turn to passage read for Luke chapter 2 to consider verse 14 especially but i'll read again from verse 9 down to verse 14 and lo the angel of the lord came upon them and the glory of the lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid

And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, the Saviour which is Christ the Lord, and this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men

we look at this passage it's important to understand the words we read i'm mindful of my own state on reading certain words from the scripture like well what really do they mean we speak of the word glory here glory to god but what is glory

we might think of glory in terms of the dictionary definition is first of all splendor what does it mean by splendor well i i personally think being a military man of the horse guards especially of the queen's guard when there's a ceremonial possession and they're wearing their breastplates, their helmets and everything. It's what we call a glorious sight. At the coronation, we see many gorgeous robes and things like that. And there is a sort of glory about it, a splendor about these things. I know these are worldly things. But there is something that catches our eye. We look at it. It's difficult to walk away from those things without being moved to some degree or other.

We might speak of a glorious sunset as well. Something which is natural and untainted by man. Another part of the definition is renown. There have been men of renown in our own history. Winston Churchill comes to mind. many others as well but really these things are we might say a fit subject for praise in some way or other

but here we're speaking of the glory of God and surely as we look At the scriptures we see someone who is a fit subject, a fit person to praise. I've looked and seen four areas where we might then think of giving glory to God. I'm just going to mention three of them briefly.

and the first one of those three is glory of God as God the glory of God as God himself in his holiness in his uncorruptness his faithfulness the fact he is a true God he is a fit subject for our praise to give glory to to praise him for but he has a glory of himself

we think and I've often thought of this in times past of creation we have day one of creation the earth was formed and we have light and then we have darkness the sun wasn't formed till day three so what was the light? it was the light of God I would say it was the glory of God as well the light of God as God we can read of that in Revelation and here in verse 9 and that lo the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone shone round about them there was this presence of God like Lord Jesus Christ at Mount of Transfiguration he became white and his appearance white and glistening and this is something of the holiness of God which Moses could not look upon God's face on Mount Sinai that glory of God shone around them and they were sore afraid something that they'd not encountered before something so awesome, so terrible that they were afraid

and we see something of the glory of God in Christ where it's mentioned in Daniel chapter 10 and I'll read from Daniel 10 you probably know it verses 5 and 6. Then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like ink-colour to polished brass. and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude

in Revelation chapter 1 we have a similar sight granted to John in the vision and both men were on their faces on the ground Revelation 1 verse 12 and I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven gold candlesticks and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the son of man clothed with a garment down to the foot and girt about the paps with a golden girdle his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass and as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters

that is something of the glory of Christ the glory of God remember Christ is God there's a I think sometimes I say in myself that we almost separate Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Yeah, we know that they are three persons in one God, but let us remember it is one God. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one God. The glory that Christ has is the glory of God. It's the glory of the Holy Spirit. We don't read much about the glory of the Holy Spirit.

And it's interesting in the Daniel and in Revelation, that these two visions we have one before the incarnation and one after and i was just thinking this morning about what we read in john chapter 17 verse 5 in the lord's prayer where the lord jesus christ in his prayer to god the father says and turn to it and now oh father glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was before the incarnation and then afterwards. Just something that I came across and thought about it for a moment.

So we also have the glory of God in creation. Job chapter 38 verse 4 to six. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measure thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? Or who lay the cornerstone thereof? The whole creation actually speaks of God.

we can dismiss quite confidently any idea of evolution in fact one of the things I believe is a real problem for people who deal with the scientific world is they can't see the wood for the trees instead of standing back and seeing the whole creation as a creation of God they focus on in one little bit and their minds get drawn aside from the truth by the philosophies of men Psalm 19 verse 1 the heavens declare the glory of God the greatness of God the splendor of God that he is the God of renown and the firmament showeth his handiwork even the creation shows the wonderfulness of our God in his works all the wonders that he has performed

and this brings us into the reality of the state of human nature Romans 1 verse 20 the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse because when they knew God or something of God in the creation they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened hence the idols that we see in the world hence and a very good illustration of that is in the totem poles of the American tribes, the American Indians.

