How Do I See the Glory of Christ?
00:00:00.000 | [music]
00:00:04.000 | Well, how do I see the glory of Christ?
00:00:07.000 | This is a key question for everyone.
00:00:10.000 | We must see Christ's glory.
00:00:13.000 | His glory is the epicenter, the engine of the entire Christian life.
00:00:19.000 | We must see it and delight in it, because to not see Christ's glory is to not be a believer.
00:00:27.000 | It's that simple. The stakes are that high.
00:00:30.000 | And those high stakes are why we got this email from a listener named David.
00:00:34.000 | "Hello Pastor John, I have a question for you," he writes.
00:00:37.000 | "Your articles on what true saving faith is really opened my eyes to see what it is and to see that I don't have this.
00:00:44.000 | I don't see Jesus as beautiful. I feel blind to His glory.
00:00:49.000 | How does one have his eyes opened?
00:00:53.000 | I know I can't do anything. I'm desperate. Can you help me?"
00:00:58.000 | Let me try to clarify David's reference to what I have said about the nature of saving faith.
00:01:06.000 | I believe the Bible teaches that saving faith is a trusting and treasuring of Jesus Christ that rises from a Spirit-given sight of the truth and greatness and beauty and worth of Jesus as we see Him at work in the gospel.
00:01:32.000 | And what David rightly sees in this understanding of faith is that faith is not mere agreement with facts about Jesus,
00:01:42.000 | and it's not a mere trust in Jesus to do for us things that even unbelievers want done.
00:01:53.000 | Saving faith does not receive Jesus merely as useful.
00:01:59.000 | Saving faith received Jesus as Himself, the greatest gift of the gospel.
00:02:06.000 | This means that saving faith sees Jesus as supremely desirable, supremely great, supremely beautiful, valuable,
00:02:16.000 | all of which the Bible sums up by saying that Jesus has divine glory.
00:02:23.000 | So those words "valuable," "beautiful," "great," "desirable"—they're all subsumed, I think, in what the Bible means by glory.
00:02:31.000 | Saving faith is a treasuring trust in Jesus as more valuable, more beautiful, more satisfying than anything else.
00:02:43.000 | Now here's a glimpse of this truth in 2 Corinthians 4.4.
00:02:48.000 | "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,
00:02:58.000 | who is the image of God." Amazing.
00:03:01.000 | Let me say it again.
00:03:03.000 | "The gospel of the glory of Christ."
00:03:07.000 | Paul is happy to sum up the gospel as "the gospel of the glory of Christ."
00:03:15.000 | This is why David is right in his question when he says that we need to see the glory of Christ in order to have saving faith,
00:03:25.000 | because the gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ.
00:03:30.000 | So I take David's question very seriously.
00:03:34.000 | It is the right question to ask.
00:03:36.000 | If I don't see Christ as glorious, as supremely beautiful and valuable and satisfying, what should I do?
00:03:46.000 | That's his question.
00:03:48.000 | So let me come at it like this.
00:03:50.000 | Let me try to at least partially demystify the idea of God's revealing his glory.
00:04:00.000 | Those very words may just sound like nonsense to some people.
00:04:04.000 | Psalm 19.1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork."
00:04:14.000 | Jeremiah 10.12 then puts meat on those bones.
00:04:19.000 | "It is the Lord who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens."
00:04:31.000 | And then Romans 1.20 and 21 say, "God's invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature,
00:04:41.000 | have been clearly perceived in the things that have been made, so they're without excuse,
00:04:46.000 | for although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God."
00:04:53.000 | So from these texts, I conclude that God has made visible his glory, his beauty, his power, his wisdom, his greatness, his worth, in the works of his hands, in nature.
00:05:09.000 | And it's our obligation as humans to see this glory, recognize it as a manifestation of the beauty of God, the greatness of God, the worth of God,
00:05:20.000 | and not just the beauty and greatness and worth of stars.
00:05:24.000 | And the reason I said that this is a demystification of the revelation of God's glory is that, on the one hand,
00:05:32.000 | most of us catch on to the notion of glory as beauty and greatness and worth when we see the magnificence of the galaxies
00:05:43.000 | and the power of a bolt of lightning and the great sound of rolling thunder and the majesty of soaring mountains.
00:05:52.000 | It's not a complete mystery that such glory in nature is a revelation of God.
00:06:00.000 | Most people can catch on to that.
00:06:02.000 | But the reason it's only a partial demystification is that, apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit,
00:06:11.000 | we won't see this glory for what it really is, namely God's glory.
00:06:18.000 | God's glory.
00:06:20.000 | So if there is a partial clarification of the revelation of God's glory by looking at nature,
00:06:27.000 | maybe David will be able to make the transition to the revelation of the glory of Christ in the inspired stories in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
00:06:40.000 | because that's why they're there.
