1 00:00:01,100 --> 00:00:04,440 I am glad to have this opportunity, friends, 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:10,500 of meeting with you and sharing with you 3 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:15,239 something of that which the Lord has spoken 4 00:00:15,239 --> 00:00:18,700 to my own heart, and I trust it 5 00:00:18,700 --> 00:00:23,580 will be His means of blessing to you 6 00:00:23,580 --> 00:00:23,980 also. 7 00:00:24,500 --> 00:00:27,800 I am going to ask you to open 8 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:33,180 the word with me and just traverse the 9 00:00:33,180 --> 00:00:35,920 path in the gospel by John. 10 00:00:39,660 --> 00:00:46,080 The basic passage will be in chapter 17, 11 00:00:49,660 --> 00:00:58,990 verse 1, These 12 00:00:58,990 --> 00:01:02,510 things speak Jesus, and lifting up His eyes 13 00:01:02,510 --> 00:01:07,970 to heaven, He said, Father, the hour is 14 00:01:07,970 --> 00:01:16,430 come, glorify Thy Son, that the Son may 15 00:01:16,430 --> 00:01:19,570 glorify Thee. 16 00:01:19,570 --> 00:01:23,450 Verse 4, I have glorified Thee on the 17 00:01:23,450 --> 00:01:30,610 earth, and now, O Father, glorify Thou me 18 00:01:30,610 --> 00:01:35,330 with Thine own self, with the glory which 19 00:01:35,330 --> 00:01:41,210 I had with Thee before the world was. 20 00:01:42,250 --> 00:01:44,810 Now will you go back to chapter 7, 21 00:01:53,740 --> 00:01:58,780 verse 39, For this spake He of the 22 00:01:58,780 --> 00:02:02,760 Spirit, which they that believed on Him were 23 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:07,060 to receive, for the Spirit was not yet 24 00:02:07,060 --> 00:02:13,820 given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. 25 00:02:14,860 --> 00:02:24,940 Chapter 11, verse 4, When 26 00:02:24,940 --> 00:02:29,660 Jesus heard it, He said, This sickness is 27 00:02:29,660 --> 00:02:33,820 not unto death, but for the glory of 28 00:02:33,820 --> 00:02:38,820 God, that the Son of God may be 29 00:02:38,820 --> 00:02:41,480 glorified thereby. 30 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:52,110 Chapter 12, verse 16, These things understood 31 00:02:52,110 --> 00:02:56,310 not His disciples at the first, but when 32 00:02:56,310 --> 00:03:02,110 Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these 33 00:03:02,110 --> 00:03:06,210 things were written of Him, and that they 34 00:03:06,210 --> 00:03:10,290 had done these things unto Him. 35 00:03:11,090 --> 00:03:18,180 Verse 23, Jesus answereth them, saying, The hour 36 00:03:18,180 --> 00:03:21,900 is come, that the Son of Man should 37 00:03:21,900 --> 00:03:23,540 be glorified. 38 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:29,680 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a 39 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,960 grain of wheat fall into the earth and 40 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:38,420 die, it abideth by itself alone, but if 41 00:03:38,420 --> 00:03:42,980 it die, it beareth much fruit. 42 00:03:43,530 --> 00:03:52,640 Chapter 13, verse 31, When therefore He was 43 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:57,000 gone out, Jesus saith, Now is the Son 44 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,500 of Man glorified, and God is glorified in 45 00:04:02,500 --> 00:04:07,540 Him, and God shall glorify Him in Himself, 46 00:04:08,780 --> 00:04:13,480 and straightway shall He glorify Him. 47 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:26,990 Chapter 16, verse 31, Jesus 48 00:04:26,990 --> 00:04:30,190 answereth them, Do ye now believe? 49 00:04:32,010 --> 00:04:36,270 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is come, that 50 00:04:36,270 --> 00:04:39,450 ye shall be scattered, every man to his 51 00:04:39,450 --> 00:04:46,040 own shall leave me alone, and yet I 52 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:50,320 am not alone, because the Father is with 53 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:50,800 me. 54 00:04:51,030 --> 00:04:57,670 Back to verse 14 of that chapter, He 55 00:04:57,670 --> 00:05:02,630 shall glorify me, for He shall take mine, 56 00:05:03,970 --> 00:05:09,070 and shall declare it unto you. 57 00:05:12,070 --> 00:05:18,310 You will have noted the common word in 58 00:05:18,310 --> 00:05:24,430 all those passages, which after all are only 59 00:05:24,430 --> 00:05:31,130 a selection, there are others containing the same 60 00:05:31,130 --> 00:05:33,150 word, which could be added. 61 00:05:34,830 --> 00:05:41,510 This word forms a pathway right through the 62 00:05:41,510 --> 00:05:42,870 gospel by John. 63 00:05:44,270 --> 00:05:47,710 It is the pathway of the glory. 64 00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:54,060 And you will have noticed that even in 65 00:05:54,060 --> 00:05:58,460 the selection of passages on this matter which 66 00:05:58,460 --> 00:06:05,580 we have made, how the Lord Jesus placed 67 00:06:05,580 --> 00:06:12,700 everything, everything, on the ground of His being 68 00:06:12,700 --> 00:06:13,420 glorified. 69 00:06:16,170 --> 00:06:21,570 From beginning to end, that for Him was 70 00:06:21,570 --> 00:06:27,630 the ground of everything, His being glorified. 71 00:06:32,420 --> 00:06:37,380 We should be impressed with that without any 72 00:06:37,380 --> 00:06:40,040 exposition of it or enlargement upon it. 73 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:48,440 The fact, overwhelmingly shown and declared and verified 74 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:54,040 in this book, that for the Lord Jesus 75 00:06:54,040 --> 00:07:00,380 everything rests upon the ground of His being 76 00:07:00,380 --> 00:07:01,100 glorified. 77 00:07:03,180 --> 00:07:07,600 The phrase which He used a number of 78 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:13,770 times seemed to be governed very much in 79 00:07:13,770 --> 00:07:19,010 His life by this phrase, the hour, mine 80 00:07:19,010 --> 00:07:26,760 hour, mine hour, the hour, His hour was 81 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:27,620 not yet come. 82 00:07:30,470 --> 00:07:36,850 There was an hour which governed His whole 83 00:07:36,850 --> 00:07:45,800 life, the significance of a time, an all 84 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:52,620 -governing time in everything, and that hour, that 85 00:07:52,620 --> 00:07:59,480 particular time was in His mind, coming up 86 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:01,860 again and again as He went along. 87 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,000 He called His hour, was the hour of 88 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:09,120 His being glorified. 