God's Glory

Good evening, everyone. If you would open your Bibles with me to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him and were lightened. Their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him and delivereth them.

This verse eight is why I selected this psalm to read to open the service tonight. And this is my prayer that all of us will do this this evening. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there's no want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come, you children, hearken unto me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil. to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. All right, Sean.

If you could, turn to song number 361, and we'll sing Sweet Hour of Prayer. 361. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care. and bids me and my Father's throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief. And oft escaped the tempter's snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer, Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, thy wings shall my petition bear.

To him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since he bids me see his face, Believe His word and trust His grace. I'll cast on Him my every care. And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer. May I thy consolation share, Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize and shout while passing through Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.

OK. And next song, if you would turn to 477 at Calvary. 477. Years I've spent in sanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. By God's word at last my sin I learned, then I trembled at the law I'd spurned, till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary. Now I owe to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my raptured soul can only sing. Calvary.

Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty. at Calvary. O the love that drew salvation's plan, O the grace that brought it down to man, O the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

All right, let's open now our Bibles to Exodus chapter 33. Exodus 33. I don't know how long ago it's been that we started studying the book of Exodus, but this is one of those passages that I look forward to with great anticipation to preach on. And I pray the Lord will bless us tonight. Let's begin reading in verse 18.

And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there is a place by me and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff to the rock, and will cover thee with mine hand while I pass by, and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen.

Thank God for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, bow before your throne of grace this evening. Thanking you for your mercy and your grace. Thanking you that you are sovereign ruler over all. Thankful that you have chosen to be the savior of sinners. That you chose out of people to redeem by the precious blood of your son. And Father, our prayer this evening is the same prayer of our brother Moses of old.

Lord, show us your glory. Father, I beg of you that as we look into your word this morning or this evening to see the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would open our eyes, that you'd open our heart, that we would behold thee, that we could see you with the eye of faith and see all of your glory that's revealed in the person. of the Lord Jesus Christ in his perfect obedience and his bloody sacrifice to put away the sin of your people.

Father, let us see your glory. Let us rejoice in it. Let us go home tonight reveling in the glory of our God. Father, we thank you that you've given us a place where we can meet together in peace and love and unity of spirit to worship you, to have your word open to us. And Father, I pray that you would preserve and protect this place and this congregation, that this might long be a place where sinners can come and hear the Savior, where sin sick sinners can come and hear of healing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the sweet balm of Gilead. Father, bless us for Christ's sake. Preserve this place as a lighthouse of the gospel so that you might get the glory Father again, I beg of you that you bless us tonight.

Bless us as we look into your word. Enable us to see the Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his blessed name, for his sake we pray. Amen. I titled the message tonight, God's Glory. In this conversation that the Lord is having with Moses, this is Moses' third great request. First he said, show me your way. Then he said, give me your presence. Lord, if you don't go with us, don't let us go. Don't let me go anywhere without your presence. And now this is the third request. Show me your glory.

And I always think of this every time I read this passage, it's, it's, I think important to note when this question was asked, Moses had been out keeping his father-in-law sheet and saw Bush was burning and was not being consumed. And he said, I'm gonna go see this. How can this happen?

And he walked up to that bush that was burning and not being consumed, and God Almighty spoke to him out of that burning bush. He said, Moses, take off your shoes. You're on holy ground. He saw a bush burned that was not consumed and heard God speak to him.

Then Moses went back to Egypt to do what the Lord told him to do, tell Pharaoh, let my people go. And he saw those 12 terrible plagues in the land of Egypt. He saw that power of God that sent those plagues. And after the Passover, all the firstborn land of Egypt died that night. And the Egyptians thrust them out. He saw those Egyptians that had kept Israel's slaves for 400 years In one night changed their mind. And not only did they tell him, go, they thrust them out.

Moses saw that happen. Moses stood at the Red Sea and told the children of Israel, they're trapped between the sea and the biggest army on earth at that time. And he told him, y'all just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And hundreds of times, hundreds, maybe thousands of times, we have heard that story, we've studied that story, we've taught that story to our children. But you think of Moses standing there on the edge of that Red Sea and watch it part.

