Practice 2/12/23

“To God Alone Be All Glory”

Text: Romans 11:33-36

I want you to see a picture in your mind.

An old man of 80+ years stands on a mountain.

There are deep lines in his face reflecting the burden of leading many people.

His hair, if he has any, is white and thinning.

But don’t be fooled by his grandfatherly appearance.

This man is a murder.

Hot-tempered.

Better suited to tending sheep in the wilderness than leading people.

Maybe better suited to tending sheep in the wilderness than even just being around people.

Even though he was used by God it was in spite of his doubts and disobedience.

And truly, time after time, he failed God.

I guess that God used him in spite of his perpetual failures was because of what the Apostle Paul said in:

2 Corinthians 4:5–8 (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language) Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. 6 It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. 7 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. 8 As it is, there’s not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we’re not much to look at. …

With so many failures in his life, yet this old man stands on a mountain, staring up at God.

Crying out to him.

Even with all of his many, many failures, as he stands on that mountain, Moses has the audacity to cry out to God in:

Exodus 33:18 (LSB) … “I pray You, show me Your glory!”

Moses wanted to see God’s glory because our God is a GLORIOUS God.

And I think God hard-wired into our DNA a desire to behold His glory.

While at the same time the frailty of human flesh cannot behold the fullness of God’s glory and live.

I Identify With Failing Moses

I identify with the man, Moses.

Not the superhero, Moses.

The one who parted the Red Sea, made a rock pour out water like a river, prayed down bread from heaven to feed vast multitudes every day for 40 years.

The one who prayed and the earth opened up and swallowed his enemies.

The one who prayed and saw his sisters’ incurable leprosy healed.

No, NOT the superhero.

I identify with the flawed, perpetually failing man, Moses.

I have had my faith tested in many ways by many things in the past 51 years I have tried to serve the Lord.

But it has never been tested more than it has in the past year.

And I have been a non-stop failure.

I definitely ask for your prayers.

But deep down within me.

Even though I fail God is so many ways.

Ever since I repented of my sins and asked Jesus to take control of my life I have wanted to experience God’s glory.

And I have!

But I’m not satisfied with yesterday’s revelation of God’s glory.

And don’t you be either!

Long for more!

What is it that I have experienced — that many of you, if not all of you have experienced?

Philippe Paul-Luc Viguier writing in his (2013) book: The Glory of God says:

God reveals His glory in multifaceted ways, painting a picture that is accessible, comprehensible, attractive, and immanent.

… God’s glory is the ever-increasing revelation of His essence and purposes, displayed through His Word, His works, and His felt presence,

All of which calls for the receiver’s unity and reflection, and tells of His incomparable goodness, beauty, and praiseworthiness as perfect King, Savior, Judge, and Creator, and of the unequaled reputation attached to His name.

The many facets of this statement of God’s glory can be broken down into eight main categories:

God’s kingly glory,

The glory of God is similar to the power of a king. It marks His superiority, authority, and legitimacy. Because of His glory, God enjoys a certain reputation, an unequaled importance, and honor and fame are due to Him

God’s beaming glory,

It is revealed in God’s appearances, through His works, His word, and His felt presence. When God displays His glory, it makes Him known

God’s essential glory,

… incorporates the nature of who God is: The I AM; a God ever-present, actively involved and accessible to those who know Him. It conveys the reflection of the essence of God’s being, the summation of all of His attributes, and … it refers to God’s splendor, power, and radiance.

God’s revelatory glory,

… as it is revealed, the hidden beauties of His nature produce fruits that can be observed, touched, and tasted.

God’s praiseworthy glory,

God’s glory demands a response. God’s glory cannot be dissociated from His praise. The word doxology exists because glory is the most significant and common attribute for which God is praised

God’s messianic glory,

God’s glory became greater at the revelation of Jesus Christ, who displayed uniquely the essence of God, performing the works of God and speaking the word of God.

God’s participatory glory,

God’s glory begs for participation. God’s purpose in showing His glory was always to connect with people, to dwell with them and be known by them. God’s glory is to be enjoyed and reflected.

and God’s eschatological glory.

