Participants: Pr. Stephen Bohr
Series Code: 3AM
Program Code: 3AM000004
|
00:30 Let's bow our heads for prayer.
00:32 Our Father and our God, what a joy it is to be 00:37 once again in Your presence. 00:38 We thank You for Your Holy Word which is a sure guide in a world 00:43 that is so confused. 00:45 We ask that as we study this evening about what it means 00:48 to glorify Your holy name, that You will be with us. 00:53 Speak to our hearts through the ministry of Your Holy Spirit. 00:56 Give us understanding, and give us a humble heart to receive 01:02 the word of truth. 01:03 And we thank You Father for hearing our prayer, 01:06 for we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. 01:10 I'd like to begin by reading the verses that we've been 01:14 studying during our last sessions together: 01:17 Revelation 14:6, 7. 01:23 As you remember, we've studied ten great facts about the 01:28 three angel's messages. 01:29 We also studied about the everlasting gospel. 01:33 And in our last session we discussed what it 01:36 means to fear God. 01:37 Now in our session today we're going to talk about what it 01:40 means to give glory to God. 01:43 Let's read, once again, Revelation 14:6, 7. 02:19 In our session today we're going to study the second imperative 02:22 of the first angel's message. 02:24 In other words we have three commands in 02:27 the first angel's message. 02:28 The first command is to fear God. 02:31 The second command is to give glory to God. 02:34 And the third command is to worship God. 02:38 Now it's kind of strange, as we examine Scripture, 02:44 to find that we should give glory to God, 02:48 because the Bible explains to us that we really don't have 02:52 any glory to give. 02:53 In fact, go with me to Romans 3, and we're going to read 02:58 verse 23, Romans 3:23. 03:02 The question is, How can we give glory to God if we don't 03:07 have any glory in the first place? 03:09 How can I give what I don't have? 03:11 Notice Romans 3:23. It says: For all have sinned, 03:18 and fall short of the glory of God. 03:22 That expression, fall short, really means to lack. 03:26 In other words, what it's really saying is all have sinned, 03:31 and lack the glory of God, or don't have the glory of God. 03:35 So the question is, How can I give God glory if I don't 03:41 have glory in the first place, because sin has made me 03:46 lacking of the glory of God? 03:48 Well, in order to answer this question, we need to ask another 03:52 question, and dwell upon it for a period of time. 03:55 The other question is, What is God's glory? 04:00 In order to know how we can glorify God we must understand, 04:04 first of all, what God's glory is. 04:07 Now in the Bible God's glory is presented from two 04:11 different perspectives. 04:13 The first aspect of the glory of God is that brilliant, 04:19 overwhelming light that leads people to drop 04:24 like they're dead upon the earth. 04:26 For example, you remember when Jesus resurrected from the dead, 04:31 the Bible says that there was a great earthquake. 04:33 Two angels descended from heaven. 04:36 Mind you, these were angels; this wasn't God. 04:38 But two angels descended from heaven, and the Bible says 04:42 that the glory led the people at the tomb to fall upon the ground 04:47 as if they were dead. 04:48 In other words, this is the first aspect 04:51 of the glory of God: His light, unapproachable light, 04:55 as the Bible describes it in the book of James. 04:58 Now I'd like to read a passage where this aspect of the glory 05:02 of God is described: His external glory. 05:05 In other words, His radiant light. 05:08 Exodus 24:15-17. It's speaking about the experience at the 05:14 foot of mount Sinai, and it says this: 05:25 Notice the expression: 05:33 Thankfully, it covered it for six days, 05:35 because if God had taken away the cloud, nobody would have 05:39 been left alive. It continues saying, once again verse 16: 05:43 Now the glory of the Lord rested on mount Sinai, 06:03 This is God's glory that's like a raging, or a consuming fire. 06:08 It's His external, glorious light before which no human 06:12 being can stand and live. 06:15 But this is not the glory that the first angel's 06:18 message is describing. 06:19 Really, the type of glory that the first angel's message 06:24 is describing is something else that has to do with the internal 06:29 glory of God; if I can call it that. 06:31 It's not talking about His radiant, external light. 06:34 It's talking about His internal glory. 06:36 You see, God's external glory is simply an announcement of 06:43 another glory that He has deep within; a spiritual glory 06:47 that He has deep within. 06:48 It's kind of like Adam and Eve. 06:49 You know, they were covered with a glorious robe of light. 06:52 But that glorious robe of light represented their character, 06:56 their holiness, their innocence, their obedience 06:59 to the law of God. 07:00 And so God's radiant glory is really an external manifestation 07:04 of His inward character: His mercy, His love, His truth, 07:09 His faithfulness, His goodness. 07:12 Now in order to understand what the glory of God is, 07:15 and how we can give glory to God, we want to study 07:19 a little bit about Moses. 07:22 Did you know that Moses is a type, 07:25 or an illustration of Jesus? 