The Glory of God
If you're five years old, we have a lot of five-year-old children who sit in services every week who learn a tremendous amount. They go home and tell their parents what they have learned. I don't care if you're 20, 30, 50, 60, 70, 80 plus, whatever your age is, what should be the principal reason for all of your actions?
Solomon said, remember your Creator in the days of your youth, but all of our actions. I don't care how old we are, should be for this reason. Yet I believe that we're not aware of this reason as we ought to be in the Church of God at the present time.
There has been a growing trend in the Church of God, and perhaps it's been this way for many, many years, but I know there has been an increasing trend this way to not do anything or say anything or present yourself in any such way in which others would look at you as being religious, or the world would look at you as being religious. And I think that we have gone to the extent to where we're on what I call the backside of that.
In other words, we have gone too far in that direction. And I think that we need to come back to an awareness of God. I don't care what action, as I've already said, physical action, breathing, eating, drinking, even these physical, mundane, basic things that you must do every day, or whether it be your spiritual actions, worshiping God, praying, doing good works. All of these should be done for this reason. This reason that I'm going to talk about today.
Now, one of the main motivating factors that should be present in our life is talk about in I Corinthians, the 13th chapter. And it says in I Corinthians, those few verses, first few verses, that if you have not charity, Now, this word charity means spiritual love. It's from the Greek agape.
It's spiritual love, that kind of love that comes from God in Jesus Christ. It says, though I understand all mysteries, understand all prophecies, though I give my body to be burned, though I give all that I have to the poor. If I have not charity, then my actions will profit me nothing.
And in a like manner, if you don't do what you do for the reason that I'm going to talk about this afternoon, it is in vain, and it profits you nothing. Let's turn to Matthew 6:10. Begin to zero in on what I'm talking about.
You may be already having some thoughts. What is he talking about? What is the reason? What should be the reason behind what I do? Everything we do, ask, say, should be for the purpose of this. In Matthew 6:9, it begins the model prayer.
It says, after this manner, therefore, pray you, our Father, which are in heaven, who are in heaven, hallowed be your name. And it goes on with the prayer. And then in verse 13, and it says, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Everything that we should do, but should be for this purpose of glorifying God. In your prayer, as you prayed this morning, did you say that you may receive the glory?
When Jesus Christ prayed, He said, For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. So, do you finish your prayer by saying that your name, that your name may be glorified? I'm asking this today, that your name may be glorified. Not my name, not any other man's name, but that your name may be glorified. Now, we should be motivated by love, by outgoing concern, by that spiritual love, the agape, that's mentioned in I Corinthians the 13th chapter.
But how much more should we be aware of glorifying God, by whom we live, we breathe, we move, we have our very existence and our very being, as Paul talked about in Acts the 17th chapter, how much of what you do is for the purpose of consciously, I mean with forethought, as you think about, I am doing this that God may be glorified. Not that any man, not that I be glorified, but that God be glorified.
Every good work or deed we perform must be through God and for the purpose of glorifying Him, or it is not a good work. And I'll turn to some scriptures in a minute to prove that irrefutably: that if it is not from God and for that purpose, it's not a good work. Now, let's see if we can get a little bit of a better grasp on this thing of glorifying.
What do we mean when we say glorifying God? Well, to glorify comes from the Greek word doxozo, d-o-x-a-z-o. And that word, oftentimes, you perhaps have heard of the doxology that they give in the Protestant churches where they sing hallelujah praise to the name of God.
And in a sense, that is to glorify Him. But to glorify means to give honor to, to give credit to, to give the honor, the glory, the credit to God. Eventually, the honor and glory of God will fill the entire earth and the universe.
The glory of God, if we might define it, somewhat like let's look at one of these lights. The glory of God is all the power that radiates from God. Now, just like at the present time, all of the light and energy that radiates from any one of these lights is all of the power and energy that radiates from them.
Now, radiation just simply means to go out to transfer from one body to another. At the present time, all of us are radiating heat. We're radiating a certain amount of our personality, our character, our being as we sit there.
So God's glory is all of the power and energy that radiates from Him that goes out to us into the universe. Now, at the present time, we are not radiators, but we are reflectors. And I'll read some scriptures about that a little bit later on.
