The Glory Of God Pt 2

Kind of got two sections in today's lesson. One is, I want to go through 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 just briefly, do an overview. That might take the whole time, we'll see. But I'd like to then talk about, the main goal today was to talk about how God glorifies himself. How to make sense of that, why that matters to understand. So, let's pray and then we'll jump in.

So Father, we're humbled and we're grateful for this opportunity to open up your word. When we think about how many people in the world right now can't do what we're doing right now, be it because of physical health or because they're in a place where you were rejected and to worship you is a crime, or when we consider the fact that apart from your grace intervening, we would have no desire to be here. We're humbled that we are here, that you've gathered us here to hear from you.

And I pray that as we open up your word, that you'd give us insight, that you'd teach not just our heads but our hearts, and that this would be knowledge that we can apply to our lives as faithful disciples of Christ, that we would translate this truth into life, and that you would be glorified through your people. We ask for safety tonight for anyone who might be traveling here yet and on the way home that you would keep us and those we know and love especially, keep them safe as they travel. And we ask for your blessing now in Christ's name.

Amen. Second Corinthians 3 and 4. If you would go ahead and open up to that passage. This is a big block of scripture. It's two chapters, so it's more than what we usually take as a preaching text or so forth. But it actually occurs in a larger section.

I think you could consider 2 Corinthians 2.12 all the way through 6.13 as being one section. And we're just going to read a couple of chapters here. And what I want to do, you know what? What I want to do is hide this because it has the answers. You have your handout. You have your handout.

And so as we read through, I want you to note, if you notice any recurring features, themes, words, always a good question when we read the Bible. What do you notice happens over and over again Is it a word Is it a theme Is it some kind of structure in the way he writes Also ask this question What is the main point of these chapters These first two things are just good Bible study questions. If you're doing Bible study, pay attention to what's in the text.

This one's simple, so kids, you can do this one especially. Count the number of times Paul mentions glory in these two chapters. Count them. See how many times the word glory is used in these two chapters? And then once we go through those things, we'll talk about how glory fits in with his main point. So here we go.

Let's read. Chapter 3, 2 Corinthians 3, verse 1. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are a letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

Just a little bit of context, Paul here is defending and explaining his ministry to the Corinthians. This is a missionary letter. 2 Corinthians is one of the most personal letters in the New Testament. Paul really lays his heart out and tries to relate to them. So he's talking about the fact that they don't need letters of recommendation because the Corinthians themselves have the proof written on their hearts as God has worked on their lives that Paul is an apostle.

Verse 4, Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that has surpassed it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope we are very bold not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end But their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the Old Covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word. But by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.

In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shown 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 jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh, So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what was written, I believed and so I spoke, we also believe and so we also speak. Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people, it may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen For the things that are seen are transient that means temporary but the things that are unseen are eternal Okay, long passage, long passage, but what, first, easy question, how many times was glory mentioned in these two chapters? 16 times.

Anybody else get 16? Anybody get more than 16? 17? I'm pretty sure it's 16. three of us have seen 16 so there might be 17 i mean it's just mentioned especially in a few passages there's just mentioned over and over and over again right and it's it's one of these passages that if you don't have an idea of what glory means you'd read right over that right and you it wouldn't really register but this is a glorious passage um so let's talk just briefly about what what did you notice is recurring in these two chapters what uh words themes um structures, like sentence structures, that sort of thing.

What did you notice in these two chapters? What's Paul doing? We can blend in the next question, too. What's his main point? What are these two chapters about? Very good.

So he's given a defense and an explanation for his ministry. He's explaining the nature of his ministry. and what the differences between Moses and Jesus are. And this is the other one. Right. Right, right. So he says, you know, we are servants of, where is it, chapter 4, verse 5?

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. I think chapter 4, verse 5 kind of summarizes this. It's catching what both of you have said. Paul is saying, there is a glorious new covenant that far exceeds the old covenant. There seems to be a Jew-Gentile sort of characterization to this passage, right?

There are still these Judaizers stuck on the Old Testament law, and he's saying, no, the new is much better. And he says, our ministry is we are your servants, bringing you the gospel of the new covenant. We're your servants for Jesus' sake. So the nature of their ministry is servants of Christ and servants of men bringing the glorious new covenant gospel to people, right?