So even the glory of God in what is made, in Psalms it speaks of the trees clapping their hands. Everything praises God except man. Man is a rational creature, we are told. But when we look at the diversity of things in creation, we see God's hand, the different trees. Why are they all not one jumbled massive tree? If we had evolution, surely they should be. There should be no defined lines. But we see in mankind, in the different animals in the animal kingdom, they all give glory to God as the maker of all these things.

i must move on we see the glory of god in his works in his ways included in his providence psalm 104 verse 25 to 31 so is this great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts there go the ships there is that leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein these wait all upon thee that thou mayest give them their meat in due season that thou givest them they gather thou openest thine hand they are filled with good thou hidest their face they are troubled they'll take us away their breath they die and return to the dust

just think about what happened recently during the summer we had no rain for many many many days did the nation pray for rain? nope is that rational? well in man's eyes it may be these things are in God's hand where was our nation? well where it always is these days deep in sin and if there's going to do anything before God it's to shake their fists at Him

I won't turn to it for time's sake but we also see the glory of God in John chapter 6 where he fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fishes absolutely extraordinary but all by the power of God and we give glory to God for that for his testimony to Jesus being the Christ

let us remember that all these miracles were written many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have life through his name

how men have sought to discredit God's testimony by saying that Jesus didn't feed the 5,000 everybody brought a picnic how blasphemous is that statement

but I must move on to the last section where you see the glory of God is in salvation and if you just look in at that last verse these things are done that you might know that Jesus is the Christ and believing you might have life in his name and there is the glory of God in salvation in Jesus Christ

no wonder the angels can say glory to god in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men for unto you is i know i've got a different order but for to you is born this day in the city of david a savior which is christ the lord

let us be aware of the lord's statement in isaiah 42 it's also mentioned in 48 verse 11 42 verse 8 i am the lord that is my name and my glory will i not give to another neither my praise to graven images

when we can turn to Job chapter 38 I won't for the sake of time but we can turn to Job 38 where the Lord says to Job basically where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? oh we just read it sorry where were you? where was man? what's the foundation of the earth? man thinks he's so clever we can send satellites out into shallow space when we consider deep space we're thinking of miles which well we're thinking light years don't we we don't even we don't even understand what's in this in the depths of the sea much less do we understand what's outside the orbit of the earth But the Lord goes on to talk about the mountain goats. He talks about so many things. What influence do we actually have on them? Do we truly understand it? No. And yet we think ourselves so clever.

my glory I will not give to another you know those people who say salvation is a cooperation we had a chap come to the door nice chap really nice chap is the new vicar in the village and the surrounding area but we talked about a couple of things I didn't send him away with his tail between his legs I actually shook his hand but we talked about salvation sovereign grace didn't use it in these exact terms but he was another one who believes that man somehow cooperates with God or he reaches out to God or he's moved by God by something in him which is native to him to cooperate in salvation

no Dead body, dead soul, cannot cooperate with God. It's dead. Do we understand spiritual death is the same as dead? Physically. It's not only dead to the things of God, it's in enmity to God. Hatred. With passion. It's not just opposition, it's hatred with passion.

against god and the truth of god you can see sometimes and i've seen it myself how worked up people sometimes get when you speak to them of the truth really boiling angry about it quite incredible really until we realize what state man's soul is before god i'm going to come to this later lord willing though we must consider them the angels statement to the shepherds

salvation salvation glory to God in the highest on earth peace goodwill toward men and this is the work of the Holy Spirit we read of that in verse 19 next Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart I mean she was a subject of great mercy and she glorified God as her saviour but we also have the shepherds glorifying God and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told unto them

verse 38 we see Anna obviously Simeon earlier and she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that look for redemption in Jerusalem redemption for sin redemption because man is under the curse the condemnation of the law There's nothing to take lightly. The curse of God. Whatever people might say, let's take what God's word says about it. Sin brings death. Adam and Eve, one sin, death. One sin, death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

and we know that it's a spiritual death because Adam and Eve didn't literally drop dead at that moment in time so it's not speaking of something that will come that man will die but it also speaks of his spiritual state remembering the Bible it gives us a lot of history it gives us geographical information primarily a spiritual revelation it's the word of God it's Christ in written form so we have the wonderful the glory of God shining around and this glory is indeed in the gospel of Jesus Christ

and according to the mercies of a covenant God let us remember Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 and she shall bring forth the son this is to joseph in a vision and thou shalt call his name jesus for he shall save his people from their sins now all this was done that might be fulfilled which has spoken of the lord by the prophet saying behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us God with us not God being on our side God with us the incarnated God Christ Jesus

what is the glory of Christ the glory of God being in us surely as read earlier it's salvation the wonderful salvation that is in Christ and we see again the glory of God in our salvation and in the covenant that he is made with Christ and with the Holy Spirit

