Sermon Tone Analysis

That you may believe and have life

John #7 

John 1:14

 

What do you do when someone looks up?

What do you do when someone says "LOOK"

How about "watch this" …

I've often said that the two words that guarantee a bad shot are the words "watch this" and the number of people who hear the words … make the shot exponentially worse.

J

 

That is what I want you to do today is Look.

Look.

Our author, John, has painted us a beautiful picture of The Word, Jesus Christ.

He is eternal, equal with God, God in the flesh, living with man … Sound Familiar?

And then John, who wrote this gospel late in his life, seems to look off into space, go into a bit of a thoughtful trance as he says "/we beheld his glory, the glory of the one and only"/

It's as if he's remembering so many things he saw, experienced …

He looks off and says "and in Jesus, the Christ, we saw the GLORY of GOD" "we saw the unique thing that makes God, God, which makes Jesus like no other one, we saw, we marveled at, we stared at, we looked at, we beheld, his glory …"

 

Oh the Glory of God in Jesus Christ … / /

 

1.

We Beheld

 

Greek word - Theaomai (/theh - ah - om - ahee)/

Def - /to look upon, view attentively, contemplative, admiration, to meet with a person/

 

Why do people NOT look at the glory of God in Christ Jesus?

  A.

Why not?

    1.

We do NOT look to the Glory of God because we are distracted by other things.

2.

We do NOT contemplate the Glory of God because we are too busy contemplating Temporal things

    3.

We do NOT admire the Glory of God because our admiration or affections are set on the things of this world

    4.

We do NOT meet face to face with the Glory of God because our appointment book is full of other things and we don't have time to meet God in his Glory

 

So what gets in our way?

B.

What hinders us from his seeing glory?

    1.

Pride keeps us from looking to the Glory of God

    2.

Schedules keep us from looking to the Glory of God

    3.

Ignorance keeps us from looking to the Glory of God - not stupidity, just lack of knowledge or understanding

 

But I came by here today to tell you to Look …

 

  C.

Look

Isaiah 51:1

/"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness /

/and who seek the Lord: /

/Look to the rock from which you were cut /

/and to the quarry from which you were hewn; /

/?2? //look to Abraham, your father, /

/and to Sarah, who gave you birth.

/

/When I called him he was but one, /

/and I blessed him and made him many.

/

    1.

Look to the "rock from which you were hewn" and learn from it.

2.

If you come from a long line of those who have believed, followed, looked to God and been blessed, then learn from them and look.

3.

If you come from a long line of those who have gone there own way, look and recognize that THIS is NOT going to produce in you what you want in life and turn to Look at the Glory of Jesus Christ the Eternal Word of God

 

Proverbs 1:22-28  - READ

 

 

    4.

If you turn away long enough, you will get what you want, … that is, YOUR way and NOT God's way, and God will ignore you as you've ignored him

 

    5.

In Ezekiel 8:16-17 - God took Ezekiel /"into the inner court of the house of the Lord, and there at the entrance to the temple, between the portico and the altar, were about 25 men.

With their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, they were bowing down to the sun in the east.

17 He said to me, 'have you seen this, son of man?

Is it a trivial matter for the house of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing?'"/

a.

What was God talking about?

b.

What was detestable?

    c.

They had turned their backs on God and were looking elsewhere for their help.

d.

Look to the Glory of God in Christ Jesus

 

    6.

There are GREAT things in this world, wonderful, even things that appear to be glorious but don't be tempted to look to them, look to the Glory of God

Deuteronomy 4:19 - /when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars - all the heavenly array - do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven"/

 

    7.

Don't you see, we need to LOOK Away from the things that have stolen our hearts and our mind and Look to Christ for in him is what we seek, in him is what we need

 

I'm not asking you to study,

I'm not asking you to try,

I'm not asking you to believe right now,

I'm asking you to look and find the salvation you need

 

Isaiah 45:22 - /"turn to me (look unto me) and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is NO other/

 

What a wonderful thing could be wrought in our lives if we would look away from the other things that have our attention and Look to the Glory of Christ Jesus

 

Now, Look with me at the Glory of God

Look attentively at the Glory of God

Contemplate the Glory of Jesus Christ

Admire him,

meet with him face to face

 

Look at the Glory of Jesus Christ the Eternal Word of God

 

/Look Out/

/There was a prudent man who brushed his teeth twice a day, wore rubbers boots in wet weather, did his daily dozen push-ups, slept with windows open, was careful with his diet, had a medical examination twice a year, never smoked, drank or indulged in any kind of excess.

He was set to live to be one hundred years old.

/

/But he died at a young age and was survived by eighteen specialists, four health institutes, six gymnasiums and numerous manufacturers of health food and antiseptics.

/

/He forgot to look out for a train at a crossing.

/

/-Robert G. Lee/

 

 

You may get all of your ducks in a row, but if you don't look to the Glory of God it won't matter.

So what IS the Glory of God.

 

2.

Glory

 

I told some people that studying to preach and teach on the Glory of God is like trying to get a handful of oil, and then put it into a ball and hand it to you so you can hold on to it.

It is like trying to get a handful of smoke and pass it on to you.

The Glory of God is the Radiance of Who He is.

It is not just light being produced.

It is not just praise for accomplishments.

The glory of God is the Radiance of who he is!

Have you ever seen someone who just lit up a room when they entered?

Their goodness or their Spirit just shines?

Have you ever had someone like that enter a room when you were sad and it brightened your day?  Have you ever had that "good" person come in the room when you were angry or you had been "bad" and their very presence was too bright too handle?

"take that happiness out of here"

"tone down the goodness"

 

Well magnify that by 10 billion X 10 billion, magnify it to the infinite degree and you have the glory of God

 

What is it about God's Glory?

What is it about God that makes him Glorious?

Does Power make him glorious?