The Restoration of His Glory III

Larry Siegle
02/18/24 - Sun AM

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.