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Bethlehem College & Seminary

The Glory Of Man Or The Glory Of God

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October 1, 2023
John 12:36b–43
Stephen Clayton

The Glory of God

Fear & Anxiety

Pride & Humility

Transcript

0:11Well good morning. My name is Steven. My wife Katie and I are members here at the North Church. I'm a fourth year student at Bethlehem Seminary and it is a joy to be with you and to hear from God's word together this morning. Please keep your Bibles open. We'll be looking at it a lot as this is a bit more of a complicated passage this morning. There's a lot for us to see. So let's ask for the Lord's help.

0:46Father in heaven, apart from you, we can do nothing apart from you. We can see nothing in your word or anywhere else, so be with us now. Would your spirit help us to see the glory of your son Jesus in this passage, in His name we pray, amen. Sometime we don't see reality rightly. Sometimes the consequences of that can be kind of comical. One of my favorite commercials from about 10 years ago is of a woman in her nightgown in her back, uh, backyard, calling here, kitty, kitty kitty here, kitty, kitty kitty calling her cat in and up walks a raccoon and she gladly opens the door as it walks into her house and says, oh good girl, come snuggle with mama.

1:49And that's to reveal that she's missing some crucial details about her life. And the commercial's point was that she needed new glasses. Other times, however, the stakes can be much higher. For example, the pitch darkness of a North Atlantic Midnight caused the crew of the Titanic not to see an iceberg that really was there until it was too late. Not seeing something that's really there can be disastrous to us In our text this morning, people do not see Jesus for who he really is and when, when it comes to seeing and not seeing the glory of Christ, the stakes are as high as they possibly could be.

2:39Both in John's day and in ours, people miss Jesus' glory because they love themselves. This passage in John 12 helps us understand why we often fail to see Jesus rightly, and it points us toward how we can fight that temptation. So my desire this morning is that we would fight the temptation to unbelief by seeing the true glory of our savior and loving it more than the glory that comes from man. Toward that end, we're gonna work through this text in three sections. The first is that God is sovereign over unbelief. John provides kind of two reasons explaining unbelief. The first layer is that God is sovereign over human unbelief.

3:31That's in verses 36 through 40. The second part will be man is still responsible for his unbelief. We'll see that in verses 42 and 43 and then we'll look at the solution God gives us in verse 41. So in this passage, John, this is sort of a, an analysis of unbelief. We find out later on in the gospel. The very last chapter actually that John's purpose in writing this gospel was so that we might believe and have life in his name. So why this whole passage on unbelief then it pervades the whole passage. Verse 37, they did not believe verse 38, who has believed verse 39. They could not believe verse 40, lest they see and understand just synonyms for belief. And then in verse 42, nevertheless, many believed but did not confess.

4:32So we might begin by asking ourselves why Jesus hides himself from the people. In verse 36, it says He departed and hid himself from them. Well in verse 37 it says, though he had done so many signs among them, still they did not believe in him. Well, what are the signs being talked about? The gospel of John largely falls into two major sections. The first half of it is Jesus in his ministry revealing who his, who He is his identity as the Messiah through seven signs beginning with turning the water into wine in chapter two and Climaxing in chapter 11, the chapter just before our text here climaxing with raising a man from the dead. And though he had done so many of these signs, these miracles, these wonders, how do the Jews respond?

5:27How do the people who'd been trained in the scriptures respond to their Messiah revealing himself to them? They plot to kill both Lazarus and Jesus. They remain in their darkness, they reject him. They scoff at his works and take offense at his words. So that's why Jesus hides himself. This is a pivotal moment here. At the end of the first half, Jesus has done all these signs. He's now withdrawing himself from them. He's veiling his glory to them. Now he has abundantly revealed his identity to them, but because they persist in rejecting that clear evidence, he withdraws from them in judgment. And what a testimony to the sinfulness of our sin.

6:17We could be presented with the clearest evidence in the world. The Son of God could be standing right in front of us and could raise a man from the dead, but in our sin we would not see it. But lest than of his readers think that this thwarts God's will, God's plan in the world. John quotes two passages from Isaiah in order to prove that the people's unbelief is exactly precisely according to God's pre-ordained plan and sovereign will. The first comes from Isaiah 53, look with me again at verse 38 in our text. And they still did not believe in him. Verse 38. So that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed in its original context?

7:12Many of you know this, it's a prophecy about how the suffering servant of the Lord will come to save his people, not by conquering their enemies with a sword, but by actually paying the punishment for their sin and dying for them. Listen to it in its original context. In Isaiah 53, who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For? He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised. And we esteemed him, not verse five, but he was pierced for our transgressions.

