[0:00] Forget that the humanity of Christ is God's greatest creation. A body as though prepared me.
[0:13] We are his workmanship. You know that Paul says there we are God's poem. That's an interesting hypothetical fact.
[0:23] Poem, something made. You recall that in Scotland at one time poets were called makers. Well, Christ is God's greatest poem. God's greatest work is Christ the Redeemer.
[0:38] God is blessed as he looks at this poem, at this Christ, in the glory of his person. God is pleased, we are told.
[0:50] When a sinner returns to him, there is joy in heaven over a sinner repenting. God is pleased when his church is brought to him in her glorified condition.
[1:05] They shall be brought with gladness great and mirth on every side into the palace of the king. And there they shall abide.
[1:16] Or if you go to the great doxology of Jude's epistle. Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling. And to resent us faultless.
[1:29] Before the presence of his glory. With exceeding joy. I don't believe that that reference is to the joy that we shall feel.
[1:42] It's a reference to the joy that God will feel. He is blessed as he looks at his marvelous poem, the Savior.
[1:56] Blessed as he looks at the returning penitent. And runs out to meet him. Blessed as he looks at the church.
[2:08] Faultless. Earth. Faultless. Before the presence of his glory. With exceeding joy. So he is the blessed God.
[2:19] So we begin. By coming back to this great. Primal vision. God. And this great vision. Of not God's holiness.
[2:30] Not God's sovereignty for the moment. But a great vision. Of the blessedness of God. God's sheer happiness. God is happy.
[2:40] Happy in his independence. Happy in his perfection. Happy in his triuneness. Happy in his creation. Happy in his redemption.
[2:52] And then we have this great reference. To the glorious gospel. Of this blessed God. God. Now what in fact Paul is saying to us here.
[3:03] Is not quite the glorious gospel. It is that. But the New Testament is much more wonderful than that. And what Paul is saying to us is this.
[3:16] The gospel. Of the glory. Of the blessed God. Give them he says. The economy of God. Give them.
[3:27] Hygienic doctrine. But above all. Give them. The gospel. Of the glory. Of the blessed God. The gospel. Of the glory.
[3:38] Of the blessed God. Now what are we to make. Of this great phrase. The gospel. Of the glory. Of the blessed God.
[3:51] I'm going to make it first of all. This. That it is reminding us. Of. The glory. Of the blessed God. To which.
[4:02] We ourselves. Are heirs. In the gospel. We rejoice. In a hope. Of the glory of God. The good news is.
[4:14] That there is glory. Awaiting us. And the terrible thing is. That you and I. Will never. Realize. Realize.
[4:24] The glory. Of that glory. Until we have seen. That what we deserved. Was the curse. The anathema. The rejection.
[4:36] What we deserved. Was perdition. Lostness. Destruction. The total. Loss. Of personality. The disintegration.
[4:47] And dissolution. Of our self food. That's what we deserved. Instead. God gives us glory. The good news.
[4:58] Is the gospel. Is. There is the glory. Of God. For us. That is our hope. And it is. The glory. Of the blessed God.
[5:11] In other words. The gospel. Is telling us. That our destiny. As Christians. Is glory. And it is the glory.
[5:23] Of the blessed. God. It is participation. In God's own blessedness. Remember the terrific picture.
[5:35] We have. In revelation. Seven. God. God shall wipe away. All tears. From their eyes. They shall hunger no more.
[5:46] Neither thirst anymore. Nor shall the sun. Shine upon them. Nor any heat. We are made perfectly.
[5:57] Blessed. In the full enjoying of God. To all eternity. But you see. It's not human blessedness. It is not the glory.
[6:10] Of the blessed man. It's the glory. Of the blessed God. It is to share. In the glory of Christ.
[6:23] Who himself says. Glorify thou me. With the glory. I had with thee. Before the world was. Glory is sharing.
[6:34] In the blessedness. Of God. God giving us. His own happiness. God sharing. His own joy. Christ.
[6:47] Saying. Father I will. That. They may be with me. Where. I am. Please. Jesus. Jesus.
[6:57] The apostle. Don't give them. Fables. Don't give them. Genealogies. Don't give them. The law. Give them.
[7:07] The great message. Of. God's glory. The great message. That God. Will give them. The glory. Of his own. Blessedness. Give them that.
[7:18] God. And when they tell you. That. They're too practical. To listen to. Eschatology. When they tell you.
[7:28] That. They are too immersed. In the world. And in the church's. Daily. Concerns. To have time. To look up. Don't listen to them. Because they can't be practical.
[7:41] Unless they look up. They can't keep going. Unless they look up. They can't endure. Unless they contemplate. The joy set before them.
[7:53] Give them the glory. Give them the glory. In large doses. Give them heaven. In large doses. Every Lord's day. Pull aside the veil.
[8:04] Let them see. Into heaven. Let them see. Into heaven. Let them see. Let them see. What lies for them. At the end of the road. Give them the. Good news.
[8:14] Of the glory. Of the blessed. God. Then above all. There is this. The gospel.
[8:27] About the glory. Tell them. The great thing. About the glory. About God's glory. The great thing.
[8:38] What is the great thing. About God's glory. Glory. The great thing. About God's glory. Is this. That Jesus Christ. Is the glory.
[8:49] God's glory. The great thing. The great thing. The great thing. The great thing. The great thing. Tell them the. Mindless discovery. Made in the New Testament. As to what glory means.
[9:02] Bear with me. For a moment. God. I would suggest. To you. That when we. Natively. And instinctively. Think. Of the glory. Of God. We think. Of grandeur.
[9:13] We think. Of Ezekiel's wheels. We think. Of Messiah's mission. What is said. Was me. For I am undone. To us. Glory.
