Royal Glory - John 12:27-34

0:46And he shows us that. Verse 27. Now my soul has become troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came out of heaven. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered. Others were saying an angel has spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice has not come for my sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself. But he was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which he was to die. The crowd then answered, We have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever. And how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is the Son of Man?

1:56I told you it was appropriate for this morning, right? How can the Christ live forever? Boy. Well, we're celebrating Resurrection Day, and certainly that is the emphatic answer. Resurrection. Well, just to give you a bring you up to speed with where we are in chapter 11, Jesus calls Lazarus out of the grave, demonstrating his peculiar power as the Son of God. This guy had the power to call a dead person out of the grave. Only God can do that. And he still does that. Not just physical, but spiritual tombs. And ultimately, he will call all men out of their physical tombs. Well, you come into chapter 12, and there's this growing intensity of hatred to the point where they're ready to kill even Lazarus. And then you come, beginning in verse 12.

3:00You see this royal entry. Jesus comes in riding on a donkey, signifying his claim to the throne of David. Not only is he son of God, but he is son of David. And then in verse 20, something peculiar happens. There were some Greeks that were going to worship at the feast, and they came up and wanted to see Jesus. And this inquiry, for whatever reason, triggers something in Jesus' mind. It triggers that his hour as the Son of Man has come. Verse 23, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. And this realization that his time to be glorified by crucifixion triggers the necessity for him to teach his disciples about the glory that there is in his death. Verse 24, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. So, in order for a seed to produce offspring, it has to die. And the same is true about the long-expected seed, capital S, that was prophesied to destroy.

4:30The devil and his work. We heard a wonderful message at our Good Friday service, Jeff, preaching on Isaiah 53, an excellent time in the word. But in verse 10, we read these words. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days. And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hands. And so death is the paradigm to glory for our Lord. And he makes it very clear that death is also the paradigm for glory for his people. He says in verse 24, truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Out of Christ is going to come a wonderful race of people. Marvelous they will be. And he says in verse 25, he who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life is in this world will keep it to eternal life. And if anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. And if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. The very paradigm to glory for him was the paradigm of death, and it will be the paradigm of everyone who follows him. We will be saved. Skilled in dying.

6:03That is the way of following our Lord. And so, in light of this pending death, Jesus becomes deeply troubled. Verse 27: Now my soul has become troubled. And it's in this context that we begin to see the glory in Christ's death. It is a place we also begin to see the glory that there is in dying. It's a different paradigm, it's a different way of life, but it is the pathway that our Lord walked, and all those who follow him will walk. You see, Jesus is regal, imperial, majestic, royal glory, all of that is seen in the way he died and the way he faced death. And so we begin to see that unfold for us. This passage is rich in Christology. It's rich in personal application. And our time is limited. If we're in a seminary class, I would talk so much about the humanity and the deity of Christ and what is revealed here about that. If I'm sitting around a campfire street, In the singing kumbaya, I would have a whole different personal application. It's so rich. It's rich for us. But it's important to understand that we've got limited time. So I'm going to do my best to bring both to your attention: the deep Christology and the rich personal application. You see, we must understand Christ in order to follow him. That's what Christology is: the study of Christ. We must understand who he is and how Scripture has revealed him because our understanding of Christ drives our discipleship, because as our king goes, so we will go after him. And the two are connected. And so this morning, I want to simply look at four manifestations of our Lord's glory as he faced death. Four manifestations, and we will draw application to our lives as we walk through it. So, first, I want you to see the effectiveness of his death-laced prayer. I want you to see the effectiveness of his death-laced prayer. Look at verse 27. Now, I'm going to circle that because you can see that word again. Now, my soul has become troubled. Word for trouble is the same that he used in chapter 5 and verse 4 and verse 7 to speak about the waters that were stirred. Matthew chapter 2. Verse 3 speaks about the emotional stirring when the Magi had come and Herod had learned that these people had come to worship another king, then Herod and all of Jerusalem were troubled. It's an emotional disturbance, deep disturbance. And the one we see that could heal the sick, raise the dead, and calm the storms was himself troubled at the core of his being. And this just speaks of his humanity. He was fully human. And the cross, the reflection upon the cross and what was coming, invoked a deep emotional response. He doesn't just approach death whimsically, like, oh, yeah, okay, I'm God, doesn't really matter. I'm just going to write through this, get through this. No, he faces it fully human.

10:06And even though he knows he's going to rise again, and that's going to be evident as we go through the text, he recoils at the thought that anyone of going through such pain and suffering would recoil at, but he does so on a much, far more profound level than we can ever even imagine. So, what was troubling him? Was it the physical pain? Well, I'm sure that bothered him, the public rejection, the humiliation, the shame of being paraded around naked, the slander of being labeled a criminal worthy of crucifixion, of Roman crucifixion, being made a public spectacle, the mockery of his enemies, the ones who were the true criminals.

11:02What no doubt these took their toll on him, but I believe the main agony troubling his soul was that Jesus was about to face the full expression of the sin-hating God. That's what he was really troubling. You know, you and I, when we sin, right, and it's evident to maybe our spouse or to somebody around, and we've been in the wrong or something. There's a bit of shame, right? There's almost afraid to get kind of sheepish, or even if you've sinned greatly in God's eyes, and if nobody else is around you, there is a reluctance, a fear of going before the Lord and painful to confess. Well, can you imagine having upon you every evil deed, every evil thought, everything of the whole collective whole of humanity, and then standing? Standing before infinite glory, the perfection of holiness. Could you imagine? No, we really can't. But that's what's troubling him.

12:15We read in Sunday school this morning, Psalm 90, verse 11: Who understands the power of your anger and your fury according to the fear that is due to you? Moses is saying, Who in the world understands the power of your fierce anger? Who can even fathom it? And who can understand the tremendous fear or the tremendous respect that is due your name? Who even understands it on planet Earth? Moses says, And the answer is Jesus. He understood.

12:55And that troubled him. You know, when God gave Israel the land of Canaan, there was a lot of mopping up that had to be done. He didn't just give them a territory that is all subdued. He says, You go in, conquer this. They had to do what was necessary in order to bring it under the jurisdiction of God. Well, guess what? When Jesus says the Son of Man was given an inheritance, it was not a pretty sight. It's not a pretty one.

13:30And he had to do what was necessary to bring his people into the jurisdiction of God. You see, our troubles often arise because of our own sins. Jesus' trouble came about because those given to him had offended God, and he had to go. Ones he loved, ones he loved deeply, and he had to go before a completely holy God and make it right. He loved them. He loved the Father. You know, one of the deepest things I've noticed through the years, one of the hardest things that really grieves the heart is when one of your children is misbehaving, in fact, or has expressed some degree of misconduct. That hadn't ever happened in my family, but I have observed it in others.

14:38But there's something that when a mother senses that her children, or when a child has publicly shamed the family, there's a heaviness, a grief that is very deep and very painful. Well, imagine here is Jesus with his disciples and with all that are going to come after him. He's got to bear their sin before a holy God. Troubles him. He who is absolutely perfect. Well, so this takes him to two prayer options. He's got two options. Look at verse 27. He is troubled. He has to face the full fury of the sin hating God.

15:18And look at verse 27. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. I mean, here's where the battle of man's soul is taking place. This is where the battle for the lifeblood, the soul of humanity, and it's being fought in the spiritual realm. This is where the serpent is bruising the heel. I mean, where the serpent is bruising the heel of the servant, and the seed is crushing his head. It's all happening right here. And so our king has these two options before me. He could pray, save me from this hour. That is, keep this trial far from me.

16:09Have you ever prayed a prayer like that? Lord, you must save me. It's an accommodation. Should I say this? Father, save me. Father, save me. That's often what our prayers sound like when we encounter difficult situations, isn't it? Jesus, you must save me from this. God, save me from this. This and we do this because our natural inclination is to automatically think of ourselves more than the glory our situation could render to God because that's our fallen condition. We naturally think about how we're what's in it, what's involved in us, what it costs us, and our first thought doesn't go to, okay, I'm in this difficult situation, I'm going. What is the glory that can be given to God in this situation? Well, our first thought may be comfort, ease, or how we're going to be perceived, or our name. Jesus doesn't pray this prayer. He prayed what I call a death-laced prayer. And it's a beautiful prayer. And may we learn to pray like this. Look at what he says.

