How Do I Banish Low Thoughts of Christ?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Well, how do we rid ourselves of low thoughts about Christ?
00:00:08.040 | Well, we banish them by filling our minds and hearts
00:00:10.320 | with the wealth of revelation of who Christ is.
00:00:13.120 | And that's what we're doing in the month of December
00:00:15.240 | leading up to Christmas.
00:00:16.400 | To this end, I have convinced Pastor John
00:00:18.640 | to read a few chapters from his excellent book,
00:00:20.360 | "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ."
00:00:22.760 | This is sort of a first nudge to see
00:00:24.560 | if Pastor John will read the entire book
00:00:26.640 | and make it his first audio book
00:00:28.440 | at some point in the future.
00:00:29.740 | To that end, he recently recorded a second chapter for us,
00:00:32.640 | for you, the APJ audience,
00:00:34.520 | and you're hearing this for the very first time.
00:00:37.440 | So here now is Pastor John reading chapter two
00:00:40.000 | from his wonderful book, "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ,"
00:00:43.320 | on the remedy for low thoughts about Christ.
00:00:46.680 | - Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.
00:00:52.720 | John 8, verse 58.
00:00:55.960 | In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
00:00:58.720 | and the Word was God.
00:01:02.160 | John 1, verse 1.
00:01:04.480 | For in Christ, the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
00:01:09.480 | Colossians 2, verse 9.
00:01:12.420 | Chapter two.
00:01:15.320 | Jesus is the glory of God, the deity of Jesus Christ.
00:01:20.320 | Christ does not exist in order to make much of us.
00:01:25.480 | We exist in order to enjoy making much of him.
00:01:30.480 | The assumption of this book is that
00:01:33.200 | to know the glories of Christ is an end, not a means.
00:01:38.120 | Christ is not glorious so that we get wealthy or healthy.
00:01:43.120 | Christ is glorious so that rich or poor, sick or sound,
00:01:48.240 | we might be satisfied in him.
00:01:53.460 | The first particular glory that upholds all the rest
00:01:58.340 | is the mere eternal existence of Christ.
00:02:03.340 | If we will simply ponder this as we ought,
00:02:08.220 | a great ballast will come into the tipping ship
00:02:12.340 | of our souls.
00:02:14.100 | Sheer existence is perhaps the greatest mystery of all.
00:02:20.060 | Ponder the absoluteness of reality.
00:02:24.400 | There had to be something that never came into being.
00:02:28.900 | Back, back, back we peer into endless ages,
00:02:33.160 | yet there never was nothing.
00:02:35.920 | Someone has the honor of being there first,
00:02:40.620 | and always he never became or developed.
00:02:45.620 | He simply was.
00:02:48.720 | To whom belongs this singular, absolute glory?
00:02:53.720 | The answer is Christ,
00:02:57.800 | the person whom the world knows as Jesus of Nazareth.
00:03:02.640 | The apostle John, who wrote the last book of the Bible,
00:03:05.980 | received the decisive revelation.
00:03:08.520 | He quotes God, "I am the alpha and the omega,"
00:03:12.400 | says the Lord God, "who is and who was
00:03:16.780 | and who is to come, the Almighty."
00:03:19.600 | Revelation 1, verse 8.
00:03:21.320 | This is not Christ talking.
00:03:23.480 | This is the Almighty God.
00:03:25.000 | He calls himself alpha and omega,
00:03:27.940 | the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
00:03:31.520 | In the alphabet, one cannot speak of anything
00:03:35.440 | or nothing before alpha.
00:03:39.540 | There is no before alpha in the alphabet.
00:03:43.640 | Nor can one speak of anything or nothing after omega.
00:03:48.640 | There is no after omega in the alphabet.
00:03:53.520 | So it is with God and reality.
00:03:57.060 | There is no before God and no after God.
00:04:01.840 | He is absolutely there.
00:04:04.880 | No matter how far back or how far forward you go,
00:04:08.980 | he is the absolute reality.
00:04:12.660 | He has the honor of being there first and always.
00:04:17.440 | To him belongs this singular glory.
00:04:22.440 | This is the essential meaning of the Old Testament name,
00:04:25.700 | Yahweh or Jehovah.
00:04:28.660 | It is built on the verb to be.
00:04:31.420 | When Moses asked God his name,
00:04:35.160 | God said to Moses, "I am who I am."
00:04:39.860 | Say this to the people of Israel.
00:04:41.500 | I am has sent me to you, Exodus 3, verse 14.
00:04:46.500 | This I am is unfolded by God in Isaiah
00:04:51.620 | as implying absolute, eternal reality, past and future.
00:04:57.020 | You are my witnesses, declares the Lord,
00:05:00.640 | that you may know and believe me
00:05:03.240 | and understand that I am he.