07:27 Notice the book of Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 18:18. 07:35 By the way, these verses are all on the sheet, so you can follow 07:40 along very easily. 07:41 It says there in Deuteronomy 18:18, 07:47 God is speaking. 07:50 That is like Moses. 08:01 Notice that God is promising that He's going to raise up 08:04 for Israel a prophet like Moses. 08:06 We're going to find a little bit later on that that prophet like 08:10 Moses actually is none less than Jesus Christ. 08:14 Now let's study a few things about Moses, who foreshadows, 08:18 or illustrates, or symbolizes Jesus Christ who would 08:23 come later in history. 08:24 Moses was at the top of mount Sinai, and actually he has spent 08:30 quite a long period there. 08:31 Now I want you to notice Exodus 33:18 the request 08:36 that Moses made to God. Exodus 33:18. 08:45 He's speaking to God. 08:50 What did Moses want to see? 08:52 He wanted to see God's glory. 08:55 So you would think that what God would do is take away the veil, 08:59 and show him His radiant, unapproachable light. 09:02 But that's not what God showed Moses. 09:04 You see, what God showed Moses was not His external, glorious, 09:08 radiant light, His robe of light. 09:10 What He showed him was His character. 09:13 Notice Exodus 33:19, the very next verse says, 09:20 God is speaking. 09:40 So Moses said, Show me Your glory, and God speaks to him 09:45 about His goodness, and about His graciousness, 09:49 and about His compassion. 09:51 In other words God is revealing to Moses His internal character. 09:55 His radiant light is the external manifestation of His 09:59 character; the different aspects of His character. 10:03 Notice Exodus 34:5-7; the same idea comes through once again. 10:10 Exodus 34:5-7. It says: 10:18 That is with Moses. 10:22 Did you notice in Exodus 33:19 that God said also that He was 10:27 going to proclaim His name? 10:28 This is an amplification of the verse that we 10:31 read in Exodus 33:19. Notice verse 6. 10:37 The same thing we found in Exodus 33:19. 11:11 Do you notice here that God is showing Moses His character? 11:16 He's talking to him about being merciful, gracious, 11:20 long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth, 11:23 merciful, forgiving of iniquity, and by no means clearing 11:28 the guilty, which means He's also a God of justice, 11:32 according to Scripture, which is one of the 11:33 aspects of His character. 11:35 So in other words when Moses said, Lord show me Your glory, 11:40 God showed Moses His what? His character; 11:45 the manifestations of His character. 11:48 Now the glory of God, in the Bible, is manifested in His 11:52 goodness in creation, and in redemption. 11:55 It's God's glory to create, and to save, and to redeem. 12:00 Notice Psalm 19:1 so that you can see that God's handiwork, 12:06 God's work of creation is His glory, because it manifests 12:09 God's generosity, God's goodness, and God's mercy. 12:13 Psalm 19:1. This is a very well known verse. It says: 12:26 So notice that the glory of God is seen in His creation. 12:29 But according to the Bible, God's character is also seen 12:34 in His works of redemption or salvation. 12:37 Notice Psalm 79:9, Psalm 79:9. 12:42 Here Israel is praying to the Lord. 12:58 In other words, God's glory is revealed, according to this, 13:01 in salvation; it's revealed in atonement for sin, 13:06 and in delivering His people. 13:08 God is a God who loves to deliver and save His people, 13:12 and atone for their sins. 13:13 Notice Psalm 85:29, Psalm 85:29. 13:19 Once again the idea that salvation is God's glory, 13:23 because salvation is a manifestation 13:25 of God's character. 13:27 God loves to save people. 13:28 It says there in Psalm 85:29,... 13:41 Notice that when God saves, the glory of God 13:44 is found in the land. 13:47 So what God showed Moses, when Moses requested to see God's 13:51 glory, was God's character. 13:54 God showed Moses who He was; the traits of His very being. 14:00 Now it's interesting to notice what happened when Moses 14:03 came down from mount Sinai. 14:06 Notice Exodus 34:29, Exodus 34:29. 14:13 Something very peculiar happened with Moses when he came down 14:16 from the mountain, from being in the presence of God, 14:19 and from hearing about the character of God. It says there: 14:45 What happened with Moses when he came down from the mountain 14:47 after he had been with the Lord, and the Lord had proclaimed 14:50 His name, and God has shown him His character? 14:53 The Bible says that Moses, when he came down, his face shown. 14:58 Let me ask you, who's glory was shining in the face of Moses? 15:03 It was actually the glory of the Lord. 15:06 You see, the gory of the Lord is contagious. 15:09 When God shows His character, the character is reflected, 15:13 according to Scripture. 15:15 Notice Exodus 33:11, Exodus 33: 11. It says: 15:32 And, by the way, this was not the only time that Moses 15:35 was in the presence of the Lord. 15:36 You remember that he was in the land of Midian for forty years, 15:41 and he communed with God there on the mountain where later the 15:46 ten commandments were going to be revealed. 15:48 So Moses didn't spend only just a few days at the top 15:52 of the mountain, He spent years with God. 15:55 And the Bible says that when he spent this time with God 15:58 the glory of God was reflected in him. 16:01 In other words, the character of God is contagious. 