17:22But for this purpose, I came to this hour, verse 27. And the beginning of verse 28, here is his prayer. Father, glorify your name. Another imperative command. It's not, Father, save me. Father, glorify yourself. Glorify your name in this situation. You see, Jesus trusted his father. He knew his father is in control. He knew all his ways were exceedingly good. He knew his father had brought him to this point. He trusted in his. Sovereignty. And he wanted more than anything to put his father's glory on display. That's where his mind went. Should I say, Father, save me? No. Father, glorify your name through this situation. Glorify your name through my death. That's the new paradigm.

18:27Do you believe that God is a good and sufficient purpose for bringing difficult circumstances into your life? Then pray. Learn to pray these death-laced prayers. Your will, your glory. Let that trump my comfort, my ease, or what I, Father, ultimately, if you've brought me to a difficult hour, glorify your name through it. That was the way of our king. Deeply profound. Look at heaven's response. Verse 28. Then a voice came out of heaven. I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.

19:16I've glorified it in the past, and I will glorify it again in the future. And this is a very rare occasion, right? A voice coming from heaven. You see it at the baptism. A few people around there, good number. You see it at the Transfiguration, right? Just a couple people there. But here, this voice comes out, and there is a mixed crowd of people, a crowd, mixed crowd in Jerusalem. That's what he said. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. Now, why did he say it? Look back at verse 29. So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered. Thunder!

20:06Right? Others were saying, an angel has spoken to him. Jesus said, This voice has not come for my own sake, but for your sakes. You see, many didn't understand what the voice had say. It's evident. They didn't understand. They heard a noise. Thunder. I heard it. No clouds. Thunder. Other. Angel. Angel. But who's the one that God glorifies? The voice came not for the benefit of the crowd, the unbelieving crowd. It came for the benefit of the disciples. They needed to know who the one that God glorifies is.

21:00They're the ones that are about to see the cross. And they're the ones that need to understand that God's irrevocable curse is not upon Jesus. But it is the central point of his glorification. That the cross, though stricken and cursed by God, will meet the glory of God. And that that's where it's happening. So, who is the one that God glorifies? Well, he glorifies the servant of Isaiah 53, as we look. He does not exalt himself over the Father. That's who he glorifies, the Son, who does not exalt himself over the Father, but who performs the Father's will even to the point of a brutal death on the cross. You see the paradigm shift in humanity happening here, right?

22:04Who is the one that God glorifies? The one who performs the Father's will even to the point of death on the cross. This is the one who God glorifies. And likewise, those who follow Him, those who do not deify themselves, but bow their wills to the will of Christ. These too will be glorified by the Father who is the Father of God. Both the Son and those who follow the Son. You see, there is great beauty in a death-laced prayer. Learn to pray like this because it dethrones self, it magnifies Christ. Talk about the seed that's going to become many seeds. Let me tell you about the glorious nature of the people that He is raising out of planet Earth. They are ones who dethrone self, they pray death-laced prayers. They're more interested in the Father's will than they are in their own agenda.

23:17What a glorious people they are. And it's not because of them, it's because of the King whom they serve. Well, this is the beginning point of the glory of the new covenant that would bring both Greek and Jew in, Gentile and Jew. And it started with the death-laced prayer of Earth's true king. So let us learn to please him by praying prayers that sound like him. Okay, let's move on. Second manifestation of our Lord's glory is the victory that his death secured. The victory that his death secured. So we've looked at the effectiveness of his death-laced prayer. And now we want to look at the victory that his death secured. Look at verse 31. Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. Circle the word now, now. You see, now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. There's the victory. The crucifixion accomplishes two victories, righteous judgment upon the world and a regime change.

