Turn to. The book of 2nd Corinthians
2nd Corinthians chapter 3. 2nd Corinthians chapter 3. I
want to read a few verses here. And these will serve as our text
2nd Corinthians 3. 3, verses 13 through 18. 2 Corinthians
3, verses 13 through 18. It says, verse 12, let's start
there. Seeing then that we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech, boldness of speech,
and not as Moses, which put a veil, who put a veil over his face
that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end
of that which is abolished. That is, they could not look
on his face when he came down from the mountain that we were
reading about. Verse 14, Their minds were blinded,
for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in
the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. And even unto this day when Moses
is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it
shall turn, that is, the heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil
shall be taken away. Now, the Lord is that Spirit
where the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty, freedom to understand, freedom to know,
believe, freedom from sin. But we all, we all, talking to
believers, talking to the Corinthian church, we all, with an open
face, not veil, but with an open face, beholding, as in a glass,
the glory of the Lord. And we are changed into the same
image from glory to glory by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit
of the Lord. He says, we all. Now, he's talking
about himself, the apostles, all believers. We all behold
the glory of the Lord, he said. We're beholding the glory of
the Lord, but through a glass. Not the complete Shekinah glory,
but We are beholding his glory through a glass. Now, our Lord
said this one time. He said, an evil and adulterous
generation seeks after a sign. And that describes our generation,
seeking after signs. People want to see something
spectacular, want to see something phenomenal, some glorious vision,
something, want to feel some great feeling. That is so fresh
on my mind, having come from Pensacola, Florida. If below
the Mason-Dixon is the Bible belt, Florida is the buckle. That's the seat of religion. It's just unbelievable. There
are at least six different religious channels full of everything you
can imagine. every time. And I've beheld some
of those, just thumbing through those channels, and thousands
upon thousands upon thousands of people go and listen to those
persons. Well, men and women want to see
something spectacular, something phenomenal. This whole world
has largely become what you might call Pentecostal. The whole world,
it's not just the United States, but throughout the world that
this has been exported to other countries. All these miracle
healings and so-called tongues and so forth. And they call this
the Holy Spirit. They call it the moving of the
Holy Spirit. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter And people hear voices. I don't doubt that. People feel
feelings. People are seeing things. They
are. Yes, they are. But it's not God's Spirit. It's
not the glory of God that they're seeing. It's a delusion. Read
with me in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 9 through 12. Paul said
this a long time ago. that he whose coming is after
the working of Satan, that is, the Antichrist, or the spirit
of Antichrist, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, and unbelievers, because they receive not the love of
the truth. You see that? Because they do
not love the truth, do not love what God's word really says about
himself, about man, about salvation, about Christ. They don't receive
the love of the truth, but they like these visions. The love
of the truth is what saves, isn't it? That's what he said. They
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. It's
truth that sets you free. From what? Visions. From deceivers. Read on. And
so for this cause, verse 11, since they receive not God's
word and the truth, for this cause God shall send them strong
delusion, God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not
the truth, that had pleasure in unrighteousness. But he goes on to say about the
believers in Thessalonians, he said in verse 13, I love this,
my favorite verse, one of them. But we're bound to give thanks
to God, always to God, for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
preloved of God, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you. Why do you love the truth? Why do you know the truth? Why
do you believe the truth? Because God chose you to. That's
what he said in Isaiah. Forty-three said, you have chosen
that you might know me. The nations of the world don't
know me, and many say they do, but they don't. But I've chosen
you out of every tribe, kindred, nation that you might know me,
the true God and the true Sabbath. I've chosen you. There might
even be two brothers in one house and he chooses one, passes by
the other. That's not being unfair. That's
God's sovereign prerogative. Neither one of them deserved.
Might be two sisters in one house. He chooses one to reveal himself
to and leaves the other. Huh? Might be four children in
one house and not reveal himself to any of them. That's his prerogative.
Not reveal himself to all of them. Bless him. You have chosen,
he said. How? How does he reveal himself? Read on. I've chosen you to salvation
through setting apart the sanctification of the spirit. Now notice this
carefully. We just read this over in Exodus
33. Moses said, this is how we're
going to know we're set apart from all the other people that
were. You remember reading that? Moses said, how are we going
to know? This is how we may know we're set apart from everybody
else. How? Not the signs and the visions
and the wonders, not special. feelings of. We're going to see. To behold his glory. And that's what you talk about.
