Glory Revealed

Q: What does the Bible say about the glory of Christ?

The Bible reveals that the glory of Christ is supreme, as recognized by His disciples during the transfiguration when God proclaimed Him as His beloved Son. In the account of the transfiguration found in Matthew 17, the glory of Christ is dramatically displayed when He shines with divine radiance and is accompanied by Moses and Elijah. This moment illustrates the ultimate authority and glory of Christ, as God speaks from heaven, affirming Jesus as His beloved Son, and commands the disciples to listen to Him. This event emphasizes the critical importance of recognizing Christ’s supremacy in glory, as Peter and the others initially misplace that glory onto Moses and Elijah, failing to understand that their beauty is derived from Christ alone. Thus, Christians are called to honor Christ as the one true source of glory, not departing from this truth for lesser things.

Q: How do we know grace is effective in salvation?

Grace is effective in salvation because it is God's unmerited favor that transforms hearts and leads sinners to repentance through faith in Christ. The effectiveness of grace in salvation is deeply rooted in the sovereignty of God and His mercy. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, it is by grace through faith that we are saved, not of works, ensuring that no one can boast. This grace is efficacious in that it not only forgives sins but also brings about spiritual transformation in the believer's life. Romans 5:8 illustrates this by stating that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, demonstrating that grace reaches out to those unable to earn it. The believer experiences this grace as life-changing, leading to repentance and a desire to live according to God's will, affirming the truth that salvation is wholly a work of God's grace, confirming the Reformed understanding that the purpose of grace is to redeem and sanctify His people.

Q: Why is the death of Christ significant?

The death of Christ is significant as it accomplishes the will of the Father and provides atonement for sin, ensuring redemption for His people. The significance of Christ's death lies primarily in its role as the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. Acts 2:23 clarifies that Christ was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. Through His death, Jesus achieved reconciliation for His people, bearing their sins and providing atonement through His sacrifice. This is echoed in Isaiah 53, which details the suffering servant who bore our iniquities. The death of Christ is not merely a tragic event, but an accomplishment wherein He triumphs over sin and death, ensuring that all for whom He died will be redeemed. Furthermore, His death serves as an example of the depth of God's love and the seriousness of our sin, confirming the essential Reformed doctrine of particular redemption, where He saves all those God has given Him.

Back in Matthew 17, let's look at a few more verses here. Where we just read in 2 Peter chapter 1, let's dwell on this point a little bit. Simon tells the story of how he was on that mountain when the Lord Jesus' glory shone forth and God spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved son, hear him.

And it seems that Simon got the message, that he understood what happened there because When he tells of that event, he uses the account and the remembrance of that event to emphasize the absolute necessity and the inestimable value of the written and spoken Word of God. we have a more sure word of prophecy than even a vision that we can see with our natural eyes. We remember now the story from Luke 16. I refer to this a lot because it's such a strong emphasis upon the scriptures. And that's what we see in every text. We know who the Lord is because he's revealed himself in his word.

And the rich man in Luke 16 said, if you'll send someone back from the dead to speak to my brothers, then they won't end up, they'll believe, they won't end up in hell like where I am. And Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets. That's the word of God. Moses is the first five books of the Bible. The prophets is everything in the Old Testament. And then the Psalms.

And he said, they will not believe, if they don't believe God's word, they won't believe, though one returned from the dead. A spectacle is gonna do it. Simon and John and James had the greatest, what more spectacle could you ever ask for than to see the glory of God's son? But they said, something more certain than that is the word. the word. We don't believe what we saw, we believe what God said concerning Himself. And as I said, we see that in every... God's revealed His Son, His work, His work of righteousness as our representative.

He lived like we couldn't. He lived like we didn't. Always going about to do that which pleased the Father. He said, I do always those things that please the Father. Everything we've ever done displeases the Father because it doesn't measure up to the righteousness of God.

In this flesh dwelleth no good thing, the Scripture says. But He reveals His purpose of redeeming grace, His glorious will unto us, Many are still looking for a sign, a spectacle to excite the flesh. And the Lord Jesus already said, I'm not giving you one. He said, I'm not going to give you one.

I'm going to give you the sign of the prophet Jonah. In other words, the scriptures, the book of Jonah and every other book in the Bible. The Lord spoke there on that mount with Moses and Elijah. What did they talk about? Moses represents the law. And Elijah represents all the prophets. Elijah, it says Elias there, that's Elijah. But what do they talk about?

Luke 9.30, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory and spake of his death, which he should accomplish. at Jerusalem.