24:49First, we'll look at the first one. There's a righteous judgment that comes upon the world. Look at verse 31 again. Now judgment is upon this world. So the whole pattern of the world is now judged unrighteous. The self-will paradigm inevitably leads to competition. You get a bunch of little minds, a bunch of little kings, a bunch of little deities. And that's what we become when you elevate yourself as the one to be pleased. We get a bunch of these little deities in competition with one another, politicking around, maneuvering, endless power grasps, tyrannical dominance, and heinous atrocities. This is planet Earth with a bunch of little gods running around in competition.

25:37And so God's verdict upon the world system is seen on the cross. And it's people need to be saved out of this world or they need to be condemned with it. That's his verdict. That's God's verdict. You either need to be condemned with this world or saved out of this world. That's the righteous judgment that is upon the world. And Jesus's death on a cross is just another demonstration of the evil where self-will takes mankind. They would not give the good and beautiful its rightful place, and neither will you, if you are the one to be served.

26:24You will pervert what is right and what is good. You will despise, you will learn to despise that which is right and good. But if you get, put God in his place, let God be God, then there's a whole different paradigm. You give the good and beautiful the right place. Second victory that his death secured was the ruler of the world was cast out. Now judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world World will be cast out. And I link the two. First, you've got to start at the top, right? If you're going to, judgment is going to be upon the world. The whole system is deemed foul, off, broken, irreparable. And the one who's head over this, the ruler of it, is going to be the first one to be dealt with, right? To break the power. And that's what the cross secured. But the question becomes: in what sense was the ruler of this world cast out at the cross?

27:35In what sense? I mean, obviously, we still see evil in this world, but here the scripture, now the ruler of this world will be cast out. Very explicit. Something's taking place at the cross. And, you know, we can understand this. Like, generally speaking, when you can think about it, when a ruler is ousted, there's some sort of loss of jurisdiction, right? Or some sort of loss of territory, some sort of loss. And as we continue to read scripture, we understand that Satan is going to be cast out of this world in phases. For instance, we know in Revelation 12:10 that he is going to be cast out of heaven. Revelation 23, he is going to be cast into the pit. And in Revelation 20, 10, he's going to be ultimately cast into the lake of fire. So there's a Diminishing jurisdiction each time, but he's being cast out in phases.

28:39This shouldn't be too hard for us to understand. Got elections coming up, right? There's a lot of people that would love to oust Donald Trump, right? Like to oust him. What happens? Election day. What happens on Election Day? Vote, right? And if it, whichever way it goes, sometimes the reigning president is ousted, right? He's ousted at Election Day, but does he leave power that day? No, he really doesn't. He enters into a transition phase, right? And then there will be an inauguration phase, right? And then there will be, even after he's out of office, there's still some residual influence that a president will have. It goes around, speaks, does all kinds of things, right? Maybe politic or a candidate for somebody, help other candidates. But anyway, this isn't that hard to understand. Election day may be the definitive point when things changed, but certainly there's transition, and then there's residual powers that are diminished. Well, back to the question: in what sense was the ruler of this world cast out at the cross?

29:55And the answer is very simple. Satan lost his hold on. Humanity. He lost it. Self-will lost its place. It lost the monopoly, if you will. The monopoly was broken. A single seed of humanity would not give in to self-will, even under the most excruciating pressures. A single seed loved the will of the Father far more than anything that could be thrown at him. This is the new humanity. This is the paradigm change. The ruler of this world had nothing. In fact, Jesus is going to say, the ruler of the world is coming in John 14, 30, and he has nothing in me. He has nothing in me to charge me with, nor does he have any power over me.

31:02And the single seed will soon become many, as Jesus says. Unless the seed falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. So many more. A new stream of humanity emerges, or is certainly revealed at the cross. All this. Was true before the cross, but it's certainly emphatically revealed at the cross. And so Jesus's victory in his death can never be turned back. A new humanity emerged that would rather be crucified than be separated from the Father's will.

31:54And they are the growing segment. They are the eternal kind. And they are growing more and more in their sanctification. They are growing more and more in their practical, daily dying to themselves. They are a glorious people. And some of you are here today. You see, the paradigm of self-will is cast out. Cast out of at least one segment of humanity. And that segment is going to grow, lives forever. That which is perishing is passing away. So the ruler of this world still has power, but it is a residual power.