16:06 Do you know that the glory that was on the face of Moses 16:09 was only an external manifestation of the fact that 16:12 the character of God had come into the life of Moses 16:16 as he spent time with God? 16:18 You say, How is that? 16:20 Well, notice what we find in Numbers 12:3. 16:23 The Bible has something to say very interesting about Moses. 16:26 Numbers 12:3. 16:34 You know, the King James Version says he was very what? 16:38 very meek. 16:44 Now do you know what the word meek means? 16:46 Let me give you a definition from the World Book Dictionary. 17:08 And then finally it gives the definition. 17:18 Let me ask you, Was Moses all of those things? 17:21 He most certainly was. 17:23 But I want to ask you this, was he that way during the first 17:27 forty years of his life in Egypt? 17:29 He was definitely not that. 17:31 In fact, let's notice what we find in Exodus 2:11, 12 before 17:37 he spent those forty years in Median with the Lord, 17:39 and before He was with Israel out in the wilderness. 17:42 He was a violent man. 17:43 He had a hot temper. 17:45 Because he had not spent the time with the Lord. 17:48 Notice Exodus 2:11, 12. 18:14 Let me ask you, Did Moses have a violent temper? 18:17 He most certainly did. 18:18 He arose and he killed this Egyptian which was beating up 18:22 one of his kin; in other words, one the people that 18:28 belonged to his nation. 18:29 You see, Moses, in Egypt, being surrounded by the glory, 18:34 and by the power, and by the fame of Egypt, had assimilated 18:38 the ideas and attitudes of Egypt. 18:40 And the life of Moses can be divided into three equal 18:44 forty year segments. 18:46 The first forty years when he assimilated the culture of 18:49 Egypt, and he reflected Egypt. 18:51 The second forty years where he spent with the Lord in Median 18:54 taking care of Jethro's sheep. 18:56 And there he spent time with God in the mountain, 18:58 and he became the meekest man on earth. 19:01 And then forty years in the wilderness tending God's 19:04 spiritual sheep, Israel, where he manifested that experience 19:08 that he had with God. 19:10 He manifested God's character in his life. 19:12 Let me ask you, Was Moses patient during those forty 19:16 years in the wilderness? 19:17 You know, one of the most marvelous stories that I find 19:20 in the whole Bible is the story of Moses as he led the children 19:26 of Israel through the desert to the promised land. 19:29 I mean these people were whining and complaining all the time. 19:33 I probably would have lost my temper in the first 19:37 day, but Moses didn't. 19:40 For forty years whenever Israel complained he said, Oh okay, 19:43 well let me consult with the Lord. 19:45 Listen, he was even willing to give up his life in order 19:48 to save Israel the Bible says, on mount Sinai. 19:51 So Moses had had a transformation in his life. 19:54 It's because he had spent time with God those forty years on 20:00 mount Horeb, because he had assimilated the character 20:04 of God. In other words the character of God had rubbed 20:07 off on Moses, if you please. 20:09 But do you know, as I mentioned, Moses was actually 20:13 a foreshadowing of One greater than Moses. 20:16 In other words, Moses actually represented someone who is 20:20 far greater who would come in the future, and that person 20:24 is none other than Jesus Christ. 20:26 Notice John 1:14, John 1:14. 20:34 Here we find the One greater than Moses. 20:38 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, 20:44 and we beheld His what? we beheld His glory, 20:50 the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 20:55 full of grace and truth. 20:58 What was the glory of Jesus? it was His what? 21:01 His grace and His truth. 21:04 Are those character traits of God? 21:06 They most certainly are. 21:07 So what did Jesus come to reflect to the world? 21:10 Jesus came to reflect to the world His what? His glory, 21:14 which is His grace and His truth. 21:17 You know, what's interesting is that Jesus did not reflect 21:20 to the world His own glory. 21:22 He reflected to the world the glory of His Father. 21:26 You say, How do we know that? 21:28 Go with me to John 1:18, John 1:18. 21:43 That's an expression that means extreme closeness. 21:47 You know, you draw a baby close to your bosom. And so it says: 21:57 Is there anyone in the Universe that could have declared what 22:00 God the Father is like other than Jesus? 22:03 Absolutely not, because Jesus had this intimate relationship 22:07 with His Father, and when Jesus came to this world He came to 22:10 reflect to this world the glory of His Father that people, 22:14 as they saw His glory, would give honor 22:17 and glory to His Father. 22:19 In fact, notice John 7:18, John 7:18. 22:25 Jesus came to reflect the Father's glory. 22:28 In other words, when people saw Jesus they were to say, 22:31 Glory be to God! They were to give honor 22:33 and glory to the Father. 22:35 Notice John 7:18. Jesus says, 22:48 Who is the One who sent Him? God the Father. 22:51 Whose glory did Jesus seek? 22:59 Let me ask you, Did Jesus reveal in a perfect way, 23:03 and reflect the glorious and wonderful character 23:06 of His Father when Jesus was in this world? 