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[0:00] Take your copy of the scriptures and turn to the first gospel, the gospel of Matthew.! Matthew 3, beginning in verse 1, we'll read through verse 17.

[0:15] In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, a voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

[0:38] John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan, confessing their sins.

[0:54] They were baptized by him in the Jordan River. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

[1:09] Produce fruit and keep him with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

[1:23] The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance.

[1:36] But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

[1:47] His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

[1:58] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?

[2:14] And Jesus replied, Let it be so now. It is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness. Let's hear the preaching of God's word.

[2:52] I want to give my gratitude and thanks to your pastors for the privilege of preaching to you today.

[3:03] And I trust God will bless our studies together to your soul's good. The New Testament is like a nuclear power plant.

[3:15] It's a vast complex of truth dedicated to the production of saving energy in the lives of sinful men. Like a nuclear plant, it also has a reactor core from which all the power of the gospel originates.

[3:31] Today, I want you to study with me the reactor core of the New Testament gospel. The key verse has just been read, but look at it again.

[3:42] It's Matthew 3.17. Matthew 3.17, where we read, Behold a voice out of the heavens said, and here are the key words, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

[4:00] Last Sunday evening, after our evening service at Grace Reformed Baptist Church of Owensboro, we had a CBTS graduation. We awarded theological degrees to five men.

[4:12] And we also had a send-off for one of those men who was a member of our church with his family who was moving to be pastor of the Glen Cullen Baptist Church in Portland, Oregon.

[4:24] And I asked both Pastor-elect Ben and also the other men there who were aspiring to the ministry a question that I want to ask your pastors, and in fact all of you, this morning.

[4:40] Should you try to have, should you try to build a gospel church or a confessional church? Should you want to have a gospel church or a confessional church?

[4:57] Now I hope you can't answer that question. Because one of my goals this morning is to show you that the gospel is our confession, and our confession is the gospel.

[5:12] Every church, consequently, every church, consequently, if it's going to be a true church of Jesus Christ, must be both a gospel and a confessional church.

[5:24] I want you to notice several things about these words we find in Matthew 3.17 by way of introduction. The first thing I want you to notice is the centrality of these words in the New Testament.

[5:38] Preachers are frequently guilty of overstatement. It seems like everything they preach about is the most important thing in the Bible. And how they do that week after week after week on different things, I don't know.

[5:50] I don't want to be that kind of preacher. I dislike that kind of thoughtless overstatement. But this morning I really am speaking to you about the most important words in the New Testament.

[6:01] I'll say it again. I really am. I'm talking to you this morning about the most important words in the New Testament, what I have called the reactor core of the gospel.

[6:12] And one of the indications of the importance of this passage is that these words here are repeated verbatim seven times in the New Testament. There are many more passages in the New Testament as well that can be traced back to Matthew 3.17.

[6:27] And later we'll look at some of these. But the seven passages I mentioned are, that are almost verbatim repetitions of it, are these. Besides Matthew 3.17, Mark 1.11, And a voice came out of heaven, You are my beloved Son, and you are my well pleased.

[6:44] Luke 3.22, And the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, You are my beloved Son, and you I am well pleased.

[6:54] Then these very words are repeated in the testimony of God the Father to his Son on the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17.5, While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

[7:10] Listen to him. And then the parallel accounts in Mark 9.7, Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, And a voice came out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son.

[7:21] Listen to him. Luke 9.35, Then a voice came out of the cloud saying, This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to him. 2 Peter 1.17, repeats this information when it said, When Peter says towards the end of his life, recalling the day of the transfiguration on the Mount, For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.

[7:53] This testimony of the Father to his Son, It is, indeed, the most important word in the New Testament. But then I want you to notice the context of these words in the Gospel of Matthew, the context of these words, again by way of introduction.

[8:11] All of the texts just mentioned contain the testimony of God the Father to his Son, Jesus Christ, and that is important to remember. Four of them come in the accounts of Jesus' transfiguration.

[8:25] Jesus' transfiguration was the time when, alone with three of his disciples on the top of a mountain, his true glory became visible. In Matthew 17.2, we read of that event, And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light.