32:54There is death and victory. You see, there. Satan's power over the believer is only in his ability to deceive and entice. It is not in control. Those who are in Christ have died. His power is merely that of deception. It is not the power to control. And the one who learns to daily die to selfish ambition, guess what? Cannot be defeated. You cannot defeat a dead person. You cannot kill a dead person. You cannot entice a dead person. And listen, if you will learn the skill of dying to selfish ambition, we are there in Christ now, and because we are already dead, we died with him. Now that as we live, we continually live a life of continual dying, so that what is true becomes manifest.

34:09There is a tremendous victory that death secures the redemption of the world, a new humanity. But it's also true about us and our relationships and all that we do. There is victory that death secures. Third manifestation of the Lord's glory at the cross is the love that his death expressed. The love that his death expressed. Look at verse 32. And if I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. But he was saying this to indicate the kind of death which he was to die. That's clear. Lifting up here is crucifixion, and that people are going to get it. It's what he's talking about.

34:59Lifted up. A couple of issues need to be stated here. All men. Notice he will draw all men to myself. Now, this does not mean that Jesus is teaching universalism here. The all is certainly in the sense of Gentiles and Greeks, or Greeks and Jews. He's expressing his mission extends beyond Israel and saying that all who come are going to come by way of him. All. All the redeemed humanity. All that will come will come by means of him.

35:41It's important to understand the meaning of the word draw here. John's going to use this throughout his gospel, and there's really no very simple meaning. In John 18:10, Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it out. And struck the high priest's slave. So there is a sword, and the drawing is that John put his hand, I'm sorry, Peter put his hand on the sword and drew it out. That sword was not coming out unless it was drawn out. In John 21, 11, Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of large fish. So many. And so there's this, again, this idea of that net isn't coming in on itself. So Peter had to draw. And in John 6:44, Jesus says these words: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

36:41And I will raise him up. So the idea in all these cases is that some object needed an external force to act upon it. And the point of this, certainly in the case of people, is people do not naturally come to Christ. They do not come on their own. Why? Their natural bent is self-will. They live by a whole different paradigm. And they won't, they can't come because they are going a different direction. Some external force has to work upon them. And that's what Jesus is saying.

37:19You see, the ruler of this world operates his control over the minds of people by feeding their self-will, by feeding their natural desires. You can think about it like this. Get an idea of Satan's control. This was evident in the garden. Really, what Satan wanted, he wanted man to walk with him instead of man walking with God. And so, what does he do? He seduced man to despise God's will and to operate on his own instincts. Don't go down the paradigm of simply bowing to the Father's will. Go on what seems good to you.

37:59This guy was a man-hater from the beginning. So, then what happens? Adam, take it, eat it. What's the first thing? Adam, you don't have any clothes on. Get some clothes on, Adam. You're naked. Yes, sir. We'll do that. Adam, I hear the footsteps. Run, Adam! Run! Run, boy, run! Get out of here! Run! Hide yourself! Yes, sir! Yes, sir. Get the picture. You see, man's sin and the guilt of his sin has a repelling power away from God.

38:48But the cross displays a love that draws men, it counteracts the effects of sin and it draws, it acts. Against. I remember growing up in northern New Mexico, Los Alamos. One of my favorite things to do is they had all these canyons around, had these mountain canyon streams that were dried most of the time. But they had these little black streaks of iron filings. And so I would go down there in the sand with a big old magnet. It was one of my favorite things to do after school: take a coffee can, go down, hike down into these canyons, and go down and just run my magnet through the stream, through all the sand in the bottom, and guess what it would pick up?

39:40All the iron filings would just come onto my little magnet. And that's what I did, you know, and then I'd collect the iron filing and I'd get coffee cans full of them. But that's a picture of what the cross does in the stream of humanity. There is a love that is expressed on the cross that is extremely attractive. You don't have to run away. You can run too because of the cross. You see, this is the lie you'll hear. God hates you. God's mad at you. God cannot forgive you. God is not going to log you. You're sinful. Run, hide.

