Would you turn back to John chapter
11? I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Reason for Everything. Here it is. Verse four, this sickness is
not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might
be glorified thereby. There we have it. The reason
for everything. This Sickness. If you're not sick now, you will
be. Sickness. Weakness. This sickness is not unto death. Now wait a minute, he would die.
He did die. The Lord raised him from the
dead, yet the Lord says This sickness, this particular sickness,
is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of
God might be glorified thereby. Why is there existence? Why is there something? and not
nothing. Why did this take place? Whatever
it is, why did this take place? Why am I here? What is my purpose? Questions
we've all asked. The answer is found In verse
4, the reason for everything, this sickness, is not unto death,
but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified
thereby. Now, there's two things that
can't be separated. If God is glorified, the Son
of God is glorified. And if the Son of God is glorified,
God is glorified. And what the Lord said with regard
to Lazarus' sickness is the reason for everything, the explanation
of all things, the glory of God, that the Son of God might be
glorified thereby. Now, you and I will glorify Him. That is certain. It could be that you'll glorify
His justice if He condemns you. It'll glorify Him. That's a sobering,
somewhat scary thing to say, but it's so. If He would send
me to hell, It would be to the praise of the glory of His justice. You will glorify Him if He saves
you. It'll be to the praise of the
glory of His grace. You will be an object of His
grace. Oh, how He'll be glorified in
your salvation. You won't get any glory, will
you? It'll all go to Him. But glorify Him, you and I will. Just as He's everybody's Lord,
He's the Lord of the dead and the living. I can't stand it
when a preacher says, won't you make Him the Lord of your life?
He is the Lord of your life, whether you know it or not. You're
in His hand. He's your Lord. And just as he's
everybody's Lord, Lord of the dead, dead in sins, he's their
Lord. He's in control of them. They
may be goats, but they're his goats. And the sheep, oh, how
he's their Lord. And all will glorify him. That is his purpose. And this is how Romans 8, 28
is fact and not fiction when it says all things. That covers
everything. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. And here's why all things are
working together for His glory. He's able to make sure that takes
place. All things work together for
His glory that's why all things work together for good to them
that love him that are thee called according to his purpose i love the way the lord jesus
christ is called the lord of glory and the king glory. John 1 14 says the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the father, the sole representative
of the being and character of the one who sent him, the only
begotten of the father. full we beheld his grace the
one of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth
in hebrews 1 3 he's called the brightness the effulgence the
brightness of god's glory and the express image of his person
Now, how can you define the glory of God? Well, it's really beyond
words. It's beyond description. I know this, glory is essential
to his character. It's not essential that you and
I have glory. It's not essential, but it's essential that he has
glory because of who he is, the glory of God. It's his reason for doing all
that he does. And he said in Isaiah 42 verse
18, my glory, I will not share with another. That's God's word.
I won't share it. You know someone who tries to
give man glory and salvation, they do so because they're his
enemy. They don't love him. They don't care anything about
his glory. It's not important to them. But he says, my glory,
I will not share with another. It's so infinite. It's so other,
it's so incomprehensible. It's so majestic that it's indeed
difficult to put into words the glory of God. Turn with me for a moment to
Exodus chapter 34. Now this was Moses' response
when the Lord showed him his glory. You'll remember in chapter
33, he said, I beseech you, show me your glory. We're gonna come
back there in not too long, but this is Moses' response when
God did show him his glory. Look in verse eight. And Moses made haste and bowed
his head toward the earth and worshiped. That's his response. He hit the
dirt quick and worshiped. Do you know that you'll only
worship a sovereign? You'll only worship one in whom
you have no control. You can't manipulate him. You
can't get him to do it. You worship an absolute sovereign. That's what he did. He hit the
dirt, he worshiped, and he said, now here's what happens when
you see his glory, you see your need of grace. If now I have found grace in
your sight. That's what I need, grace in
your sight. Let my Lord, I pray thee, go
among us. You need his presence. You need
his, if you've seen his glory, you need his presence. Go with
us. Don't leave us to ourselves. Go with us. And there is a realization
of what you are, for it's a stiff-necked people. Stiff-necked, severe,
cruel, evil. That's what the word means, rebellious.
