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The Glory of God (transcript)

by T. Austin-Sparks

Transcribed from messages given in a conference in March, 1966.

Contents

Chapter 1 - How to See the Glory of God

Chapter 2 - Glory Only in the Newness of Resurrection Life

Chapter 3 - Father, Lord, and Spirit of Glory

Chapter 1 - How to See the Glory of God

Thou knowest Lord, that that is no mere platitude with us, we do need Thee, and we need Thee this very moment. We can do nothing without Thee, neither speak, nor understand. Thou art the answer to our need. And we do not put the emphasis upon blessing us firstly, get something for Thyself. And if by blessing us, Thou canst be blessed, that is the governing thing. Lord help us... for His Name's sake, amen.

One could spend minutes talking about ourselves, about our meeting again after this long time; the joy of renewed fellowship. One looks upon faces long-remembered, and sees others, but we want the Lord to have all the moments. So we shall not be engaged with what after all would be very sincere and of real joy in Him, but let us get straight to His Word shall we? For I believe He has something to say to us.

Will you please take the gospel by John, chapter 11. Chapter 11 in the gospel by John, and with a swift glance down the page you will take in what is here on record. I just want you to pinpoint two places. Verse 4: "Jesus said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby".

And verse 40: "Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

"For the glory of God... thou shouldest see the glory of God."

You probably know chapters 11 to 17 of this gospel are chapters of summation and consummation. That is, a gathering up of everything into finality, and what comes out in great clearness in this consummate part of the gospel is the priority which governed the whole life, teaching, and work of the Lord Jesus. It seems that that is what John had in mind in writing, for he places this priority right at the beginning of this gospel, worked steadily along that line, and then brings it all out in this full and conclusive way at the end. Although for thirty years and more the Lord Jesus had been governed by this priority, there came a point, a crisis point in His life at which He made a complete adjustment of everything upon this one thing that we are calling the priority, where He determined that everything should be focused upon this, and that there should be no deviation at any point from this priority.

And what was it? The glory of His Father - the glory of God. "Thou shouldest see the glory of God..." that was His all-inclusive priority.

The Glory of His Father

As I have said, John struck that keynote right at the beginning when, writing after it was all over and seeing the whole content and significance of that life, work, teaching, and conduct, he started off by saying: "And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten of the Father" (1:14). That is bringing the Father right into view in the matter of glory. And then John went on writing the Gospel, like a great harmony or symphony tuned to that keynote, and all the way through keeping true to that - the glory of the Father.

And I believe, dear friends, that that is the keynote that the Lord wants that I should strike here, today. It is with me a very considerable burden in these days. Let us come to the Lord Jesus for a few minutes in this matter.

There was, as I have said, that hour of His great committal, His great committal took place at His baptism. He there and then committed Himself utterly, utterly to the glory of His Father. He gathered every detail of His life from that moment and centred it in this thing, as though He were saying: 'From this moment, not one deflection from that motive, that object: My Father's glory to govern everything.' And so it was, and so it was.

Firstly in His own personal, inner life, His secret walk with His Father. It's a most impressive thing as you read through this gospel, you find all the way along that everything is coming out of His personal, secret life with His Father. "The Son", He said, "can do nothing out from Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing". "He seeth the Father doing..." mysterious language, but those who know anything about Life in the Spirit know what it means. "Seeth the Father doing; that doeth He", and not in His own way, but "in like manner"; in like manner as the Father. How meticulous, how exact! His committal as to His own relationship with God His Father meant nothing of Himself, only what He knew in His own heart and His own secret history with God, that the Father wanted Him to do and to say. There was the background: the inner sanctuary life with the Father maintained unbroken.

As to His conduct, He behaved Himself on this ground that: 'How I behave, how I conduct Myself is going to be altogether a matter of how it touches My Father's glory. The impression I make upon others, what they see in Me and about Me, must never for one moment veil the glory of My Father, hide that glory, detrimentally affect that glory. My behaviour must always be for the glory of My Father.' This was as to Himself and His conduct, His walk. You know, John made a note of that, this walking business - not just an outward progress. John said: "as He walked" as He walked... there was something about His very movements that were governed, and His walk, His movements, His behaviour - always for the glory of His Father.

His work and His words, as we have quoted Him: "The works that I do, I do not from Myself, it's the Father Who doeth the work! The words that I speak, they are not of Myself, but My Father."

