Heart Comes Before Head: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture

let's pray together so father we are about something supernatural as we come to your word in order to perceive in and through the meaning of the text divine self authenticating glory so if we are left to ourselves we will be smart dead and so don't leave us to ourselves in the reading or now in the opening and preaching of the scriptures come and make supernatural things happen in every person in this room I pray in Jesus name Amen so for the first fifty years or so of my ministry bringing me up to now more or less I have focused on trying to help people see and savor and show the glory of God to make much of the glory of God by enjoying him forever the chief end of man is to glorify God and says Anne and Piper has devoted the last fifty years of his life to saying instead of and by the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever and I've tried to write everything I write to explain that preposition by now for the last five years or so without abandoning that overarching aim purpose of my ministry I have been focusing not so much on making a case for the glory of God shining through our satisfaction in it but rather the glory of God it's foundation as our knowledge of God knowledge so instead of focusing on glory and delight its glory and certainty what's the relationship between the glory of God and your certainty that this is the Word of God that's what I've been thinking a lot about so the first and the overarching is the glory of God and spiritual affections and and the other one is the glory of God and spiritual knowledge and that's our focus this morning so what I would like to do with you is to walk you with me through a progression of thought through three focuses and they all relate to the glory of God and to ultimately reading the Bible supernaturally which is the theme of the morning so here the three focuses I'll name them and then we'll just take them one at a time and and I hope even though it's it's early on Saturday morning you will be able to put your thinking caps on and work hard with me because I really meant it when I said in the video you you cannot by means of prayer or faith or any other way do an end run around thinking about the Bible in order to discern supernatural reality in it that's what this two hours this morning are really about focus number one the glory of God and knowing the Bible has some amazing things to say about the process of just knowing and how it relates to the glory of God focus number two will be the glory of God and scripture the Bible has something decisive and amazing to say about how the of God validates this book as his inspired Word Focus number three will be the glory of God and reading okay glory of God and knowing glory of God in Scripture glory of God and reading that's where we're going so focus number one the glory of God and knowing if you have a Bible or you can pull one up on your device I think it's really important that you see John seven 14 to 18 especially verse 17 and 18 for yourself because I remember sitting in the chapel at Wheaton College over 50 years ago this text being preached on blew me away because I had never seen it the way he was talking about it and that might happen to you here I don't know how far along you are in your understanding of John which is probably the most profound book in the Bible written more simply than any other book in the Bible verse 14 chapter 7 Gospel of John about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching the Jews therefore marveled saying how is it that this man has learning when he has never studied so jesus answered them my teaching is not mine but his who sent me so he's claiming when I speak it's divine it's of God you better listen and you better listen but how do you know that is true verse 17 if anyone's will is to do God's will he'll know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm just speaking on my own authority verse 18 the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true and in him there is no falsehood verses 17 and 18 are staggering transform the way this philosophy depart you got a philosophy department here I don't know if you do this changes everything in epistemology but that's another 4:17 if anyone's will is to do God's will you'll know we'll know we'll know will willing precedes and enables knowing whether I speak from God or not now that's not the way many people think about knowing so the question is here isn't it how can you know how can you know Jesus speaks from God or how can you know when you read what this book says he says from God is so is from God that's what verse 17 is about any Jesus answer to the question how can you know is that in a profound way our willing that capacity in us that inclines to one thing or another prefers one thing or another that deep willing leaning inclining embracing preferring that capacity in us governs what we know staggering if anyone's will is in sync with God's will you'll know or say it another way deep down in each one of us there's a root of willing there's a nature in you there's a nature that's either rebellious against God and his way or rejoicing in God and his way begrudgingly resistant to the fact that there's a God and he has a way or compliant gladly happily compliant to God and his way and Jesus is saying if you are the sort of person who is deep down in your will preferring another than God and inclining another way than God and resistant to God you can't know anything about Jesus with any certainty why not now verse 18 is profoundly significant in getting at how verse 17 works to help go to work here in your hand alright I don't know if you think like this at all when you come to the Bible but you gotta ask questions like okay I just I just had my brain blown out in verse 17 at least I did 50 years ago now I gotta add to that how does verse 18 work in relation to verse 17 so here's a verse 18 says the one who speaks on his own authority and we're trying to figure out whether Jesus does or not the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory now we got glory on the table remember this is a focus we got three focuses focused number one glory and knowing and and glory wasn't mentioned in verse 17 now we're on it all right we're on it what does glory have to do with knowing and that's that's where verse 18 is feeding in the truth all right to try to make that work in your head why does verse 18 follow verse 17 and say this the