To God alone glory
[0:00] And the Reformation, I think it would be true to say, brought the Gospel back into focus! When it had been obscured and confused, if not twisted and totally denied.
[0:12] ! And it raises the question, if I go and listen to this Christian teacher in this Christian church, will I hear the message which will save me?
[0:23] Or will I be given information which is either irrelevant or which will either lead me to hell? And it is so important that if you go through the door of a Christian church, or a church that claims to be Christian, that you will hear a message that will save you.
[0:40] And sadly, that's not the case. Anyway, this was what was hammered out in the Reformation times. And we've been going through these five catchphrases or five slogans. I don't think they originate from those days. I think they've been made up later and put into Latin so that it makes it sound much more impressive. But I mean, it's just impressive whatever language you use.
[1:07] So, Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Christus, Sola Gratia, Sola Dei Gloria. I'm not quite sure whether the cases are quite right, whether the grammar is quite right in all of those.
[1:20] But anyway, Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, that's the foundation principle. How do we get to know what God is saying? We look in the Bible. I mean, it's simple enough, isn't it?
[1:34] But it's actually a very powerful principle. What's the culture around us saying? What does the culture around us think is fair and right and just? That is not the issue. The issue is what does God say?
[1:48] What does it say in Scripture? What's the way to be saved? What seems intuitively right to us? What seems the prevailing mood of how to live a flourishing life? That's not the issue. The issue is what does the Bible say. And how to be saved is something God shows us from heaven because we wouldn't know it any other way. So, Sola Scripture is sort of the foundation principle. And then we looked at Sola Fide, which is by faith alone. That's a contraction. That is, you know, you need to expand it a little bit to understand what it means. And I put there a clue. It's J something by something. So, anybody fill in the blanks there. By faith alone is a shorthand form for?
[2:37] Exactly. Well done. Justification by faith alone. Justification is when God says, these are the people who in my book are innocent. They are the people who are right.
[2:50] And I will treat them as such. And the extraordinary thing is that God says, I will treat people as righteous, not because they are righteous, not because they've lived righteously, but because they put their faith in Jesus Christ. And this remarkable doctrine of justification by faith alone. I've got some references that are going to come up. And I'm going to whiz to this one. She's Romans 4, 4 to 8, which you may remember, it contains the expression, now to one who works, wages are not credited as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work, but trusts God, who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as or unto righteousness. And that phrase that God justifies the ungodly. It seems so counterintuitive, so appalling really, doesn't it? But God counts as innocent and righteous people who are in their behaviour and past life ungodly, and he does it because Jesus died for them. Which brings us to the solo Christus, Christ alone, be a good title for a song, wouldn't it? I mean, we'd probably put in in front of it as well. Daniel did a fantastic exposition of this, and I've just got one key verse here, which I will just tell you what it says. It's John 19, 30, where Jesus cries out from the cross, it is finished. And I think that that expression captures it, doesn't it? I've done,
[4:37] I've done everything that's necessary for the salvation of my people. Christ says, done it, finished, all satisfied, nothing else. They don't need to add anything to this, they don't need to pay their own way, they don't need to make a contribution because I've finished it. Yes?
[4:54] So that's what he did on the cross. And then, sola gratia, by grace alone. Unfortunately, I missed this because I was a bit poorly last week. But the one, the verse that struck me when I was thinking about it is in Romans 9, and I'm not sure whether Daniel took it in this direction, but grace alone is when God shows favour for no reason at all other than he shows favour.
[5:23] That's what it is, grace alone. I've shown favour to people simply because I've decided to show favour to them. So is his favour based on deserving? No, it's based on the fact he's decided to show favour.
[5:41] Is his favour based on their merit? No, it's on the basis that he's decided to show favour. Is it on the basis of their racial characteristics? No, it's on the basis that he's decided to show favour.
[5:55] Is it on the basis of their intellect? Of course, they're clever people, he decides to favour them. No, it's on the basis that he decides to favour them. Is it on the basis of their appearance, that they're beautiful looking people? No, it's because God has decided to favour them.
[6:10] And you could call this choosing. You could call it God just deciding, I'm going to favour those people. And at its starkest and most shocking, really, you get it in Romans 9, for example, verse 10.
[6:28] Not only that, but Rebecca's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac, yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works but by him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger.
