The Glory of God

Yeah, we support pro-life obviously because at the end of the day it's our desire that God is glorified. I want to ask you guys to pray with me, please, as we prepare to hear Him speak through His word. A gracious Heavenly Father, we just come before you this morning and we pray that you might help us to tune our hearts to You, oh God. Help us, Lord, to gaze upon you, to behold your beauty.

Help us, Lord, to be blown away by your majesty, by your greatness, by your holiness, by your glory, God. We pray that you might in your grace allow us to experience just a glimpse of your glory, Lord, as we take the time to hear from you through your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

I want to begin this message this morning with two premises, OK? And premise number 1 is this, that God is passionately committed to His glory. God has a passion that goes beyond our own comprehension for his own glory. It is his desire, it is his wish, his will that he be.

Exalted and magnified in Habakkuk 2:14, we read, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In Numbers 14:20, we read, so the, the Lord said, I have pardoned them according to your word, but indeed, as I live, all of the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord and These are but a couple of passages. There are countless passages that as we look at them, we will come to understand very clearly that God has a passion for His glory.

So premise number 1, God is passionately committed to His glory.

Premise number 2, God's or man's purpose is to glorify God. The purpose of man, man's purpose is to glorify God. We were created. stated that God would be exalted in and through us.

In Isaiah 43:7, we read, Everyone who is called by my name and whom I have created for my glory, this is God speaking, and he is referring to those who are called by his name, and he says, whom I have created, created for what purpose, oh God, for my glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31, we read, Whether then you eat or drink or in whatever you do, do all, do everything that you do and do it for the glory of God. And so very clearly then, God is committed to his glory, and man's purpose is to glorify God.

And so God wants for you and for I, for His people to live our lives in such a way that he is indeed glorified, He is exalted.

If these two premises are true, and I submit to you, that they are, Then it is incumbent upon us all to understand what God's glory is, where it is located, and how we might respond to it. And so the sermon here is entitled The Glory of God, the glory of God defined, located, and responded to. In essence, we're going to seek to answer 3 questions. Question number 1 will be this, how might we define the glory of God?

Question number 2 is, where is the glory of God located? And then question number 3, what does it mean to glorify God? And we will answer that question, Lord willing, if time permits. But let's jump to number 1, how might we define the glory of God?

I'd like to begin by saying that God's glory is impossible to fully explain. It is impossible for us to fully comprehend His glory. I think of the passage in Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 8, where the apostle Paul himself says, to me, the very least of all of the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles, and notice what he says, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ. Here the apostle Paul, in referring to the riches of Christ.

describes them as being unfathomable. And so part of what he is saying is this, God is wanting me, he has called me to proclaim to the Gentiles, something that goes beyond my ability to fully comprehend, and I would submit to you that this is true about the glory of God. If we could ever get to the place where we could fully understand the glory of God, God would cease to be. He is.

His glory is infinite. His glory goes beyond our ability to fully comprehend. We can comprehend it to a degree, we can experience it to a degree, but it's way beyond us as well. OK, so how might we define the glory of God?

First, it is impossible to fully explain. Secondly, God's glory. is to be understood in light of His holiness. God's glory is associated with His holiness.

Most, most of the theologians out there when they talk about the glory of God, cannot help but to go back to the holiness of God Himself. And the classic passage for our consideration when we think about the holiness of God is the passage in Isaiah 6. Not going to spend a lot of time there, we've looked at that passage in the past, but just to review it, you, the passage where, in the year of the king's death, it was King Uzziah's death, Isaiah says, I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, lofty and exalted.

With the train of his robe filling the temple.

Isaiah is saying, I saw the Lord seated, on, on this throne in a high and lofty, position, train of his robe filling the temple, and then he goes on to describe those that accompanied the presence of the Lord in this vision that he has. He says seraphim. OK, now think about seraphim just for a second. they were created.

By God. They are creatures of God, these seraphim, the name literally means fiery ones. So these fiery ones were created by God and all creatures, no matter what they are, when they are created by God, are created so that they can live within the context for which they were created for, right? A bird was created to live in the, in the environment that it is to live in.

all animals are created to live in, in the environments. Where they live, and such is true of the seraphim. They were created by God to inhabit the very presence of God Himself, to be in his presence. They are fiery ones, stood above him, each having 6 wings, and, and, and if you, if you follow the story, 6 wings, right, with 2 they covered their eyes.

