First Corinthians 13 verse 12,
let's look at this verse again. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as
also I am known. I've entitled this message Now
And then. Now. That's time. Right now. Time began in creation. Before creation, there was eternity. Now we have time. minutes, seconds,
hours, days, weeks, time. Yesterday had a now, didn't it? Yesterday, there was a present
time. There's right now, this very
second, the moment we're in. And tomorrow, there will be a
now. Now, right now, we see. through a glass, darkly. Not very well. This is where we get the word
enigma from. Puzzling. Difficult to understand. Complicated. We see, we do see. we see through
a glass, darkly. Then is when time is no more. Then we'll no longer see darkly,
but face to face. Face to face with Christ my Savior,
Face to face, what will it be? When with rapture I behold him,
Jesus Christ, who died for me. Only dimly now I see him, with
the darkling veil between, but a blessed day is coming when
his glory shall be seen. When this passing world is done,
when has sunk yon glaring sun, when we stand with Christ in
glory, looking o'er life's finished story, then Lord, shall I fully
know, not till then, how much I owe when I stand before thy
throne dressed in beauty, not my own, when I see thee as thou
art, love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully
know, not till then, how much I owe." Now, there is no salvation
apart from knowledge. We know, we know I love what
the Lord said in John chapter 8 verse 32, you shall KNOW the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. But that knowledge
that we have right now is partial. We know in part. Now, that doesn't
take away from the reality of that knowledge. I don't fully
grasp the theory of relativity. What do I mean I don't fully
grasp it? I can't even come close to grasping it. I think it's
true. E equals MC squared, but I don't
grasp that. But I know two and two is four.
And I know that. I know that. We know. We don't
have fullness of knowledge. I realize that. But we know. We see. We see through a glass
darkly. We see dimly. There's so much
we don't see, but we do see. Now we see. Who's the we? When Paul says,
now we see, we do see who is the we. Not everybody sees what
we see. Isn't that so? Not everybody
sees what we see. There's something we see, but
not everybody sees that. Who is this we who sees? Well, they're the people the
Lord has given eyes to see. Blessed are your eyes for they
see. God has given you a sight that
not all men possess. Man by nature, is spiritually
blind. Now, let me make good on that.
Scripture teaches it, you know that. If a man believes salvation is
by works, if a man believes that salvation is in some measure
dependent upon what they do, I will not be saved unless I
first do this, then God can respond to me if I do this. If a man
believes in salvation by works, I mean anywhere, if you believe
salvation begins with an act of your will, if you think that
you can become more holy by your works, if you think at the end
you'll be given a higher award in heaven because of how good
you've been on earth, you are blind to the character of God. You're blind to your own character
and you're blind to salvation. Now it is that simple. If a man
believes in salvation by works, he's utterly blind. He cannot
see. Blind. But some are given eyes
to see. And who are they? The elect. Now let me show you that from
the scripture. John chapter six. Read along with me. Verse 38. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which
He has given me. That's the elect. those given Him before the foundation
of the world, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
at the last day. seeing the son. I've never seen
him physically, neither have you. But I see he is who he says he
is in his word. I see that. If you see that,
if you see that he is God, I'm not asking you right now whether
or not you see that you're saved, but I am asking you this. Do
you see that he is the only savior? Do you see that? Do you see that
He is God manifest in the flesh? Do you see that He's the creator?
Do you see that He's the sovereign of the universe? Do you see who
He is? If you do, you will believe. Everyone who sees the Son, believes
the Son. He that seeth the Son and believeth
on Him." There's no separation. If you see who He is, you will
believe. If you don't believe, it's because you've never really
seen who He is. Everyone that seeth the Son. We see this one thing. I know that whereas I was blind,
now I see. Now, have you ever been blind? Have you ever been blind? Turn
to John chapter nine. John chapter nine, verse 39. And Jesus said, this is after
he healed that man that had been born blind. And Jesus said, for
judgment, I am coming to this world That they which see not
might see and that they which see might be made blind. Do you see why God would save
you? After all, you've done this,
you stopped doing that. You've learned this, you're different. I see why God would save me.