00:05:06.440 | Before me, no God was formed,
00:05:09.740 | nor shall there be any after me, Isaiah 43, verse 10.
00:05:14.740 | To be I am is to be absolutely the first and the last.
00:05:20.480 | No before and no after, simply I am.
00:05:26.440 | God makes this explicit in Isaiah 44, verse six.
00:05:32.040 | Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer,
00:05:36.000 | the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last.
00:05:40.320 | Besides me, there is no God.
00:05:44.000 | And again, in Isaiah 48, verse 12,
00:05:46.560 | listen to me, O Jacob and Israel, whom I called.
00:05:50.680 | I am he, I am the first and I am the last.
00:05:54.960 | This is his name, Yahweh, the one who absolutely,
00:05:59.000 | eternally and invincibly is.
00:06:03.900 | He has the unique honor and singular glory
00:06:08.300 | of always having been when nothing else was,
00:06:13.300 | nor will he be outlasted by anything.
00:06:17.680 | This is what it means to be God.
00:06:20.920 | What then does this have to do with Christ,
00:06:26.900 | whom we know as Jesus of Nazareth?
00:06:30.040 | Everything.
00:06:32.700 | The apostle John quoted Christ
00:06:35.460 | near the end of his revelation.
00:06:37.580 | Behold, I am coming soon.
00:06:40.680 | I am the alpha and the omega,
00:06:44.620 | the first and the last, the beginning and the end.
00:06:49.260 | I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you
00:06:54.260 | about these things for the churches.
00:06:57.200 | Revelation 22, verses 12 and 13 and verse 16.
00:07:01.860 | This is Christ talking, not God the Father.
00:07:06.540 | Now, two cannot be alpha and omega
00:07:11.540 | unless they are one.
00:07:14.420 | Two cannot be absolutely first and last
00:07:19.180 | unless they are one.
00:07:22.280 | Yet, Christ, who calls himself Jesus,
00:07:27.120 | claims for himself the same honor and glory
00:07:31.120 | belonging to God the Almighty.
00:07:33.500 | See also Revelation 1, verses 17 and 18, 2, verse 8.
00:07:38.500 | Christ even took to himself
00:07:42.020 | the uniquely glorious name of God.
00:07:46.220 | I am.
00:07:47.660 | Jesus said to them,
00:07:48.900 | "Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am."
00:07:53.420 | John 8, verse 58.
00:07:55.120 | I am telling you this now, Jesus says to his disciples
00:07:59.420 | near the end of his life,
00:08:01.020 | "Before it takes place, that when it does take place,
00:08:04.520 | you may believe that I am."
00:08:07.100 | John 13, verse 19, author's translation.
00:08:10.080 | See also John 8, verse 24.
00:08:13.540 | Nothing greater can any man say of himself.
00:08:17.640 | It is true or it is blasphemy.
00:08:22.600 | Christ was God or godless.
00:08:26.420 | John knew which.
00:08:28.120 | In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
00:08:30.500 | and the Word was God.
00:08:34.680 | And the Word became flesh, the only son,
00:08:38.420 | some translations begotten, from the Father.
00:08:42.440 | John 1, verse 1, verse 14.
00:08:45.720 | Jesus Christ, the Word, was begotten, not made,
00:08:50.720 | and not at any point in time, but eternally.
00:08:54.200 | Two persons standing forth as one God, not two gods.
00:08:59.200 | The Son begotten from the Father, one essential deity.
00:09:04.960 | This is a great mystery, as we would expect it to be.
00:09:11.280 | But it is what God has revealed about himself.
00:09:15.980 | The apostle Paul also knew the unique glory
00:09:19.420 | that belonged to Christ.
00:09:21.680 | He is, according to the flesh, the Christ,
00:09:26.080 | who is God, over all, blessed forever, amen.
00:09:31.080 | Romans 9, verse 5.
00:09:33.140 | Nevertheless, though he was in the form of God,
00:09:37.980 | he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
00:09:42.980 | but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant.
00:09:47.920 | Philippians 2, verses 6 and 7.
00:09:50.320 | Therefore, in him, the whole fullness of deity
00:09:55.320 | dwells bodily.
00:09:57.400 | Colossians 2, verse 9.
00:09:59.320 | See 1, verse 19.
00:10:01.960 | And we Christians are now waiting, not for a mere man,
00:10:06.960 | but for the appearing of the glory
00:10:10.320 | of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
00:10:15.320 | Titus 2, verse 13.
00:10:18.000 | See also 2 Peter 1, verse 1.
00:10:21.040 | This is why the writer to the Hebrews is so bold
00:10:26.760 | as to say, "All the angels worship Christ."
00:10:31.760 | He is not chief among angels who worship God.
00:10:36.960 | He is worshiped by the angels as God.
