The Glory of God - Part 1 — Charles Leiter

The Incarnation and the Historical Gospel

Our Scripture that we will be reading is from John chapter 1. John chapter 1 and verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then in verse 14,. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. One of the great wonders of Christianity is that it is not a set of philosophical ideas. It is not a collection of timeless, eternal truths that the Apostles went out proclaiming as to how men ought to live.

The Gospel is not that. Some religions are that, but that's not what the Gospel is. It's something different than that. The Gospel is rooted in history. In the Gospel, God comes down to this fallen world right in our midst and lives among us.

God comes down here. When the disciples went out proclaiming the Gospel, they were not proclaiming a religious system. They were proclaiming things that had happened, that they had seen. Let me give you the Scripture on it.

1 John 1, verses 1 and 2. What we have heard, and what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld, and our hands handled concerning the Word of life. And the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us.

That's the Christian message. Our eyes have seen, our hands have handled, something happened. We're not talking about men coming up with ideas or principles. We're talking about events happening in history.

That's the Christian message that makes it different than other religions. God came down in this world and did things that have never been done before. And men saw it, and they went out bearing witness to what they had seen.

Again, you see this right here in John 1, these verses that we read. In verse 1, in the beginning was the Word. Now, whoever this Word was, he was already there in the beginning. He was eternal. And the Word was with God.

Now, that speaks of one in the closest possible relationship with God, and yet he's distinct in some way. He's in the bosom of the Father, but he's a distinct person. He's with God. And then listen to this, the Word was God.

This One who's called the Word was God. Co-equal, co-eternal, in every way, God. And that Word, verse 14, this One who was God, came down and became flesh and dwelt among us. The Incarnation. The One who was God became man.

And then John gives this testimony. He says, we beheld His glory. We saw something. And what we saw was glory. And the glory that we saw was something different than anything in this world. It was an absolutely unique glory.

It was glory as of the only begotten from the Father. Full of grace and truth. Have we prayed? Did we pray before we started this? Let's pray right here. Oh Lord Jesus, would You manifest Your glory. Would You help us by Your Holy Spirit.

Show us Yourself. Draw back the curtain a little bit. We don't want to say words. Lord, we ask You. Make these words real. We're utterly dependent upon You. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. John says we saw something.

The Spirit-Given Knowledge of Divine Glory

And what we saw was unique, divine glory. If you're a Christian here today, the reason that you're a Christian is you have seen a little bit of the same thing that John saw. That's the only reason that you're a Christian.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6, Paul says, God who commanded light to shine out of darkness is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

That's why you become a Christian. You get a glimpse. God shines in your heart and gives you a little glimpse of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that's the reason that you feel so inadequate when somebody comes up to you and says, How do you know?

How do you know that Jesus is the Son of God? How do you know that? Well, you know it because you've seen something of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You've gotten a glimpse. And that glimpse is enough to change you forever.

You've seen something so glorious that you have been transformed forever. Now, the problem is, not that you don't have anything to say to that guy, but the question is, you've got too much to say. How in the world can you describe and dissect glory and describe it to a skeptic?

How can you take light and describe light, especially the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, to a blind man? That's your dilemma. Your heart is full of the knowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, but you don't know how in the world to convey that to a guy that's a skeptic.

That's the problem. You see, lost men are blind, and the reason that they don't believe is that they're blind. That's the reason. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 4, right in that same passage. He says, if our gospel is hidden, it's hidden to those that are lost, in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

So the reason that people can't see is that they're blind. The reason they don't believe. If you're here today and you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the reason you don't believe is you're blind.

That's the only reason you don't believe. One glimpse of Christ, and you become a believer. Now, we've seen then from these verses that the Lord Jesus possesses unique divine glory. The question that comes up is, what is it exactly about Jesus that's so glorious?

Christ's Glory Revealed Through His Words and Works

That's that thing that makes you feel inadequate to describe Him. Now, what is it exactly that's so glorious about Him? And I think the answer to that is, His whole person is glorious. All that He is is glorious.

Well, you say, what is it about His person? Well, I think we could say this, it's the totality of His words and His works set in the whole total context of His life. I mean, that's just, that's what we mean.

