Back in First Timothy, chapter
one, verse 10, the last phrase, if there be any other thing that
is contrary to sound doctrine, and that word sound is healthy,
wholesome. Anything that's contrary to healthy
and wholesome doctrine, anything contrary to the doctrine of Christ
is disease. It will bring on sickness. It
will end in death. Now notice what he says in verse
11. This sound doctrine is according
to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Now that word glorious in our
text is not an adjective describing the gospel, although the gospel
is indeed glorious, it's actually a noun. And it could very easily
read according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Sound doctrine is according to
the good news, the gospel, of the glory of the blessed God. I've entitled this message, How
Is His Glory Good News? Is His glory good news to me? Is the gospel good news to me? And that's what the gospel means,
good news as opposed to bad news or no news. The good news of
the glory. of the blessed God. Now let's
talk for just a few moments about the glory of the blessed God. Paul went on to say in this chapter,
he called him the blessed and only potentate, the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords. And this word blessed is the
same word used in the Beatitudes. It's the highest state of reverence. And I say this, with reverence,
it's the highest state of happiness. And I say this with reverence.
I hope I'm saying with this with reverence, but listen real carefully.
God is happy. God is happy. He's infinitely happy. He always
has been, and he always will be. God is happy. He only is independent. and self-sufficient. He's never been lonely. He's
never been deficient in any way. He has no needs like you and
I do. He's independently happy. Now, I know the Bible also uses
words that speak of his wrath, his anger, his fury. his jealousy, his hatred and
so on, but that doesn't take away from this. He is the blessed
God, infinitely happy. Isn't that wonderful to think
about? The Lord is happy. God is happy in need of nothing
to make him happy. The scripture says he's not worshiped
with men's hands as though he needed anything. He says, if
I were hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. The cattle on a
thousand hills are mine. He didn't create us because he
needed us. He was simply pleased to do it.
That was his purpose. Revelation 4.11 says, thou has
created all things and for thy pleasure, they are and were created. Proverbs 16.4 says, the Lord
had made all the things for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. Now he saves men, not because
he needed to, but simply because it was good in his sight. That's
why he saves. One of my favorite scriptures,
I got a lot of favorite scriptures, but this is one of them. At that
time, Jesus rejoiced in spirit. And he said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent. and revealed them unto babes,
even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Is that enough
to make you rejoice as to why he does something? It seemed
good in his sight. And I'll tell you what, if it's
good in his sight, it's good in my sight too. The Lord does
what he does simply because he wills. He's happy with all that
he does. He says, I'll do all of my pleasure. God acts. He
never reacts. He never responds. He only acts
in sovereign freedom and his acts don't spring from necessity
to make up deficiencies like ours do. He simply does his pleasure. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he and how pleased he is with his son. This is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Now that's the blessed God. the
happy God. I like thinking about that. The
Lord's happy. He's happy. Now, we read of the
good news of the glory of the blessed God, and here's my question. How is his glory, this glory
of the blessed God, how is his glory good news? Is his glory
good news to me? Now I hope we'll all understand
that by the end of this message. And what I have is a very long
scripture reading. I'm not going to be preaching
any longer than I normally do, but my message is basically just
going to be the scripture reading regarding the glory of God. And
I hope you and I will come to some understanding as to whether
or not his glory is actually good news to us. Now, before I begin, I want to
give a quote I read by one man, And he said this, he said, the
love of a holy God to sinners is the most mysterious attribute
of the divine nature. Now I want you to think about
that. You know, men take it for granted. They think, well, he
loves everybody with no understanding of his love, but the love of
God, to sinners. Unworthy sinners is the most
mysterious attribute of the divine nature. Now with all that in
mind, would you turn to Exodus chapter 32. Exodus chapter 32. Verse 1. Now Moses had been up on the
mount Receiving the law. Look in verse 18 of chapter 31. And he gave unto Moses, when
he'd made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two
tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the finger
of God. Moses had been on the mountain
for 40 days, having God give him the law. What an experience
that must have been. Well, while he was gone, And
when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the
mount, the people gathered themselves together under Aaron and said
unto him, up, make us gods, which shall go before us. For as for
this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we want not what is become of him. Now, other than the crucifixion
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know of a more wicked
time than right here. after all that they had experienced. Moses has gone 40 days. They
say, we don't know what happened to him. Aaron, make us some gods
that'll go before us. Now this is after all they'd
seen, all they'd experienced. They experienced the 10 plagues.