Why? Because the Lord is so pure, so holy, you cannot stand to look upon him without being disintegrated. Interesting. These fiery ones.

had the potential to be disintegrated at the very look of the Lord, and so they needed these appendages, if you will, to cover their eyes so that they would not be wasted if you will, disintegrated by the blazing glory of the Lord himself. And they've got these wings that they're hovering about with and they're covering their feet with two of the other wings. And notice what they say, they say holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, OK? They are referring to the Lord, as being holy, and they emphasize it by saying it three times, holy, holy, holy, the Lord of hosts, and here's the connection, the whole earth is full of His glory.

There is a connection between the holiness of the Lord and the glory of the Lord being expressed in all of creation. There is a connection there. He says that the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, here's the response of the prophet himself, the holy man of God said, woe is me, I am.

Ruined. Here we have the holiest man alive in his day, and at the presence of the Lord in this vision that he has, he responds to the holiness of the Lord by simply saying, woe is me, I am ruined. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among unclean people, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. And then as we continue to read, one of the seraphim come to him, takes a, takes a fiery coal, can't even grab it with his hands or with his wings, has to grab it with some tongs and applies it to the lips of Isaiah, tells him his iniquity is forgiven.

And on the other side of his forgiveness, Isaiah is in a place where he will say, Lord, here am I, send me, here am I, use me, do whatever you want with me. But you see, in this passage, we discover the holiness of God, and the holiness of God, the effects of the holiness of God. On the prophet Isaiah himself. Let me just define this word holy.

To be holy is to be distinct, separate, and in a class by oneself. The seraphim, the fiery ones are simply saying that the Lord is altogether unique. He is in a class all by himself. This idea would also include moral purity.

And for God to be holy is for him to be holy in relation to every aspect of his nature and character. The word holy also signifies the sum total of all that go into the makeup of who God is. This is the idea of holy. And I want to submit to you moving on to the third subpoint here that God's glory can be understood as the manifestation of His holiness.

God's glory, fourthly, is associated with light, OK? God's glory can be understood as the manifestation of His holiness. It's the expression of His holiness. When you have God's glory, you have the holiness of God being revealed, and God's glory also is oftentimes associated light.

Fifthly here that God's glory is associated with his special presence. So we know in one sense God's glory is everywhere, but in another sense, His glory reveals itself in terms of his special presence to where his special presence isn't necessarily everywhere all the time, and hopefully we'll come to see that as we continue here. Wayne grew them in his systematic theology in trying to unpack God's glory, again, which is something that is impossible to fully comprehend, he says these two things, God's glory is the created brightness that surrounds God's revelation of himself.

He also says that God's glory is something that belongs to him alone and is the appropriate outward expression of his own excellence.

Well, here's the definition that I've come up with. And, I don't assume for it to be perfect, but this is what I came up with given the study that I did over the last several weeks. the glory of God, therefore, involves the revelation of His holiness, his revealed holiness through which created beings experience his special presence as it shines forth in light, resulting in reverent fear. Now, this may be the shaking of the boots, reverent fear, even to the point of unraveling on behalf of the creature.

It can't speak of just a simple reverence, amazement and awe when one is blown away by his glory, OK? This is a working definition to help us to gain some understanding of what I am talking about when I am referring to the glory of God. OK. Again, involves the revelation of His holiness, that's the expression of His holiness.

God Himself is holy and as His holiness becomes revealed, one would say therein is the glory of God through which created beings experience his special presence as it shines forth in light. Resulting in reverence, in awe, in amazement, and in wonder of the Lord of glory. Let us move on to the second main question. Having defined God's glory, Where is God's glory located?

Where is God's glory located? You see, God is passionate for his glory. He has created us to glorify Him. We've got to answer the question then where in the world is the glory of God located?

Well, in one sense, it's everywhere. The heavens proclaimed the glory of God. What needs to be known about God has been made plain to God through creation, as Paul says to the Romans. But one here, the glory of God has been revealed through many means.

The glory of God has been revealed through many means. We, we look at scripture, we come to discover that his God's glory is revealed whenever he appears. Whenever God appears, his glory is going to manifest itself. God's glory is revealed, as I've said, through creation.