So that's kind of the theme here. What did you notice about recurring words or ideas besides glory? Glory is probably the one that sticks out the most. Work of the Spirit. Okay, so the Spirit brings life, whereas the letter of the law kills, right? The Spirit brings freedom, where the law brings restrictions.

Where else do you see the Spirit in this passage? Do you see it anywhere else, Greg? Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right.

Absolutely. Yeah, the God of this age has blinded their minds. Whereas the Spirit then brings life and sight, right? The Spirit, Paul prays for the Ephesians, for instance, that God would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of their hearts would see the glories of the resurrected Christ. So the Spirit opens eyes, whereas the God of this world, Satan, blinds unbelievers.

So they can't see it. Right. Right, absolutely. Another parallel passage would be Galatians, where these people who were Judaizers, who were saying, you know, you need to obey the law still, Paul says they're going to end up in dissensions and immoral living, right? because the law only incites and exposes our rebellious hearts. But wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, right, there's freedom.

You're free in Christ. That's what he says in Galatians 5. Only do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, but rather serve one another in love. So the Spirit brings freedom. Did you notice a creation theme here in these chapters? Did you notice that?

Greg, you kind of were pointing to it there about the Spirit bringing life, removing the veil. Do you remember the Spirit's role in creation? Hovering over the dark, chaotic waters, and then the Lord breathed life into man, right? That's the same word for spirit. It's amazing. But more than that, look at chapter 4, verse 6.

For God who said, let light shine out of darkness. When did God say that? kids if you're younger than 15 you can answer this one when did God first say let light shine out of darkness When did God say that Do you know Austin You may have heard it this way. Let there be light. When did God say that? Yeah, Genesis 1, right? He's pointing right back to creation.

It's the same phrase, let there be light. Let light shine out of darkness. You see the parallel Paul's drawing here? It's the exact same thing that's happening where our hearts are these dark, chaotic waters, right? And the Spirit's hovering, right? And God says, let there be light.

And we see, right? And that phrase there in chapter 4, verse 6, he has shown in our hearts to give the light, and he keeps going, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Creation theme though. And God is certainly glorified in creation. In a couple weeks, we're going to spend the whole night thinking about that. How is God glorified in His creation?

God is also glorified in recreating us, in His recreation of humankind. Good, so we have the Spirit as a major theme. Anything else? Creation is a theme. Anything else that you picked up on in the way Paul's talking, the way he's using language in these chapters? The spirit versus the letter.

Did you get the... It's kind of a funny phrase, the not buts. Not but, not but, not but. The naughty buts. They're all through these two chapters. Look at chapter 3, verse 3.

And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit, not on tablets of stone, but on human hearts. He's comparing the Mosaic Covenant, the law, the Ten Commandments written on those stone tablets. Do you remember what Jeremiah prophesied? That God would write His law on our hearts under the New Covenant?

I mean, there are all these allusions in these chapters. The not buts are all through here. Chapter 3, verse 6, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. chapter 4 verse 1 we do not lose heart but we renounce disgraceful underhanded ways chapter 4 verse 5 we proclaim not ourselves but Jesus And then chapter 4 7 through 12 you know we are not destroyed but we struck down right It flips it the other way, but it's just in rapid fire.

We're not this, but we're this. These two chapters are full of contrasts, right? And I think that when you catch that, you start getting onto the same wavelength as Paul as you read these chapters. Of course, the last one is in chapter 418, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. So these naughty buts are all through these two chapters, right?

Emma, why are you crinkling up your nose? As a nurse, do you have a different image in mind when you think? All right, I can start at this PowerPoint again. That's just a quick lesson. Okay, so before we talk about glory in these two chapters, what we've done so far is just some introductory stuff for how to study the Bible, right? As you study it, ask what's the main idea and what are the themes here, right?

What's happening over and over again? What's Paul driving at here? I would say Paul is contrasting lost people and the law with spiritual people who are filled with the Spirit and have God's law written on their hearts. And while he's doing that, he's saying, and I am a minister of this message, of this new covenant. Anyway, so light and darkness were themes, life and death, and of course glory.

So we talked about those things, kind of, sort of. Let me make that bigger. Glory is mentioned 16 times. How does glory fit in then? The first time we see a whole bunch of these is in verses 7 through 11. And without rereading that paragraph, I mean, glory occurs in that paragraph, chapter 3, verses 7 through 11.

