1 Knowing Christ - Dr. Mark Jones

people always say when they get up it's great to be here so I'm not going to say that but I have been treated very well lovely dinner last night lovely breakfast sleep with no children jumping in my bed no wife pulling the sheets away no anything just me and a pillow and supposedly some turkeys but I didn't see them there's a few things just by way of introduction I'd like to say and the first is like missing my church's family camp this weekend by accident but it's the 10-year I always mark every family camp as a year so this is a 10 year anniversary I've been at the church and the family camp you don't get to sleep much the food is terrible the beds are terrible so while I say I'm missing family camp let me assure you I am not devastated over the whole matter facts next your family camp if we could arrange something I would come down for free I'll Drive down run down hopefully this part isn't being recorded because my wife will anyway it's it's a privilege to be able to speak on a topic that for me never gets boring I was just down at a church in South Africa actually it was kind of different than this church because there was a smoke machine before I got up to preach and I I've been told there was smoke in in Isaiah gospel but this was this was quite wild and I preached three sermons a day and usually in the morning because there's two services they the pastor preaches the same sermon but I think nothing's worse than a pastor being bored at his own preaching you know it's bad enough for you guys having to listen to us at times what do you think it's like for us having to be bored preaching to you so I preached on three different topics all related to similar theme just so that I don't get bored and one of the temptations for people who go around lecturing teaching during conferences they just sort of go through the motions because things start to become so normal you know the first conference you do you're all fired up like this is cool and then after a while you see sometimes they get bored but this is a topic that for all the study I've tried to do on the matter never gets boring to me and I hope you will find that yourself as you study Christ today and as you seek to know him better and I hope I will not give any impression that I'm going through the motions so I really appreciate you coming to here and I trust this will be a blessed day so I'd like to just open with a word of Prayer for myself and for you and then we will get going our Father we thank you for bringing these people here all of whom we asked will be blessed and not in any way cursed rather that we would all be growing in the Grace and knowledge of our Savior that we would all come away loving Jesus more not less that we would have a day of fellowship a day where we have a taste of the glory that awaits us when we will see him face to face we pray your blessing upon us now and upon the words that I will speak that they may be true and edifying for Jesus sake amen there's a very easy way to describe New Testament Christology in in about 30 seconds and it's it's what I would call the high low high movement of Christ and and by that I mean in Philippians chapter 2 you have this high low high movement so we won't do much turning to the Bible today I mean obviously we're going to be looking at the scriptures but if you wouldn't mind just seeing for yourself in Philippians chapter 2 this movement high low high and this is what has been called the Christ him in Philippians chapter 2 and it begins at verse 6 now if you just go back one verse notice that you are explicitly commanded it's an imperative that you are to have this attitude you're to have this mind and what is that well in verse 6 paul says speaking of the lord jesus christ though he was in the form of god there's the high and you can't get higher than God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped or you could also say a thing to be exploited or used for his own advantage and here begins the low movement and it's a free willing low movement not a forced low but emptied himself Oh taking the form of a servant lower being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself notice the action is upon what Christ himself is doing by becoming obedient to the point of death even lower even death on a cross the lowest so the highest dignity is God in all his infinite majesty the lowest humiliation in the first century was to be crucified on a cross in a Jewish culture that meant you were under God's curse so the high low but then notice verse 9 therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father there is the high movement and that really is a summary of New Testament Christology now what's interesting I think is what happens in chapter 3 because the Apostle Paul himself has a high low high movement now where do we see that well let's just go to verse 4 of chapter 3 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh I have more this is Paul's high movement circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law a Pharisee as to zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless and you see in terms of his natural self religious pride he was at a high place and he says whatever gain I had at least outwardly speaking notice the low movement I counted as loss for the sake of Christ indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake see the low movement continues I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own here's still the low movement that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith that I may know him and here we see the high movement begin and the power of his resurrection and share any sufferings becoming like him in his death that's by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the Dead and that is his glory just as Christ is raised to glory so Paul will be now of course there's a difference Christ begins in his rightful exalted place Paul begins in his self exalted place but this really is to be a mirror image of your life and mine we are by nature proud we are by nature people who will find any excuse to boast now some of us have more reason to boast than others and that's just a fact some people come from what the world understands as a illustrious heritage some come from great wealth some come from great education some come from other great places and it seems to me they have a much harder time then getting to the low movement there are others who while they're fine people indeed don't really have much to commend to them as far as the world is concerned their average means average intellects pretty much average all around and oh that we all just had average children the problem of course most parents think their children are really smart really gifted really this that and the other I've never really talked to a parent who said yeah I just have average children but let me assure you having average children is far to be preferred than having geniuses and good-looking children and brilliant children because they are a handful I have for myself but you see the point for everyone is we by nature start high and God by His grace has to bring us low and when God's grace brings us low we are given the promise that Christ himself took to his own heart that whoever humbles himself will be exalted and so the Christian must follow in the pattern of Christ just as Paul does from a high low high movement there's no other way to glory there's no other way to be exalted than to enter into the depths of humility relinquish your pride and turning to the Lord to be exalted not by the worlds but by him so our Lord Jesus Christ I just want to look at his life in terms of the life of humility and give us a sort of entry into what it looks like for him to have humbled himself remember he is the lord of glory he is the beautiful and glorious one he's the radiance of God the visible image of the invisible God who is also a worm and not a man scorned by people and rejected by mankind you have John Flavel one of my favorite Puritans saying was not this astonishing self-denial that he who from eternity had his father's smiles and honors that he from the creation was adored and worshipped by angels as their God must now become a footstool for every miscreant to tread upon there's never ever been nor will there ever be a greater humiliation than the humiliation of Jesus Christ because no one has come from so high and no one has descended so low but it's not just the cross that exemplifies his humiliation it's actually his whole life is birth you look at his birth and here's a child miraculously born but where is the nation of Israel why are they not there ready to receive their king some Magi come but God's people are nowhere to be found in fact what do we find we find that the one who is depending upon the breast milk of his mother for life is at the same time upholding his mother by his powerful word in other words he descends to the point where he has to be sustained when he himself is sustaining that very person and he is not in a penthouse he is not in a palace he is in a manger and he has to flee for his life and of all the places he goes he ends up in Egypt Israel sworn enemies it is safer for Christ to be there than it is in his own hometown in fact growing up in Nazareth Nathanael who was righteous said can anything good come out of Nazareth it was an honest question because really what had come out of Nazareth so you have his birth and you have also a very peculiar thing if you go back to the Old Testament in the third or the second servant song in Isaiah chapter 49 we're told that the father made his mouth like a sharp sword he made me a polished arrow in his quiver he hid me away so Christ is a young man and he's growing up and as he grows up he goes to the synagogue every sabbath every Saturday now can you imagine what it was like for him listening to people explain the scriptures sitting there knowing that he knows far more than they know knowing that what they're speaking about is actually testifying about him but having to remain silence because his time had not yet come imagine you did something great and someone was reading about something that you had done great and you were sitting there but you couldn't draw attention to the fact that you're the person that person is speaking about it would drive you crazy a man recently saved six people from a house of flames and jumped through windows and saved not only to the children but even the dog and the hamster and the pet snake and this and that and the other and he's a hero and we don't know who he is imagine he was sitting right there I know what I would do because we want to be known for things that we