one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory but the one who seeks the glory of him who said him is true and in him there is no falsehood in other words the decisive mark Jesus is saying the decisive mark stamp of my truthfulness when I claim to be speaking for God is that I seek my father's glory over everything I love my father's glory I live from my father's glory and therefore I'm true that's the argument isn't it in verse 18 if I am simply like so many other teachers just praise me praise me praise me without any reference to God just me cut off no God he's not in the picture please praise me I want to be big in your eyes no God he doesn't matter he's not true now what does that have to do with verse 17 what does it have to do with the fact that we can only know if Jesus is true Jesus is speaking from God if our deepest inclination disposition willing is in sync with God's willing isn't the answer this in verse 18 Jesus rivets our attention on the essence of God's will for man namely that we live for the glory of God not the glory of ourselves that's what verse 18 adds to verse 17 verse 17 says you're willing needs to be in sync with God's willing in order for you to recognize that Jesus is true verse 18 says here's the essence of that willing love God glorification more than self-glorification so Jesus is not leaving the will of God in verse 17 hanging vaguely in the air as though you can't know what it is he shows the essence of it in verse 18 now we can tell you you can tell right now you can assess okay is my will in sync with God's will do I will the will of God when the will of God is displayed in verse 18 as I love God glorification a thousand times more than I love Peiper glorification that's the test only put your name in there God's will is that humans be done with self exaltation and utterly devoted to God exaltation or in other words God's will is a complete renovation of our fallen self-centeredness otherwise we can't know anything the way we ought to know so the logic of verse 17 now goes like this if your will your deep disposition your inclination your capacity to prefer if your will this deep capacity to incline and prefer and want to choose is if it is free from a love affair with self exaltation and treasuring god exaltation in your life above all things you're gonna know what's true about Jesus and if it's not you won't if you have a love affair with your self exaltation which is stronger rising up down here then God exaltation this book will either be a closed unintelligible book to you or you will distort it all over the place to justify what you are in sin which happens of course all over the world both in intellectual places and non intellectual places so summary of a focus number one we're still on focus 1 glory and knowing glory and knowing and the summary of this focus this first point is that John 17 and 18 can be summed up more or less like this our willing profoundly influences our knowing the inclinations of our will direct the affirmations of our mind you might wish it where otherwise it isn't and specifically Jesus says if our will is not devoted to God exaltation but rather is in love with self exaltation we will not have any certainty that Jesus spoke from God you will be filled with doubts day and night you will have no boldness in your life to testify to anybody especially at the risk of your life if you are in love with yourself more than you are in love with the glory of God that's the the ass sectional ground of intellectual certainty end of focus number one focus number two the glory of God and scripture so we're gonna put these two up so we're done with this one now we'll come back to it and we'll put up this one now how does the glory of God validate objectively not subjectively in here but objectively out there validate scripture my argument I'll give him a conclusion and then we'll walk through some passages to see how I got here my argument is and I wrote a whole book about a year ago called peculiar glory the whole Bible authenticates itself whole Bible authenticates itself by shining through its meaning by shining with the distinctive divine or peculiar glory of God who inspired it that's my conclusion or to say it another way we know that the scriptures are the Word of God because in their true meaning we see the authenticating self-authenticating self evidencing glory of God now what I have found over the last years is that people hear that and it's like a foreign language to them but they just kind of shake they're like I I hear the words coming out of your mouth they're not connecting with with my experience I I'm leaving sure I know what you're talking about shining shining glory beauty my definition of the glory of God it's almost impossible to define but would be the beauty the radiance of his manifold perfections I mean the word glory is the closest thing we have besides the word glory in English probably would be beauty when God manifests himself in his intrinsic holiness in Isaiah 6 he says his glory is filling the earth not his holiness is filling the earth and so I take the fact that it switches from the word holy holy holy the whole earth is full of his glory that switched from holiness to glory in Isaiah 6 I take to be a statement that in and of himself his infinite purity and Worth are holiness but as soon as that goes public into your experience its shining and its glory and it's it's a spiritual glory which means it's not Material Light is material very mysterious material that the physics teachers talk about but it's it's not spiritual where's the glory of God is spiritual so that's my little effort to define glory but what I have found is that when I talk like this the Bible authenticates itself by the fact that when you read it and properly understand it there stands forth from it a radiance of the peculiar glory of God that can't be explained any other way than this came from God I find that people say just I thought you know what you're talking about so what I want to do to help you is give you three analogies of what I'm talking about and the analogies might be a little more intelligible because because you've thought about them more probably so let's let me tick them off and you you can decide that that is more intelligible than what you just said and now I'm starting to get what you just said because it's it's an analogy to what I understand better here's the first analogy nature that is the physical realm God intends for us to have a well ground did confidence that he created the natural