John chapter 13 verse 31 through to verse 34. And as you turn your Bibles to that portion of the scriptures, just an encouragement for the announcement that was made. Today we the campus outreach minister would like us to invite the students that have come into our homes for lunch and if you've not registered or gotten in touch with any of them and you'd like to have one or two students over for lunch to get to know them, and provide hospitality, please see any of the guys in the campus outreach ministries and they will be glad to allocate a student or some students to you. Let's not cause the students they've invited to remain in the chalet during lunch. Let's invite them into our homes. John chapter 13, I commence reading from verse 31. When he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Little children, Yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I say to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I've loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all the people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." As we continue, we continue in our study through the book of John, and we come to a passage where Jesus speaks of being glorified. And as we continue in this portion of scriptures, Let us quickly remind ourselves what we've looked at so far in this chapter. We began by looking at the fact that God loves his own to the very end of the edge. And then we saw the example of Christ's humility and love as he washed the disciples' feet And we saw in that portion how he powerfully displayed his love and humility when he washed his disciples' feet, even that of Judas, the one whom was to betray him. And after doing all that, last Lord's Day, we looked at a verse verse 21 all the way to verse 30, where Jesus was distressed and troubled in the Spirit, and then the disciples were perplexed or confused about what Christ had revealed, and then also considered a defiant betrayer in Judas Iscariot. And this morning, we come to verse 31 through to verse 33, and we see that our passage begins with the statement from Jesus, rather as John records, that when he had gone, that's when Judas had gone, Jesus said, now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. And what we see there is that the cross of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, so the cross simultaneously glorifies the Father and the Son. In the cross, we see at the same time, the Father and the Son are glorified. And so we see that in the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, We see the glory of God, the glory that will cleanse you, change you, and satisfy your heart. A glory is revealed that cleanses us from sin, that changes our will, and that satisfies our heart. There at the cross we find that we are greatly loved by God. We find that the love that is expressed to us is the love that empowers us to go and love others, even as we see in verse 34 where he gives them that command. And John says that this was immediately after the exit of Judas. Jesus turned to this highest theme in the Gospel of John, that of his own death. And we see that the cross of Christ displays the love of God, the glory of God. It displays how God is displeased with sin, but also how God has made provision for sinners, if only they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thought I would like us to see from that portion is that the Son of Man is glorified in the cross. the Son of Man is glorified in the cross. Verse 31 and the first part of it. When he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified. Now this is a most remarkable statement. The departure of Judas not only unbidden the fellowship of Jesus and his disciples, but it also set in action or it set in motion a train of events that would lead directly to the cross. And here, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us this highest divine viewpoint of things. He gives us this vantage point of what is happening in this moment. The Lord Jesus Christ foresaw his betrayal and he tells Judas in verse 27 of chapter 13, what you are about to do, do it quick. But also Jesus saw beyond his affliction to the ultimate goal, the ultimate result, His own glorification. And as we see there, that now is the Son of Man glorified. Our Lord Jesus Christ contemplates His death on the cross as His glorification. Now if these words were uttered at the banks of the Jordan River after his baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended on him and the voice from heaven was heard, that this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. If those words, if these words that are recorded for us were uttered at that moment, probably it would have resonated very well with us. Or if these words were uttered on the summit of the Mount of Transfiguration, when the glory of God shone, and Moses and Elijah appeared, and God said, this is my beloved son in whom I will please, probably would have said, it makes sense. Or if these words were uttered when the Lord Jesus Christ would have cast out demons, or when the times when He would have done a miracle, and He says, now is the time when the Son of Man is glorified, probably He would have said, it makes sense. Looking at what has just happened. And it was not in any of those moments. These words are said, were spoken, when in few hours or few days he will be hanged on the cross. When these words were spoken, what was before the Savior was his deepest humiliation, his cruel suffering, the