Let's look 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 times in those five verses. So two times per verse, almost. How does it fit in? Well, we've kind of mentioned that. He's saying, look, the old covenant came with glory. What was the glory?

We talked about this a little bit last week. What was the glory when the Mosaic covenant was given? How was glory manifested when the Mosaic covenant was established God appearing to Moses he would talk to him Yeah Moses said I want to see your glory And remember, God hid him in the cleft of the rock, and he passed by and proclaimed his name, and Moses only saw the tail end of his glory.

Otherwise, he would have perished. The tabernacle, right? The cloud, the pillar of fire by night, the cloud by day, that would hover over the tabernacle, wherever they pitched the tent, it would stay. And when God's glory would depart, they would pick up their tent and follow. The glory of the Lord led them in the desert for 40 years starting at the construction of the tabernacle.

What else? Yeah. Right. Right. And that's a great, you know, the metaphor last week about God, and we'll talk about this more today, that God is like the sun. He is the origin of all light.

If light is glory, right, if we make a metaphoric comparison between those things, He's the source of all glory. And we're like those solar lights that people line their driveways with. They absorb those solar rays all day and then they have, like Moses' face, it shines a little bit, but you can cover it up and it hides it. And just like those solar lights along the driveway, we are frail.

We only last half the night and then we get run over and crushed. that's kind of how things go for us, right? But God is the source of all light, the source of all glory. Good, good. So where else in the Mosaic Covenant? What about when, do you remember Mount Sinai? We could turn there, but if we turn to Hebrews chapter 12, Mark went over that a couple weeks ago in Sunday school, so I won't do it now.

Remember the Israelites feared, right? They said, Moses, you go. We're getting away from here, because there's like, the whole mountain is shaking, and there's this huge thunderstorm on the mountain with lightning bolts and flashes and thunder, and it was terrifying. The glory of the Lord descended on Mount Sinai, and Moses and Joshua went up to get the law.

Incredible, right? Just incredible glory manifested at Sinai. And what Paul's saying in chapter 3, 7 through 11 is, the glory of the new covenant surpasses that glory. It's fading away, right? same thing made in same point made in Hebrews chapter 8 because we have the new covenant the old covenant is obsolete and passing away What about chapter 318? The next time we see glory, it's, let's see, two times in chapter 318.

It's kind of the same idea, just like Moses wore the veil to hide God's glory, but then when the veil was taken off, the glory would shine. Paul makes the point in chapter 318, and we all, with unveiled face, because the Spirit removes the veil, we turn to the Lord. We behold the glory of the Lord. And here's the remarkable thing. chapter 3, 18, we don't just behold it and say, wow, that's amazing.

We behold it, and in beholding it, we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. We're leveling up, right, in terms of glory when we behold the Lord. John writes in 1 John chapter 3, I can kind of paraphrase it maybe. He says, what manner of love is this that we should be called the children of God and so we are. What does he say next?

I can't, I'm missing the middle. But anyway, he says, now what we will be is not yet known, but we know this, that when we see him we'll be like him because we'll see him as he really is. So this idea that when we look at Christ and we see the glories of Christ, we're transformed into those glories of Christ. So 1 John chapter 1, I'm sorry, 1 John chapter 3 verses 1 through 3 is a really good cross-reference there to 2 Thessalonians 3.18.

2 Corinthians 3.18, 1 John 3, chapter 3, 1 through 3. When we behold Christ, we become like Christ. And even in terms of glory. We looked at that last week, how Jesus prayed for believers, us, those who would believe in the message of the apostles. And he prayed, if you remember, that high priestly prayer in John 17? That we would somehow be brought into the glorious relationship between Father and Son.

That Christ, by becoming man, has brought redeemed man into the glories of the Godhead. That we can participate in the glories of God in a way, never like God does. I mean, we'll never be God, but we're going to somehow participate in the glory of well that always existed in the Trinity right That always existed in God We going to participate in the glory of Christ victory Remember when we talk about glory we talking about something that powerful and wealthy and victorious and when you're beside it, you feel small and hushed.

We're going to participate in that glory. Speaking of victory, it reminds me, I had a class this week, Biblical Theology, and my professor, we were talking about dietary laws in the Old Testament versus the lifting of restrictions in the New. and we were talking about pig products and how good bacon is and he calls bacon victory food. Because Christ won the victory on the cross, we get to eat jalapeno poppers and yeah, right, yep.

