The Manifested Glory of Jesus Christ — Carter Conlon

The Manifested Glory of Jesus Christ

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P .O. Box 260, Lindell, Texas 75771, or calling 903 -963 -8626.

You are welcome to make additional cassettes of this message for free distribution to friends. However, for all other forms of reproduction or electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.

The Signs of the Last Days

We are coming close to going home. I feel that in my heart. We're coming close to the coming of the Lord. The whole world is focused on Israel. The entire globe seems to be obsessed with solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem exactly the way the Scriptures foretold thousands of years ago that the end events of history would begin to unfold.

Jesus said in the book of Matthew that wars would begin to rise, and they would be ethnic wars, and that would be one of the signs of the last days. Now we see that virtually almost all the wars in the world today are ethnic wars that are rising up, culture against culture, race against race, ethnicity versus ethnicity throughout the world, famines and plagues.

I'm told that in Africa today, in certain parts of Africa, if the AIDS plague remains unabated, within 21 years, the entire adult population of some parts of Africa will be dead. All will be left are the AIDS children that are still alive today and that will be born, infected or non-infected, from relationships in those parts of the world.

And this is only the beginning. Really, the Ebola virus we see, it threatens to break out continuously. I think there's another outbreak in some part of Africa right now, one of the most terrifying, perhaps, viruses of all time, and we're seeing it now in our generation.

It's really only a matter of time before this thing is released or unleashed in other parts of the world. Thank God that we have an absolute understanding through the scriptures of where humanity is heading, but we're not heading in that direction.

God's Glory Shining in a Dark World

If you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he says there's going to be a continual weight of glory come into your life. I'm going to change you and transform you, and the darker that society gets around you, the more intensified will be the light of my presence in your life.

He said it clearly through the prophet Isaiah. Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness, that's a horribly immoral as it is, or darkness beyond human comprehension is going to literally flood the world.

But my glory, he said, shall be seen upon thee. My light is going to rise upon you. I'm going to come to those that are mine. There's going to be an incredible distinction between those who know Christ and those who have simply played religious games.

I believe that that distinction began some time ago, but it's going to become more evident as we come closer to the end as to those who belong to the Lord and those who don't. Jesus himself spoke of the distinction of some who thought they were Christ's, but near the end of time found out they had no real living relationship within them.

They had no oil in their lamps. In a time of incredible darkness, when a voice was raised, behold, the bridegroom cometh. I'm going to speak tonight about the manifested glory of Jesus Christ. That glory, as we know it, is manifested in this church.

We are now in the temple of the Holy Ghost. Brother David, this morning I tried to call him after he left, and I wanted to say thanks for preaching my whole message this morning. I really appreciate it.

Almost point for point, he preached my message this morning. I believe that God has just given me the capstone to what's been spoken by the Holy Ghost throughout this day, and so please open your heart and let the Holy Spirit speak.

In the mouths of two or three witnesses, the Scripture says everything is confirmed. Now, I've literally walked through the valley of the shadow of death in the last month and a half to come and preach this message to you today.

Times Square Church's Calling and Foundation

I want to declare to you that God is faithful. I want to declare to you he has a plan for you and for me and for this church. We are only the first 14 years. I wholeheartedly agree with what Pastor David said this morning.

The first 14 years of this church was a foundation. What this church is called to be and to do is now going to happen in the future. The Lord is now bringing us there. The first 14 years, we've gotten to know him.

We've been built on that foundation of truth, but now there's a specific calling being released to Times Square Church and those who consider themselves part of what God is doing in this fellowship. It is a privilege to be part of this church, to be part of this ministry.

We are a team. Pastor David, myself, Pastor Neil, Pastor Patrick and elders of this church, we are a team. Every man knows his place. None of us are seeking the preeminence over anyone else. God, by his grace, has taught us how to find that place where we're to occupy in his church, to be content in that place and to glorify him where he has placed us.

It's wonderful to be a part of a team where there's no competition. There's no push and strive and shove because man is not in control of Times Square Church. The Holy Ghost is in control of this church.

I thank God for that with all my heart. Hallelujah. Father, tonight I thank you for the anointing. Lord, if you don't anoint the word, it's useless to preach. You have to come, Holy Spirit. You have to quicken me.

You've got to quicken my mind, my spirit, and you've got to quicken the people that hear. But Lord, I have the confidence in my heart that you are speaking, and not only speaking, but giving us the ears to hear what you are speaking to the church.

Jesus, beloved Christ, come and walk among us tonight. Walk up and down these aisles. Walk across this platform. Lord, come and whisper into our hearts. Whisper in our ears, people that you've gathered in this house tonight.