Now the important thing is what they talked about, and we'll get to that, Lord willing, in a second here, but notice in Luke 9.30 that Moses and Eliah appeared in glory. They appeared in glory. They're glorified.

This is the reason I suspect that Simon wanted to build three tabernacles. He was impressed with all three of them. But it also reveals to us in this text that Simon didn't know what he was talking about, because their glory was Christ's glory. The only one worthy of glory is the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're going to cast, we're pictured as casting our crowns at His feet in glory. He has crowned us with honor and glory because we're found in Him. were beautiful with his comeliness. But we attribute that to him. He's the one that gets glorified for that.

God said to that little baby, in Ezekiel 16, 14, it's a very graphic scene, that there was a dead baby laying in a field. And the Lord said, I came there, And it was the time of life, and I said unto him, live. And he lived. But after he said unto him, live, in Ezekiel 16, 14, listen to this. He says this about that baby.

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness. Those who the Lord have mercy on are beautiful, when he spoke of that Canaanite woman whose daughter was grievously vexed, it says, behold a woman. Why would the Lord want us to look at that woman? Because His grace is seen in her. She was a trophy of His grace. And it says, your beauty was renowned, it was perfect, through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God."

So Elias and Moses appeared in glory, but that's glory that the Lord Jesus had put upon them. He's the one that's glorified, and we see that in the text, don't we? It says, as Peter was still talking, as he was still saying it, Before the words got out of his mouth good, God interrupted him. We know he interrupted him because it said, as he was saying it. So the Lord interrupted him, and the glory of God filled that place. And in that glory, in that vision, when they were able to see again for just the splendor of that, It says, they saw no man save Jesus only.

Don't start glorifying Elijah and Moses. And again, that's false religion, isn't it? You know, let's glorify Mary, or let's glorify Peter, or let's make statues of the saints and the apostles and the prophets. No, no, let's don't. When we're experiencing the glory of God and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ gets all the glory. Well, Mary's our mediator. No, she's not. There's one God and one mediator between God and men, the scripture says, the man Christ Jesus.

And when the Lord touched them, they were scared to death. When they just saw him only, they were scared to death. And the Lord touched them. That's the mediator. You see, he's able to touch God for man, He's the God-man. He's the only mediator that can touch God for men. He found it not robbery to be equal with God. Don't you try to do that. Don't you try to come into God's presence apart from the mediator. We come to God through His Son. And if we're ever going to be with Him, it's because our mediator went before us.

He's the forerunner. He hath entered for us into the throne of glory. And he's able to touch a sinner because he's the son of man. And to heal that sinner, touch that sinner for God. He's the only one. And he said to them, don't be afraid. There's only one reason to not be scared of God. And that's because of his mercy, because he's put your sins away on Calvary. and you're at one, there's atonement, atonement is atonement, by the blood of Jesus Christ. John was there. And listen to what John said, he said in 1 John 3, 2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. Don't even try to talk about it.

But when he shall appear, when Christ shall appear, we'll be like him. You know, he became like us. He was born of a woman, born under the law that he might redeem them that are under the law, the scripture says. He was made bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, yet without sin. He was every bit a man like we are. But when God reveals his glory to us fully, We're gonna be like him. Enough of what we are now. Flesh and blood can't inherit the kingdom of God. This corruptible must put on incorruption. And that's by the resurrecting power of God's son.

John knew what he was talking about when he said this. He said, when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. He knew what he was talking about because he had gotten a glimpse of that. He didn't say he's going to be like us. No, not anymore. We're going to be like him.

But what they talked about there was the decease, the death that our Lord should accomplish. My death is not going to be an accomplishment. My death is the wages of my sin, although in spiritual truth, We'll never suffer the consequences of our sin. If there's any sin found upon me or in me, then I must be punished for it. But the Lord took our sins on Himself at Calvary. He took all of my sin. He washed my soul and made it white in His precious blood. But because these bodies are subject to sin, they've got to go. These are corruptible bodies. And my death is just the result of that.

But death to the believer is not punishment. Death is a blessing. Paul said, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. He said, I'm not afraid to die, I'm kind of excited about it. Kind of excited about it. But the death that he should, his death was, He died to accomplish the will of the Father.

And in Luke chapter 24, let's turn over there, Luke 24, 13. I guess we'll close with this. I don't wanna wear us out this morning, but Luke chapter 24, verse 13 through 27, And behold, two of them, two of the disciples, went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score furlongs.

And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another as ye walk, and are sad? They were sad that the Lord had been killed. And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass therein these days?

And he said unto him, them what things? You see the Lord Jesus, he knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning, but he's causing them to talk about it. He's bringing out, he's not asking questions to get information, he's asking questions to teach information, to tell somebody something, not to find out something. And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him.

