The Lord knows and the Lord's
brought us on a journey and Graham's going to come and read out of
Ephesians chapter 1 in a minute. One of the remarkable things
is that we keep finding that the gospel that we delight in,
the declaration of who the Lord Jesus Christ is that we delight
in, is offensive to people and particularly offensive to religious
people who have spent a lot of time in religion. When I came
back from India-Norman death at some stage, and I'm not quite
sure why, but they asked me to bring some studies out of Ephesians
to their house church group. I don't know how long it lasted. It wasn't very long, was it really?
Probably only a month or so, and eventually people found the
God of Ephesians chapter 1 just simply saying, this is what God
says about God. We are reading what God says
about God. And the very verses that a few
of us found delightful, the rest found so, so offensive. And that offense has remained
to this day. And as the Lord promises, there's
a division among the people because of him. But our God's word stands
firm. So Graham's going to come and
read these verses which offended these intensely active religious
people. So thanks, Graham. Ephesians
chapter 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, and peace from
God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure,
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. That we should be to
the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye
also trusted, After that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed. You were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. It's one of those glorious go-to
passages for all of the gospel preachers throughout time, isn't
it? And we're just so thankful that God has written it. But
I just love the way again and again it's referred to, to the
praise of His glory. But listen to what it says in
verse 12, that we should be to the praise of His glory. who first trusted in Christ. God the Father entrusted all
of his name, all of his character into the hands of his Son. But
also he entrusted the bride of his Son into the hands of his
Son. And that's exactly what Ephesians,
exactly what the Scriptures are declaring, and it's exactly what
Lord willing we'll come to see As we turn in our Bibles, and
if you turn with me to John Chapter 16, I just want to read these
remarkable promises. A couple of weeks ago we looked
at the coming of the Holy Spirit, and in verse 16.8 and in verse
16.13 of John Chapter 16, John's Gospel, it speaks of the Spirit
coming. And so there are two references
to his coming here. But let's go back to verse six
and put this in context. Because I've said these things,
because I've said that you will bear testimony to me and you
all will be murdered for me. The context is the context of
great seriousness, isn't it? He's not just talking about the
fact that he is going to the cross, but he's saying that all
of you who stand with me and follow me are appointed to death
for my sake in this world. And yet, he says, in the midst
of this, there are two great comforts, aren't there? The comforter
will come. The comforter will come to all of the elect children
of God. He says, let's go back to verse
six. But because I've said these things
unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. He's going and they're
going to die. Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it is necessary that I go for you, that I go away, for
if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if
I depart, I will send him unto you, and when he is come, He
will prove, He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness
and judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. How be it? when He,
the Spirit of Truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth,
for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine. Therefore, said I, he shall take
of mine and shall show it unto you. The title of my message
is He Shall Glorify Me. It's the glorious work of the
Blessed Holy Spirit to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
going to sing again number 69. And my prayer is that the Holy
Spirit will do as He's promised to us this morning and He will
glorify His Son in our midst. We're going to sing number 69
in our hymn book. Hark the voice of love and mercy
sounds aloud from Calvary. See it rends the rocks asunder,
shakes the earth and veils the sky. Thank you. Hark the voice
of love and mercy sounds aloud ? As the rocks of slumber chase
the earth and the earth's sky ? ? He is finished, he is finished
? ? He who died is saved as new ? ? He is finished, he is finished
? ? He who died is saved as new ? Yeah. he is special words we have before
us the Lord has led us to on this day of celebration in our
church of an engagement and this is a glorious glorious passage
of scripture and I'm excited about these next few chapters
in John's gospel because we just have the most remarkable remarkable
declarations and we live in the fulfilment of these words and
we will live in the fulfilment of these words until the Lord
Jesus Christ returns. And glory, glory is revealed
in Emmanuel's land. So let's read these verses again. He says in verse 12, our savior
on this fateful night at the end of this supper before he
goes to the garden, I have yet many things to say unto you,
but you cannot bear them now. How be it when the spirit of
truth is come, he will, guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine, and shall show it unto you, all things that
the Father hath of mine. Therefore said I, he shall take
of mine and shall show it unto you. Don't you love the shalls
and the wills of our great God? This is his work of grace, isn't
it? It's his work. The work of the Comforter, the
work of the Spirit of Truth, is to glorify me. He shall glorify me. That word glory is a fascinating
word because in the original Hebrew it means weightiness or
heaviness. It speaks of him who has substance
in his glory. It's not some ephemeral thing.
