Glory of God Part 1: Introduction

So Romans chapter 11, this is at the close of a very important section of the sovereign working of God And it says in verse 30 For as ye in time past have not believed God Yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief that is Israel's unbelief Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy for God has Concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all now that's really the conclusion of chapters 9 10 and 11 the conclusion as far as his argument and thought that he's carrying forward of the working of God through Israel's unbelief bringing salvation to the nations and Then ultimately back to show mercy to Israel now verse 33 Down to the end is what is often called a doxology And you'll hear that expression a doxology is an expression of glory to God And so he says all the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out? for who has known the mind of the Lord or Who has been his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be? recompensed unto him again for of him and through him and To him are all things to whom be glory forever Amen, and then chapter 12, which is our Response our service really flows out from this So I want to think with you for a few moments In beginning about a definition for the word glory Like other words that are very important words it's almost impossible to define it and We find ourselves using the term trying to express the term trying to define the term and you're really not supposed to do that But it's hard to find other words to convey what is intended by that word glory now How do how did we learn to understand words? Well when we were growing up we didn't walk around with a Webster's dictionary did we We picked up the meaning of words by how they were used And we gained certain impressions of what that Word really means and that's the same with the word love the word glory many other very important terms So I'm just going to give you some other words that Convey something of the impact of what we feel when we see something that has glory If you've ever said words like this Impressive Wonderful awesome Isn't that wonderful Isn't that beautiful? What we are doing when we say those kinds of things is is we are responding to something That has glory in it Now the definition that I like the best myself is that glory is display of some beauty of excellence the display of some Beauty or excellence now, let's go back briefly to the original terms just for The background from where it comes from in the Bible I Use the term doxology in this passage The Greek term that is translated glory the Greek term is called doxa Which actually means an opinion and We use the term in English orthodox You've heard that I'm sure Something that is called orthodox actually means the right opinion So if you say that someone has orthodox views that would mean they have the right views according to that group of people orthodox Right opinion and the word has its impact from the Greek language in this idea that it is a favorable opinion That you gain when you see something You listen to something you observe something and And you think that's good. That's right So it is an opinion that is Generated a response that is generated about it now from the Hebrew language it's got a totally different root and It's actually the word to be heavy Now that sounds good In the sense that it is substantial To be heavy or substantial in contrast to something that is light and There's a verse that talks about light and vain fellows, but you know that that means there's nothing to them There's really nothing to them Whereas it's the old has weight That's saying there's something to it something Impressive again something worthwhile so those are the Original terms that are drawn from to to speak of the word glory But nearly always when you get this word associated with God it is it is display of something In the Old Testament when it when it mentions that they saw the glory of God. Well, they saw a splendor Radiance and outshining of light that was very very impressive and awesome And so what I want to look at then because what we have in this chapter is as we call it a doxology It's it's it's a response of glory to God and here's what it says about him In verse 33 after after coming to the conclusion That everything that God has been doing throughout the generations Is so that he might finally reveal his mercy Remember what was wrong with Jonah What was Jonah's problem did he just not like to listen to God Why did Jonah try to flee from the presence of the Lord when he was sent to preach to the city of Nineveh Well, he reveals what was wrong a little later in the in the little book when he says Lord I Knew that you were a gracious God You're slow to rot you're quick to show mercy He really didn't want God to show mercy to those people.