[8:43] In each of these texts that we have read, the words are the words of God the Father spoken from heaven. But in Matthew 3.17, and its parallels, these words have a different context.

[8:57] They occur at Jesus' baptism. Jesus' baptism was the time of Jesus' public revelation to Israel when he began his public ministry.

[9:11] This is the time, and this is the place, where he put his foot on the road that would lead inexorably and inevitably to the cross of which we've sung this morning.

[9:25] That ministry would lead him inevitably to the cross in which he died for the sins of his people. This was a crucial moment in his life and ministry. And on this occasion, when he went down into the river to be baptized by John the Baptist, two things happen.

[9:41] The Spirit of God descends from heaven in the form of a dove and lights on him in token of the gift of the Spirit to prepare him for and to equip him for his ministry.

[9:54] And then the voice of the Father speaks from heaven with the words of our text. This context is crucial if we are to understand the meaning of these words.

[10:05] But in the third place by way of introduction, I want just to tell you where we're going this morning, the communication of these words in my message. I want to point out five things, five things about these wonderful, mysterious, and glorious words.

[10:24] There is, as we come to them, specific designation, clear identification, infinite affection, wonderful commendation, and glorious salvation.

[10:44] So I want you to consider these things one at a time. The first is this, specific designation. Here, in your mind's eye, circle the word this.

[10:54] This, God the Father says, is my beloved son. In the passage, the pronoun this, of course, refers to the man Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River.

[11:11] The context serves to emphasize the importance of the word. Not only is the first word spoken by God the Father from heaven, it is underscored by the descent of the heavenly dove on the man Jesus.

[11:26] But this, this, has a grander emphasis and meaning given to it by the entire Old Testament. This, this, is like the question that always seems to climax chick flick.

[11:41] You do watch chick flicks, don't you? I know you do. Will you marry me? That's how the movie ends. That's what the guy says to the girl at the climax of the movie.

[11:53] But in those movies, that question, wonderful as it is, always has more meaning because of all the problems that the couple goes through, all the hang-ups of the guy, all the hesitations of the girl, all the problems they face in their relationship, all the misunderstandings.

[12:12] And thus, when the question is finally asked, the waiting and the built-up tension provoke a collective sigh and tears, at least from the female members of the audience.

[12:26] The Old Testament provides that kind of build-up for our text. The story of the Old Testament is the story of the promised seed of the woman, who is also the seed of David.

[12:44] This promised seed came to be known as the promised Messiah, or Christ, the anointed one expected by the nation of Israel. The whole Old Testament is a promise that the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world is coming.

[13:00] The Gospel of Matthew has retold and summarized that story and that promise by introducing us to the genealogy of Jesus and the parents of Jesus of Nazareth in the first chapter and named his forebears, famous Israelites, Abraham and David, famous and in some ways infamous women like Bathsheba and Rahab and Ruth.

[13:31] And those verses have told us of the birth of Jesus in the second chapter. In this chapter, it's introduced us to the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist. The whole Gospels led up to this moment when the heavenly voice identifies Jesus of Nazareth as a long-promised and long-awaited Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world.

[13:50] The voice of the Father and the descent of the Spirit in the form of the dove now tell us that the man Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth and no one else ever in all of history, this, this, this is my beloved Son, God the Father says.

[14:09] This is the personal and historical manifestation, incarnation of God's Son and the fulfillment of the promised seed who would bring salvation to the world.

[14:23] This is the one. But notice in the second place, clear identification. We have here the language that identifies the person being spoken of when we read, this is my Son.

[14:45] My Son. God the Father identifies Jesus as His Son.

[14:58] But what does that mean? What does it mean that Jesus is God's Son? Well, I think it means at least two closely related things. Jesus is God's Son, can I put it this way, in at least two senses?

[15:13] In at least two senses? Jesus is God's Son because He is the promised Messianic seed of David. You remember, right, I'm not going to turn you to the verses, but you remember, don't you, that when Israel came to Samuel, and asked for a king, Samuel felt bad, and God appeared to Samuel, and what did He say?