That's how we know a person, by their words and by their works. In the setting in which we find them. And that's how we know the Lord Jesus Christ. And beloved, nobody in history spoke words like Jesus of Nazareth spoke.

And nobody in history did works like Jesus of Nazareth did. Concerning His words, you remember that passage there in John? Chapter 7, those officers went out to take Him. And they came back empty handed.

They said, never a man spoke like this man. You see, these are unique words. I'm talking about a little bit of trying to analyze what we mean when we say, I've seen the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Well, the medium for that, in part, was His words and His works. Illuminated by the Holy Spirit. He spoke words as never a man ever spoke. And what about His works? Well, in John chapter 9, verse 32, after He healed this man who had been born blind, they came, they said, since the beginning of time.

It's never been heard that anyone healed a man born blind. That's unique works. Absolutely unique. So both His words and His works were absolutely unique and divine. Or another way to say it, the words and the works of the Lord Jesus Christ carry unique, self-attesting glory.

They carry their own evidence with them. Now, the Lord Jesus referred to this many times. Let me just give you one example. John 15, verse 22, He says, If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin.

In other words, the words of Christ alone are enough to condemn me. But then let me give you something He said two verses later. He says, If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin.

In other words, the works of Jesus Christ condemn men. And so both the words and the works of Christ condemn men and render them absolutely without excuse for their unbelief. Now, our subject in this message and the next message, as the Lord wills, will be the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

I feel absolutely inadequate, and I am absolutely inadequate. And all I pray is that the Holy Spirit will just give us a little glimpse. We'll try in the first message to talk about something of the glory of Christ's words.

And then in the second message, something of the glory of His works. And as we consider His words, the problem is where to begin. How do you even begin to start talking about the glory of His words? These officers went out to arrest Jesus in John chapter 7.

All they had ever heard about Him was bad. They had been told by the most respected religious people in the whole world, uniformly, that He was nothing but a deceiver and a blasphemer. And that's what they had in their minds as they went out there to take Him.

And they came back with their mouths open. They said, what? Where is He? They said, never did anybody speak like this. What happened? They saw, they felt a little bit of the glory of His words. That's what happened.

They felt something of their divine majesty. They felt something of the authority of His words. They felt something of the wisdom of His words and the simplicity of His words and the profundity of His words and the graciousness of His words and the radicalness of His words.

All of that stuff wrapped up in His words. So let's first of all consider the authority of His words. It would take a whole message. And this whole time could have been devoted to, I mean the whole conference could have been devoted to, the authority of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Authority and Divine Origin of Jesus' Words

He spoke with absolute authority. He never hesitated. He was never uncertain. He was never vacillating. He was always speaking with absolute certainty. He was never doubtful in anything that He said. And He never went back and corrected or revised anything that He said.

He spoke as one having absolute authority. And as you read through the Gospel records again and again, they were amazed at His authority. Let me just give you one. Matthew 7. The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching.

For He was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes. They were amazed at this authority. The Lord Jesus Christ never quoted from anybody else for His authority. He didn't say, Rabbi Hillel said this, and so-and-so said that.

He spoke on His own authority. Now listen to what He said. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. Well, yes Lord, that's one of the Ten Commandments. But I say unto you. Isn't that amazing?

You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Well, yes Lord, that's part of the Bible. But I say unto you, incredible authority. When He spoke, He spoke like one whose vantage point was heaven.

If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how shall you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but He who came down from heaven. Even the Son of God or the Son of Man, either one, who is in heaven.

He was conscious that the words He spoke were not His own words, but they were God's words. John 12, 49, I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak.

He was conscious of that. He said that His words would be indestructible. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Beloved, two thousand years have gone by and the words of the Lord Jesus Christ are just as living and just as powerful now as they were two thousand years ago.

We would not even know any of the words of the big shots of Jesus' day, like Pontius Pilate or King Herod, basically, or Caiaphas. We would not know those words at all except for their association with Jesus of Nazareth.

That is the only reason we even know their words. But His words are just as alive and powerful today as they ever were, and they are studied and memorized all over the whole world. Then it would take another message just to talk about the simplicity of Jesus' words.

