Now, for our first scripture,
we look at the book of Exodus. My subject this morning is too
big for any of us, but I'll do what I can. And it is a form of a question,
what is the glory of God? What is the glory of God? And let me give you a simple
answer. The glory of God is His redemption. The fact that He saves sinners
by His almighty grace. His redemption. Well, then that
brings up another question. What is His redemption? You see, when you investigate
things, you have to just keep going. What is his redemption? Exodus chapter 6, we'll read one verse here, and
then we'll go over to the New Testament in a way of answering
that question. Exodus 6, verse 6, Wherefore
say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under
the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their
bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and
with a great judgment. I believe as Brother Bill prayed
a while ago, he said, Lord, I thank you for my Redeemer. I believe
he said that. That's what I heard, anyway.
I thank you for my Redeemer. Well, what does that mean? That
means Brother Bill has been brought out from under the burdens of sin and those who would cause
him to sin. And he's been brought out from
under bondage. He was thanking the Lord that
he's not any longer in bondage, but he has been brought out from
under bondage. And then the Lord said, I will
redeem, all right, and redemption is being brought out from under
bondage, and being rid of those who would
cause you to be under bondage. Now go over to the New Testament,
if you will, please, in Galatians chapter 3, Galatians 3, and verse 13. Christ hath redeemed us. There it is again, redeemed. That's redemption. Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. You're brought out from under bondage,
and you have been brought out from under the curse of the law. And He did that by being made
a curse for us. He became a curse instead of
you. And He took your place under the
curse of God, being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So the Lord Jesus was made a
curse, and when he was made a curse, we were brought out from under
bondage, and we were brought out from under the curse of the
law as we believed on him. You see, that's what This thing
called redemption is all of those things being brought out from
under a curse and brought out from under bondage, and that
means now we are free. Aren't you glad you're free this
morning? Free. We're free in Christ. We're not under the curse. We're
not under bondage. We're free. So the glory of God is his redemption. Exodus, again, chapter 33. We'll see that redemption is the glory of God. Exodus, chapter 33. Now, let's see what's happening
here in Exodus 33. We'll begin over with verse 12. And Moses said unto the Lord,
See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by
name, And thou hast also found grace in my sight. That's what
you said to me, Moses said to God, that I found grace in your
sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may
know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight. And consider that
this nation is thy people. And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. There's the rest again,
not under bondage. You're in rest. And he said unto
him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. If you're not with us, Lord,
we don't want to go. For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is
it not in that thou goest with us? And so shall we be separated,
I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face
of the earth.' And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing
also that thou hast spoken. For thou hast found grace in
my sight, and I know thee by name. And Moses said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory." There's glory. Show me thy glory. And God 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
God 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 there shall stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, while
my glory passeth by." My glory is going to pass by you. that
I will put thee in a cliff to the rock, and will cover thee
with my 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. We find here in this scripture
the first mention of the glory of God. If you want to know what
glory is, look for the first mention of it. And this is the
first mention of the glory of God in the Word of God. And in
verse 18, Moses made a request of Almighty God, he said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. Wouldn't you like to see that?