[6:47] And it's written in this way a little bit later, Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated. Now then, is this unfair? What shall I say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
[7:09] It is not down to human will or desire or effort, but just God deciding to favour people. And that is a really profound truth that we come up against. Why am I a Christian? Because I was clever, beautiful, strong, spiritual. Absolutely not, because, bottom line, God decided to favour me for no other reason than he decided to favour me. So, by grace alone. And the one that we're looking at this evening is to God's glory alone. Glory to God alone. And this, if the solar scripture is the sort of foundation of the whole thing, then the God's glory alone is sort of the motivation for the whole thing. Why does God do these things? Why does God save sinners? Why does God, why did God send his son so that he could seem glorious? So that God would get the glory.
[8:07] The whole thing of the gospel and actually everything else is that God would appear glorious. So, that's what we're going to look at. And we prayed at the beginning, and I continue to pray, that God will show us his glory. Now, let's do a little bit on the word glory. The Hebrew word is kabod, and I have to look up how to spell it. Like that. And it has the original meaning of sort of heaviness or weightiness. It's in that sort of area of thinking. So, his glory is his sort of substantial weight and worth. So, in the dictionary it says his glory, his honor, his abundance, his riches, his splendor.
[9:06] So, there's sort of weightiness. And in Greek, it's doxa, which I'm sure you knew that, didn't you? From which we get doxology and things like that. And kabod, you knew that anyway because there was a child who was called no glory, Ichabod. Yeah, okay. So, doxa. And this is more to do with, let me look it up, it says, it's to do with forming an estimate, an opinion, how things come across to you. So, this is something to do with, let's, what have I got here? Yes, a good opinion, something like that, a good opinion so that you say, wow, wasn't that wonderful? So, it's sort of a praise and an honor, that sort of area. So, those two words give us a sort of the direction that the words are coming from.
[10:11] And there's a lot about God's glory in the Old Testament. And as we read it and use that word, or the translation of it, we think God is a mighty, splendid, substantial, glorious God. We think of the honor of God, the greatness of God. And when we got this word, it makes us sort of think that we see God's glory and we go, wow, isn't God amazing? Isn't he wonderful? Isn't he awesome? And then after a while, we run out of words because God's glory is too big, because we just run out of words to say how great he is. And we're thinking in terms of his reputation, his revealed character, it comes very close to the idea of his name. His name is his revealed character. And as we see who God is, we respond by saying, isn't he great? I mean, you could see the glory of things like, a creative thing. So waterfalls. I don't know whether you like waterfalls or mountains or forests or something like that. And you think, this is amazing. This is wonderful. I must send a picture of this home to the people at home because this is such a great thing. Well, the stars in the sky are, our lodge, Gero loved taking, you know, what they call astronomical, astrophotography. Is that a word? But just seeing all the stars, absolutely fantastic. And you respond to the glory that's there by saying it's fantastic. Or, now you know that I'm not a big fan of football because I just, but I can imagine the idea of a most beautiful goal. And you think, the way they just opened up that space, the way you sort of intuitively ran into the space, the way he caught the ball on balance, the way he just flicked it past the goalkeeper, absolutely fantastic. Did you see that? And you put, let's replay that because, oh, that was so wonderful. The way he did that was brilliant. And so we have this idea of glory being sort of magnificent things in themselves being glorious, or the way somebody's done something being glorious. You say, oh, that was just fantastic. The way things are, or the way they operate. And it seems to me that it's not such a bad thought that in the
[12:49] Bible, God's glory is the way he is, and it's the way he operates. And both of those things combined or whatever are a reasonable way of saying this is about God's glory. So let's read some texts. So Psalm 29, 1 to 3.
[13:19] And could we have somebody from around near Mark to read that? There's a microphone there somewhere, isn't there? Testing 1, 2. Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings. Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord glory due to his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.
[13:53] The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty waters. Thank you. Fantastic psalm, full of sort of vigor and strength. Let me ask you a couple of questions. So does it say anything here about who God is? Does it say anything about the way he operates?
[14:16] And does it say anything else as well? So I think you can put up a hand or call out. Does it say anything about God? Yep. He's powerful.
[14:28] He's powerful. Powerful. Yep, that's true. Yes. Thank you. He's holy. He's holy, yeah. Yep.