[15:37] They've not rejected you, they've rejected me from being their king. True. It's clear from the Old Testament that only God could be the king of Israel.

[15:50] And so, eventually, Saul falls, sins, is destroyed. But then, the kingship falls to David.

[16:01] But why is this not also a rejection of God as king of Israel? Here's the answer. In the Davidic covenant, God adopts David and his sons as His own sons.

[16:17] So there is a sense in which, in the long royal lineage and kingship of David and his sons, God is ruling Israel because David and his sons, his royal sons, are sons of God through the Davidic covenant.

[16:36] 1 Chronicles 17, 13, I will be his father and he shall be my son. And I will not take my loving kindness away from him as I took it from him who was before you, but I will settle him in my house and my kingdom forever and his throne shall be established forever.

[16:55] And it's this sense of being the appointed king of Israel, being the royal and covenantally the son of God.

[17:08] That's behind the words of Nathanael in John 1, 49 when in his confession he says, Rabbi, addressing Jesus, you are the son of God.

[17:19] What does that mean? You are the king of Israel. So that's one thing that I think the Bible means and what, and that the father means when he says, this is my son.

[17:33] Jesus is God's son because he's the promised messianic seed of David. But Jesus was the son of God in an even more ancient sense because he is the eternal and natural son of God.

[17:57] In the Trinity, there are three distinct persons. We see them in the context of Matthew 3, 17, one of the most important Trinitarian passages in the New Testament.

[18:11] There is the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Each of them are fully God. But they are three distinct persons and here God the father identifies Jesus also as his eternal son.

[18:30] This eternal sonship of Jesus is emphasized throughout the New Testament but no place more than in the Gospel of John which begins with the words, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

[18:44] He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being. Or John 1, 14 identifies this word as also God's son and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth.

[19:07] Or John 1, 18 no one has seen God at any time the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the father he has explained him or the famous well-known text John 3, 16 for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son he was his son when he gave him he was his son before he gave him to become a man he was his son from all eternity he was the word that was in the beginning he was the only begotten who was in the beginning for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life and so when the father calls Jesus his son when the voice from heaven calls Jesus my son it is also in this glorious sense that it's true he is God's eternal only begotten son as the Nicene Creed tells us

[20:14] God of God light of light very God very God very God of very God begotten not created he is God's eternal son he is then God's son both covenantally through the Davidic covenant as the king of Israel and eternally in fact as a sense in which the historical sonship of his being the king of Israel merges with the eternal sonship or manifest the eternal sonship he is then God's son both by the Davidic covenant and by eternal generation but there is in the third place here in the text infinite affection this is my son my beloved one my beloved human love is a very weak and fickle thing even when human love is true and authentic those who love us may die we lost one of our dear deacons a few months ago when I preached this last

[21:36] Sunday evening I was looking at his wife sitting by himself in our assembly and so human love is true and authentic but even that kind of human love may involve people who die or are unable to help us even though they love us but when God the father calls Jesus his son his beloved one you have the love of the infinite eternal and almighty God what cannot that love do but not only that you have the love of the eternal father for his eternal son God the father has always from eternity had a special kind of love for the second person of the trinity loves him as his son because that person is really and truly and eternally his son now

[22:55] I have something that may seem a little demeaning to say to young people you young people unmarried without children of your own you do not understand you don't understand even a little of how much your parents love you you don't understand it you'll never understand it until you hold your own son or daughter in your arms I think that's true someday when you have your own children you will understand and you'll look back and say this this is what my parents felt for me and maybe you'll repent when you think of that maybe you'll you'll go to them and say I'm sorry I never understood but when that day comes you will also begin to understand something of what

[24:02] God the father meant when he called Jesus his beloved son because these earthly father son relationships were created to be but a dim shadow of this eternal father son relationship what we have here then in the word beloved is eternal and almighty purpose wrapped in eternal and almighty power and springing from eternal and almighty love in the father's heart for his son what can resist that love nothing nothing at all but notice in the fourth place we have here wonderful commendation wonderful commendation this is my beloved son in whom