89 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,440 It was as though He were bringing out 90 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:23,580 of the future something that governed this present 91 00:08:23,580 --> 00:08:27,780 situation, whatever it might be, from time to 92 00:08:27,780 --> 00:08:28,100 time. 93 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,900 When you ask, what is the glory of 94 00:08:34,900 --> 00:08:35,580 the Lord Jesus? 95 00:08:36,059 --> 00:08:38,799 What does the glorifying of the Lord Jesus 96 00:08:38,799 --> 00:08:39,260 mean? 97 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,160 The answer in the Bible throughout is just 98 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:50,360 this, glory of God is always the expression 99 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:52,580 of His complete satisfaction. 100 00:08:53,640 --> 00:09:01,810 When God is perfectly satisfied, fully satisfied, then 101 00:09:01,810 --> 00:09:04,710 the glory of God always breaks out, at 102 00:09:04,710 --> 00:09:08,840 least that through Old and New Testaments, and 103 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,640 the Lord Jesus was living in the light 104 00:09:12,300 --> 00:09:15,420 of a time which He called the hour, 105 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:23,500 when the Father's full satisfaction would be realized, 106 00:09:24,940 --> 00:09:31,690 the Father fully satisfied, the glory of God's 107 00:09:31,690 --> 00:09:32,610 satisfaction. 108 00:09:33,850 --> 00:09:35,190 He was living in the light of that 109 00:09:35,190 --> 00:09:39,290 and bringing that into every detail of His 110 00:09:39,290 --> 00:09:39,550 life. 111 00:09:39,650 --> 00:09:41,310 We're going to show that in a moment. 112 00:09:42,130 --> 00:09:44,610 But you notice, He was governed again and 113 00:09:44,610 --> 00:09:47,350 again by this hour business, whatever it was. 114 00:09:48,930 --> 00:09:55,030 Begin in chapter two, the marriage in Cana 115 00:09:55,030 --> 00:09:58,370 of Galilee, the water and the wine, we're 116 00:09:58,370 --> 00:09:59,590 coming back to it in a moment. 117 00:10:00,410 --> 00:10:03,710 But it says about that, this beginning of 118 00:10:03,710 --> 00:10:07,350 signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and 119 00:10:07,350 --> 00:10:08,490 showed forth His glory. 120 00:10:09,110 --> 00:10:10,590 But notice what led up to that. 121 00:10:10,590 --> 00:10:14,910 The feast, the failure of the wine, and 122 00:10:14,910 --> 00:10:18,590 His mother anxious, concerned, turning to Him and 123 00:10:18,590 --> 00:10:20,970 saying, they have no wine. 124 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:28,140 Jesus turned to her and said, woman, what 125 00:10:28,140 --> 00:10:29,600 have I to do with you? 126 00:10:30,020 --> 00:10:31,340 Mine hour is not yet. 127 00:10:32,540 --> 00:10:33,180 Mine hour? 128 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:37,880 But then He acted. 129 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:46,490 After that pause, waiting for something, saying in 130 00:10:46,490 --> 00:10:49,070 effect, I can do nothing of myself. 131 00:10:50,410 --> 00:10:52,470 I can only do what I do as 132 00:10:52,470 --> 00:10:57,130 the Father enables, gives me His sanction to 133 00:10:57,130 --> 00:10:57,570 do it. 134 00:10:58,210 --> 00:10:59,810 And when it comes from the Father, it 135 00:10:59,810 --> 00:11:00,710 will be quite all right. 136 00:11:00,990 --> 00:11:02,150 The Father will be glorified. 137 00:11:02,230 --> 00:11:04,350 I'm not here to glorify myself by what 138 00:11:04,350 --> 00:11:04,650 I do. 139 00:11:05,130 --> 00:11:06,770 I'm here to glorify the Father. 140 00:11:06,770 --> 00:11:08,850 And in His heart, He was saying, Father, 141 00:11:08,970 --> 00:11:10,810 will this glorify you if I do this 142 00:11:10,810 --> 00:11:10,990 thing? 143 00:11:11,370 --> 00:11:12,970 And He got the answer back. 144 00:11:14,430 --> 00:11:14,850 All right. 145 00:11:16,150 --> 00:11:17,630 And showed forth His glory. 146 00:11:18,070 --> 00:11:20,530 His hour, that great future hour of the 147 00:11:20,530 --> 00:11:23,370 Father's satisfaction came, was brought forward. 148 00:11:24,030 --> 00:11:26,950 And that is not imagination and strained interpretation. 149 00:11:28,150 --> 00:11:33,070 Because you have actual occasions when He said, 150 00:11:33,170 --> 00:11:35,170 Father, glorify. 151 00:11:36,170 --> 00:11:37,510 And there came a voice. 152 00:11:37,790 --> 00:11:38,990 I have glorified. 153 00:11:39,570 --> 00:11:40,430 I will glorify. 154 00:11:41,190 --> 00:11:43,570 Living, you see, in that touch with the 155 00:11:43,570 --> 00:11:43,850 Father. 156 00:11:44,970 --> 00:11:48,730 Another occasion when His brethren after the flesh 157 00:11:48,730 --> 00:11:52,230 said, this is the time of the feast 158 00:11:52,230 --> 00:11:52,850 in Jerusalem. 159 00:11:53,010 --> 00:11:54,970 Everybody is going up to Jerusalem to the 160 00:11:54,970 --> 00:11:55,230 feast. 161 00:11:55,230 --> 00:11:55,930 You go up. 162 00:11:56,870 --> 00:11:58,870 Jesus said, you go. 163 00:11:59,210 --> 00:12:00,030 I go not up. 164 00:12:00,270 --> 00:12:01,890 Mine hour is not yet. 165 00:12:04,690 --> 00:12:07,090 In effect saying, I am not just governed 166 00:12:07,090 --> 00:12:09,570 by what everybody else does. 167 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,940 I am not governed by common acceptance. 168 00:12:16,900 --> 00:12:18,240 Popular opinion. 169 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:21,580 The fashionable thing to do. 170 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:24,560 I must have it from the Father. 171 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:29,140 But this going up is in some way 172 00:12:29,140 --> 00:12:31,420 going to be to the Father's satisfaction. 173 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:32,860 You go up. 174 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:34,960 And when they had gone up, then went 175 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:35,500 He up. 176 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:37,400 Strange behavior, isn't it? 177 00:12:38,060 --> 00:12:39,480 But what's going on inside? 178 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:41,620 It's this all the time. 179 00:12:41,740 --> 00:12:44,100 Father, are you going to get something out 180 00:12:44,100 --> 00:12:44,360 of this? 181 00:12:44,420 --> 00:12:45,600 Is this going to be to your pleasure? 182 00:12:45,740 --> 00:12:47,980 I can't do it on any other ground 183 00:12:47,980 --> 00:12:49,940 than it glorifies you. 184 00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:53,520 If you are not going to find satisfaction 185 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:55,440 in this, well, let them have all the 186 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:56,180 feasts they like. 187 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:57,000 I'll not be there. 