How that I've used in the past. Perhaps you heard the sermon up there at Big Sandy on The Last Great Day, where I talk about the Sun-Moon analogy in a sense of God the Father being the Son and we as a moon reflecting that light back out. Eventually, this honor, this glory of God will fill the whole earth.
And one of the main purposes why He's working with us now is so that we will be in the process of helping Him to illuminate the entire earth. Now, let's look back at Isaiah. In Isaiah, let's pick up a millennial theme for just a moment to show you that eventually this light, this glory, this honor will fill the whole universe. And also, at this time, I want us to get the distinct relationship between glory and light. Because God's glory, in a sense, is his light. It is his energy. It is his power. It's that which radiates from him.
In Isaiah 60:1, arise, shine, for your light is come. And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Or you could just as easily say, almost every time you see in the Bible the word glory, you could substitute the word light or energy or spirit, that which radiates the power, the light, the energy.
Or as it says here, the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people. Now, this darkness that covers the earth is during the day of the Lord, just before the Lord comes again.
The sun and moon both will be black. And then, when Christ comes on the scene, there will be light and tremendous light. But the Lord shall arise upon you, and His glory shall be seen upon you.
And when God's glory, His light, is upon someone, it actually reflects in their face. You can see that they are filled with God's Spirit. As, for example, when Moses came down off the mount, he had been in such contact with the glory and power of God that his face radiated and it shone very brightly as he came down.
So bright that they could not look into his face. And eventually you'll come to that point. If you're born into the family of God, you become a source of light as God is a source of light that just the normal human being in your full brilliance when you're turned up could not look on you in your power and your glory.
Now, verse 3: And the Gentiles who come. To your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about and see, all they gather themselves together.
They come to you. Your son shall come from afar, and your daughter shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and flow together, and your heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto you, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto you.
Now, this is talking about the physical remnant of Israel who come back into the land of Palestine. And the nation of Israel shall be re-established. Mount Zion, the law, shall go forth.
We will be spirit beings helping Christ to rule at that time, but this physical nation is going to be re-established. Verse 15: Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, that is the nation of Israel, so that no man went through you. I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
You shall also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and you shall suck the breast of kings, you shall know that I, the Eternal, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. And then in verse 19, the sun shall be no more your light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto you.
But the Eternal shall be unto you an everlasting light, and your God, your glory. Begin to see there's a distinct relationship between light and glory. Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself.
For the Eternal shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. The people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
That little one shall become a thousand, a small one a strong nation. I, the Eternal, will hasten it in his time. Now, in the book of Revelation, let's turn there to the Revelation, the 21st chapter, you'll see almost the same words repeated, enlarged upon just a little bit, how that eventually this light, this glory of God is going to fill the entire universe. And we are to have a part in it right now. Every person that God has used from the original calling out, He wanted Adam and Eve to be a reflector of light and eventually a source of light.
And Adam and Eve did not do that. Then he wanted the righteous line that came through, and some of them were. And those who have really understood the plan of God have been people who try to glorify God in his name.
Are you trying to do that in your actions? Do you reflect that in your prayers in everything that you do? In Revelation 21:9, and there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues.
And he talked with me, saying, come here, I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, that brightness, that shining energy, radiating power.
And her light was likened to a stone, most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Of course, that light will be God the Father in Jesus Christ. Verse 22.
And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, and the city of had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. See, you get that relationship between glory and light. And the Lamb is the light thereof.
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.
And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Verse 1 of 22, and he showed me a pure river, water of life. Clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, yielded her fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him.
They shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever.
And there you see that eventually this light, this glory of God shall fill the entire universe. So there's a direct relationship between glory and light. God's plan is for His glory, His light, to illuminate the entire universe and drive blackness completely away.
And I would imagine even these black holes that are now in Universe that you heard about in the Sermonette, eventually illuminating the entire universe with his power, his glory, his light. So everything that we should do should be directed toward that purpose of glorifying God. Man of and by himself is not a source of this light.
Man in his present state is only able and can only reflect this light. Now let's take a few minutes here to look at the basic state that man is in right now. In Isaiah the 64th chapter, and sooner or later a man must come to really see himself for what he is, apart from God.