God's glory was revealed through a cloud. By day in a pillar of fire, by night to the Israelites as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to the Land of Promise, God's glory was revealed to Moses in a burning bush. We read from Scripture, God's glory is revealed through created beings such as the angels. And you recall with me at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, it says that in the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over the flocks by night, and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened, and the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, which shall be for all the people, for today in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord, but the angels who, who were in the presence of the Lord Himself, as they appeared to the shepherds, they appeared with a sense of glory that shone about them.

Humans such as Moses, we read in the scripture, needed to put a veil over his face because he was reflecting the very glory of God himself. But this is what I want to focus our attention on a little more, the location, OK? Subpoint 2, the glory of God has been revealed in a number of specific locations. The glory of God has been revealed.

In the scriptures, in a number of specific locations, we go back to the garden and we see the glory of the Lord. When he created Adam and Eve, we read that the Lord Himself brought the woman. He was there by her side, bringing her to her man. And, and no doubt with the presence of the Lord being there, the glory of the Lord accompanied that.

In the garden, we see that being a location where the glory of the Lord was expressed, but we will also find that God's glory is expressed, God's glory is located, if you will, in a building. God's glory is located in a building. If you look at the Old Testament, In terms of the tabernacle. We read, for example, in Numbers chapter 14 verse 10, says all of the congregation said to stone them with stones, then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, to all of the sons of Israel.

Number 16:19. Thus Korrah assembled all congregation against him at the doorway of the tent of meeting, at the doorway of this tabernacle, this, this tent that could be moved and it was the place where the presence of the Lord would be, where his glory would manifest. Confess itself, says in the glory of the Lord appeared to all of the congregation in the tabernacle. Number 1642.

It came about, however, when the congregation had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tent of meeting and behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. Numbers 26, another example, Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces, then the glory of the Lord appeared to them and so we see the location of God's glory is the tent of meeting, but it is also later on in, in, in the history of God's people in the temple, and in 1 Kings chapter 8, verse 10, we read, it came about.

When the priest came from the holy place, that the clouds filled the house of the Lord, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. We see the glory of God located in the temple of God.

2 Chronicles 5:1, it says thus all the work that Solomon performed for the house of the Lord was finished. Fast forward from verse 1 to verse 11, and when the priests came forth from the holy place, for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves without regard to divisions, and we continue on a little bit later, verse 13, in unison when the trumpeters, the singers were to make themselves heard with one voice to praise and to glor. the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice, accompanied by trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and when they praised the Lord saying, he indeed is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting, then the house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.

We've got 2 Chronicles 7:1, which basically conveys a similar thought.

I like what the Psalmist says in Psalms 26:8. The Psalmist says, oh Lord, I love the habitation of Thy house and the place where Thy glory dwells. Where is the location of God's glory? The location in a garden, in a building, the tabernacle, the temple, the Psalmist says in 29:9.

And in his temple, everything says glory. Why? Because that is the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. Psalm 63:2.

Thus I have beheld thee in the sanctuary to see thy power and thy glory. And so we see God's glory again in, in the garden, in the temple, in the tabernacle, in the temple, but we're going to see his glory, and I want to spend a little more time here in a person. In a person, that being the person of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In John's Gospel, he begins by saying, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, and then you jump down to verse 14, we read that the Word became flesh and dwelt.

The word dwelt literally is tabernacle or pitched. The word tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth. Colossians 2:9 says in reference to Christ that in him all of the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. In John 2:19, the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry himself said, Destroy this temple.

I want to make a connection between what he says here and the idea of God's presence in the tabernacle and in the temple of the Old Testament. He says, destroy this temple and in 3 days I will raise it up. The Jews therefore said it took 46 years to build this temple and you will raise it up in 3 days, but he was speaking of the temple of his body, the place where the glory of the Lord. would dwell.

God's glory dwells in a person, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it would behoove us if that's where his glory dwells to take some time to look at Jesus. He showed himself to us. He was born in glory and born of a virgin and lived out his life and ultimately died on the cross, but you see the glory of God revealing itself through the person of his son throughout this whole ministry.

In John chapter 2 verse 11, we read, and this is, this is just after he turned the water into the wine at the wedding. It says this beginning of a sign Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and he manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. How did he manifest his glory? Through the miracle of turning water into wine, and every miracle that Jesus did serves as a manifestation of the glory of God.

And so his glory was manifested through his miracles. Luke chapter 5, if you have your Bibles, feel free to turn there with me. But Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 10. I just want to take a little bit of time to look at the glory of God as revealed through His Son Jesus Christ.