have done well that exalt us it's natural and yet Christ had to wait and wait and wait now as he gets to adulthood we find that he lives in poverty he dies in poverty and this one passage in Matthew chapter 8 verse 20 s always struck me as highly significant foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man who made the heavens and the earth by the way who owns all things says I have nowhere to lay my head in other words he was homeless he depended upon the kindness of others that's the type of humility we're talking about somebody who has a right to everything and yet freely gives up his rights freely enters into poverty so that he can say has nowhere to place his head now we can ask ourself this question just by way of an application point is there any condition therefore in this world that is too low for you any condition in light of Christ saying these words is there any situation you will find yourself in where you will be lower than what Christ says here in fact John Flavel says the Christ outward condition was more neglected and destitute than that of the birds of the air or the beasts of the earth in fact when Jesus had to pay tax for himself what did he do he didn't pull a wad of cash or coins out of his pocket he had to perform a miracle in order to pay the tax his family at one time thought he was out of his mind the only person who's ever been in his right mind was declared to be out of his mind by his own family not by enemies by his mother who raised him by his brothers who saw his righteousness they thought he was out of his mind and even his own brothers did not believe in him for a time they taunted him to perform miracles to prove his Masonic identity Jesus claims to exist before Abraham what did the Jewish people do they pick up stones to stone the Rock of Ages that's what he had to go through in fact on one occasion Christ goes for dinner to Simon the Pharisees house and one of the things I like about learning about Jesus Christ is to see how different his piety is than a lot of our piety the one thing I think I've done particularly well as a pastor in terms of imitating Christ if I may just say so myself is inviting myself over to dinner to people's homes who are the good cooks they'll never say no to the pastor Jesus says yeah I must come to your house he wasn't a hermit he was a social person isn't it amazing how many times we read of Jesus in social settings of people how many times we read of him eating and drinking how many times we read of him he's at a wedding he's he's feeding 5,000 he seems to have this amazing ability to spend copious amounts of time in prayer with his father but also be someone that you could never say was one of these Hermits one of these scholars in his office so he goes to Simon the Pharisees house and then he turns toward the woman and he says to Simon do you see this woman I entered your house you gave me no water for my feet this is Jesus coming over to someone's house for dinner but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair you gave me no kiss but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet you did not anoint my head with oil but she has anointed my feet with ointment he didn't receive the expected hospitality that guests would ordinarily receive the lord of glory in fact as his ministry goes on what do they do they call him a deceiver who leads people astray in fact he informs his disciples that his eating and drinking is interpreted in the worst possible way he was called a glutton and a drunkard why would he have been called that unless he ate and drank but they don't take that as gifts that God gives to his people rather they interpret that in the worst possible way his miracles acts of mercy upon the needy are likewise interpreted as being performed what by a satanic power everything he did seems to have been misinterpreted willfully by wicked people putting the worst possible spin on everything that he did can you imagine actually doing righteous things all the time and people getting so upset you know as a young man I used to have this problem with stealing cookies and chocolates and all the things at home and my mum once was cleaning the flowers out in the table and she saw all of the broccoli over the weeks I've been leaving in the plants you know no there's no not many children here so I don't feel like I'm giving them any bad ideas but one time I remember she accused me of stealing a Mars bar and I was so convinced I didn't steal the Mars bar that I got so angry because this was the one time I actually didn't do it now the point is every single time Christ was accused of something he in fact had done the opposite he in fact had been righteous he had been holy whatever bad negative spin they'd put upon it he had to deal with that probably more often than we can imagine and then and then the Jewish people prefer to have a murderer turn loose upon their community then have anything more to do with the Prince of Peace that's the humility he goes through and then his trial his trial should have been a public vindication of his innocence now what's most remarkable if you look at the rules that the Jewish Pharisees had enacted during that day with the Sadducees it's amazing how legalistic people are willing to break their rules when it's inconvenient because legalism never has any power to restrain the