188 00:12:58,100 --> 00:13:00,280 Let them do what they've always been doing, 189 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:03,200 but I'll not be in it unless there's 190 00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:07,120 something for the glory or satisfaction and pleasure 191 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:07,720 of the Father. 192 00:13:08,140 --> 00:13:08,920 Mine hour. 193 00:13:10,180 --> 00:13:11,020 Mine hour. 194 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:13,420 And He evidently got the witness from the 195 00:13:13,420 --> 00:13:14,380 Father in that moment. 196 00:13:14,660 --> 00:13:15,940 So I go up. 197 00:13:16,060 --> 00:13:17,180 I've got something in this. 198 00:13:17,460 --> 00:13:18,080 And He went up. 199 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:19,760 You see, He did have something in it. 200 00:13:20,380 --> 00:13:21,400 In His going up. 201 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:23,300 You see? 202 00:13:23,860 --> 00:13:27,760 Putting everything on the ground of glory. 203 00:13:28,580 --> 00:13:29,140 Glory. 204 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,920 The glory of God in Jesus Christ. 205 00:13:32,140 --> 00:13:33,280 The glory of Christ. 206 00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:35,020 Putting everything. 207 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,280 That's something to govern life, isn't it? 208 00:13:39,740 --> 00:13:44,300 Does this really minister to the glory of 209 00:13:44,300 --> 00:13:44,660 Christ? 210 00:13:45,500 --> 00:13:48,380 Am I going here or not going? 211 00:13:49,700 --> 00:13:51,820 What I do or what I do not 212 00:13:51,820 --> 00:13:52,360 do? 213 00:13:54,140 --> 00:13:56,660 Will I act or refrain from acting? 214 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,740 How much is this going to minister to 215 00:14:00,740 --> 00:14:01,400 His glory? 216 00:14:03,020 --> 00:14:04,360 That's the governing thing. 217 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,240 A touch with heaven. 218 00:14:09,780 --> 00:14:11,060 Can I do this? 219 00:14:11,060 --> 00:14:12,960 Will it be doing it for my own 220 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,820 glory, my own pleasure, my own satisfaction? 221 00:14:17,140 --> 00:14:19,620 Or does His glory require it? 222 00:14:20,620 --> 00:14:22,660 Will it minister to His glory? 223 00:14:23,340 --> 00:14:25,320 That was the basis of the life of 224 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:25,940 the Lord Jesus. 225 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:28,060 He called that His hour. 226 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:33,080 Governed by the hour of the Father's satisfaction. 227 00:14:33,260 --> 00:14:34,360 And that was His glory. 228 00:14:35,100 --> 00:14:36,820 My meat and my drink is to do 229 00:14:36,820 --> 00:14:38,180 the will of Him that sent me. 230 00:14:38,180 --> 00:14:41,820 There's only another way of saying, my glory 231 00:14:41,820 --> 00:14:43,320 is His. 232 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,420 So you see, His life was governed by 233 00:14:50,420 --> 00:14:50,740 this. 234 00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:56,320 But then, you would notice one fragment which 235 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:56,700 we read. 236 00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:59,200 And there's much more of the same kind 237 00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:00,120 in the same connection. 238 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:05,580 This glorifying of the Lord Jesus was the 239 00:15:05,580 --> 00:15:10,080 signal for the change of the dispensation by 240 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:11,680 the coming of the Holy Spirit. 241 00:15:13,260 --> 00:15:18,380 This faith He of the Spirit, which they 242 00:15:18,380 --> 00:15:19,940 that believed were to receive. 243 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:23,960 The Spirit was not yet given because Jesus 244 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,300 was not yet glorified. 245 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,340 In other words, Jesus glorified the Spirit is 246 00:15:30,340 --> 00:15:30,760 released. 247 00:15:32,100 --> 00:15:33,420 The Spirit comes. 248 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:35,760 The great advent of the Spirit takes place. 249 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:41,960 The dispensation is changed into the dispensation of 250 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:43,100 the Holy Ghost. 251 00:15:43,260 --> 00:15:44,260 This is the dispensation. 252 00:15:45,260 --> 00:15:47,220 And how much the Lord Jesus put upon 253 00:15:47,220 --> 00:15:47,580 that. 254 00:15:49,430 --> 00:15:51,350 It's expedient for you that I go away. 255 00:15:51,550 --> 00:15:53,730 If I go not away, the Spirit will 256 00:15:53,730 --> 00:15:54,450 not come. 257 00:15:54,550 --> 00:15:56,290 The Comforter will not come. 258 00:15:57,450 --> 00:16:00,730 Obviously, as we have recently pointed out, He 259 00:16:00,730 --> 00:16:03,270 put much more importance upon the Holy Spirit's 260 00:16:03,270 --> 00:16:05,350 coming than upon His own staying in the 261 00:16:05,350 --> 00:16:05,790 flesh. 262 00:16:06,590 --> 00:16:08,670 But the signal for the coming of the 263 00:16:08,670 --> 00:16:13,010 Spirit, as Pentecost so clearly declares and shows, 264 00:16:14,430 --> 00:16:19,450 both in the act and in what followed, 265 00:16:19,950 --> 00:16:21,130 was Jesus glorified. 266 00:16:21,710 --> 00:16:22,890 I mean, in the act it was a 267 00:16:22,890 --> 00:16:23,910 day of glory, wasn't it? 268 00:16:23,950 --> 00:16:24,730 The day of Pentecost. 269 00:16:25,550 --> 00:16:27,510 Full of the glory of the Lord. 270 00:16:28,730 --> 00:16:30,810 But then everywhere they went full of this 271 00:16:30,810 --> 00:16:31,150 glory. 272 00:16:31,370 --> 00:16:33,930 Preaching, Jesus is glorified. 273 00:16:33,930 --> 00:16:37,050 Jesus is on high. 274 00:16:38,410 --> 00:16:40,170 Glory went out over the earth. 275 00:16:40,670 --> 00:16:44,030 But the signal for that was Jesus being 276 00:16:44,030 --> 00:16:44,430 glorified. 277 00:16:45,270 --> 00:16:47,550 And it is a very practical thing, dear 278 00:16:47,550 --> 00:16:47,950 friends. 279 00:16:48,850 --> 00:16:53,250 Whatever we may desire about the Holy Spirit, 280 00:16:53,330 --> 00:16:55,950 and we pray for the Holy Spirit, we 281 00:16:55,950 --> 00:16:59,550 want power, we want light, we want guidance. 