Sermon: The Desire of Christ

Take a copy of God's word this morning and we're going to open it this morning to the gospel of John. If you want to use a pew Bible, you can do that. And turn right to page 9 0 3, 9 0 3 in the Pew Bible this morning. John chapter 17. And just one verse this morning, John 17. And we're looking at verse 24 this morning.

John 17, verse 24.

Let's pray before we open God's word together this morning.

Father, we come before you this morning with all humility. We say that we are lost apart from you shining light in our midst

and apart from your spirit working according to your word. And yet we stand upon the promise this morning that you said that you would work. We're gathered together in your presence and we look to you this morning with the eyes of faith and we say, speak to us. So Lord, speak to us and we pray all of this in the strong name of Christ or Lord and our Savior. Amen. This morning, John chapter 17, verse 24. This is the holy er, sufficient word of God.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me. 'cause you love me before the foundation, the world, well the grass withers and the flower fades. The word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

This Thursday, Christmas morning, there will be a lot of anticipation. Uh, children will awake early, the good children will sit at the top of the stairs and wait patiently. Others will run into their parents' room and wake them up, uh, way too early. And it's all in anticipation of what is under that wrapping paper. What is in those boxes? What is under that tree? And when opened, you know this, there will be squeals

of delight and there will be laughter and there will be joy. But not always. Sometimes there is is sadness and there are tears and there is disappointment. Every husband has experienced it. Uh, you know that's what she wanted. You were creative. You picked it out. You went after it. You knew that she would be excited about it and she wasn't. You know this. We thought it was a good idea, but it wasn't what they desired.

Desire is a funny thing. It is something that can motivate and it can move along. It is something that causes people to go up business ladders to the top. It can help people to go through extreme times of trial, of, of persevering. But it can also immobilize. It can, if it disappoints, it can lead us to sadness. It can lead us to returning back to our bed. It can even lead us to times of deep depression. So it's helpful to know what is it

that you desire, what do you desire? I mean in your heart of hearts, what is it that you desire? What is it that gets you up in the morning that you think about, that you meditate upon, that you long for that you talk about you dream about?

Or another way of saying what is the motivating animating principle of your life?

What is it?

What do I desire? Our passage is wonderfully fascinating and encouraging because in it we get a glimpse into the animating motivating principle of Jesus, what he desires.

We're looking at one verse this morning, verse 24, and it begins with Father I desire. Now let's do a little wide angle. Take a step back for a second and orient ourselves as we're taking this one verse in the middle of a long passage. John chapter 17 is one long prayer by Jesus. It's the longest recorded prayer in all of the scriptures of Jesus. And it could be said that in prayer that you and I get a glimpse into what is really in our heart of hearts.

What is it that we actually love? What is it we're actually concerned about? What is it that we're actually thinking upon? Because what it is will often become the subject of our prayers. And here it's like in a a Hollywood movie where you're taken into the thoughts of the character on the screen. Here, you and I in John 17 are taken into the very thought life, in the very heart of Christ where we get to hear and we get to see a glimpse of what's in his heart.

So stop for a second note, what you've already sung about this morning, what you've already confessed this morning, that Jesus is a man that to speak about him having a heart speaks about the fact that he is man he was and he is flesh and blood. That's what we celebrate on Christmas Sunday morning. And he says, father, he's addressing God as father. Now you, you think, well that doesn't strike me as very odd, but it would've been very odd at this time

this this was not a regular occurrence and the ancient world, you and I take it for granted because it is something that Jesus sowed within his people. And so it is how we address because he said, let me teach you how to pray. You say our Father. But for him to do such a strange, it speaks of intimacy, it speaks of relation even as it speaks of respect. Why can Jesus call him father? 'cause he's the father's son. Notice he says in the lasts half of our verse,

that the Father would show this son's glory to his disciples, this glory that he gave him because he has loved him. Quote before the foundation of the world. And if you go back to earlier in this prayer, in verse five of this prayer, Jesus, pray this Father glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. That is this. Jesus is not only man, he existed before the foundations of the world who exists

before the foundations of the world. In the beginning was God.

And this is what we celebrate on Christmas, Sunday, God became flesh. God became man.

I think one of the most beautiful passages in all of the scriptures is Philippians two. And there Paul writes this, though he was in the form of God speaking of the son of God. He did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human for me, humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. The son who has eternally existed with the Father

who is equal with him in power and glory became flesh.

The second person of the triune God, this one triune God. The second person was born in this world with lungs, with a liver, with muscles and tendons and fat on his body with hair, with thumbs, with baby toes.

The son of God.

Try to wrap your mind around that. That should blow every circuit in your head. It's inconceivable.

The infinite embraced the finitude. The Lord became a servant. He has always had all glory, was condemned. The giver of life taste to death. But why?

Why did the son of God become flesh? What drove him? What was his motivation?

What did he desire?

Jesus tells us the same thing in different words throughout the gospels. He would say, for example, the son of man, a reference to himself, the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom. For many fact, he came to serve, to give his life as a ransom. He will say in another portion of the gospel is I came to seek and to save the lost fact, he he came to seek and to save.