It's true glory. Belief of the truth. Belief of
the truth. All right, go back to our text
there. Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians. Belief of
the truth, that is, believing the true God, believing the true
Christ, the true gospel, the truth. All right, now, Scripture
says the heavens declare God's glory. Yes, it does. The heavens declare His glory.
The firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day utter His speech.
Men are without excuse. They can see the creative glory
of God. The sky, the celestials, the earth. The waters of the earth, oh,
we've been sitting on the most beautiful beach, ocean shore
that I know of. I've been to many of them. And
sand as white as sugar. And the water is aqua. And behold that vast ocean coming
in, but so far. Never going any further. How
does it do that? The tides go in and out. But
never any further than that right there. Why? Because God said
so. You behold His glory. We behold
His creative glory. The mountains, as beautiful as
the ocean is. I love these Blue Ridge Mountains. There's nothing more glorious. Blue Ridge Mountains, God's creation. Animals, marvelous. Marvelous. Man, God's most marvelous
creature. Man, created in His image. But God's true glory, now, God's
true glory is not seen with these eyes. You understand me? God is spirit.
This is what our Lord said. God is spirit. And Christ said
no man has seen God, who is spirit. You can't look on him. You can't.
It's like looking into the face of the sun. You can't do it.
And the sun pales in comparison to the essence of God. And I
can't even describe him. But he is, it says, he dwells
in light that no man can get close to and approach unto. God
has to veil himself. Does that sound familiar? Well, but it's not seen, the
glory of God, the essential glory, the greatest glory of God, is
not seen with these, it's not something you see. It's not something
you feel. It's not something you observe,
like the kingdom of God is not something you observe. Look at chapter 4, look at verse
18. Paul continues this thought on
into chapter 5 and on and on. Verse 18, Paul says, we look
not at things which are seen. But the things which are not
seen, the things that are seen, things we see are temporal. Everything
you see is not going to last. Everything we see is not going
to last. It fades, it dies. Everything
seen, everything you see fades away. Everything. So that's the
world. Everything in it, all sights,
visions, sounds, wonders, glories of man, the earth, everything
in it Fades away. What does that tell you? That
there's not much to it. It's like a mirage or something.
Isn't that beautiful? Remember, the disciples were
walking out of the temple and, oh look, look at the temple.
And our Lord said, not one stone is going to be left on another.
That's not glory. And that's what Paul is writing
here in chapter three. That old, that's not glory. And
these signs and visions and wonders that people are wanting to see,
and some of them are seeing things, that's not glory. And it's not
even from God. I mean, it's not of God. It's
not God's glory. They're seeing things, they're
feeling things, it's not God's Spirit. But we all, Paul said, we all, believers,
we're beholding His glory. If your eye be single this morning,
if God give you ears to hear, you have ears, but now you need
an ear. Everything in this world is distracting
you right now. You need an eye. You need a spiritual
eye. You need a spiritual ear. You need God's Holy Spirit to
show you his glory. I'm not going to do anything
spectacular this morning. Nobody's going to fall on the
floor. Nobody's going to jump and shout and scream. I'm not
going to talk in an undiscernible language. I'm going to talk about somebody
then. And you're going to behold God's glory. It says we all behold
in his glory. Look at it again. Look at our
text. Verse 18 of chapter 3. We all with open faces. The veil's
gone. I thought, why even go away from
Exodus 33? Let's go there. That was being
opened up to me as we were reading it. I don't know how many times
I've read that and heard it preached. It was just, were things, new
things opening up. We all, with open faith, no veil,
beholding, but in a glass, in a glass. Paul said in another
place, we see through a glass path. dimly, darkly, as in a
glass, as in a looking glass or a magnifying glass or a telescope
or a microscope. But we do see, we do see God's
glory. We're all beholding it, but it's
in a glass and it's very, we're not seeing the whole picture.