00:06:42.000 | This is why God inspired the writing of these stories, just like he put the stars in place.
00:06:50.000 | He inspired them so that glory would shine through.
00:06:54.000 | Christ's glory.
00:06:55.000 | Here's John 1.14.
00:06:57.000 | "The Word became flesh."
00:06:59.000 | So this is why Christ walked the earth and the Gospels were written to show him to us.
00:07:06.000 | "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory."
00:07:12.000 | Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
00:07:18.000 | And when Jesus starts to do his work, John says in John 2.11,
00:07:25.000 | "This is the first sign that Jesus did at Cana in Galilee and manifested his glory."
00:07:35.000 | And his disciples believed in him.
00:07:39.000 | John is showing us why his Gospel is written, to reveal the glory of Christ and awaken faith.
00:07:48.000 | It's the Gospel of the glory of Christ.
00:07:52.000 | And at the end of his life, Jesus prayed, "Father, I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do."
00:08:03.000 | That's what his life and work were for, to reveal in himself, through himself, the glory of God.
00:08:13.000 | Or another way to say it, from John 20.31, "These things are written that you may believe."
00:08:21.000 | Because that's what happens when you see the glory of Christ for what it really is.
00:08:26.000 | You believe.
00:08:28.000 | So David's question is, if Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers the way 2 Corinthians 4.4 says he does,
00:08:38.000 | and if we by nature are resistant to the beauty of God's supremacy, what can we do?
00:08:44.000 | What should he do? That's what he's asking.
00:08:47.000 | "Pastor John, tell me what I can do. Is there anything?"
00:08:50.000 | I mean, he says, "I can't do anything." But that's not true.
00:08:53.000 | So here's four things. As much as it lies within you, David, renounce your love affair with the glory that comes from people.
00:09:03.000 | Because Jesus said in John 5.44, "How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and don't seek the glory that comes from God?"
00:09:11.000 | It's a great obstacle to love the glory of man.
00:09:14.000 | All of us are born loving the glory we get from other people.
00:09:19.000 | While that love is supreme in our hearts, we cannot believe.
00:09:23.000 | So let's renounce it. As much as it lies within you, say to God, "I'm done with it. I want to be done with it.
00:09:30.000 | Deliver me. I want to be free from this bondage to the love of human glory."
00:09:35.000 | Second, read and listen to the Word of God as much as you can, especially the Gospels,
00:09:42.000 | since God inspired His Word as a revelation of His glory.
00:09:48.000 | And He said, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ."
00:09:53.000 | This is true for the rest of our lives.
00:09:56.000 | Saving faith is awakened, and saving faith is sustained by the Word of God as long as we live.
00:10:05.000 | Number three, in all of your listening, in all of your reading, in all of your hearing, turn to Christ.
00:10:13.000 | Don't just read passively. Don't just read vaguely.
00:10:16.000 | Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:16, "When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed."
00:10:24.000 | And he means the veil that keeps you from seeing the glory of Christ.
00:10:28.000 | Don't just read and listen passively.
00:10:32.000 | Direct your heart as you read and listen to Christ and say, "Say it. Show me yourself."
00:10:39.000 | "Christ, show me yourself in your Word. Show me that you are real. Show me your truth and greatness and beauty and worth. Show me your glory."
00:10:50.000 | And then finally, number four, in and through it all, pray that the eyes of your heart would be opened.
00:11:02.000 | Paul models this for us in Ephesians 1:18.
00:11:06.000 | "I pray that the eyes of your hearts would be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which you've been called."
00:11:16.000 | So those are four things, David. Renounce pride. Read the Word. Turn to Christ. Pray for sight.
00:11:27.000 | And I would just close with this.
00:11:30.000 | Maybe go online and get a copy of the song, "Come, Ye Sinners Poor and Needy," and sing it or say it, especially this verse.
00:11:42.000 | "I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in His arms. In the arms of my dear Savior, oh, there are ten thousand charms."
00:11:55.000 | There's nothing greater than Christ and His glory and having spiritual eyes open to behold that glory.
00:12:00.000 | Thank you, Pastor John. And thank you for joining us today.
00:12:03.000 | You can ask a question of your own, search our growing archive, or subscribe to the podcast, all at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:12:13.000 | And speaking of the miracle of conversion, six times over the years we've gotten an email from a woman named Rose.
00:12:21.000 | Her emails are always the same, always brief. In fact, they're always just the same sentence.
00:12:26.000 | This one. "Pastor John, how do I pray for my husband to be saved?"
00:12:32.000 | That's the question up next time on Monday.
00:12:35.000 | I'm your host, Tony Renke, and Pastor John and I will see you then. Have a great weekend.
00:12:40.000 | (End)
00:12:43.000 | (Music)
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