That You Might Be Glorified with Him

(John 13:31-38)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning, we saw
Jesus prediction
That one of His own disciples
Would betray Him.

But we also saw

That prediction had a purpose:
It wasnt to reveal the traitor,
But to convince the disciples
Who He really is: God in our nature.
This was important
Not only for their salvation
Jesus did say, For unless you believe that I am He,
You will die in your sins (John 8:24)
But also to assure them
That what He promised them was true
Both of their interest in heaven
Through faith in His name,
As well as His presence with them
As they went out to offer

This relationship with Jesus to others.

B. Preview.
This evening, we see
There was also a purpose behind the betrayal itself:
It was that Jesus would be crucified,
But that He would be crucified for three reasons:
1. That He might glorify His Father.
2. That His Father in turn might glorify Him.
3. And that He might bring us to glory.
This is what we see in this passage.
II. Sermon.
A. First, Jesus was betrayed that He might glorify His Father.
John writes in verses 31-32, Therefore 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 will glorify Him immediately.
Jesus betrayal was set in motion
Now that Judas was gone
He was headed to the chief priests
To see how much they would give him
For telling them
Where they could find Jesus
Away from the crowds
So that they might kill Him.

3
As we were reminded this morning,
This was the Fathers plan all along:
That Jesus would be handed over to His enemies
That they might put Him to death.

But why did Jesus have to die?

For the three reasons already mentioned:
The first was that He might bring honor to His Father.
But how does Jesus excruciating and shameful death
Bring glory to God?

We need to remember
That everything God has done
Or will do in the future
He has done for His glory
To show us what He is like:
How great and powerful He is,
How wise and understanding,
How merciful and gracious,
How just and righteous
This is His purpose behind it all.
Paul writes, For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be
the glory forever. Amen (Rom. 11:36).
He created all that He has for His glory.
He ordained the Fall for His glory.

And He sent Jesus to do what was necessary

To redeem mankind for His glory.

Creation gave God the stage

On which He would reveal Himself,
And an audience to see it.

The Fall brought about the condemnation of all men,

So that He might reveal His grace and His justice.

And the work Jesus did at the cross

Allowed Him to display that grace and justice.

The Father could not forgive anyone

He could not show His mercy and grace to anyone
Unless His justice was first satisfied.
If God was to forgive us,
Someone had to pay for our crimes:
Thats what Jesus did on the cross
For all who trust Him.

In Jesus suffering and death

Gods justice was fully satisfied
At the cross, His justice was displayed
Everyone could see

5
That He is a God who takes sin seriously
That every crime will be justly punished.

But His grace was also on display

Jesus didnt deserve to suffer and die;
He hadnt committed any sins;
He was spotless and blameless.
Gods grace was displayed
In that He sent His Son
And His Son willingly came
To take the place of everyone
Who would look to Him in faith
To save them from Gods justice
That He would suffer and die in their place.

Gods grace was glorified

In that He so loved the world
That He gave His only begotten Son
To save all who trust in Him (John 3:16).

This is the first reason Judas betrayed Jesus:

That the Father might magnify
Both His justice and grace
Through the death of His Son.

6
B. Second, Jesus was betrayed that His Father in turn might glorify Him.
Again, we read in verses 31-32, Therefore 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 will glorify Him immediately.
Jesus was already infinitely glorious
In His divine nature
Since He is God,
Theres nothing that could be added to it.

But the same wasnt true of His human nature.

Notice Jesus says here,
Now is the Son of Man glorified
In that nature,
He could receive glory.
And thats exactly
What the Father gave Him
For revealing His glory.

Though we think of the cross

As a time when the Father
Revealed only His wrath against His Son,
We should also note that it was here
That He glorified Him:

By supporting Jesus through it

This was the only reason

His human nature could hold up

Under Gods full wrath against our sins.

By allowing Jesus to conquer His enemy and ours

It was at the cross,
That He delivered a crushing blow to the devil
By taking back what rightfully belonged to Him (Gen. 3:15).