We're not seeing the whole picture. When we were on the ocean, we
would see dolphins or people with binoculars looking at dolphins
swim by and so forth. And it was a sight to see them,
you know. We went to one of those IMAX theaters. You ever been
to one of those IMAX, anybody? The screen is 62 feet high and
85 feet wide. And it covers a screen and they
project you into that. And we were with the dolphins
who were swimming among the dolphins. We saw the whole picture. I mean,
it's like we were we were really there. Before, you know, who
aren't they neat? And then Brother Stephen, you
feel like you're swimming. Wow. We see through a glass that we're
beholding glory. Isn't this wonderful? It's wonderful. See, our vision is so blurred
by flesh. Our mind is so limited. So limited. Our comprehension is so limited.
Our ears. It's hard for you to hear right
now. You're having a hard time hearing
this message. Because millions of thoughts
are running through your mind. Other things are, we're not just
wrestling with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers,
spiritual wickedness in high places, who does not want you
to see his glory. Because where the Spirit of the
Lord is, is liberty. Where a vision of his glory is,
is liberty. He would rather you see things.
He would rather you be taking up the signs and visions of one.
He would rather that than God's glory. Go back to Exodus 33 now. Let's
go back there. You see, the children of Israel
saw many things. The children of Israel saw many
signs and wonders. Did they not? Wouldn't you have
loved to have seen what they saw? Wouldn't you? I would have.
But it didn't do them any good. They didn't, there was only two,
two persons over 20 years old went into the Promised Land for
40 years. They saw one, they saw miracles,
signs and wonders. They saw water. They saw the
plagues, you know, as they were being delivered from Egypt, all
the plagues, swarms of people. We've seen every one of those
plagues in our time. Yes, we have. Mankind, Egypt,
the world, has seen these plagues, but they don't believe it's of
God, just like Pharaoh didn't back then. You know, God's people see this
is the hand of God. Well, they saw water turn to
blood. They saw flies, hail, fire. They saw all these plagues, you
know. as they were going through the
wilderness, bread fell out of the sky. They went out and picked
up bread off the ground. Where do we get our bread? Where do you get your tomatoes,
Henry? You go outside and pick them. It's still glorious, no
matter we plant them. God gives the increase. It's
a God. We see His glory in a tomato. Water from a rock. Water just
come out of a rock. And you know that rock followed
them everywhere they went. That rock followed them. Amazing. They saw a pillar of fire. It
protected them from their enemies. They saw the sea parted. The
way just parted before them. Amazingly. Miraculously. Sovereignly. Providentially. Parted. They didn't see God's glory. They didn't even believe God. That's not God's glory. That's
not God's glory. They didn't see it. They didn't
believe. They believed what they saw, but they didn't believe God.
This is important, because our generation is looking to see
something. See something. Well, Exodus 33,
look at verse 13. Moses wanted to see something,
too. But Moses said this in verse thirteen, Now therefore I pray
thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. Show me, Lord, your way. Now
Moses saw all these things, and he knew it was God. He acknowledged
it was God. God's judgments, God's blessings,
God's problems. He did. That's what God, he said.
And he thanked God for everything. But now Moses, after seeing all
this, he said, he was alone with the Lord on the mountain. He said, show me your way. Show me your way. What does that
mean? Your mind, your will, your purpose,
who you are, what you are, what you're doing, why you're doing
it, your way. God is a way. There's one way. Everything leads to this way. One way. It's the ways of God
are mysterious, but it all is one way. Show me your way. If you got in mind, oh Lord,
about everything, what is all this about? Everybody's asked
that question, what's it all about? What's the meaning of
life? It's one way. Ephesians 1 will tell you. God's made known unto us the
mystery, His way, His will. Ephesians 4 said there's one Show me, verse 18, Moses went
on to say, verse 18, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. He'd seen glorious things, but
he said to God, I want to see your glory. Your glory. You. I want to see you. Now,
here's a man who wants to know God, wants to know the truth
of God, wants to know the mind of God, wants to know God. Like
Paul said, Oh, but I might know Him, the way to God. Show me. If I found grace, and
it's going to be by grace if He shows you. It's by grace. Well, God said, what did God
say? I will. To anybody who asks him to show
them his glory and his way, he'll say, I will. Seeking me, you'll find me. He said, ask, you'll see. Knock, it'll be open. Seek, yes,
you'll find. But people are looking for visions
and signs and wonders, so they're getting them. And they're real. And they're
telling you you should have seen what we saw. They saw something. They did.