8:09He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the Chass cha chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. How amazing is that? Can you believe that that was written 700 years before Jesus and that's exactly what he came and did. But do you see that when the suffering savior would come and when he would die for their sins, when he would save his people, they would not see his majesty or beauty. They would despise him, they would reject him, they would hide their faces from him, they would esteem him not, they would think he's nothing, not worth their time. That's why John says that what's going on with the Jewish leaders is actually fulfilling that passage in Isaiah 53.

9:04But that might raise a question here. Why do people remain in their unbelief when confronted with clear revelation of who Jesus is? John answers that question with two reasons that are not two different reasons, but actually two overlapping reasons, two layers of reasons. The first layer he gives us is also the ultimate or the decisive reason that has to do with the next quote in Isaiah. Namely that God is sovereign over the salvation of men. God is sovereign over the faith of some and the unbelief of others. Look with me again in verse 39, John says, therefore they could not believe for Isaiah said therefore they could not believe or sorry their uh, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart in turn and I would heal them.

10:03So it's not just that they did not believe, it's actually also that they could not believe. And he supports this with this quote from Isaiah six. The reason they could not believe is because God had hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes so that they would not see and that they would not turn and be healed. This is admittedly one of the harder teachings that the Bible gives us. That God is free to mercifully grant faith to some and to justly leave others hardened in their rebellion against him. As Roman nine, Romans nine 18 says, God has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills.

10:53But while that may be really hard for us to comprehend or even accept, there's a word of comfort actually in it as well. Kinda the flip side of that coin is if God is sovereign over our salvation, if God grants faith to those who believe, then no one can snatch them out of his hand. If God is the one who grants salvation, nobody can thwart his hand. So there's actually comfort in this. Whereas if it was up to us, if the decisive and ultimate reason why I believe is because I was smart enough or because I was strong enough to overcome my sin and I had the willpower to make the right decision, if that was the decisive reason, then I could never be sure that I didn't do it wrong or that I didn't consider some other variable or that some other thing would, that I could do something later on and and lose my salvation.

11:46So there's actually comfort in the fact that God is the one who is sovereign over belief and unbelief. But as much as I'd love to tease that out a little bit more, we have to move on. There's a second layer of cause causing causation at play here in the heart that doesn't see the glory of Christ. God's sovereign power, like we said, is the ultimate layer, but there's an equally true and important human layer, which John shows us in verse 42, which leads us to our second point. First one was, God is sovereign over the unbelief of man. Second point is that God or that humans are responsible for their unbelief.

12:30Look with me at again at verse 42 and 43. John writes, nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue for they loved the glory that comes from God, the glory that comes from man, more than the glory that comes from God. We could get into whether or not they, their belief was a true, genuine saving kind of belief. But I don't think we need to even be dogmatic about that to see the point that John is making here. What's really amazing and what I want us to focus on right now is how John teases out the heart issue at play under the people's either, uh, shallow belief or false belief.

13:20It really isn't a fear problem at all. At root, what's causing their belief problem is, is a love problem. Their sinful fear springs from a heart that loves the glory of man more than the glory of God. But what is the glory of man? I think it's the praise and approval of others. Basically what we would today call, uh, fear of man or or people pleasing. And how do we know this? Because the text explicitly ties it to their fear of being rejected from the synagogue. You see, the these leaders, these Jewish leaders loved and valued what the Pharisees thought of them more highly than what God thought of them.

14:11They just wanted to be liked by these important people in the community. And they were worried that if they did the wrong thing or said the wrong thing that the Pharisees didn't like, they would lose the reputation they had or their position in the synagogue that they loved so badly. So do you see the connection? If you fear losing something so much that you'd be ashamed to confess Christ less, you lose it, then you love that thing more than you love Christ. Our fears come from our loves. At this point, maybe we ought to ask ourselves, is there anything in my heart we ask with with the Lord's help with the help of the Holy Spirit? God, is there anything in my heart that I love so much I would be afraid of confessing Christ lest I lose it, maybe a job or a relationship? Comfort, personal freedom.

15:10Let the Holy Spirit do his revealing and convicting work in your heart. But I wanna drill down a little bit further on this fear of man and and people pleasing thing. What's the problem? Have you ever thought about this? What is actually the problem with craving the approval of people? What's the problem with wanting to be liked by other people in this way? At its core craving the approval of man is a way of actually not worshiping them but worshiping ourselves. Well, how's that? I think other people become a kind of mirror that we look into to read our own value. So we want to be little Gods ourselves and we see that, well, we will see that rather in Genesis three in a couple weeks when we get there as a church, that part of what convinced Eve in the serpent's reasoning was you, when you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you'll become like God, Adam and Eve wanted to be like God themselves.