[14:41] Heavenly being. Heavenly beings. Heavenly beings, yeah. There's something that heavenly beings should be doing. What should the heavenly beings be doing in this first sentence? Yeah, ascribing God glory. I have a feeling, and I haven't checked it up recently. I think it is just the word give. So if you look at the way those words are operating, it says God is the God of glory in verse 3. Yes, that's what his name is, the God of glory. It says what he's doing. He's thundering, and he's sort of seen in the storm as it approaches over the desert. And there is a response called for, which is to do what? What's the response that's called for in the psalm? Yeah, to give him glory. So there's a little bit of a putting it in a nutshell there. That's who he is. That's how he operates. And the response of people is to say, yes, I give you the glory. I mean, it isn't that he lacks glory, but it's our response to say the glory belongs to him. Look at that. So let's look at Psalm 24, verses 7 and 8.
[15:56] Let's look at Psalm 24, verses 7 and 8.
[16:26] Amen. So there's a question, who is the king of glory? And the answer is, the Lord is the king of glory. I mean, it's a wonderful declaration, isn't it? Who is the glorious king? Yahweh God, he is the king of glory. And he's coming, in some sense, to his city. Deuteronomy 28, 58.
[16:53] Go on, Jess, you could read it. Deuteronomy 28, verse 58. Deuteronomy 28, 58.
[17:16] If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revert this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God.
[17:30] That the Lord will send fearful plagues. But just stopping on that particular phrase, thank you. Revering the glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God. You see how it all connects together, his glory, his name, and his awesomeness, to be feared, to be revered, to be impressed by. How great is this glorious God? So, God himself is glorious. That is who he is. Who is the king of glory? The Lord is the king of glory. Let's see something about how this glory is shown. I've got loads of references. I'm just trying to pick out things that will stick with us. Psalm 19, verse 1, speaks about the way God expresses and shows his glory in, well, you can tell me. Psalm 19, verse 1.
[18:44] Maybe, has anybody got the microphone? Yep. Psalm 19, verse 1. Heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands.
[18:56] Thank you very much. So, how is the glory of God shown in this verse? In the heavens, yeah. The sky, the stars, and is it, sorry? Yeah, the works, yeah, the works of his hands. So, this is about the way he's operated, what he's done in making the world. And this whole idea that the world is sort of speaking out the nature of the person who's made it.
[19:31] The creation has God's fingerprints on it, as you might put it. When I was making a guitar a long time ago, I went and bought a pickup from Kent Armstrong, whose father was one of the inventors of electric guitars. Kent Armstrong made pickups by making a mold and forming it and then pouring, putting the electrics in and then pouring a resin in.
[20:02] And then when it was all set, he lifted it out. And the one I've got, when he made the mold, he left his thumbprint on the mold. And when you pull the guitar pickup out, it has his thumbprint on it.
[20:14] It had the thumbprint of the maker on the thing that was made. And this is saying that creation has the thumbprint of God, if you like, or even more than that, but it's expressing his glory in creation. Let's look at Psalm 8, verses 1 and 2.
[20:31] Oh, Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You have set your glory above the heavens.
[20:52] Out of the mouth of babes and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger. Thank you. What about, could you do us the next couple of verses as well, please? When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Thank you very much. There's another verse expressing the fact that the Lord's name is majestic and then coupling it with his glory in the heavens and then coupling that with the response of the children and infants, which I, the praise of children and infants in response to it. So even, I toy with the idea that the children and infants are the Israelites, could be wrong, but even through the praise of little people, God is glorified and there is something significant about his people praising him. Let's nip over to Revelation 4.11.
[22:16] You are worthy, O Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being. Thank you very much. So there it is. You are worthy, O Lord and God, to receive glory and honour, like from us. Why? Because you created all things and at your will they were created and have their being. So that's God's glory in creation.
[22:57] The New Testament also refers to God himself as being glorious. In Ephesians 1.17 it says, the glorious Father, the glorious Father, and in Acts 7.2 Stephen says, the God of glory. I can't remember the rest of the sentence, but I think I probably proved that point enough, that God is glorious in himself and one of the ways he expresses it is in creation. Now let's go to Isaiah 42.