New covenant victory, victory food. Okay, so 318 goes beyond sort of the connection to Sinai and it says, we all are like Moses and when we behold Christ, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another. We're becoming more and more like Christ. Chapter 4, verses 4-6 is the next time we see it. We kind of mentioned this. This is where he's talking about the metaphor, I think the guiding metaphor in chapter 4, verses 4-6 is creation.

So the glory is in creation. That's what happens in a human heart when they turn to the Lord. It's chaos and darkness until God says, let there be light. And then just like it was glorious when God spoke and there was stuff, right? And there was life and it all fit and worked. It's that same kind of glorious but magnified when God speaks life into our dark chaotic hearts and brings us to life.

Chapter 4 verses 4 through 6, the glories of the new covenant. And the last one, chapter 4 verses 15 through 18 really. he's talking about suffering enduring persecution and hardship in this life as we pursue Christ being handed over to death Jesus himself said if you follow me you have to pick up your cross and follow me right? you have to deny yourself lose your life to find it that's Paul's point in chapter 4 verses 7 through 15 and then in 15 he says we suffer for your sake because as you know gospel ministry implies it entails suffering and through that suffering the gospel spreads it god's grace extends to more and more people and it increases it increases thanksgiving and it does this to the glory of god god is the the final recipient of all of the Because He the source right He the recipient of all of Thanksgiving He says in 4.16, so we don't lose heart, because even though on the outside we're wasting away, right? You know what He's talking about?

Anybody know what He's talking about? Wasting away on the outside, right? The older we get, the more I think we realize what that means, to be wasting away on the outside. and the more we follow Christ, the more we understand that. But our inner man, where God has said, let light shine, it's being renewed day by day. I love that metaphor. How often did the sun come up?

After God first created it, how often did it come up? It came up day by day, right? How often are God's mercies new? Every morning, right? The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn. Proverbs 4, I think it's 18. which shines brighter and brighter until full day, right?

We are being renewed day by day because of the light that God has created to shine in our hearts. And he says in 4.17, for this light and momentary affliction. Now, if you recall what he just talked about, like being beat and starved and imprisoned and, I mean, all kinds of awful things, These light and momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal, a forever, never broken, never ending weight of glory beyond all comparison.

It's not even worth comparing. I'm being dragged into the ruler of the world. I'm being dragged into Caesar's court. I'm being maybe executed. and that is not even worth comparing to the glories. Think about if you get called into somewhere. What happens if you get accused of a crime and you've been framed, you're standing before the judge, right?

And you're like, oh man, this is heavy, right? What happens if you are on the receiving end of a terrorist attack, right? You're like, man, these terrorists are powerful and angry and who can stand before this kind of hatred, right? Wouldn't your heart pound because of that? Wouldn you be like wow this is heavy right Paul like it not even worth comparing to the eternal glory that ours And all these things are doing is preparing us right To receive that glory to prepare us to Jim, you've been on the edge of your seat, you've been bursting with something good to say.

The naughty butts, yeah, they're all through these chapters. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep. We do not lose heart, but we renounce disgraceful, underhanded ways.

They're all over the place. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Yeah. That boldness, where do you think it comes from? It comes from, I mean, look at their credentials. Look at the message they're bearing. They have every right to proclaim this message, right? He says, I love what you're saying there.

He's bold, but at the same time, back in chapter 2, verse 16, where the fragrance for some people from death to death and of others from life to life, and who is sufficient for these things, right? He says we're not peddling God's word. We're sincere, but our sufficiency doesn't come. Where does he say that? Our sufficiency doesn't come. 16.

16. Yeah. Oh, no, he picks it up in chapter 3, verse 5. Chapter 3, verse 5. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God. Right?

And like you were pointing out, Jim, in chapter 4, verse 2, they are doing everything they do in the sight of God. Right? There was someone... I was at Cornerstone last night, and they had a baptism today. I was there for a special meeting, interesting meeting. I could tell you about it if we had time, but we don't have time anyway.

They were getting prepared for a baptism. I was talking to Tim Miller, and I was like, Oh, you got a good day coming tomorrow, huh? And he's like, yeah, it's a middle-aged lady, and she's terrified of being in front of everybody, getting baptized. But she's decided to do it, and we're all really thankful for that. And I said, yeah. Well, did you tell her that the people out here are no big deal?