[25:16] I am well pleased in whom I am well pleased the word translated well pleased here refers to God's good pleasure this good pleasure is expressed and translated in the words well pleased in our text the word is defined by one Greek dictionary like this it means to be pleased take delight or pleasure in to choose to will to resolve to be content this is the meaning of the word well pleased here the delight which a man feels for his beautiful bride as she walks down the aisle toward him the pleasure which a parent feels when he looks at a report card from his child with straight A's on it all the delight and pleasure which we can imagine all of that which we can imagine is only the smallest glimmer of the good pleasure

[26:21] God the Father feels in his son when God the Father says he's well pleased with Jesus he implies that he completely approves of him both of who he is and of what he is doing remember what we said about the occasion of these words he is now setting his feet on that public ministry which would lead him inevitably and finally to the cross upon which he died and so he is pleased with both his person and his work he means that he completely approves of him accepts him and chooses him later in Matthew 12 18 these things are enlarged upon and when in the words of Isaiah are applied to the Messiah where we read behold my servant whom I have chosen my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased I will put my spirit on him and he shall proclaim justice to the

[27:26] Gentiles the pleasure in and acceptance of Jesus by God the Father qualifies him for the most intimate fellowship the most intimate love with and of God the Father it means that God thoroughly approves of what he is doing but as I said what was Jesus doing right then Jesus was being baptized identifying himself with his people setting his foot on the path that would lead to the saving cross right then Jesus was being baptized and by that baptism set apart and empowered for the path that would lead him to the cross that path of obedience leading to the cross was the only way he could be our savior he was working out by his life and death a way for those who had sinned against God to be saved from the wrath of God and be allowed back into God's favor and acceptance and so when the father says that he is pleased with

[28:29] Jesus he actually means not only that he is! pleased with his son but that he is pleased with his saving word which at that moment in his baptism he was beginning this reminds us of the words of John 10 17 for this reason the father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it again for this reason the father loves me but all of that brings us to our fifth point we have seen specific designation we have seen infinite affection among other things and now we see after wonderful commendation we see in our text glorious salvation glorious salvation God the father points out Jesus as his son for more than a historical reason it's not just antiquarian interest that he's satisfying here he calls

[29:33] Jesus his beloved son in whom he is well pleased in order to point us to salvation here in my son he means to say is glorious salvation for you sons of Adam now maybe that's not immediately obvious to you from Matthew 3 17 I think it's the clear implication but there's another text which shows that these words of our text are intended to point us to God's glorious salvation and those words are found in 1st John chapter 5 please turn there in your Bibles 1st John chapter 5 I want you to look at verses 9 to 12 1st John 5 9 to 12 if we receive the testimony of men the testimony of

[30:33] God is greater for the testimony of God is this that he has testified concerning his son what is that referring to I say beyond a shadow of a doubt what I think will carry your own consciences that is pointing directly back to Matthew 3 17 and along with that to the Mount of Transfiguration the one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself the Spirit of God one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son and now John the Apostle tells us what these words in Matthew 3 17 mean now he tells us what they purport now he tells us what they're intended to mean to us and the testimony is this that

[31:34] God has given us eternal life and this life is in his Son what does Matthew 3 17 mean it means this that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son and he who has the Son has the life he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life so what is the testimony of which John is speaking I've already told you that the words of God the Father Jesus baptism and transfiguration are his testimony to him clearly 1 John 5 9 to 12 is a reference to what happened in our text the reference to the testimony God bore from heaven to his son is quite evidently the testimony given by God the Father at his baptism and according to John what is the gist what is the thrust of that testimony it is that

[32:34] God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son why does God say this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased because he wants us to draw this conclusion that God has given us eternal life and this life is his son that's what he wants us to conclude thus John teaches us that the words of our texts are not just intended to identify Jesus as God's son they are intended to identify Jesus as the one in whom there is salvation for us God is speaking to us in our text look at my son he says look at my son there is salvation for you in him I love him I accept him I approve of him and if you believe in him I love you I accept you and I approve of you because of the life and ministry he entered on at his baptism