The Father glorified His Son

By allowing Him to purchase a people
That would be His possession
For the rest of time
Including you,
If youre trusting Him this evening.

The Father would yet glorify Jesus

When He raised Him from the dead:
That was the Fathers declaration
That He received the sacrifice
His Son made for our sins
For the sins He was bearing that were not His own,
For the sins that killed Him and put Him in the grave.
When that payment was received
Death could no longer hold Him,

8
And He broke free from its chains.

The Father would further glorify Him

By taking Him up into heaven,
Seating Him at His right hand,
Giving Him all power and authority over heaven and earth
To rule over all things for the good of His kingdom,
And in giving Him the right
To judge His enemies on the Last Day
And to receive His own children/His bride
As His reward forever.

Jesus was betrayed that the Father might glorify Him.

C. Finally, Jesus was betrayed that He might bring us to glory.

1. Jesus was going to die,
And afterwards be raised and ascend into heaven.
But what would happen to His disciples?
They would not be able to follow Him.
John writes in verse 33, Little children, I am with you a little while longer.
You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, Where I am
going, you cannot come.

But that didnt mean they could never come.

We read in verse 36, Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, where are You going?
Jesus answered, Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow
later.

9
It wasnt yet their time.
They had to stay and finish their work
As Jesus had first to finish His
And then they would follow Him
To receive their reward
As the Lord went to receive His.

Jesus was going to prepare a place for them,

And He would soon return to bring them there.
He will tell them in 14:2-3, In My Fathers house are many dwelling places; if
it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that
where I am, there you may be also.

He went, not only prepared a place for them,

But for us as well.
And as it was for them,
So it is for us:
We cant follow Him now,
And wont be able to
Until the work He has for us on earth is done.
But once it is, we will join them in heaven
Where we will also enjoy the reward
He has promised to us.
And understanding what James says,
That we are just a vapor that appears for a little while

10

And then vanishes away (4:14),

It will be sooner than we think.

2. How can we know were going to make it?

Jesus just told us
That we will follow Him later,
If we trust Him and are obeying Him now.

But how do we know

We wont fall away?

Thats one of the reasons

The Lord gave us this example of Peter
Here He shows us
That even if we fall so far away
That we deny Him,
He will still never let go of us.
We read in verses 37-38, Peter said to Him, Lord, why can I not follow You
right now? I will lay down my life for You. Jesus answered, Will you lay
down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until
you deny Me three times.

Peter thought his commitment to Jesus was so strong

That he would gladly have laid down his life for Him.
Thankfully, his salvation didnt depend
On the strength of his love,

11
But on the strength of Jesus love for him
As does ours.
Far from laying down his life for Jesus,
He would soon deny three times
That he even knew Him.

There are times when we think our love

Is stronger than it actually is,
But we end up failing Him as well.
At times like that
We need to be reminded
That the love that moved God
To send His Son into the world
To die for us when we were His enemies
Wont let us go now that we are His friends (Rom. 5:6-11).

In Lukes Gospel,
We find that Jesus had something else
To say to Peter on this occasion:
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;
but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you
have turned again, strengthen your brothers (Luke 22:31-32).
Peter would fail, as Jesus said
Peter would deny three times that he knew Jesus
But by Gods grace, he would also turn back

12
And the Lord would use him
To build up His church.

The Lord went to the cross to save us.

And having saved us, He prays for us (1 John 2:1),
So that no power in heaven or earth
Can ever separate us from His love (Rom. 8:38-39).

3. And speaking of love,

We see here again
The command Jesus often repeated
Of what we are to do for one another
While were finishing our work here on earth:
He says, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as
I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that
you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (vv. 34-35).

Jesus was about to be betrayed

That He might lay down His life
And bring us to glory.
He calls us to follow His example
In laying down our lives for one another in love.

This is our greatest testimony

To the reality and power of Jesus love for us
And for all mankind.

13
May the Lord grant that we might do so. Amen.

http://www.gcmodesto.org