When you came here this morning, did you kind of, in your heart,
you hoped in your heart, I pray I'll see the glory of God today. Wouldn't that be something, to
see the glory of God? Oh, if we could come here with
the object of seeing the glory of God. Surely if God is a living
person, and not just a creed of some kind, and surely if God
is alive, And the good news about his son
is the good news of that which brings glory to God. Surely if the Old Testament that
speaks so much about the Shekinah glory that will fill the temple
and the glory that clothed Adam and Eve before they And surely the Old and the New
Testaments speak so much about glory, the glory of God, then
surely the greatest thing on earth that could happen to any
eternity-bound human being would be to get a glimpse of God's
glory. Moses said, Lord, I beg you,
show me thy glory. And the Lord said, all right,
here it is. Here it is. But before I show
it to you, before you see my glory, let me remind you of something. Down in verse 20, and he said,
Thou canst not see my face. For there shall no man see me
and live." You see me, you die. I want to remind you of that,
Moses. But I'll tell you, Moses, what
I'm going to do. I'm going to help you see my
glory without dying. There is a rock over here. The
Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon
a rock. There is a rock over here by
me, and you come and stand on that rock. Verse 21, the Lord said, Behold,
as a place by me thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come
to pass, while my glory passeth by, that
I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee
with my hand while I pass by, that I will take away mine hand,
that thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen." You come over here, Moses, and
stand by me on this rock. I'll put my hand over the cleft
in that rock, but when you get on that rock, I'll take my hand
away where you can see. But what you see won't be my
holy face, it'll only be the back parts, so that you will
not die. Now, Moses wanted to see God's
glory very badly, didn't he? Would to God that some of us
could be as Moses and desire to see the glory of God when
we come here to worship. The Lord said, Moses, I'll grant
your request, but not completely, because if I completely grant
your request, you can't take it. It'll kill you. according to the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. That's
what Paul said over in the New Testament about the glory of
God. According to the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. If I could, before I quit preaching,
if I could one time preach on God's glory, it would meet every
need that I have. It would encourage my faith and
put unction in my voice and tears in my heart and joy on the way
to heaven, the glory of God. Have you missed it? And have I missed it? Have we
missed the glory of God? We come here week after week,
but have we come here in vain? Because if we do not see the
glory of God, there is no need for us to be here. The glory of God seen in the gospel
concerns His Son. His Son is his glory, and that
rock that Moses stood on was the Lord Jesus Christ. And that which we take for granted
is so wonderful that this generation has never gotten a glimpse of
the glory in the cross of Christ. We say we want to hear Christ
preached, and we don't see the glory when He is preached. The gospel of God's glory, the
gospel of God's marvelous grace is in Christ on that cross. Listen to this scripture. You
don't need to turn here. Just listen to it. It's in Christ
on that cross. Here it is. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ. That's where the knowledge of
the glory of God is. It's in the face of Jesus Christ. It's not anywhere else. You can't
find it anywhere else except in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's where you'll find
the glory of God. Grace, the best definition of grace I've
ever found is this, in spite of. Grace is in spite of. God gets glory in spite of us. I have never found a man that
I thought God could use, but He uses men in spite of them. And he will use me in spite of
me. And you will get a blessing from
me in spite of me. I've never preached in a church
that deserved a single bit of God's blessing. Never have. This one doesn't deserve a single
bit of God's blessing. But God blesses in spite of. And if we get a blessing here
this morning, it will be in spite of us. Oh, the depth of the grace of
God! It's in his grace that he gives
us a little glimpse of his glory. Now, Moses, are you ready? Are you ready, Moses? I've got you in the cleft of
the rock, and My hand is before you so that you can't see Me,
because if you did, you would die. So I'm going to give you
a little glimpse of My glory. You want to see it, Moses? Here
it is. Here it is, verse 19. And he said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now listen to me. The gospel
of the glory of God has three points. Number one, the story of the
goodness of God. If God wasn't good, you wouldn't
be here this morning. You'd already be in hell. He's
a good God. And number two, the proclamation
that God must do right and He may show mercy. He must do right
and He may show mercy. And number three, the story of the
authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. The authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if I have found anything
out from the Scriptures, it's this. It's the sovereign mercy
of a thrice holy God. If I've found anything out, that's