282 00:17:00,310 --> 00:17:02,290 We ask for the Holy Spirit for a 283 00:17:02,290 --> 00:17:03,089 lot of things. 284 00:17:03,089 --> 00:17:05,730 For a lot of purposes. 285 00:17:06,690 --> 00:17:09,450 Perhaps we're impressed with the necessity of the 286 00:17:09,450 --> 00:17:09,950 Holy Spirit. 287 00:17:10,650 --> 00:17:11,690 Remember this. 288 00:17:11,849 --> 00:17:15,310 The Holy Spirit will only act in any 289 00:17:15,310 --> 00:17:19,010 way at all if the motive is the 290 00:17:19,010 --> 00:17:20,270 glorifying of the Lord Jesus. 291 00:17:22,420 --> 00:17:23,040 Nothing else. 292 00:17:23,220 --> 00:17:26,099 You can pray until you can't pray anymore 293 00:17:26,099 --> 00:17:27,500 for the Holy Spirit. 294 00:17:28,660 --> 00:17:31,660 But the Holy Spirit genuinely will make no 295 00:17:31,660 --> 00:17:34,080 response until your motive is that Jesus may 296 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:34,640 be glorified. 297 00:17:34,900 --> 00:17:36,220 Not that I may have something. 298 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:37,640 Do something. 299 00:17:38,060 --> 00:17:38,740 Be something. 300 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:41,200 No, nothing like that. 301 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:46,280 Jesus being glorified governs the whole matter of 302 00:17:46,280 --> 00:17:46,960 the Holy Spirit. 303 00:17:48,380 --> 00:17:49,900 Jesus has put it on that ground. 304 00:17:50,820 --> 00:17:53,620 So, you can be quite sure of this, 305 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:57,180 that once you are adjusted wholly to the 306 00:17:57,180 --> 00:17:59,980 glorifying of the Lord Jesus, and the Lord 307 00:17:59,980 --> 00:18:02,780 knows when we are adjusted or not, truly, 308 00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:05,620 when we are rightly adjusted, we've given the 309 00:18:05,620 --> 00:18:07,820 Holy Spirit the ground that he wants, and 310 00:18:07,820 --> 00:18:08,960 he'll move spontaneously. 311 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:13,800 Well, we've a lot to say, and we 312 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,280 mustn't stay with each one of these fragments. 313 00:18:20,860 --> 00:18:25,560 Notice, again, and this is a door through 314 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:28,000 which you enter into such a wealth in 315 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,820 this gospel, that this matter of the glorifying 316 00:18:31,820 --> 00:18:36,000 of the Lord Jesus was the ground of 317 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,640 the reversing of situations from the impossible to 318 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:42,620 the possible, or to the actual. 319 00:18:44,340 --> 00:18:47,040 Now, there is a sense in which this 320 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:50,740 whole gospel of John is the gospel of 321 00:18:50,740 --> 00:18:55,780 impossible situations, which are turned into actuality. 322 00:18:56,520 --> 00:18:57,360 Ever thought of that? 323 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,980 A whole series, from beginning to end, of 324 00:19:03,980 --> 00:19:07,800 utterly impossible situations in the natural. 325 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,460 Well, begin, and we'll hurry through. 326 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:15,000 The marriage in Tana and Galilee. 327 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:21,570 The whole thing is proceeding, and suddenly the 328 00:19:21,570 --> 00:19:23,910 whole thing breaks down, collapses. 329 00:19:24,770 --> 00:19:25,910 They have no wine. 330 00:19:25,910 --> 00:19:27,710 And it's the key to that thing. 331 00:19:29,290 --> 00:19:31,070 It's the whole basis of everything. 332 00:19:31,910 --> 00:19:35,870 Of the joy and the fellowship, and the 333 00:19:35,870 --> 00:19:36,810 breakdown there. 334 00:19:38,330 --> 00:19:39,630 Well, it's shame. 335 00:19:40,770 --> 00:19:41,790 It's disappointment. 336 00:19:44,470 --> 00:19:45,490 It's reproach. 337 00:19:48,060 --> 00:19:49,540 Well, the bottle, as we say, has fallen 338 00:19:49,540 --> 00:19:50,380 out of everything. 339 00:19:51,420 --> 00:19:52,360 And the wine fell. 340 00:19:54,460 --> 00:19:56,180 It's a hopeless situation. 341 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:57,220 What are you going to do? 342 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:00,000 You can do nothing. 343 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:02,920 Everything is at an end. 344 00:20:04,910 --> 00:20:05,810 Everything's at an end. 345 00:20:06,750 --> 00:20:08,690 I expect those who knew about it were 346 00:20:08,690 --> 00:20:12,010 looking at one another in consternation, and perhaps 347 00:20:12,010 --> 00:20:14,530 afraid to let people know because of the 348 00:20:14,530 --> 00:20:16,370 disaster that it's felt. 349 00:20:16,790 --> 00:20:20,570 The utter spoiling of the whole thing. 350 00:20:22,690 --> 00:20:23,190 Hopeless. 351 00:20:25,230 --> 00:20:30,210 And mark you, Jesus was very careful, and 352 00:20:30,210 --> 00:20:31,510 you see it comes up again and again 353 00:20:31,510 --> 00:20:34,650 in the gospel, very careful to see that 354 00:20:34,650 --> 00:20:35,950 it was hopeless. 355 00:20:37,270 --> 00:20:38,370 They have no wine. 356 00:20:43,950 --> 00:20:49,630 I'm not here just to redeem broken down 357 00:20:49,630 --> 00:20:51,230 social occasions. 358 00:20:54,780 --> 00:21:00,160 I'm not here just to make things a 359 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,320 little more pleasant for people and save them 360 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:03,260 from their embarrassment. 361 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:08,680 I am here for the purpose of doing 362 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,120 what is utterly impossible to men. 363 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:14,580 That's how I've come. 364 00:21:16,220 --> 00:21:18,920 Life is broken down. 365 00:21:20,340 --> 00:21:24,320 Life is full of shame and embarrassment and 366 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,100 disappointment and hopelessness. 367 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:29,360 That's where you begin. 368 00:21:30,380 --> 00:21:35,600 A hopeless, impossible situation for man by nature. 369 00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:37,200 And he's come into that. 370 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:39,100 And he turned it. 371 00:21:39,640 --> 00:21:42,600 And he showed forth his glory by changing 372 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:47,000 this hopeless situation into one not only of 373 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:48,680 hope, but of realization. 