It can also mean splendor, dignity, abundance, reputation. It is linked to the very name
of God. And this is the glorious Spirit's
work. He does too. There are two comings
mentioned here, as I said earlier in verse eight. When he's come,
he's going to reprove the world, the world of God's elect of sin
and of righteousness and judgment. They will see that their great
sin is their unbelief. They will see and continue to
see that their troubles in this world are through unbelief. We
simply don't believe. Lord, I believe, help thou my
unbelief. Lord you have to make me believe
of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no
more. Only righteousness, only perfect
righteousness goes into the presence of God. The only possible way
you can be in the presence of God Almighty in all of His glory
and see His glory is for you to be as righteous as God. You
have to be robed in the very righteousness of God, and this
is his work, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged,
and the judgment of God's children, the judgment of the great enemy
of the children of God, all of that judgment is done. All of
it is done. And this convicting work, this
convicting work of the comforter, and this convicting work of the
spirit of truth, is something that the children of God never
get over. They never get over it. It's
a work that's begun and it's a work that continues in the
hearts of their lives. They're always aware. They're
always aware of their sin. They're always made aware by
God's Spirit working in our lives that the only righteousness we
have is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. On that
great day, if you turn with me to Matthew 25, I want you to
see that the children of God never get over this. They never
get over these convicting works. They never get over this work
of a comforter. They never get over this work
of the spirit of truth. I love how the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of himself in Matthew 25, 31. This is a great day in
which all humanity will be standing there. from Adam and Eve and Abel to
the very last human being born on this planet. We'll all be
standing there that day. He says in verse 31, when the
Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divideth the sheep from the goats. And here are the sheep and the
goats to find. And I don't have, for want of
time, I can't read it all to you, but I want you to understand
that the righteous, he talks about what the righteous have
done in those verses from 30, five on, but then the righteous,
verse 37, the righteous shall answer him, Lord, when did we
see you? When saw we thee, and hungered,
and fed thee, and thirsted thee, and gave thee drink? I don't
have any recognition or recollection of a single thing that I have
done that's any good at all. Nothing to boast in on that day. That's what the sheep will say.
And he says, you've done it. But the goats, the goats. in
verse 44, they answer him when he says, I was thirsty and you
gave me a drink and I was strange and you took me not in and naked
and you clothed me not sick and in prison you visited me not.
Then they shall also answer him saying, Lord, when saw we and
hungered and a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison
and did not minister unto thee. What's the difference? It's the work of God the Holy
Spirit. Isn't it? It's the work of religion
to tell men what they have to do to get right with God. It's
the glory of the gospel to tell people that the Lord Jesus Christ
did it all and he's come to save sinners who have no righteous
deeds of their own whatsoever. They see sin mixed with everything
they did and everything they do. They are wretched men till
the end and they keep thanking God, but thanks be to God. That's the cry of grace. It's the cry of the Lord's servants. One of the chapters that we have
gone to so, so many times in all of our years together is
Exodus 33. And Moses says, if you don't
go with me, if you don't go with me, don't take us up. Don't let
us take a step in any direction of what we call worshipping you
or serving you without you going with us. But Moses says, show
me thy glory. He had seen the most glorious
things in the power of God and the providence of God and the
faithfulness of God to his promises. They'd been there 450 years in
that nation held captive. that had all of those promises.