Moses saw that. And Moses was the first one of the children of Israel to step out into the midst of those two walls of water and it was dry ground. Moses saw that. And after all that, Moses says, show me your glory. Moses knew he'd seen displays of God's power, all the power of God. He saw that. But now Moses knows there's something better.

I want to see the glory of God. And he asked God, show me your glory. And the Lord said, okay, I'll show you. He granted that request. Isn't that just awe-inspiring? Moses asked, and the Lord's gonna reveal himself to Moses. He's gonna reveal his greatest glory to Moses. And here's the first thing God tells Moses.

God's glory is his goodness. Verse 19, and he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. Now God's glory is goodness to people, who do not deserve it. It's God's goodness to condescend to save and to bless a people who have only ever sinned against him. Now that's his true goodness. You know, human beings tend to be good to someone, good and kind to someone, who could do something for us, right?

I was, when I was in college, we had a co-ed softball team. And we were good. We were good. But one of the girls on the team, her dad sold insurance. And he said, if you want, I can send you some players. And I'm like, we're good. And he said, well, they play football for Ohio State University. That's where I went to school. And one of them was an All-American. And we said, yeah, I think we can find a spot for these guys. I mean, the athleticism, just off the charts, unbelievable.

But this guy, who was the All-American that year, everybody just, I mean, the way they treated him, and me and another friend, I mean, we were in awe of him, but we just like, yeah, we're gonna treat him just like anybody else, you know? And you know what he told us? He said, I really appreciate you treat me just like a normal guy. Nobody else treats you, you just treat me like a normal guy. I just really like that. But that's unusual.

Usually, we are good to somebody who can do something for us, or can give us an advantage, or somebody that's already been good to us. The goodness of God. how good he is, that he is good to a people who could never do anything for him, who could never add anything to him, who matter of fact, declared themselves and Adam to be the enemy of God. And God's good to them.

Now that's his real glory. Now I know that there is a sense in which God's goodness comes to every man on the earth, right? He sends, God sends rain. sunshine and the proper amount so that food can grow, people can not starve to death. He keeps the earth full of air and water. He restrains men from doing worse things than they already do. I mean, the only reason we haven't destroyed the whole planet is God has restrained men. That's his goodness, so that this earth, you know, keeps spinning.

But I don't even know if you can call that goodness. compared to the goodness that's seen in God's showing mercy to sinners. I mean, you think how good God is to send the gospel to someone who don't want to hear it. He sends them the gospel and he gives them an ear to hear it and a heart to love it. That's God's goodness. Oh, he's so good.

And it's to a people that have never acted good toward God first, never. Adam sinned against God by taking that fruit that God told him not to eat, and he did it because he wanted to be God. He knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to be the one to make the rules, and God thrust Adam and Eve out of his presence.

But aren't you glad the story didn't end there? Before he thrust them out, you know what God did? He killed an animal, and he made them coats of skin to cover their nakedness. He covered their nakedness, a picture of us being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And before they went out from his presence, oh, God was so good.

You know what he did to this man who rebelled against him? He gave him a promise of a savior. Adam, the seed of woman is coming and Satan will bruise his heel, but he's going to crush Satan's head. He gave him a promise of the Messiah that God's so good.

And that goodness was not lost on Adam and Eve. When Eve had that first boy baby, she said, I've gotten the man from the Lord. She thought this is the one, this is the same. And they were looking for him ever since in the fullness of time he came. Because God's good, because God's so good.

It was the goodness of God that taught Adam, God can only be worshiped through a blood sacrifice. How did Abel know to bring a lamb, a firstling of the flock, the best of his lambs, and offer a blood sacrifice to God? Because his daddy taught him, that's how. Adam taught his sons what God taught him.

It was goodness. It was the goodness of God to call Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees, to call that idolater out and say, go to a land I'll show you. And from that man, make the whole nation Israel, which is a picture of spiritual Israel. It's the goodness of God that delivered Israel from Egypt, wasn't it? It was God's goodness. It was his goodness. that gave Israel the law.