They experienced the parting of the Red Sea. They'd had manna
come down from heaven and feed them. Ate it that very day. They
had water come out of the rock. They drank it that very day.
But here they say, up, make us gods that'll go before us. We
don't know what's happened to Moses. Verse two. And Aaron said
unto them, he complied with their request. Aaron said unto them,
break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your
wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto
me. And all the people break off the golden earrings, which
were in their ears and brought them unto Aaron. And he received
them at their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool after
he'd made it a molten calf. And they said, these be thy gods,
O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
Now think about this. They made some two golden calves
and they said, these are the gods that brought us out of the
land of Egypt. Verse five, and when Aaron saw
it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation
and said, tomorrow is a feast to the Lord, to Jehovah. Notice he doesn't say a feast
to the golden calf. He said this is a feast to Jehovah.
Now what that reminds me of is that the right terms can be used. Jehovah's name is used. Right
words like grace and faith and blood can be used. And the greatest
wickedness can be going on underneath it all. That's what's taking
place at this time. He says Let's make a feast to
the Lord. Verse 6, And they rose up early
on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace
offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and
rose up to play. In the meanwhile, as Moses is
on the mount with God, God speaks to him, verse 7, And the Lord
said unto Moses, go get thee down for thy people, notice he
calls them thy people, which thou broughtest up out of the
land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They've turned aside
quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They've made
them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed
thereunto, and said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which have
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto
Moses, I've seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked
people. And therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax
hot against them, that I may consume them. And I'll make of
thee a great nation. Now God says, I'm just going
to wipe them all out and I'm going to start over with you.
Now look at Moses response. And Moses besought the Lord,
his God and said, Lord, why did thy wrath wax hot against thy
people, which thou has brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand. Remember the Lord said
to Moses, you brought him out. Moses said, no, you brought him
out. Wherefore, now look what he says in verse 12. Wherefore
should the Egyptians speak and say, for mischief did he bring
them out to slay them in the mountains and consume them from
the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and
repent of the evil against thy people. Remember the covenant. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and
Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self,
and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven,
and all this land that I've spoken of will I give unto your seed,
and they shall inherit it forever. Remember what you promised. And
the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his
people. Now, how do you reconcile that
with The verse that says the Lord is not a man that he should
repent. Well. I'm not going to try. Lord never
repents and he repented of the evil he was going to do to him,
and this reminds us of the importance and the power of prayer. I'm
asking the Lord. To not do something, I'm asking
the Lord to do something. That's what we do when we pray.
Verse 15. And Moses turned and went down
from the mount and the two tables of the testimony were in his
hand. The tables were written on both their sides on the side.
And on the other side where they written and the tables were the
work of God. And the writing was the writing
of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise
of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, he was, he
was sitting at the base of the mountain waiting. He said to
Moses, there's a noise of war in the camp. And he said, it's
not the voice of them that shout for mastery. Neither is it the
voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them
that sing do I hear. And it came to pass as soon as
he came nigh into the camp that he saw the calf and the dancing
and Moses anger waxed hot. Moses had a temper. You read
the history of this man. He had a temper. And the scripture also says he
was the most meek man in all the earth. Now, how do you bring
those two things together? Well, it's called a man. Isn't
that contradictory? Yes. And you find me a man that's
not contradictory. Find me one. Moses, just like
me and you, his anger waxed hot. And I understand why he did his
anger, did wax hot. And he cast the tables out of
his hands and he break them beneath the Mount. And he took the calf,
which they had made and burnt it in the fire and ground it
to powder and strotted upon the water. And he made the children
of Israel to drink of it. And Moses said into Aaron, What
did this people unto thee that thou hast brought so great a
sin upon them? And Aaron does what men do. He shifts the blame
on somebody else and he denies his personal responsibility.