[23:26] Isaiah 42. And in Isaiah there is this issue of God's people being his servant who have totally failed and the question of whether, this is Isaiah 42 verses, well we'll do the verses in a moment, his people are headed towards exile in Babylon. This is not what God had promised. They're going to be out of the land, they're going to be away from him, they're not going to be holy people at that rate and they failed as a servant. But this other servant comes in who is very like Israel but isn't quite Israel. And he's going to be able to do something remarkable. The people are inclined to go and look to idols to save them. But, well, let's just have a look at Isaiah 42, 8 and 9. So could somebody read that? Yep, thank you. I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. Next verse as well, please. See, the former things have taken place and new things I declare before they spring into being, I announce them to you. Thank you very much. Right, would you like to confer with the person next to you as to what mood those words convey? What mood? Like calmness? So just have a quick chat with the person next to you. What do they think? Good. Okay. Yep. Yeah, okay. Yes.
[25:20] Thank you. Yep. Anybody else like to enlarge on that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think that jealousy is important there, isn't it? Because God is saying, you're giving my glory to idols. I'm not having that. I'm the God of glory. You don't give glory to them. You don't ascribe to them the ability to save and how wonderful they are.
[25:46] That's me, says God. Yeah, what were you going to say, Grace? Angry. It is, it's a... Well done. Yeah, shall we... Stop worshipping the idols and worship me. There's this sort of...
[26:12] The thought of God's glory is not just put across as a cold fact. It's put across with some intensity. No, God says, I am the God of glory. How dare you give glory to anybody else?
[26:28] No, that's right. It isn't... It is more a question of how people respond, isn't it? I mean, God isn't any less glorious in himself, but people ought to respond to him as such, and instead they're responding to the idols. I will not yield... What does the authorised version say, David, in verse 8? I will not give my glory?
[26:54] I will not give my glory. Yeah. I will not give my glory to another, meaning I think I will not allow my glory to be given in some sort of responses and worship and praise to idols. That's the word I had, indignation, that God is just saying, this is not on. I am not having this. And let's look at Isaiah... Let me just say his name.
[27:33] I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. God is saying, I'm not sharing my glory with anybody. I don't overlap in my glory with anybody.
[27:45] I don't make it 50-50, 60-40 with somebody else. I am the God of glory. And I don't give away an ounce of my honour to anyone else because I am the God of glory.
[27:55] Yeah. Isaiah 48, 1-11. This is a little bit longer, isn't it?
[28:05] Yeah. This enlarges on that thought. Could we have somebody to read Isaiah 48, 1-11, please?
[28:23] Listen to this descendant of Jacob. You are given the name of Israel. You are descended from Judah. You take oath by the name of the Lord. You acknowledge the God of Israel, but you are not honest or sincere. You call yourself citizens of the holy city. You depend on the God of Israel. His name is the Lord of armies.
[28:50] Sorry, I got lost there. Yeah. Could you go on to verse 11, please?
[29:01] 11, okay. I have refined you, but not like silver. I have tested you in the furnace of suffering. Okay.
[29:15] Okay. Yep. Isaiah 48 is about God saying, I am the God who saves.
[29:30] I tell you about it. I do it. And verse 5, I told you these things long ago. Before they happened, I announced them to you, so that you could not say, my images brought them about.
[29:44] My wooden image and metal God ordained these things. You have heard these things. Look at them all. Will you not admit them? From now on, I tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.
[29:54] They are created now, not long ago. Have you not heard of them before? You have not heard of them before today, so you cannot say, yes, I knew them. You have neither heard nor understood. From of old, your ears have not been open.
[30:06] I know how treacherous you are. You were called a rebel from birth. For my own name's sake, I delay my wrath. For the sake of my praise, I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely.
[30:18] See, I have refined you, though not as silver. I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed?
[30:29] I will not give my glory to another. So it just expands on that, doesn't it? I'm going to save you. Nobody else is going to do it. I'm insistent on this. I will not give my glory to another.
[30:42] So, you've got this sort of really, I hope it's sort of making sense, sort of intensity of God's glory, and particularly his glory, as distinct from idols.
[30:57] So, this is one way of understanding what sin is, actually, to rob God of his glory. And, it crops up, let's just chase this thread here.
[31:09] Psalm 106, verse 19 to 21, which refers to the sin of Israel. Psalm 106, verses 19 to 21.
[31:25] And, yeah, Ashwin will read that. Psalm 106, verses 19 to 21. At Horeb, they made a cough and worshipped an idol cast from metal.
[31:37] They exchanged their glory for an image of a bull which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt. Thank you very much.