He wanted to see them destroyed He was out of touch with God The heart of God At its core is mercy He loves to show kindness He loves to manifest himself in mercy So the Apostle here in appreciating this wonder of God So the depth the depth of the riches both of the wisdom Knowledge of God, so you see he is Responding to this beauty this glory of God his wisdom and his knowledge It talks about his unsearchable Judgments his ways past him past finding out and so on and then when you come to verse 36 Again, this is this is a final summary that captures all of this in one little sentence And as we read this again, I want to want you to ask yourself. Is there anybody else in the universe? That this could be true about Here's what it says for all of him And through him and to him are all things So You can put that word all things with each one of these Of him are all things. This is talking about him being the creator the originator He has brought all things into being But he hasn't just sat back and let it all go he maintains a Close relationship to what he has created and through him all things is the progress of history the progress of what is transpiring God's sovereign work Is undergirding and supporting and bringing it to a final outcome and that outcome is to him Returning to him in worship glory and honor Now if you want to know a little secret of life, it's this everybody Everybody must bring glory to God Say everybody There are ways in which God wants to glorify himself in us But he will be glorified Either by us becoming an instrument of his mercy of his glory of his goodness of his love Revealing the beauties that are his Or being an object of his righteous judgment Everything that he has made must return something to him One way or the other So this is an encompassing statement That tells us he brought everything into being He is in control bringing all things to a final outcome And to him this is the outcome to him belongs So I want to try to touch on What I'm going to call first of all his essential glories and then his moral glories What I'm using these terms essential glories that is the glories the greatness of God That relate to his Essence as being God or deity.

Let me just list them for you It's easier to list them to try to and to be able to understand them or express them His eternal being His eternal Self-existent being I was mentioning this briefly this morning already Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd Is the eternal the eternal is my shepherd his almighty power There is a term that is used in theology called omnipotence Which means He is all-powerful All-powerful There is nothing that is outside of the realm of his power And then there is his infinite knowledge and wisdom which is expressed in this section We have just read and we call that his omniscience Omni omni omni just means all or everything So you have a little stereo system that has something that's omni directional it means Every direction Omniscience is omniscience which means all-knowing he knows all things Including the future and then his limitless presence his omnipresence His limitless presence and the fifth one that I'm linking with this is his sovereignty His authority his majesty now I'm going to just go as far as I'll get this afternoon, and we'll carry on from where we don't what we don't finish What does it mean is eternal self-existent being Well Let's go to Isaiah chapter 42 First of all Isaiah 42 and Verse 8 he says I am the Lord now again in your Bible Whenever you get in the King James Bible Lord in all capital letters It is really the unique name Jehovah Jehovah This title or name of God is given in the Old Testament about 6,000 times So obviously it is a very very vital important revelation of God of himself, and he says I am Jehovah now as I mentioned this morning Even that doesn't really help us very much unless we know what Jehovah means Jehovah is made up of the three tenses of the verb to be I am I Was and will be it's actually in the third person He that is and was and will be So That is why we say that it really corresponds To the term Eternal the eternal is the best way to understand what that word is really using and as I mentioned your French Bible You have one would tell you that the eternal I Am The eternal that is my name and notice what he says and My glory will I not give? to another Neither my praise to graven images, so I'm going to emphasize again that this revelation of God is The most fundamental Revelation and it is the most foundational truth that we can think about It is the foundation for everything else about God and everything else that God does he is Eternal and he is Self-existent what do we mean by those terms well eternal means having no origin? No end Now when you were Thinking or debating With someone who doesn't really know too much about God or doesn't really accept the idea of God is the creator and so on there's a lot of vague thinking that goes on in people's minds and Something that I appreciated not too long ago was Someone who's a Christian who is both a Bible teacher and a philosopher Who has boiled the issue down to a rather simple way of of recognizing this When we come to think about the creation How do we explain it What accounts for the creation including ourselves Well, there's only actually four possibilities of Imagining or thinking About the existence of the universe and of all life on it There's only four possible explanations that relate to any philosophy any religious belief any scientific theory They can all fit in these four categories, so that kind of simplifies things a little bit doesn't it so let me give them to you either The creation itself is eternal and self-existent Did I define for you what self-existent really means Self-existent means that you don't need anything from anyone else You didn't need someone to start you you didn't need someone to sustain you You're not dependent upon anything else your life Support is entirely within your own being So either we have to believe that the creation itself the whole universe and all of life in it is eternal And some of the greatest most effective So-called Scientists of our day have taken that position Carl Sagan who is very well known for his anti God philosophy and thinking His view was that the universe just is and it always was That's it So That's one option the second option is that it is self-created In other words it came into existence from itself without any help from the outside any supernatural help and Then the third option is what some philosophers have suggested although not too many But it's not real anyway. It's just an illusion Well that has been kind of just disproved By the simple fact that I think therefore I am That's been around for a long time, but the idea of it being an illusion that it doesn't really exist and I remember one one professor who was a Christian being sort of assaulted by one of his students who Who wanted to portray that view of the universe that that it's there's nothing that there's nothing real and So the professor answered and he says and who shall I say is asking the question There's no reality Anyway the fourth one is the fourth option is that the universe has been created by a being Who is eternal and who is self-existent now do these things matter Today we are debating as a society as as a you know as a as a people the very basis of existence Has a profound effect Upon the meaning of life, and if there is any meaning Now let's go through what we have in mind about this Number four of course we know is right, and why is it right let's look at the others very briefly How would you answer that claim Why can't we just believe that the universe always existed Do you have to be You know a fourth degree scientist to be able to answer that question well actually There are some very basic laws of the universe Let me give you the first two laws of physics The first one is called the law of conservation of energy Now you probably learned that in about well I don't know what where you would learn it now whether it be maybe grade five or something I think I learned it in grade nine maybe the law of Conservation of energy what does it mean it means simply this in all the things that are happening today? There is no new energy being created or destroyed But simply being transformed from one form to another That means if you burnt capuscasing down You would destroy the city the town But you would not have Destroyed the total amount of energy would have just simply changed it into different forms light and heat and whatever else It's all there somewhere if you could measure it so the law of conservation of energy means that the creation as we know it now is Not in a creating mode As far as the foundational energy of it. It is simply in a conservation mode In other words whatever brought the universe into existence out of nothing Isn't doing that now That is a very foundational law of everything physical the second law with that States this is called the law of entropy and that law states that while Law number one is true The amount of usable energy is is continually decreasing the law of entropy is actually a tendency towards maximum randomness or chaos in other words Everything is Wearing out Everything is breaking down.