You're blind. You're in utter spiritual darkness. If you can look and find a reason
in you as to why God would save you, you've been blinded. The
lights have been turned off. Are you someone who cannot see
why God would ever look your way in favor? You see that there's
nothing in you Nothing that could merit his favor. You can't see
why God would ever save you. Guess what? You've been given
sight. And you're going to see that
God saves for Christ's sake. Everybody who can't see a reason
in themselves as to why God will save them, that's the person
God gives sight to. He gave you the sight to see
that in the first place. Let's go on reading, verse 40. And
some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words and
said unto him, are we blind also? Are you talking about us? Jesus
said unto them, if you were blind, you should have no sin. If you can't see any reason in
yourself why God would save you, he's revealed himself to you.
You have no sin. Christ put it away. It's gone. But now you say, we see, I can
see why God would save me. Therefore, your sin remains,
and it's gonna remain on you on judgment day. We see. We see the character of God.
Now, Paul said, we see. And through the gospel, I see
the character of God. Isaiah chapter six, verse one, the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting on a throne
high and lifted up." And if you and I ever see who He is, that's
how we'll see Him. Sitting on the throne, sitting,
His work finished, not pacing back and forth, frustrated that
his will's not being done, sitting, having finished the work, sitting
on a throne, ruling and reigning, sitting on a throne. Holy, holy, holy is what I heard
the seraphim cry Isaiah said. Other, I love that, other. Nothing in this world like Him.
Other. And that's when Isaiah saw himself. Then said, I, I'm undone. Woe is me. We see. We see. Job said, I've heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eyes see of thee.
Wherefore, I hate myself and repent in dust and ashes. We see. Everybody who sees, sees. I really do see myself in the
same light that Peter saw himself when he saw who the Lord was.
He said, when he saw who the Lord really was for the first
time, Depart from me, oh Lord. I'm a sinful man. You do not want to have anything
to do with me. We see. There was a time when I did not
see myself in that light. I now do. I see, like Paul said,
Now see the other law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. I see that. I see that. There's no question about that.
I see that. Do I see it in its fullness?
No. Do I see it? Yes, I do. You know, I see that the very
notion of free will is ridiculous. I see that. It's just foolishness. Nothing more. Because I see something
of my own personal sinfulness from the light of who He is.
Not me all of a sudden saying I'm sinful. No, you see who He
is, you'll see you're sinful. I don't see my sinful, you don't
see who He is then. It is that simple. Like Simeon,
see that Christ himself is salvation. I love it when he's holding that
eight-day-old baby who's God manifested in the flesh, and
he knew that, and he said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart
in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I see that Jesus Christ is God's
salvation. I see that all of God's salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. I see that. Do you see that?
I see that. We see. We see. I see that Jesus Christ is the
reason for creation. As a matter of fact, he created
the world. All things were made by him and for him. And he is
before all things, whatever it is, he's before it. By him, all
things consist. I see. I see that he's the reason for
election. You see that? The only reason
you'd be elected is because you're in him. In him, according as
he has chosen us in him. I see that he's the reason for
redemption. I see that he is the redemption. I see that his
precious blood is the sin payment. I see. I see his righteousness
is the only righteousness I have. I see that. I see that. I believe
that. I've got some understanding of
that. I see that the only reason I believe right now is because
he causes me to. I see that. I see that I'm kept
in Christ Jesus, preserved in Christ Jesus. I've been given
eyes to see that Christ is all, but everything I've seen now,
I see through a glass darkly. Right now, I'm looking through
a dark glass in an enigma, in something I cannot fully comprehend. And here's the reason. I'm in this earthen vessel. God who commanded the light to
shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, jars of clay that the excellency of the power
might be of God and not of us. We see through a glass darkly. The flesh, the old man that I
still possess, is a constant reminder to me That the righteousness
of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness I have. I have none of my own. As David said, my sin is ever
before me. And as long as I have sin, I'm
going to be seeing through this glass. Darkly. My view of my own sinfulness
is only seen darkly. I'm still proud. I'm still self-righteous. Surely my view of my sin is only
dark if I still have these high thoughts of myself. And my sight
of Him is through a glass. darkly. You see, if I saw him
in his fullness, I wouldn't dream of looking to myself in any way.
If I ever saw him in his fullness, if I saw him in his fullness,
I wouldn't dream of looking to myself as a ground of assurance.