[33:37] Jesus has become our salvation our eternal life and so the text ends he who has the son has the life he who does not have the son does not have the life well what are some of the things we may learn from this well I have two kinds of closing application today I have several practical applications I want to give you in a moment before I do I want to point you to a doctrinal observation as well we learn from our text that Christianity this is the doctrinal observation that Christianity is essentially and necessarily doctrinal and confessional Christianity is essentially and necessarily doctrinal and confessional neither the testimony of his father at his baptism nor the same testimony of the father at his transfiguration are properly speaking confessions no they are testimonies they are the testimony of God the father to his son confessions are what we do in response to that testimony to confess means in scripture to agree with or say the same thing as the word of

[35:00] God says to confess Jesus is to confess the same thing that God the father said about him we must say in response to God the father saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased we must confess that we must!

[35:19] I believe that that's a confession that's a credo a creed Matthew 3 17 and its parallels are the seed of the doctrinal confession of the church begins with the father's assertion about Jesus the father says this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and later in Matthew you have the first confession Peter says he agrees you are the Christ the son of the living God the father emphasizes this truth at the transfiguration when he repeats it this is my beloved son with whom I am well please listen to him and we say as a church yes that's right we believe that Jesus is God's son in whom he is well pleased but this confession of Peter of the testimony of the father to Jesus is a seed it's a seed it grows it is meant to grow throughout the

[36:25] New Testament the implications of this confession are expanded against the Judaizing and Gnostic heretics against the Judaizers the apostles teach that eternal life is only in God's son and not in God's son plus circumcision not in God's son plus the law and against the Gnostics the apostles certainly tell us that Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God and that he is both the heavenly son of God and the earthly man Jesus in one person this confession continues to be expanded and grow in church history it's safeguarded in the Nicene Creed and then in the Creed of Chalcedon it's expanded and reaffirmed in the great confessions of the Reformation climaxing in our own great 1689 Baptist confession all these creeds and confessions are simply in so far as they're true at all expansions on the seed truth found in our text they are the oak tree which grows out of the acorn of

[37:35] Matthew 317 they do not add to the truth of Matthew 317 they simply explore the truth and expand the truth grow the truth if I may put it that way of Matthew 317 thus our text is the seed of the confession of the church the very truth confessed by Peter a few chapters later is the foundation of the church the truth found here stated is essential to the church the church is built on what the testimony of God the father was to his son the church is based on this testimony this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased it's based on this confession you are the Christ the!

[38:23] son of the living God and without those truths without those doctrines without those confessions the church is no longer the church but the church then must be understood to be essentially and necessarily doctrinal and confessional but this truth found in our text has also many practical applications to us the first thing we learn here practically this is very important is that we are reminded that God the father cannot say about us what he said about his son God the father is not well pleased with us have you ever gotten the feeling that God isn't pleased with you you know what you were right God is not pleased with you he's not pleased with me either God is not pleased with us in his word

[39:30] God says and he says it over and over and over again God says of every member of the human race except Jesus there is none! righteous not even one there is none!

[39:43] who understands there is none who seeks for God all have turned aside together they become useless there's none who does good there's not even one there is no fear of God before their eyes and what the Bible says about you and me there and those verses is absolutely true do you do you think God approves of us when he sees us filled with stinking lust do you think he can commend us when he sees our selfishness and self seeking do you think he approves of the malice and resentment he sees in our hearts do you think he approves of our indifference to other people's needs!

[40:28] you think he approves of us when there's no fear of God evident in the way we live do you think he can say of us what he said of his son I am well pleased you think he can say that of us of me of you absolutely not God is not pleased with us and as a God of justice he must punish us for our sins!