In Isaiah 64:4. Now, this is a prophecy, really, for the time in which this remnant of Israel shall come back into Israel, and they'll be converted, and they'll all be saved of that remnant that comes back in. And this will be their attitude and frame of mind, and they shall come to the understanding of what man really is. For since the beginning of the world, now this scripture was read in the Sermonette. Paul quoted very often from Isaiah and Jeremiah: For since the beginning of the world, man has not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him.
You meet him that rejoices and works righteousness. Those that remember you and your ways, behold, you are mad, for we have sinned. And those as continuance, and we shall be saved.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. And we do all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Man fades like a leaf at best, all 80 years.
Some even live to be 90. And as you heard in the sermonette, there was even a man who lived to be 969 years old. But even that, in comparison to eternity, is nothing.
And there is none that calls upon your name, that stirs up himself to take hold of you, for you have hid your face from us, have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, and this is the attitude that you must come to and must be in if you're going to be a reflector of light as God wants you to be. You are our father, we're the clay, you're the potter.
We're all the work of your hand. Now, turn back a few pages in the book of Psalms. Once again, taking a look at man's true state and his true nature at the present time, and how that, apart from this light that God gives that radiates from his throne, we can do no good, and that man in his best state is just fleshly temporal and vain.
Psalm 39:4. Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am, or, as it says in the margin, that I may know what time I have here.
Now, I don't care how it is, sooner or later, God is going to try to bring you to that point, to where you discover how frail you are as a human being. Now, I don't want you to get the wrong impression from what I'm saying here today, because on the other hand, God says that through him, and we'll talk some more about that later on, through him you can do all things. But just of and by yourself, you are frail, you are fleshly, you're subject to sin and death, and you're going to die.
But through God and through his mercy and compassion, you can live forever. And you can, at this present time, be a source of light, of energy to radiate out. Now, for some people, they learn their lessons very easily.
Some people are brought to this state of how frail they are through sickness. Others are brought to this state by the fact that God allows them to go into great temptation, sometimes succumbing to that temptation and then being literally turned over for Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so the spirit may be saved.
That's one of the purposes for this fellowship, as you read about in I Corinthians, the 5th chapter. Now, I've heard some people talking about that there's no biblical basis for this fellowship, but I don't know how you're going to get around I Corinthians the 5th chapter, where it talks about they had this incestuous fornicator who was committing fornication with a member of his own family, probably his mother-in-law, and they were tolerating this in Corinth and they never did get rid of the guy.
Finally, Paul wrote him a direct order and said, I command you that you get rid of this incestuous one right now, this fornicator. Turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so the spirit can be saved. And that's simply saying, look, this guy has got to come to realize what flesh is all about.
And all of us, I don't care who you are, and I don't care what you're thinking. Sooner or later, you have to come to that point, to where you know what flesh is, and you know that you know you will not be in the kingdom of God until that happens.
You hear Mr. Duke and I refer to quite often the book of Job, and that's what the book of Job is all about. So he says that I may know how frail I am.
But once again, keep in mind the positive side that I'm also trying to relate to you. That through Christ you can do all things. But by yourself there is no good thing that comes from you.
Behold, you have made my days as in hand breadth, and mine age is as nothing before you. I mean, if you lived to be a thousand years old, if you lived a millennium, it would be as nothing. Verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity.
And remember when I told you that word vanity means the last sermon I gave here. It means temporal, short-lasting, short-term.
It's going to pass away. Now, let's look at the book of Romans. Paul very much and very often talked about the state of man, how that man was just flesh, and that man in and of and by himself is nothing.
That our honor and glory that we pay each day should not be to man, but to God. Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with giving a man a compliment. There's nothing wrong with that, but to come to the point where you realize that your salvation hinges upon God Jesus Christ and the truth to no man.
In Romans 3:10, it says, As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable.
There is none that does good, no not one and then in verse 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Now look at Romans the 7th chapter. In Romans the 7th chapter, Paul puts it another way. He puts it several different ways all through his epistles, especially in the book of Romans, so that you may come to know what man is apart from the Spirit of God.
In Romans 7:18, for I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not.