23:09 He most certainly did. 23:11 Now why did Jesus do this? 23:13 Because as Moses, the Lord Jesus spent time with His Father. 23:20 You see, Moses came to reflect the glory of Jesus, 23:25 actually on mount Sinai, because the glory of Jesus 23:28 rubbed off on Moses, and now Moses reflected 23:31 the character of Jesus. 23:32 But Jesus, the One greater than Moses, comes to this earth 23:36 and He reflects the glory of His Father in His character 23:40 to those He comes in contact with; not to bring glory and 23:44 honor to Himself, but to bring honor and glory to His Father. 23:48 And it's because Jesus spent tine with His Father 23:51 that the character of His Father was reflected in His life. 23:55 Notice Matthew 14:23, 24, Matthew 14:23, 24. 24:01 You see, as Moses spent time with God on a mountain, 24:04 Jesus spent time with His Father on a mountain, too. 24:07 It says there, And when he had sent the multitudes away, 24:11 he went up on the mountain by himself to what? to pray. 24:18 Now when evening came he was alone there. 24:21 You see, He was in communion with His Father through prayer. 24:26 Notice Mark 1:35, Mark 1:35. 24:30 Once again it speaks about the prayer habits of Jesus; 24:34 the communion, the close, the intimacy that Jesus 24:37 had with His Father. Mark 1:35 says: 24:46 Notice that. 24:56 And that's the reason why when Jesus went out in the morning, 24:59 after He had prayed all night, He came out and He had 25:02 the radiance of His Father on His face. 25:05 And as He performed His miracles the people said, 25:08 God is definitely with this man, because He was reflecting 25:12 the glory of His Father. 25:14 And by reflecting the glory of His Father, He was actually 25:17 bringing glory and honor to Him. 25:19 He was giving glory to His Father by reflecting 25:23 the glory of His Father. 25:24 In fact, notice 2 Corinthians 4: 6, where we're told that the 25:30 glory that Jesus had on His face was the glory of His Father. 25:33 It says: 25:47 Notice, God wants to give His glory where? 25:54 Why did Jesus reflect the glory of His Father? 25:57 Why did Jesus bring glory to His Father? 25:59 Why did He give glory to His Father? 26:00 Because He received the glory from His Father, and He gave it 26:03 to human beings in the form of God's character. 26:06 Therefore when people saw His character they 26:09 gave glory to whom? 26:10 They gave glory to God. 26:12 Now it's interesting to notice, if you go with me to 26:15 John 14:8-11, what Jesus had to say to one of His disciples. 26:20 This is to His disciple Phillip, because Phillip said, 26:24 We want to see the Father. 26:26 Show us the Father. 26:27 And you know this passage: John 14:8. 27:09 And when people saw the works that Jesus performed, 27:12 who did they glorify? 27:13 They said, Oh this is a great man! 27:15 Well, some people did! 27:17 But what God wanted is that people as they saw Jesus 27:20 revealing the character of the Father to the world, 27:23 that they would say, What a wonderful God 27:25 He is representing to the world. 27:27 You know, it kind of reminds me; my favorite national park in the 27:32 United States is Grand Teton National Park. 27:34 It's in North Western Wyoming. 27:37 And, you know, there's this place that I like to go 27:39 to when I go there. 27:40 I haven't been there for several years. 27:42 Ah, where you have a beautiful lake, and then behind the lake 27:46 you have a beautiful snow capped rugged mountain, and you have 27:50 beautiful pine trees in the back ground. 27:52 I've been there in the morning when there is just absolutely 27:56 not one little bit of wind, and the sun is out, 28:00 and it's just beautiful. 28:02 And, you know, I've taken pictures of that place. 28:04 And when the picture is developed, or when the picture 28:09 was developed, you know, I didn't know which side was up, 28:13 and which side was down, because the reflection in the lake was 28:16 so perfect. The lake was absolutely so calm, mirror like, 28:21 that you didn't know which was up and which was down. 28:24 That's the way in which Jesus revealed 28:28 the glory of His Father. 28:30 In fact, Jesus revealed the glory of the Father 28:33 in the actions that He performed, 28:35 revealing the character of God. 28:37 For example, do you know that people in those days actually 28:40 believed that God made people sick to get even with them 28:43 because of their sin? 28:44 Do you remember the disciples once asked, Who sinned, 28:47 this man or his parents that he was born blind? 28:50 They thought that lepers were cursed by God. 28:53 In fact they called leprosy the finger of God. 28:55 See God wants to get even with people who sin. 28:57 Well Jesus came to contest that, and to show that it's just 29:01 the opposite; that God loves the human being, 29:04 and He wants them to be well. 29:06 In fact, do you know that the miracles of Jesus in favor of 29:10 the sick are called His glory in the Bible? 29:13 Notice John 2:11, John 2:11. 29:25 This is when He turned the water into wine. 29:27 And what did He do? 29:29 When Jesus performed this miracle what did He reveal? 29:38 He revealed His glory, which was whose glory? 29:41 the glory of His Father. 29:43 Do you remember when Jesus resurrected Lazarus? 29:47 Notice John 11:4, and then we're going to jump down to verse 40. 29:52 John 11:4. When Jesus heard that He said... 29:58 When He heard that Lazarus was sick He says, This sickness is 30:03 not unto death, but for what? but for the glory of God. 30:08 God's going to manifest His glory in this event. 30:11 Notice verse 40: 30:24 Let me ask you, Is it the glory of God to heal the sick 30:28 and to help the needy? 30:30 Yes, because God is revealing His character through 30:35 the Lord Jesus Christ. 30:36 In fact, if you read with me in Acts 10:38, Acts 10:38, 30:43 it speaks about the marvelous works of Jesus. It says there: 31:00 Why did Jesus perform all these works? because God was what? 31:04 God was with Him. He was revealing the character of God. 31:09 He was revealing the glory of God. 31:11 And as people saw the glory of God, they understood better what 31:15 God was like, and therefore they gave glory to God. 31:18 In fact you'll notice on your list of texts 31:21 that I have Luke 13:13. 31:23 There you have a woman who had bent over for eighteen years. 31:26 She couldn't straighten out. 31:27 And the Bible says that when Jesus manifested His glory, 31:30 and healed her, we're told that the people gave glory to God. 31:34 Because Jesus had revealed the glory of God. 31:37 In Luke 17:15, when Jesus healed the ten lepers, one man came 31:42 back and he gave glory to God for his healing. 31:45 Because God had revealed His glory through 31:47 this marvelous miracle. 31:49 In Luke 18:43 we find a blind man that was healed. 31:54 And once again the people gave glory to God because 31:57 God had manifested His glory in healing this man. 32:01 And even when Jesus resurrected the son of the widow of Nain, 32:05 the Bible says that the people gave glory to God, 32:08 because Jesus had manifested the glory of God. 32:12 In fact, when Jesus got to the end of His life, He raised that 32:16 beautiful prayer to His Father that we find in John 17. 32:19 And I'm going to read verse 4, and then I'm going to read 32:22 verses 22 and 23. John 17:4. 32:26 Notice what Jesus says. 32:32 In other words, I have given You glory, is what Jesus is saying. 32:35 How did Jesus give glory to the Father? by revealing His glory, 32:38 right? By revealing His character of glory, 32:41 He's giving glory to His Father, so He says: 32:49 Verse 22: 32:54 Are you understanding this? 32:55 The glory that the Father gave to Jesus, Jesus gave to them. 33:18 In fact, do you know that the Bible tells us that Jesus called 33:21 His death the ultimate manifestation 33:24 of the glory of God? Why? 33:26 Because Jesus in the death of Jesus you have the most 33:29 marvelous revelation of God's character. 33:31 Because He's showing His love by Jesus dying in our place, 33:35 and He's also showing His justice, 33:38 because sin is being punished. 33:40 In other words, on the cross the character of God is revealed 33:43 such as never before. 33:44 Notice John 12:23, 24. 34:06 Or it produces much fruit. 34:08 Now we've talked about Moses. 34:10 You see, Moses spent time in communion with God. 34:16 He reflected the glory of God to the people in manifesting 34:21 the same character of the God that he knew on the mount. 34:24 Jesus came to this world, and by revealing the character 34:28 of His Father, He showed people what the character 34:31 of God is really like. 34:32 But, of course, the question is, What about us? 34:36 Because the first angel's message says that we are 34:39 supposed to give glory to God. 34:41 Now how do we give glory to God? 34:44 Well, notice John 8:12. 34:49 The Bible calls Jesus the Son of Righteousness. 34:53 And the reason why Jesus is called light 34:57 is because He is the sun; not literally speaking, 35:00 but symbolically speaking. John 8:12. 35:18 Who is the light of the world? Jesus is. 35:21 But what happens when we receive Jesus Christ? 35:24 It says that we have the light of life. 35:29 Now interestingly enough, the Bible not only says that Jesus 35:33 is the light of the world, the Bible also says that we are 35:36 supposed to be the light of the world. 35:37 Well now you say, Wait a minute! 35:39 We don't have any light to give, do we? 35:41 We only have the light that we receive from God; 35:44 that we received from Jesus Christ. 35:46 In fact, notice Matthew 5:14-16. 35:51 It says, Jesus is speaking to us. 35:54 He said, I am the light of the world, but now He says, 36:00 Now how can He be the light of the world 36:02 and us the light of the world? 36:03 Well, let me give you an illustration before I finish 36:06 reading this passage. 36:08 You know, you go out in the daytime and you see the sun, 36:11 right? Usually you can't see the moon. 36:15 Once in a while you can, but you can't see the moon. 36:18 At night you go out and you see the moon. 36:22 And we say, Ah, look at that moon! 36:25 Beautiful full moon! 36:26 How beautiful the moon is tonight. 36:28 But let me tell you something, the moon would not be beautiful 36:33 unless it received the light from the sun. 36:35 The moon is beautiful because its light comes from the sun. 36:40 In other words, because the moon is in contact with the sun, 36:43 the moon reflects the light to the world. 36:45 That should be our relationship with Jesus. 36:48 You see, Jesus is the original light. 36:50 He has the pattern character. 