world and the way he gives us that well-grounded confidence besides the book this book he gives us a revelation a display of his glory in and through nature now I'm not making that up to text some 19:1 the heavens are telling what the glory of God you go outside after this session and you look up to that vast blue dome overhead or banner go out at night and go up on a high mountain away from all the lights and see the Milky Way and there's a point he said something like I am glorious that's what the point of the world is and he he said that to us or here he says it again in Romans 1 this is amazing what can be known known about God is plain to them and them is everybody on the planet who's got eyes what can be known to them is plain to them because God has showed it to them how for his invisible attributes namely his eternal power his divine nature are clearly here that all you secular scientists who don't believe in God it is clear it is clear it clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world house in the things that he made so here's the point God intends for every person on this planet to be held accountable at the last day to know him worship him and thank him just by looking at the sky why because the heavens are telling the glory and we are to see the truth that God made nature because glory glory is visible through it natural glory is not the same as God's glory because the word is he the heavens are telling the glory they're pointing to the glory they're talking about the glory everybody with eye sees the glory of nature people write poems about let me be moved to tears about it they invite everybody to come to the sunrise of the sunset to watch it with them and they don't see God it don't see him God is not nature they're not pantheists God made it the things that have been made and those who have eyes to see see the natural glory and through it know God they know God says so in Romans one what can be known about God is plain to them you can know God you can have saving knowledge without gospel but you can have accountable knowledge that's analogy number one if you get that a little bit I'm arguing the Bible is like like nature as God validated his making of the world so that it's his world he also inspired this book in such a way that you can know this is his book like that's his book in the sky out there and he wrote it that way this is his book here he wrote it this way that's the analogy I'm drawing now whether that's a warranted analogy has yet to be established but I'm saying it is and we'll see in a minute that it's warranted analogy number two incarnation Jesus shows up God man right in infinite and eternal in the Godhead as the second person of the Trinity the Son of God loving each other and to save us God and he resolved that he will come and he will be incarnate as a Jewish teacher he will live a perfect life he will die in our place he will rise again he'll reign forever now how did God expect how did Jesus expect people to recognize him that he was God how was that supposed to happen like there he is he's got a nose ears hair dresses like everybody else he eats he gets tired he sleeps God are you kidding me yes you are two passengers John 1:14 the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the father they saw it John says we saw it when we looked at him and we watched him think and feel and speak and act and love angry at sin and take little children on his lap and touch untouchable women and I mean we watched him and we saw God's glory and he's real he's real that's how God expected it to happen or here's John I mean yeah john 14 8 philip said to him Lord show us the father and it's enough for us and Jesus said to him have I been with you so long and you don't know me she are dropping insane claims come now this man mouth like you want to see the father who made the universe how long must I stay with you whoever has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father he's I mean I don't think he ever sin right but sounds a little frustrated how can you say show us the father which means his expectation was you you should know by now you should see who the Pharisees couldn't see it they were blind as a bat to the glory of Jesus they want him out of the way kill him that's an absolute Pretender so I'm not saying there was you know lights coming out of his head when I say we saw his glory glory as of the only son from the father I'm not saying his face was neon I'm saying if you've got eyes to see if your will is to do God's will you see it so if you ask how does God intend for his son to be known to be divine the answer is glory shines through the son see the connection between the two analogies nature how are you supposed to know it's God's nature that he made that his glory is shining through it there's a man he calls himself the son of God divine eternal how you supposed to know that because God's glory is shining through him that's how you know analogy number three the gospel so nature incarnation gospel God intends when you hear the gospel by gospel now I mean Christ came lived a perfect life loved died in the place of sinners bore the wrath of God took away all the sin of his people rose from the dead triumphing over sin and hell and Satan and reigns in heaven and all who believe in him are counted righteous sins forgiven totally accepted eternal life that's the gospel that I'm talking about and I'm arguing now how does God mean for a preliterate Papua New Guinea tribe having heard that after a story of maybe six months of trying to make plain the history of redemption to them how are they to know that that's true and his answer is because there's glory shining through it divine glory shining through it here's the key text 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4 the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers until a miracle happens in verse 6 but we're still at verse 4 the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ I recommend that you you mark that phrase the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God so the gospel now the gospel I think in that verse stands for the story than the narrative of events around the life and death of Jesus and resurrection the narrative avidians with their interpretation as redemptive for those who believe that's that's what I think he means here when he says the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ and so he's arguing that there's a glory of Christ shining through the gospel which I'm calling light and