In Luke 5:1-10. We read, now it came about that while the multitude were pressing around him and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Genesaret, and he saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them, and they were washing their nets. And he got into one of the boats which was Simon, Simon Peter, and asked him to put out a little way from the land, and he sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. So, so, so far, the fishermen, including Peter, had spent the night fishing.

They were cleaning their nets. They were done for the day or done for the night, however you take it, they were done, OK. And it says when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Simon, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. We're going fishing.

And Simon, no doubt in his mind is thinking, OK, yeah, right, whatever. We've been fishing all night, we caught nothing. And now you are telling me that I need to let down my nets over there for a catch. I've been in this trade for a long time.

I know what I'm doing, and I know that there ain't no fish in the sea right now that are biting anyway. And Jesus says, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered and said, Master, we worked hard all night, and caught nothing. But at your bidding, I will let the nets down.

And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets began to break. Imagine that. Then they had caught so many fish that the nets were beginning to break. They signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them, and they came and filled both of the boats so that they began to sink.

They had so much fish that they could fill more than just the one boat. They completely filled two boats and those boats were so full that they were beginning to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, He fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, Depart from me. For I am a sinful man, O Lord.

The glory of Jesus was breaking through. And Peter was there to experience that, that this is something more than just a man, and Peter was there to observe it, and his response to the Lord. Depart from me. I am a sinful man, O Lord.

And it goes on to say, for amazement had seized him and all of his companions because of the catch of fish, fish which they had taken, and so also James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon, and Jesus said to Simon, do not fear. Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching and you see, Peter responded to the holiness of Christ, to his glory, to the glory of God with a sense of fear. There was something inside of him that felt conviction because he realized that he was not like him.

But as we continue on in Mark chapter 4 verse 35, again turn there in your Bibles, we'll read through this at a glance, but Mark 4:35 we read, and on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go over to the other side. And leaving the multitude, they took him along with them just as he was in the boat and other boats were with him. And so, so Jesus is in the boat with his disciples and in verse 37, we read, there arose a fierce gale of wind, a howling wind, a violent wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat, the, the waves were, were crashing over the boat.

tall, troubling waves crashing over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.

They were in a position where they were about to sink, and he himself, Jesus was in the stern asleep, kicking back, relaxing, undisturbed by the troubles that surrounded him. He himself was in the stern asleep on the cushions, and they awoke him and they said to him, Teacher, Do you not care that we are perishing? They are frightened for their lives. They are scared of the storm.

They are afraid that they will die. And being aroused, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Here is a sermon, a very short sermon, a three word sermon. Hush. Be still.

And instantly the winds and the waves stopped, and there was a calm like you could never have imagined that overcame the scene. Nature was calmed at the voice of his command. But man was not calmed. And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm, and he said to them, Why are you so timid?

How is it that you have no faith? And they became very much afraid, mega fear. They were extremely afraid. They were afraid before, but now they are more afraid.

And as they were very much afraid, they said to one another, who? is this? You see, the glory of the Lord was bursting through. And they understood that he was unlike no other man.

Yes, he was a man, but he was more. He had power over the wind and over the seas, and they were completely blown away. They experienced fear because of the fact that he was alien like to them, and they said, Who then is this that even the wind and the seas obey him? The glory of the Lord revealed to the person of Christ as he performs his miracles while he was performing his earthly ministry here.

This reminds me of my daughter, Sophia. She's two years old and recently we took her to Disneyland. And, this isn't a perfect illustration, but I think it works. She, she saw a Minnie Mouse from a distance.

And, and, and I remember my other kids were the same way. When she saw Minnie Mouse, she was very much intrigued and, and she, and she wanted to get close to Minnie Mouse, right? And she wanted to get, we were a distance at first, she spots Minnie Mouse, she had her gaze set and she's like, she's trying to drag me across the Minnie Mouse, but the closer we got, the slower she walked. And as she got closer to Minnie Mouse, she experienced a certain fear.

And I think the fear was associated with the fact that she was understanding that this Minnie Mouse was unlike her, different, scary, alien-like. And so while she was intrigued at the same time, she was reluctant. And I think That in a similar way, the disciples experienced a degree, a degree of fear of the Lord as they got closer to him and as he revealed his glory, they intuitively took a step back. Who then is this?