36:52 And as we spend time with Him, He shines in our lives, 36:56 and then we shine His light to the world, but we don't have 37:00 original light, we have reflected light. 37:03 Now let's finish reading this passage. Jesus says, 37:11 nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, 37:14 but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all 37:18 who are in the house. 37:24 Notice, He's talking about us. 37:30 What? What is the light? 37:33 The light is our good works. 37:35 And then they're going to say, Oh, look at Pastor Bohr. 37:39 He's such a great guy. 37:41 He's got such a wonderful character, doesn't he? 37:44 Is that what they're going to say? 37:45 Notice what the verse finishes saying; verse 16. 37:48 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your 37:53 good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 37:57 Where do the good works come from? 37:59 The good works come from God, and that's why 38:02 people glorify God. 38:03 They don't glorify us, because they see that we are merely 38:07 reflecting the character of God in our lives. 38:10 Notice 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 2: 12. It says there: 38:29 Notice it's talking about behavior. 38:44 See, the good works is referring to our character. 38:57 So as we reflect the glory of God to the world, the world sees 39:01 us and they say, Wow, what a wonderful God that pastor 39:05 serves, because we are reflecting the character of God. 39:09 We're giving glory to God because we're 39:11 reflecting His glory. 39:13 Are you understanding what I'm saying? 39:15 Now notice John 15:8, John 15:8. 39:20 Here Jesus is speaking about the vine and its 39:23 branches, and He says, 39:28 Do you want to know how we glorify God, 39:30 how we glorify the Father, how we give glory to Him: 39:33 the first angel's message? 39:34 Jesus says, By this My Father is glorified that you bear much 39:39 what? much fruit so you will be My disciples. 39:44 Let me ask you, What is that fruit that we 39:47 reflect in our lives. 39:49 Jesus says, My Father is glorified if 39:52 you bear much fruit. 39:53 What is that fruit? 39:55 The fruit is the character, folks. 39:57 Notice Galatians 5:22-24, Galatians 5:22-24. 40:03 You tell me if these are characteristics of a person's 40:06 being, or a person's character when the Holy Spirit has entered 40:09 the life, and we reflect the glory of Jesus. 40:12 It says there: But the fruit of the Spirit... notice fruit... 40:16 Jesus says that we glorify God by producing fruit. 40:19 Now the apostle Paul says, But the fruit 40:21 of the Spirit is love. 40:23 Is that a character trait? Yes, it is. 40:26 Joy, is that a character trait? Absolutely. 40:29 Peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 40:36 gentleness, self-control, against such there is no law. 40:42 In other words, when we're producing the fruit of the 40:44 Holy Spirit in our lives, people see our life and they say, 40:47 Wow! Look at the God that that person serves! 40:51 Look at what a sweet character he has; 40:53 what a sweet character she has. 40:55 In fact, do you know that the Bible says than when Peter died 40:59 as a martyr, he brought honor and glory to God? 41:01 Because he revealed God's faithfulness in his life. 41:05 He said, I'm going to be faithful unto death. 41:07 Notice that in John 21:18, 19, John 21:18, 19. 41:15 Here Jesus is speaking to Peter and He says this: 41:29 Jesus is saying that Peter is going to be crucified. 41:44 Let me ask you, If we're faithful to God and we die as 41:47 martyrs, does that bring honor and glory to God? 41:49 It most certainly does, because it shows absolute and complete 41:53 commitment to God. 41:55 And so the ultimate sacrifice, giving up the life, 41:59 is a revelation of God's character. 42:01 In fact, do you know many of the martyrs who died, 42:03 they brought many other people to the feet of Jesus. 42:06 Because when the people saw them die they said, Hey, if this 42:09 cause is worth dying for, it must be worth living for. 42:13 And so they accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ. 42:16 In this way much fruit was produced. 42:19 Now do you know that the Bible says that there's going to be a 42:22 final worldwide revelation of God's glory? 42:25 Notice Revelation 18:1. 42:28 Now we go to Revelation where it talks about 42:30 giving glory to God. 42:31 Notice Revelation 18:1. 42:36 And we're going to study this more carefully in our last 42:39 lecture in this series. 42:53 Are we to expect to see an angel streak across the sky, you know, 42:56 with glorious light that everybody can see? 42:59 Is that what this is talking about? No. 43:01 We've already noticed that angels represent people. 43:04 In other words, God's people are going to reflect 43:08 in the world; they're going to fill the world with the glory 43:12 of God, which is the glory of His what? 43:15 the glory of His character. 43:17 In fact, notice Isaiah 58 where this glory is spoken about. 43:21 Isaiah 58:6-8. It describes what this glory is in the end time; 43:27 the glory that God is going to fill the world with. 43:30 There's going to be the greatest manifestation of God's character 43:32 in the history of the world. 43:34 People are going to be impressed. 