This is kind of funny. Let's go on reading. And Aaron
said, let not the anger of my Lord wax hot. Thou knowest the
people that they're set on mischief. It's their fault. For they said
unto me, make us gods which will go before us. For as for this
Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we want not what has become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever
hath any gold, let him break it off. So they gave it to me,
and then I cast it in the fire, and out came his calf." He obviously is not taking any
responsibility for his sin. Verse 25, and when Moses saw
that the people were naked, For Aaron had made them naked unto
their shame among their enemies. Then Moses stood in the gate
of the camp and said, who is on the Lord's side? Now I'm either
on man's side or I'm on the Lord's side. I'm either on man's side or I'm
on the Lord's side. I either seek his glory or man's
glory. I either argue for man, or I
look to him. Who's on the Lord's side? That
was the issue then, and this is the issue now. Who's on the
Lord's side? People are always trying to defend
men, and I guess I understand that because I'm a man, but who's
on the Lord's side? That's the question. That's the
issue. Are you on the Lord's side, or are you on the man's
side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi, verse
26, gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them,
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, put every man his sword by a
side and go in and out from the gate to gate throughout the camp
and slay every man his brother and every man his companion and
every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did
according to the word of Moses. And there fell at the people
that day, about 3000 men. And Moses had said, consecrate
yourselves today. to the Lord, even every man unto
his son and upon his brother, that he may bestow upon you a
blessing this day." Can you imagine the sorrow that was going on
at that time and the fear? Now the next day comes, verse
30, and it came to pass on the morrow that Moses said unto the
people, you have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up unto
the Lord. Peradventure, I shall make an
atonement for your sins. And Moses returned unto the Lord
and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made
them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive
their sin. Aren't you thankful that there's
such a thing as forgiveness, even for sins of this black dying? If thou wilt forgive their sin,
look what it says next, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out
of the book which thou hast written. Now, how he loved these people. He said, if you're not gonna
forgive them, blot me out too. That reminds me of Paul when
he said, I wish that I myself were cursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. And where this
is realized is the Lord, for the sake of His people, He was
blotted out on the cross, wasn't He? He's the one. We can make
a wish like that. Paul wished it. Moses wished
it. It couldn't happen. But the Lord Himself was blotted
out. He was. He had the wrath of God
come down upon Him for His people. But Moses is the type of a pastor
here. Yet now if thou wilt forgive
their sin, and if not blot me, I pray thee out of the book which
thou has written. And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever has
sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now
go lead the people into the place which I have spoken unto thee.
Behold, mine angel shall go before thee. Not me, but a created angel. Nevertheless, in the day when
I visit, I'll visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued
the people. because they made the calf which
Aaron made. 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 into the land which I swear
unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 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. I'll send an angel, and I'll
do what I said, for I will not go up in the midst of thee. I'm
not going with you, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest
I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these
evil tithings, This was bad news. Now they were getting all the
material blessings that he promised, but he said, I'm not going. And
these were evil tidings. They couldn't bear the thought
of that. They heard these evil tidings.
So what did they do? Verse four, when the people heard
the evil tidings, they mourned and no man did put on him his
ornaments. Now, when you're mourning before
God, because of your sin, you're not trying to beautify yourself.
You come in his presence in naked honesty with regard to your seed. You don't try to put on ornaments
to cover things up, to make things look better. Verse five, for
the Lord had said unto Moses, saying to the children of Israel,
you're a stiff neck people. I will come up into the midst
of thee in a moment and consume thee. Therefore now put off thine
ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And
the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments
by the mouth horrible. And Moses took the tabernacle
and pitched it without the camp afar off from the camp. He went
out by himself and called it the tabernacle of the congregation.
And it came to pass that everyone which sought the Lord. I want that to be me. I want to be somebody who seeks
the Lord. That's the business of my life.