But we trusted past tense. Isn't that sad? That's so sad. We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. They're disappointed. They trusted that he would, but he didn't in the way that they wanted him to. They wanted deliverance from the scourge and tyranny of Rome.

Always on the earthly. Our minds are always on the earthly. We'll leave from here today, and everything we think about for the rest of the afternoon will be earthly stuff that means absolutely nothing. Me too. That's how we're cut out. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.

Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre, when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart, You see why he said that?

He's not. You know, fire isn't coming out of his eyes. This is him telling us with compassion and long-suffering. He's got to teach us. He's got to reveal to us how stupid we are. And if you think that's too strong a word, I had somebody tell me sometime, I don't really like the word stupid when you preach.

That's kind of offensive, I said in here. I think of really good stuff to say like two minutes late, don't you? Later on, I thought, what I should have said was, does the word sinner offend you? Are you offended at the word sinner? Because stupid is a compliment compared to sinner. If the word stupid offends you, ooh, that's light stuff compared to sinner.

Do you know what a sinner, do we know what a sinner is? We killed God's son and spit on him while he died. By the way, look up those words, slow of heart there, slow of heart. You know what that means? It means stupid. That's the actual word used in Strong's Concordance. I'm not saying we're not intelligent people. You're the smartest people I know in earthly things.

But when it comes to the things of God, He has to reveal things to us like we're babies. He said, I thank thee, Father, God of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealing of the babies. O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. What did the prophets say? Ought not Christ to have suffered? That's all that the prophets said. They spoke of Christ and His death. That's all. The whole Scripture. The Old Testament is not a history book. It's a hymn book. H-I-M. It concerns His Son. It concerns God's Son. To Him, give all the prophets' witness to Christ.

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? That's what the Lord just told, that's what the prophets told you about, was that God's Son would suffer and die and redeem His people and enter into His glory successful and triumphant, the invincible Captain of Salvation. He's not going to try to save everybody and fail. He's going to save everybody He died to save. He's the triumphant Savior who cannot fail.

Well, am I one of those, Chris? I don't know. Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And listen to this, beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, and in all the scriptures, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning self. There's nothing else. I've heard people say, well, there's a whole lot more in the Bible besides Christ. What Bible are you reading? What version have you got? Because the Son of God just said all of the prophets, the Psalms, all of the Scriptures concern Himself. He didn't have to pick out the ones concerning.

They all concern Him. When Philip came up to that chariot in the Ethiopian eunuch was sitting on there. He just happened to be reading from Isaiah 53. We know now because we know the words of that text. Philip asked him, do you understand what you're reading? And he said, how can I except some man should guide me? And Philip expounded into him from that same text and preached unto him Jesus. What if he would have been in the book of Ezekiel? What would he have preached to him? Jesus. What if he'd have been in the Psalms? What would Philip have preached unto him? The same thing the Lord expounded to these disciples, these foolish, slow of heart, spiritually stupid. It's stupid of heart, you see. You may be a genius, I don't know.

But when it comes to the matters of the heart, spiritual, truth of God, No man knoweth the father save the son, and he to whomsoever the son will reveal him. You know how he does that? It might just be happening right now. I don't know if the Lord will save those that you love or not.

That's his prerogative. He said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. Does that make it his prerogative? But if he does save him, I know how he'll do it. as it pleased him by the preaching of the gospel, that which men call foolishness to save them. By grace, through faith in his son, what an honor and privilege it is to hear the truth from the scriptures, a man that stands up and talks for an hour and a half and refers to his Bible twice, reads one verse here.

That's not expounding the scriptures. Every week we have a service on Sunday morning, on Sunday morning again, Sunday night and Wednesday night, four times a week. We open the scriptures verse by verse, by verse, by verse, by verse. We find out what God said. That's expounding the scriptures. That's what our Lord taught us to do. He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Salvation's a person. Moses was saved the same way I was. The Lord said Moses saw my day. He wrote of me. May God give us grace, the same faith of Abraham. You know, Paul preached that the Jews, the Jews in Israel, they're not the people of God. He said those that have the faith, the same faith that I gave Abraham, faith in the son of God. Those are the seed of Abraham, spiritual Israel. God. Reveal yourself to us in your son. And have mercy on our souls. Amen.

Glory Revealed

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the glory of Christ?

How do we know grace is effective in salvation?

Why is the death of Christ significant?

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

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Glory Revealed

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the glory of Christ?

How do we know grace is effective in salvation?

Why is the death of Christ significant?

Sermon Transcript

About Chris Cunningham

Comments

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