God the Father God the Son and the Holy Spirit there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made us made me free from the law of sin and death made me free from the law of sin and death note those words for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law the perfect righteousness of the law is what it means might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit not after the law but after the spirit

How can the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in us? Through the imputation. Romans 5.19 For as one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. The law was fulfilled with Christ. This is the glory of the Gospel. God has done it. the righteousness of the Lord, all the Lord's demands all the Lord's demands met in Christ

and we see the testimony of Peter in Acts chapter 5 verse 33 when they heard That was chapter 5, oh sorry, verse 30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom he slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. and we are his witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him

notice the reaction of the Pharisees those who thought the law was the way to obtain salvation they cut to their heart took counsel to slay them that's a stupidity an enmity of man the wonderful gospel and yet the reaction of men is to try and eradicate that message they're only doing their own father's will that is the devil an alternative reaction we find at Acts 11 where Peter is speaking to the brethren who were of the circumcision in other words the Jews and they were troubled by the Cornelius being brought unto the household of faith. Peter recounts what had happened, and he says, and as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, Jod indeed baptized with water, but you should be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God hear this when they heard these things they held their peace and glorified God saying then hath God also to the Gentiles granted not cooperated but granted repentance unto life grant means gift unearned gift it's like grace the grant is unearned This is the reaction of the saints. It was a totally unusual event to them because it wasn't now Israel, it was Gentiles. Gentiles, Romans no less. And yet the Holy Spirit came upon them also. What was I that I could withstand God? Yes. when we see there's nobody as a people there's nobody outside of the gospel being preached to i might have put that badly but we should pray for all men says that in two timothy uh one timothy two pray for all men kings queens those are all over us we've got a shabby lot in government at the moment and i mean both sides they're men They're no better and they're certainly no worse than you. Okay, in their deeds, yes. But as men, natural men, they're no worse than you and I. Thanks be to God that he has brought us out from such behaviour and such way of thinking.

But this is the beauty of the Gospel. How does it all work out? where else do we see the glory well it's in how God has justified us when did he justify as well from eternity but here these verses but to him that worketh not believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness glory to God that he works in the hearts of unbelievers

chapter five verse six when we were yet without strength notice that word when we were without yet without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly he died for the ungodly verse eight god commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners christ died for us can't we get more emphatic than that can we who's the us go to the beginning, Romans 1, those who have obtained light, precious faith. The letter is written to the church, it's always important, I'm sure that's been said before from this place, that we consider who the letters are written to. He speaks of those whom we have received grace and apostleship. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. There you are. To the saints. Right. Died for us. This is the wonder of the Gospel.

Which is, must move on, to the praise and the glory of His grace. This is where God shines in the Gospel. that's Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 to 6 a particular favorite section of the scriptures for me because it speaks of what God has done in eternity outside of time not before time, not after time eternity is the always the now as God said when Moses asked him who shall I say sent me? I am I am, the ever-existent, continuous, no-break, ever-now God.

And we see in heaven also, in Revelation, and there's a picture, those who have run their course upon the earth, who the Lord has taken up after some who were translated Enoch and Elijah didn't actually see death but those around the throne in heaven revelation 4 verses 9 to 11 and when those beasts gave give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne who liveth forever and ever the four and 20 elders fall down before him that sat on the throne and worship him that liveth forever and ever and cast their crowns before the throne saying thou art worthy o lord to receive glory and honor and power for thou has created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 5 also but you can read that for yourselves

this is the wonder of salvation by grace alone no works because we can't do them we're incapable and if it was by works, grace is no more grace we're not under the law, remember there are verses, there's many of them in the scripture, we're not under law, we're under grace We're not under the ceremonial law, we're not under the moral law. Now, we are under grace. We're under the law of the gospel, which is a higher law. It speaks of things that the Ten Commandments don't speak of, or the ceremonial, they don't speak of. The ceremonial has been fulfilled in Christ coming and dying, fulfilling his office as the saviour, and the moral law is fulfilled in Christ died under the law under the penalty of the law under the curse of the law that is fulfilled for us shall we sin that grace may more abound God forbid and that's quite a strong statement actually God forbid we might put it in different words but as long as it's the same meaning so be it God forbid that we should sin