374 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:51,860 That's chapter two. 375 00:21:52,180 --> 00:21:53,380 What about chapter three? 376 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:59,690 This man, Nicodemus, this man is trying to 377 00:21:59,690 --> 00:22:01,350 find his way into the kingdom. 378 00:22:02,390 --> 00:22:05,010 Find the secret of the kingdom of God. 379 00:22:06,010 --> 00:22:08,770 He's got all that ever a man could 380 00:22:08,770 --> 00:22:12,490 have of religion and learning. 381 00:22:12,910 --> 00:22:15,130 Thou art the teacher in Israel, said Jesus. 382 00:22:15,430 --> 00:22:17,110 The teacher in Israel. 383 00:22:18,390 --> 00:22:23,890 Everything of tradition, everything of inheritance, everything of 384 00:22:23,890 --> 00:22:28,330 position and prestige, everything that a man could 385 00:22:28,330 --> 00:22:28,890 have. 386 00:22:31,470 --> 00:22:33,990 And still dissatisfied. 387 00:22:35,390 --> 00:22:38,290 Still speaking like a man in despair. 388 00:22:39,310 --> 00:22:40,030 Disappointed. 389 00:22:42,540 --> 00:22:44,640 Coming to Jesus by night to try and 390 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:47,280 find a solution to his heart problem. 391 00:22:47,540 --> 00:22:48,480 The heart problem. 392 00:22:51,660 --> 00:22:54,120 And Jesus takes great pains to show how 393 00:22:54,120 --> 00:22:55,500 hopeless his situation is. 394 00:22:57,680 --> 00:22:59,360 He doesn't take up this man on his 395 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,560 own ground and encourage and comfort him. 396 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:04,560 He throws it straight at him. 397 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:06,980 You must be born again. 398 00:23:07,280 --> 00:23:09,460 Except a man born from above, he cannot 399 00:23:09,460 --> 00:23:10,660 see the kingdom of God. 400 00:23:11,860 --> 00:23:13,720 Cannot, cannot, cannot. 401 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:16,040 Hopeless. 402 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:18,380 For the best. 403 00:23:20,060 --> 00:23:22,320 Hopeless for the best of this world. 404 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:26,660 It's an impossible situation naturally no matter how 405 00:23:26,660 --> 00:23:27,720 much religion you've got. 406 00:23:28,620 --> 00:23:29,600 Hopeless this. 407 00:23:31,020 --> 00:23:38,560 But upon that hopeless situation, not only for 408 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:41,280 Nicodemus, but for how many more for us. 409 00:23:42,340 --> 00:23:45,200 Not only into hope, but realization in the 410 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:45,480 kingdom. 411 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:47,300 In the kingdom. 412 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:49,320 It's an impossible one you see. 413 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,540 My point is that Jesus is continually making 414 00:23:53,540 --> 00:23:58,140 it perfectly clear that that for him the 415 00:23:58,140 --> 00:23:59,280 situation is impossible. 416 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:01,620 But with him there is no such thing 417 00:24:01,620 --> 00:24:02,400 as impossibility. 418 00:24:03,180 --> 00:24:04,360 Chapter three. 419 00:24:04,580 --> 00:24:05,300 Chapter four. 420 00:24:06,020 --> 00:24:11,460 Was there ever a clearer example of hopelessness 421 00:24:11,460 --> 00:24:12,660 than that woman of Sica? 422 00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:18,160 Thou hast had five husbands. 423 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,240 He whom thou now hast is not thy 424 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:23,280 husband. 425 00:24:27,950 --> 00:24:31,050 And when she begins to speak, you hear 426 00:24:31,050 --> 00:24:33,010 her tone despairingly. 427 00:24:34,790 --> 00:24:37,370 Sir, give me this water. 428 00:24:38,370 --> 00:24:42,030 But I thus, not again, I that come 429 00:24:42,030 --> 00:24:46,450 all this way hither to draw the cry 430 00:24:46,450 --> 00:24:51,370 of a woman who has exhausted life of 431 00:24:51,370 --> 00:24:59,560 all its hopes in despair. 432 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,880 You know what he did with that? 433 00:25:03,940 --> 00:25:07,400 But he drew out this hopeless situation, didn't 434 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:07,620 he? 435 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:09,420 Made her aware of it. 436 00:25:09,940 --> 00:25:11,500 Took pains to let her know. 437 00:25:12,300 --> 00:25:14,560 It sounds cruel for him to bring up 438 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:15,140 her past. 439 00:25:15,820 --> 00:25:18,660 But he's letting her see how her own 440 00:25:18,660 --> 00:25:24,140 state is a hopeless one in order that 441 00:25:24,140 --> 00:25:26,600 he might show that he is the hope 442 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:27,120 of the hopeless. 443 00:25:29,120 --> 00:25:29,780 Chapter four. 444 00:25:30,500 --> 00:25:31,280 Chapter five. 445 00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:35,040 When Jesus was coming to Galilee a certain 446 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:40,080 nobleman of Capernaum came to him and said, 447 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:42,940 Sir, come down. 448 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,980 My son, life at the point of death, 449 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:47,920 come. 450 00:25:48,860 --> 00:25:53,690 And again it sounds so cruel. 451 00:25:55,390 --> 00:26:01,230 Jesus, but this poor, distraught, heartbroken father with 452 00:26:01,230 --> 00:26:04,610 his whole life wrapped up in that boy 453 00:26:05,290 --> 00:26:07,170 who is at the point of death. 454 00:26:09,510 --> 00:26:12,570 Jesus says, except you see signs of wonders, 455 00:26:12,710 --> 00:26:13,350 you won't believe. 456 00:26:16,420 --> 00:26:16,980 What is it? 457 00:26:17,300 --> 00:26:18,700 Is it unkindness? 458 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:20,440 Cruelty? 459 00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:22,300 Lack of sympathy? 460 00:26:23,080 --> 00:26:23,560 No. 461 00:26:24,280 --> 00:26:26,960 He's drawing this man out to his extremity 462 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:32,740 and making him recognize and acknowledge that only 463 00:26:32,740 --> 00:26:34,540 in Jesus is there any hope. 464 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,920 He says, Sir, come down, come down. 465 00:26:38,620 --> 00:26:40,120 Ere my child dies. 466 00:26:42,750 --> 00:26:43,230 It's a cry. 467 00:26:43,770 --> 00:26:45,170 Almost a despair, isn't it? 468 00:26:45,590 --> 00:26:48,210 As though he comes to the last resort. 