Or like he says in John 10, I came not to do my own will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but raise it up on the last day. Fact I I came that I might grab all those he's given to me and raise them up.

He speaks of the same thing just in different ways. Many of you'll read on Christmas morning what Pastor Nate quoted this morning from Matthew chapter one, when Joseph is there with this, finds out that Mary is pregnant and he knows he's got nothing to do with it. He's ready to put her away. And that angel appears to him and says, no, no, no, no. This child that is conceived in her womb was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

And you shall name him Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus means savior,

ransom from resurrected, from saved from something.

Saved from something.

If I told you years ago when my son was smaller, that there was a day that we were outside and I took my eyes off of him. And then when I raised my eyes, all of a sudden I saw that he was in the middle of the street. And with all the incredible athletic ability that the Lord has gifted me with, I ran

and I saved him.

You would know what I'm talking about you. You saved him from Jason saved him from getting ran over. Jesus came to save us from something. You shall call him Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. I came, he said not to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. He came to save us from.

That's the glory of Christmas.

Sun came to save us because we had need of saving from, from sin.

Every single one of us. There's not a person that has been born in this world by ordinary generation. There's only one that's not been born by ordinary generation. Every single person born in this world by ordinary generation is born into this world as a sinner.

And the penalty for sin is death and it's hell. And it's the very wrath of a holy God who cannot abide by sin.

He came to save us from the one who prays Father. But there's more. And this gets to the heart of our verse. We're we're not just saved from, we're saved to. And here we get a glimpse into the heart of Christ. His desire. He says, father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory. I desire that they also, who is he talking about? He's talking about his disciples, those who are with him

and those that would believe the testimony of those apostles and would therefore become his disciples. You this morning, if you believe, he says, I desire that they also, whom you have given me may be with me where I am. Let's stop there. I desire that they also may be with me. He's repeating words here that he's already said in the gospel. He said 'em back in chapter 14 of John, it's a very familiar passage to many of you there in John

14, he says this, he says, believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's house or many rooms. If it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again. And here he is repeating our words, will take you to myself that where I am you may be also not just saved from but saved to. Saved to what? To Him.

To him. He's talking about being with him in the presence of the Father. He's talking about heaven And look at the subordinate clause. He wants us to be with him saved to so that he says the disciples, his disciples will quote, see my glory.

We don't see him now, but we shall.

Faith becomes sight. That's one of the greatest guarantees in all the universe.

Those who have faith in Christ will see Christ. You can mark it down. It's fixed. Faith becomes sight.

Oh my goodness. What we are saved to

Those who believe

that are in this room this morning, those of us who have believed we could testify to everybody else in this room. We could testify to the the great benefit that faith is. Oh what? What delight it brings, what peace it brings. What joy, A company's faith. I was sitting with a a family in the hospital just this week and we were discussing this very thing and they have been through an extreme trial, hard hard trial. And we were sitting there talking about this

and talking about how we don't know how people go through these kind of things in this world without faith in God There. There's such pleasure and and such, such grace and such peace that comes with faith. It is a pleasant gift. And yet as pleasant as it is, faith will be surpassed.

Faith in Christ is wonderful. Seeing Christ is better

And For the disciple faith becomes sight.

You've been saved to be with him. Why does he desire this for us?

'cause there's no better place to be. The psalmist says in Psalm 1611, in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand or pleasures forevermore. The psalmist will go on to say in Psalm 84, for day in your courts is better than a thousand Elsewhere he will cry out. In Psalm 27, 1 thing have I asked of the Lord or desired one thing, have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek? After that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

to gaze upon his beauty.

We shall see him as the apostle John says, as he is in all of his glory.

Jesus says He desires this forest that is in his heart of hearts. That's why he became flesh.

And why does the son desire this? Look it go a step further and say, why does the father desire this? Because he sends the son.

And the answer is found in that most famous of verses. For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son love desires to give the best of things the very best. And you truly love you. You aren't satisfied with giving a small thing or or giving a limited thing or giving things that disappoint. You want it to be the best.

Think just biblically about this and think wise, men, kings will come from the east and they will travel all that way because they saw a star in the sky and they wanted to gaze upon this baby in a manger. And he wasn't even in his glory. He had set it aside.

Or even when Jesus is on that mount of transfiguration, you'll remember he ascends that mount of transfiguration and he takes his three inner disciples with him, James and John and Peter. And they go up on the mount with him and they see him Tre, they see him Tre figure before their eyes. They get a glimpse of his glory. And Peter is so impacted by it. He is so caught up with it. He is so filled with joy and peace and delight that he proposes.

Let's just pitch some tents and camp out for all of eternity up here on the mountain. Look, it's gotta be incredibly delightful to want to camp out for all of eternity. And he only got a glimpse, just a glimpse.

He saves us from, oh what he saves us. Two, he desires the best for Samuel Rutherford once said it this way, he said, there is nothing but perfect garden flowers in heaven. And the best that is there is Christ. Heaven is heaven because Christ is there and there could be no greater gift than seeing the glory of Christ. And see this abundant love that he has for us day after day, for all of eternity. He desires this for us.