Moses had witnessed the promises of Abraham coming true and he'd
seen all the plagues on that nation. God destroyed a superpower
just with a man who had the rod of God and the word of God in
his hand. And they come to Mount Sinai
and Moses is up on the mountain, as you know, and while he's away,
They do the most extraordinarily wicked thing you could possibly
imagine and make a golden calf and say, this golden calf is
the God that brought you out of Egypt and Moses. Moses says to his brothers and
sisters, strap on your swords and go through the camp and kill
them. 3,000 men died that day at the
foot of Mount Sinai before the very presence and the glory of
God. And the Lord says that he plagued
Israel. In the midst of all of that,
No wonder Moses says, show me your glory. Show me your glory. I've seen your wrath. on Egypt. I've seen your wrath
displayed on this world. I've seen your mercy. Show me again your glory. Show
me again your glory. And that's my prayer for us here
today, that the Comforter will come and do as he's promised.
He will glorify me. Our comfort as children of God
is in revealed the more glorified he is the more and we cannot
glorify him enough we can't we can't exalt the Lord Jesus Christ
high enough and we can't bring man down low enough it's impossible
but it's our prayer isn't it glorify glorify glorify me So
let's go to our text now. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
please fulfill these promises before us and those who might
hear us this time, Heavenly Father, that we might see your glory,
the glory of your dear and precious Son, that we might find our rest
and our comfort in the Comforter's words and the spirit of truth
revealed. We pray in his name and for his
glory. Amen. So the Lord begins this
section by saying, I have yet many things to say unto you,
but you cannot hear them now. The Saviour's words are precious,
aren't they? And His way of delivering them
is precious. And He delivers them in a way
and at a time which is best for us to receive them. And you who
have known the Lord and walked with the Lord know that that's
how He teaches you. We can't accept it all in one
go. He needs to keep growing us in
the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. A disciple
is a learner. We have never ever got above
being learners. We are delving into mysteries
that are way, way, way beyond us. We believe them by faith,
and we embrace them in love, but nevertheless, there is much
that we cannot bear now, and the Lord knows that. He brings
his truth to his people in such a way that it comes with such
convicting power that it is just burned in our hearts. The word of God is like a fire
shut up in my bones, says Jeremiah, and I can't hold it in. But the blessed Holy Spirit will
come at a time And he's, as I've said earlier, when he comes in
convicting power, when sent by the Lord, he comes in glorifying
power. If he's come in convicting power,
he'll come in glorifying power. Man is proud and must be brought
down, and that is just the work of God alone. How be it, verse
13, how be it when he, the Spirit of truth, what a lovely description
of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, everything he says
is true. All of this book that you have in your hand is a testimony,
a written testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of
truth. is come, when he is come, there
is absolutely no doubt in the world about his coming, there's
no possibility of any failure. He's the Holy Spirit, he's the
Spirit of Truth, he's the Comforter, he's another Comforter. Graham
read it in Ephesians 1, verse 13, he's the Spirit of Promise. He births us, he reveals our
adoption, he reveals the Lord Jesus Christ, in us. That's what happened to Paul
on the road to Damascus, wasn't it? God was pleased to reveal his
Son in him. But what had happened before
that? Proud Paul was reduced to grovelling blind Paul being
led by the hand. It can happen in a heartbeat,
and it must happen at God's timing in the lives of all of His people. He calls it the time of love.
The time of love. And it'll be accompanied by things
that are as painful as the prospect that lay before these apostles. But if He reveals Himself in
glory to you, then there is nothing to pay. There will be a lot to pay. God
demands life from you, all of your life. But God's children give it up
willingly because of how glorious he is. He shall glorify me. He shall glorify me. He'll glorify the Lord Jesus
Christ in all of his attributes, and in all. Let's go back to
verse 39. I've missed a piece there, I'm
sorry. When he, howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come,
he will guide you into all truth. This is how he's going to glorify.