To seek the Lord, to seek His face. David said, When thou saidst,
Seek ye my face, my heart said, Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. This is what a believer is. He's
someone who seeks the Lord. 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 into the tabernacle, that all the people rose up and
stood every man at his tent door and looked after Moses. Remember
he was a far off until he was gone into the tabernacle. And
it came to pass as Moses entered the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar
descended. and stood at the door of the
tabernacle, and the Lord, Jehovah, 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. Remember
when you worship, you know you're in the hands of a sovereign and
he can do with you whatever he's pleased to do. They didn't know
what he's going to do at this time. They didn't know what judgment
awaited him, but they worshiped. Verse 11, and the Lord spake
unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. I want to be the friend of God,
don't you? I want him to see me as his friend. His friend. The Lord said, you
are my friends. If you do whatsoever, I've commanded
you. Henceforth I call you no more
servants. The servant doesn't know what his Lord does. He's
made known to us the very heart of his Father. And he calls his
people friends. Now Moses was the friend of God.
Abraham was the friend of God. Every believer is his friend. And I think this is the most
amazing thing. To be, I don't know how to say
this right, but to be a friend, like I can't be a friend to a
dog. I love a dog. Well, I don't love a dog. I like
a dog. I've told Aubrey before, you
can't love a dog. She disagrees. I like a dog, but I can't be
a true intimate friend with a dog because it's a dog. To be a friend,
there's got to be some kind of communion, doesn't there? There
has to be some kind of connection where my friend, it's not that
of a peer, I'm not saying that, but there has to be something
in me that God would want to be a friend with. Every believer
has that. This nature that makes God desire
friendship and communion and fellowship. Moses spake to God
face to face as a man speaks unto his friend. And he turned
again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun,
a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle. And Moses
begins this prayer. And he begins with what the Lord
said. And wouldn't this be a very wise
way for us to enter into prayer? We begin with what the Lord has
already said. That's what we play. 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. You're the one that said that.
I wouldn't dare say it unless you said it, but you said it.
I know thee by name. Isn't that an awesome thought
to think that the God of glory knows your name? And you found
grace, grace in his sight, verse 13. 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. Now, here's what I want. I want
to know his way. And I want to find grace in his
sight. I want to find favor in his sight. Oh, I want his grace,
his saving grace. Grace isn't an offer, it actually
saves. That's a grace I want. I want to find grace in his sight
for this reason. I want to know him. I want to
know the living God. I want to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. When I'm talking about him, it's not name dropping.
But I know him and he knows me. Moses said, If I found grace in your sight,
show me now thy way, that I might know thee, that I might find
grace in thy sight. And consider that this nation who is guilty
of this horrible crime is thy people. And he said, my presence
shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. Well, there's a gospel right
there. My presence, you've got it. I'll give thee rest. The rest of believing is what
the rest of resting in me. Verse 15, He said unto him, I
understand this, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not
up hence. For wherein shall it be known
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. We're going to be the people of God. And the Lord said
unto Moses, I'll do this thing also that thou has spoken for
thou has found grace in my sight and I know thee by name. And now Moses says, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. Now Moses had just received the
law written with the finger of God on the table of stones. He just received the law and
he says, this is not your glory. Moses had seen the 10 plagues
and the miraculous deliverance from Egypt. And he said, I've
not seen your glory yet. Moses had seen the parting of
the Red Sea and watch the children of Israel walk through it on
dry land. He said, I haven't seen your glory yet. Moses see
the man had come down from heaven. He'd seen the water come from
the smitten rock. He said, I haven't seen your
glory yet. Show me now your glory. Now, remember the title of this
message. How is the glory of the blessed God good news? Is his glory good news to me? Now, here is his glory. This is not some nebulous concept. He tells us exactly what he means
with regard to his glory. Moses said, I beseech you, show
me your glory. 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 will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious. And I will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. His glory is His goodness. His
glory is the proclamation of His name. And His glory is His
grace. Now here is His glory. Do you want to know what the
glory of God is? It's His capacity to love someone and save someone
as unlovable and evil as me. The children of Israel, what
they And yet He manifests His glory
by Him saving them anyway. His goodness, the proclamation
of His name, and His sovereign grace. His goodness is Him being
good to people like us. His name is His attributes, the
person behind the name. And we're going to seize a little
bit more of that in a moment. And His sovereign mercy and grace.