His times for doing things. Ofttimes we read that He put back suggestions from others that He should do things now, at this time. To come on that again, as we shall come on many of these things again as we go on today, but when something seemed to be demanded of Him, and people expected Him to do it at that time, He put it back: "Mine hour is not yet come" but very quickly afterwards He did it; because He was waiting. In His spirit He was saying: 'Father, is this Your time? Is this Your time?' Because you know, dear friends, you can do a right thing at the wrong time and it doesn't just work out. There are a lot of things, and it is just not the time for them. You remember the great incidents with the apostle Paul: "He assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered him not", to preach the word in Asia, but he was "forbidden of the Holy Ghost" and diverted, that was not the time, but Asia and Bithynia got it subsequently, in God's time. And when God's time is registered, things are very much more fruitful, you don't waste time. When we do things so often in our own time, well, we only put off things till God's time, nothing happens until God wants them done. That's by the way, but the Lord Jesus was like that: "Mine hour is not yet". "Mine hour is not yet" and yet the hour seemed to come so quickly afterwards. But here He is, moving, speaking, working, timing, by His fellowship with the Father. He brought everything else on to that ground.

His family; His family He brought on to the ground of the glory of the Father. They came and said: "Thy brothers and Thy mother stand without, wanting to see Thee". That's a natural appeal. It might be a sentimental appeal, it might seem to be quite a right kind of appeal, but wait a minute. He answers: "Who is My mother? And who are My brethren? Those that do the will of My Father! These are My mother, My brethren, My sisters..." putting it on another ground than the natural ground. 'How far does my family, do my family relationships, as far as I am concerned, reflect the glory of God?' God has got to be glorified in that realm.

In His attitude toward men? Governed in the same way. As to the religious world? Well, He will commend what is sincere and go as far as He can with it in sympathy. A young ruler comes and tells Him that he has kept all the commandments from his youth, and Jesus "looked on him and loved him" and did not condemn. He was sympathetic to sincerity, but bring hypocrisy into His presence and His commending changes to condemning! In religion there was nothing that brought out His wrath more than hypocrisy, because hypocrisy is a thing which robs God of His true glory.

These are all things that made up His life. You see, His priority governed everything and it was over a lot of things, as we have seen. His priority was over natural judgments - natural judgments, not always sinful judgments, evil judgments, but just natural judgments. When suggestions were made to Him, when persuasion was brought to bear upon Him, and when men projected their minds, He knew, He knew the truth: 'My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. There are two worlds. I live in one, you live in the other.' And so this concern for the Father's glory often necessitated that He had to set natural judgments on one side and seek His Father's judgment on the matter.

Natural feelings often had to be set aside. He understood (we shall come to that in this eleventh chapter of John, with Lazarus and his sisters) He was very sympathetic, He understood how they were feeling. He truly entered into their human life, but when they sought to persuade and influence Him to act merely on the basis of natural feelings, He put it back. He stayed away two days where He was, and did not arrive until the fourth day when, humanly speaking, it was all too late. The sorrow had run its course - not unsympathetic, as the chapter shows - and yet, He cannot, He cannot because He has some greater thing in view, He cannot just surrender to human feelings, natural feelings; natural feelings. He has got great principles which are governing Him.

And as for His personal interests, He was all the time thrusting them back. It would have been greatly to His personal interest to accept the devil's offer of the kingdoms of this world and the glory thereof, He repudiated the whole thing. When speaking of His Cross, it might have been to His natural advantage if He had listened to Peter when Peter said: "This shall not come unto Thee Lord, be it far from Thee..." "Get thee behind Me, Satan!" said He to Simon Peter. You see, personal interests! Personal interests? No, they must take a back place: "I am not governed by these things." His constant motive, constant motive was His Father's glory.

Now before I can go on any further I must return you to the definition of that word. It may be in this place that I have given this definition I don't know, but I do not know of a better. What does glory mean where God is concerned? What is the meaning of the word 'glory' when it relates to God? It just means this, dear friends, the... shall I call it the rebound of God's complete satisfaction, when things have answered to God's nature, God's mind, God is so satisfied, God is delighted, God is well-pleased, there comes out to that which answers to Him, something of God's own satisfaction, God's pleasure. You can put that to the test in more ways than one in your own lives, but take your Bible and begin at the beginning.

When God had created all things for His pleasure, for His glory, and all things were as He intended and commanded, and everything was governed by: 'And so it was... and so it was... and so it was as the Lord said it should be', the end of that was: "And God looked on all things and said, it is very good". And I would like to have been in the atmosphere of that, would you not, in the realm where everything just satisfied God, and there emanated from God this sense of complete satisfaction and pleasure. That's glory; that is glory!