I would look only to him. There would be no unbelief. Face
to face with Christ my Savior. Face to face. What will it be
when with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ, who died for me? We see. Praise God, we do see. But we are painfully aware, even
right now as I speak, we see through a glass, darkly. Somebody says, not me. Congratulations,
but you can't take this promise to yourself. We see through the glass, darkly. But then, face to face. David said in Psalm 17 verse
15, as for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. Now, if the Lord looked at you
right now physically, you and Him were in the same room physically,
and He looked at you, you'd have to look down. You'd just have
to look down. No more then though. I'll behold thy face in righteousness,
I'll be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. And let me tell
you when that'll be. John said, it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And such is the glory of his
person that when you see him as he is, you'll be perfectly
conformed to his image. That's how altogether glorious
he is. Believer, the moment you die,
life begins. Seeing Him face to face, you'll
see His beauty, and you'll see your own beauty, perfectly conformed
to the image of His Son. When He says, thou art all fair,
my love, there's no spot in thee. That is how he sees every single
one of his people because that's how they are. Because of how
he made them. Now, we know. In part. Now we know. There's
no salvation apart from knowledge. You can't believe what you don't
know. It's impossible. We know. We know in part. Somebody says, well, how do you
know what you know is true if you just know in part? Because
what I know, I know. Like I said, I know two and two
is four. I'm sure of that. There's a lot
of math theory that I'm sure I have no idea of what all that
means, but I know a little bit of math. Two and two is four.
We know. Like Job, I know my Redeemer
liveth. We know, it's given to you to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. Do you hear that? It's
given to you. If you know the mysteries of the kingdom of God,
the mystery that which could never have been known and not
God made it known in his word. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Oh, to know the mystery, the great mystery of Christ in you,
the hope of glory. You know, I know this. If I believe
it's because Christ in me, it doesn't have anything to do with
any work in me or any merit in me or any, I know that. Christ
in you, the hope of glory, the great mystery of union with Christ,
the two shall be one flesh. I speak concerning, this is a
great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ in the church. I know
that if I'm saved for this one reason, I'm one with Him. I'm
united to Him, eternally united to Him. Now, do I fully grasp
that? Of course I don't. Do I believe
it with all my heart? It's given to you to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of God. In John chapter 17, verse 3,
this is eternal life that they might know thee, the only true
God. I know the only true God and
Jesus Christ whom he has seen. That's eternal life. Now, do
you feel like you know him very well? I sure don't. I don't feel like I know him
as well as I one day will, but I know it. I recognize when what's
said is not him, because I know it. I know him. That's why a
believer can recognize error, because they know him. And when
they hear something that's not him, they say, that's not him.
That's not him. We know. Paul said in 2 Timothy
1.12, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to Him, the entire salvation
of my soul. I'm persuaded He's able to keep
that which I've committed to Him against that day. Paul said
in Romans 8, 28, And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His person. Well, how do you know that, Paul?
Because God said it. That's all I need, a word from
God. And I know that this is completely
consistent with the character of God because of who he is.
I know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. I think of what
Paul said in Romans 7, 14. He said, we know that the law
is spiritual. But I am carnal, sold under sin."
When he says we know, he's speaking as the spokesman for all of God's
elect. All of God's elect know this.
We know that the law is spiritual, exceeding broad. And I am carnal,
fleshly, sinful, sold under sin. I know that in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Somebody says, I don't know that.
Then you're not included in the we that know. All that know. Know this. appealed to our knowledge when
he said, you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. That you through his poverty
might be rich. He appealed to us knowing that,
you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in Romans chapter three,
verse 19, we know. That whatsoever things the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law that every mouth
might be stopped. What's that mean? Guilty as charged,
no excuses. Can't blame anybody but myself.
We know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world stand guilty before God. Do you know that? I'm glad it doesn't stop there.