That was his assessment of the children of Israel. And I have
no doubt he's including himself in that assessment. Pardon our iniquity and sin. and take us for thine inheritance. Now that is the response to revelation
of his glory. I love the way Paul called this
the eternal weight of his glory. You know, in that word glory,
we have the word heaviness. the heaviness, the weight of
His glory. Listen to this scripture, Psalm
29, 11. In His temple, in His temple, does everyone
speak of His glory. And that's what's going on in
His temple. That's what's going on in His church. Everyone there
without exception in His temple doth everyone speak of His glory. I think of that statement by
David in Psalm 115, 1. Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord,
but unto thy name. Give glory. Does that come out
of your heart? Not unto us. Not unto us. We know we have no glory coming
to us. We're dead sure of that. Unto thy name give glory. For thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. It was said of Isaiah, These
things said Isaiah when he saw his glory. And he spake of him. You know when somebody is going
to speak of him? When they see his glory. That
will be their only subject. There is no other subject when
you see his glory. They spake of him. Turn with
me for a moment to John chapter 7. Verse 14. Now about the midst of the feast,
Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying,
how knoweth this man letters, having never learned? He never
went seminary. He never went school. How does he even know
how to read? What a slam they were giving
him at this time. Verse 16, Jesus answered them
and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh
his own glory, But he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the
same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. If anybody knows God, if God
sent somebody, you can write this down, they're seeking his
glory. No glory to man. His glory. Now in this chapter, John chapter
11, the Lord said to Martha, said I not unto thee that if
thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God. Verse 26, I think it is. John 11. No, verse 40. Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee, John 11, 40. that if thou wouldst believe
thou shouldst see the glory of God. Now the glory of God is
only seen through the eyes of faith. It's a meaningless concept
to anybody unless they have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
only seen through the eyes of faith because only faith gives
him all the glory. You see, if you have faith, you
give Christ all the glory in your salvation. You, yes. And if you don't have faith,
you don't give him all the glory in your salvation. You seek to
rob him of his glory. You seek to share in the glory.
You seek to give yourself some of the credit. Now, giving him
all the glory is giving him all the credit. How monstrous is
it to not give him all the credit when he did it all? It was said of Abraham, he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God. Turn with me for a moment to
Ephesians chapter one. Now understand this. with regard to God's salvation.
If God has saved me and if he's saved you, we understand this.
Salvation is the work of the triune God. God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is one God in three distinct
persons. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Somebody says, explain that to
me. That's impossible. I can't explain that, but I believe
it. It's what the Bible teaches with regard to who God is. And
all three persons of the Godhead have their distinct role, would
I say it? I don't even know if that's the
right word, but they all have their work in salvation. God
the Father elects. He chose who would be saved. before the foundation of the
world. God the Father elects. God the
Son redeems. He came to save the elect, to
accomplish their salvation, to put away their sins, to give
them His righteousness, He redeems, that's His redeeming work on
the cross. God the Holy Spirit gives life. You see, we're dead in sins by
nature, and God the Holy Spirit gives life so that we see the
glory of God in Christ Jesus in the face of His Son. Now,
in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul summarizes the work of all three
persons of the Godhead in salvation. He says in verse 4, according,
here's the work of the Father, according as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy. What a glorious thing to be chosen for, to be holy,
to be without blame. Oh, don't you want to be this
person? Chosen to be holy and without blame before Him, in
love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Question. Is your salvation to
the praise of the glory of His grace. I know this, His grace gets all
the credit in my salvation. Look in verse 7, here's the work
of the Son. In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins and he goes on to speak more of the work of Christ and
he says in verse 12 that we should be to the praise of His glory. That's the work of the Son. We're
saved to the praise of His glory. And then in verse 13, in whom
you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed
or having believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance into the redemption
of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory. In all
three persons of the Trinity, in their work, we're saved to
the praise of His glory. Now the motive, let's talk about
the motive of what we're doing right now. The only proper motive
for anything is His glory. Any other motive is a wrong motive. Do you hear that? The only right
motive is His glory. Paul said, whether you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Here is the only right motive. I tell you, if I'm preaching
for my glory, it's evil, isn't it? It's ungodly. It's devil-like. That's what the devil does. I think of God's words to Belshazzar. I don't know if I'm saying it
right, but it's there in Daniel chapter five. He was the grandson
of Nebuchadnezzar and the Lord taught Nebuchadnezzar the gospel. Nebuchadnezzar was even used
to write scripture in Daniel chapter four. Those were his
direct words and Belshazzar was his son and Belshazzar didn't
care anything about God the way his father did, and they were
having a drunken party. And all of a sudden, Belshazzar
has this brilliant idea, bring in the vessels of the Lord and
let's drink out of them. Here's what Daniel said to him.