469 00:26:50,290 --> 00:26:50,910 Only Jesus. 470 00:26:51,050 --> 00:26:51,890 That's what Jesus wanted. 471 00:26:53,430 --> 00:26:54,330 Only Jesus. 472 00:26:54,590 --> 00:26:55,170 No other hope. 473 00:26:56,110 --> 00:26:57,530 And Jesus didn't go. 474 00:26:58,450 --> 00:26:59,750 He said, go, my son lives. 475 00:27:00,770 --> 00:27:01,990 You know the rest of the story. 476 00:27:02,490 --> 00:27:04,890 And it's one more of these examples of 477 00:27:04,890 --> 00:27:05,430 the impossible. 478 00:27:07,350 --> 00:27:08,250 Chapter five. 479 00:27:09,030 --> 00:27:09,950 Chapter six. 480 00:27:10,710 --> 00:27:16,850 When shall we buy bread enough to feed 481 00:27:16,850 --> 00:27:18,030 so great a multitude? 482 00:27:20,170 --> 00:27:21,370 Five thousand people. 483 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:27,100 Two hundred penny worth of bread. 484 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:31,660 If any of you like to look into 485 00:27:31,660 --> 00:27:33,440 your Bible and work that out, you'll find 486 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:37,820 that that represented a year's wages for a 487 00:27:37,820 --> 00:27:39,100 laboring man. 488 00:27:42,670 --> 00:27:44,150 Two hundred pence. 489 00:27:48,210 --> 00:27:50,770 Not sufficient to meet this need. 490 00:27:51,510 --> 00:27:53,690 Jesus put the question to the test. 491 00:27:54,950 --> 00:27:56,010 How can it be done? 492 00:27:56,410 --> 00:27:59,070 No, it just can't be done, said the 493 00:27:59,070 --> 00:27:59,390 apostle. 494 00:27:59,510 --> 00:28:00,490 It just can't be done. 495 00:28:01,150 --> 00:28:01,650 It's hopeless. 496 00:28:02,490 --> 00:28:05,550 It's impossible among the people to sit down. 497 00:28:06,950 --> 00:28:08,090 Well, you know the rest of the story. 498 00:28:10,070 --> 00:28:13,610 But that is quite hopeless, quite impossible, isn't 499 00:28:13,610 --> 00:28:14,170 it? 500 00:28:15,620 --> 00:28:18,180 But come to real actuality. 501 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:19,900 Chapter six. 502 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:21,160 Chapter eight. 503 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,080 A man born blind. 504 00:28:24,580 --> 00:28:25,460 Born blind. 505 00:28:27,180 --> 00:28:30,720 Strange language, strange kind of argument. 506 00:28:31,780 --> 00:28:33,280 A lot has been made of this. 507 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:35,240 All sorts of things have been said about 508 00:28:35,240 --> 00:28:35,480 it. 509 00:28:36,740 --> 00:28:41,400 The disciples asked, Master, who did sin, this 510 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:43,140 man or his parents, that he should be 511 00:28:43,140 --> 00:28:43,880 born blind? 512 00:28:48,100 --> 00:28:51,080 Jesus answered, neither this man nor his parents. 513 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,860 But that son of man should be clothed 514 00:28:55,860 --> 00:28:56,040 up. 515 00:28:59,250 --> 00:29:01,950 Well, born blind. 516 00:29:02,590 --> 00:29:06,370 And the man's own language about this, Mark 517 00:29:06,370 --> 00:29:11,330 Mule, shows how he realized the hopelessness of 518 00:29:11,330 --> 00:29:16,070 his position when the rulers attacked him, challenged 519 00:29:16,070 --> 00:29:19,470 him about who it was that had given 520 00:29:19,470 --> 00:29:24,670 him his sight and said that this man 521 00:29:24,670 --> 00:29:25,270 was a sinner. 522 00:29:26,870 --> 00:29:30,090 The man said, why, dear, here's a strange 523 00:29:30,090 --> 00:29:30,370 thing. 524 00:29:31,230 --> 00:29:32,630 Here's a strange thing. 525 00:29:33,510 --> 00:29:36,310 Was it ever known from the foundation of 526 00:29:36,310 --> 00:29:40,050 the world that anyone born blind should receive 527 00:29:40,050 --> 00:29:40,210 this? 528 00:29:41,350 --> 00:29:42,810 From the foundation of the world. 529 00:29:43,110 --> 00:29:45,070 His idea about it, you see, was one 530 00:29:45,670 --> 00:29:48,190 there's no question about this with him. 531 00:29:48,250 --> 00:29:49,390 This is a hopeless thing. 532 00:29:49,450 --> 00:29:50,410 This was a hopeless thing. 533 00:29:50,410 --> 00:29:52,550 Never been heard of from the foundation of 534 00:29:52,550 --> 00:29:52,910 the world. 535 00:29:53,570 --> 00:29:54,790 That's pretty hopeless, isn't it? 536 00:29:56,070 --> 00:29:57,730 Yes, Jesus meant it to be like that. 537 00:29:57,810 --> 00:29:58,410 For the glory. 538 00:29:59,310 --> 00:29:59,910 For the glory. 539 00:30:00,790 --> 00:30:01,570 Hopeless situation. 540 00:30:02,050 --> 00:30:03,230 Chapters 8 and 9. 541 00:30:03,650 --> 00:30:07,550 11 Lazarus. 542 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:11,420 Do you know his attitude over that? 543 00:30:11,780 --> 00:30:14,020 They sent to him, he whom thou lovest, 544 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:14,860 this seat. 545 00:30:16,660 --> 00:30:21,540 And not as disputing that statement, his love. 546 00:30:21,540 --> 00:30:23,660 Nevertheless, he abode where he was for a 547 00:30:23,660 --> 00:30:23,880 day. 548 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:30,180 And when at last he came and moved 549 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,220 toward the tomb, the sister said, Lord, by 550 00:30:34,220 --> 00:30:35,540 this time he's thinking. 551 00:30:37,300 --> 00:30:40,920 And the Lord had deliberately, deliberately forced it 552 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:45,600 up to that, naturally, naturally, to make the 553 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,620 thing as hopeless as anything could be, naturally. 554 00:30:50,740 --> 00:30:53,080 This sickness is not unto death, but for 555 00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,180 the glory of God, that the Son of 556 00:30:55,180 --> 00:30:56,740 God shall be glorified thereby. 557 00:31:00,340 --> 00:31:01,480 We go on to the end. 558 00:31:02,180 --> 00:31:03,720 The last chapter. 559 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:04,340 What is it? 560 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:08,900 Master, we have toiled all night and have 561 00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:16,290 taken all a fisherman's life long, acumen and 562 00:31:16,290 --> 00:31:19,450 knowledge and ability exhausted. 563 00:31:20,570 --> 00:31:22,170 Nothing's the verdict upon. 564 00:31:24,380 --> 00:31:25,520 Well, you know the rest. 565 00:31:28,550 --> 00:31:29,050 Launch out. 566 00:31:29,810 --> 00:31:30,570 Let down the net. 567 00:31:32,290 --> 00:31:36,270 Impossible situation comes to a glorious realization. 