Me, says the Lord Jesus Christ. He'll guide you into all truth. He'll guide you into all truth. What is truth? Pilate asked the Lord Jesus Christ
that question. In a couple of chapters we'll
come to it. The truth is a person. I am the truth. I am the truth.
Christ is the truth. He'll guide you into all truth.
Only new life, only a new creation learns anything. Flesh gives
birth to flesh, but Spirit gives birth to Spirit. He will guide
you into all truth. He won't drive you into all truth. He won't force you, but He'll
guide you. He'll guide you into the truth
of who the Lord Jesus Christ is, all truth, all truth, all
that is necessary to live in the presence of God Almighty.
He says in 1 John 2.20, but you have an unction, you have an
anointing from the Holy One, you have the work of the Holy
Spirit from the Holy One, and you know all things. I am looking at some people in
all of the matters that matter most in all of life. are incredibly
wise, brilliantly intelligent, superbly wise people. You know all things, you know
the Lord Jesus Christ, you know all things. Christ is all, and
Christ is in all. He will guide, he will guide,
He will guide, he'll bring that convicting work of sinners and
then he'll guide people into all the truth of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. And listen to what he says, our
great saviour and teacher. He says he'll guide you into
all truth, just one truth. All of the truth of who God is,
all of the truth of how God saves sinners, and all of the truth
of who man is, is just one truth, isn't it? It's one truth with
many aspects. all of the glory of our great
God and Saviour. There are a multitude of truths,
truths about Him, but all of those truths just make up one
truth. He'll guide you into all the
truth. We just believe God. If God has everything about God. We can't. Your God is too small if we can
understand everything about him. But we believe. I love what Paul
says. This is his confession. He says,
Here I am standing guilty, and this is what I confess before
the court of all men. I confess after the way which
they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing
all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets.
There is no worship of God if there's a denial of anything
of the truth about God. Forget about it. There are bunches
of people all over this world thinking that they're worshipping
God, and you then go and talk to them about an absolute sovereign
God and a particular redemption and salvation by sovereign grace,
you'd go to people as we did some years ago and you'd just
read Ephesians 1 and say, God says this and it's true. And they will continue believing
that they're worshipping God and they'll deny every single
one of those words. You deny one, you deny them all. You're guided. I love the fact
that we are guided by God. Everyone is guided by someone
or something or some group of things all of the time. You know
for your own selves that you have been guided into all sorts
of things and we desperately need a guide to guide us into
the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. If you think of all
the rabbit burrows that all of us have run down, and I've run
down a bucket load of them over the years, and when I was in
religion I thought, I thought that I was on the right track
and I thought that I was being guided by people that I could
trust. You've entrusted yourself into people's care. You've entrusted
your souls into people's care and then you find out when those
people are tested by the simplicity of the Word of God and the simplicity
of what happened at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those
same people who had guided you and you had trusted, you find
not only do they we're going to be guided. That
word guide is a strong word, a strong word. It signifies to be guided in
a way not only to discover the truth as an object of understanding,
not only just to discover the truth, but bowing the will to
the obedience of it, Matthew Poole says. Not only do we Do
we understand, do we believe what God says? But we actually
love what God says. And we wouldn't want to change,
what would you want to change out of this word that we have
before us? What sentence or phrase would you want to change out
of those words that Graham read out of Ephesians chapter one?
Not a single one of them. This spirit comes as a guide,
and I'm thankful for a guide. People who need a guide are those
who know that they can't guide themselves. Lord, don't leave
me to myself. Don't leave me to myself. Don't
leave me to my own wisdom. And hear the Holy Spirit, hear
the Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit in a way which should be challenging
to all of those religious people throughout this world who speak
much of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit this and the
Holy Spirit that, and they call on the Holy Spirit to do these
things. Listen to what the Lord says. For he shall not speak
of himself. How do you know the Holy Spirit's
speaking? When you hear about the Lord Jesus Christ. People
say the Spirit told me. because if the Spirit's told
you something special, if you've had a word from God, as people
say, well, I've got the same word from God. We can both read
it together. Let's find out what God says
in his word. I had people in India in very
senior positions guiding hundreds of young people who said that
if I have my word from God and my word from God contradicts
the very written word of God, then my word from God stands
above the word of God. The Holy Spirit has not come
in any convicting power to that man at all. But listen to what
the Lord says. But whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak. He'll speak the words of Christ.
