Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of the recent sermons preached at Wilton Baptist Church. It is our desire as a church to strive together in building a faith, family, and future that honors and glorifies our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If we can be a help to you in any way, please visit our website at wiltonbaptistchurch.com. But that's not a crime. How early were you shopping? The defendant reluctantly admitted before the court that he was shopping way ahead of time. We're going to look at the glory of God this evening in various passages of Scripture. The word is found 380 times. Glory. Glory of the Lord is found 36 times, glory of God is 17 times, and glory plus the name of God is 87 times, and glory plus the name Lord is 125 times. And so this is a term that's frequently used throughout the Bible. Look in verse 9 in the Christmas story, lo the angel of the Lord shone round about them and The glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. The word glory is the word doxa. We get that word doxology in that song. The doxology is taken from that. And this term is used. Glory has a wide application, whether literal or figurative or objective or subjective. It's used in all those different ranges. It has to do with dignity and honor and praise and the things that are worthy or in this case worthy of worship. And that is our God. He is glory. Glory is exaltation, achievement, praise of deity, awesome splendor, astounding beauty and heaven. Let's say just a long definition of this word, glory. Years ago, a friend of ours who is very, very musical, played with a professional musician, a pianist, and she wrote a song taken directly from Psalm 84, verse 11. Here's what that verse says. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk upright. She wrote this song, and it was saying, God gives grace and God gives glory in everything that He has for me. It's a beautiful song that she wrote. And as I was listening to it, I thought, wow, God gives us glory. And I looked it up, and it's a direct quote right from the Bible. God has come to earth, and friends, He gives to us His glory, and that's found in the person of Jesus. Isn't that an amazing concept? that God, which the Bible says He doesn't share His glory, but He gives His glory to us. He doesn't share His glory with a false God. That's His children. He gives us His glory. What a blessing that is. Because God loves us, He sent His Son. Because God has given us His grace, we can be saved through faith. And because of God's love and God's grace, we can know and share the glory of God. So God has given His glory to us. We'll look at several ideas in Scripture concerning this. Here's a few observations of the glory of God in the Bible. Heaven is described as glory in 1 Peter 5, 10. But the God of all grace, who has called us into His eternal glory by Jesus Christ, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. Psalm 24, verse 8. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 8, Which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. In each of those references, it's talking about heaven as being glory. Charles Holmster, he was one of the men who mentored me in ministry, he founded Neighborhood Bible Time. He would always talk about going to glory. Maybe you know somebody who talks about going to glory. They're talking about heaven. Heaven is glorious. Now heaven, or glory rather, is also where God is. Where God is, wherever that's at, there is glory. Notice Exodus chapter 16, verse 10. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." That was representation of God's presence descending there in the camp of Israel. In Exodus 24, verse 16, the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai. And a cloud covered it six days. And the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Exodus 24, 17, and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mouth and the eyes of all the children of Israel. And then in Exodus 40, verse 34, then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation and the glory of the Lord filled tabernacle, that is, the presence of God. There's also no glory apart from His presence. So heaven is glory where His presence is glory. There is no glory apart from the Lord or His presence. Have you ever seen an athlete or some kind of a superstar of some kind and they talk about, I'm going for all the glory, you know, gold and glory or something like that. Well, there's really no glory, not when he talked about God's glory apart from him. And so there's no glory apart from God or his presence. Listen to this, 2 Thessalonians 1.9, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. This is speaking to those who do not know God through Jesus. For all have sinned and come short of the, what is it? The glory of God. See, we just can't attain to it. So there's no real glory apart from God. It doesn't matter if you win the gold medal or not. It's not true glory in a sense of the biblical term, doxa, for doxology. Now, glory is something that we can give. Isn't that interesting? We can't have it apart from God, but it's something that we can give is glory. 1 Chronicles 16, 29, give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness Philippians 2 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father when you say Jesus is my God He's my Lord that glorifies God that exalts him that lifts him up 1st Corinthians 620 for you are bought with the prize therefore glorify God in your body and and in your spirit, which are God's." And Psalm 29, verses 1 and 2, give unto the Lord, O you mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And all these things are true that we've been talking about, but one more. We can partake in His glory. You and I can partake in His glory. Psalm 84, 11. For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. 