43:35 They're not going to say, Oh look at those people; 43:36 they're so great. Look at those Adventists; 43:39 they're so wonderful. 43:40 No, they're going to say, Wow! 43:41 Look at the God that they serve! 43:43 Look at their character! 43:45 They must have some connection with God. 43:46 Notice Isaiah 58:6. God says: 44:14 Now let me ask you, what is being revealed here 44:18 according to these verses? 44:19 What is being revealed is the love, and the kindness 44:23 of God to the world. Isn't that right? 44:25 And now notice what happens as a result of revealing 44:29 all of these character traits. 44:31 Verse 8, Then your light... Your what? 44:36 When we feed the hungry; when we bring into our house the poor; 44:41 when we break every yoke; when we loosen the heavy burdens; 44:45 when we let the oppressed go free. It says... 45:03 What does it mean then to give glory to God? 45:06 To give glory to God simply means to reflect His what? 45:11 To reflect His character to the world so that others can see 45:15 Jesus in us, and give honor and glory to His name. 45:21 So this expression: Give glory to Him, is telling us, 45:26 very explicitly, that the end time generation, who accept 45:29 the first angel's message, are going to reveal to the world 45:33 what? all of the aspects of the character of God, 45:37 because they are in intimate communion with Jesus. 45:40 But now let's look at another dimension, very quickly, 45:44 to this issue of giving glory. 45:46 Notice 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20. 45:54 There's another aspect that we need to take a look at when we 45:57 talk about giving glory to God. 45:59 It's speaking there about caring for our bodies 46:02 and for our minds. 46:20 In other words, give glory to God in your what? 46:27 Which is another way of saying your thinking, or your mind. 46:36 Let me ask you, Does giving glory to God have anything to do 46:40 with caring for our bodies? Yes. 46:43 Does it have anything to do with caring for our minds? 46:47 Absolutely! Notice 1 Corinthians 10:31, 1 Corinthians 10:31. 47:06 Let me ask you, Does our health have anything to do with 47:11 how we treat people? 47:14 You know, some people, some Christians, many Christians 47:17 I might say, for example, are addicts to coffee. 47:21 What happens when you don't drink coffee? 47:24 You become cranky. 47:27 Does it effect the way you treat people? Yes. 47:32 Let me ask you, When you drink, when you get drunk, 47:36 does that effect what you say to people, 47:38 and the way you treat people? Absolutely! 47:41 The way you eat; does that effect your thinking? 47:45 Does that effect your behavior, the way you treat people? 47:48 Drugs, eating forbidding foods? Absolutely! 47:52 In other words, if we don't care for our body, we will not be 47:55 able to reflect the character of Jesus in its fullness. 47:59 You know, we need to have a healthy body and a healthy mind. 48:03 Do you know that the brain is a physical organ, 48:06 and the mind operates through the brain? 48:10 So the condition of your body effects the condition of your 48:14 brain, and the condition of your brain effects your ability 48:17 to reflect the character of God to others, and your ability to 48:21 communicate more clearly with God. 48:23 Because when we have a blurred mind, our communion with God is 48:27 not full, and our treatment of our fellow human beings is not 48:31 as God would have it. 48:32 And so the first angel's message also calls us to glorify God 48:38 in our body, and in our spirit, which belong to God. 48:42 Now I'd like to read one verse in closing our study for today: 48:48 2 Corinthians 3:18. 48:52 We couldn't finish without this one, because this verse is 48:56 reminiscing about what happened to Moses on mount Sinai. 48:58 And so we have to end where we began. 49:01 We began with Moses being in contact with God, 49:05 and him being changed and transformed, and revealing God's 49:08 glory to Israel in the character of God. 49:11 Now notice 2 Corinthians 3:18. 49:19 See Israel asked Moses to put a veil over his face, 49:23 so they didn't reflect the glory of God. 49:25 They were always complaining and whining. 49:27 They didn't reveal God's character, 49:28 because they didn't see the glory. 49:30 They said, Put a veil over your face. 49:33 The glory did not spill from Moses to the people. 49:35 Are you understanding what I'm saying? 49:37 God wanted the glory to spill from God, from Jesus, 49:40 to Moses, and then Moses with unveiled face to 49:45 bring it to the people. 49:46 But the people said, Cover your face. Now notice: 49:56 What do we need to behold? 49:58 The same thing that Moses beheld. It says: 50:08 It doesn't happen overnight. 50:09 The more time we spend with God, the more we behold Him, 50:15 the more we are changed into His image. 50:18 And the more television, and violence, and sex, and profanity 50:22 that we watch on television, the more we reflect television. 50:26 It's a law of our mind that we are what we eat spiritually. 50:31 You see, physically we eat through our mouth; 50:33 spiritually we eat through our ears and through our eyes. 50:37 And we are what we eat, whether it be physically, 50:41 or whether it be spiritually. 50:42 Don't think that if you spend most of your time with the 50:45 television you're going to reflect the character of Jesus. 