You see, whenever we come into the new creation, are born from above, and that on the ground of our recognition and acceptance of the perfect, finished work of the Lord Jesus for our sin, for our salvation (and we are better believers at the beginning than often we are later on!), when we come on to that ground of the new creation in Christ where everything answers to God's pleasure, don't we have a sense of glory? The beginning of the Christian life is so often like that. While we couldn't explain it theologically or doctrinally, but my word, we feel it! 'This is glorious to be saved! This is glorious!' It is just something that wells up inside of us. What is it? It is the Holy Spirit bearing witness to God's satisfaction with God's Son whom we have embraced with all the knowledge and understanding of Him that we have. We have accepted the perfection of Himself and His work, and there is a reflection, an emanation of His glory, the satisfaction and pleasure of God in our hearts. When we get away from that, you know, that simple trust in the Lord Jesus, the glory often fades - but I mustn't go on to that for the moment, we come back.

You move on and you have God's mind completely and perfectly revealed in pattern form for the creation of the tabernacle, as we call it, in the wilderness, meticulously prescribed to a detail, to a pin, to a thread, to a colour, to a position, to a measure - all given by God. And the last, the last chapter of that: "As the Lord commanded Moses... as the Lord commanded Moses... as the Lord commanded Moses." It's almost monotonous: "as the Lord commanded Moses", it's done, and the glory fills the tabernacle. The glory - God was satisfied! And you and I know that that tabernacle was only a foreshadowing in type of the Lord Jesus. There it is.

We move on to the temple, and again, the prescription, the pattern, was given to David, and through Solomon it is all perfected. And when it's finished, according to the heavenly pattern, the glory fills the temple, and even the priests cannot abide. God fills everything with His satisfaction.

The Lord Jesus comes to His baptism and His great committal, and as He comes up out of the water the heavens opened and the Father's voice pronounces: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" - well pleased... that's a good foundation for starting your work isn't it, your life work, as He did. God's satisfaction, the glory, and John says: "We beheld His glory, we beheld His glory."

The perfection of His work by the Cross; nothing left to be done after Calvary. It is all done. Oh beloved, believe this, believe it with all your heart: there is nothing remaining to be done for your eternal salvation. Nothing! If you try, you try to add something, you will lose the glory and get out of the place of God's satisfaction. But when the Cross has accomplished the work of redemption, it's a finished work, a finished work and the sacrifice was well pleasing to God. At Calvary it was finished, that Son was raised from the dead, and it will not be long now before the Temple receives the glory on the Day of Pentecost - what glory filled the house of God! Why? Jesus was glorified! "The Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified" but glorified, the Spirit is given.

Well, there you have your Bible background. At the end of the Bible it is seeing this glory coming in the new Jerusalem: "I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband, having the glory of God". It is the perfected work in the Church, having the glory of God. It's all over, it's all finished, the battle is won, the course of Christian trial and discipline and suffering, it's all over, and the glory crowns everything at last because God is satisfied.

Have I, on the side of the Scripture at any rate, proved the definition that glory is the expression of God's perfect satisfaction?

Well, I said you could put it to the test in your own experience. Some of us have had to go through this experience to learn these things, they are not just theories. What has been the most miserable time in your life? Well, I can tell you what has been the most miserable time, lacking in glory, and having all that is not glory, in my life. It was when I allowed the devil to succeed in putting me outside of the finished work of Christ by accusation: 'The Lord is displeased with you. The Lord has it against you. The Lord is really, because of this affliction, trial, suffering, and sorrow or something, the Lord is not well pleased with you.' And you go down under that and the glory goes. And while you stay there, there is no glory, simply because, you see, God's ground, God's ground is this ground of the absolute finality of the work of His Son for our redemption. Get off that ground by any accusation or condemnation of the devil, forsake the ground of Christ, and the glory goes and it will never come back while you stay there. Make no mistake about that! Yes, while you are under, occupied with yourself, how long are you going to take to learn that that is not the ground of glory? Well, it will take just so long as you stay there on the ground of this wretched, miserable self that God has done with in the Cross of His Son. If we move over on to the ground of Christ and His perfection, and by faith put our feet down on that, the glory will return.

