Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be preaching from the book of 2nd Corinthians,
Paul's epistle, 2nd epistle to the Church at Corinth. I'll be
preaching from chapter 4 beginning at verse 1 and the title of the
message is, The Glory of God in Christ. The Glory of God in
Christ. Now I took that title from verse
6 of this chapter which says, For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ." And when he says the face of Jesus Christ,
he means the person of Christ. Now, that's the issue of the
glory of God, the whole glory of God in salvation. Rest upon the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary to put away the
sins of His people and to establish righteousness to enable God to
be just and justifier. But let me just clue you in on
what the glory of God is. Now many people in religion will
say that you glorify God when you give Him the credit. For
example, the Pharisees stood outside the temple And he prayed
thusly, he said, I thank God that I'm not like other men.
And what he was doing there, he was giving God the credit
for the fact that he was not such a sinful man as he saw it
as others. You know, you may look around
at society and you may look at the news programs on television
or read the newspaper and you read of such heinous crimes being
committed by certain individuals, murder, And you may think in
your own mind, you say, well, I haven't murdered anyone, or
I haven't committed such and such a crime, and you may thank
God that you haven't done that. And you say, well, I'm glorifying
God. But now I want you to see something there. The Pharisee,
and that's recorded in the book of Luke, chapter 18, beginning
at verse 9, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican. The
Pharisee, when he said, I thank God, then I'm not like other
men." And then he went on to say, I fast twice a week, I give
tithes of all that I have. He was thanking God for enabling
him to do those things and separating him from other sinners. But the
thing about it is, he gave no glory to God in what he was saying.
What is the glory of God? Well, the glory of God lies in
God's intrinsic value. It's His glory in Himself, who
He is. His name is His glory. His name
that identifies Him and distinguishes Him from all counterfeits and
all idols. He says over and over again,
I am the Lord. There is none like me. There
is none that can be compared with God. You see, God is unique. He's the only true and living
God. And all of His nature and character attributes make up
His glory, His holiness. God is holy. God is omniscient. That means He's all-knowing.
God is sovereign. He's in control. He declares
the end from the beginning and works all things after the counsel
of his own will. God is just. He must do right. Shall not the God of the earth
do right? You bet he will. Abraham knew that and all of
his people know that. And yet God is also merciful. God is love, the scripture says.
God is a gracious God. So He's both just and righteous,
holy, as well as gracious and loving and merciful. All of these
things go together to show the glory of God. The glory of God
has to do with what God not only purposes to do within Himself,
but what God actually does. He created the world for His
glory. Everything in creation is to
point men to the glory of God, His wisdom, His power, His majesty. all the things that God is. And
then we find the highest of God's glory in salvation. God's provision of salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now back in the Old Testament
we saw, you may have read, where the glory of God rested in the
tabernacle within the holy of holies, the holiest of all. Many
of the old writers referred to that as the Shekinah glory. And what that means is simply
this, that is the greatest revelation and manifestation of God that
you could ever find. And it was right there in the
holiest of all, above the mercy seat where God dwelt in his manifestation
of himself. You see, you can't contain God.
God is omnipresent. You can't put God in a box. You
can't contain Him. When they sought to build a house
for God, God reminded them, you can't contain God. He's in all
places at all times. He's God. But there was the manifestation
of God there in the tabernacle, in the holiest of all, above
the mercy seat. And what He was teaching is this.
The greatest revelation of the glory of God is in the salvation
of sinners by His grace and mercy in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what this scripture
is speaking of, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
You can see manifestations of God's glory in creation. The
heavens declare the glory of God, David wrote in Psalm 19.
You can see it in the universe, in the stars, in every aspect,
in the human body. David said, I'm fearfully and
wonderfully made. You think about the order of
things. How God in his wisdom and power set things down in
nature in order. Everything working in its own
way. That's not the product of chance evolution. That's the
product of the eternal wisdom and knowledge and power of Almighty
God. Now man by nature will not see
that and will not worship God. Romans 1 verse 18 and on tells
us that man by nature will worship the creature rather than the
Creator, worship himself. That's our problem. And we reason
from the ground up. We think God's like ourselves
and therefore we fashion a God after our own image rather than
seeing God as He reveals Himself in Christ. That's what Paul's
talking about here. And so when sinners seek after
God, they won't find Him, because they're not seeking Him aright.