The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways,
thou hast not glorified. That is why the words were written
on the wall, thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. because you did not glorify God. That's what's most important
to him, his own glory. What about Herod? Remember when
they said, these are the words of a God, not of a man in Acts
chapter 12. Immediately the angel of the
Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory. And he was eaten of worms, the
scripture says, and gave up the ghost because he failed to give
God the glory. I think of Revelation chapter
6 when those men are scorched with great heat under the judgment
of God. Even then, they refused to give
God the glory. That's how evil you and I are
by nature, that even if we're scorched with great heat, we'll
refuse to give God the glory. Now, there isn't anything more
important than this. Giving God the glory. Now, the Lord says
this sickness, it's not unto death, but unto the glory of
God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now, if God's glorified, the
Son of God's glorified. And if the Son of God is glorified,
God is glorified. Now, we're going to close by
Exodus 33, if you'll turn with me. This is a very familiar passage
of scripture. It's going to take 10 or 12 minutes
to close, so don't anybody start thinking, well, when's he going
to quit? Exodus chapter 33, verse 18. This is Moses speaking to God. And he said, Exodus 33, 18. And he said, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. Now what a request. Now Moses
had seen the 10 plagues. He watched the Red Sea part.
He saw manna come down from heaven. He saw water come out of a rock.
He saw the giving of God's holy law. And he says, I haven't seen
your glory yet. I beseech thee, show me thy glory. What a request. I wonder if you
and I can be beseeching the same thing right now in our hearts.
Lord, show me your glory. Now, the setting of this is right
after the incident of the golden calf. Remember how Moses said, stiff-necked
people, Well, this stiff-necked people, and Moses left for 40
days to receive the law from the hand of God. You know what
they did? They said, where's Moses? We don't know what happened
to him. Let's make us a golden calf and
worship it. After all they'd seen the Lord
do, these are the people that the Lord delivered. They made
a golden calf and worshiped it and said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, that delivered thee from Egyptian bondage. Chapter 33, verse 1. And the Lord said unto Moses,
depart and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast
brought up out of the land of Egypt. He wouldn't even own them
as his people at this time. Unto the land which I swear unto
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, unto thy seed will I give it.
And I will send an angel before thee, a created angel, And I
will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite,
and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite into a land
flowing with milk and honey. For I'll not go up in the midst
of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee in
the way. And when the people heard these
evil tidings, they mourned, and no man did put on his ornaments.
For the Lord had said unto Moses, saying to the children of Israel,
you're stiff-necked people. I'll come up into the midst of
thee in a moment and consume thee. Therefore now put off thine
ornaments from thee. All the things that you think
make you beautiful, be naked before me that I may know what
to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped
themselves of their ornaments by the Mount Oreb. There's so
much significance to that. Stripping yourself of all the
things that you think would make you acceptable to God, beautiful
to God, strip them off. Right now, strip them off. Stand before God as you are.
Verse seven, Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it without the camp
and afar off from the camp and called it the tabernacle of the
congregation. And it came to pass that everyone which sought
the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was
without the camp. And it came to pass when Moses went out unto
the tabernacle, that all the people rose up and stood every
man at his tent door. and looked after Moses until
he was gone into the tabernacle. And you can bet these people
were troubled. They didn't know what was gonna happen to them.