Things are going on. People are flopping all over
the floor. People are doing crazy things.
Things are happening. They're seeing things. But it's
not God's Spirit. And it's not God's glory. And
God's presence is not there. It's not there. And I'll tell
you where it is. It's seeing what Moses saw. It's
hearing what Moses heard. Interesting. We are. We're beholding his glory,
as Paul said, not with a veil. All right, let's go on. God said, I will, verse 19. God
said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee. Look down at
chapter 34 and verse 5. It says, The Lord descended in
the cloud and stood with him there. The Lord did. Somebody stood there with Moses and proclaimed the name of the
Lord. If you'll notice here, Moses didn't see anything. Moses
didn't see something happen. There was a person there, but
he wasn't doing anything. He was trying something. Moses was hearing something.
Look at the next verse, and the Lord passed by. Moses said, show
me your glory. He said, all right, I'm going
to make all my goodness pass before you. So the Lord came
down on that mountain, and he said to Moses before that, he
said, you can't see all of me. I'm going to have to veil myself.
I'm going to stick you. He said, there's a cliff in the
rock over here. A cliff and a rock, does that
sound familiar? Rock of ages, cliff for me. I'm
going to stick you in the cliff to the rock, this riven rock,
and I'm going to pass by, God's going to come by, and I'm just
going to move my hand just briefly, and you're going to see, not
my face, you kid, nobody's ever seen the face, the unveiled,
complete face of the whole glory of you can't do it and live.
It's like being in the sun. At least I'm going to show you
my back parts. You ought to get a glimpse of God. Now, like I said, Moses saw and
heard much of God's glory in his signs and visions, but now
he's seeing God's glory. What was it? It's not a what. It's a who. It's God himself. Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord, who is the
Lord. Who was this standing there with
Moses? Somebody stood there. And to say that, look at it again.
Chapter 34, verse 5, says, The Lord descended into a cloud.
I remember him ascending in a cloud before. or after. It says, he stood with him there,
the Lord did. Who? Jesus Christ. This was Jesus Christ standing
there with Moses. Yes, it was. And the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed. Now, this is what Moses heard,
and this is the glory he, upon hearing, saw. The way, he saw
God's way. He saw God's glory. And it was
all through this. Hearing what the Lord had to
say. The Lord was there. The Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture
says, In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. What? Bodily. Our Lord in Proverbs
8. You want to turn there real quickly?
Proverbs 8. You know, the Lord made several
appearances to his people throughout the Old Testament. It was Jesus
Christ. In Proverbs chapter 8, go over
there. Proverbs chapter 8. Look at it with me. Our Lord
appeared to Gideon, our Lord appeared to Abraham, the Lord
appeared several times throughout the scriptures. Jacob, didn't
he? You know the story. Well, look
at it. Now, this is the whole chapter
of Christ. one of the many. And it says, speaking of Christ, he says in
verse twenty-five, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. A body, David talked about a
body has to have prepared the Christ. Now it wasn't just when
Jesus entered in the body of that baby. It wasn't the first
time the Lord walked on this planet. Oh, no. Look down in
verse 30. It says he was by the Lord, by
God as one brought up with him daily his delight rejoicing always
before him and rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth.
His delights were with the sons of men. He came down. He came down. Remember when it
says God came down the Babel? See what man was doing? Not that
he didn't know, God came down to tell Abraham that most important. God came to the first man, Adam
and Eve, in the garden, didn't he? God, Adam said, Scripture
says he heard the voice of God walking. That's the word of God,
made flesh. Dwell among Adam and Eve and
talk to them. His delights were with, in the
habitable parts of the earth, with the sons of men, and he
spoke to them. Well, Moses here is Jesus Christ
is standing there. He's beholding God's glory. God
dwelling among us. God speaking to man. God becoming
a man. God made flesh, full of grace
and truth. We beheld his glory. We have. Yes, we have. Look back at that
text, or back at Exodus 34 again. Exodus 34. Okay, and he said in verse 6,
the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord. Jesus Christ said to his disciples,
you call me Lord and Master and you say, well, I am. The whole world then was saying,
you're just a man, you're just Jesus, you're just Jesus, you're
just Jesus, you're just the son of Mary, you're the son of the
carpenter, but his disciples said, And literally took them up on
a mount and unveiled himself. Like Moses. Moses saw him in
person, who he was, the Lord. He was in his glorified body,
I believe, because when Moses got out of his presence, he came
down and says his face was shining so bright, from being in the
presence of the Lord, that's when he had to put a veil over
his face. Nobody could even look at Moses. He had to talk with
him through a veil. That's what this whole chapter
is about. And our Lord has unveiled himself to us and shown us himself,
his person. Christ stood there, the image
of God. Hebrews 1 says he's the express
image of God. Man was created in the image
of God, but he lost that image. Man doesn't have the image of
God in him. No, no, he doesn't. But Christ became—God became
a man, and he was the express image of God. Well, was it something
you see? No, you couldn't tell the difference. God doesn't have an image. God's
Spirit. Man lost the image when he lost
spiritual life. Are you with me? Is anybody with
me? Man, everybody's creating his
image. Adam was. We're created in the image of
Adam. We're sons of Adam. We're not sons of God by nature.