flesh so the Sanhedrin is not supposed to meet at night but they did the death penalty could not be declared on the day of the trial but it was false evidence and false witnesses were used Jesus was not in fact guilty of blasphemy as they claimed he was exposed to blows during the trial which was technically illegal the Sanhedrin could not discuss a capital case on the eve of the Sabbath so not only do they meet at night but what they did by discussing a capital case on the eve of the Sabbath was illegal but they did it anyway and to make matters worse one of his closest friends Peter denied him publicly this is all happening it's a kangaroo court they want him dead and they're willing to break every single rule in the book only to break the greatest commandment by crucifying the Lord of glory is he really holding a trial at night and whatever other misdemeanors took place pales into comparison that they were even putting the righteous Lamb of God on trial but Peter Peter even if I must die with you I will not deny you that's the pride where Peter begins up here and has to be humbled and Christ humbles him by his grace humbles him by telling him you will deny me three times which Peter goes on to do you see Peter really shows that he is just like everyone else sitting here we are by nature fickle we are by nature proud and left to ourselves we will commit every single sin known to man but then we get to his crucifixion and there's a passage quoted in John chapter 19 verse 28 they gave me poison for food and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink and that comes from Psalm 69 and if you read the context of Psalm 69 it's actually one of the most I would say sad verses speaking of our Lord found anywhere in God's Word just listen to these words from Psalm 69 verse 20 reproaches have broken my heart so that I am in despair I looked for pity but there was none and for comforters but I found none that's our Lord at the cross he looked for pity he looked for comfort his heart was broken you know this is not somebody who's not a human being he has emotions he has affections do you think when Peter denied him it didn't hurt Christ do you think when his own people are putting him to death that his heart is not broken and as he hung upon the cross his offices as prophet priest and King are all mocked it's most remarkable I found this from Thomas Goodwin I would never have seen this myself so I do not take any credit for it but I will let you know that when you see it it's quite obvious because as a prophet what do we read they spit in his face and they struck him and some slapped him saying prophesy to us you Christ who is it that struck you if you're a prophet tell us who struck you they're mocking him as a prophet as a king we hear the scornful jeering he is the king of Israel let him come down now from the soon we will believe in him you're the king show it he trusts in God let God deliver him now for he said I am the son of God that's a kingly title oh if you're the king come down if you're a prophet tell us who hit you you see they're mocking him and as his role as a priest what do we hear he saved others he cannot save himself now those are some of the most beautiful words ever uttered by wicked men think about that he saved others he cannot save himself have wicked people ever spoken such glorious truth that's precisely what he was doing they're mocking him for what is the truth of our salvation he saved others namely you and I at the expense of himself as a priest they mock him as a prophet they mock him as a king they mock him and many is placed on a cross which means he is under God's curse so that is the shall we say low movement of Jesus Christ and we could say so much more but I want us to look at a little glimpse of the glory that also belongs to Jesus Christ by contrasting Golgotha with the Mount of Transfiguration now if you have a Bible it'd be a good idea for you to have your fingers in Matthew chapter 17 and Matthew chapter 27 because what we find is really the Christian life is one of humiliation and glory and in that order but Christ gets a little glimpse of the glory that would be here at the Mount of Transfiguration and you see some startling contrast between Golgotha and the Mount of Transfiguration so for example in Matthew chapter 17 verse 2 he is revealed in glory on Mount Hermon that's where the Mount of Transfiguration was but then he is crucified I'd in shame on the hill at Golgotha Golgotha was up on a sort of mini mountain a hill so one is shame one is glory then at the Transfiguration Christ's clothing as you see in verse two majestically shined white as light but what happened at Golgotha in verse 25 of chapter 27 the Roman soldiers shamelessly divided his bloodied garments third on the Mount of Transfiguration Moses representing the law and Elijah representing the prophets gloriously stood beside and spoke with Jesus in verse three but who is beside Jesus on the hill at Golgotha two criminals who both begin out reviling him we know that one was later gloriously converted but we're told in Matthew's Gospel that they both reviled him so at the Transfiguration he speaks with Moses and Elijah on either side of him at Golgotha he has two criminals revealing him and then on the Mount of Transfiguration in verse 5 a bright cloud overshadowed those who are present