[31:49] So, this is referring to the way God has operated and who he is and an exchange. They exchanged their glory, or is it, I've got in my, their glorious God, for the image of a bull which eats grass.
[32:05] So, this is taking God's glory and ascribing that glory not to God but to an image, an idol, an invention, something that seemed good to human beings but is not who God really is.
[32:20] And, if we go to Romans 1, 18, this is the definition that Paul gives us at the root of sin.
[32:33] I'm sure it's not the only root of sin but it is a root of sin. Romans 1, 18 to 21. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
[32:57] for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made so they are without excuse.
[33:21] for although they knew God they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
[33:37] Next couple of verses please. Claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
[33:54] Thank you. Yeah so here this fundamental sin of taking God's glory and instead of giving worship and thanks to him plonking that glory as it were on images made up versions of God images made like human beings and birds and animals and reptiles.
[34:15] We don't actually live in a culture that makes fabricated images of God. I mean just as culture from a Hindu culture Hindu temples with gods all over them crawling up the walls and everything like that but sorry I think we all do actually don't we because it doesn't have to be a metal image it can be a mental image saying this is what I think God ought to be like and that's robbing God of his glory and I mean this idea of glory gives us an insight into what sin is it's taking who God really is and twisting it or giving our allegiance to another God looking for our guidance to another God making another thing the big thing in our lives
[35:16] I mean you can take good things and make that into a little God can't you I mean parents making their children into a little God and basing their whole lives around their children or making a career into a little God and basing everything around that or you name it taking the glory of God and exchanging it for something else let's sing something and I'm aiming for Ephesians 2 but we're going quite a long way around to get there so we thought about God's glory his substance his and how we respond to it and I think it's fair enough to say it's how he is or is rather than are how he is and how he operates and particularly in the area of salvation so
[36:16] God is glorious his creation shows his glory in salvation he operates to save his people so we saw that in Isaiah 2 not the idols and he will not give his glory to the idols he has glory to himself in the way he saves his people now I'm going to take us to expressions of his glory because he is glorious and that sort of changes the space around him which picks up on his glory it sort of picks up the aroma of his glory and there is a particular demonstration or visualization of his glory in the
[37:17] Old Testament anybody like to guess before we actually look at some texts visualizations of God's glory in the Old Testament yeah carry on yeah and I would take you to what happened towards the end of that vision they fell down and what happened because it came to a sudden end that vision because of what I think there was another end to that vision wasn't there didn't the temple fill with something smoke cloud and smoke that's where I was heading for because that's why I chose that sound let the cloud and fire appear cloud smoke fire and the rabbis refer to this as the shekinah glory that is not in the bible that's something that's the rabbis have called it that but it comes from the idea of shekinah is to dwell so
[38:31] I think the idea is that when God dwells somewhere this is the glory that you see around him so I better not spend too much time on this there's a lot of things to consider first place in the bible yes thank you yep that's the second one exodus that's exodus 1321 is the burning bush and I think there's an example of God's presence with smoke and fire before that sorry yep there's the cloud and fire that led them before through the desert I'm thinking quite a bit before that actually so I'm going to say in the life of Abraham have a quick talk to your neighbour can they think of fire cloud smaller scale life of
[39:33] Abraham just ask your yeah yeah yeah yeah it's Genesis 15 worth looking at actually so I think this is the first appearance of the actual expression visualization of God's presence and his glory in cloud and fire so this is Genesis 15 verse 17 and where's the microphone got to could Corinne read us Genesis 15 17 when the sun had set and the darkness had fallen a smoke brazier with a blazing torch appeared and passed between pieces thank you very much so if that translation is accurate there's smoke and there's fire on that particular occasion with
[40:45] Abraham and then we see this with Moses and as Ray said in the Exodus the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud and there was the pillar of cloud and fire and it is linked with his glory Exodus 16 Exodus 16 is the time when the Israelites were rebellious or a time when the Israelites were rebellious I think I'm correct in saying and they're told in Exodus 16 verse 7 having grumbled in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord because he has heard your grumbling against him who are we that you should grumble against us and then if you go to verse 10 am I right yeah while
[41:46] Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community they looked towards the desert and there was the glory of the Lord in appearing in the cloud and then in verse 11 yes the Lord says I've heard the grumbling of the Israelites at twilight you will eat meat and in the morning you'll be filled with bread and then you will know that I am the Lord so there's something about his identity expression of it in the cloud so we could follow that trail and perhaps I better resist the temptation to follow that idea of the cloud you get it in Ezekiel at the beginning you get the likeness of the appearance of the glory of the Lord the sense that what he's seeing in his magnificent vision doesn't really begin to touch how glorious