And I know somebody might think, given the law, all that does is condemn us. And that's true because we're sinners. Just because we're sinners, that don't mean the law's not good. No, the law is good and just and holy and right. The law of God reveals the character of God, his holiness and his justice.

He gave them the law. He gave him the priesthood. He gave him the sacrifices. He gave him the tabernacle. God's so good, and He always does good to His people, always, by saving them through the blood of His Son. And that blood of Christ, shed over 2,000 years ago, is still as fresh and powerful as it ever was, to pay for sin and cleanse God's people from all of their sin. The Holy Spirit, isn't He good? He sends the gospel to God's elect and gives them faith to believe it? Oh, that's God's goodness.

And God keeps and preserves his people. He doesn't just, you know, reveal himself to us, cause us to be born again, and leave us to our own devices to try to find our way to glory. God keeps and preserves his people, even though so much of the time we're foolish children, aren't we? We act like foolish, untaught children, But God's good to his people and he keeps them because he's good. And every event of providence in the life of a believer is good because God only does good to Israel. Whether we see it or not, it's good. It's good. Now that's God's character. That's who he is. This is his glory, his goodness.

Well, for 6,000 years of human history, we sure have, Adam's race, sure has used up a lot of God's goodness, haven't we? Does God have enough goodness left to save a sinner like me? Does he have enough goodness left to keep an erring child like me? To keep a child that's weak in faith and stumbles. Does he have enough goodness left?

Look at Psalm 27. Psalm 27 verse 13. David said, I'd fainted. I would have quit. I couldn't have gone on unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Now you wait on the Lord, be of good courage. He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait. I say on the Lord, the land is still full of the goodness of the Lord. Look over a couple of pages. Psalm 31 verse 19.

Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

Blessed be the Lord, for he has showed me his marvelous kindness, his marvelous kindness, marvelous goodness in a strong city. Oh, the Lord has goodness. It's so much goodness is reserved for his people. It'll never run out because that's the character of God. Goodness. That's his glory, to be good to a people that do not deserve it. Right, here's the second thing. God's glory is seen in the salvation of sinners in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Back in our text, verse 19, he said, I'll make all my goodness pass before thee. And I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. Now God's name describes the character of God. And here he uses the word Lord, the name of the Lord, all capitals, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That name is Jehovah. It's God my savior. It's the self existent one. The one who needs nothing to, assist him in existing, he's the self-existent one. And the self-existent one became a man.

He took on him flesh so that he could be the representative of his people. So he could be the substitute for his people. He became flesh so that he would have a body that he could offer as a sacrifice to purchase the salvation of his elect. And by his one sacrifice, He saved all of his people from all of their sin. There's no more sacrifice. Sacrifices are over because Christ, one sacrifice, saved a number that no man can number, paid all of their sin debt, washed them from all of their sin by one sacrifice.

Now that's glorious. I ask you how many times have you had a job to do and something, you know, whatever, and you did it and you did it so well, that's the last time you ever had to do it. I've never had that experience, never. By one sacrifice, he sanctified his people forever. That's so glorious. And I tell you what makes it so much more glorious.

Who did he do that for? Who did Christ come and work out this perfect righteousness and offer this glorious sacrifice. Who did he do that for? Well, first of all, he did it for his father. He loves his father. He and his father are one. And he was determined to glorify his father. That's the opening of his great high priestly prayer in John 17. Father, glorify me so I can glorify you. Oh, he wanted to glorify his father, to enable his father to be both just and justifier.

And secondly, Christ, our Savior, willingly went to the cross. He willingly became flesh. He willingly went to the cross to redeem his people, to redeem his people, the people who God gave to him and he calls them his bride. bride, my beloved. Christ loves his bride. He loves her with an eternal love. So he's going to do her good. And he showed his goodness, the glory of his goodness, the glory of who he is. He showed it to all creation when he hung on a cross between heaven and earth and he suffered and died. to redeem that bride from her sin.

