happened at the cross?

Colossians 2 tells us he forgave us all our sins. Having canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us that stood opposed to us. That's talking about the law.

He took it away nailing it to the cross and having disarmed the powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross.

There's the law. They should do this. They should not do that. And they've failed. They've sinned. And it's in Satan's hands and at the cross God Jesus Christ disarms him.

And he makes a public spectacle of them. It was his weapon. sin. The law and the devil stood against us. The devil cried out for justice but at the cross Jesus disarms him and he takes the law out of his hands and so now he cannot use the law anymore against us to accuse us because all of our sins are forgiven.

And now Jesus makes a public spectacle of those powers and authorities. That's talking about Satan. He makes a public spectacle of them. So the devil is crying out justice, justice, now his very words justice, justice are turned against him.

Now his very words justice, justice don't condemn us. They save us. Because Jesus died for all of our sins.

Satan's argument becomes our salvation. So Satan is skewered on his own sword. His own words set us free.

His wisdom becomes his folly and then with his own mouth he tells God to free us and to let us live. Do you see that the cross is the devil's humiliation?

It's the day that his kingdom lost all legitimacy and all power and now there's no hope. In killing Jesus he killed himself and with his own hands he tore down his own kingdom. So you see why Jesus can say this is the hour that I'm glorified?

Now Christian, take heart. Take heart. The cross is our guarantee of victory over the over Satan, over the devil. We will win.

We don't tremble for him. His doom is sure. Yes, he's a roaring lion. Yes, he's a terrible king, but his head is mangled. The end is coming and there's nothing now for him but a long defeat until his destruction is complete.

And now his kingdom is falling into the hands of King Jesus. Revelation 11, there were loud voices in heaven which said, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever.

There's the kingdom of the world and there was this great coup and Jesus took over. So do you see why the cross is Christ's glory? In dying he wins.

In dying he destroys the devil and his kingdom. Now fourth, what glory is there in the cross? Well, in dying he draws all men to himself. Look at verse 32.

But when I, when I am lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men to myself. And he said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

So when I am lifted up, when I am crucified, when I am put on the cross, I will draw all men to myself. This is the answer to the Greeks.

Can you, can we see Jesus? Can we see Jesus? You can. You will. When you see him lifted up.

There's no use seeing him yet. Wait until he's lifted up. Wait until he's lifted up and then you will see him. Then you will know him. Then you will come like moths to the flame.

And Jesus wins the hearts of the nations by his cross. And so driving out Satan is only half the battle. Now he has to bring in the people from everywhere.

And his cross does that as well. Because at the cross, man's greatest problem is solved. We've all sinned.

We've all disobeyed. We're distant from God because of our sin. We've all wandered away. We've gone each to our own way and we're guilty and we're separated from God.

And in the cross, Jesus offers mankind the only solution that we have. They need a God man to die for them. He has to be man.

In order to be a sacrifice for them. And Jesus is that man. But he has to be God in order to bear the weight of God's wrath. And he, Jesus, is that God.

And as the God man, he finally and fully gives man salvation. And so now they come.

They come. They come from all over the world. From Kenya. From China. From North America. From Africa.

From Asia. From Europe. From the coldest regions. To the hottest jungles. Men are coming. We saw it this morning. They're pressing in to the feast.

people like you. And people as different from you as can be. They're coming. They're drawn to the Savior.

They're drawn by his love. They're drawn by his sacrifice. They're drawn by his wisdom and his power. They're pouring into his kingdom. Why? Because Jesus died for all kinds of men.

Men from everywhere. And now they come. And they come to be saved. They come to a Savior who died for them. They come to a Savior who loved them. Now, should we have great confidence in missions?

Absolutely. Because standing at the back of missions. Supporting our missionary effort. Is not our strength. It's not our effort.

It's not our initiative. It's the cross of Jesus Christ. What guarantees all men will come? All kinds of men will come.

Well, it is the cross itself. And so should we seek to spend and be spent? Should we seek to go? And should we seek to send? Yes.

Why? Because Jesus died. This is our great confidence. This assures us the victory. The world will be our Christ.

Because Jesus died. So his cross draws all kinds of men to himself. Salvation is accomplished. And now he's applying it. He sent forth his spirit into the world to make many rich in Jesus.

And so that is what the Holy Spirit is doing. So do you see the glory of the cross? It's Jesus' great victory. It's his victory over the world. It's his victory over the devil.

It's the foundation of his kingdom. In dying, he unleashes life into this dark, gloomy world. So Jesus wasn't ashamed to suffer. Because this was his victory.

He scorned the shame. He scorned the shame. He looked upon it and considered it nothing because this was his glory. Look what I will accomplish through my death.

He was the Savior. He was the victor. And this is the hour of his victory. So dear friends, let's not be ashamed to suffer with him.

Let's not be ashamed to suffer then for our Savior and with our Savior. If we suffer with him, then we will also reign with him. His cross, his suffering for us, was his victory.

And our cross, our suffering for him, will be our victory. So let's give ourselves to him. Let's give ourselves to his cause, body, and soul, holding nothing back because he held nothing back for us.

Let's pray. Our Lord Jesus, we thank you that you took up our cares and our concerns.

That you took up our sin and our shame. And you bore them to the place of judgment for us. Thank you at the cross that you overcame the world and the devil.

Thank you at the cross you overcame our hearts. Lord, we pray then that you would make your glories to shine brighter in our hearts.

Make your glory to shine in the hearts where darkness reigns. Make your glory to shine in the darkest places of our world. Thank you that you won the victory.

Thank you that you are our savior. You are our hero. We love you. We ask that you would help us then to live and to suffer for you.

To not be afraid, but to embrace suffering as you did. Because in suffering is the victory. Thank you that these things are assured to us because of your cross.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Son. Thank you that he is our friend, our spouse, our Savior. We thank you for loving us and giving him to us.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.