They're not seeking Him in His Word, as He describes Himself. The Scripture says that we who
know Christ, we who are saved, we worship God in spirit. That
means two things. That means we worship God not
as we think Him to be, or as we conclude Him to be naturally,
But we worship God as He reveals Himself here in this Word. Whatever
God says about Himself in this book, that's what we believe.
And then we worship God in Christ because God reveals Himself to
sinners in Christ. You see, there's no way that
a sinner can see and know and experience the glory of God without
a mediator, without a redeemer, without a Savior who can satisfy
the justice of God. Yes, God is a merciful God, but
He's also a just God. And the only way He can be both
a just God and a Savior, a merciful Savior, is in one who is able
and willing to satisfy His holy law and justice against our sins. And that's what Christ did. He
is God in human flesh. He's the glory of God incarnate.
And so when sinners approach God, We must have a mediator. We must have a redeemer. We must
have a kinsman redeemer. We must have a surety. We must
have a substitute who is able and willing to die for our sins.
Sin demands death, and without the shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness. So that glory of God is seen in the person
and work of Christ. The Bible says that in Him, in
Christ, dwelleth all of the fullness of the Godhead, the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit bodily. and you are complete in Him.
You see, in Christ alone. Now, that's the glory and power
of a gospel ministry. Up here in verse 1, Paul says
that. He says, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we
have received mercy, we faint not. We don't quit. Now, what
ministry is he talking about? He's talking about the ministry
of the glory of God in Christ. This is the ministry of the gospel. It is the good news of how God
can justify sinners. It is the good news of how a
sinner can be saved eternally, not by his works, but by the
work of another, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the glory of God.
You see, our puny, filthy, weak, sinful attempts to save ourselves
do not glorify God. That's what the Pharisee was
saying, in essence. when he's saying, I thank God
I'm not like other men. In other words, he was giving
God credit for enabling him to be righteous. Well, that doesn't
glorify God, you see. But here comes a publican in
that same parable in Luke chapter 18, and he beats on his breast
and he says, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Now, merciful
there is a derived word from the word propitiation. You may
have seen that word. It's four times in the New Testament. And what does propitiation mean?
It means satisfaction to God's law through a substitute, through
a sin offering, a sin bearer. And back in the Old Testament,
that was pictured and typified in what was called the mercy
seat. That was the lid that went over the Ark of the Covenant,
which contained the law. And the high priest, one time
a year on the Day of Atonement, he had to take the blood from
off the altar of burnt offering and bring it into the holiest
of all and sprinkle that blood on the mercy seat. Now, all of
that was a picture and type of salvation based upon the death
of Christ, based upon his paying the debt for his people, for
their sins. And that word propitiation, that
means God satisfied. You see, that was only a picture
back in the Old Testament. But it was a spiritual, eternal
reality on the cross of Calvary when Christ shed His blood on
Calvary and said, it's finished. He paid the debt in full. He
satisfied the justice of God. And the glory of God shone forth
in the person and work of Christ. Every attribute, every characteristic
of God was honored and magnified and manifested and revealed right
there on the cross of Calvary as Christ completed that work.
And that was testified to and manifested and revealed by God
when He raised Him from the dead. He died, He was buried, He was
raised from the dead unto the glory of God and because of our
justification. And now He's seated at the right
hand of God ever living to make intercession for His people.
He's the propitiation for our sin. And that's what this ministry
is here. It's the ministry of God's glory.
It's the ministry of the good news. It's the ministry of the
gospel. Over in chapter 3, Paul called
it the ministry of righteousness. Because Christ brought in the
only righteousness by his obedience unto death that would glorify
God in the salvation of sinners. He also called it the ministry
of the Spirit. because Christ's death on the
cross ensured the work of the Holy Spirit to give life and
light and to bring his people unto him, bring them to faith
and repentance. That's the new birth. He also
called it the ministry of glory, the ministry of reconciliation
over in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This ministry, he said, and
he says the reason we have this ministry is because we've received
mercy. Now, not mercy at the expense of justice, because that
would be dishonoring to God. But we've received this ministry
because of mercy that is consistent with God's justice. How? In Christ. and based upon what he accomplished
at Calvary. And so he says, therefore we
don't quit. We faint not. He says in verse 2, we renounce
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. We don't have to be deceptive. We don't have to hide the truth.