I tell you, that is so glorious. It's a... I almost feel foolish trying to talk about how can you talk about the glory of the Son of God dying for my sin, for yours? as glorious as we think that is. I mean, can you think of anything? You can't think of anything that rivals that in glory, can you? It's so much glorious, more glorious than we can even imagine. You just can't get more glorious than this, than the holy, righteous, perfect son of God dying for the sin of his bride.

That's so glorious, that's God's glory. It's salvation in Jehovah, God my savior. Then thirdly, God's glory is his sovereign grace. At the end of verse 19, he says, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now by definition, grace has to be sovereign. You can't earn it, it's gotta be given freely. If you earn it, it's wages, it's not grace.

And God is gracious. to whomsoever he will, just because he would. God is merciful to whoever it is he chooses to be merciful to. He'll be gracious to one and pass another by. He'll be merciful to one and pass another by. It's all God's choice. Salvation is a choice. I mean, I grant you that, but it's not our choice. It's not my choice to let Jesus into my heart. It's God's choice on who he'll be merciful to, who he'll be gracious to. And it's all up to God.

We can't do anything to make God be gracious to us. You can't manipulate God and get him to be merciful to us. You can't coerce him. You can't do something that makes him owe us his mercy and grace. It's all up to God whether he'll be gracious or not. And if God passes us by, There's not one thing that we could complain about, not one thing.

It's a story told all through the scriptures. Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Moses and Pharaoh, Peter and Judas. In all those cases, what made the difference between those two men? Wasn't the strength of their character, was it? It's the sovereign grace of God. God was gracious to one and let the other go his way. That's the only difference. And the same thing is true of you and me. Everyone that trusts Christ will tell you this. If I'm saved, it's because God chose before time began to be merciful and gracious to me.

And he had to do it. He had to choose to do that before time. He had to. Because ever since I've been here, I've not done one thing that would make God ever look on me with favor. It has to be because he determined before the foundation of the world to be merciful and gracious to me. God is gracious. He's gracious to a people that do not deserve it. Have you ever done anything to deserve God's favor? Deserve His grace? I mean, again, by definition, we cannot earn or deserve God's mercy and grace. There's nothing we can do to deserve His favor in any way whatsoever. We don't deserve it, but God is gracious anyway.

That's glorious. That's glorious. You know, again, if someone's kind to someone who can do something for them or, you know, whatever, add to their glory, Okay, you know, but to be merciful and gracious to someone who can never deserve it, that's glorious. And I know people who don't know no better because they're in the flesh and they don't know. God hasn't revealed himself to them. Say, well, that's not fair. Well, God's God. God is God. And whatever he does is right. It's right. And this is what makes it all the more glorious.

Maybe I hadn't thought about this for a minute. I don't know my mouth. It's not fair. They got to be merciful to me. The thing, the issue of fairness is not, well, God's not fair passing me by. God's really, it's not fair, it's not just, it's not right in any way for God to be merciful and gracious to me.

So he sent his son to make it right for him to do it. That's glorious. That's glorious. And here's the fourth thing. Here is how God accomplishes all of his purpose, all of his glory, all of his goodness in the salvation of his people. God's glory is seen most plainly and the sacrifice of his son. This is the reason that God can be good to his people. This is the reason God can be gracious and merciful to his people. It's the sacrifice of Christ.

Verse 20, he said, thou canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live. And no man in the flesh can see God and live because of God's holiness. His holiness would just consume us if we were in his presence in our sin. Look it up at Exodus chapter 24, back at Exodus chapter 24. Verse 17, and the sight. of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. Everybody says, Oh, I'd like to be Moses and go up and talk to the Lord face to face where everybody down at the foot of that mountain saw God's glory up there as a consuming fire. And they told Moses, you go on Moses, you talk to him and you come back and tell us what we're not going up there.