heavy accusations that would be leveled upon him, the insults, of public tide. Death on the cross, being crucified with thieves, having, as it were, fellowship with thieves in the moment of his death, going through the agonies of death at the hands of his own father. It is with that in the mind of our Savior when he uttered these words. Here, Jesus is no longer saying that an hour is coming when the Son of Man will be betrayed, but He's saying now is the time when the Son of Man will be glorified. And it is with great intentionality that the Lord Jesus Christ refers to Himself as the Son of Man. The phrase, the son of man is a loaded statement. Son of man emphasizes that Jesus is not just the divine son of God, but he's also the incarnate son of man. He is a real person. It emphasizes his humanity, that he was human with flesh and bones. He became like one of us. The Son of Man emphasizes his divine sovereignty. As a human being, The Lord Jesus Christ did not give up his deity. He did not give up his godness. And when you read in Daniel chapter 7, Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14, you remember when Daniel was given that vision in Daniel chapter 7, verse 13 and 14, this is what the prophet saw about the Son of Man. And to him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." And in Daniel, there we see That three things are given to the Son of Man. He is given dominion. He is given glory. And He's given a kingdom. And what that signifies or means is that He was to rule. That's why He was given dominion. He was given splendor. That's why He was given glory. And He was given a people. So I was given a kingdom. And when the Lord Jesus Christ says, now is the time that the Son of Man is glorified, Jesus is saying He will be glorified because of His atoning death. on the cross and His atoning death on the cross will bring glory to Him. It will bring glory to God and God will glorify Him. Jesus is glorified because of His atoning death on the cross and the glory therein. is that the death of Christ is the central moment of all human history. On the cross, Jesus performed the greatest work which the whole of history of the entire universe ever witnessed. Generation after generation waited for this moment. They looked and longed for this moment. And generation after generation looked back to that moment. James Montgomery Boyce writes and I quote, Nothing that has happened in the world's history, from the beginning of creation until now, or whatever happened before that day when all things will be wrapped up in Christ, is as significant as the crucifixion. In His cross, Jesus fulfilled the only hope of man's salvation. and from his cross flow all the spiritual blessings for which man was originally created, and that Christ's own will enjoy forever. But also Jesse Rau says, and I quote, the crucifixion brought glory to the Son, It glorified his compassion, his patience, his power. It showed him most compassionate in dying for us, suffering in our stead, allowing himself to be counted sin and a case for us, and buying our redemption with the price of his own blood. It showed him most patient in not dying the death, the common death of most men, but in willingly submitting to such horrors and known agonies as no mind can conceive. When with a word he could have summoned his father's angels and be set free, it showed him most powerful in bearing the weight of a world's transgression, and vanquishing Satan and robbing him of his prey. The Son of Man is glorified in the cross. And there we see that when God created man, He created man for Himself. And as the Shorter Catechism, the first question tells us when it's asked, what is the chief end of man? And the answer is that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Adam failed to achieve this end. He failed to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. But the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, achieved this end. He glorified God and enjoys Him forever. And so on the cross, the Son of Man is glorified. And God was never more glorified than when His own incarnate Son laid down His life in submission to His command. And never was human nature so glorified as when the Son of Man thus glorified God on the cross. Do you want to see the glory of God? Focus on the cross. Do you want to have your life changed and satisfied by that which is eternal and divine? Focus on the cross. Dwell on the foot of the cross. Through the atoning work of Christ on the cross, His glory and His love is revealed. Secondly, we see that God is glorified through the Son of Man in the cross. God is glorified through the Son of Man in the cross. The last part of verse 31b. When he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified, and the last half, and God is glorified in him. God is glorified in him. God is glorified through the Son of Man or through his Son in the cross. The cross of Christ is the brightest manifestation of the glory of God. Every attribute of God is excellently magnified on the cross. As Jesus perfectly obeys the Father's will, And as Jesus takes upon your sin upon himself, God is glorified. The word glorifying in simple terms simply means revealing or displaying. What we're saying is that on the cross, The Lord Jesus Christ displays the glory of the Father to the world. And therefore, the Father is glorified in the Son. John Calvin writes, and I quote, in the cross of Christ, as in a splendid theater, the incomparable