We don't have to water it down with man's eloquent words of
wisdom and philosophy and theology. We don't have to confuse it.
All we have to do is just preach it simply, plainly, and continually,
and lay it right out there. We can tell the truth about God,
who God is. He is the God of this universe.
He's sovereign. He's holy. He's just. He's righteous. He's truthful.
He always judges according to truth. We can tell the truth
about His mercy and His love and His grace. We don't have
to set one attribute of God against the other and mangle the truth
and make it a lie. We can tell the truth of a just
God and a Savior, the truth of a righteous judge, as well as
a loving Father, because we know Christ. Because it's all centered
on Christ. He's the foundation of it. He
is the heart of it. He's the goal of it. In Him,
as I said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now let
me go on further though. We can also tell the truth about
ourselves. We don't have to pretend. You
know religion makes people lie about themselves? Because religion,
I'm talking about man's religion now, human works religion, those
who preach salvation by works in some way, at some stage, to
some degree, force themselves and their hearers to lie because
they always have to pretend to be something they're not. They
have to pretend that they're righteous in themselves when
they're not. I've heard people talk about
having a perfection within themselves and that's a pretense, that's
a lie, that's deception is what that is. But you see, I'm telling
you right now, the one speaking to you on this television program
is nothing more than a sinner saved by the grace and mercy
of God. And I don't have to lie to you.
I should be a responsible man, a responsible citizen, a responsible
Christian. I should try to live what I preach. I should try to be like Christ,
but not to be saved, but because I already am saved. not to be
righteous, but because I already am in Christ. You see, the motivation
for such things, for obedience, in the Christian religion, the
true Christian religion, is the grace of God, gratitude and love,
not a debt of law. So, we don't have to lie about
ourselves. I'm a sinner, and in this life,
I'll be nothing more than a sinner saved by grace. And when I draw
my last breath, before I go to be with my Savior. The best that
I can say of myself is I'm a sinner saved by grace. Now, when I go
to be with Him, I'll be made perfect within myself. But that's
by His power and by His grace. Now, we can tell the truth about
how God saves sinners. We don't have to lie about that.
It's by grace. It's not conditioned on the sinner.
It's conditioned on Christ. He fulfilled the conditions,
the requirements, the stipulations. Everything that God requires
of me in order for me to be saved, I find complete in Christ. That's the ministry that we have. Now, in these next few verses
here, he gives us two things that I want you to notice. And
this is very important. He shows us Satan's goal in his
workings here on earth. This is Satan's goal. And then
he shows us God's goal in the salvation of his people. Well,
what is Satan's goal? Now look at verse 3. He says,
but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
You see, if you don't know the gospel, what does that tell you?
You're lost. The Bible speaks of the lost
sheep. Christ spoke of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
What was their problem? They didn't know the way. The
scripture says in Isaiah 53, all we like sheep have gone astray. Gone our own way. And what he's
saying here, to be lost, is to not know the way to God. Now what is the way to God? Or
better yet, who is the way to God? Christ is. He said, I am
the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh to God but by me. You see, that's what gospel preachers
and ministers, evangelists, that's what this ministry is designed
to do. It's to point you to Christ who
is the way. That's what John the Baptist
did. He pointed his hearers to Christ.
He said, I'm not the Messiah. Don't follow me, follow Christ.