I will be gracious to whom I will. And I will show mercy to whom
I will. You think about this group. He says, I will be gracious.
You know, God must be gracious. You know why? Because He is gracious.
He must show mercy. Why? Because he's merciful. That is his nature. And this is his glory. Now let's
go on reading verse 20. And he said, and he said, thou
canst not see my face for there shall no man see me and live.
And the Lord said, behold, there's a place by me and thou shalt
stand upon a rock and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth
by. Then I'll put thee in a cliff
of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by
and I'll take away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts,
but my face shall not be seen. What are his back parts? Well, here's the closest thing
I can get ahold of, the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Darkly, as through a glass, let
thy glory pass." And at this time, he saw something of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, the glory of God shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. Verse chapter 34. And the Lord
said unto Moses, Yew thee two tables of stone, like unto the
first. And I'll write upon these tables the words that were in
the first tables, which thou breakest. And be ready in the
morning, and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present
thyself there to me in the top of the mount. And no man shall
come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all
the mount, neither let the flocks nor the herds feed before the
mount. And yew thee two tables of stone, like unto the first.
And Moses rose up early in the morning and went up into the
Mount Sinai as the Lord had commanded him. And he took in his hands
the two tables of stones. And the Lord descended in the
cloud and stood with him there. And he proclaimed the name of
the Lord. Now understand this with regard
to the proclamation of the name of the Lord. His name is who
He is. His name is the person behind
the name. His name is His attributes. His
name is His characteristics. He's the person behind the name. Now look what He says. Here's
the proclamation of the Lord. Verse 6, And the Lord passed
by before him in his back parts, and proclaimed, The Lord, the
Lord God, Merciful and gracious. I love the way this is the first
thing he mentions. Merciful and gracious, long suffering and
abundance 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
unto the third and to the fourth generation." Now here is the
mystery of the gospel. He said, I'll by no means, under
no circumstance whatsoever, will I clear the guilty. That's only
understood in the light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ makes it to where I am not guilty. If God ever sees me as guilty,
I will not be saved. He said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty. God's just, God's holy. He will
not clear a guilty sinner. I'll by no means clear the guilty. How in the world is that? Because
my guilt became the guilt of the Lord Jesus Christ. He became
guilty of my sin. That's why he died guilty as
charged. And I am not guilty. And that's why my sins are forgiven.
That's why God is gracious and merciful. Justice has been honored
and satisfied. Verse eight says, and Moses made
haste and bowed his head toward the earth and he worshiped. Now the glory of God is His goodness,
His mysterious capacity to love sinners so much that He would
give His Son for them, and to save them in such a way that
His name is proclaimed. Now remember this, the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is neither more nor less than the proclamation of His name.
You can't proclaim His name without the cross. You see the cross
manifest, reveals all of His attributes, who He is. It reveals
His holiness, His hatred of sin, His wisdom in making a way to
be just and yet justify somebody like me. The freeness of His
grace, His justice, every attribute of God, His sovereignty is fully
displayed in the cross. The cross is the proclamation
of His name. And because of this, He will
be gracious. He'll be gracious to whom he
will be gracious. It's sovereign mercy. The only kind of mercy
there is, is sovereign mercy. If it's not sovereign, it's not
mercy. Somehow it's meritorious. The
only way it can be mercy is if it's sovereign mercy. He says,
I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll show mercy
on whom I will show mercy. Grace and mercy. Grace. God giving me what I do not deserve. Mercy, God not giving me what
I do deserve. Isn't that what you want? Grace and mercy. Now, in answer to the question,
how is his glory good news? Well, if you're somebody who's
as bad as the children of Israel. Now they've reached the bottom.
What they did was unconscionable, evil and wicked. All that they've
experienced, look what they did. Now, if his glory is saving people
like that, forgiving their iniquity and their transgression and their
sins. If that's His glory, that is
good news to me. His glory, His way of saving,
is good news to me. Aren't you thankful for His glory?
His glory is His capacity. More than His capacity, His actual
saving of sinful men and women like them and like me and you. That, my dear friends, is good
news. Let's pray together.