goodness of God is set before the world to see. Again, let's hear from Jesse Rau. Jesse Rau writes, the crucifixion brought glory to the Father. It glorified his wisdom, faithfulness, holiness, and love. It showed him wise in providing a plan whereby he could be just and yet a justifier of the ungodly. It showed him faithful in keeping his promise that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. It showed him holy in requiring his lost demands to be satisfied by our great substitute. It showed him loving in providing such a mediator, such as a redeemer, and such a friend of sinful men as his co-eternal Son. And there we see that the cross of Christ magnified every attribute of God. It showed the wisdom of God. When in Genesis 3, when sin entered the world, and it says the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, and that promise was passed on to each succeeding generation. And we see that when you trace the theme of the seed of the woman in the Scriptures, when you get to Genesis chapter 12, it narrows down to the seed of Abraham. And when you get to Genesis 37, it narrows down to the seed of Judah. And as I lived by faith, looking forward to this seed of the woman, each generation was looking forward to that moment. And individuals would rise, and the nation would sing, could this be the promised seed? And only to see that no, they had their own sinful tendencies, and God was saying the one to whom He would crush the head of the serpent is the Holy One. And so you see that in the history of Israel, when there is confusion, sin amounts, the judges are corrupt, God speaks to his prophets, the nations are taken as slaves, there are ten tribes in the north and two tribes in the south, and they're all looking forward to that promise. If they look at David, could this be the one? And David proved was not that seed. They look at Solomon. Solomon proves he was not that seed. And Isaiah assures them that God will bring you comfort. He will return you from exile. And the surety that God gives you is that the virgin will give birth. And so now it moves from the seed of Abraham from the seed of Judah to the virgin giving birth. And when you get to Malachi, you see that that promise narrows down to the place Bethlehem to which the seed will be born. And after 40 years of silence, Matthew begins his gospel, the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham, the son of David. And in Matthew 1 and verse 21 tells us the name of that virgin, it's Mary, and the name of that seed is Jesus Christ. And you see the wisdom of God. Only God who knows all things can plan to the minutest details of his plans. and everything was falling in place, and now the cross reveals His wisdom, that it's beyond human comprehension. It reveals God's faithfulness, God's holiness. The cross of Christ touches upon every single attribute of God. And we see how they are all glorified in the cross of Jesus Christ. And in the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can see that one attribute of God stands out to answer the question why. The other attributes of God tells us how that it is God, that God could offer his son to die for our sins. It tells us because he's just God. He's a righteous God. He's a holy God. But only God's love explains why. God did what he did. God so loved the world that if the only way of sinners to be redeemed from the penalty of sin was for his son to suffer his divine wrath in our place, God was willing to do it. The love of God glorified in the cross shows us why God did what he did. So brightly so that the love of God is never, as it were mentioned in the New Testament, a part from reference to Christ's death for sinners. John writes in his first epistle, in 1 John chapter 4 and verse 10, in 1 John chapter 4, the Bible reads, in this is love. Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is what John writes, nothing in all of eternity reveals the love of God so clearly as the cross of Christ. And hence we read these words, Nile is the son of man glorified and God is glorified in him. The cross of Christ proves that God is the just and the justifier of those who have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we see here this morning is that through the cross, the glory of the Son is revealed. Through the cross, the glory of the Father is proclaimed for the salvation and the satisfaction of the nations. And because of the cross, God gets His glory, the glory He deserves, and you and I get a God we need for our sins. The Son is glorified, and the Father is glorified in Him. And therefore, when we look to the cross, God the Father's glory is revealed. He deserves the glory. And you get the God you desperately need. One who can save you from your sins and one who satisfies the just punishment of his Father. And in the third place we see that God glorified the Son in the cross. God glorified the Son of Man in the cross or on the cross. Verse 32. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself. and glorify him at once. There is a great interchange of glory between the father and the son. The son goes on the cross, he does the cross, the father is glorified. And this is true. But it's also true that the cross which was shameful, a curse, A stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles, despite the great blessings that we accrue through the cross, its greatest satisfaction is the glory it brings to God the Father and God the Son. Jesura, once again, I quote, he says, the son shows the world by his death how holy and just is the father and how the father hates sin. And now the father shows the world by raising and exalting the son to glory. how he delights in the redemption for sinners which the Son has accomplished. This mutual glorification is essential to the inner relationship of the divine Trinity. God the Father is glorified in God the Son. And God the Son is glorified in God the Father. And the glory that shines at the cross and in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. God the Father glorifies the Son As the Son hangs, rather the Son glorifies the Father, as He hangs on the cross and cries out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then God the Father exalts, glorifies the Son by raising Him up from the dead and giving Him a name that is above all names. and a place of honor at the right hand of the Father. And when we are brought into the fellowship of the Triune God, the grand purpose of our redemption is that we should glorify the Father and the Son together. that when we live our lives, as we are told in 1 Corinthians, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we must glorify God. Those who glorify the Father shall be glorified by the Father. Those who glorify God shall be glorified by God. And the question is, how can the glorious Son of God willingly submit to something so painful and shameful? How can the glorious God send his Son to die on the cross as a means of glorifying himself? Ephesians 1 20-23 gives us the answer. Ephesians 1 20-23, that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above rule and authority and power and dominion. and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. Verse 22. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who feels all in all. God glorified Jesus through the resurrection by giving him the seat of honor in heaven, the seat of authority over all things. And there is no more honored place or position than at the Father's right hand. There can be no greater vindication no greater display of the glory of the Son than of the Father. To display the greatness of the Son over all persons, all institutions, all things in this life and the life to come. When the Son saw the horrors of the cross and the death that he was to die. He saw beyond the affliction and saw the glory that awaited him. He died. He was buried. He was raised from the dead and he ascended to God's right hand. And God has glorified the Son. The depths of humility or rather humiliation in the cross are far exceeded by the heights of exhortation when he was raised from the dead and given a seat of honor at the Father's right hand. God has glorified the Son through the work of the cross, and God is continually glorified. as we believe the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the message we are presenting to you this morning. The message of the cross. And the message of the cross is that the Son of God died. the sinless, spotless, righteous son of God died. And on the cross, there was this great exchange. God made him to be seen who knew no sin, so that in him, we may become the righteousness of God. And what a glorious exchange. What glorious wisdom, infinite wisdom. And therefore, we must speak of the cross. We must preach the cross of Christ. We must speak of sin and the wrath of God. We must think about the cross and sing about the death of Christ on the cross. And as we live as God's people, especially as we go into this festival season, this Christmas period, when everyone wants to go about doing things their way, we who've come to see the glory of God in the cross must preach the good news to the world. We must send the news We must blow the trumpet of the gospel of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In the cross, the wisdom of God is displayed. In the cross, the love of God is displayed. Let us tell the world that the devil seeks to deceive you by simply wanting to be good. He wants you to be a good husband, a good wife, a good child, a good employee, a good neighbor, a good sibling. He wants you to work hard, to go to church, And he wants you not to talk about the cross of Christ. The cross glorifies God. And to us who are saved, or as Paul says, to us who are being saved, the word of the cross is the power of God. The cross is central. When you take away the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for us on the cross, you are robbing God of His glory. Take away the guinews of Christ crucified for sinners and the resurrected victorious death or rather the resurrected victorious over death, you take away the saving power of God from your life and your work. God is glorified through the cross and God is continually glorified when you turn away from sin and believe the message of the cross. There's this three-fold glorification on the cross. The Son of Man is glorified in the cross. God the Father is glorified by the Son of Man on the cross. And the Father glorifies the Son on the cross. And as we sing that glorious hymn in closing, Jesus keep me near the cross. My question to you is have you come to experience the love of God displayed for us on the cross? Or you're robbing God of his glory by deceiving yourself that by simply attending church and being good morally, God will accept you in heaven. May you be brought to the cross of Christ today and believe in the one who died on the cross for your sins, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.