The Simplicity and Profundity of Christ's Teaching

Here He is talking about the most profound theological subjects, and He's speaking about vines and branches and sowers going out to sow and farmers planting their fields. The simplicity of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The deepest theological mysteries. I am the vine, you are the branches. That type of thing. Beloved, anybody can use big words, but it takes a genius to say profound things in a simple way. And He came and stated the most complex and difficult truths in the simplest of words.

Then it would take another message to talk about the profundity of Jesus' words. These words that are so simple are also so profound that you could spend a lifetime thinking about those words and never go to the depths of those words.

You can take a lifetime thinking about them and never exhaust their meaning. Think of this little phrase, follow me. That is so simple. And it makes sense to a person that's just for the first time hearing the voice of the Lord.

He says, follow me. And you think of Peter, for example. He's right there on the lake and he hears these words, follow me. They had a meaning for him then. But he goes down a little ways and follow me takes on a new meaning.

At the end of the Gospels, Jesus says, follow me. What is that to you? You follow me. And that has a deeper meaning. They have the deepest meaning yet. When they're towards the end of his life, he's being led out to be crucified.

I think those words came back to his mind, follow me. It had, however deep you go, it has that much more meaning as you go that much deeper with the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ said things when he was 12 that his mother kept in her heart and pondered for 20 years.

He said things when he was 30 that the church has kept in its heart and pondered for 20 centuries. The profundity of his words. The wisdom of Jesus' words. How can we ever do justice to this? It's an impossibility.

The Wisdom of the Sermon on the Mount

You think of the Sermon on the Mount alone. There has never been anything like it in all of human literature or human history. Nothing like the Sermon on the Mount for sheer beauty and elegance and glory, divine wisdom.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. But I say unto you, whoever looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.

But I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you in order that you might be sons of your Father who is in heaven. When you're praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do.

Pray then in this way, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it.

The gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life. See, all of that in the one Sermon on the Mount. The wisdom of the Lord's words. You just think of the parables that He gave. Simple stories, incomparable wisdom.

There's nothing like them. But I think the place where the wisdom of the Lord's words shines forth the brightest is in His confrontation with His enemies. John chapter 8. This woman taken in adultery.

They come in there and they say, look, this woman was taken in the very act. Now what do you say we ought to do about it? And a cleverly devised diabolical trap was laid there. If the Lord said stoner, then He would have been going against everything that He'd been saying about mercy and grace.

And He would also have been going against Roman law. On the other hand, if He said don't stoner, which I think they probably expected Him to say, He would have been breaking the law of Moses just flat out.

What's He going to do in this situation? What's He going to say? Moses said in the law we ought to stoner. What's the Lord going to say? Well, I want to read an account, and I don't usually do this, but I want to read a fairly lengthy account of a testimony of a Jewish atheist when he read these words.

He says, When I mentioned my increasing interest in God, Sid produced a small pocket-sized New Testament given to him when he boarded ship in New York. Now he's on an old tramp ship in the Mediterranean Sea is where this took place.

Having never even opened the covers of a New Testament nor the old, I expressed an immediate interest and asked him if I could borrow it in order to while away the long hours. He gladly agreed. I spent the rest of that evening slumped on deck jammed between two Greeks with the music and laughter of the tourist class passengers drifting from the porthole above my head.

I poured through the pages of that remarkable book. I saw from the very beginning that it was totally different from any other book I'd ever read. Drawn more and more to the figure of Jesus, yet not knowing who He was, I began to sense that He represented all that the world so desperately needed.

Oblivious of the wild distractions about me, babies crying, men and women arguing in shrill voices, people stumbling over my feet as I crouched against the bulkhead, I read on utterly enthralled by the vivid exposition of the man Jesus.

How perfectly I could understand this clash with the religious leaders of the day. I could envision those hot debates as He punched holes in the superficial lives of those pious Pharisees. Here in these pages, I found nothing of the insipid, the weak, the wishy-washy, sentimental submissiveness that I had come to associate with the figure of Jesus.

Instead, I found stark realism and drama. A man who went about confronting rather than compromising. I found myself identifying and sympathizing with this carpenter who rendered perfectly fantastic claims about being one with God.

He who has seen me has seen the Father. And I've come not to destroy, but to fulfill the law. He seemed always to be able to repudiate those who contested His right or His power. When I came to the episode of a woman taken in adultery, John chapter 8, now this is what we're leading up to, my pulse quickened as I lived the drama.