All of heaven is watching and rejoicing at her baptism. And that's where Paul ministered. He says, look, the God of Sinai, more than that, the God of Calvary, of Christ's resurrection, I'm ministering in his sight. So I don't have to be either, I don't have to be self-deprecating to the point where I'm unable to do anything. I don't have to feel insecure because God's called me to this.

On the other hand, I can be bold because it's his message. Yeah, Mary? Right. Yep. Yep. To the glory of God, right?

So loving people to the glory of God. Sharing the gospel to the glory of God. It's all out there. All right. Let's talk. We only have a few minutes here, but I think we can get through this.

It's a simple truth, but it's a heavy truth. Think about it. So the truth we want to get at here, it's part two on your handout. In everything, God seeks his own glory. In everything, God seeks his glory. So in creating, in making promises, in sending us the weather that we have, in giving you the body and the health that you have, and putting you where you are today in life.

Even, and this is where it gets real heavy, even in people dying in sin and going to hell, in everything, God is seeking his own glory. This truth, it's simple, but it's an adjustment to how we typically think about life. Got a lot of Bible to look up, So, let's divide and conquer. Be ready. Everybody ready? Psalm 33 Who got that one Greg Yance Psalm 115 Next round Let get you guys ready for the next round Who would read Isaiah 44 6 Dennis Dennis, would you also get 48, 12?

Alright, and I'll get the ones from Revelation. And, let's see, Romans 11, 36. Susan? Emma? Colossians 1, 16. Steve, will you get Hebrews 2, 10?

Here we go. First foundational truth. If you're going to accept that God seeks His own glory in everything, these are some things you have to accept first. All right? That God is sovereign. All right?

So, Psalm 33, 10 and 11. All right. So, nations, people, powerful people make plans, but those plans are frustrated, but God's plans, never frustrated. He's a happy God, because He always gets His way. Yance? There you go, right?

He does most of what He pleases, all that He pleases, right? Because He lives where? in heaven, right? Our God is in the heavens. He does all that He pleases. Let that sink in, right? There's nothing happening, right, that isn't somehow pleasing to God.

Now, I'm not saying that when people die and go to hell that God's throwing a party about that because we know it grieves His heart when that happens. That much is true. But the highest goal is being met and that highest goal is God is getting glory, right? There's a different math. God has a different math than we as self-centered, sinful people have.

And God's math says the highest value, the thing of most absolute worth, is God's glory. Isaiah 44, and Dennis, if you need to grab any context in those, go ahead, but I'm especially looking at chapter 44.6 and 48.12, so go ahead. All right. Go ahead and get 48.12 then also. All right you guys hear it What the parallel between those two passages The Lord right all capitals Lord God personal name is the first and the last right?

This is a common refrain in Revelation. Revelation 1.8, I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Alpha and Omega, that's the first and last letter in the Greek alphabet. First and last. Revelation 1.17. When John, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last.

21.6, Revelation 21.6. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. to the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment. He has authority to soothe people, to comfort people, because he's the first and the last. There's nothing outside of him that can threaten his people because he's first and last.

And then 22, 13. This is Jesus speaking. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He said it in three different ways. If you need it in Greek, if you need it in ordinal, or if you need it in temporal, right? It's all there, right?

It's I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the beginning and the end. I am the first and the last. It's all there. He's emphasizing this idea that God is the beginning and the end. There's nothing outside of Him.

That's what this phrase communicates. There's nothing outside of Him. So that's really good news for us who are His people, recipients of His promises, because when we make promises, sometimes we have to break our promises because there's something from the outside that we didn't anticipate, right? Getting in the way and we can't fulfill our promise. But there's nothing outside of God.

He's the first and the last, right? His promises will be fulfilled because there's nothing outside of Him to frustrate His plans or His promises. Moreover, Romans 11.36, to him be glory forever and ever because all things are from him and through him and to him Colossians 1 speaking of Christ Through Him and for Him, by Him. Colossians 1.16, all things, heaven, earth, all things, rulers, authorities, powers, were created by Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.

Also, by the Lord, through the Lord, to the Lord, what we just read in Romans. So these are Trinitarian arguments too, right? Seeing how the persons of the Trinity are one. And last up, Hebrews 2.10. Also speaking of Christ. Right, Jesus when he was made perfect, he became a man, was made perfect, complete as a man through suffering. and he's also the one by whom all things were made and for whom all things were made.