Let your plan and purpose for every one of our hearts and lives begin to unfold as you begin to speak your word. Lord, multiply what you've given me to speak tonight a thousandfold, and let it find application in every situation, every heart, every level of education, every home.

God, I'm asking that this word be understood by everybody, equally in this house. Oh, Jesus, it's level ground at the cross. I believe that with all my heart. It's equal access to all. Equal opportunity for everybody.

God, you have no favorites. Lord, you have none that you would withhold from, who would come to you with an honest heart. Lord, Jesus, help us to hear tonight. Help us to move forward in the plan that you have given to us, that you have determined before time began to unfold through Times Square Church in this hour of time.

Let me thank you for it with all my heart. In Jesus' mighty name. John chapter 17. If you'll go there, please. John chapter 17. The manifested glory of Jesus Christ. We'll begin at verse 9. John 17, verse 9.

Christ's Glory in His Church

Now, these are the words of Jesus. He's praying for his church now before he's offered up as a sacrifice for our sins on Calvary. Only verses 9 and 10. That's all I'm going to read. He said, I pray for them.

I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. Now, he's praying to his Father. And he says, for they are thine. And all mine are thine. And thine are mine. And I am glorified in them.

They're ours. Father, there are people that have come to me. And because of me, you have received them to yourself. And because they're yours, they're mine. And because they're mine, they're yours. Because there's no division or distinction between the Father and the Son.

Here, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one. One God manifested in three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We accept that by faith. One day we will fully understand that. We will comprehend it in its entirety.

But there's no division between the Father and the Son. And therefore, what belongs to the Son belongs to the Father. That's why we can have confidence tonight that when we came to Jesus Christ, we inherited full access to the throne of God.

Absolute, complete, unhindered access to the very throne of the God of this universe. Almighty God who created everything that exists. And all things are held up by the word of His power. You and I have full access to His throne tonight because of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus said, oh, it's even beyond this. I am glorified in them. Now, I'll explain that in just a moment. Now, in the Old Testament, the Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles 7 -1 that when Solomon had made an end of praying, now, Solomon built and dedicated an Old Testament temple, a dwelling place of God.

You know that God dwelt at one time in places that were made with men's hands. And Solomon built a temple that was fashioned after a pattern that the Holy Spirit had given to David, his father. And when he made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.

And the glory of the Lord filled that Old Testament house. The glory. Now, the word is kabod in Hebrew, which means the weight, the honor, the esteem, the majesty, the abundance, the wealth of God. The fullness of God.

Everything that God is filled that house. What an incredible experience that must have been. To be standing there and to see Solomon pray. And he's praying incredible prayers. We don't have time to go into that, but God so agrees with the prayers of Solomon.

If you want to marvel the study, go into 2 Chronicles and study really what he prayed. And you'll understand why God came in his glory. And when Solomon's made an end of praying, the full weight of God came down.

The full abundance of God. Everything that God is, all of his marvelous wealth, as it is the heavenly provision that is found in only God, came into that house. And there was such a weight of his glory that the priests couldn't enter.

And the people bowed before this manifested glory of God. And all they could say was he is good and his mercy endures forever. They began to worship. The scripture says they began to praise. And they simply began to say God is good and his mercy endures forever.

Whatever it is that they saw caused them to sing that song. Whatever it is that they experienced at that moment, they didn't sing God is dreadful. God is to be feared and we must run. Whatever they experienced of that weight, abundance and honor caused them to say he's good and he's merciful.

His mercy endures forever. Now John, the beloved apostle that we're reading from tonight, he saw this glory. And he was speaking about Jesus Christ. And he said we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John said we saw this same glory. We saw the glory of God. And that glory of God was resident in a man. In other words, God became a man. And we saw the full glory. We saw the same glory that Solomon and his people saw in the temple.

We saw that glory. And that full weight of God, the honor, the majesty, the abundance, the wealth of God was in this man. And his name was Jesus. And he was full of grace and truth. The word for grace means favor and acceptance.

It means doing kindness without expectation of any return. And the only motive for what he does is the goodness that's in the heart of God. And John said we saw it. We saw it in Christ. We saw God come down as a man.

He was not a man who was brought forth by any human effort. But he was God who by his own goodness became a man for a specific purpose. John says in the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God and the Word was God.

And the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made. And in him was life. And this life was the light of man. Now John had this incredible revelation.

The same revelation that the people in Solomon's temple must have had. John said we saw it. We understood it. This is Jesus Christ is the glory of God. Everything that God is was in Jesus Christ. And John takes it even further.