Here I found a clear-cut case of dispensing justice. The law said that the woman must be stoned, yet Jesus had been teaching forgiveness, and earlier in the book had actually said God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Jesus was trapped. I sensed the relish of those who stood around Him, having ambushed Him into an unanswerable predicament. What could He say? I closed the book, not wanting to see my newfound hero destroyed.

His manliness, His keenness of mind, His courage, His deep insight into life, His compassion and love for the downtrodden. All was to be demolished, it seemed, by a group of self-righteous religionists who had employed this scheme to get rid of Him because He was threatening their pharisaic codes of justice and righteousness.

My heart actually palpitated. Sweat oozed from the palms of my hands as I fancied the men surrounding Him, their eyes ablaze with hatred and envy, the very spittle running from their mouths as they gloated over His quandary.

What would I say in Jesus' place? I searched my mind, exhausting my resources of logic and reason, and finally concluded that there was no answer. Fully expecting the worst, I reopened the book and read on.

Let Him who is without sin cast the first stone. I gasped. A sword had been plunged deep into my own being. It was numbing and shocking yet thrilling because the answer was so utterly perfect. It defied cerebral examination.

It cut across every major issue I'd ever anguished upon in my life. Truth, justice, righteousness, integrity. I knew that what I had read transcended human knowledge and comprehension. It had to be divine.

In one instant, those words leaped off the page and engraved themselves upon my heart. When the shockwave subsided, I sat dumbfounded, realizing I knew that God not only was, but also is, and that I was reading His book, and that the Jesus of it was who He claimed to be.

Not a God of our own making. Not a God far away. Not a God who can be encapsulated in parchments and scrolls. Not a God who can be boxed in by institutional religion, but a God who lives. Now, there's a man, a Jewish atheist, converted by God opening his eyes just to one thing, the wisdom of Jesus' words.

I mean, think of actually closing the Bible because he's afraid his new hero is going to be struck down. Isn't that amazing? All through these confrontations of the Lord Jesus Christ with His enemies, we see this divine wisdom.

Christ's Wisdom in Answering His Enemies

They came to him, they said, Should we pay this tax or not? And Jesus said, Bring me one of those coins and let me look at it. And he looks at it and says, Whose head's on here? They said, Caesar's. Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.

In that one sentence, in that one sentence, He paves the way for the total separation of church and state, and paves the way for the new covenant. He says, Look, we are part of a spiritual kingdom, but our bodies, whether we like it or not, are still down here in this world.

And you've got to use this stuff here that's got Caesar's face on it in order to feed your bodies and so on. You live in His realm. Give some of it back to Him if He wants it. The divine wisdom of His words.

Those Sadducees come along and they say, We've got a problem for you. And they go through these things. You know, this man was married to this woman, and then he died. And that woman was married to this other brother, and so on, and all the way down through.

Now, whose husband will she be in the resurrection? One of those impossible dilemmas. What's he do? He soars right over the top of it. He says, You do greatly err not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

And that is the very thing that we need to do sometimes. Because as soon as you bring the Scriptures and the power of God to bear on these impossible dilemmas, there's an answer. You know, you get into these ethics classes in the university and they say, Now, suppose your wife was dying and you had to steal this to get that so that this wouldn't happen.

The problem is, it's all on the horizontal level and there's nothing vertical in it. And as soon as you bring the power of God in, there's an answer then. You see, the divine wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, in that situation with that woman taking an adultery, He keeps the Mosaic Law perfectly, but He paves the way for the New Covenant at the same time.

He shows absolute mercy, but He also shows absolute justice and upholds perfect righteousness. The wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how can you say enough? I mean, you just start in talking about His words.

And you look at His words and His words, and say, What is it about these words? What is it about these words that make me say, Never a man spoke like this man? Well, His authority. His simplicity. The profundity of what He says when He's speaking so simply.

The wisdom of what He says in impossible situations. The graciousness. It says they were marveling at the gracious words that proceeded from His mouth. You could go on and on. But I want us to center our attention today on the radicalness of Jesus' words.

The Radical Claims of Jesus

The words of the Lord Jesus Christ were divinely radical. He made the most outrageous, radical, extreme statements that any man has ever made. And He did it all the time. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of heaven.