[42:47] God really is what he sees is the likeness of the appearance of the glory of the Lord an approximation to something that's nearly sort of the glory but the glory is much bigger than that thinking of clouds and going into the New Testament any thoughts about clouds in the New Testament yeah Jesus was taken up in a cloud the Mount of Transfiguration a cloud came down and it makes you think that it's not just a meteorological statement is it it's a theological statement because the cloud is to do with the glory of God and I probably better not try and follow that too much because we'll get carried off in a cloud yeah but as we come into the New Testament let's look at John 12 23 because we get a particular focus or a couple of focal points of glory in the
[44:01] New Testament John 12 23 let me just set the scene for John 12 23 throughout John's gospel it has been said the hour has not yet so at the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee Jesus says to his mother my hour has not yet come and then there are times when people come to arrest him but his hour has not yet come and I think there's some couple of other instances my hour has not yet come and there's this clock ticking all the way through John's gospel and you're waiting for the alarm to go off and when you get to John 12 23 who's going to read this for us thank you Angela Jesus replied the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified yeah could you do the next verse as well please I tell you the truth unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains only a single seed but if it dies it produces many seeds thank you very much what's
[45:06] Jesus referring to when he talks about a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying and producing much fruit which is what it actually says his death that is very significant because what he said is the clock has now this is it now is the son of man glorified and how is he glorified by dying on the cross how is the son of man glorified by dying on the cross that's a remarkable thing and I think Daniel referred to this the other time about Martin Luth this theology of glory and theology of the cross where do you look in this way of in John's way of putting it where do you look to see most the glory of God and his answer would be you look at the saviour dying on the cross that is the place where
[46:08] God most shows how glorious he is that is where the son of son of man is glorified and I mean there's more to it than that but there's at least that when Jesus is heading for the cross in John 17 he has the same thought or at least a very much associated thought John 17 1 father the hour has come glorify your son that your son may glorify you and then he says in verse 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do and he says of course it is finished on the cross doesn't it so here is a particular place I mean you could argue about whether it's the most place I think I would certainly be happy to go with that thought the place where God is most glorified on the cross
[47:10] I mean Jesus is exalted to glory afterwards for sure but there's a particular focus when Christ dies for sinners here you see the character of God the humility of God the passion of God the determination of God the love of God for sinners as Christ dies on the cross here is the son of man glorified when a seed falls into the ground and dies and produces much fruit and how he operates is glorious and who he is is glorious let's look at skipping along now Hebrews 1 verse 3 who is Jesus in fact Hebrews 1 verse 3 who is the son Hebrews 1 verse 3 this is who he is and how he operates
[48:11] Hebrews 1 verse 3 Julie thank you thank you very much this remarkable statement about who Jesus is he he he he bursts in he bursts in with this statement of the doctrine of Christ this Christology who is he he is the radiance of God's glory the outshining of the glory of God when you see Jesus you see the outshining of the glory of God he is the one through whom the worlds were made he is the one through whom creation is upheld by the word of his power he is the one through whom whom he saves his people and he is the very expression of the glory of
[49:21] God this wonderful Christology we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ which is such a wonderful statement isn't it we're going to come and look at some more in just a moment let's sing something else shall we I'm still aiming for Ephesians 2 I hope we'll get there in the next few minutes God is glorious the way he operates is glorious he shows his glory in creation he shows his glory in salvation the place around him takes on his glory so when he's there in the desert it is shown in the cloud and fire and his presence his particular presence in Jesus is the expression of his glory not cloud and fire but a person in this case and yet we also have this sort of glorious space around him and where we're headed is rightly called glory because it's the space where
[50:40] God is so let's see if we can just home in on that for a few minutes one of the perhaps it's a little bit clearer in the New Testament that one of the particular glorious things that God does is to save sinners you know remember I said about the footballer you think what a wonderful goal just fantastic the timing of it the balance of it the way that he just seems to do it fantastic a wonderful action and the New Testament or the scripture but particularly the New Testament focuses on God's amazing action in saving sinners anybody see the repair shop anybody know the repair shop