[40:56] But we learn second here practically that it is only Jesus that is well pleasing in God's sight of course every other member of the human race has the verdict hanging over him there is none righteous not even one but according to our text there is one human being of whom that is not true it is the son of Mary according to our text there is one who is righteous and well pleasing in God's sight it is Jesus of Nazareth who is his beloved son for him the eternal and holy God has nothing but approval for him the eternal and holy God has nothing but commendation nothing but nothing but eternal and almighty love of every other member of the human race of everyone in this auditorium

[42:03] God says and must say I am not pleased but of this one in contrast in glorious contrast he says I am pleased I am well pleased I am infinitely pleased and I love him and God loves you remember as we have seen not just what he is and who he is but he loves him for what he is doing for his work he loves him and is well pleased with him and his baptism as he sets out on his life's work and that brings me to the next point of application we learn thirdly practically the only way we can be right with God and have eternal life in our text God points out Jesus as the son whom he loves and with whom he is well pleased for our sakes he who has eternal life is because we need to find in him protection and salvation from the way

[43:15] God feels about us that he's pointed out in our text God's way of salvation is by way of union with Christ we need to become one with Jesus so God will feel about us the same way he feels about him and he only feel that way about us if we become one with Jesus we need moral ugliness and reject us but at his moral beauty and accept us God loves him accepts him chooses him and if we are to be loved chosen accepted we must be found in him Jesus must become our human shield to hide us behind him from the white hot bullets of God's wrath and anger we have several children and several great grandchildren as you know now when our children were married my wife and I did not feel that we were losing children no we felt that we were gaining children when

[44:19] Carissa married Donnie when Athan married Ashley etc etc we loved Donnie and Ashley with the same love that we loved our children because our children loved them our children were now one with them one flesh them how can we not love them in the same way but this is a picture of the gospel would you have God love you be pleased with you accept you give you eternal life!

[44:56] well you must be married to his son see how can that happen well it happens through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ in this way this faith in our Lord Jesus Christ unites you with him so that in God's eyes you're one with him as you entrust yourself to his salvation as you entrust yourself to him as your savior Lord turn from your sins turn to God so that in Jesus Christ you're seeking forgiveness with God as you do that you become in God's eyes one with Jesus Christ and then God says of you the same thing he says of his son this is my beloved son this is my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased but only once you do that only once there is found in your heart and your life repentance toward God and faith toward our

[45:56] Lord Jesus Christ does that happen if you are married to Jesus Christ the father will love and esteem you and accept you in the same way that he loves and esteems and accepts his son but fourthly and lastly by way of application we learn that God's priority in salvation is to bring glory!

[46:18] to his son I hope you have found something wonderful marvelous glorious in our text this morning but I need to tell you that there's something terrible here too there is something terrible about God's love for his son this love for God has for his son is eternal almighty and irresistible why does God save people through his son by making them find their salvation in him I suppose there might be many proper answers to that question but the highest answer I think is that God loves his son with an infinite affection and wants him glorified

[47:19] God the father is deeply and supremely and ultimately committed to the glory of his son what God is finally after in our salvation is not even our salvation though he loves us and wants us saved what God is finally after in our salvation is not even our salvation what he is finally after is the glory of his son as far as God the father is concerned the most valuable thing in the universe is the name and fame of his son this react to course statement is all about God's consuming desire to make known to sinful men the great goal for the world well the

[48:44] Bible is really clear about this all things were made through him and for him God is determined to give this world to his son it is his great wedding present it is his inheritance God is fixated on the glory of his son as his great goal for the world and there isn't this an important warning for you for all of us if we will not give God's son glory by finding in him our salvation if we will insist on living for our own miserable glory and honor and trying to save ourselves we will find ourselves flattened by the unstoppable steamroller of God's purpose to glorify his son hey get out of the way I want to say because God's going to glorify your son if you won't get in line with that purpose you've got big problems in fact

[49:46] I can't even tell you get out of the way because there's no place to go to get out of the way of God's purpose to glorify his son the only thing you can do is by repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ wrap yourselves in and adopt for your own purpose in life the same purpose God has to bring glory to the son of God well may God grant that you would hear the warning and hear the promise hear the verdict that makes you need Jesus Christ as the one alone in whom there is eternal life let's pray father we do come to you we're thankful and we praise you for this great truth of your word we pray that hearts might be open eyes might be open to see the essential purpose of bringing glory to

[50:50]  God son may we as your people be renewed in our dedication to bring him glory may those who are outside of Christ both be warned at their danger and invited to the safety of embracing Jesus Christ as their Savior Lord and King we ask these things in Jesus name amen