Only God can make the Gospel GLORIOUS!

Coming home from two days in Bonn, Germany discussing God's glory I allowed myself to rest last night and let this truth marinate on my heart. Now as I wake to this Truth simmering with Joy and Praise for the One I write to share this with you. That you may know the Glory of the Gospel. Most of this lesson was taught by John Piper at the Shepherd's Conference and I just listened, prayed and tried my best to copy down notes!

5 Observations for PREACHING CHRIST.

1. Preaching Christ involves preaching the truth that God's ultimate goal is the display of His Glory.
What does this do?
a. Preaching the Glory of the Gospel protects the Gospel from a man-centered view of the Gospel.
We are constantly moving to a man-centered view of the Gospel. We like to think in terms of ourselves, I think it mirrors our selfishness. We love to think how Christ died for us, he forgave us, he made the world for us instead of thinking how glorious He is. He died because He is glorious and His glory had to conquer sin. He forgave us because His ultimate desire is for us to behold his glory and be changed into His glory.
b. It allows us to see sin for what it really is. Romans 3:23 is the most commonly preached verse regarding sin. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 Yet, most people think of sin as hurting someone else. Sin is not hurting someone else. Sin is falling short of the glory of God. So from this we can see that you can't understand sin without knowing what "falling short" of His glory means. Romans 1:23 helps us to understand Romans 3:23. Romans 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. When we exchange God's glory for something else we are sinning. Sin is preferring anything above God. When we exchange God's glory for our own, this is sin. The average person does not understand what trouble they are in before God.
c. It allows us to see the cross. Romans 3:25-26 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. To understand the cross we must understand the meaning of sin and the centrality of God. What is the righteousness of God? It is God doing what is right. What is right with God is what accords with the infinite value of His glory. v25-26 only makes sense through the death of Christ on the cross. God is center throughout the Bible, not man.

Let's look at Isaiah:
Isaiah 43:7 "whom I created for my glory",

43:21 "the people whom I formed for myself",

46:13 "for Israel my glory", and...

Isaiah 48:9-11 “For my name's sake I defer my anger,
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.



When we share the Gospel we should share with people the supreme value of the glory of God.

2. Showing God's glory shows his love. Most people don't get this! We are loved by God when He shows us His glory! The love of Christ is probably not what most people think it is. Read John 11:1-6. Jesus loved them, SO... He showed them His glory. Jesus says, "It's all about my glory!" Love is not... sparing us pain. Love is making His glory plain to us. Most people including myself usually do not view love this way. We usually think of love with ourselves at the center and someone giving affection to us. Admiration for a glory outside of us is what we were made for. We were created by Him for Him. It is loving for God to do what He has to do in order for us to see His glory.

3. Let's look at the Gospel closer:
a. The cross was planned "in accordance with the scriptures" 1 Corinthians 15:3 Christ's death on the cross didn't just happen! It was planned.
b. The Gospel is a historical event. "Christ died" 1 Corinthians 15:3 If Christ hadn't died, there would be NO GOOD NEWS!
c. It achieved something:
1) The wrath of God was absorbed by Christ.
2) Sins were covered.
3) His righteousness was completed and secured.
d. That achievement is freely offered for faith alone. You can't work for it. Salvation is a gift from God by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
e. When I receive the Gospel by faith the achievement is applied to me! Awe Yeah! God is good!
1) I am reconciled. (by faith in Christ)
2) I am forgiven. (by faith in Christ)
3) I am justified. (by faith in Christ)
4) I have eternal life. (by faith in Christ)

Why were you forgiven? 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, This is why Christ suffered... That He may bring us to God. The book of Hebrews resonates this message. He is the mediator between God and man. There is no other way to God unless Jesus brings you to Him. Unless God is our highest treasure, the Gospel is not good news. The end of the gospel is to see and enjoy the glory of God.

4. Preaching Christ involves opening blind eyes. 2 Corinthians 4-6 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If you do not know Jesus with opened eyes because of faith than you cannot see His beauty or glory, it would be boring to you. Most of the people we share the Gospel to are in this very state of blind perception. I was there! The Gospel was boring to me all my life till the day God opened my eyes and showed me my sin. Then I had to turn toward His son and His glory. It was faith in Christ because of grace that opened my eyes to see! Note that, we have no power of our own to open people's eyes. Only God can make the Gospel glorious. That is why we should pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit to do it's work as we faithfully share the good news of Jesus Christ.

5. We must preach sanctification as the effect of the opening of our eyes. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Help people to see Christ and He will change them! If we behold the glory of God we will change. If verse 18 happens... sanctification happens. When we see His glory we are satisfied in Him. When we are satisfied in Him, the power of sin and greed is broken. I have struggled in my walk with God to protect my eyes and remain pure as a christian man. Yet, as I have learned and am still learning to behold the glory of God, everything is changing. I don't want to be the kind of guy that would exchange God's glory for that of my own. I pray that today we would see God's glory and be changed even further from this degree to another.

RECAP:

1. God's ultimate goal is the display of His glory.
2. Love is His glory displayed.
3. The cross is the infinite price paid that we might see.
4. Conversion is the gift of God opening our eyes.
5. Sanctification is the effect of seeing God.