Well, in Matthew 17:1, this is the greatest passage in which we see the glory of the Lord bursting forth on the scenes. One of the greatest passages anyway. If you got your Bibles turned to Matthew 17:1, we are going to consider the, the transfiguration of Jesus Christ. Again, Jesus is manifesting his glory.

The glory of God is being revealed through the person of Jesus, the exact representation of God Himself. The temple of God in whom the Spirit dwells, in whom the glory of God is, and we read in Matthew 17:1, 6 days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John as brother and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves, and Jesus was transfigured before them. He was transfigured before them. He, he, he was changed, if you will.

There was something about him that was taken away and something somewhat different began to reveal itself. He was transfigured. It says his face shone like the sun. The glory of God expressing itself through the person of His Son.

His face shone like the sun. I don't know about you, but I know that when I take the time to stare at the sun, it hurts my eyes. I cannot stand to look at the bright sun for too long without having to squint and to turn my gaze aside. It is too bright for my eyes to handle, and here we have the Lord Jesus Christ, his face shining like the sun.

And as his glory breaks through, the glory is so strong, it is so great, it is so magnificent that it has an effect on the inanimate objects around him, and we read here that his garments, his clothes became as white as light. They were altered at the very presence of the Lord, as the glory of the Lord was expressing itself, the, the, the, the on his clothes were altered, and it tells us that his garments became as white as light and behold, Moses and Elijah appeared before them talking with him, and they were discussing his exodus.

They were discussing the fact that he would go to the cross and die on the cross for his people. That was the nature of their conversation on the mount there.

And it says Peter answered and said, Now this is interesting. You would expect, given what we've read so far, for Peter to just fall on his face right there. But what, he's beginning to get a little bit used to the glory of God. He's beginning to, to, to, to get a little comfortable with the experience of Jesus.

And so his immediate reaction here is not to fall down on his face, but hold on with me and just wait. So Peter Andred said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make 3 tabernacles here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. And while he was still speaking, behold.

A bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold. Matthew's trying to get our attention here through the use of the word behold two times, a voice out of the cloud. God the Father is going to speak, saying, this is my beloved Son, indicating that he is one who is like me. He is of my own, my beloved Son, the one who I love, with whom I am well pleased.

Listen to him. What is interesting is that shortly thereafter, one of the things that Jesus begins to do in terms of his teaching ministry, he begins to focus on the fact that he will die on the cross. And God the Father as it were, is speaking to the disciples, and he is telling them, listen to what he has to tell you, because he knows that what they need to hear to secure their salvation, that he would be glorified, is they need to hear what Jesus is going to be teaching them, that he will die on the cross for them.

And so he says, listen to him.

And when the disciples heard this, when they heard the voice of the Father, And when they saw the glory of the Lord, we read that they fell on their faces and they were much afraid. Much afraid. At the glory of God, as he revealed Himself through the person of His Son, as Christ Himself is transfigured before them. Very much afraid.

But what is awesome here is that they are not left in fear as so often. Is the case. They are met with grace. Jesus came to them and touched them, and he said, arise.

And do not be afraid. The apostle Peter is reflecting on this transfiguration in 2 Peter 1:16. We did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory.

This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. Jesus. Radiated forth the glory of God through his life.

In Him dwelt the fullness of deity and bodily form, and the apostles and the disciples saw it and they got a chance to experience it. In Jesus' high priestly prayer coming out of John chapter 17. I want to read a few verses there. Jesus says these things, John says these things.

Jesus spoke and lifting up his eyes to heaven, in John 17:1, he said, Father, the hour has come. What hour? The hour of His sacrifice, the hour when he would lay down his life as a ransom for all, the hour when he would die on the cross bearing upon Himself all of our sin, so that we through faith in Him could be forgiven for our sin, the hour. Has come glorify thy Son.

That the sun may glorify thee. A little bit later in that prayer, Jesus praying. For you and for me, Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am in order that they may behold my glory. It's the desire of Jesus that the day come when we behold His glory face to face.

This is God's desire for us as well. He wants most of all for us to be able to behold Him and to see Him. I think of the passage where we read one thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. See, God knows this is the very best for us, and it's his prayer, Jesus prays for us that this is what would happen, that we would behold him face to face.

And that day, brothers and sisters is yet to come. Well, so we see God's glory located in a garden, in a building, the, the, the tabernacle, the temple, in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, but this, this is encouraging. His glory is located in a people. In a people, in the church of the living God.