what it is. It's a gospel that's not soaked
with the goodness of God. only, but it is soaked with the
goodness of God, and if it's not soaked with the goodness
of God, then it is not the gospel of God. A gospel that does not proclaim
the utter authority, the absolute authority over everything, over
men and women and events and everything else, is not the gospel
of God. If it does not give the preeminence
and the rest, of what God does, all glory and all authority. If it's not given in the only
begotten Son of God, it cannot be the gospel of God's glory. He does it all! He has it all! He gives it all! The gospel it preaches the Lord
Jesus, as in the other place, but sitting on the throne Exercising
all authority is not the gospel of the glory of God. It's just
not. And you can say, well, that's
another kind of gospel. That has no relation to the gospel
of God. If he's not sitting on a throne
with all authority, And God says here, look at it,
verse 19, I will proclaim the name. I will proclaim the name. And what He said there, I will
proclaim the authority of the Lord. The name is the authority
of the Lord. And then the gospel brings us
into that realm of mystery. That realm of mystery that treats
of God as being gracious to whom he will. That's what it says
here. Will be gracious to whom I will,
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now listen, the gospel is not
the gospel of God if it doesn't preach about the God who shows
mercy to whom he will. Now the issue today is whether
we will preach a gospel that leaves people with one thing
they can brag about. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory saving this one thing in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. So if one person can glory one
bit in self, they don't know the gospel of the glory of God. They don't know it. People say, today, I accepted Jesus. I made a decision. I was looking for God, and so
forth, and so forth, and I is always in there somewhere. I don't even understand verse 19,
but I know what it says. It says this, God's sovereign
saving mercy is not owed to men. It is not something that men
deserve. It is not something that men
command of God, because if it is, it's no longer mercy. You do something and God must
do something. That's the preaching today. Who
gets the glory? You do! Because you did something. And I say to you, if you would
just quit doing something, you may come to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Quit doing something. And just
look to him and say, Lord, if you will, if you will. We're in a religious system now
that tells us it's no longer mercy. That every man is entitled
to be a recipient of God's mercy. This is taught and preached and
ingrained in mankind. And the offense of the gospel
of the glory of God is this, that if a man is entitled to
God's mercy, then there's no such thing as mercy if a man's
entitled to it. Mercy is something that undeserving
people receive. Do you deserve mercy? then you
never have received it. Paul said, It is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And to talk of deserving mercy
is a contradiction of terms. God gave mercy. He didn't pay
it. And if a sinner insists on justice,
he'll get it. You know what justice is? It's
hell. That's what justice is. If you
want justice, you get ready to go on to hell because that's
where you're going. I don't want justice. I want
mercy. Oh God, have mercy on me. According to the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God. Now, redemption is closely related
to the word salvation. But more specific, it denotes
the means by which salvation is achieved, namely by the payment
of a ransom. You got it by the payment of
a ransom bought out of the slave market. That's what redemption has to
do with. When Hosea went down to get Gomer
back out of the slave market, that's what he did. He paid the
price of her redemption and brought her home with him. the payment
of a ransom bought out of the slave market. Where did redemption
take place? Look at Luke chapter 23. I'll show you where it took place. Luke chapter 23, verse 33, 23,
33. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, There they crucified him, and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left,
when they came to a place called Calvary, they crucified him. And when they crucified him,
redemption took place at Calvary. Calvary, their god who delights
to show mercy, poured out his wrath on his only begotten son. Calvary, their god who clothes
the lilies of the field, left his son naked under the burning
sky. Calvary, their god who hears
the raven's call, answered not the agonizing cry of his own
son. Calvary, their God, who forms
the cool springs of earth, and sends rain even on the unjust
herd, his son cried, I thirst, and gave him no drink. Calvary, their God. who never leaves us alone, and
who said, Lo, I'm with you always, left his dear son there to die
and to suffer his wrath alone. Can you imagine it? Can you get
hold of it? Oh, the holy fingers of God formed
the thorns that crowned his brow. The nails that pierced his hands
and feet were made from things that God designed. The tree on
which his son's body hung was designed by God's own hand. That's where redemption took
place, on Calvary, where his son was hung up to die. And you dare come here and you
don't have your heart broken. We ought to go to hell if we
can come in here and not have our heart broken by what happened
to Him. And who was it that put Him there?