Everything is deteriorating towards death and This has been battled over by evolutionists and creationists for a couple of generations now and They would love to be able to escape From the control of this law But it has to be acknowledged. These are the most foundational laws scientifically That tell us that the creation as we know it is not Being created now it was created came into existence and it's dying It's dying Now those two laws together Deny The possibility that the universe itself could be For the simple fact that if it was infinitely old it would be dead today It would have already died if it was infinitely old and so the very first and second laws of of What is is recognized as? controlling every operation that ever happens in the physical universe Points to something outside of the creation for its source and what does evolution teach? Evolution Teaches that somehow the creation created itself, isn't that right? People will argue and and you know it is impossible to To to stop the imaginations of people because if you prove them wrong on one point, they'll just go somewhere else and You know, there are there are theories or ideas Spouted around as if they have some meaning or value You know that life Came from outer space on a spaceship So what So what if it did Does that solve the problem? No, it just pushes it back to somewhere else in the universe or another universe or whatever It doesn't change the the initial problem that how did nothing become something? So evolution Attempts to remove the necessity of the supernatural Attempts to give an explanation for how things could be existing today without requiring God That is its purpose So what what are the gods of evolution? What is the magic of evolution? two things time and chance Time and chance That's why you will see the necessity emphasized The earth has to be billions of years old. The universe has to be many billions of years old Because it is absolutely essential for their thinking that there be these unimaginable amounts of time and If I could just quote some prominent evolutionists He makes a statement that with time all things are possible With time all things are possible Given enough time the impossible becomes possible Well, is that true Is there something magic about time no, and In fact, if only people could step back and think clearly They would realize that time is as much an enemy of evolution as it could ever be a friend If you can imagine if you're halfway along the scale wherever that scale may happen to be and You've got some new species arising.