[51:47] TV program repair shop yep I've never seen it so if you don't know the repair shop it's takes place actually down somewhere near Chichester actually and somebody brings in you know an old possession maybe it's a watch or something like that it used to function fantastically but it was owned by their great grandfather in the Crimean war it got trodden on bashed about it doesn't work anymore the hinges don't work you can see it's a watch but it's not it's a pocket watch obviously but it it it needs repairing and they bring it and Jay Blades says and he and then they hand it to a guy with multiple glasses this guy with sort of five or six pairs of glasses and the skill of those people to repair something and bring it back and then the after a little while the owners come back and they're it's under a cloth and they say you looking forward to seeing this and they say yeah what have you done and then it's revealed in all its glory and they go oh that is just so beautiful how wonderful that you've restored this and it's if you've never seen it it's a very heartwarming sort of program and how much more the Lord
[53:26] God who takes people who have been made in his image but ruined by the fall in which there is not a single bit of them that hasn't been spoiled in some way or another who can pick them up take them to himself bring them into his favor lavish time and attention upon them and begin a work of restoration to save sinners to get the most unlikely material and to change it into something glorious and wonderful I mean what a wonderful work that God does and how amazing to see the finished articles all lined up wow did you do this wow did you make that out of that and this is where I'm heading with this let's go to
[54:27] Ephesians 2 Ephesians 2 1 to 9 where's the microphone got to yeah Roger please as for you you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air turn the page the spirit who's now at work in those who are disobedient all of us also lived among them at one time gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts like the rest we were by nature deserving of wrath but because of his great love for us
[55:29] God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do thank you very much we are God's handiwork you know he's taken us and is doing this restoration and rebuilding and recalibration and everything else and it's a fantastic description isn't it we were deserving of wrath but in his great love
[56:43] God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ when we were dead in transgressions made us alive with Christ by grace you have been saved and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms he might show the incomparable riches of his grace in ages to come look at that one look at that look what I did with that look at what I made of that in the coming ages he will show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus it is by grace you have been saved and if we just go back to chapter one you notice it didn't actually say glory there but it does in chapter one where he comes in with thanksgiving praise be this Ephesians 1 verse 3 praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
[57:44] Christ for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace to the praise of his glory which is freely given us in the one he loves in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under grace and here's a particular thing in which it is solo dea gloria to him alone be the glory he saved us we didn't think of it we didn't contribute to it it isn't partly to our credit it's totally to
[58:53] God's credit and this particular thing in the glory to come and if we've got a moment I will look at verse about that in the glory to come look to these trophies of his grace that's the expression that Christian people use the trophies of his grace see what I did to him alone be the glory that's where I wanted to get to and I actually got there there's a couple more verses we can look at but let's sing can we sing to the praise of his glory in a minute I'll ask Daniel if you could close in a prayer and perhaps think of people that we would just be committing to the Lord let Daniel think about that for a moment I mean where I got to isn't quite the end of the story because it isn't just that being saved now is to the praise of his glory it is the future and if only
[60:04] I could find my notes I would tell you what the reference was if you go to Romans chapter eight where we're headed to Christ in you the hope of glory Romans Romans eight is what we're going to read from but in chapter five he says we have gained access into this grace in which we now stand but there's more than that we boast in the hope of the glory of
[61:06] God meaning that in that glorious place which is glorious because God is glorious we're going to be there too that's where we're headed and he it is Christ has been tasked with keeping us as Daniel was saying this morning and safeguarding us right through to the end of the journey and our life on earth is not the end of the journey being in glory is where the end of the journey is and I'll just remind us of Romans 8 where it says in verse 30 those he predestined he also called those he called he also justified and those he justified he also glorified and in that verse you've got the whole sweep from beginning to end we're not glorified yet but it's as certain as can be so that he can finish the sentence by saying it and that's where we're headed to glory we sang this morning the sky not the grave is the goal
[62:19] I mean that's the way of saying that isn't it wouldn't that be amazing to be with Christ in glory when Christ who is our life appears we also will appear with him in glory it's almost unbelievable isn't it that what was done in Christ will rub off on us to such an extent that we will be raised what was mortal will put on immortality what was corrupt will put on incorruption what was in shame and lowliness will be raised in glory and that's where the thread leads us to in the end and I just wanted to say that before we finish and perhaps Daniel could pray for us please