So Jesus, the author of life, was born a baby. In Jesus, the author of life, life was crucified on the cross. Peter says that in a sermon in the book of Acts. You crucified the author of life. One of my favorite ironic statements in scripture. You put the author of life, you killed the author of life.

Jesus, the author of life, died. but all things, everything. So the one before that, it's sort of temporal, right? In terms of time, he's the beginning and the end. There's nothing outside of him. And now this last point, there's nothing that he didn't make, right? There's nothing that he made that isn't existing because he's holding it together.

And there's nothing that he didn't make and that he isn't holding together that also isn't for him. It's from him, through him, and for him. He made it, he's holding it together, and in the end it's for his glory. there's a proverb that says, the Lord has made all things for its appropriate end, even the wicked for the day of disaster, right? It's the consistent message of Scripture that there's nothing, not one molecule in the universe, not one spiritual being, not one angel or demon that isn't created by the Lord, is held together.

It's still here because the Lord is holding that thing together and its ultimate purpose is to bring glory to the Lord. Foundational truth, right? The national truth. God is eternally and perfectly happy in, you could write in your blank if it's not long enough, in himself, right? He's eternally and perfectly happy. in himself, if you just want to write that in that line, but if you want to squeeze in his own triune being, right, or his self, if you want to write that, you could, whatever communicates the idea that God didn't need anything outside of himself to bring him completion or happiness or fulfillment.

We won't look up all these passages, but all these passages point to the fact, let's just read this one, John 17. We read this last week. but I'll read it again. John 17, 24-26, Jesus prays to the Father, Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am going to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

He says in an earlier place, in his high priestly prayer, Oh, 17.5, John 17.5. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. So the Son and the Father had this eternal glory, this eternal sharing of glory, this eternal, perfect, fulfilled relationship. And it's because of God being a triune being that we relate to one another and get fulfillment from our union with each other, whether it's Christian fellowship or especially through human marriage.

We image God that way. But the idea here is that God, this goes to the next one, and we won't turn there, but it's Acts 17, 24 through 25. God doesn't need us. God made everything, and he's not served by human hands as if he needed anything, but from him comes everything. That's what Paul's saying in Acts 17. So these two points kind of go together.

Not only is everything from God and for God, and nothing exists outside of God, but also God didn't need anything outside of himself. So the question comes then, why did he make us? If he didn't need us? I'll try to get there. We'll try to talk about that today. For the sake of time, you can look these up later.

I'm just going to run through them for you, okay? To kind of give you a summary. Genesis 127. God created man in what was God model for how to make man His own image right What would someone think of you if you made I don know a statue of yourself A bobblehead or whatever, of yourself, right? And maybe you made some of those concrete statues that could be outside.

Maybe you had some portraits made and you hung them up in your house and all through your yard. What would somebody think about you? Yeah. Narcissist, right? Yeah. You must be a CEO somewhere, right?

I heard a report once that most CEOs are like incredibly, like insanely narcissistic. The most successful CEOs, anyway. Anyway, narcissist, right? You're so self-focused. You're so arrogant. But that's exactly what God did.

And he didn't just say, I want you to be in my house. He said, what did he say to Adam and Eve, his image bearers? He said, fill the earth, right? Fill the earth with my glory. The angels in Isaiah 6 are singing, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, the earth is full of his glory. So this is a passage that shows that God, even in creating man, was interested in magnifying his own glory.

Isaiah and Ezekiel, I think you have those Isaiah passages written out there. That's your own Bible study. That's your homework this week. If you want to do some homework, read through those Isaiah passages. And in each of those passages, God says something like this. I'm doing what I'm doing for my own glory.

I'm not destroying you for my glory. I'm instructing you for my glory. I've called you out for my glory. I made promises to you for my glory, right? Over and over again. Ezekiel, it's on there also, Ezekiel 36, verses 20 through 23.

It's not because you're, well, Jim, you know this passage better than I do, right? Yeah, that's why I'm not destroying you, right? And that goes right into, I'm going to skip one, go to Joshua. You don't have to turn there, but this is what's happened in Joshua. They just lost a battle at Ai. They lost a battle.

It's the first time they've been defeated, and it just shakes everybody. A lot of people have died. And Joshua's prayer is, God, don't abandon us, because then what will the people around us, what will they think about you? What are they going to say about you? What's your reputation going to be if you abandon us and we're destroyed by our enemies? Joshua appeal in his prayer it not hey we hurting here God can you help us out It not oh we feel bad what did we do wrong Please expose our sin I mean that may have been there right Those emotions are there.