And it came to pass as Moses entered into the tabernacle,
the cloudy pillar descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle
and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy
pillar stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose
up and worshiped. Every man in his tent o'er. And
the Lord spake to Moses face to face. This is Jesus Christ,
a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And the Lord spake to
Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned
into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young
man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses said unto
the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up the 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 found grace in
my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if
I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way. that I might know thee, that
I might 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. And he said unto him,
if thy presence go not with me, care is not hence. For wherein
shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in
thy sight? Is it not that thou goest with us? 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 he said,
I beseech thee. Here it is. I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. Now here is God's answer to Moses. This is God's description of
himself and his glory. Verse 19, and he said, here's
the answer. I will make all my, what? goodness. Pass before thee. God's glory is His goodness. God is good. God is good all
the time. Everything He does is good, and
He brings good out of evil. You remember when Joseph said
to his brethren who had betrayed him, sold him as a slave, he
said to them, you meant it for evil. There wasn't anything good
about what you were doing. You meant it for evil. But God
meant it for good, that he might save much people alive. Everything God does, God means
for good. Whether you and I see it or not,
it's all good. Somebody says, how could a good
God let that happen? Do you have any idea how ignorant
you are when you say something like that? Sitting in judgment
on God, everything God does is good. I'll make all my goodness
pass before you. Now you think of the wretchedness
of this atmosphere where Lazarus He whom you love is sick. And
you think of all the wretchedness that's involved in this. This
sickness, this pain, this difficulty is not unto death but for the
glory of God. That the Son of God may be glorified
thereby. Now look what he says next in
verse 19. I'll make all my goodness pass
before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. Now that's not just talking about
articulating his name. His name is the person behind
the name. His name is all of his glorious
attributes. Look down in chapter 34, verse
5, and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed
by before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful
and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. Visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's
children and to the third and to the fourth generation when
he proclaimed his name He proclaimed his attributes Every attribute of God is good
because he's good His holiness is good His sovereignty, His
absolute dominion and control over everybody and everything
is good because He's good. His righteousness is good because
He's good. His immutability, His changelessness
is good because He's good. His independence, He has no needs
outside of Himself, is good because He's good. Every attribute of
God is good. His wrath, Somebody says, how
can his wrath be good? It's the goodness of God that
puts a man out of the universe into hell so he won't ruin everything
else. God is good. Whatever he does is good. He's
good. You believe that? He's good. His name is good. And look what
he says next in our text. I love this. Verse 19, he said,
I'll make all my goodness Fast before thee, 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. Now this good God will be gracious
and he will be merciful. Grace Is God giving you what
you do not deserve? And mercy, is God not giving
you what you do deserve? Oh, this good God says, I will
be gracious and I will be merciful. God's being gracious when he
gives you Christ and doesn't send you to hell. Is that grace? It's him justifying you and not
condemning you. That's grace. It's him loving
you and not hating you. That's grace. I will be gracious. I will be
merciful. I will not give you what you deserve. That's God's
glory. His capacity to take somebody
that's so wicked that they would make a golden calf and worship
it and say, I will be gracious. I will show mercy. Notice this. He says, I'll do it to whom I
will. It's sovereign grace. It's sovereign mercy. He gives
it to whom he will. What that means is he doesn't
give it to everybody. That's exactly what that means. He doesn't
give it to everybody. Do you have an objection to that?
Why, if you do, you think you're entitled to it. You think somehow
you deserve it. You don't really believe in your
own personal sinfulness, because if you believed in your sinfulness,
you wouldn't think that way. You just wouldn't think that
way. Every objection men have to God's sovereign grace is self-righteousness
and a sense of entitlement, thinking God owes you something. No, no, no. If that would be
the case, it wouldn't be grace in the first place. But thank
God he said, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. You
want me to tell you the greatest demonstration of the goodness
of God? The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There we have the most evil thing
to ever take place, men murdering the Son of God. And there we
have the most glorious thing to take place, Jesus Christ saved
sinners by what he did. And my dear friend, my beloved,
if you look to him only and trust him as all your salvation, You're
somebody he's given grace to and shown mercy to. Now remember this, the reason
for everything, the glory of God, that the son
of God might be glorified thereby. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
glory, how we thank you for the revelation of your glory, how
we thank you for the weight of your glory, how we thank you
for the glory of your glory, how we thank you that you will
be gracious because that's who you are, you will be merciful
because that's who you are. Lord, to think that you gave
your son for this world, this wicked world, that whosoever
believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We
give thanks. Bless us for the Lord's sake.
Lord, give us for Christ's sake, your grace, which we do not deserve. And Lord, by your mercy, don't
give us what we do deserve, but allow us to be found in thy son. We thank you for who you are.
We thank you for your gospel. In Christ's name we pray, amen.