He says we understand that he was in the beginning. He was with God and he was God. Before anything was created there was God and Christ was there. He was in the beginning with God. And not only was he there, but everything that we see and all things that were made were made by him.

And without him was not anything made that was made. In him is the essence of life. And this life is the light as it is of man. John says this is all that we ever required or longed for was in him. We saw it.

We beheld it that the glory that was in Solomon's temple was now in a man. The full glory of God walking in bodily form. Incredible. The glory that created the universe. The glory that spoke to the darkness and said let there be light and light came was there among us in a man.

Not in part, but in full measure. The fullness of God was in him. Yes he was fully man, but he was also fully God. Not just part God, fully God. The full resident of God's glory as it is was in him. And he had come to the earth with life.

And this life was what every man has always needed. The life in him is the life that you and I have always longed for. It's what we have yearned for even before we came to the knowledge of Christ. There was a yearning which we tried to fill with relationships and substances and plans and ambitions.

And all the things we did was because there was a yearning in us for life. And we were trying to satisfy it. And John says I saw the life that satisfies every man. I saw it with my own eyes. I beheld it.

I heard it with my own ears. Jesus Christ, the son of the living God, walked among us. Now in verse 12 we see the purpose. In John chapter 1, let me just read it to you. But as many as received him, he gave them power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Incredible. John says whoever received him, remember Jesus said to the church who led the sea, I stand at the door and knock. And if any man opens his heart, if any woman opens their heart, I will come in.

We heard it so eloquently this morning. The temple of the Holy Ghost is now you and me. God says I no longer dwell in places that are made with human hands. The glory that was resident, that was manifested in Solomon's temple is the very same glory that I am willing now to allow to be released and manifested in the temple that I now dwell in and occupy.

And beloved, that temple is you. It's temple is me. We are now the resting place of God. This is where he lives. It is in our lives that he lives and dwells. It's on the throne of our heart that he sits in the fullness of his glory.

That's an incredible thing. He said whoever received him, he gave them the power to become the sons of God. But then he qualifies it. Born as it is. Remember Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again.

You've been born once, but the first birth you've had is a birth of human origin. It's a birth that is led by the impulse of the flesh. It is governed by human will. But it's not in this nature that you're going to find the glory of God.

You have to be born again by another power, another presence that is much greater than yourself. Whoever received Christ, the Holy Spirit now comes and dwells within their lives. And he says I give you now the power to become my sons and my daughters.

To be identified with the living God. That's an incredible thing. To be a son or a daughter of God. Incredible when you think of it. He says I adopt you into my family. I don't just give you my name, I give you my nature.

I change you and I make you into another person that is identified with me. You are not only identified with my name, you are identified with my nature. Because I give a new nature to everyone who opens their heart to me.

When I come and dwell within them, I come with the full weight and the full majesty and the full glory of almighty God who created this universe. I come and live within you for a purpose. To recreate you as it is in the image of Jesus Christ.

The Renewed Inward Man

Now for those who have received Christ, he has given you the ability to glorify him. Again John 17 .10 he says all mine are thine and thine are mine and I am glorified in them. The word for I am glorified in the Greek is doxaso and it means I am brought to honor.

I am recognized. That's an incredible thing. It is his revelation in which he manifests all the goodness that he is. In other words God says I will bring you to a place where people will look at you and say God is good and his mercy endures forever.

God says that is what I am going to do for you. Paul said it is an inward man in 2 Corinthians 4 .16 that is renewed day by day. He says I am going to bring you to a place. I am going to take you from wherever you are.

Whether you live in the valley of despair. Whether you live in the bondage of addiction. Whether you live in the place of mental or physical torment. Whatever it is. Whatever your culture, background, education, language, history, race, ethnicity, wherever you come from.

Whether you are rich or poor, intelligent or otherwise. I am going to take you and I am going to do such a work in you. I am going to bring you to such a place that people will stand back, see my glory and say God is good and his mercy endures forever.

You can't grow, you can't go anywhere in God. The very thing that happened in Solomon's temple, God says I am going to do in you. We will have to look at you and say God where you were and take you to where you are.

Only God could have renewed your mind. Only God could have given you the new desires in your heart. Only God could have taken the old things out of your life and replaced them with these wonderful things that come from his kingdom.

Only God could have touched your life in such a way. God says I have an intended purpose for you. I have a plan for your life and it is by grace and grace alone that I am going to take you there. Now in John chapter 17, now Jesus identifies three characteristics of heart of those who will know this inward working of glory.