And he talks about that war in his mind, and in Romans 8:1, he tells how that you can be delivered from it. And it's through Jesus Christ. So man in his best state is altogether vanity.
But Christ came that we might become the children of light and to glorify our Father who is in heaven. Now let's turn to John, the first chapter, where Christ talks about this. Or John wrote about it of Christ in his gospel.
The Gospel of John, the first chapter. Christ came so that we could be brought to light and truth. And the reason he did that was so that we could glorify God in everything we do.
Are you getting what I'm saying this afternoon? What you need to do in your life, what I need to do, I found myself. To the point that I may go a week, or I may go two weeks, or I may go a month, in which in my prayer I was not saying that your name be glorified, that you be glorified, that your power, your majesty, your light may spread to all the universe.
But it was more like in the family kind of thing, praying about this or that in the church, this or that in my own family, this or that about those who are having divorce problems, those who are having spiritual problems, those who are sick about the nation and the direction the world is going, and so on. But not saying that your name may be glorified, and then consciously thinking throughout the day: why am I doing this?
Am I doing this to glorify God, or am I doing this to make me look good? It'd be so easy in the ministry or in any kind of position where you're continually up before people that what you do, you do to make you look good, to make you look important. Now, all of us have difficulty with, let's just face it, and I know we do.
I do, you do, we all do. But what God wants us to come to do is to realize that for our objective to be accomplished in life, that is to be in his family, in his kingdom, that we come to the point to where that what we do is to glorify him. And then eventually, as do it, because we have done that, he will then in turn glorify us, and we will become a source of light as he is a source of light.
In the first verse, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God all thing were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life that's inherent eternal life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not those who are not in light and truth don't comprehend it they don't understand it and neither do they like it now there was a man sent from God whose name was john the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, that is, John, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lights every man that comes into the world. He was in the world, the world was made of him, and the world knew him not.
He didn't even recognize the prince of life, the source of light who came into the world. He came to his own, to the Jewish nation, they received him not. But as many as received Him, to him gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them to believe on his name, which were begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So Jesus Christ came into the world to bring light and truth, so that we might be begotten of him, and then we might in turn become reflectors of that light to the world, as we'll get more into just a little bit later.
Now, look at John 3:16: God so loved the world, He made it possible that we could be reflectors and come to illuminate that light and live and move, have our being in Him to glorify Him. He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son in the world to judge the world, but that the world through him might be saved, and were saved through the life of Christ. He that believes on him is not judged, but he that believes not is judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the commendation or condemnation that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. And light exposes that which is evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved or discovered.
But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God or done in God. Now, if you just read over this, you may miss what it's saying here.
Let's zero in on this verse and make sure you know this verse: he that does truth comes to the light. So, there's a reciprocal relationship here that you have to do truth as your mind is open so that you will come to the light to be a reflector of light. And in addition to that, the reason that happens, that his deeds, see, you come to know that what you do is done through God.
If you are in truth and light, if you are not in truth and light, you have not yet come to the point where you know what man is that I've just read about in the Psalms and the book of Romans and Isaiah. That man of and by himself can do no good thing. But if he comes to truth and light, he realizes that what he does, that they are wrought in God, or they're done in God, through God, and not of himself.
Look at one other scripture here in John in the eighth chapter about Jesus Christ being the source of light. John 8:12, then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
So the Father and Jesus Christ are sources of life, and we have been called at the present time to glorify God. And every person that God has ever used in a great way, their principal motivation in life was to glorify God, not themselves.
Look at I Corinthians, the first chapter. In I Corinthians, the first chapter, we sing about this: not many wise men, not many noble are called. At the present time, but there is a distinct purpose for that.
There is a reason for that. In I Corinthians, the first chapter in verse 20, (I Corinthians 1:20). Now, the man who was writing this was a wise man.
Paul was a wise man. He was a well-educated man, one of the best educated men that the world has ever known. He was taught at the feet of Gamellio.
He knew several languages. He was a tremendous writer. He had a tremendous mind and grasp of things and here's what he wrote in verse 20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Now, in this second chapter of I Corinthians, Paul said, I didn't come to you in excellency of speech, I didn't come to you with men's wisdom.