Although God’s glory is revealed to some degree in this world, it is veiled because of sin. The hope of believers is in the knowledge that they will one day be able to perceive and reflect this glory more fully, after the return of Christ and the judgment of this world

Oh, to know His glory.

It’s depth, height and breadth.

Our text says:

Romans 11:33-36

The great Charles Hodge says of the verse we are studying;

Such is the appropriate conclusion of the doctrinal portion of this wonderful epistle, in which more fully and clearly than in any other portion of the Word of God, the plan of salvation is presented and defended.

Here are the doctrines of grace, doctrines on which the pious in all ages and nations have rested their hopes of heaven, though they may have had comparatively obscure intimations of their nature.

The leading principle of all is that God is the source of all good, that in fallen man there is neither merit nor ability, that salvation, consequently, is all of grace, as well satisfaction as pardon, as well election as eternal glory. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory forever. Amen.

God is calling us to His glory.

God is calling us to experience His glory, like Moses did on the mountain.

But He is also calling us to REFLECT His glory to a lost and dying world.

As Mark Batterson tells us in Chapter 12 of his book All In:

Subsection: The Chief End of Man

The very first tenet of the Westminster Shorter Catechism from the Westminster Presbyterian church in the 1600’s is worth memorizing. It’s the least common denominator when it comes to living a purpose-driven life.

Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.

I don’t think it can be said any simpler, any better. We exist for one reason and one reason alone: to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. It’s not about you at all. It’s all about Him.

Soli Deo Gloria is the Rosetta Stone that makes life make sense.

It’s not about success and failure.

It’s not about good days and bad days.

It’s not about wealth or poverty.

It’s not about health or sickness.

It’s not even about life or death.

It’s about glorifying God in whatever circumstance you find yourself in.

Anyway. Anywhere. Anyhow.

Whenever. Wherever. Whatever.

There is no circumstance in which you cannot glorify God. That’s why living SDG is so freeing, so empowering. It’s a way of life.

Again Philippe Paul-Luc Viguier says:

To glorify God is to reflect the ever-increasing revelation of His essence and purposes, displayed through His Word, His works, and His felt presence, which calls for the receiver’s unity and reflection, and tells of His incomparable goodness, beauty, and praiseworthiness as perfect King, Savior, Judge, and Creator, and of the unequaled reputation attached to His name.

So let us give God the glory, remembering that God himself says:

Isaiah 42:8 (NLT) “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.

and

Isaiah 48:11 (NLT) I will rescue you for my sake— yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols!

Ephesians 3:20–21 (NLT) Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

The Lord’s Supper

This morning let us resolve to give all the glory to Jesus alone as we partake of the Lord’s Supper together.

Let us give Jesus glory for the sacrifice He made to redeem us from the curse of death.

This morning we will try something a little different.

We have always used the bread of Passover, called matzos, because that is the bread Jesus used.

Before it has been broken into little pieces.

This morning we will each break a piece off of one loaf.

Jesus used matzos because, as you see ...

It is a bread without leaven (yeast) — Jesus was sinless.

Hebrews 4:14–16 (NLT) So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

It is a bread that has stripes:

It is a bread that has holes:

Isaiah 53:5 (LSB) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our peace fell upon Him, And by His [stripes] we are healed.

Each of us will break off a piece without touching the rest of the loaf.

But, before we partake of the bread and the cup, let us prepare ourselves.

1 Corinthians 10:14–17 (LSB) Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to prudent people. You judge what I say. 16 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one [loaf].

1 Corinthians 10:21 (LSB) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

1 Corinthians 11:27–31 (NLT) So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

Receive Emblems:

Bread

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 (LSB) For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was being betrayed took bread, 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Brother Rick Wilcox

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Cup:

1 Corinthians 11:25 (LSB) In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Sister Teresa Wilcox

End prayer with prayer from Seder:

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who creates the fruit of the vine.

Jesus IS coming back!

1 Corinthians 11:26 (LSB) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.