Adam was holy, upright. He had the image of God. Holiness,
righteousness, purity, sanctity, honesty, truth. Understanding,
wisdom, love, kindness, graciousness, mercy. That's the image of God. That's the person of God. It's
not a... And when God became an express
image, express image of God, when God came down here, Christ
was His Mary. You couldn't tell the difference
between Him and another man. See, that's not the image of God.
It's His personality. It's His character. It's a character. Show me your
glory. So Christ came down, the glory
of God, a man, a God-man, the Lord. He proclaimed his name,
I'm the Lord. No, you're just a man. No, I'm
not. I'm the Lord. Who? The Lord God. Oh, yeah, we'll call you Lord.
We'll call Jesus his Lord. But is he God? Yeah, the Lord
God. Call him the everlasting Father,
the mighty God, Isaiah said. That man that stood there was
God. Oh, we don't believe that. We
believe he's the Son of God. No, he's, Ed, he's God. John
said it. God was manifest in the flesh,
he said. Thomas saw it finally. Thomas
didn't see anything. He saw a man, but he saw some
prints in his hand and side, and he said, My Lord and my God. Saw his glory. Saw God's glory. In a person. In Jesus Christ.
In his way. Look at it. Read on. The Lord
God merciful and gracious. Look back at chapter thirty-three.
Look at this now. You want to see his glory? God's
glory? We're beholding it. We're having a hard time doing
it. You ever look through a microscope? Well, it's hard to bring things
into focus, isn't it? Have you ever shown somebody,
you see something? We were on the beach, and I'd
see something. My vision now is about 20-15.
And it wasn't natural. I had to have it operated on.
But I'd see something way, way out in the distance. It was a
dolphin or something. I said, look! Mom, look! Where? Right there. point there, where? There! He couldn't see it. He couldn't see it. He was trying
to bring it to the fold. I don't see it. I don't see it. God says, by my grace I'm going
to make my goodness pass before you. This is his way. This is
his glory. This is how we see it, but we
see it dimly. But it's this, verse 19 of chapter
33. I'm going to make my goodness pass before you. All the goodness
of God is in Jesus Christ. You know that? A man's rich. That's not necessarily the goodness
of God. That might be the curse of God. People that have all these blessings,
this is what this world's taken up with, people. Bless me, bless
me, bless me, bless me. houses, lands, health and all,
that's not necessarily the goodness of God. You'll go back through
the scriptures and through, in our time, that God's dearest
people were tried and afflicted and just deprivations. And read Hebrews 11 for yourself. Wandered about in sheepskin,
goatskins, a food the world is not worthy of. They didn't have
everything in this world. If that's not the blessings of
God, what you see, it's unsearchable riches. What's who's the unsearchable
riches of God? How are you made rich? If you're
rich in faith with God. If you know God's Christ, that
pearl, you've got, Jeanette, do you have a string
of true cultural pearls yet? Don't? Merrick, you got it? That's right. She doesn't either. I can't afford
them. We can't afford one pearl. Anybody
really got, I mean, you've got a pearl of great price. If you
know Christ, the world's got pearls running out their ears.
Diamonds and riches. If you have that great pearl
of great price, riches, unsearchable riches,
the world doesn't see it that way. They don't see any beauty
in here that they should desire Him. They go after these things.