Let's say it's mr. And mrs. Adam In their framework of thinking What if Adam comes on the scene a hundred thousand years before Eve Well, there would be a problem, wouldn't it? The timing has to be perfect The development of that species is depending on other things Have to coincide And so time is actually an enemy of evolution not a friend, but then chance What is chance Chance is actually nothing Chance possesses no energy No wisdom No guiding intelligence No force or direction chance is just an explanation It is nothing more so if you have time and You have chance It doesn't create anything And yet that's the magic wand of evolution That's all what they've got to replace Now we already mentioned that the third option that the universe isn't real doesn't really deserve an answer does it Both first and second options are refuted by both a lot of conservation of energy and The law of entropy which teach us that instead of there being an ongoing Progressive creative force and that's what evolution is basically have to believe that there is somehow an operating force Although they don't they they absolutely detest the word intelligence That is why In the United States it actually went to the Supreme Court didn't it just in the past year whether intelligent design Could be or should be taught as a scientific theory and it was denied was because they have to eliminate the idea of there being any intelligence involved in the development of the creation And yet what how science discovered Science has discovered That when you get down to the very basement the very foundation of all existence You've got Information you've got intelligence. You've got profound wisdom on the most fundamental existence of life It's there in the beginning was the word was Knowledge was information was something that is spiritual and not physical so actually Option number four is the only Option that is scientific now doesn't it sound weird? It would sound weird to a lot of people today the only Logical option for the existence of the universe is this That there is a being who is eternal and who is Self-existent who is outside of and beyond the universe Who has originated? And brought into being by his wisdom by his power all things that exist now that is From not even coming from the Bible but coming from Actual simple logic The reality of creation as we know it points outside of itself something other than me caused me to be so Therefore we're brought back to this fundamental reality eternal being Is a glory that belongs to God exclusively Exclusively No one else Can be an eternal being in the sense of having no origin Thank God we will exist eternally But we will always be dependent upon God for our existence We will always always be dependent creatures upon a being who is in himself Unoriginated eternal Self-existent and that is what Isaiah chapter 42 in verse 8 says I am the eternal that is my name My glory will I not give to another? now Back in Isaiah chapter 40. This is a very well Known passage, and I hope it is well known to you because Isaiah chapter 40 Is a very very important chapter That brings us into into awareness of God in his greatness.

Let me just read a few of the verses It says in verse 12 who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with the span and Comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance Who has directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counselor has taught him? That's what was being quoted where we read in Romans chapter 11 who has known the mind of the Lord or Being his counselor has taught him with whom took he counsel and who? Instructed him And I like the marginal reading of this in my Bible. It says who made him understand who made him understand and Taught him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed to him the way of understanding And then verse 15 moves to another aspect of of the awesome power of God And it says behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance Behold he takes up the aisles as a very little thing and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn Nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a bird offering all nations Before him grows nothing. They are counted to him less than nothing Now this is picked up again Down in verse 25 down where he says well to whom then will you liken me or shall I be equal? Seth the holy one and he talks about the the stars and The Magnitude of the universe lift up your eyes on high behold who has created these things that brings out their host by number He calls them all by names By the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power Not one faileth Why sayest thou Oh Jacob and speakest to Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed Over from my God hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God The Lord Jehovah the eternal the creator of the ends of the earth faints not Neither is weary there is no searching of his understanding and he gets power to the faint and so on Now there's far more than what I read than what I can look at in the next few minutes Listen for a brief moment about his almighty power his almighty power This passage tells us that the mightiest nations upon the earth are to God Just like carrying a bucket of water and and when you're carrying that pail of water There's a little drip Falling off the bottom of the pail But you don't even worry about it's it's just nothing Or when you're weighing something and you just brush off the dust off the balance That's all that they are to God You see God in his omnipotence Has an imaginable power to do what he wants to do And to keep things going that he wants to keep going I've mentioned this before and I'm not sure whether Anyway, I found out something just in the last Year a few months something that I've been looking for for a while, but was too lazy to to search myself for it.