That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. You know how radical that is? Pick out the things that everybody thinks is such a big deal. God hates it. Every idle word that a man shall speak, He shall render account for it in the day of judgment.

That's an extreme statement. You know, they have all these extreme sports. Well, we're talking about extreme words. His words were extreme. No man can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Not one sparrow can fall to the ground apart from your Heavenly Father. All things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believe and you shall receive. Is that not radical? But the most radical things that the Lord Jesus said were about Himself.

Very often on college campuses, you'll run into this. People will get up there and they'll say, Well, I don't believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but I do believe that He was a great teacher. Now that is one of the most foolish and stupid things that you can ever say.

If He was a great teacher, well, let's see, what did He teach? What were the things that this man Jesus said? Who was He? Who was this historical figure Jesus? Who was this man? What did He say about Himself?

Jesus as Messiah and Lord of Disciples

Well, first of all, He claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah. Matthew 16. Who do men say that I am? Well, some of them say this, some of them say that. Who do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And He said, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. That's right. Flesh and blood has not revealed it, but my Father who is in heaven. This man, you say, I'm interested in this Jesus of history. What did He say about Himself?

Well, He said that He was... Here's this carpenter from Nazareth. He said, I'm the one that the Jews have been waiting for for thousands of years. I am the long-awaited Messiah. Secondly, He claimed absolute devotion to Himself.

Luke 14, verse 2. If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. Could you imagine Confucius standing up and saying, if anybody does not hate his own father and mother and his own children and his own family and his own life?

Jesus' Authority to Forgive and Save

Thirdly, he said that he had the power to forgive sins. Luke 5, verse 20. He's talking to this man. He says, man, your sins are forgiven. And they said, who is this that speaks blasphemies? Nobody has the power to forgive sins but God alone.

That's right. He claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah. He claimed that He had the power to forgive sins. He claimed absolute devotion to Himself. He directed men to Himself as the answer for all their needs.

I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the Father but by Me. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.

Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. All other religious teachers direct you to something else. They say, I found the way. I found the Noble Eightfold Path or whatever.

Walk in that. Jesus said, I am the way. Come to Me. He directs men to Himself as the answer for all their needs. Number five, He said He had the power to give divine gifts. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.

Here He is hanging on the cross and He says to the thief, Today you'll be with Me in paradise. Who is this that dispenses eternal life while He's hanging on the cross? Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden.

You'll find rest for your soul. He gives divine gifts. He says to that woman at the well, If you knew the gift of God and who it is He's talking to, you would have asked Me and I would have given you living water.

He has the power to give living water. Number six, He claimed exclusive knowledge of God. Now think of this. No man knows the Father except the Son. No man knows the Son except the Father. Can you imagine the audacity?

He stands out there and He says, Nobody in the whole world knows God except Me. Isn't that amazing? Number seven, He said that He existed before the foundation of the world. John 17, Father glorify Me with the glory that I ever had with Thee before the world was.

John chapter 8, They said, well, Jesus said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day and he saw it and was glad. They said, you're not even 50 years old. Have you seen Abraham? He says, before Abraham was.

He doesn't say before Abraham was, I was. He says, before Abraham was, I am. Not only did He exist before Abraham, but He eternally existed before Abraham. Eternal existence, He said that He existed from eternity.

Worship, Sinlessness, and Divine Perfection

Number eight, He accepted worship. Matthew 14, 33, after He calmed that storm, He says, They worshipped Him and they said, You are truly, you are of truth, God's Son. Thomas there after the resurrection, My Lord and my God.

He didn't say, He didn't rebuke Him. He didn't say, Thomas, don't say that. He accepted worship. He said, He said that He was sinless. I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. Can you imagine that?

The more holy a man becomes, the more conscious he is of his sin. Jesus was the holiest man who ever lived, and yet He could not see one slight imperfection in Himself whatsoever. He never one time had to go back and ask forgiveness.

There was never anything that He ever said that He regretted for one moment. He looked within Himself and He saw absolute perfection. I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. He claimed sinlessness.

He claimed absolute perfection. He that has seen Me has seen the Father. That's absolute perfection. He says, you look at Me, you've seen God. Can you imagine this? He said that He was absolutely perfect in every way.