They see. What they see is what they go
after. We're going after what we can't see. All this stuff. What's a pearl? You know, I ate
some of those little creatures that make them. We ate them up. Several dozen of them. Love them,
slimy little things. Didn't find one pearl. I sure
like to eat them. Oysters. It's a piece of sand. What's a pearl? It's sand and
it's oysters vomited. What a wonderful thing. I'm not
going to live until I have them. Sand. The sands of time are sinking. Where are they? Where are the
pearls? Sunk. This is what man's after. Oh,
but there's here unsearchable riches. Dig, search for them. You'll find one pearl. And if
you're made rich, you'll find one pearl of great pride. And
you'll sell everything to have it. And you ladies are wearing
it. I can see it in your face. I
can see it. Just like Moses, your face is
shining. Well, he said, read on. He says, I'll proclaim the
name of the Lord before thee. I didn't think of this before,
but the Lord, God may have just have told him. It's the Christ. His name will
be Jesus. Moses knew that name, Joshua.
Didn't he? He knew that name, Joshua. Jesus,
he never heard a Greek language. It's the same word as Joshua,
Moses. It means Savior. You're not going in. Joshua's
going to bring them in. You can't. You're the law. You
can't bring them in. That's the way it's going to be. But only
Joshua can. The Savior can bring a man. And
I'm going to come down to this earth in the fullness of time. I'm going to be made a woman,
born under the law, to redeem them that were under the law,
these Israelites. That's not Israel, Moses. But I have an Israel. It's the
sands of the sea. And I'm going to come down as
a man. All my goodness is going to pass before a man. My name
is Jesus Christ, the Christ. He could have. What did Christ
say? Moses wrote of me. Didn't he? He wrote of me. He
saw my day. Abraham saw my day. Yes, he did. Don't you know what God told
Abraham, what that ram represented? Well, read on. Verse 19 of chapter
33. He said I will be gracious. Salvation
is by grace. How is a man going to give to
God? One way. Jesus Christ. One way. Christ said I am what? Number one. The way. Show me
your way. Christ came. Are you with me? We're beholding
glory here. You say, well, the world's not seeing this.
Brother John Cheesley, the world's not seeing it. We see it every
Sunday, every Wednesday. That's why it's as glorious as
it was when we first saw it. When we first saw it, when we
first saw something, that's what Moses was standing at. I'm going to be gracious." Now,
Moses knew something about the grace of God. He was with a bunch
of these people. Every time he turned around,
they were running naked. They were doing wild things.
He'd bring them the Word, and they'd say, forget that, Moses.
Give us some bread. Who wants some onions? Huh? Moses came down from the mountain
the first time with the—God wrote this. Look at this, huh? Moses
came down from the mountain with God's Word. He broke his finger. Moses came down and said, Look!
Look! God broke this. It's God's Word.
He wrote it in his finger. It's in the Word of God. It's
a death. Show us something. Is that not today? Look, people
all over. Look, this is God's Word. Glorious
to behold. David said, I've seen thy glory,
wondrous things from your word. I've seen your glory in your
word." Moses came down and said, listen, listen, all you sinners,
listen. Listen, you hell-deserving, no-good,
wretched, burned rebels against God. Listen! We ought to be in
hell. God's gracious. God's going to give us glory.
God's going to give us heaven. God's going to give us righteousness.
We can't earn it. We can't keep one law. God's
just going to give it to us. Give us some onions. God said, I will be merciful. I'm going to spare some of those
sons of Adam. I'm going to spare some of those
Israelites. Not interested in that, Moses.
Mercy and grace and forgiveness. Salvation. We're not interested
in that, Moses. Moses believes God's mercy. God's gracious. God's good. God's focus. God's word. Listen
to what God said. And all the types that God gave
him on the mountain concerning the ark and all that. People
weren't interested. Isn't that interesting? Does that sound familiar? But
we all, all believers, not everybody in this room, but all believers are beholding
His glory as in a glass with unveiled face. I can't look into the faces of
some when I preach the gospel and just smile at them. Others
who obviously don't know it are, you know, it sounds good. Moses came down and was just
thrilled to be in the presence of God and to hear about grace,
mercy, goodness, God's way, and God's glory. But he didn't see
a thing. He heard glory. And it says we're
all beholding his glory. Go back to the text in 2 Corinthians
3, and then I'll quit, OK? And it says in 2 Corinthians
3, verse 18, and it's God's sovereign grace and sovereign mercy. You
know that? That's what God said. He said,
Moses, I'm going to be gracious. I'm going to give something.