I Believe that the way the Lord has designed the creation even our solar system is An illustration of this majesty of God You know the Sun the Sun is is Too far away from us to be able to control isn't it? We don't get to control the thermostat We don't any control over what the Sun is doing Do you know how much energy we're really using of the Sun of the amount of energy? you have to think a little bit of a circle of a sphere of the ball and Think of energy light heat Radiating out from that in every direction and the earth is 93 million miles away a tiny little speck 93 million miles away and All our life processes on earth are being taken care of By that minute little line of light that touches on the earth Now someone gave me this figure. I mean at least I read it in a book and do somebody someone must have figured it out We capture or you know absorb One two billionth of the energy of the Sun In other words the Sun could be heating Two billion Earth's and it wouldn't be exhausted as a Fraction it is one over two billion That is the tiniest tiniest little fraction It'd be like a needle Of the amount of light that is moving from the Sun and ever touches the earth and that keeps us going Day and night year-round century after century Now who could set up something like that like it would be the merest fluke wouldn't it the merest fluke that that could exist in that way and The kind of life that we need you know to live just to be supported and when we get complaining about how cold it is in winter and how hot it is in the summer and and And even with that being that far away We need an atmosphere Or we would be boiled And we have to have a rotation of the earth or we would be overheated all of this set up By an infinite God and just as we are not in any way by the greatest imagination Exhausting the resources of the Sun to keep the earth going Neither do we in our lives exhaust the power of God by our needs you get the picture and We can't control God But he can control us doesn't matter whether it's 93 million miles away or billions of miles away it wouldn't matter to God We are under his power His power is directed toward us For eternal blessing and that is why in this chapter. He is saying don't you worry about the mighty nations Yes Israel as a nation is going to be in to go into captivity Come under the power of those nations, but he says you're really in my hand So there is an almighty power that is far far beyond our comprehension But included in that in this passage is the realization that it's not just blind brute power that is in operation But infinite wisdom understanding Guiding directing that power For our need and so it says who has directed the spirit of the Lord or being his counselor has taught him Now over in Isaiah 42 in verse 9, which I didn't read when I was in that chapter the Lord talks about knowledge in another aspect when he says behold the former things are come to pass and New things do I declare before they spring forth I tell you of them One of the things that we should be Enjoying as Christians who are reading our Bibles Is what we call prophecy and what is prophecy well, that's simply the future being told before it happens Now who can do that? Who knows what the future holds Well this again is one of those unique glories that belong to God That he can talk about the future in as much detail as you need him to talk about As many details and he does that just in the next two or three chapters He's looking ahead 150 years 280 years in Israel's history and he names the king Who's going to bring them back from captivity which they haven't even got into captivity yet a King that's not born yet a King whose Empire hasn't really come into effect yet And he talks about a king Cyrus who's going to be his servant and who's going to bring them back in God's purposes Do we have that kind of confidence in our God Whatever our present circumstances are there is a God of such perfect wisdom knowledge comprehension Who has his hand and his mind? Upon all of things He's bringing it to his conclusion his purposes Now I've just just scratched a little bit around the surface here But it's just about 230 now and so it's time to quit God is infinite The only way we're going to develop appreciation of him is if we meditate upon him Think about these realities See how this chapter chapter 40 develops and and ponder this reality There is not one Circumstance there is not one problem.

There is not one issue that can ever arise That he doesn't understand And that he doesn't have any solution for And so he says as we come down the chapter. He says why are you saying? Why are you saying? My way is hid from the Lord My judgment is passed over from my God things aren't right and God isn't doing anything about it. So just wait wait Abort put your confidence in him He is working and he will bring about What you need for your good Could I just close with one little expression and that is this Whatever is for his glory Is also for your blessing Your highest blessing will always be found in glorifying God And whatever in you and in your life Can honor and bring glory to God you will discover.

It's your blessing as well So your blessing is secure his glory may God Give you encouragement To value the greatness Our father we are In all of the We acknowledge thou art far greater than our minds can comprehend We cannot really think in terms of eternal being Nor can we think in terms of omnipotence Our father we are thankful that thy word Reveals these things in such a simple direct way We thank you that thou hast revealed thyself That we might know thee and that we might be in all of thee We do pray that thou would deepen within us this awareness Of the glory that is done And that despite the prevailing human wisdom That keeps looking for explanations that don't require God We thank thee that we have been ever brought into the light of the knowledge of God That we understand that thou art the eternal That thou art an adequate explanation for the existence of all things We would glory in thee today and bless thee that thou hast ever been pleased to make thyself known to us Through the salvation that is in our Lord Jesus And so we cry to thee that thou would teach us thy ways That thou would enlighten our minds and keep us from the corrupted wisdom of this age In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