I didn't come to you trying to fool you. I didn't try to come to you with any other thing other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Why did He come that way?
So that God could be glorified. If He had come on with some great philosophical thing, or if He'd come on with some great wisdom of men, or some great trickery, then they could have glorified or given honor to something other than God. But it's the foolishness of preaching, doing what I'm doing here right today.
That's how it's made known. For the Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews, a stumbling block, unto the Greeks, foolishness.
But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the foolishness, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, nor mighty, nor many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world, and things which are despised, has God chosen, yes, and things which are not.
To bring to nothing things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. And that's why he did it. That's why he has called the people that he has called.
That's why he's working the way he's working. For some reason, we want to turn that around very often. But everything that we do should be to glorify God so that we can't glory in God's presence.
And I will assure you. If you make it into God's kingdom, you will come to the point that I'm talking about this afternoon. You will come to the point where you realize, as Paul did, in a scripture that I've already read, that is, in my flesh dwells no good thing.
That everything that you have that is good comes from God. And that's why he does so many things the way he do them. Verse 30: But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption? That according as it is written, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord, nothing else.
You cannot glory in man. And once again, I'm not saying that you should not give people encouraging words because you should. We don't do that enough.
But it is not glorifying man, it's not placing your trust, your hope, your confidence in man with regard to salvation. Because if you do, you aren't going to make it. Or if you place your hope, your trust, your confidence in yourself and your own strength, you won't make it.
Now, let's turn back to Matthew the fifth chapter is usually the verse that you turn to when you think about glorifying God. See if we can begin to really get a better grasp of what this is saying.
In Matthew 5:13. And these few verses right in here are so very important because this shows you the importance of the Church of God, the importance of those people who are being called out at this present time. Because, as we'll see, they are the light of the world.
You are the salt of the earth. Now, salt is symbolic of preservation. Because of the church of God, because of the called-out ones.
The earth is not being destroyed at the present time. And up at the Bible study at the feast, I talk about the last two verses in the book of Malachi. That unless the hearts of the fathers return to the children, the hearts of the children to the father, that God is going to come and smite the earth with utter destruction.
Right now, the earth is being preserved. Why? Because eventually, this glory of God is going to fill the entire universe, and that we are having a part in it, and that you are to help illuminate that right now, to help reflect it.
But if the song have lost the savor, and the savor that we get, just as in the light, is from the Holy Spirit of God, so that savor can be likened to the Holy Spirit. Wherewith shall it be salted? In other words, human flesh, without the Holy Spirit, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden underfoot of men.
And that's what flesh is worth without the Holy Spirit of God. But look, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
You are to be the reflectors of God's Spirit. We've already gone through to some degree, and I could spend a lot of time proving irrefutably, I think I already have, that the source of light, the source of power, the source of energy that is good comes from God. Now, in like manner, he gives that to us.
You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it gives light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Everything that you do is supposed to be for that purpose of glorifying your Father which is in heaven. Letting your light so shine.
What kind of good works are we to do? The works of Ephesians 2:10, the works that He has foreordained that we should walk in them, not just any old good works kind of thing. And the motivation and the purpose of it must be for the purpose of glorifying God.
Now, let's look at II Corinthians 3. II Corinthians, the third chapter. Once again, the sun-moon analogy here in 2 Corinthians, the third chapter.
After Paul uses the analogy of a mirror, II Corinthians 3:14. This is talking about the administration of death that Moses received on Mount Sinai after he'd received the Ten Commandments and how it was a glorious administration, but the administration that's before us now is even more glorious. But their minds were blinded for unto the day, or this day remains the same veil taken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when one shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now, the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed in the same image from glory to glory. Now, as you look up at that light, once again using the analogy of God's throne and His Spirit, His power, His glory radiating from that throne, it's like we have one of these lights right here.
If you had a mirror, you could then take that mirror and reflect that light back into your face. Now, what we're to be doing, we're to be receptacles. And then, after we receive it, then we're to reflect it back out.
That's what it's talking about in Matthew, where it says, You're the light of the world. Let your light so shine that people may see your good works. So it says, But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass or a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory, that is, from his glory that radiates, to glory, that is, the reflection that we give back out.