He said, I'm not even worthy to untie his shoelaces. I must
decrease, he must increase. You need to know the way. The
Bible says it's a straight and narrow way, as opposed to the
broad way that leads to destruction. Straight meaning not straight
as an arrow, but straight as in a straight that ships would
pass through, going to port. And it's a narrow, a straight
gate. And what he's saying there is
it's too narrow for anything but the sinner himself coming
before God through Christ. It's the only way is Christ and
Him crucified. There's no other way. There's
none other way given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. If you seek to come any other
way, you'll remain lost. If you seek to bring your works
into that way, you'll remain lost. So if our gospel be hid,
our good news of salvation by grace through Christ, if it's
hid, it's hid to them that are lost. Now, what's the problem? Well, look at verse 4. It says,
"...in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." Now what he's
talking about is the work of Satan. Satan is called the God
of this world. Now God, the true and living
God, is the God of this world and the God of the universe,
but Satan has a usurped authority that's been given him and allowed
him over the kingdom of darkness. He is able to work some of his
ways among some people. Who are they? It says those who
believe not. He's blinded their minds. And
what I want you to see out of this is the work of Satan. Now many people are deceived
about the work of Satan. Many people think that Satan
is out here in the world promoting open immorality and irreligion,
the works of the flesh or the or the debauchery that comes
across in the world. But let me tell you what Satan's
goal is. Satan's goal, and this is his
mode of operation and his work, Satan's goal is to keep you from
seeing the glory of God in Christ. His goal, however he does it,
is to keep sinners in the dark concerning the right way of salvation
by God's grace and mercy in Christ. And you know one of the greatest
ways that Satan uses to blind the minds of those who believe
not? False religion. Satan would rather have you sitting
in a church somewhere, a church service somewhere, hearing a
false gospel thinking you're saved, rather than having you
down in one of the local bars or local brothels. He would much
rather have you settled into a false peace in false religion
without knowing Christ. Now you need to understand that
that's his goal. That's how he is allowed to keep sinners condemned.
He blinds the minds of those who believe not. Don't let Satan
get a hold on you and blind you. Look to Christ, you see. Rest
in Him and His blood and His righteousness alone for all of
salvation. Look to the resurrected Christ. Look to the ascended Christ.
Look to the one who's coming again to judge this world and
gather His people. But now Paul says, here's God's
goal. Now, first of all, he says in verse 5, For we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake." Paul says, I'm not telling you I'm the way.
I'm not telling you I'm the Savior. I preach Christ. I'm not preaching
myself. I'm not promoting myself. I'm
not trying to get a following for myself. I'm trying to get
you to follow Christ. And so he says, verse 6, now
here's God's goal in the salvation of his people. For God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. Now,
what is he talking about? The God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. That's the God of creation. The
God who created this world and said, let there be light, and
there was light. In a physical way, he created
this earth and created light, and there was light. But my friend,
in a spiritual way, eternal way, look here, he says, hath shined
in our hearts, our minds, our affections, our will, our very
soul, the very inner man, to give what? The light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. God gives knowledge. He's the great teacher. The Bible
says that his people shall be all taught of God. They'll be
drawn by him in irresistible, invincible grace, being convinced
by the Holy Spirit of their sinfulness and depravity. of their impotence
to save themselves by their best works, and they'll be driven
and drawn to Christ with cords of love, to see the glory of
His person, who He is, God in human flesh, without sin, to
see what He accomplished at Calvary. He put away my sins and established
the only righteousness whereby I stand complete before God.
Why he did it? For the glory of God is both
a just God and a Savior. And where he is now, he suffered
unto death, he was buried, he arose again the third day, and
he's ascended unto the Father. He's seated at the right hand
of God ever living to make intercession for us. And it's in that great
act of salvation, but for sinners, who do not deserve salvation,
who cannot earn salvation, that we see the greatest manifestation,
the highest manifestation of the glory of God in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You haven't even begun to see
the great glory of God until you've seen Christ and Him crucified. Do you understand that? And when
God shines in your heart, you'll come to Christ. You won't have
to sit and wait. You won't have to sit and ponder.
You won't wrestle in the choice. You'll come running to Christ
as a sinner in need, a sinner seeking mercy. He'll make you
thirsty, and He'll drive you to Christ, the water of life.
He'll make you hungry, and He'll drive you to Christ, the bread
of life. He'll show you that you're bankrupt
spiritually, and He'll drive you to Christ, who is the riches
of His glory and His grace. He'll strip you naked and drive
you to Christ to clothe you in His righteousness alone. And
He'll bring you to your rope's end where you see you have no
other hope but what He provides freely, mercifully, graciously,
and abundantly in the person and the finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this message has been
helpful to your understanding of the scriptures and the gospel
itself. If you'd like to receive a copy of this message, listen
to the announcer as he'll give you the details. The title of
the message is The Glory of God in Christ. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word.