Because if I'd stepped into God's presence up there, I'd be devoured. That's God's holiness. The angels, I mean, the angels who have never seen flying around the throne of God that Isaiah saw, they don't even look at God. They use two of their wings to cover their face. So they don't look at God directly. Look at Judges chapter 13. Anybody that knows anything about God, knows anything about God at all, knows I can't come into his presence as I am, and my sin, I'd be devoured. Judges 13, verse 17.

This is when the angel came to tell of the coming of Samson. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, what is thy name? That when these sayings come to pass, we may do the honor. And the angel of the Lord said unto him, why askest thou after my name, seeing It is secret. It's wonderful.

And Manoah took a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked on for it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord descended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground. This angel, got up in that smoke, the smoke of the fire, and in the smoke of that sacrifice ascended back to heaven. Friend, that is no mere angel. This is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, who identified himself with that sacrifice, and in the smoke of that sacrifice ascended back up into heaven. Verse 21, but the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, we shall surely die, because we've seen God. Manoah knew this is not a mere angel.

This is God, we're gonna die. We have to, how can we not be consumed in his presence? And the reason that they could not be consumed, that God spared them, is the sacrifice. And Manoah's wife knew that. Verse 23, she said unto him, if the Lord pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

They were spared because of that sacrifice, which was a picture of Christ. And if you and I, If you and I ever awake in glory and we open our eyes and we see what we have longed for all these years, we see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's going to be because of that sacrifice, isn't it? And that's what is pictured here in our text.

The Lord says, Moses, now you can't see my face and live. And verse 21 says, and the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. That's our only standing, isn't it? On that rock, Christ Jesus. And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in the cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.

Now this rock obviously is a picture of Christ, our rock. There's no rock like our rock. And this is really interesting. This was not just a big old giant smooth rock. There's a cleft in that rock. Something's happened that has caused a cut in that rock.

That's Christ our Savior. He was pierced for our sins, his hands and his feet. His head pierced with that crown of thorns. His side pierced with that sword. Out came blood and water, the double cure out of that rock. This rock is a picture of Christ. Christ is our rock, but now there's a cleft in that rock. Where did he receive these wounds? In the house of my friends, he said. They crucified him, and it's in that cleft.

It's in that sacrifice of Christ where we hide. I just want to get down in there as far as I can get, don't you? Just get down in there. Because hiding in that cleft of the rock, hiding in the sacrifice of Christ, we're safe. We're safe from all harm. And God gets all the glory for that. He's the one that did it. Yeah, I know.

Men were the ones that crucified our Lord's body. But no, they just did what the Lord determined before to be done. In the Old Testament, God wrote out, step by step, everything that they would do, and they did it because all they were doing was accomplishing God's will. It was the Father that put his son to death so that he could, that precious blood would pay the sin debt of his people. Christ gets all the glory for that. Now look at verse 23.

He says, I'll take away my hand and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face, shall not be seen. I don't think he's just talking about the back, the shoulders, the waist, whatever of our Lord. He's talking about something specific that you can see. You can only see of a person when they're walking away from you. You can't see my heel unless I'm walking away from you.

Christ heal. was bruised, just exactly in the goodness of God that he promised Adam and Eve before he thrust them out of the garden, the seed of woman is coming to crush Satan's head. Yes, his heel is bruised. He's gonna have a wound that's gonna show for eternity. But Satan's head's crushed. It's crushed.

The Lord Jesus Christ suffered as a substitute for sinners. Bearing the shame and the punishment and the death that they deserve so they can go free. Now that's glory. And the death of Christ is the only death that was never a defeat. All of us someday, unless the Lord returns first, are gonna die. And somebody's gonna, friends and family, whatever's gonna come see us laying in a casket They're going to tell our loved ones, you know, I'm so sorry, and hug them. Sin has defeated this body. Sin has finally killed this body.

But the death of Christ was not a defeat. His death was a victory. In his death, yes, he has scars in his hands, in his feet, in his side. Yeah, he has those scars. But they're scars. They're evidence of a victory. See, he's risen. He died, but he's risen. And when he showed himself to his disciples, behold my hands, behold my feet, behold that heel, the same one Moses saw. There are signs of his victory.