16:13And so they took an eight and fell into sin. Likewise, we want to be little Gods ourselves. We want people to like and admire us and praise us and think highly of us. We worship ourselves in the mirror of other people's opinions. So do you see, do you see how ugly that is at its root when you pull the curtain back on the fear of man and people pleasing? It's a kind of self worship. I can give you an example to illustrate it may perhaps from my own life. Earlier in the summer, my wife brought up, uh, an opportunity to share the gospel with our neighbors. She wanted to share the gospel with them just real briefly and then invite them to summer connection. And I was overjoyed, wonderful honey.

17:02Yet I was also torn. I didn't want to look weird to my, to my neighbors. I really struggled not wanting them to think less of me because I would be that weird Christian who just knocked on their door and invited them to church. But do you see what's going on there? I cared more about their opinion of me than about the glory of Christ in their life or that they would be saved. I was wanting them to think more highly of me. That was kind of self worship there that that fear of man, that wanting them to think highly of me, the craving their approval was a kind of self worship in my heart. So what's the solution here then?

17:48How can we stop loving the glory of man? Well, I think verse 43 in verse 43, the glory of man, which the people love is contrasted with the glory of God or in the E S V text, the glory that comes from God. So what is the glory of God? I think that's where John is pointing us toward a solution here. Where can we find it? There's one verse yet that we haven't looked at and it'd be very easy to miss. So look with me at verse 41 after quoting both of these passages in Isaiah, Isaiah 53 and Isaiah six. John says this, Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.

18:41That might seem like just a small throwaway narrative comment, but I think it's the key to seeing the glory of Jesus in this passage. It's all in the pronouns. Who is being referred to by the words He, his and him In that verse? I think it's clear from the context that it's, Isaiah said these things because he, that is Isaiah saw his, that is Jesus's glory and spoke of him. That is he spoke of Jesus. Isaiah saw Jesus's glory and spoke of him and that these things refers to both quotes. Isaiah said both of these things. That is Isaiah 53 and Isaiah six because he saw Jesus's glory. But you might be thinking to yourself, wait a minute, Steven, where? Where?

19:41Where's glory in either of those texts? Where does John see Jesus' glory? I just heard a lot about unbelief and hardening hearts and who has seen, that'd be a great question. When the New Testament authors quote the Old Testament, they usually have in mind not just the single verse that they cite for us, but actually the whole context of the passage that that verse comes from. And I think if we just looked back at some of the broader context of each of those verses that Isaiah quotes or that John quotes, rather, we would see the glory that John is talking about. So let's work backwards. So we'll do the second quote first and then move to the first.

20:24The second quote comes from Isaiah chapter six. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. I'll read several verses of it. Isaiah chapter six, it's opening verses or kind of start a new vision here in the book of Isaiah, they describe a dramatic vision that God gives to Isaiah. Isaiah writes this, and Isaiah chapter six, starting in verse one. In the year that King Siah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple above him stood the seraphim, each had six wings with two, he covered his face and with two he covered his feet. And with two he flew and one called to another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

21:21The whole earth is full of his glory. And the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of him who called and the house was filled with smoke. And I said, woe is me. For I am lost, for I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. What a glorious vision of our God high and lifted up seated on his throne. But the question for us is this, whose glory does Isaiah say? He sees the Lord's glory Lord, in capital letters, there is Yahweh, the personal covenant name of the God of Israel. But whose glory does John say that Isaiah sees Jesus's glory? Do you see what John is trying to say?

22:22Jesus's glory is none other than the glory of Yahweh, the eternal, all powerful, self existent covenant keeping God of Israel in the Old Testament. That's amazing. But what about the first quote, the one from Isaiah 53, the word glory. If we went back and read the context, because I read a little bit more of the context earlier on, we're not gonna go back and read it together, but if you did, you'd see the word glory doesn't appear there the way it does in Isaiah six. So where do we see it though? The word glory is not mentioned. The glory of Jesus's saving work for sinners like you and me is all over it. Though he was the perfect son of man, though he is, as we see in Isaiah six high and lifted up Yahweh incarnate, he was pierced for our transgressions.

23:24We brought sin to the table, we brought rebellion, we brought transgressions, and he was pierced for them. We brought iniquity in wickedness and yet he was crushed for them. You see, the glory of Jesus in Isaiah 53 is not just the glory of his person, but the glory of his saving work for undeserving sinners like us. And actually the the passage, the servant song doesn't begin at in verse one of Isaiah 53. It actually begins three verses earlier and Isaiah 52 13, which if we read that, it says, this suffering servant shall be high and lifted up and shall be exalted. And the reason is because of the suffering that he will endure for his people.

24:12Now does that sound familiar? It's exactly the same description as Yahweh's glory in Isaiah six, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and the whole earth is full of his glory. And there's only one person in scripture who is ever high and lifted up and it is God himself, the one who inhabits eternity after suffering for our sins. Jesus is exalted to a position high and lifted up in glory. So do you see what John is saying? Isaiah saw, he saw Jesus's glory as Yahweh, the one who is high and lifted up in the heavenly temple. In other words, by virtue of his person. And Isaiah saw Jesus' glory as the one who is high and lifted up after suffering for the sins of his people. That is by virtue of his work.