that's how you know it's real it's true if you don't see it when it's opened to you you are spiritually blind and you should tremble you should tremble and I'm sure there people in this room right now listening to me who do not see it and I want to scare the Wits out of you because you are helpless I mean to be blind is a fearful thing it's a horrible horrible thing I know there's a whole theologies that will just say you got control of this you can decide whether to believe or not and and you can decide whether to see or not you can decide whatever and I'm saying you can't and you know you can't you can't right now make yourself love Jesus you can't make yourself see Jesus you can't make yourself delight in Jesus you can't make yourself be blown away by the glory of Jesus if you don't see it you don't see it and you should tremble I tremble because I drift toward that in my life prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love which feels like what it feels like I get up in the morning I don't feel it anymore I don't see anything I'm I'm looking at these words I'm not seeing much that's scary so the way you know that the gospel is of God is that it there is a light a light of spiritual light that is designed to be seen by what Paul calls in Ephesians 1:18 remember this phrase the eyes of the heart very strange phrase right I mean if you're a heart surgeon you you know they're no eyes they're you cut it and put you put stints in it you've been you've looked at it a hundred times there's no eyes there and you know that's not what he means he means that deep down at that place of willing that place of inclining that place of yearning and preferring that real you deep down either there are eyes or there aren't eyes you see glory here or you don't start to sound like why we need reading to be supernatural start to make sense why supernatural is not a stupid word to put on the front of reading verse sixteen is our hope it's our only hope I've just a 16-6 verse six of second Corinthians four is our only hope it goes like this the God who said let light shine out of darkness so that's the God who created the universe and said let there be light the God who said let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he's shown that's how you got saved if you're a Christian in this room that is if you've tasted and seen like the psalm says something taste and see taste and see if you have tasted and seen that Jesus Christ is more precious than anything in the world that happened to you I mean I find it such good news that the Bible was a very thick book and it is it constantly interpreting for you things that happen to you that you didn't have any categories for so for me it happened more or less when I was six like I said I have no remembrance of this happening I have no remembrance of number six happening to me it did or I'm a total hoax and and like I said last night I think in your testimony to your own conscience and to others it is vastly more important for you to understand what happened to you on the basis of verse six than on the basis of your men Marie there are a lot of people who have testimonies then they tell what happened to them and they're wrong they're wrong their interpretation of their experiences wrong and it was a lot of people it didn't happen they think it happened it didn't because the Bible says something very different than what they're say happened to them so learn who you are from the Bible now your memory not good news for old people 71 year olds who can't remember their kids names without running through the list where are we okay we're gonna sum up so far my argument is just as God confirms the world is his by revealing glory in nature and just as God confirms that Jesus his son is his son by revealing glory through the son and just as God validates that the gospel is real by the light shining through the gospel of the glory of Christ in the same way the whole Bible is breathed out by God who gives it imparts to it and through it a peculiar glory so that if you rightly understand it you'll know it's his that's the that's some back where I back to my conclusion about glory and Scripture and now last glory and reading so glory and knowing glory and Scripture glory and reading and you'll see how we got here to reading I mean if you ask how do these first two focuses glory and knowing and glory and scripture relate to each other how do they work how does what we saw under the glory of God and knowing relate to what we saw under the glory of God and scripture so what we saw under the glory of God and scripture let's go backwards the summary here is that God by inspiration has given us a book a revelation of his glory rightly understood in its proper context all the texts are opening windows on to God's glory different facets of the diamond that is distinctively divine that glory is objectively real it's not in the eye the beholder I'm not arguing for any kind of subjectivist thing here this is well there's really no glory here but if if you are really spiritual enough you see things that aren't there that's not at all what I'm saying I'm saying it's really there in God's true inspired imparted intended meaning it's really there and our job is to get in sync with him so that we can recognize it so that's the first thing that there's real objective divine revelation of glory when this book is properly understood shining out from it and then back to my my first point about the glory of God and knowing we've seen that in order to discern Jesus as real and I would now say the scripture as real something's got to happen to our will right if your will is to do his will you will know that Jesus is speaking from God or now putting the two together focus on scripture focus on knowing what is together since the scripture provides an objective revelation of the glory of God in the right understanding of texts this changed heart that no longer is enslaved to self-glorification but is set free to love God glorification can now see see it here and no and what a power and a liberty comes into your life so that's the that's the way the two are coming together now here's the here's an implication of that there is not a person in this room or on this planet who can be freed from our bondage to self-glorification without the Holy Spirit's sovereign work we're all blind we're all dead we're all rebels we are all in the grip of what Paul calls the mind of the flesh and not the mind of the Spirit we don't have the mind of the Spirit until the Holy Spirit