But Joshua's ultimate appeal in that prayer is, God, if you let us go, it's going to hurt your glory, so don't let us go. You see how Joshua's calculus, his math, was not normal human math. It's not, hey, we just got slaughtered out there. God, don't let that happen again. and we want to win, right? That's not his mentality. His mentality is, God, this is hurting your glory.

I mean, remember, Joshua was one of the ones that walked up on the mountain, right, with Moses. He knows something about God's glory, and his prayer appeals to the fact that if God abandons his people, Moses prayed the same way. You can find different prayers through the Old Testament that are that. The final appeal is to God's glory. Exodus 9.6, it's recalled in Psalm 106, and then Paul brings it up as an argument in Romans 9 that the whole reason that, well, the main reason that God let Israel be enslaved in Egypt, the reason he raised up Pharaoh and hardened Pharaoh's heart was so that God would get more glory.

So that God, in that case, God defeated the most powerful nation in the world and humiliated them by bringing plagues that made their own sorcerers and wise men look like absolute buffoons. God raised up Pharaoh and he extended that process so that he got more glory. Psalm 23.3, I love this. I love this. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want.

He leads me beside quiet waters. He lies me down in green pastures. Why? Why does God do all that? You know, I used to ask my students this question. They answer this.

Because he loves us. And I say true, right? God's love is expressed by caring for his people, by providing for their needs, by comforting them, feeding them. Yes. But what does the text say? What does Psalm 23.3 say?

Why does God do it? Is anybody there? This is too good to let go. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. for his namesake, for his glory. That's why he does it. The next psalm 24 1 Is it okay if we go a minute late to read this psalm Because it really good Alright Emma you can leave You can leave if you don see the goodness of this stuff You can go. Anyway. Then I'll pray for you.

The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Right? God owns everything. Right? He owns the earth and everything in it. It's like, yeah, I own that car and everything in it.

Or I own that house and everything in it. God owns the earth and everything in it. the world and those who dwell therein, everybody who's in it, God owns. Why? Because he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully, he will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek him and seek the face of the God of Jacob. And now a praise chorus. Lift up your heads, O gates. Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty.

The Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? He's the Lord of hosts, the King of glory. God's glory comes. He owns everything. he told David to write a psalm that repeats it how many times?

Who is this king of glory? Like, he says it, and then he has some weird person who just doesn't know anything. Who is this king of glory? And then he repeats it as an answer, right? Over and over again, the Lord is full of glory. He had David write that psalm.

So God is seeking his own glory. It's just screaming clear. He owns everything. His purpose is in redemption. His purpose is in your life, feeding you and leading you and teaching you and guiding you. His purposes are always ultimately for His own glory.

Objection number one. So if God created everything and redeems everything and teaches us and leads us for His own glory, does that mean He was lacking in glory ahead of time? Some people might say that. The answer, of course, is no. Paul says that absolutely clear, definitively in Acts 17, 24 and 25. He doesn't need us.

We can't give Him anything. We can't give Him glory in the sense that He didn't have it before. All we can do is reflect it. We can magnify it. A magnifying glass or a... You see, you have a diamond out, and the sun's shining on the diamond.

You see all its beautiful light, right? The light reflecting and refracting through that diamond. That doesn't make the sun more glorious. It just shows the glories of the sun. You put a prism up there, and it breaks it into the spectrum. You see a rainbow.

The rainbow doesn't make the sun more glorious. It just expresses the glory of the sun in a way that's unique. That's what God does in creation and redemption. It's the overflow of his perfections, the overflow of his glory. It's not that he's lacking glory, it's that his glory is spilling over. John 1.16, it's in a different context, but the idea is this.

From his fullness, from the fullness of Christ, we have all received. Grace after grace is what he says. And he means especially, we received a new covenant after the old covenant. But the principle is this. It's from the fullness of the Lord that we receive these things. It's not because God was bored or lonely that he created us.

He had perfect harmony, unity, fellowship, happiness in himself. But that spilled over into creating and now redeeming. And when we talk about God's glory in the cross, we'll talk more about why did God create this world that was eventually in no time full of sin? Why did he do that? We'll talk about how God's glory is the way to answering that question also.

