Worthy Of Glory

WORTHY OF GLORY

John 3:22-36

Introduction: This is the subject I want to speak to you about today. Jesus Christ is worthy of glory!

Turn your Bibles to John 4:22-36, and while you’re turning there I want to share with you a story about a very interesting well-educated Greek philosopher whose name is Dr. Alexander Popaderos. And Dr. Popaderos every summer on the island of Crete taught a class on ethics for two weeks. And this particular summer just as he was getting ready to close the class, the last few minutes of the class, he said, “Now are there any questions before we go?” And just as he was getting ready to say, “OK then you’re dismissed,” a little man in the back of the room, a rather timid looking man, sort of carefully raised his hand and said, “Dr. Popaderos,” “Yes” “I have a question” “Yes, what is it?” He said, “I’d like to know, what is the meaning of life?”

As you can imagine, people were ready to go home, and they were very irritated by this little fellow’s heavy question!

Dr. Popaderos very quickly quieted the group, he said to the class, “You know, if you don’t mind I’d like to answer that question.” He reached into his back pocket, and took out his wallet. He took out of the wallet a little mirror about the size of a fifty-cent piece, honed down on the edges, kind of sparkling. And then he told this tale, he said, “When I was a child, I began to realize that I could have so much fun with that mirror. I would simply catch the glint of the Sun, and shine that mirror into an otherwise darkened place. As I grew older I began to learn that this is no child’s toy. This is really a metaphor for my life. Now I am not the light—I am not the source of the light. I am simply a broken mirror fragment. But if I allow the sun to shine on my mirror fragment, it is amazing what light I can bring into darkness.” Then he said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the meaning of life.”

Each of us is a mirror fragment. We are not the Light. We are not the source of the Light. We are simply a broken mirror fragment. But when we permit the SON to hit our mirror fragment, and then bounce off into the life of a darkened heart, there can be change, there can be illumination. This story sets the stage for what I want to look at in John 4:22-36 (READ PASSAGE)

John’s disciples saw that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing more disciples than John, and they were jealous! John certainly was not, for his purpose in life was fulfilled. His disciples wanted to be with John just because of the honor that was bestowed upon him, but John wanted to use his honor to glorify Christ. These are the last words of John the Baptist in the Bible. The only thing recorded after that is the words of Jesus when He said John was “a burning and a shining light,” and the words recorded by the Gospel writer John who said in 10:42, “John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. 42And many believed on him there. “

John’s life message was this: Jesus Christ is worthy of glory!

Today I want to look at one truth that we all need to grasp, and that is this, “JESUS CHRIST IS WORTHY OF GLORY.”

We see this in . . .

I. His POSITION

“A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.”

Before God formed the earth, or ever an angel cried, “HOLY” around His throne, there was just God. And yet in the mind of God there was a grand plan: a plan for the universe, the angels, mankind, and yes, a plan for you!

The two chief characters in the plan of God are: God and man . . .

A. Man’s Position: ABSOLUTE POWERLESSNESS “A man can receive nothing” Lit.: “a man can take nothing to himself”

MAN IS A COMPLETELY PASSIVE BEING: POWERLESS!

Explanation: What we mean by this is that man is finite, he is dependent, he is unable to do anything for himself apart from the grace and enablement of God. We go back into Genesis and we see were man’s power came from. Man cannot even exist apart from the breath of God!

Genesis 2:7 7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Psalm 8:4 4What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? [The answer: MAN IS NOTHING!]