25:11Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. The question for us is, do we see Jesus's glory? Do you see Jesus's glory this morning? Do you see the glory of the only God, the only creator of all things sustainer and redeemer? Do you see the glory of our savior Jesus in his divine person, yet loving sinners enough to be pierced for our transgressions? Do you see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ this morning? That's the question that John is inviting us to ask ourselves in this text, this short verse. That's all too easy to gloss over. John is pointing us to the solution, to our belief problem. If we love the glory of man too much, then there's only one way to fight that by seeing and loving the glory of our savior Jesus, even more, the more we learn to love the splendor of Jesus' divine person and the absolute beauty of his hanging on a cross for sinners and rising again, the less room there is in our hearts for counterfeit loves that will lead us astray, that will lead us away from our God.

26:41The more we train our spiritual taste buds to enjoy Jesus, the less we will crave the illicit flavors of sin and man's glory. Well, you might be asking yourself again, Steven, that's all very high and lifted up. What does this look like this afternoon? What does this look like on Tuesday morning when my coworkers are creating a mess that I have to mop up? Or what does this look like on Thursday night when my four little children are just going absolutely bananas? It's a great question. God actually has given us a number of things that help our hearts learn to see and savor the glory of Jesus. The first thing comes right out of our text is where does John point us to see Jesus's glory? The book of Isaiah, like the really long one in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament, that's where John sees Jesus's glory.

27:49That's where we can actually see Jesus's glory. Also, if we read scripture with the help of God, he will actually open our eyes to see the glory of Jesus there. Paul says in Ephesians three verse four, that by reading his letters, we can perceive his insight into the mystery of Christ. So do you want to see Jesus's glory more and more than take up God's book and read it? Second thing. So God reveals his glory in his word, but God also reveals his glory in his world that he's created. Psalm 19 is kind of the, uh, famous verse for this, that the heavens declare the glory of God right now if you went outside and looked up at the sky, and actually anytime you go out and look up at the sky, it's declaring the glory of God so you can actually see God's glory in his word and in his world. And so, right, what does that look like?

28:49Let's say you have four little kids that you've been trying to wrangle all evening and they're just going wild. You can actually see God's glory in these little people made in his image that he knit together in the womb. So train your eyes as you notice the people around you and even the frustrating circumstances that you deal with. You can see God's glory even in those situations, in the things that God has made. Another thing, God answers prayers. God promises to answer our prayers. So ask him for things. When you arrive at work on Tuesday morning and your coworkers have made an absolute mess and you're sitting there having to clean it up, ask him for wisdom.

29:35James says that God is exactly the kind of God who loves to give freely, generously to those who ask in faith and then actually pay attention. Expect him to answer. Expect him to grant that wisdom. And when he does notice it, that's his glory. God is a glorious God because he answers our prayers. And the more you ask for specific things like that, and the more you notice him answer those prayers, the more you'll train yourself to see his glory in those things. And then lastly, we can see him in community. It's worth saying that God did not intend all these things. Reading the Bible, uh, seeing him in his word, seeing him in his world, seeing him in prayer, and, uh, all these things to be done individualistically in isolation from other people, God actually saved us outta the kingdom of darkness and united us with his people. The church, it's actually essential that we surround ourselves with others who've tasted and seen the glory of Christ and are going hard after more here at the North North Church, that might mean of of course, coming on Sunday mornings, hearing the word and singing praise to God, but also perhaps thinking.

30:49Join a small group. Come on Wednesday night to sing and pray and to connect with other people. Hear their stories, hear what God has done in their lives. Join a men, men's or women's Bible study life in the local church is where God intends us to grow in seeing His glory. So as we come in for a conclusion, we've seen in this text that the love for the glory of man clouds our eyes, darkens our vision to the glory of Christ. But the solution is, look to Jesus, feast your eyes on the glory of our savior, brothers and sisters. Let's stop laboring for the glory that comes from man that will never satisfy.

31:38It dolls our hearts and blinds our eyes. Let's instead seek together by God's grace to see and to savor the glory of our Savior as revealed in Jesus Christ. Please pray with me. Oh, father in heaven, we are asking for a miracle. Now, would you show us the glory of your son? Our eyes can so often be dimm with sin, loving the glory that comes from man, more than your infinite matchless, beauty and worth and excellence. So God, by your spirit, even now and throughout this week, tune our hearts, open our eyes, let us see and savor the glory of your son Jesus more and more. And it's in his name I pray. Amen.

Jump to live

Jump to live

Sermon Text

John 12:36b–43

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