Even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So, what we are to do is receive that. Then, our light is supposed to then reflect that back out.
And that's why it says you are the light of the world. And that you are to glorify your Father in heaven. And the Holy Spirit is the energizing force that does this.
Now, look at Romans, the fifth chapter. In Romans 5:5. It says, Hope makes not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
So, when you shed abroad the love of God, what do you do? It radiates out from you. Once again, you're the light, the light of the world, and you are to do good works to glorify your Father.
So, the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Which is given unto us. And, this shed abroad means to radiate back out, to go back out from it.
And the Holy Spirit is the energizing force behind it. Now, the works that we are to do are described here in Ephesians. Let's read that.
Ephesians, the second chapter, Ephesians 2:10. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before prepared that we should walk in them.
So God has already set forth the way that we should walk, the works that we should walk in, and the works that we should do. Every word we speak should be for the glory of God. Let's look at I Peter. I Peter 4 and verse 11. I Peter 4:11.
Every word that we speak, as I said in the beginning, that in the Church of God today, we want to give the appearance somewhat to the world that we're of the jet set. That regularly we take trips to the Bahamas, and occasionally we jet over to England, occasionally get out to Australia, and then we come back and do Reno in Las Vegas. Then we jet back into Luckin, and really we wear the super sophisticated clothing and so on.
Oh, I know that's not completely how you look at it, but I know that there is this tendency that people have an aversion to religion in a sense, especially formal Churchianity religion. And really, you may go a year or two years where your neighbor or the person you work with don't even know that you ever even thought about going to church, and it's not that you need to go around every day saying, you know, praise the Lord and thank you, Lord, and all of that audibly out loud.
But underneath, in here, if that is in your heart, then it will radiate out from you, and people will know that that's not just any old Joe, that there's something there that's radiating out from this person. In person. Peter 4:11, it says, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
And the oracles of God is the word of God. The talks that Paul talked about, the oracles were committed to the Jews and they preserved the Bible. It says the scripture that I quote almost every time that I give a sermon, that God in sundry times, different places, different manners, spoke to the prophets.
But now he's spoken to us through his Son, that is, Jesus Christ. If any man speaks, Let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.
You know, I heard a man come up to me after the feast telling me that he really thought that I could improve my preaching tremendously. If I wouldn't use so much scripture and so much of the word, quote unquote, in my sermons. And, you know, I was sort of dumbfounded and floored and so on, like that.
And, you know, there's always room for improvement. But basically speaking, God says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, so that you know that this is not just a man rambling on kind of thing, but it's a word of God speaking. If any man minister, let him do as the ability which God gives, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever amen. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. Don't think it strange.
Every trial we have should result in God being glorified. Do we fear when a problem comes along? We have not been called to fear, but to a sound mind and to power.
It also says in the Bible that he who fears is not made perfect in love. So, are you fearful when a problem comes along? When something happens in your life that is the try of your faith, it says here, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials.
Verse 13, rejoice inasmuch as your partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. The principal reason we fear is because we are afraid that the image that we have, our image, our ego, the empirical self, our vain self, will be tarnished in the eyes of others. I know this happens in my own life.
Oftentimes, when something happens, I immediately think, Well, what are people going to think? Well, here I am a minister. Well, what are they going to think?
And then you have to realize, and finally you come to the point, you don't ever quite master it, you don't ever quite beat down, you know, realize itself: look, you're nothing. But the only thing counts is what you do through the power of God in Jesus Christ. And believe me, there is ample opportunity in the ministry to practice humility.
You may think there's not, but there is. There's seldom a week that goes by in which I'm not accused of being an instrument of Satan or anything that you might want to imagine from wrecking people's lives to whatever it might be. You think, well, boy, it's just clear-satiness of these guys, you know, they're just sort of soar like that.
It's not the way it is. I mean, you are continually. Brought down. You read through the epistles of Paul, and you see time after time after time after time, that man spent so much time defending his honor, his dignity, his apostleship. But all of us have to come to the point to where you don't care what others think, but you are vitally concerned about what God thinks. You must come to realize that it's God who delivers.
It's not man. No man can deliver you. And then when you do come to God, you should desire to see Him glorified, not yourself.