Objection number two, does this make God selfish? Is he like that narcissist, that arrogant person who puts statues of himself in portraits everywhere and who then demands passersby to bow down to his statues, to bow down to me because I'm awesome, right? If any human being did this it would be obnoxious But that because human beings are creatures not creator Some people might say well love doesn seek its own right 1 Corinthians 13 5 says love does not seek its own It's not self-seeking.

But you're saying God is seeking himself. How is that loving then? Well, here's how it's loving. First, you have to realize there's a difference, a major unbridgeable difference between creation and creator. And the thing about God telling us to glorify him is that he knows that's what we were created for and that's what also brings us the most happiness, the most fulfillment and joy comes when we live for the glory of God.

So he's demanding from us the very thing that brings us the most happiness. And if you want to read more about that, probably it's written all through the place. Augustine wrote in his Confessions, one of the first pages, I know it's one of the first pages because I only made it about ten pages into that book before I got distracted, but he has this prayer, and it goes something like this, O Lord, you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

See the idea? We are created to reflect and live for God's glory, and our hearts are just restless, constantly trying to be filled up with other things until we accept the fact and live for the fact that we are created to glorify God. Nothing else fulfills. Nothing else satisfies than to enjoy forever the perfections of God, the glory of God. So God is not selfish.

He is in the sense that he's seeking his own glory, but he's God. He's not creation, so he can do that. And moreover, in glorifying himself and commanding us to glorify him, he's commanding us to do the very thing that brings us the most joy. So it's actually the most loving thing for him to do. It's to save us from glorying in other created things and instead turn us, open our eyes so that we can glory in the creator.

It's really sad what most people do in glory and creation rather than the creator. Implications Real quickly think about these more Even if we had another whole hour or six more weeks ahead of us we couldn go through all the implications but think about a few of these things why should I want to grow spiritually? is it because I'm miserable in my current spiritual state? yeah, that's there that might be like the alarm going off if your house is full of smoke and your smoke detector is going off right? You don't say, that's an annoying sound.

I better replace the battery, right? You look for where the smoke's coming from, right? So why should I want to grow spiritually? It's not because I'm dissatisfied. Ultimately, it's not because I'm uncomfortable where I am spiritually currently. That's just the alarm going off.

It makes me uncomfortable. It's the indicator going off, right? I feel discomfort. I'm not satisfied with where I am right now spiritually. The bigger issue is, the reason I'm uncomfortable is because there's a fire in the house, right? That fire in my spiritual life is, switching metaphors again, is I haven't been living for the glory of God.

There's been some area of my life where I've been living for my own glory. I've been worshiping the creation rather than the creator, making idols, treasures out of things on the earth instead of a treasure out of my heavenly Father. So spiritual growth, right? He leads me on paths of righteousness. Why? For his name's sake, right?

Be on the same wavelength. The way we pray. What do we pray about? Why do we pray? Do we pray? for God's glory, for his purposes, that more people would see how awesome he is, so that our hearts would be enlarged to absorb more of how awesome he is. Too often I pray church plant.

You know, it's tough. My income, my future income comes from planting this church successfully, right? That's an easy prayer. God, we need money. Make this a successful church plant. But how should I pray God glorify your name Provide for your people Expand your kingdom Spread your gospel Use the church plant to do it Right See the difference It a simple concept, but it's a big change.

Lastly, how we understand a good day. According to 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, a good day can be a day in which you were stripped naked, beat to the inch of your life, starved, and kicked out into the cold. Right? That can be a good day. Right? As long as you're headed to the glories of heaven with God forever, right?

As long as God is your Father and you've been suffering for righteousness, it's a good day, right? So, different priorities. I'm sure we're out of time. It might be Monday already. I don't know. Is the game on yet?

Any questions or thoughts before we close? Did the handouts help? Okay, I'll try to do that again next week. Anybody? All right, let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you for your truth.

We never would come up with this stuff, so we thank you for teaching us. We thank you for saving us from worshiping your creation so that we could worship you, our creator, which is what we were designed to do. I pray that as we turn to you, as we go through this life and struggle with temptation and struggle with hardships, as we relate to others that we would learn to behold the glories of Christ, that we would learn to live for your glory, and that we would savor and just enjoy on a different level than we've ever experienced joy before, the joy of becoming like Christ and participating in your glory.

Please help us now, we pray, and do it for your name's sake. Amen.