but what happens at Golgotha darkness which is reminiscent of the plague in Egypt in Exodus chapter 10 verse 21 and 22 covers the land fifth on the Mount of Transfiguration what does God publicly declare he says this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased listen to him that's verse 5 but what do we hear at Golgotha my God my God why have you forsaken me from the Father declaring publicly his love for his son to the son asking where are you why have you forsaken me you see these contrasts and then sixth Peter is on the Mount of Transfiguration and what does he say in verse four Lord it is good that we are here what does Peter say at Golgotha absolutely nothing because Peters nowhere to be found in fact we might be able to say with a little poetic license Peter saying it's good that I am not there you see Peter again like you and I is an apostle is a human as a pastor is a man whatever you may be of glory we are by nature theologians of glory as Luther famously declared there's theologians of glory and theologians of the cross and the duty of us in this life is to become theologians of the cross before glory there's something also quite remarkable because you see the glory that God has in store for his servants in the Mount of Transfiguration it's just a little point that I noticed as you look at the Mount of Transfiguration remember that Moses also had his high low high movement you see that in Hebrews chapter 11 how he's the son of Pharaoh's daughter he has all the privileges of of the best education all that and what does he do rather to be mistreated with the people of God but then we're told he's in heaven but when he was on earth he wanted to see God's glory which was perfectly natural and I think appropriate in one respect he says in Exodus chapter 33 verse 18 that he wanted to see God's glory wanted to see God's face and what does God say well there's a problem Moses if you see my face you will not live because you still have indwelling sin and my glory is too much for a sinner to bear you'll die so Moses is hidden in the cleft of the rock while God's glory passes by so he was able to see his back but not his face but nonetheless Moses had this desire to want to see God's face so that's we could say a prayer of Moses a desire of Moses and is that a good desire or a bad desire I would say it is a good desire it just was a point in Moses life where he was unable to seek out glory and live so then what happens well Moses dies and he still hasn't seen God's face and he goes to heaven and again a little bit of sanctified imagination here since he is still a rational human being in heaven he's worshiping God he's enjoying heaven we don't know much else than that until one day he gets a call and that call is to go back down to earth now you can imagine again how we might think Moses didn't exactly have the best time the last 40 to 80 years on earth getting angry and people sinning and all of that and he's asked to go back down to earth probably not high on his wish list but nonetheless he goes down except only the prayer that he'd mentioned many many hundreds of years earlier is now answered because God says you will not see my face and live and yet Moses gets to come down and see the Son of God glorified before his very eyes you see Moses receives his glory ultimately and that is going to be the glory that every Christian will ultimately receive one day is seeing God's face and living now just a few points of application since times actually gone quite quickly I just want you to notice hopefully this has taught you at least one thing that there's only one way in this life for a Christian and that is down that's just a non-negotiable because of who you are by nature you only can go down in this life but there's only one way in the life to come and that's up and unless you embrace that your Christian life is going to be quite miserable it's going to be miserable anyway you might as well embrace it but if you have this realization that this is actually God's blessing upon my life to go through the types of trials and temptations that Christ went through to be misunderstood to be misinterpreted to be shamefully accused of this to have family that don't like you you see Christ goes through all of these different emotions friends who abandon you you have to expect that not resist every type of negative thing that happens to you but then finally we also need to remember that you have I think most of you here have knees you could even touch your knee right now and feel that knee and know that that very need that you touch right now will one day bow and one day will be in a position where Christ is receiving his glory and at least for me it's much better to have that knee bout in this life on a day-to-day basis than to be forced to do it when he returns and that really is the goal of our evangelization if the people will with the very knees that they have now bow to Jesus joining him with his humiliation to receive the glory that will come to all those who love Him well that's a brief glimpse at the humiliation and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ if there any

Channel: Cornerstone

Views: 8,222

Rating: 4.9083967 out of 5

Keywords: Mark Jones, Cornerstone Church Medford, Knowing Christ

Id: i6bYTuV-b2Y

Length: 37min 38sec (2258 seconds)

Published: Sat May 06 2017