He was risen from the dead because his death put away sin. His death put away hell for his people. His death put away so that all sin, so Satan can never charge any of God's elect with any sin ever again. It's all because of his sacrifice for his people. And there's no reason that he will ever suffer again because he got the job done with one sacrifice. Now that's glory. That's glory.

Doesn't that make you want to hide in him? I mean, I want to run to him and just in that cleft of the rock, just get up so close to him you can't separate me and him. Run to Christ. Run to Christ. You know, I just can't even imagine Moses at this time.

I mean, this experience. I mean, he's talking to God face to face like a man talks to his friends. And God's telling him all these things? But really and truly, you and I have something better. Now I'm sure very, as much as you could, look forward to Christ coming and what he would accomplish for his people by his obedience to the law, by his sacrifice. Moses saw that by faith as clear as anyone. He had to, to write all this.

But you and I have something better. We have recorded for us the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have an account of his earthly ministry. We have account of his suffering and death. We have account of his resurrection, his ascending back to glory. So if you want to see the glory of God, go to Calvary. Go to Calvary.

Someone told me recently about a And they were complimenting him. But they said, this man, he only ever preaches Christ crucified. He didn't preach anything else. It's Christ crucified. And he's thankful. That's what he needs to hear. That's what he wants to hear.

But here's why we only preach Christ crucified. Because Christ crucified for sinners is God's greatest glory. That's what God had to say about himself. This is how he accomplished all of his purpose for his people. And here's what makes it so glorious. That when God saves us, he reveals himself to us. He causes us to be born again. You know what we see?

From the time I understood language, in my head at least, I really did think this was true. I really did. Christ died for sinners. I just have always believed that. Of course he did. I mean, that's the only thing it could be. But you know what makes this so glorious? When the Holy Spirit gives you eyes to see, Christ died for me. The glory of that. Christ died to satisfy justice and enable God to be gracious to me. I see how glorious that is because I got a pretty good idea how rotten I am. That's so glorious.

You wanna see the glory of God, tell you where it's found. Look to Christ at Calvary. Look at John chapter one, we'll close. John one verse 14. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And that's what every believer sees the same thing with eyes of faith, the glory of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And my prayer is that not one of us will leave here tonight without begging God Show me your glory. Show me your glory. Show me the Lord Jesus Christ so that I believe him, so that I trust him, so that I follow his feet and cling to him. That's my prayer for you and me. Lord, show us your glory. All right, let's bow together.

Our Father, how we thank you that you stooped so far down to give us what we find here in your word tonight, your description of your glory. Father, we're so thankful how we thank you that you have chosen to glorify your mercy and your grace, to glorify your justice by saving your people through the sacrifice of your precious holy son. Father, how we thank you.

And father, don't let this just be a, story to us. Don't let this just be a Bible story or story that we hear and find some interest in. Father, let us hear this with a heart of faith so that we hear it and we run to Christ, begging him for mercy and that by faith we'll see your glory in the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, it's a great, great blessing. that we ask for ourselves. But Father, for your glory, would you get glory to yourself in saving sinners like us gathered together here tonight? Father, it's in Christ's name. For his sake, we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. Okay, if you would turn in your hymnal to song number 495 and stand as we sing Unsearchable Riches. 495. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, wealth that can never be Rich is exhaustless of mercy and grace. Precious, more precious than gold. Precious, more precious.

Wealth I can never be told. O the unsearchable riches of Christ, precious, more precious than gold. O the unsearchable riches of Christ, who shall their greatness declare? Jewels whose luster our lives may adore, pearls that the poorest may wear. Precious, more precious, wealth that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, precious, more precious than gold. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, freely, how freely they flow. Making the souls of the faithful and true happy wherever they go. Precious, more precious, wealth that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, precious, more precious than gold.

Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, who would not gladly Trials, afflictions, and crosses on earth, riches like these to secure. Precious, more precious, wealth that can never be told. O the unsearchable riches of Christ, precious, more precious than gold.

God's Glory

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