Larry Siegle · John 17:1-5
Link to sermon video: The Restoration of His Glory III – L Siegle
Restoration of His Glory III
(John 17:1-5)
Thesis: How do we understand what Jesus ‘emptied himself’ of in coming into the world to become the redemptive “lamb of God”?
INTRODUCTION
1. The title of this message is, “Restoration of His Glory III”.
2. We have been looking into the prayer of Jesus to be restored with the “glory”
He had with the Father before “time began”
a. Anybody hear remember the popular song release of February 21,
1995?…(Probably not on the top of you head).
1) The artist was “Joan Osborne” (Still not ringing a bell at this point?)
2) The “One of Us” 1995 reached #4 on the Billboard Top 100 and 3 Grammy nominations….(Now do we remember the song”)
3) “What if God was one of us…. just a stranger on the bus trying to make His way home….”
4) According the songwriter, it was not so much meant as a ‘religious song’
but rather to “someone experiencing something could totally change
your view of the world”
3. The Bible already presents this very ‘world-changing’ story with Christ
entering into the world of humanity with a mission that only HE could
accomplish through His birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection.
4. God promised at the time of Adam and Eve that it would be the “seed” of
the woman who would come to “crush” the head of the serpent that had
tempted them in their sin and rebellion against God (Gen. 3:15).
a. Genesis 4:1, 2–tells us that Eve conceived and gave birth to Cain and
his brother Abel….. Did this solve the problem of “sin and death” that
had taken place in the Garden….NO…not even close! Why not?
b. The human family continued to multiply… Enoch, Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob….still no fulfillment of the “seed” of the woman promise.
c. God promised Abraham a “seed” through whom all of the nations would
be blessed (Gen. 12:1-3)…This “seed” became the “nation” of Israel… still no fulfillment of the “seed” promise….Why not?
5. All of these had the problem of having been born “in Adam” (thing of this
as a room into which everyone entered but there was no way to get “out” of
being “in Adam” and the consequences of the “death” that had entered into
the world captured all of were “in Adam” who had been born into him as
part of his natural “seed”).
a. Everyone born into the natural “seed” of Adam and Eve, (whether
“righteous” or “wicked” at the time of their physical death were
consigned to the same place Sheol/Hades–to wait for the time when
God (and His redemptive plan) would provide the very means of
deliverance–but it had to come from “outside” the natural “seed” of
Adam in order to provide the means necessary for “deliverance”
(salvation).
b. A significant period of time was necessary for God to demonstrate the
all of humanity the impossibility of ‘saving themselves’ by any means,
included “the law” which only served to “magnify” the effects of sin and
the weakness of human beings to overcome and to live in righteousness before God (Psa. 51:3; Rom. 7:7, 14)…the “knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:29, 20).
c. The purpose of “the law” was to reveal human deficiency (Rom. 7:7-14).
6. The “seed” of the woman came into the world “in the fulness of time” (Gal.
4:4)… “born of a woman, born under the law” (Jesus).
a. God was going to bring “deliverance” from “death” and restoration of
“life” and relationship with Himself through the sending into the world
of Adam, the promised “seed” of the woman–from OUTSIDE the room
where all of Adams natural “seed” was held captive and waiting for the
time of genuine life and forgiveness to come….This is the “gospel of
Christ” the “good news”–the fulfillment of that promise made way back
in Genesis 3:15.
b. This is the story of how God became “One of us” (Rom. 8:3). He came in the “in the likeness of sinful flesh” to have obtain the victory of sin and death that Adam and Eve failed in the Garden of Eden.
c. Before entering into the “world” of Adam, Christ was known as “the Word” who “become flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:1, 14).
d. There was Adam and the “last Adam” (I Cor. 15:45)–there was the necessity of balancing the scales of Divine Justice, to deal with “the death” that had entered into the world through Adam (Rom. 5:12).
e. All of humanity had to be resurrected “OUT” of that room of being “in Adam” that had NO way of escape or “deliverance”–except when God sent into the world His “only begotten Son” from the OUTSIDE, from the “world above” into the “world beneath” (John 8:23).
7. In order to accomplish this in becoming the “last Adam” Jesus “emptied
himself” and came in the “likeness” of man, in the form of a servant (Phil.
2:5-8).
a. Jesus never became less than God, however, He placed upon himself human limitations to provide “equality” with the first Adam on the
scales of Justice, to overcome in those areas of temptation where Adam
had failed a passed the consequences of HIS “death” to all of natural
humanity that had been born into “Adam”
b. In this sense “God became One of us”–in order that WE might become
partakers of the Divine Nature as the children of God, to share in HIS
victory, in HIS glory, and in HIS deliverance.
c. The prayer of Jesus was that the “glory” that He had with the Father
would be restored, and according to the apostle Paul, God “exalted Him
and gave Him the name above EVERY name” (Phil. 2:9-11).
8. Next week in our series we will discuss the human limitations Jesus placed
upon Himself as a man, and how His earthly life and ministry demonstrate
the importance of this aspect of His Deity.
a. Humanity under the “Federal Headship” of Adam was under the
consequences that followed. Humanity under the “Federal Headship”
of Christ was given a fresh start, but conditioned upon faith and an
obedience response to the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16)
b. The “death of the cross” provide a universal opportunity to be delivered from “the death” of Adam and to pass out of “the death” and into “the life” (John 5:24), through obedience to the gospel and being “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3-5).
CONCLUSION
1. What an amazing story to see that God became “one of us” in order that we
could have and experience the relationship with God that had been lost in
the Garden of Eden.
2. Those who enter into Christ have “eternal life” and the “forgiveness of
sins” (Acts 2:28)
3. Those who “walk in the light” are “cleansed” by the previous shed blood of
hrist who experienced “the death of the cross” (Phil 2:8).
4. Next week we will take a tender look at the heart of God and the cost
involved in Christ provision of redemption. This understanding will
change our lives.
5. I hope you find these concepts as heartfelt and amazing as I do each and
every day. It will give your life victory and the energy to share the message
of Christ with others who need to know what was accomplished.
6. The majority of the religious world around us has a glimpse, but not a
grasp of all that God has done and why some sort of “end of the world” is
wholly unnecessary for a complete transformation of the innermost parts
of our life and being.
Outline (Word document): Restoration_of_His_Glory_III.docx