40:24Or redefine God. Do whatever. Get away. That's the rule of. Satan. That's his power. But the cross dissolves all of that in a moment. You ought to write down Colossians 2.15 and Hebrews 2.15 just as good verses that explain the cross and what happened. In Colossians 2.15, having already said your sins are forgiven, he has canceled the debt of certificate that was hostile to you. He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to a cross. And then he says this, when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. In other words, the one making the public display in this crucifixion was not the Roman authorities at all. It was the Father making a public display out of the rulers and authorities and saying, you can run to Christ.

41:33You can run to your heavenly Father. In fact, look, one act of self-will is what Adam did. And then all of a sudden he just started, kept listening to the devil. Okay, I'll keep doing it. I'll keep doing what seems good. No, turn, run to the Father. In fact, Hebrews 2.15 says that through he himself, let me just read verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in his flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the sin. That through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who, through fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives. You understand what's happening here?

42:16When he goes to the cross, those who understand the truth are no longer afraid of death because they're not afraid to run to God because of the great love that was displayed on the cross. Run to God. I don't have to run from him anymore. You don't have to run from him anymore. Listen, if one self-willed act gets you in trouble, don't go do more. It's just going to make it worse. Run to God. And by the way, this verse makes it clear that Jesus knew he was going to be resurrected. He obviously sees life on the other side of the cross because he notices, you notice a dead Savior can't draw anybody. If I am lifted up, I will draw. He knows it's coming. Well, the drawing power of the Christ of the cross is in the love that expresses. When Jesus died to self-interest, he communicated true love.

43:28And likewise, When you and I die to our carnal self-interests, we not only dethrone the ruler of this world in our own situation, but we communicate a love for God and a love for those around us that is unmistakably heard. And that's what the cross did, and that's the paradigm it gives us. Well, we need to move quickly. The fourth manifestation of Christ's glory is the rain that followed his death. The rain that followed his death. Look at verse 34. The crowd then answered, We have heard out of the law that the Christ is to remain forever. And how can you say the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?

44:21By the way, this is the last mention of the crowd specifically. Those last scenes, they're confused, they're lost, and totally unable to appreciate the immense value of what's being offered to them in the person of Christ. Don't let that be you today. How can the Christ be crucified and reign forever? What's the answer? He is risen. And? And so that's what they're saying. What kind of Son of Man is this? Who is the Son of Man? They're not really asking like Jesus has already said. They know he's referring to himself as the Son of Man. It's not much who, as much as it is, what kind, what kind of Son of Man is this?

45:10Yes, the Christ is to reign forever. Yes, the Son of Man is to be crucified. They are one and the same. Resurrection is what makes all this happen. There is life on the other side of the cross. There is life on the other side of death. And that is the paradigm in which our Lord walked, and that is the paradigm for us as well. Death. Constant dying, spiritually dying. I'm not talking physically going out and dying.

45:46I'm talking about a daily spiritual death, a slow, constant death, repeated death of you dying to yourself, in your relationships, in your own personal preferences, dying, dying, dying, and there is life on the other side of that death, a resurrected kind of life. They are a glorious people who follow him. Well, what is the exhortation? I'll just read it and we'll go into it next time, but look at verse 35. So Jesus said, For a little while the light is among you. Walk while you have the light. Respond. To the light while you have it.

46:34Well, just as there is glory in Jesus' physical death, there is glory in our spiritual death. The once event that took place on the cross, we died, but the ongoing, sanctifying, daily dying to ourselves. Jesus showed us what dying to self looks like. He lived for the will of another. And as Jesus reflected the Father's glory by dying, so we too can reflect His glory by dying to His will. Well, the good news of the resurrection is that we do not have to do this on our own because He is risen.

47:21And I would even say right now, we are risen indeed if you belong to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, help us to respond to the light. Let us not live in fear of death, live in fear or under the burden of guilt, and shame and sin, and come up with all the crafty ways to hide and excuse. Help us to just run to you, to be honest before you, and to be thanking you. Father, Help us follow this paradigm of life that includes many deaths. Help us to grow in this way.

48:12Thank you for your resurrection. This isn't something we have to do on our own, but something that you established, the work that you have established. Now, confirm it in us, we ask.