When a problem comes along, and I don't care if it's for your little child who comes to you, what are you going to think about, first of all, generally speaking? Well, what's going to happen to me in this? Well, what's mother and daddy going to think, or what's somebody else going to think because I want to look good? All of us want to look good. We want to look good in the eyes of other people.
And many times we don't really confess the way we ought to confess before our God, lay our hearts bare, or even to each other. We hold back because we try to protect this self-image that we have.
I'm not saying that a good self-image is not good. I mean, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and we should strive for a good name. But I am saying that if we really want and desire above all things for God to be glorified, then we can begin to rejoice when these things new come along.
That's why it says here, but rejoice, inasmuch as you're partakers of Christ's suffering when these fiery trials come along. Now, I'm saying the reason we don't rejoice when these trials come along is principally because we are concerned about ourselves and not about God being glorified.
It's an amazing thing. If you can come to this, every aspect of your life will be so much better. Even if you were a teenager, not converted, quote unquote, If you can come to the point where you realize that you don't have to spend your time defending you and what you are, you'll be so much better off, it'll be unbelievable.
I mean, children spend so much of their time, there's a vicious pecking order set up from the moment they enter kindergarten to whatever, based on their fears, their clothes, their hair, their skin, every little aspect about them. Where there is this picking order set up, and they feel that they have to defend themselves. And all of us feel we have to defend ourselves.
But if we can come before the throne of God so that we are not there to consume it on our own lust, we begin to make a tremendous difference. If a child can come to the point where he's not trying to defend himself or trying to make himself look good, when the Problem comes, he knows, hey, I know where I can go. I go right to God.
He may not give me the answer immediately. It may not be solved that very minute, but I know that it will be. And the reason I'm going there is so that He can be glorified, not me.
Look at James 4. Back a page or two. James, the fourth chapter.
When we come before the throne of God, it should not be to consume it on our own lust, but to glorify God. James 4:1. Where do wars come from and fightings among you?
Come they not here, even of your lust that war in your members. You lust, have not, you kill, desire, you have, cannot obtain. You fight in war, yet you have not because you ask not.
Sometimes some people just don't even go period before the throne of grace and ask. Verse 3: You asked and received not because you asked amiss. That you may consume it upon your lust.
So when you pray, do you say, for that yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, your glory? Let's look at the example of Moses. Moses was a meek man above all the men on the face of the earth.
Yet one of the mightiest men on the face of the earth that God used. In Exodus the 32nd chapter, in Exodus, the 32nd chapter is the account where Moses went up onto the mount to receive the Ten Commandments, and while he was gone, he stayed longer than people thought he ought to stay.
They built themselves a golden calf under Aaron, and then they began to have the great sex origin party, and so on. Exodus 32:7. And the Eternal said unto Moses, Go get you down, for the people which you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They made them a molten calf, have worshipped it, have sacrificed thereunto, and said, these be your gods, O Israel, which have brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
And the Eternal said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it's a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, that I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation.
And what if you had the opportunity today if God were to come and speak to you and say, This earth is filled with sin, with violence, with evil, and there's no way that we can really do what we want to do here, but I'll start all over with you. I'll take you and give you a wife, and you'll be the one that I will use. What would be your reply.
This was Moses, verse 10, verse 11. And Moses besought the Eternal his God and said, Lord, why does your wrath wax hot against your people, which you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? I mean, why are you mad at them?
Wherefore should the Egyptians teach and say, for mischief did he bring them out to slay them in the mountains? Moses immediately thought about God's reputation, God being glorified, not himself. Turn from your fierce wrath, repent of this evil against your people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the Eternal Repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people. Continually, as you come before God, are you coming there that God may be glorified or that you may be glorified?
Which one is it? Let's look at the account in II Chronicles, the 14th chapter. And there are many other accounts through the Bible. The example of David when he went out to play Goliath. He said that. God may be glorified, not me.
When Elijah had a confrontation with the priests of Baal, that God may be glorified, that they may know that you are the God and judge of Israel. And now in II Chronicles, the 14th chapter, here's an example of Asa. Asa was king.
Esa got off to a good start. In the early part of his reign, he relied upon God when he went to battle. And this account here, we'll start in verse 9, (II Chronicles 14:9).