He'll speak the very words of Christ. I love Peter's description
of this book you have in your hands and all of the Old Testament.
What's the Old Testament about? Well, there's a lovely summary
in 1 Peter 1, verse 11. It speaks of the Spirit of Christ
which was in all of these prophets of old. And it did signify, which
testified beforehand, what is all of the Old Testament. This
is a summary description of all of the Old Testament. The sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. That's what this
book's about. That's all those people writing
about the sufferings of Christ and the glory of Christ. It's
a great test, isn't it, for all religious movements and for all
denominations and for everyone that you are called upon to test.
Do they say, do they speak much of Christ? He will show, and
He will show you, He will show a particular people things to
come. And that word show, I'm not sure
how you pronounce it properly, but it's S-H-E-W. It means to
announce, to make known, to declare, to report, to speak. See, it comes in words, doesn't
it? God speaks in words. He will show you things to come. What is coming to believers? You just read the rest of this
New Testament and read the Old Testament and what lies before
believers is trials in this life and glory to come. We will tread
the path in this life that the Lord Jesus Christ trod, didn't
they? The sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
But we We know what is to come. To go back to John 16 verse 11,
isn't it? We know that judgment has come. We know that righteousness has
gone to the Father and you see me no more. When the Lord Jesus
Christ went to the Father in righteousness, so did I. When the Lord Jesus Christ ascended
onto the throne of glory, Ephesians chapter 2 says that we are now
seated with Him. When He comes, He's going to
bring all of His people back with Him. He's going to wrap
up this universe and He'll take all of His people into Heaven's
glories and we will behold His glory. All of the new creation
is about beholding the glory of Christ forever. There are so many things to come,
but let's get the big picture and the glorious things right
before us. We know, says Romans 8, doesn't
it? We know that God works all things
together for the good. We know that for all of the children
of God throughout this time, throughout this age, we know. This is what we know. He'll show
you things to come. We know what's coming. that all
things are working together for a particular group of people,
for good to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to his purpose. And this is a description of
the them, that all these things will work together. For whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, he also glorified. What's coming for
believers? Glory. Glory in the presence
of God. We'll be made like him so that
we can see him. You can go on and read the rest
of Romans chapter 8 and you'll see the things that have come.
Who's going to separate us from the love of Christ? Verse 35. These things are coming, aren't
they? Tribulation or distress or persecution
or famine or nakedness or peril or sword. As it is written, for
thy sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep
for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." Can't be separated. No condemnation, no separation
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. of righteousness
because I go to the Father. He shall glorify me, verse 14. He shall glorify me. For he shall receive of mine
and shall show it unto you. He'll receive of mine. We could
spend the rest of our morning and the rest of our life describing
the mind, couldn't we? All things he shall glorify,
he shall receive of mine, mine in eternity. I love to think about, and all
I can do is think about it, but I love to think about what happened
in eternity, in that extraordinary union between the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Blessed Holy Spirit, and God the Father. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was with
God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him and
without him was anything made. Hebrews 1 gives us a glorious
description of the Lord Jesus Christ right now, doesn't it?
He's seated in heaven's glories. You listen to what? the Holy
Spirit declares of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the things
of mine, aren't they? God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophet, hath in these last days spoken unto us by sun, it is
in the original. whom he appointed heir of all
things, and by whom also he made the world, who bring the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person. Listen to
what this description of him, this is the mind, upholding all
things by the word of his power. When he had by himself purged
our sins, washed them away in his blood, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
Almighty. Jesus of Nazareth is God Almighty. God the Father is God Almighty. God the Holy Spirit is God Almighty. What's his? Everything. What's his in providence? Absolutely everything. What's
His in grace and mercy? Absolutely everything for a believer. Christ is all. Does that mean if you have Christ,
you have everything? According to God, you have. You have everything
in this world that you need, don't you? For you young couple
looking ahead to a future, if you have Christ, you have everything.