And by his life and his death, he secures it for us. He wants us to see the glory of his person. This glory that he says that you meaning the Father have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. It's a glory that shines with the love of the Father. It is the love of the Father poured out upon the son that this glory shines forth. And how great is the love of the Father for the son?

Arthur Pink said it this way. He says, commensurate with the everlasting love, which the father had for him, what a glory it must be. And oh, the privilege, the honor, the bliss of beholding it. That is what he desires for you. 'cause there could be nothing better.

It will not disappoint,

it'll will never disappoint.

So let me say this first to those of you in this morning that are in this room that you think, ah, I'm not sure about this. Jesus. I'm not quite sure what I think about him, but you're here and I'm thankful you have desires.

We all have desires. That's just part of human nature. Here's what's also true is that I know by observation, by experience

that no matter what your desires are, you find them unfulfilled or unfulfilling.

Now maybe for a season when they're met, they're fulfilled maybe for a time, maybe in a limited way. But the reality is you always and I always will go on to something else, to something more when my desire is set upon something that is here because it can't fulfill, it can't satiate. Ultimately we will be disappointed in some way. Why? Because you were created to desire something that only one can fill with delight. All those little desires you have, all point you

to the great desire that is part of your human nature.

Augustine was a man who applied himself in every way to trying to fill his life with the desires of the world. If there was something you could chase after in this world and try and meet that desire, he sought after it.

And then he came to saving faith

and he said this to God in prayer. He says, you stir man to take delight in praising you because you have made us for yourself and our heart is restless and until it rests in you, you were made for him. So your heart will always be restless until it finds him.

You will never be satiated with fulfilling desires with lesser things because you were created for him.

He alone satisfies.

And here's the promise. If you believe in him today, you will see him tomorrow.

It's a promise

and it will not disappoint.

Second, dear Christian,

is this desire to see Christ, is that the motivating, animating principle of your life?

Is it

we see him with the eyes of faith Now, as Paul will say, with the eyes of our heart, by faith, are you seeking to, to grow in this life, in seeing Christ, preparing for the day that you shall gaze upon him face to face. And is that what you ultimately ache for? Is that what you ultimately long for? Is that ultimately what gets you up in the morning and motivates you through your day? If we're all honest in this room, we have to say not

to the degree that it should, not to the degree that I wanted to

it's case for all of us. It's what do you do? You pray for it.

You pray, help me to long to see more of you Christ, to delight myself more and more in you and less and less in the things that are passing away. You train your mind and you train your heart to seek after Christ in the Word you train your mind and you train your heart to to live more from Lord's day to Lord's day because you're gathering with Christ's people and with Christ in this place. And you are training yourself

and teaching yourself that, ah, I want to store my treasures more in heaven. My delight is there. That is where my heart is. That's where I want it to be. More and more. I'm seated already there. Let me seek after it more and more.

It's a constant fight in this life and a constant discipline.

Finally, dear Christian, that is weary just tired.

Know what delight awaits you. Do not grow weary in doing good.

You keep looking to Christ. Keep trying to get more and more of a glimpse of him and his glory with faith. Now looking forward to the day that you shall see him with sight. You think Kings traveled from the east, they traveled all that long way just to get a a glimpse of him. Apostles will die, will give their lives to testify about what they had seen of him.

What he has saved you to is beyond your imagination.

It's beyond anything that you can dream up.

Just think about this, this one fact that we are finite beings and yet his glory is infinite because he is an infinite being. And so that means that you and I will never know him in an incomprehensible way, will know him and will see him. And what we know and what we see of him will be true of him. And yet it will not be the end of it. It will not be complete. As one theologian said perpetually, it'll be maximized. That is we will enjoy a never ending

mountaintop experience of delight. You will be filled with delight in every moment of heaven. And you will go from one mountaintop experience, one vista of seen as glory, and you will be completely satisfied. And then in the next moment, you will translate to a higher vista of seen his glory and completely satisfied. And then onto another higher vista of seen his glory for all of eternity Day after day

forever. And you'll never get to the end of it. You'll never get to the end of him. We'll never find the end of his beauty nor the end of his love, nor the end of his goodness Forever

Will never exhaust him Forever.

That's what Isaiah says, what no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. And he desires that for us and then he secures it for us.

It's the greatest gift.

It's this promise to us this Christmas Sunday, if you believe the son of God became flesh to save us from ha, but not just save us from, but save us to

what a gift. Let's pray.

Father, we exalt you this morning for being a God of such goodness and such goodness to us for granting so great a salvation to such great sinners and oh Jesus, we long to see the glory of God in your face day after day for all of eternity. The cast are crowns before you see you as you are to mix our voices with the angels and the archangels and the four living creatures and the martyrs below the altar and ascribe you the glory that is to your name.

What a delight it is to be your people. To say that you are our Savior and our God, and we pray all of this in your strong name by the power of the Spirit. Amen.