568 00:31:37,090 --> 00:31:39,250 For his glory, he put everything on the 569 00:31:39,250 --> 00:31:40,010 ground of his glory. 570 00:31:40,710 --> 00:31:41,870 There's a lot of comfort in this for 571 00:31:41,870 --> 00:31:43,750 us, you know, friends, isn't there? 572 00:31:44,770 --> 00:31:50,110 Oh, how often do we despair, feel the 573 00:31:50,110 --> 00:31:53,210 hopelessness of things while Jesus lives. 574 00:31:54,370 --> 00:31:55,670 There's no such thing. 575 00:31:59,530 --> 00:32:00,330 We can say that. 576 00:32:00,410 --> 00:32:01,170 I can say that. 577 00:32:01,750 --> 00:32:05,370 But it doesn't require a lot to say 578 00:32:05,370 --> 00:32:05,710 it. 579 00:32:06,090 --> 00:32:09,710 But oh, sometimes it's the most testing thing 580 00:32:09,710 --> 00:32:13,510 that we can know to believe that this 581 00:32:13,510 --> 00:32:15,190 is possible after all. 582 00:32:16,130 --> 00:32:16,990 But it is. 583 00:32:17,650 --> 00:32:21,190 And many of us have enough experience because 584 00:32:21,190 --> 00:32:24,770 he has taken pains to bring us to 585 00:32:24,770 --> 00:32:28,990 the place where but for the Lord, well, 586 00:32:29,070 --> 00:32:29,750 this is the end. 587 00:32:30,730 --> 00:32:33,230 But for the Lord, there's no more possibility. 588 00:32:34,470 --> 00:32:37,770 But how again and again he has changed 589 00:32:37,770 --> 00:32:43,310 that hopeless, impossible situation into something for his 590 00:32:43,310 --> 00:32:44,090 own glory. 591 00:32:44,830 --> 00:32:46,570 Putting everything on his glory. 592 00:32:48,090 --> 00:32:49,350 Everything on his glory. 593 00:32:51,930 --> 00:32:54,170 Now, you see, what is he doing in 594 00:32:54,170 --> 00:32:54,570 all this? 595 00:32:55,890 --> 00:32:58,790 He's putting our life upon the same basis 596 00:32:58,790 --> 00:32:59,310 as his own. 597 00:33:01,030 --> 00:33:03,890 He came and put his life on that 598 00:33:03,890 --> 00:33:05,990 ground, the glory of the Father. 599 00:33:07,710 --> 00:33:09,910 Nothing that was not the glory of the 600 00:33:09,910 --> 00:33:10,130 Father. 601 00:33:10,810 --> 00:33:12,430 All was to be for the glory of 602 00:33:12,430 --> 00:33:12,770 the Father. 603 00:33:13,270 --> 00:33:16,950 Everything was tested and challenged by this, how 604 00:33:16,950 --> 00:33:19,570 much does this serve the glory of the 605 00:33:19,570 --> 00:33:19,830 Father? 606 00:33:20,410 --> 00:33:22,510 If it doesn't, there's no place for it. 607 00:33:24,260 --> 00:33:26,340 Only if it does do I entertain it. 608 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,260 Now, he turns that over and puts our 609 00:33:29,260 --> 00:33:29,960 life onto that. 610 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:34,220 He put the people in Cana on that 611 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:34,500 ground. 612 00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:39,720 He put the woman of Samaria on that 613 00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:40,040 ground. 614 00:33:42,150 --> 00:33:43,790 He put Nicodemus on that ground. 615 00:33:44,390 --> 00:33:44,950 They're left out. 616 00:33:46,050 --> 00:33:48,310 One case, the man in the pool of 617 00:33:48,310 --> 00:33:48,810 Siloam. 618 00:33:49,250 --> 00:33:51,170 What a story of hopelessness that is. 619 00:33:51,730 --> 00:33:53,290 In chapter four, at the end of chapter 620 00:33:53,290 --> 00:33:53,610 four. 621 00:33:55,190 --> 00:33:57,570 He'll let you know that he feels his 622 00:33:57,570 --> 00:33:59,650 situation is a hopeless one, that man. 623 00:34:00,830 --> 00:34:04,210 Been there thirty-eight years and every time 624 00:34:04,210 --> 00:34:07,010 he tried to get into the water, somebody 625 00:34:07,010 --> 00:34:07,909 got ahead of him. 626 00:34:08,929 --> 00:34:09,350 Cry. 627 00:34:12,900 --> 00:34:16,100 He was putting this man's life on the 628 00:34:16,100 --> 00:34:17,139 same basis as his own. 629 00:34:34,590 --> 00:34:37,449 He was putting this man's life on the 630 00:34:37,449 --> 00:34:38,530 same basis as his own. 631 00:34:39,130 --> 00:34:40,710 All the way along like that. 632 00:34:41,690 --> 00:34:44,710 It's a very safe position, dear friends, to 633 00:34:44,710 --> 00:34:46,810 have your life on the same basis as 634 00:34:46,810 --> 00:34:48,090 the Lord Jesus had his. 635 00:34:49,489 --> 00:34:50,010 Isn't it? 636 00:34:51,010 --> 00:34:52,929 And you know, that is the destiny of 637 00:34:52,929 --> 00:34:53,270 the church. 638 00:34:53,650 --> 00:34:57,050 What is it that Paul says in his 639 00:34:57,050 --> 00:34:59,830 letter to the Ephesians, chapter three, verse twenty 640 00:34:59,830 --> 00:35:00,290 -one? 641 00:35:01,010 --> 00:35:03,650 Unto him be the glory in the church 642 00:35:03,650 --> 00:35:06,730 by Christ Jesus unto all ages forever and 643 00:35:06,730 --> 00:35:06,910 ever. 644 00:35:07,630 --> 00:35:07,970 How? 645 00:35:07,970 --> 00:35:12,350 How glory in the church forever and ever, 646 00:35:12,830 --> 00:35:16,790 just this way, that the church's life has 647 00:35:16,790 --> 00:35:20,850 been a life of impossible situations turned to 648 00:35:20,850 --> 00:35:21,970 glorious realizations. 649 00:35:22,710 --> 00:35:24,530 Isn't that the history of the true church? 650 00:35:25,630 --> 00:35:26,690 All the way along. 651 00:35:26,790 --> 00:35:27,430 Look at it. 652 00:35:27,550 --> 00:35:28,410 Again and again. 653 00:35:29,510 --> 00:35:30,910 See from the beginning. 654 00:35:31,710 --> 00:35:38,030 See impossible, nero, nero, slaughtering ten million Christians. 655 00:35:38,590 --> 00:35:42,050 Shows how the church had grown how quickly 656 00:35:42,050 --> 00:35:42,590 and mightily. 657 00:35:43,170 --> 00:35:46,790 But it is computed that he had massacred 658 00:35:46,790 --> 00:35:49,070 no fewer than ten million Christians. 659 00:35:50,370 --> 00:35:51,490 So that's a lot. 660 00:35:52,230 --> 00:35:54,810 That leaves things pretty small and pretty weak 661 00:35:54,810 --> 00:35:55,610 and pretty hopeless. 662 00:35:56,990 --> 00:35:58,830 And again and again the church has gone 663 00:35:58,830 --> 00:35:59,550 that way. 664 00:35:59,790 --> 00:36:00,590 Hasn't it? 665 00:36:01,050 --> 00:36:03,070 Through history, it's gone that way. 666 00:36:03,610 --> 00:36:04,690 But on it goes. 667 00:36:05,390 --> 00:36:07,950 On it goes greater than ever today. 668 00:36:09,470 --> 00:36:10,190 Hopeless? 669 00:36:10,750 --> 00:36:11,350 Yes. 670 00:36:12,230 --> 00:36:12,810 Impossible? 671 00:36:13,250 --> 00:36:15,930 Yes, but for Jesus. 672 00:36:16,770 --> 00:36:18,710 And what is the object? 673 00:36:19,510 --> 00:36:20,970 What is it that's governing this? 674 00:36:21,670 --> 00:36:23,950 Oh, it's not because the church is anything 675 00:36:23,950 --> 00:36:26,110 or you and I are anything. 