Receiving and Keeping God's Word

First of all, chapter 17 in verse 6, he said I manifested my name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them me and they have kept thy word. Now they have known all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me. Now here is the first characteristic of those who will know the manifested glory of Jesus Christ.

Number one and the most important of all, they have received the word of God and they have kept it. Folks, I want to tell you something. I make no apology for this statement. Anyone today that says put away your Bible, God is doing a new thing is a thief and a liar.

God says my glory is manifested in those who have heard what I have to say. And God does not speak outside of his word. He said it all. This is a complete revelation of Jesus Christ. It's all here. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself at the end of the Bible said if anyone adds to this, he said I'll add it to the plagues that are written in this book.

And if anyone takes away from it, I'll take away from him the place it is written about in the last book of life. He makes it definitively clear that this is a full revelation. Nothing needs to be ever added to the word of God.

Folks, that's how you identify false prophets. They're always speaking and teaching outside of the word of God. They're bringing a word, but it's not God's word. Therefore, it cannot profit you. It cannot lead you into anything but deep darkness with an aura as it is a spirituality surrounding it.

They have received the word of God and kept it. Listen to what the psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 29 to 32. He says remove from me the way of lying. I believe the cry of a heart of a genuinely converted man or woman of God who says in their heart, God, if it's not right, I don't care what my own heart thinks.

Lord, if it's not truth, it's a way of lying. I ask you, God, by your grace to teach me truth and to get the way of lying away from my life and out of my heart. Remove from me the way of lying, he says, and grant me thy law graciously.

I have chosen the way of truth, and thy judgments have I laid before me. I have stuck to thy testimonies. O Lord, put me not to shame. Now, the word for stuck in Hebrew means I've run after it and caught it in my pursuit.

It's like somebody who missed a taxi and runs down Broadway and doesn't give up till they catch it. I have stuck to it. It passed me by, and I recognized it for what it was. And the context is wonderful.

It's like I took off after it. And I said, I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to catch this thing because it's going to take me where I want to go. And that's the context. I have stuck to thy testimonies.

Lord, I saw it, and I ran after it in a hot pursuit as it is. I want this because I know this is going to bring me life. It means also to cling or to adhere to or to overtake or to pursue hard. I've stuck to thy testimonies, O Lord.

Put me not to shame. In verse 32, he says, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. The psalmist says, O God, give me a heart to believe your truth and open my heart to truth.

Open my heart to your word, to the sweet promises that are in it for me. Enlarge my heart, and I will run after them. I will run the way of your word when you will enlarge my heart. That's what the altar call was this afternoon.

It was, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. My God, enlarge my heart. There needs to be honesty sometimes when we go to the Lord and say, God, I'm reading these promises. But they seem to be so fantastic, so otherworldly as it is, so far out of my reach.

Lord, I have a hard time to believe that you would actually do these things in me and for me. I ask you for an enlarged heart. I ask you to open my heart to the word. Open my heart to what you've already spoken.

And when you do, God, I'm going to take off after it. I'm going to pursue it as if it's my own. I'm going to run down Broadway and say, get out of my way. Get out of my way. I see something that's going to give me life.

It's going to give me hope. It's going to take me to where God wants me to go. I'm going to pursue it with all of my heart. In John chapter 16, verse 13, once we understand truth and are willing to embrace it, Jesus says it this way.

Howbeit, he said, when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come.

He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it to you. Now, remember that Jesus says, they are mine and I am glorified in them. He said, now, when the Holy Spirit comes, here's the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

He's going to take the things that I've spoken to you. He's going to take the truth that I have revealed to all those who call themselves by my name. And he was going to show it to you, and he's going to show you things to come.

The Holy Spirit Reveals God's Work in Believers

Now, folks, this is not about a seminar on prophecy. Some people will take this particular scripture and talk about Armageddon. You know, the Holy Spirit's going to show us about Armageddon, how many tanks are going to come and where they're going to come from.

Folks, that's not the context. He's not talking about future biblical prophecy. He is speaking to his individual followers here. And he says, the Holy Spirit is going to take my word. He's going to take what I'm speaking into his ears.

Now, he doesn't have a separate agenda. He says, he shall not speak of himself. He's simply going to bring to your remembrance the things that I've taught you. The things that I've spoken to you. He's going to quicken them to you and make them real to your heart.

And he's going to show you things to come. This is what the Holy Spirit's going to do. You're going to receive the word of God. You're going to open it and begin to read it for yourself. And the Holy Spirit's going to show you things to come in you.

That's what it's all about. I'm not talking about you're going to go down to Fifth and Broadway and you're going to meet the love of your life on Tuesday afternoon. That's the way a lot of people would like to hear this.