What does Paul say about the law? Well we can read of that in Galatians. which I shall pass over but we can sum a lot of things up by going to Galatians chapter 3 but also 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 26 I'll read from verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto his wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Let him glory in the Lord. if we don't believe in sovereign grace here's the other side here's the other so-called gospel if we believe that man shares or has a responsibility to repent if we think we've got to make a decision we've heard these words possibly over the past we've cooperated or we need to reach out to God in some way or other we first of all rob the Lord of his glory in salvation We've taken away that it's all of God.

What have all the passages that we've read said? You know, there may be other passages that people say, ah, but it says here. Well, yeah, okay, but put it together with these passages. If we're going to put the Bible together, and I often use, I've used a wheel, but I also use the illustration of the jigsaw. Get all the pieces in there. Put all the pieces in, so we can see the whole picture.

it's no good just putting in the bits you like he's got these bits that put man firmly in his place in the gutter where he belongs in the gutter sorry swallowing my words we've robbed the lord of his glory he will not share his glory with another neither will he give his praise to idols and that is an idol to think that man can do something in some way or other it's not God doing his bit and man doing his bit that's idolatry man is in charge of his own salvation you've denied the work of the Holy Spirit he robbed the Holy Spirit of his glory in his work in the new birth the Holy Spirit is not, I don't mean this in any way irreverently, sort of hanging about in the ether waiting for us to make a decision like you know when we're going to get off a bus we ring the bell so the driver knows he's got to stop at the next bus stop it's the Holy Spirit that works in us and we can't understand the things of the Spirit of God because they are 1 Corinthians 2.14 the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God their foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned so the work of the Spirit to give us new life to lead us in the things of Christ to put us in the place where we might receive and understand God's holy word

so we've robbed God the father of his glory in salvation we've robbed the holy spirit of his glory in his work as also with offering up prayers on our behalf I think I'm right on that, correct me if I'm wrong afterwards but we've also robbed the glory of Christ in salvation because you're now saying well Christ has pardoned our sin isn't this what a chap was saying the other day well Christ has died for our sin but we've got to cooperate so we're not saved by the blood of Christ we're saved by our decision It's a Trinitarian failure if that's the case. Is that a strong term? Yeah, and it needs to be. People who believe in common grace, unless they just mean the sun shines on the just and the unjust, that's as far as common grace goes. But if you believe in common grace, if you believe that man cooperates man's are responsible to repent any of them you rob god of his glory you it's a trinitarian failure

have we got a failure no you see that with what we read in revelation the elders casting their crowns before him the thief on the cross the Lord's words to him today thou shalt be with me in paradise there's no failure there we're justified he rose again for our justification all these words speak of the victory of the gospel and is all to the glory of God where does that leave you? where does it leave you? think upon these things meditate upon them as I have been doing I'm not saying I'm a clever boy I'm not far from it but meditate upon them we have these words I'll close with these words from Psalm 107 the Psalmist says O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men and I might say the most wonderful works and they're all wonderful works but the highest point of God's glory and his wonderful works is in the salvation of men it's in the gospel of Jesus Christ his son

God the son but I noted at the end of that and it does occur on one or two occasions an exclamation mark oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works glorify God that's what it means to the children of men exclamation mark and when we read Romans 1 20 and Job and Psalm 19 yeah oh that men would but let's just put aside the world what about us do we glorify God not enough none of us can say that we do to the extent that God deserves our praise let's put it that way

but thanks be unto the God for his unspeakable gift unspeakable today seems to mean yuck look at the Welsh thing terrible we can't speak of it wonderfully enough because of the great glory of God but I'd leave where we began

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And there shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.

Let us bless the name of God. Let us worship him. us confess our lack of love for him but let us also confess the greatness and the glory of God in our salvation. We have much to be thankful for when he has indeed justified filthy sinners while we were still sinners. Glory to God in the highest. Amen.