does the miracle remember last night and nobody can say Jesus is Lord except the Holy Spirit - a miracle and change them from loving their own lordship to loving his lordship that's a miracle you see somebody who's utterly devoted to the total sovereignty of Jesus in their lives savingly and in every other way a miracle has happened - they are supernatural people that has to happen and we call that new birth right we call it new birth so Jesus says to Nicodemus in John 3:3 truly I say to you unless one is born again now born again would mean the heart of resistant rebellious anti God is taken out that old heart is taken out and by the spirit were given a new heart and that new heart is tender and teachable and supple and yielding and compliant and delighting in God's Way and God's will and God's beauty that's a new birth is old heart taking out you can't anymore make that happen than you can then you can jump over the moon which is what we sang last night when God says to Lazarus Lazarus well Lazarus didn't say let me think about it he's dead what made him alive the voice so that's gotta happen to you that's why I said a while ago you should tremble if it hasn't happened because you can't make it happen first Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 the natural person that's what we all are by nature the natural person before regeneration before new birth does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned not able to not able to the only hope for seeing the glory of God in Scripture is to be born again and that is a supernatural miracle it's a miracle of God it's what's described here in verse 6 of chapter 4 of 2nd Corinthians God who said let light shine out of Darkness shone shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ when that happens we are new creatures we're born again we have new spiritual eyes we have new spiritual tastebuds which is why Peter says in in first Peter 2:3 that you should desire the spiritual milk of the word so the bite you may grow up into salvation and he as this if you have tasted that the Lord is good if you haven't tasted everything I just said won't work for you you can go to the Bible all you want try to grow up into salvation you won't because you haven't tasted anything you haven't seen them felt you haven't tasted all these analogies to say the miracle hasn't happened of new birth by which Jesus is now shining with greater beauty and worth than any in the world he who loves mother or father more than me is not worthy of me he who loves anything including his own life more than me is not worthy of me that takes a new birth for that to happen so regeneration is essential and now I'm arguing that when regeneration meets inspiration when this is not a natural book this is supernatural book because it was inspired by God this is not a natural person anymore this is a supernatural person meaning I have a new nature still the old John Piper and their two natures going on in me and the flesh fights with the spirit and temptations are gonna be there until I I'm home with Jesus but there's a new creature right that's what the new birth does a new creature with that regenerated new creature meets this inspired book glory is seen and you know that it's real now I've got two and a half minutes left and we'll close like this connect that with reading and here I'm just rehearsing what I said in the video and I don't know they're about 12 of those funeral watching about reading the Bible supernaturally at desiring God Ephesians chapter 4 chapter 3 verse 4 simply is glorious it says this if he's is 4:3 verse 4 the mystery was made known to me so this is Paul claiming a revelation the mysteries the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly by reading this it's just a participle to says reading this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ just think of it God could have done it another way for thousands of years he didn't he made the point of contact between your regenerates and his mysteries of glory reading by reading by reading you ordinary person in Phoenix you will join me in perceiving divine revelation by which the glorious mysteries of God are shed abroad in the human soul by reading that's amazing one more clarification before I close when I say this this is now bridge to the next session which is in about 20 minutes when I say that there's a revelation of glory that validates vindicates authenticates this book as God's truth when I when I say there's glory I don't mean that there's a there's light shining off the page that would cause people to go fall down somewhere I don't I don't mean it's magical like whoo the cover is glowing this must be a divine book that's magic that's not all what I'm saying I'm saying that the point where the glory moves from God to your soul and validates this is meaning true perceived meaning that the author's including the divine author meant to communicate reality they meant for you to see by reading which means that all my talk about the necessity of supernatural you got to be made supernatural the book is already supernatural they have to come together supernaturally by faith if you're to see divine glory when I say all that I'm not cancelling out the necessity to naturally read supernaturally which is what we're gonna do next our gonna show you what I mean with an overhead and text and like we do and look at the book so that's where we're going and the implication therefore is don't do an end run around go into college I'm glad you're here I'm glad you're studying them glad you're thinking I think thinking is necessary and I'll show you from the Bible why I think thinking thinking rightly construing words and phrases and clauses and logic and paragraphs is necessary in order to see supernatural so let's pray and then we'll make take a break father in heaven I pray now as we move into the demonstration of a text and what I'm talking about you would help us keep us focused keep us in sync and for those Lord who are are trembling with the fact that this this is such a foreign language to them that glory and sight and eyes of heart and regenerate regeneration is a foreign thing to them would you work that miracle caused them to simply say I see it I see it and be born

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 9,894

Rating: 4.8591547 out of 5

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Bible, Scripture, Sermons by John Piper

Id: Jm6k2g72TMk

Length: 52min 43sec (3163 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 07 2017