50:48 It doesn't work that way. 50:50 If we're going to reflect the character of Jesus we have to 50:53 spend time with whom? 50:55 We have to spend time with Jesus. 50:57 And so it says: But we all, with unveiled face beholding as 51:02 in a mirror the glory of the Lord,... 51:04 What do we behold? the glory of the Lord. 51:06 We are being transformed into what? into the same image 51:12 from glory to glory,... 51:14 In other words, the more we're with Him 51:15 the more we reflect His glory. 51:17 And notice who does it: just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 51:21 It kind of reminds me of an experience that I had a few 51:25 years ago when I was preaching in a certain city. 51:28 And a lady came up to me and she says, Pastor Bohr, do you know 51:34 so and so? I'm not going to mention the name. 51:37 She says, Do you know so and so? 51:42 I said, Oh, absolutely. 51:44 He was one of my star students for three years. 51:48 I mean he aced every class that he took. 51:51 He was a fantastic student. 51:53 She says, Well, I want you to know you've preached 51:55 just like he does. 52:00 And I kind of smiled. 52:02 Let me ask you... By the way, this individual's coming 52:06 to our family camp this year. 52:08 So why do you suppose that he preaches similar 52:14 to the way that I preach? 52:16 Well, you know, he spent three years in the classroom with me, 52:21 so something is bound to rub off. 52:24 You see, it's contagious. 52:26 The time that we spend with someone, we reflect to a greater 52:32 or lesser degree the character of that person. 52:36 Are you understanding what I'm saying? 52:38 The more time we spend with Jesus 52:41 the more we look like Him. 52:43 And then people will say, like they said of the apostles, 52:46 you know, when they beheld the boldness of the disciples, 52:49 and their constancy... 52:51 Do you know what they said? 52:53 They said, These guys were with Jesus. 52:57 In other words, the glory and the honor wasn't for them. 53:00 The glory and honor was for Jesus, 53:03 the Lord whom they served. 53:05 I'd like to read one statement in closing. 53:09 This is found in the magnificent and beautiful devotional book 53:14 that was written several years ago called, 53:16 Sons and Daughters of God, page 337. 53:21 I love this statement. It says this: 53:28 By what? 53:41 How do we behold the loveliness of Christ's character? 53:45 Where do we see it? in the Word of God. 53:48 How do we have communion with Him? through prayer. 53:53 By beholding Christ, by talking of Him, by beholding the 53:57 loveliness of His character we become changed; 54:00 changed from glory to glory. 54:07 ...she asks. 54:23 There's a work of what that goes on while we behold Jesus? 54:26 a work of purification. 54:28 You see, the more we see Jesus, the more time we spend with 54:33 Jesus and behold Him, the more we become like Him. 54:37 And do you know, in this text, 2 Corinthians 3:18, the word 54:44 that is used for changed is the word metamorphosis. 54:50 Do you know what metamorphosis is? 54:53 Let me ask you, In what is a caterpillar 54:58 similar to a butterfly? 55:03 In what way is a tadpole similar to a frog? 55:09 They're totally different. 55:11 I mean a tadpole; we used to call them pollywogs. 55:14 Have you ever heard that? 55:17 You know, a pollywog looks like a little fish. 55:21 And then, lo and behold, through a process known as metamorphosis 55:25 the tadpole isn't a tadpole anymore, it's a frog. 55:30 The same is true with a caterpillar. 55:32 A caterpillar, you know, he buries himself inside 55:36 the crislilias. And after awhile the crislilias moves; it breaks. 55:42 And lo and behold a caterpillar doesn't come out. 55:46 What comes out is a beautiful what? is a beautiful butterfly. 55:50 Because the process that has taken place 55:53 is known as a metamorphosis. 55:55 And so the same is true in our relationship with Jesus. 55:59 You see, God wants to have a people in the world who will 56:04 reflect His glory to the world; the glory of every aspect of His 56:08 character in these last days. 56:10 People who will accept the first angel's message that says 56:14 give glory to Him. 56:15 But we can't give what we have not received; 56:17 and we receive by having communion with Him. 56:21 God is going to have a people that will fill the earth 56:25 with His glory; with the glory of His character. 56:27 And people are not going to say, Oh, wow, look at those people! 56:31 Aren't they wonderful? 56:33 Aren't they marvelous? 56:34 They're going to start asking, What God is the God that 56:37 these people serve? 56:38 They're so kind, they're so loving, they're so just, 56:41 they're so honest, they're so truthful. 56:44 Where do they get it from? 56:46 And so they're going to want to come to see the 56:49 secret of our glory; just like the Queen of Sheba. 56:52 And then we'll be able to direct them to the source of the glory, 56:57 which is the glory of Jesus Christ. 57:00 Let me ask you, Do you understand now what the 57:05 first angel is saying when it declares, and it commands, 57:09 Give glory to Him? 57:12 You see, the first angel is saying, Keep His 57:14 commandments, obey Him. 57:16 And it's saying, reflect His character to the world. 57:20 And I pray to God that all of us will reflect that character. |
Revised 2015-08-24