I'm going to give something man can't get, man can't earn. by your law, by the law of Moses,
no flesh will be justified. I'm going to get that. I'm going
to freely give them something. I'm going to do it. Who's talking?
Who's talking? Jesus Christ is. I'm going to
do it for them. I'm going to give it to them.
Just freely give it to them. They're going to be justified
from all things from which they could not be justified by the
law of Moses. They can't keep it by the laws and knowledge
of sin, Moses. But by me is the knowledge of salvation. I'm going
to be good, gracious to them. I'm going to give it to them,
but I'm going to give it to whom I will. This is the glory of
God. It's sovereign grace. The world
hates it. Hates it. It's God's glory. Sovereign
mercy. He's going to be merciful. If
he is merciful to one, it'd be glory. If there was one person
saved out of all humanity, he'd be standing in heaven at the
end of all this thing, shouting, Glory, glory, glory, Lord God
Almighty. To God be the glory. Great things
he hath done. So loved he me that he sent his
son. Glory, glory. Glory, hallelujah. One person to be sent. But he
will be merciful to whom he will. And Paul said this in closing. Paul said, verse 18, in a glass
we're seeing the glory of the Lord and we're changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even by how? God's Spirit. This is the work of the Spirit. What's going on right now? But
the world comes in and says, that's dead. Ain't nobody shouting. Ain't nobody rolling. Ain't nobody
talking in an undiscernable language. Ain't no music playing. The wave's
not going on. That's dead. No people, they're
dead. The Word is life. The Word of life. where there's no word, it's death,
or where the word of life, spirit, and the Holy Spirit takes the
things of Christ and shows them to his people. That's what he
does. And it says they're changed into the same image. Whose image? Like Moses, like I said, like
Moses. Moses came down from the mountain
of being with Christ himself, hearing about sovereign goodness,
sovereign grace, sovereign mercy. forgiveness of iniquity. Remember,
Moses, when he answered the Lord, he said, Are you really going
to be with us? This is how everybody's going
to know is if you're with us and that we're accepted. Remember
that? He said that we're your inheritance,
that you've accepted us, because we're nothing better than those
Egyptians. But this is how the world's going to know is if you
forgive us our sins and our iniquity. And Moses' face was shining when
he heard all that. It was shining. And so do God's people when they
hear it. And they're changing the image of Christ, though.
That's what Paul wrote in Ephesians 2. He said, being predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Him, Christ, from glory to
glory. Some of you are the glory of
God right now. Those of you who have had the
gospel revealed to you, the glory of God, the person of Christ,
through the gospel has come to you and open your blind eyes
and your deaf ears and your dead heart has been and your understanding
has been quickened and your glory. Romans 8 says it. Whom he did foreknow, he did
predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, he
called. All this is past tense. Whom he called, he justified.
Past tense. Whom he justified, he glorified. When the gospel came to you,
you were glorified, just like Moses. God unveiled himself.
You understand that? We've already, Brother Stephen,
we've already seen glory. Yes, we have. Together, just
like James and John and Peter, no less, we've seen the glory
of God in the face, the person of Jesus Christ. Yes, we have. The world doesn't see it. Give
me some onions. Talk funny. I'm going to tell you the truth,
tell you the truth, from face, from glory to glory, but, you
know, it does not yet appear what we shall be. We're now the
sons of God. Yes, we are. Some of you have
been already glorified. Wait until we really behold His
glory. Then our faces will shine for
eternity, like Moses. And the whole thing will be unveiled
before us. We're with Christ, just like
Moses on the mountain. And the world is a kingdom before
him, and he tells us all that he has done and everything. Christ
says, I did all this. I did all this. And you I've
chosen to behold my glory. My glory. Well, all right, let's
sing in closing number 505. Brother John, you come up. Now, how do you expect me to
deal with the glory of God in thirty or forty minutes, huh?
We're going to spend eternity beholden. 5.05. Let's stand as
we sing the first and last verses. 5.05. you you Thank you. Okay.