676 00:36:26,590 --> 00:36:28,170 His glory governs everything. 677 00:36:28,810 --> 00:36:29,670 It's unto His glory. 678 00:36:30,190 --> 00:36:33,830 Unto Him be the glory in the church 679 00:36:34,830 --> 00:36:35,930 by Christ Jesus. 680 00:36:36,770 --> 00:36:38,790 There's much more to it in those passages 681 00:36:38,790 --> 00:36:39,710 which I read. 682 00:36:39,810 --> 00:36:44,310 Remember one occasion, the feast, near the end, 683 00:36:44,590 --> 00:36:45,750 the feast, the Passover. 684 00:36:47,070 --> 00:36:50,170 There were at Jerusalem amongst the multitude there 685 00:36:50,790 --> 00:36:53,590 certain Greeks who came up to the feast. 686 00:36:54,770 --> 00:36:58,310 And going about looking at the sights of 687 00:36:58,310 --> 00:37:04,530 Jerusalem both personal and material they included in 688 00:37:04,530 --> 00:37:07,130 their sight-seeing this one of whom everybody 689 00:37:07,130 --> 00:37:09,090 was talking Jesus of Nazareth. 690 00:37:09,350 --> 00:37:11,810 And they came, the disciples, and said we, 691 00:37:12,150 --> 00:37:13,830 sir, we would see Jesus. 692 00:37:15,190 --> 00:37:15,850 Jesus. 693 00:37:17,210 --> 00:37:19,090 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew. 694 00:37:19,590 --> 00:37:21,410 Andrew cometh and telleth Jesus. 695 00:37:22,270 --> 00:37:23,230 What did Jesus say? 696 00:37:23,810 --> 00:37:24,430 Immediately. 697 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:27,200 We are. 698 00:37:29,830 --> 00:37:30,690 We are His children. 699 00:37:32,190 --> 00:37:33,490 The Son of Man should be glorified. 700 00:37:35,210 --> 00:37:37,670 Except the coil of wheat fall into the 701 00:37:37,670 --> 00:37:41,230 ground and die it abideth by itself alone. 702 00:37:42,570 --> 00:37:44,650 If it die, bring it forth from its 703 00:37:44,650 --> 00:37:44,870 root. 704 00:37:45,690 --> 00:37:47,450 How is Jesus glorified? 705 00:37:48,730 --> 00:37:49,290 There. 706 00:37:50,810 --> 00:37:53,330 How is Jesus really seen? 707 00:37:53,810 --> 00:37:55,190 They said we would see Jesus. 708 00:37:55,490 --> 00:37:58,550 And He said, Jesus, in effect, you don't 709 00:37:58,550 --> 00:38:00,570 see me just when you see me after 710 00:38:00,570 --> 00:38:01,090 the flesh. 711 00:38:01,950 --> 00:38:04,530 You'll see me when you see a great 712 00:38:04,530 --> 00:38:07,410 multitude which no man can number out of 713 00:38:07,410 --> 00:38:10,430 every tribe and kingdom nation and tongue. 714 00:38:11,650 --> 00:38:15,530 One grain having died reproducing itself in a 715 00:38:15,530 --> 00:38:16,370 mighty harvest. 716 00:38:16,910 --> 00:38:18,870 That will show forth my glory. 717 00:38:19,530 --> 00:38:21,490 That will let you know who I am. 718 00:38:22,230 --> 00:38:24,450 Not just one of the sights of Jerusalem. 719 00:38:27,250 --> 00:38:28,510 One of the sights of heaven. 720 00:38:29,730 --> 00:38:34,690 A new, new revelation and knowledge of the 721 00:38:34,690 --> 00:38:36,190 Lord Jesus you see. 722 00:38:37,490 --> 00:38:40,810 That was the thought there. 723 00:38:41,370 --> 00:38:46,650 How Jesus is really known or seen in 724 00:38:46,650 --> 00:38:50,850 how He is produced in other grains of 725 00:38:50,850 --> 00:38:51,130 wheat. 726 00:38:52,410 --> 00:38:57,090 You and me and the many others. 727 00:38:57,090 --> 00:38:58,530 That's how He's glorified. 728 00:38:58,770 --> 00:39:00,230 He puts our life on that basis. 729 00:39:01,210 --> 00:39:04,990 And so He says to us that it's 730 00:39:04,990 --> 00:39:06,790 to be the same with us as it 731 00:39:06,790 --> 00:39:09,670 was with Him falling into the ground and 732 00:39:09,670 --> 00:39:09,990 dying. 733 00:39:10,930 --> 00:39:12,110 It immediately ends. 734 00:39:12,450 --> 00:39:17,110 Except man loses life for my sin. 735 00:39:19,260 --> 00:39:20,020 He cannot find it. 736 00:39:22,140 --> 00:39:24,020 He that loseth his life shall find it. 737 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:26,260 He that saveth his life shall lose it. 738 00:39:27,820 --> 00:39:28,980 Same basis as mine. 739 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:33,800 You let your life go for Christ. 740 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,420 You pour out your life unto death in 741 00:39:38,420 --> 00:39:39,000 His interest. 742 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:41,180 Glory will come along that way. 743 00:39:42,380 --> 00:39:44,160 That's the way of the glory. 744 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:48,990 I think I've said enough to make the 745 00:39:48,990 --> 00:39:49,530 point clear. 746 00:39:50,370 --> 00:39:51,470 This is the world. 747 00:39:52,350 --> 00:39:53,810 I could go on of course for hours 748 00:39:53,810 --> 00:39:54,890 but it's not necessary. 749 00:39:55,050 --> 00:39:56,490 We've got it here. 750 00:39:57,130 --> 00:40:00,450 The Lord Jesus has put everything of His 751 00:40:00,450 --> 00:40:03,950 own life and ours upon this one foundation. 752 00:40:05,030 --> 00:40:06,090 His glory. 753 00:40:08,170 --> 00:40:11,410 Challenging everything according to that. 754 00:40:11,930 --> 00:40:14,070 Testing everything according to that. 755 00:40:15,070 --> 00:40:16,550 Governing everything by that. 756 00:40:18,010 --> 00:40:21,270 Saying to us now it must be true 757 00:40:21,750 --> 00:40:24,450 of you as it was of me. 758 00:40:25,610 --> 00:40:28,950 That you have your life governed by one 759 00:40:28,950 --> 00:40:30,690 motive and one interest. 760 00:40:32,530 --> 00:40:36,870 How much does this minister to my glory? 761 00:40:38,390 --> 00:40:38,750 How much? 762 00:40:42,030 --> 00:40:46,530 That dismisses all talk about well, must I? 763 00:40:48,690 --> 00:40:50,170 Or may I not? 764 00:40:51,230 --> 00:40:52,590 Have I got to? 765 00:40:53,790 --> 00:40:56,430 No place for any talk like that, dear 766 00:40:56,430 --> 00:40:58,390 friends, when we are being mastered by this, 767 00:40:58,530 --> 00:40:59,130 His glory. 768 00:41:00,110 --> 00:41:03,130 If this does not serve His glory then 769 00:41:03,130 --> 00:41:03,850 let it go. 770 00:41:05,370 --> 00:41:08,050 If this way can be to His glory 771 00:41:08,050 --> 00:41:10,550 no matter what it means to me then 772 00:41:10,550 --> 00:41:11,370 that's the way I'm going. 773 00:41:12,350 --> 00:41:14,250 It's the way of the glory all the 774 00:41:14,250 --> 00:41:14,570 time. 775 00:41:15,170 --> 00:41:16,270 The ground of the glory. 776 00:41:17,330 --> 00:41:19,950 May the Lord raise this word deep in 777 00:41:19,950 --> 00:41:23,070 our hearts and make us men and women 778 00:41:23,070 --> 00:41:28,590 who are committed, committed people to the glory 779 00:41:28,590 --> 00:41:30,270 of our Lord Jesus.