But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about things to come in you that only God can do. And the Holy Spirit's going to show you. The word for to come in the Greek text means put in motion from one place to another.

When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and turn to the word of God, there were things that God himself who came into your life set into motion. And the Holy Spirit's job is to quicken this word and to show you these things.

You begin to read the Bible. In other words, in 1 Corinthians 13, you read about what love is and what love does. You look in your own heart and say, God, I've fallen so far short. It's hopeless. Oh, the Holy Spirit says, Oh, no, it's not hopeless.

Let me show you what kind of a man or woman I'm going to make you into. Let me show you what I'm going to do. In a short time, this is what you're going to be. Hallelujah. That's an incredible thing. That's an incredible thing.

That's why there is no work of God outside of this book. That's why if anybody tells you don't turn to the Bible, the person is a spiritual idiot at best. Because the Holy Ghost takes this book and quickens it and makes it real.

You know what I'm talking about. Even without this knowledge, how many of you over the years you've been reading the Bible and all of a sudden a verse of Scripture just pops up out of the page? Well, that doesn't just happen, folks.

That's the Holy Ghost. He's taken that passage of Scripture and quickened it to you and said, Here, this is yours. And then Jesus takes it even a step further. Now, He told His disciples right after this, He said, Now you're going to have a season of sorrow.

He's giving these marvelous promises. He says the Conqueror is going to come. He's going to open the Word and by faith you're going to begin to understand that you've been born into a kingdom that has nothing to do with the will of man or the will of flesh or human effort.

God says by faith I'm going to come and manifest my glory inside your life. The glory of God, the abundance, the wealth of God is going to be in you and the Holy Spirit is going to show you what I'm going to do.

The moment you came to me, a plan was set in motion for your life. I set something in motion. And yes, God says I knew you'd need the tools. You'd need love and joy and long-suffering. You'd need goodness and meekness and temperance and all these other things.

But He says, Let me show you now how I'm going to do it. Let me show you when it's going to come. Let me reveal to you what I'm doing in your life. Let me show you my plan. Let me pull it out of the Word and make it real to you.

And then He says you're going to have a season of sorrow. And I think that's a season that comes into every Christian's life. We get saved and then somehow we know it's all by grace. And we walk by grace for about maybe five months.

If you're really lucky, we walk by grace. It's all about Jesus. We're leading everybody to God. Then we get in the Word and somehow get the idea that we've got to make this happen in our lives. And folks, the flesh can't do anything.

Now, Jesus knew that. He knew that the disciples, even though they sat there hearing these wondrous truths and they beheld Him and they knew who He was, He knew they would be powerless. They couldn't even stand up in Gethsemane.

They couldn't even stay awake in prayer time. They couldn't go to the cross with Him. They couldn't follow Him through. And they would all fail, and Christ knew they would all fail. He said you're going to have a season of sorrow.

And when we set out to accomplish the work of God in our own strength, it does bring us into a season of sorrow. And I do feel that many Christians, unfortunately, have to go through that. We understand His grace and we kind of take over from God and try to produce love.

It's impossible. How do you produce love? It has to come from something other than ourselves because it was never in us in the first place. What makes us think it's going to come now because we read something that says we should be loving, so we're going to really go out and try to love people and all of a sudden it just doesn't work.

God has a wonderful way of proving it to us too and bring us into the season of sorrow. But then He said in verse 22, Now you shall have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.

In other words, your focus will one day be turned away from all the circumstance, and you will be once again looking at Me. Once again you will see Me, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

And in that day, He says in verse 23 in John 16, you shall ask Me nothing. Now, the proper translation of this would be this. In that day, you will ask Me no more questions because you will understand what I came to do.

He doesn't mean you're not going to ask Me anything. He said you're not going to be full of questions anymore. You're going to know. There's a day coming when you're going to understand, and I believe that day is here for Times Square Church.

Those that have been taught and set under the Word here in New York City. And verily I say to you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Hitherto, or up to this point, you have asked for nothing in My name.

Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. Now, Jesus is saying it this way. The Holy Spirit's going to come. You've received the Word. You see, that's the key. You've received the Word, and you want the Word more than your own life.

He said if that's your case, the Holy Spirit's going to come and quicken that Word, and He's going to pull out the things that I have destined to do in your life and quicken them to you. He's going to begin to show them.

And then He said now your response to what I show you is ask. Just ask Me to do it. I've already determined to do it. Just agree with Me. Just ask Me to do the very things that I show you in the Word that I'm going to do.