That's when he goes on to declare the gospel. As a matter of fact,
turn with me there to Romans chapter three. We know, I know we know in part,
but we know look in verse 19. Now we know verse 19, Romans
chapter three. We know that what things, whoever
the law sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law, that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty
before God. Now, wait a minute. How can it
be fair for God to hold on, hold on. All of a sudden you're God's
judge. That won't work. guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, by anything that you do, there can no flesh be justified
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." If
you see anything but sinfulness in yourself in light of the law,
you've not seen it. All the law does is expose my
personal sin and guilt before God. But, verse 21, now the righteousness
of God. There's not a more important statement in the scripture than
the righteousness of God. Now, the righteousness of God
without the law, without my works is manifested being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. It's what the Old Testament scriptures
have always taught. Even the righteousness of God,
which is by faith of Jesus Christ, His faithfulness to keep the
law unto all and upon all them to believe. For there's no difference,
all sinned. and come short of the glory of
God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth, foreordained
to be a propitiation, a sin-removing sacrifice through faith in His
blood. Do you have faith in His blood?
Hold on. Do you believe that all that's
needed to make you clean before God is His blood? Faith in His
blood. to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. I love what the Lord said to
Nicodemus. We speak what we know. and testify
what we have seen. We see through glass darkly. We know, and we understand that
our knowledge is partial, but what we know, we know. Peter said, knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture cometh of any private interpretation.
We know that the Bible is our only source of truth. Do you
know that? You don't trust anything man says. You only trust what
God says in his word. You're basing all of your salvation
on what God has said in his word. Not man's invention, it's the
very Word of God. Knowing this first, that no scripture
comes of any private interpretation. For the scripture came not in
old time by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. All of my hope of salvation is
found in what this book actually says. I know that. I know that,
I'm not interested in human religion. All I want to hear is what God
says. And we are acutely aware that
we know in part. Paul said, if a man thinketh
he knoweth anything, he knows nothing, yet as he ought to know. I've got that down, Pat. No,
you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't. God is infinite. We know in part. Do I see the fullness of his
glory? No. If I did, I'd never sin again. Do I see the fullness of any
of his attributes? No. If I did, there'd be no unbelief. There would be no worrying. Do
I see the fullness of my own sin? I haven't even scratched
the surface and I don't want to see it either. I do not want
to see it. I want to see it enough to make
me look to him only. That's all I want to see. Just
enough to make me look to him only. Do I see the fullness of
in him dwell of all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you
are complete in him? I don't see it in all this fullness,
but I believe it. My knowledge now is always partial
in part. I'm continually and painfully
aware of my ignorance. So much I do not see, so much
I do not know. And if God has given you his
spirit, you know that's true with regard to you. We see through
a glass, we see, but we see through a glass darkly. Then face to
face, here's what's going on now. I see darkly. I know in
part, but then I shall know even as also I am known. Somebody says, well, what's that
mean? I don't know, but one of these days I will. Then shall
I know. even as also I am known. Now and then. Let me give you a when and then.
You're all familiar with this. I've quoted part of it already.
When this passing world, time, and everything in it is done.
When has sunk yon glaring sun? When we stand with Christ in
glory, looking o'er life's finished story, then, Lord, shall I fully
know, not till then, how much I owe. When I hear the wicked
call on the rocks and hills to fall, When I see them start and shrink
at the fiery deluge brink, then, Lord, shall I fully know, not
to then, how much I owe. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart then Lord shall I fully know
not till then how much I owe when the praise of heaven I hear
loud as thunder to the ear loud as many waters noise sweet as
harps melodious voice then Lord shall I fully know Not till then,
how much I owe. Chosen not for good in me, wakened
up from wrath to flee, hidden in the Savior's side, by His
Spirit sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on earth to show. That's the right now. By my love,
how much I owe. Now and then, let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for what
you've done now in giving us the knowledge of
thy dear son, and giving us eyes to see that he is salvation. But Lord, we're so acutely aware
that now we see through a glass darkly, and now our knowledge
is partial. But how we prized the thought of seeing him face to face and knowing, even as also we
are known, how we thank you for our Savior. Lord, give each one
of us the grace to know Lord, that's the gift of your grace.
There is no salvation apart from knowing you. And Lord, we can't
know you except you make yourself known. And we ask in Christ's
name that you will be pleased by your grace to make yourself
known to each person here. Lord, we ask that you would give
each person here the grace to see, to where we can say we see. We realize we see through a glass
darkly, but oh Lord, only as you give us eyes to see what
we see. And I ask in Christ's name that you would give everybody
in this room this saving knowledge, these eyes to see your glory
and our need of you. Now bless this word for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.