[9:25] Is splendor. It's augustness. It's terror. It's awe. It's destructive. It's intolerable. It's threatening. It's a thing. That is.
[9:36] Difficult to live with. Well. That's our native. And our instinctive idea. Of what God's glory is.
[9:49] But then you see. John tells us. In John chapter 1. We beheld. His glory. We beheld. The glory of Christ.
[10:00] Christ. And it was the glory. Of the father's. Only begotten. And it was full. Of grace. And truth.
[10:13] What was it full of. You might ask John. This glory that you saw. It must have been terrible. If you saw the glory.
[10:24] Then you must have seen terrible things. No. Says John. When we saw the glory. We saw grace. And we saw truth.
[10:35] We saw. Graciousness. And fidelity. And although I cannot develop it this morning. The great.
[10:48] The very. Core. Of the gospel. Is this great. Evangelical. Reinterpretation. Of God's glory.
[10:58] Of God's glory. If you were to turn. As you will turn. Maybe when you leave the service. To the epistle of James. In the second chapter. You will find the apostle there.
[11:10] Saying to the church. Have not the faith. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. And your AV. Will say to you. The Lord of glory. With respect.
[11:21] Of persons. The Lord of glory. But you will also find. That the words. The Lord. Are in italics. In other words.
[11:32] They are not. In the original. And James. This message is this. Have not the faith. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory. Jesus Christ.
[11:43] Is the glory. The lamb. Is the glory. The incarnation. Of grace. Is the glory. The incarnation. Of love. Is the glory.
[11:54] The incarnation. Of faithfulness. And of fidelity. Is the glory. The tenderness. The condescension. The compassion. The pity. The seekingness.
[12:06] The service of God. These are the glory. Please. This is Paul. Don't give them labels. Don't give them. Endless genealogies.
[12:17] Don't give them. The law. Principle. After terrible. Principle. After terrible. Principle. But tell them. The good news. That at the heart.
[12:28] Of God's glory. There is pity. That the meaning. Of his glory. Is love. That the essence. Of his glory. Is grace. Tell them. The gospel.
[12:39] About the glory. Tell them. Christ is the glory. Tell them. About this great. New light. This great. Reinterpretation.
[12:51] Of God. And glory. Which we have. In the incarnation. And cross. Of. The son of God. The gospel. About the glory.
[13:03] We're going to enjoy. The gospel. About. The reinterpretation. Of glory. Well that second point. Above all.
[13:15] But finally. The gospel. Of the glory. Means. The gospel. That leads. To doxology. It leads to.
[13:28] The soul. Saying. Spontaneously. Glory. To God. That's what the angels. Sing. The moment.
[13:40] Of the epiphany. Glory. To God. In the highest. Now then. You stand. Before. This great message.
[13:50] Of the glory. Prepare. For God's people. And you say. Glory. To God. You stand. Before. The great. Reinterpretation.
[14:02] Of what God's. Glory. Means. And you say. Glory. To God. I would often like. To ask the people. Why they come.
[14:12] To church. Maybe some people. Think that. We come to church. In order to get. Converted. Or in order to see.
[14:25] Others. Converted. Converted. And that's not. Unimportant. Or some say. They come to church. To get help. And that's not. Unimportant.
[14:38] But surely. We come. To church. Primarily. To worship. And that means. We come to church. To say. Glory. To God. We come.
[14:50] To church. For doxology. Maybe today. No one. No one. Has been heard. Maybe today. I don't get the help.
[15:01] I was hoping to get. With my own personal problems. But am I brought to a point. Where I stand before the abyss.
[15:14] Of God's revelation. And I say. All the depth. How unsearchable are his judgments.
[15:28] And his ways past. Finding out. And I brought to a place. Where. At the very mention. Of the name of Christ. My soul does.
[15:39] What Paul's soul. Did so frequently. It breaks out. In doxology. In doxology. Blessed be God. Glory to God.
[15:54] Where our souls. Will sing hallelujah. Before the majesty. And before the relevance. Of. Divine truth. The gospel.
[16:05] Is about the glory. Awaiting us. The gospel. Is about the glory. Of God. In Jesus Christ. The gospel. Is about.
[16:17] Evoking the response. Glory to God. Blessed be God. Our hearts are saying it. Spontaneously.
[16:29] Transported. With the view. I'm lost. In wonder. Love. And praise. Do we know anything.
[16:40] Of that emotion. The exhumeration. The thrill. The majesty. Almost. The giddiness. That sense.
[16:52] Of intellectual. Vertigo. That terrible sense. Of the. Unmanageableness. And the. Undefinableness. And the unboundableness.
[17:03] Of the truth of God. And of God's love. And of. All that God is. Glory to God. The gospel. Of the glory.
[17:15] Of the blessed God. The gospel. Of the glory. He has prepared. For us. The gospel. Of the glory. Which he is. And the gospel.
[17:26] Of the glory. Which our hearts. Utter. And hopefully. We can. In our final. Psalm. Express. That great sense.
[17:38] Of doxology. And remember. How it is. In Psalm 103. Although. My soul. Bless. God the Lord.
[17:48] And all. The deluxe. Be stood up. His holy name. To magnify. And bless. All. The depth. Blessed.
[18:00] Be God. Let us pray. Amen. We ask. O Lord. That thy word. May be with some power.
[18:10] And some clarity. And some meaning. For ourselves. And that it may bring us all. To a point. Where we say. That all measure. And according. To our own light. Glory to God.
[18:21] And blessed be God. And thanks be to God. For his unspeakable gift. Hear us in our saviour's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[18:32] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.