2 Thessalonians 2.14, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And 1 Peter 4.14, if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the spirits of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified. So the glory of God, God himself can rest on you, according to that verse, even during times when you were approached for the name of Christ, being persecuted in the name of Jesus. So let's take three aspects of this glory from the Christmas story here this evening. The first one is this, there's the glory of Jesus Christ. Luke chapter two, where we just read, verses 10 and 11. We have a gift for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And notice how the angel began with them and said, fear not for behold, I bring to you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. What a gift. This is a gift in the present. I think that's how we could say that just a gift in the present, the glory of Jesus Christ, a gift rather in the past gift in the past. He was born. God incarnate, like we sing the Christmas carols, God incarnate, deity, made in the form of a man for us to die in our place. This is good news for all men. Lieutenant Gerald Coffey spent seven years as a POW during the Vietnam War. During his second Christmas in the camp, he made an amazing discovery. He had been stripped of all of his reign, identity, his uniform, his family, his money. He didn't have anything. Whatever he had valued before, he didn't have any of those things. Alone in a cramped three by seven foot cell, he began to understand the significance of Christmas. Removed from all commercial distractions, he was able to focus on the simplicity of the birth of Jesus. Although he was lonely and afraid, he realized that this Christmas would be his most meaningful because now more than ever, he understood the event. So Christ was born. He lived a perfect life. First Peter 2.22, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He did everything right. Everything right. Everything he thought was right. Everything that he said was appropriate and right. He did nothing wrong. He did nothing wrong, just absolutely sinless, perfect. Everything was right. This cannot be said about anyone else that's ever lived. Can't be said about anyone else. You know, people will lie and say, I don't sin. But we all do, we're all sinners. But it's not true of Jesus. He was absolutely without sin. And in spite of that, He bled and died. And He took the price for sin, even though He had no sin of His own. 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Jesus went to the cross of Calvary, a man condemned for the sins of other people. Not for the sins of his own, he had not. This is the same Jesus that was resurrected. He bled and died for our sins, but then He rose again, and He's alive in heaven today. And there were many witnesses. In Acts 2.32, this Jesus has God raised up. We are all witnesses. Now, the Bible's a witness. In 1 Corinthians 15, one of my favorite chapters in all the Bible. verses three and four, for I delivered unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And so what we want to do is encourage people, invite people to trust in Jesus. This is a gift from the past, but it's something that someone can accept for their own today. The glory of Jesus Christ coming to this earth, a gift in the past. Number two, the glory of his presence. Now let's look over in John chapter 16. John chapter 16. And there's a gift in the present. The glory of his presence is actually being with us. John chapter 16, look at verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient. That word expedient means beneficial. It's a good thing if I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my father and he see me no more. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Albeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall 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 unto you. The Holy Spirit of Christ is presently working in this world today. And Christian friend, you're never alone. You may not be physically in the presence of somebody else, but you're never alone. Jesus, God, His Holy Spirit is always right there with you. And He's at work in this world in several ways. There's reproving, He's convicting, He's challenging. Notice letter A, that He is reproving the world. He's reproving the world in John 16, verses 7 and 8 of their sin. And notice what it says here. And when He is come in verse 8, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. And so what does a person need once they've been reproved of their sin? They need to repent of their sin. They need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We would call that they need to be redeemed. They need to be redeemed. They need to place their faith in Christ. We're all sinners in need of the Savior. So trust Christ today if you haven't done so. We want to encourage others this Christmas season. You get together and you're carving a turkey or cutting that ham and getting ready for dinner with people or baking cookies. People are starting to unwrap gifts or whatever the case is. Go ahead and talk about Jesus. It's good. We should do that. Tell the Christmas story. Talk about Christ and the gospel and things such as this. So he's reproving the world of sin, sin of righteousness. That tells us not only should we be redeemed, but we should be right. This is for Christians of righteousness. Be right. Live right in front of our holy, holy, holy God. Believer, God can use your life as a testimony. And would you allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through your life? Your life would be a challenge to the people around you. They may not even like it that you're there. And it's not that they hate your gut so much, but they feel uncomfortable