Talks about the Ethiopians and the great army that came out against Asa. There came out against them Zerah, the Ethiopian, with an host of a thousand, thousand, a hundred thousand soldiers and three hundred chariots, and came unto Marishah. Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zechoto and Marishah. And Asa cried unto the Eternal, his God, and said, Eternal, it is nothing with you to help, whether with many or with them that have no power. Help us, O Eternal, our God, for we rest on you, and in your name we go against this multitude.
O Eternal, you are our God. Let not men prevail against you. So Asa was praying, Don't let man prevail against you.
He was saying that you may be glorified, that God may be glorified. Is that what you pray? That you may be glorified, Father?
That's the reason why I'm praying the prayer that I'm praying to you today. And that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. Are you continually aware of this consciously as you live your life?
Now, Asa, turn to over at chapter 16. Eventually, Drifted away from God. In the early part of his kingship, he gave honor and glory to God.
But then later on in his reign, he drifted away. In II Chronicles 16:7, the Syrians became very great, and Asia became afraid of them. And instead of relying on God, he made a league or a covenant with them, a treaty, if you will.
And at that time, Haninah, the seer, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because you have relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Eternal your God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of your hand. So if you don't come to the point to where you rely on God, where you're not trying to glorify him, then he's not going to fight your battle for you. He's not going to be your source of light.
Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubum a music host with many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you did rely on the Eternal, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Eternal run to and fro throughout the whole earth.
Remember, I gave a sermon recently on the all-seeing eye, which is always watching you, to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein you have done foolishly. Therefore, from henceforth, you shall have war because he didn't rely on God.
Then Etha was mad with the seer, wasn't mad at what he had done, he was mad with the person who came and told him this. And he put him in a prison house, for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.
And behold, the acts of Etha, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Asa, in the 30th and 9th year of his reign, Was diseased in his teeth until his disease was exceeding great. Yet in his disease he sought not the Eternal, but to the physician.
And Asa slept with his father, who died in the 1 and 40th year of his reign, and they buried him. So here we are, we had the Feast of Tabernacles a tremendous time, spiritual feeding. We should be really filled up with this energy that's radiating from God and His throne, our minds should be in a sense saturated so that we can reflect that light, that we can glorify our Father. But the tendency has been in the church of God over the years that immediately after the feast was over, you'd sort of be on a two or three week high spiritually, on a two or three week low physically, and then you caught up physically and went down spiritually. And now, don't let that happen to us this time as we go through this.
Let's try to keep this upward thrust spiritually so that we come around to the Passover time and we're not pacing around all over the country with people in desperate straits trying to cast out demons and heal the sick and all the various other things that come as a result of people not wanting or trying desperately to glorify God. There is an armor that you can put on, and there is an attitude that you can have that you will be always on the upward thrust of things if you'll do it.
But if your purpose and your intent is not right before your God, then you won't be able to do that. Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, no shadow of changing or turning. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, and we are to glorify Him.
Let's look at. John the 15th chapter. John the 15th chapter.
In John the 15th chapter, Christ talks about himself being the vine or the source of the light, the source of the glory, the source of the power, the source of the energy. In verse 4 (John 15:4), it says, Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I am him, the same brings forth much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing.
Without me, you can do nothing. But yet, in another place, it says, you’ll do greater things than I have done. And through Christ, you can do all things.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall be you, or you be my disciples, if you bear that fruit. And that fruit, as far as just a brief description of it, is given in Galatians, the fifth chapter, the fruits of the Spirit.
If you bear much of this, then God is being glorified in your life. You're reflecting that light back out, and you're doing the good works that are mentioned in Matthew the 5th chapter. In Galatians 5:22, it says, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Against such there is no law. So if you are reflecting these things, you're glorifying God. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections of lust.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. So, brethren, if we have come to that point to where we really see flesh as flesh is, we really come to understand that promotion comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but it comes only from God.
If we can begin to see that and grasp that. And begin to reflect this light back out so that men can see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. We shall have come a long way.
And then, as you live your life, and if you get on your knee’s day in and day out, and if you think and move and live and have your being, you say, I'm doing this to glorify God, that your name may be glorified. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.