You have everything. Everything. Lacking nothing. Everything. He shall receive of mine, he shall
receive of my words and he'll show them unto you. Don't you
love the words of the Lord Jesus Christ? This book is a book of
him, isn't it? It's all about him. The glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ is him revealed. he is. The glory of men and the glory
of nations is in the things that we see, the glory of the athletes
that are running around tracks and swimming pools in Paris at
the moment. The glory is in their achievements. An Australian girl won a gold
medal apparently last night, and part of the reason she won
the gold medal is that a whole bunch of people fell off their
bikes, including the best ones in the world. There's a fella
called Stephen Bradbury who got the glory of a gold medal some
years ago, and the reason he did was because everyone else
fell over on an ice skating rink. None of them got any glory. And
he got some glory, for a little while. But the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ is not in anything other than his person. It's the glory of His grace to
bring His glory to His people. No one to Paul's could say, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. God forbid that I should glory when He comes in blessed convicting
power and comforting conviction and comes as a spirit of truth
will cry out like Moses, show me your glory. Show me your glory. He'll show it unto you. The Holy
Spirit's blessed work is to show the Lord Jesus Christ through
the written word, illuminating the hearts of his people to lay
hold of him How do we glorify Christ? By receiving. That's what he's
saying, isn't it? By receiving who he is. By receiving what is said about
him. By receiving his blessing. Just
receiving his truth. How do we honour the Lord Jesus
Christ in this world? Believing what God said. Believing,
faith just lays hold of who he is. From eternity, through all
of the Old Testament pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ in promise
coming, to the glory of his incarnation, all of these things are mine,
he says, to all of those glorious 33 years on this life. Someone
had to live before the law of God and obey it perfectly from
his heart, with love in his heart for every single word of it.
And he did it. But he did it as a glorious surety. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did, he did in union with his people. The things of Christ
are all of the glories of his covenant. the covenant in His
blood, the covenant of grace, the eternal covenant that Ephesians
chapter 1 delightfully expresses. We embrace all of Him. We glorify. His life is glorified,
isn't it? All the way right unto the cross. Everything about him is glorious,
isn't it? His sovereignty is glorious. His righteousness is
glorious. His obedience is glorious. His
faithfulness is glorious. His wisdom is glorious. His omnipotence
is glorious. His omnipresence is glorious.
His omniscience is glorious. His justice is glorious. His
wisdom is glorious. And yet there is a glory in his
person, which is just remarkable, isn't he? Matthew 11, 28 is just
such an amazing call from our God and a command. He says, come
unto me, all ye that labour and heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. That's the spirit's work, isn't
it? Not just learn about me, learn of me. Take of mine and
reveal it to you. But listen to his description
of himself. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will
find rest for your souls. The spirit of truth will come.
We read it in 1 Peter 1 verse 11, the Spirit of Christ and
the Spirit of Truth and the Holy Spirit, it testifies of the glory,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory that shall come. What's coming to believers, what's
coming to the children of God is glorious. I'll finish by reading some verses
out of Hebrews chapter 10, starting at verse 14. It speaks of the
glory of the sanctifying work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
verse 15 says, Whereof the Holy Ghost is also a witness unto
us. He's a witness. For after that
he said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. And their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where there is remission
of these, there's no more offering for sin. If the Holy Spirit has
done that convicting work, we don't offer anything. We just
accept and rejoice in the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are sanctified through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once
for all. Cole, some years ago, had printed
on our Bibles the verses out of 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 30, but of him are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. According as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. His all my wisdom,
his all my righteousness, his all my sanctification, his all
my redemption, his all. Amen.