around you because, well, he's always nice. He's always nice. He's always saying the right thing. You know, they're flexible. When they ask for more hours at work, they're just like, yeah, okay, I'm volunteering. They're doing a better job than everybody else. And the witness of God through you can make such a difference in the lives of those around. And so the difference that Christ makes in your life can totally impact someone to trust Christ and it will change very quickly. And he's also judging of judgment. of judgment, and so that tells us to be ready. Judgment is coming, that's in verse 11, of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. The prince of this world is going to be judged, it's already settled what's going to take place, that's Satan, he's the prince of the power of the air. Ephesians 2.22 tells us, where in time past he walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. So remember the people that needed redeemed? They're still children of disobedience. They're still following after Satan. And you are of your father, the devil, the Bible tells us, Jesus said. And so here's judgment. The prince of the world is going to be judged. The laws around us are directed by the working of Satan. They're influenced by him. The believers we influence with the gospel. We share the gospel. And believers are used to fight against the evil one, if you would. He works in disobedience in his people. And judgment, however, is not just for him, but judgment is coming for all. The rapture will take place, it will take all believers to heaven. And believers then will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of our faithfulness and service and love. are God. But the lost people around us do not do not go up with the raptured trumpet sounds. They will stand before a judgment as well. And it's called the Great White Throne Judgment. It's found in Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 14. If you want to find it, I'll read it for you. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the book, according to their work. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man according to their work. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Now, the verdict of this judgment is already given in scripture, we just read it. And what a sad verdict it is. I mean, it's just the way that it is because God is holy and they chose to reject the gift of salvation. Jesus said it this way, John 3, 18, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. See, the verdict's already been told. He's condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That's John 3.18, just a couple of verses after John 3.16. So you have hell, the lake of fire, and this is eternal separation from God. And it's also eternal separation from the glory of God, because you're no longer not able then to be in His presence. eternal death as opposed to the eternal life that God offers. If you think about it for just a moment, at the great white throne judgment, those people who've rejected God and rejected Jesus, they are right there in the presence of God's glory for just a little short amount of time. And he says, depart from me, I never knew you. And then their castles are like fire. And so they just get a glimpse of it. They don't enjoy it. We're out like a Christian guy. You see, then we have this guiding of believers that's taking place, the glory of His presence to reprove the world, and also for the guiding of believers, verse 13, Albeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak." And so he guides us to truth. Jesus and the Word of God are truth. He gives us understanding of the truth. He helps us to discern what does the scripture tell us. A Christian does not need to go through life without purpose and without direction. You don't have to, you can know. God's will and God's plan for your life. We have the Holy Spirit to guide us. We have the Word of God to direct us. We have the example of Jesus to inspire us. And then ultimately we're glorifying God in verse 14. He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. The Holy Spirit points people to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is fulfilling the will of the Father. And so we have the glory of His presence is found in the Holy Spirit. He's in your life tonight. Isn't that great? It's a busy time. You may be making a big decision, or maybe there's a lot of difficulties that you've been going through, but you're not alone. The Holy Spirit's right there, the glory of His presence. And then there's the glory of heaven. Let's look at John 14. John chapter 14. If this has happened several times at a funeral, And somebody says, a pastor's here. Why don't you say something? I'll turn to John 14. It's happened before. I've had people say, no, we don't want anyone to say anything. Then all of a sudden, somebody says, like, come on up and say something. So this is the text that I generally would use, just spontaneous like that, if called upon. And it's a good one for you to know as well. John 14, one through six. Here's the gift. of the future. Heaven is a present possession that we as believers have, but we haven't unwrapped it yet. We own it. It's ours. We haven't experienced it yet. It's the future. It's ours because Christ has given it to us, but we've not yet enjoyed it. Look in these verses. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father, but by me. You see, heaven is a place prepared for believers. He tells it and makes it very clear in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. So when you trust in Christ, construction began. You're home in heaven. Isn't that an awesome concept? I mean, whenever that was for you, five years ago, 25 years ago, whenever it was, and ever since Christ left, when a person, he left the earth, ever since then, whenever a person would place their faith in Christ, he started to build a mansion for them. That's great. Haven't been worked on for 2,000 plus years. Isn't that great? It's prepared for believers. Wonderful. A custom built. dwellings that God makes for each individual. Jesus is the master builder who carries these dwellings. Now there's a promise of his coming then in verse three. If I go, I will come again. I underline those three or six words in my Bible. And if I go, and prepare a place for you. I will come again. What a great promise that is. If I go, I will come back for you is what he's saying. Every year we sing joy to the world and Isaac Watts was reading Psalm 98 when he came up to him. And he was reading verses 4 through 9 in particular. Centuries later, some people focused on the second coming of Christ, altered the carol, and they changed the lyrics to read this, joy to the world, the Lord will come. So we sing, He has come, but also we could sing, He will come, because it's a twofold promise that is found in Scripture. As Christians, at Christmas, we have two reasons to celebrate. He is come, He has come, and He will come for us one day. At any moment, the rapture can take place, and at the end of the year, a lot of times we take stock, don't we? Looking at what happened in 2017 and what changes would God have for me to make or promises to make going into 2018. At the end of the year, start thinking like that. On the 31st, we'll probably have a message similar with that type of thinking. Take an account, take stock of what happened this year. And then, where am I at? Where does God want me to be as we step forward into the next year? And then this path that Jesus talks about, this path of the glory to heaven, it's a path that's a singular path. In verse 6, Thomas says, how can we know the way? Jesus said, I am the way. the truth and the life. Very singular, not multiple, but very singular way. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. One way, God said, to get to heaven. Jesus is the only way. Now, if Jesus is not the only way, then he was lying. He's not the only way. People who say there's many ways and still say they love Jesus, they have it wrong. Because if he's a liar, he couldn't be God. And if he was a liar, we wouldn't even say that he was a good man. But Jesus said, I am the singular way to heaven. Salvation is only through Jesus. Those attempting to earn salvation will fail. Those trying to work for their salvation will fall short. Those trying to keep their salvation by being a good person will not be a success with that. The only way to be saved is to believe on the finished work of Jesus. That's it. Now friends, when you talk to people this Christmas season, there'll be a lot of confused people about how to be saved. They'll talk about works, they'll talk about baptism, church membership, taking communion. I mean, they'll talk about a lot of different things, but all it comes down to is, what does a person do with the finished work of Jesus on the cross? Am I going to believe that he paid my Total debt, if I believe I have to pay some of it, it's not the same as a free gift. That'd be like I'm still working for it, but we can't work for it. So when you talk to people, talk with great clarity, we can't work our salvation, we can't do good works to maintain or keep our salvation, it all depends on the finished work of Jesus. Without Christ, Jesus, a person does not have this future of John 14 with Jesus. And that's a sad reality. We want to see as many people as we can and trust Christ. You do as well. Let's talk to people this Christmas Eve. God's gift of Christ seems all the more significant when you consider the vastness of our universe and our small role in it. If we were to experience a holocaust that destroyed our entire solar system, the mass of Inferno would be barely visible from the Andromeda galaxy in space. It would look much like a match flaring faintly in the distance, and then imploding into a permanent darkness. Within this solar system, which seems so large and incomprehensible to us, how many people are there? It's over seven billion, right? Is it eight billion already? Or nine? Does anyone know? Okay, let's just say billions and billions and billions. I know it changes every five years, it seems like, how many billions are on this Earth. If there were seven billion people You could fit all of those people standing shoulder to shoulder in an area about the size of Jacksonville, Florida that's 800 square miles. Everyone on Earth would fit shoulder to shoulder in a space of 800 square miles. When you look at that from the galaxy, Jacksonville, Florida doesn't look that big. You think about how minuscule we are, and God still loves us so much. This is what we're celebrating at Christmas. As minuscule a speck of humanity is, Jesus wrapped himself in flesh so that we could unwrap the beauty of God's incredible love. His bounty of his unlimited grace and the blessings of his measurable glory. So we have all these glories. that are available to us. The glory of Jesus is available to you. In the past, he came for you. The glory of his presence is available to you in the present, today. And the glory of heaven is available in the future, if you've trusted Christ. So let's rejoice in this great gift of God's glory, Jesus coming to this earth. Let's share this good news. those around us. Let's take just some time to pray, and you can pray for some loved ones. You can pray for a festive and a God-honoring Christmas season. You can pray for people traveling, and pray especially that you could give people the real reason for this season and really share in Christ giving himself. Let's just take a few moments to pray together. I'll bow and lead us in prayer in just a moment. You just go ahead and pray right where you're at.