00:10:41.080 | And again, when God brings the firstborn into the world,
00:10:44.660 | he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
00:10:49.660 | Hebrews 1, verse 6.
00:10:52.560 | For he is the creator of all that is,
00:10:56.200 | and he is himself God.
00:11:00.200 | Of the son, God says, "Your throne, O God,
00:11:05.200 | is forever and ever.
00:11:08.040 | You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth
00:11:10.640 | in the beginning."
00:11:12.020 | Hebrews 1, verses 8 and 10.
00:11:14.740 | Thus the Father bears witness to the deity of the Son.
00:11:19.620 | He is the radiance of the glory of God
00:11:24.620 | and the exact imprint of his nature.
00:11:27.740 | And he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
00:11:32.220 | Hebrews 1, verse 3.
00:11:34.300 | Jesus Christ is the creator of the universe.
00:11:39.140 | Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega,
00:11:42.460 | the first and the last.
00:11:44.040 | Jesus Christ, the person, never had a beginning.
00:11:49.040 | He is absolute reality.
00:11:54.500 | He has the unparalleled honor and unique glory
00:11:57.700 | of being there first and always.
00:12:01.020 | He never came into being.
00:12:03.020 | He was eternally begotten.
00:12:07.200 | The Father has eternally enjoyed the radiance
00:12:12.200 | of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
00:12:16.820 | Hebrews 1, verse 3.
00:12:18.820 | In the person of his Son.
00:12:21.840 | Seeing and savoring this glory
00:12:25.660 | is the goal of our salvation.
00:12:29.660 | Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me
00:12:34.980 | be with me where I am to see my glory
00:12:37.880 | that you have given me.
00:12:39.260 | John 17, verse 24.
00:12:42.380 | To feast on this forever
00:12:45.680 | is the aim of our being created and our being redeemed.
00:12:51.960 | A prayer, eternal Father, you never had a beginning.
00:12:59.040 | You will never have an ending.
00:13:01.760 | You are the Alpha and the Omega.
00:13:04.060 | This we believe because you have revealed it to us.
00:13:08.160 | Our hearts leap up with gratitude
00:13:11.020 | that you have opened our eyes to see and know
00:13:14.080 | that Jesus Christ is your eternal, divine Son,
00:13:19.080 | begotten, not made, and that you, oh Father,
00:13:22.840 | and he, your Son, are one God.
00:13:26.840 | We tremble even to take such glorious truths on our lips
00:13:32.680 | for fear of dishonoring you
00:13:34.260 | with withering and inadequate words.
00:13:38.100 | But we must speak because we must praise you.
00:13:42.660 | Silence would shame us
00:13:44.900 | and the rocks themselves would cry out.
00:13:48.260 | You must be praised for who you are
00:13:50.700 | in the world you have made.
00:13:53.020 | And we must thank you because you have made us taste
00:13:56.820 | and see the glory of Jesus Christ, your Son.
00:14:00.260 | Oh, to know him.
00:14:02.160 | Father, we long to know him.
00:14:06.020 | Banish from our minds low thoughts of Christ.
00:14:11.020 | Saturate our souls with the Spirit of Christ
00:14:14.420 | and all his greatness.
00:14:16.500 | Enlarge our capacities to be satisfied
00:14:19.220 | in all that you are for us in him.
00:14:22.260 | Where flesh and blood are impotent,
00:14:24.620 | reveal to us the Christ and rivet our attention
00:14:29.300 | and our affections on the truth and beauty
00:14:31.840 | of your all-glorious Son.
00:14:33.900 | And grant that whether rich or poor, sick or sound,
00:14:39.820 | we might be transformed by him
00:14:43.280 | and become an echo of his excellence in the world.
00:14:49.020 | In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:14:51.840 | - Amen, that was chapter two from Pastor John's book,
00:14:55.540 | Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ.
00:14:58.440 | And wherever you're listening in the midst of your day,
00:15:00.260 | thanks for joining us.
00:15:01.180 | Be sure to subscribe to Ask Pastor John
00:15:02.900 | in your favorite podcast app or in YouTube or in Spotify.
00:15:06.660 | For our episode archive or to submit a question,
00:15:09.000 | go to desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:15:14.000 | Well, porcelain nativity sets are a popular choice
00:15:16.980 | for mantle decor in the Christian home this time of year.
00:15:20.320 | But are sets like these forbidden from our places of worship
00:15:23.620 | by the second commandment?
00:15:25.580 | This is a great and timely question sent in to us
00:15:28.160 | by a listener named Lisa, and it's up next time.
00:15:31.140 | I'm your host Tony Reinke, we'll see you on Friday.
00:15:33.700 | (upbeat music)
00:15:36.280 | (upbeat music)
00:15:38.860 | [BLANK_AUDIO]