A Vista of Glory & Grace

One of the most memorable trips of my life was the six-week adventure Annette and I took around the U.S. nearly 20 years ago.

We were both between jobs, and we’d saved some money. So, we decided that we’d take a grand tour of our nation.

Our very bare-boned plans had us starting in Washington, D.C., heading west on Route 50, then southeast on the old Route 66, north from Southern California along the Pacific Coast Highway, east and then south from Seattle and then east from Denver.

The cities I just named were our only planned stops. Each night, we’d camp or get a hotel room. I’d get out the laptop, an atlas, and a book describing some of the country’s greatest road trips. And we’d talk about where to head the next day.

The only rules were that we couldn’t turn back, and we had to stay off the Interstate as much as possible.

One of the things that made this trip such fun — at least for me — was all the detours we took.

As long as we continued heading in approximately the right direction, Annette usually allowed me to go off to discover things on the spur of the moment.

After setting out from Seattle for Yellowstone National Park, for instance, we saw signs for Glacier National Park in Montana. We decided to stop there and take a quick look around. And we loved it so much that we stayed nearly a week.

Detours and rabbit trails took us on a 10,000-mile adventure, only 250 of which were on the interstate.

Along the way, we saw whales swimming in a rocky channel off the coast of Northern California. We visited Virginia City in three different states.

We watched a mock gunfight at the OK Corral. We visited Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. And we saw an honest-to-goodness castle in Kentucky.

And there were countless other spots where we just pulled off the road so I could gaze at some incredible new vista.

And we’d have missed all those things if we’d been bound and determined to stick to our schedule and the well-traveled roads.

That’s still my favorite way to travel, though it gives Annette heartburn.

And so, maybe it’s not a surprise that — after setting aside our study of the Book of Galatians for Advent — we are now almost to February without finding our way back to the main road, as it were.

But much like that 6-week adventure, every seemingly meandering step we’ve taken in our Sunday studies together since December has led to some wonderful new discovery.

I keep finding some new manifestation of God’s grace that I couldn’t help but want you to see.

So, today, I want us to stop the car for a minute. Pretend we’ve come to an overlook, a viewpoint. Let’s get up and stretch our legs a bit and gaze at the glories of God’s grace and mercy.

SONG: Here I Am to Worship

I hope you ARE here to worship this morning. We worship a God who is WORTHY. We worship a Savior who is MIGHTY.

We worship the exalted King of Heaven who came to live among us a man. Who came to give His life for us so that all who turn to Him in faith can be saved.

We worship the one who is and was and is to come. Hear what the Apostle John wrote about Him:

John 1:1–5 NASB95

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

I think this is one of the most beautiful — even glorious — passages in Scripture. Look what it tells us about God. Look what it tells us about Jesus, whom John identifies as the Word in verse 14.

Jesus is the source of all mankind’s light and life. All things — even light and life themselves — came into being through Him.

And when He came into this dark world, He showed us the light of His glory, shining, as John puts it later, “full of grace and truth.”

He came offering life in Him. Eternal life through faith in Him.

He brought His Light into our darkness. And the darkness did not prevail. His light, John says in verse 9, still “enlightens every man.”

John 1:12–13 NASB95

12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

We who’ve received Jesus — we who’ve turned to Him in faith that He alone can save us from the just penalty for our sins — have been saved not by any act of our own. Rather, it’s by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

And, John says, all this reveals the glory of Jesus. Look at verse 14:

John 1:14 NASB95

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

SONG: Agnus Dei SONG: You Are My All in All

Why do we worship Jesus? Because He is worthy!

In the introduction to his Gospel account, John spoke about the eternal and perfect character of Jesus. His truth, His grace.

This is John telling us about Jesus coming to live among us as a man, while reminding us that He never stopped being God.

But let’s remember how the prophet Isaiah described what Jesus had left in heaven when He took on the flesh of humanity.

Isaiah 6:1–4 NASB95

1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

He was lofty and exalted. He was surrounded by seraphim — angels — who continually called out, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” They worshiped Him for His holiness and proclaimed His glory.

Our God is truly an awesome God. “The earth is, indeed, full of His glory.”

But never so much as when His unique and eternal Son, Jesus, came and showed us the Father. Never so much, frankly, as when Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice at the cross.

Never was God’s glory so greatly defiled and yet so gloriously revealed than when Jesus took upon Himself our sins — and their just punishment — so that all who turn to Him in faith can be saved.

Never, perhaps, except on the following Sunday, when God raised Him from the dead. At the cross, Jesus had conquered sin. At the empty tomb, He’d conquered death.

And His resurrection proves that our glorious, promise-keeping God CAN keep His promise to likewise raise Jesus’ followers to eternal life.

He will give us life the way it was always meant to be, in the presence of and in fellowship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

SONG: Because He Lives (Amen) SONG: Amazing Grace/Chains

We gather here to worship Jesus, because He is worthy. He’s worthy simply because of who He IS. But He’s also worthy because of what He’s done.

Listen, I don’t know your past. For the most part, I don’t know who you were or what you did, at least not in any great detail.

But I know my own. I know who I was before I met Jesus. Most of you have heard the testimony. A couple of you lived it — or at least parts of it.

Here’s what I was: Spiritually dead and covered in my own sin and shame. I was a wretch who was lost without hope. I was so spiritually blind that I didn’t even know I was in darkness.

I was chained to my sin, headed for the death penalty — eternal separation from God in Hell. And I couldn’t do anything to help myself.

But then, one day, grace appeared. I heard mercy call my name. Jesus rolled the stone of my tomb away.

He called my name and wrapped me in the light of His love and mercy. And He forgave me for all my sins that He’d borne on the cross.

Jesus — high and lifted up, lofty and exalted in Isaiah’s description — had set it all aside to live the life of a servant and die the unjust death of a thief so that I and all who turn to Him in faith can be saved.

As we’re gazing across the glorious vista of God’s amazing grace, it is this awful and wonderful sight that captures our attention, that takes our breath away.

It is the sight of our righteous and holy God, in the person of His Son, taking upon Himself the shame and guilt for OUR sins against HIM. Atoning for OUR disobedience. Being executed for OUR rebellion against Him.

He was high and lifted up in heaven. Yet He took on the mortal flesh of humanity so He could BE high and lifted up on Calvary’s cross. And such a sacrifice demands our attention.

But then, our eyes are caught by a flash of light from the empty tomb where Jesus had been laid. He is alive! He is RISEN!

And this has all been HIS story. Everything that was created was created through Him and for Him. And God has made Him the vehicle for forgiveness, reconciliation, and true peace.

Listen to how the Apostle Paul puts it in his letter to the Colossians.

Colossians 1:15–20 NASB95

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

SONG: In Christ Alone

You know, it’s funny. When Annette and I took that long trip, we missed some of the biggest tourist spots in America. Didn’t see the Grand Canyon. Missed some of the famous spots along Route 66. Skipped a music festival we’d planned to attend.

Sometimes, I wish we could go back and see those things we missed the first time around. Maybe stop at a few more viewpoints to see the vistas around us.

Today, at least, I’m glad we passed this way. And I’m glad we’ve taken time to stretch our legs and gaze at the wonder of God’s grace, spread out before us wider than the plains of Kansas, deeper than the Pacific Ocean, and more glorious than the peaks of the Rockies.

This was a good place to stop, and it’s a good place to worship. Let’s do that wholeheartedly once more now. Because He is worthy.

SONG: Shout to the Lord Chains Tag

Prayer