It was you and your sin that put Him there. And we can come
in here and we can look at everybody else and say they ought not to
have been so bad to crucify Him. You're the one that crucified
Him. Calvary. Who did He redeem? We're talking about redemption
now. Who did He redeem? Romans chapter 5. Let's look
at it. Romans chapter 5. We'll see who
He redeemed. Romans 5 and verse 6, first of
all. Romans 5, 6. Who did he redeem? Romans 5, 6. For when we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. He died for the ungodly. Now verse 8, who did he die for? God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were sinners, sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 10, for if when we were
enemies, enemies, you're an enemy of God, you come in here and
play while I talk about Christ. Everybody ought to go to hell
that do that. Don't ever come in here and play. If when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son. So we see that redemption is not a reward for the righteous. It's not a divine favor for the
faithful. Everything that God did in Christ
was for sinners. And if you're not an awful, wicked
sinner, then He didn't die for you. Not little sinners, because
there's no such thing as little sinners, only big sinners. And
what was the price of redemption? What did it cost? Acts 20, verse
28. Acts 20, 28. What did this redemption
cost? We've seen that it cost the Son
of God his blood, but who was he? Acts 20, and verse 28, "...take
heed therefore unto yourselves of all the flock of God, over
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God, God, God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."
God! The Son of God was God in flesh. He purchased with his own blood
sinners. You mean to tell me you're not
glad of that? Oh, I'm so happy about that,
that He purchased me with His own blood. What can wash away
my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole
again? Nothing. but the blood of Jesus. Nothing, nothing, nothing but
the blood of Jesus. Redeemed. Redeemed. How were we redeemed? By the payment of a ransom. What a word this redemption is. What a Word that brings glory
to God! What a Word redeemed from judgment,
redeemed from wrath, redeemed from death, redeemed from sorrow,
redeemed from pain, redeemed from hell! And we're redeemed to some things.
We're redeemed to justification, redeemed to peace, redeemed to
life, redeemed to joy, redeemed to perfection, redeemed to heaven. Redeemed. And above all, we're
to be in His presence forever. And all of that is what makes
up the glory of God. The glory of God. What is the
glory of God? The glory of God is everything
that I've told you about this morning, that the Lord Jesus
Christ did on that cross. Redemption. Redemption. Glory. Glory. There's glory in redemption,
the redemption that God gave us in His dear Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption. Are you redeemed? Why not? If you're not redeemed,
did you know you hate God? Yes, you do. You're not going
to bring God any glory. You hate God. That's the reason
you haven't bowed your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. You hate
God. Oh, I don't hate God? Yes, you
do. Have you bowed your knee to Him?
Why, no, not yet. When did you hate God? Come on
now. The Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
I've been to Calvary. I can say, I've seen the Lord. I've been to Calvary through
the witness of His Word. And each day at Calvary, what
a thrill of love divine! Just to think, just to know that
this Savior is mine. Love divine, this Savior is mine. I'm redeemed by Him, and therefore
I bring God His just glory. Amen. Oh, I want Him to get more and
more, but I can't give Him any more than what Christ has given
Him. So, when I say I give Him more
glory, I can't do that because it's all in Christ. I've given
God all the glory because I gave it to Him and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, what is the glory of God. I hope you've been helped a little
bit to find out. Now let's stand for a prayer,
please. Lord, we're so glad We can be
here and hear of the glory of God and the fact that You redeemed
us by Your grace. By the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we have been redeemed. We thank You because of that
redemption. then we can bring glory to God. Thank you, Lord, that we can,
through your grace, bring you glory. May everyone here come
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. May everyone here bow to Him. May every soul in this place bow before Him and receive Him as their only
Lord and Savior. Oh God, help us to bow before
the glorious God. In Christ's holy name we pray,
Amen. God bless you. Get your book
now. I think there's some down here
on the front seat. Look for your name on the book. I've given everyone a book. And
I'd like for you to read it, if you can, please.