Beginning at the day of Pentecost and continuing on, his glory is located in and among you and I, brothers and sisters. 1 Corinthians 6:19, do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? Mark this, that if you are born again, if you have a relationship with God, God the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, indwells you. And he abides in you, and he lives in you.

And so we have traces of the glory of God within us. 2 Corinthians 6:16, we read, For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, I will dwell in them, I will dwell in them and walk among them. We, brothers and sisters are the temple of the living God, and it is in us that he wishes to dwell, and he indeed does by the Spirit dwell within us. Amazing.

And so he wishes for his glory to be expressed in and through us. different from Moses, right? Moses saw the glory. And, and as a result, had to cover his face.

And while there is truth to that, we see the glory in Christ, God's glory is in us through the Spirit as well, which is something that my, I, I'm not sure that I fully comprehend that, but that's what I understand the scripture to teach. Ephesians 2:19, we read, So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. Having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, we are that building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

If that's not enough to get you excited, I don't know what to say, brothers and sisters.

God, the Spirit indwells us by His grace through faith in Christ, who laid down His life for us, and in believing in Him, we are indwelt by the Spirit of the living God, the person of God, the Spirit. And so he dwells in the people. As we fast forward into the future, we will come to discover too that his glory is located in a city. And this is what we have to look forward to, brothers and sisters.

Read with me as I read to you Revelation chapter 21. I'm going to jump ahead to verse 22. I would encourage you to read the whole chapter, but, Revelation chapter 21, and I'm gonna just begin in verse 22. John the Revelator says, and I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple, and the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of the Lord has illumined it, and its lamp is the lamb, and the nation shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth.

They bring their glory into it, and in the daytime, for there shall be no night there, its gates shall never be closed, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, but we've got this picture of the celestial city in which the glory of God is going to be manifest to the nth degree, and we will participate in that, and we are in part his glory being expressed.

And so we have defined God's glory. We have located it. And I want to take just a little bit of time to consider, Our proper response to it.

Number 3, 3rd question, what does it mean to glorify God? What does it mean to glorify God? How might we glorify God? Well, To glorify God is to respond to His holiness, to respond to his person, to respond to his character.

I submit to you that he's got to be seen through the eyes of faith. We need to behold him. In 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18, this passage was read during the worship, but let me direct your attention to it again. The apostle Paul says, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.

are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. So, What must happen? What do we need to do? What action point do I have for you?

What take home do I have for you? Here it is. Behold Christ. Just behold him Just look at him.

Just see him, risen, seated at the right hand of the Father, in glory and resurrection power. Look upon him, gaze upon him through the pages of the Gospels, see him in his birth, see him in his life, observe his miracles, look at him nailed to the cross. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. See him dying, suffering, being crucified, so that your sins might be forgiven.

See him laid to rest in the tomb, dead. And then observed that he was raised bodily from the dead. Behold Christ, look at him and see him raised ascended onto the right hand of the Father and look at him in his glory and in His majesty through the eyes of faith, see him. Because God's word says, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed.

What is the key to transformation? The ultimate key is beholding the glory of the Lord, crucified, buried, risen, and ascended, and knowing that he's going to come back again someday, lay hold of the gospel. And that is the key. There's more that can be said, and perhaps on a later occasion, I'll say more.

But because of time, I got to stop and I had a lot of more points to say, but your kids who are filling in the notes, too bad. This is the application, behold Christ within the context of family worship, dads, moms, children, behold Christ, look at Christ, see him in the pages of scripture, see him dying for you, see him with the crown of thorns on his head and the nails in his hands and feet, and see him praying for you and crying out for you, Father, forgive them. See him, see him raised to the right hand of the Father, look at him in the context of family worship as we gather together in care group.

Let's see him together, brothers and sisters, and let us rejoice in what it is that the Lord has done for us through Christ.

And as we gather together from Sunday to Sunday, and we worship him corporately in our Sunday celebration service, may we exalt his holy name. May we glory in Him, may we lift him up, and may there be none of us, and may it be all about Christ Himself as we praise Him together as blood purchased brothers and sisters in Christ. Want to ask if you would join with me in prayer. Oh, Father God, we just come before you, and it is my prayer that you would have used your word and me as your unworthy servant to communicate to your people in such a way that we might be able to see your glory in a way that maybe we needed to.

And Lord, may we be blown away, transformed. By your glory, God, as we behold you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.