Now, my time has gone for this morning, and we have only opened the door, but we spoke about the Lord Jesus, we have really got to apply all this. I am not here to give you a lot more teaching for your heads. I have prayed the Lord to use His word as a shaft to really cut right in and do something, and so we have got to apply this.

Dear friends, do we, you and I, really, really want God to be glorified in our lives? You say: "Yes!" You'd say yes, I'd sooner you say, "Oh, well... well, let us see what that means and then we will say 'Yes'".

First of all, first of all it means exactly the same as it meant with the Lord Jesus, for He was here as our representative Man before God. In the first place then, it means the great and utter crisis: committal. Committal! Oh, let that word get hold of us!

A little while ago I was in Scotland staying in a hotel and there came into the room a man who, I looked at him and he rather impressed me, and I said to myself, "Now, there's something about you, I want to make contact with you before long." He was just dressed, as we say over there (I don't know whether you say it here) in mufti and civies, ordinary dress, as I am today, perhaps a little more holiday style, but something about him made me feel I wanted to contact that man and I watched for the opportunity. And it came, everyone else went out of the room, I was left with him. So I put out one or two leading questions. I said, "Are you on holiday?"

"Well," he said, "Not exactly. I have been on my back for some long time with a thrombosis and the doctor told me to come and have a rest and let my wife have a rest, and so we are here."

I said, "Have you come some distance?"

And he said, "No, I live locally, in this town, close by."

"Well," I said, "That's interesting!"

He said, "I'm the minister of such and such a church..." mentioning one of the most important Presbyterian churches in the west of Scotland. Well, I know that church very well, I'd known it from boyhood.

So I said to him, "Oh, are you? I knew your predecessor!" I mentioned him, we were getting on! So we went over the history of the town and the church and so on, and then I referred to a certain family that lived in the neighbourhood, a minister and his family, a family of fine sons, five or six sons and a daughter, all of them who sang in the choir, and seemed to be so promising in their youth. I used to attend there, and I knew them all so well. And I felt at one time then, that they were going to really mean something for the Lord. But they all went away into the world. Not one of them, except the daughter, went on with the Lord in any way. They became successful men in the world, and I mentioned it to this man, and I said, "That family of tragedy, tragedy..."

He said, "You know, one of them," mentioning his name, whom I knew very well, "Whenever he comes back here, he comes back to the church."

I said, "Yes, I quite think he may do, but I know them right up to date and I know that he is not a committed Christian. He is not a committed Christian."

I noticed his ears pricked up and that struck him - something that he'd had no idea of. And we went on, and then he said, "A little while ago I invited a certain man..." whose name might be known to many of you here, one of the Keswick speakers, "I invited him to come and speak at my church because I felt that something new was needed in my church." And then as he talked he said, "You know, I think that he was what you might call a committed Christian..."

The shaft had got home! The idea, the idea in that word 'committed' was quite a new idea: "I think he might be what you would call a committed Christian!" There are Christians, and committed Christians - I must leave that with you.

The great crisis experience in the life of the Lord Jesus was when He made the great committal to the glory of His Father and said in effect: "Everything from this day is going to be judged of its value by how much glory there is in it for My Father." That's a crisis. And then, as I have said, everything did fall into line with that with Him. He saw to it that His conduct, His own life with His Father behind, where no one saw or knew, and then His conduct before the world, and before people, and before His disciples, was governed by this one thing - His Father getting the glory. His behaviour, the way He spoke, the way He acted, if He had been a business man: His business transactions. His business transactions; were they for the glory of God? If not, He would have had nothing to do with anything in business that was not for the glory of God if He had any say in the matter.

His family... His family, His brothers, sisters, mother - His family. Is my family to the glory of God? The behaviour in my family, to us, my children, my husband and wife relationship, how we go on as a family, is it to the glory of God? To people looking on, how do they view it? Everything. It's searching, it's searching!

If you come to a position like that where you have, really have a transaction with the Lord, dear friends, do not think that that is going to mean a life of loss, a life of loss. You are going to see the glory of God. That is the upshot of this eleventh chapter of John, of Bethany, over Lazarus and his sisters. The upshot, difficult as the way to it was for them, the last picture is one of an emanation of the glory of the pleasure of God. What a delightful scene that is in chapter twelve isn't it? What was it like? You see He came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, who He had raised from the dead, and they made Him a supper. And Martha in a new spirit of service served, and Mary sat and Lazarus sat and the disciples sat. It must have been a beautiful time - real glory in resurrection Life. But they had been through something to get to that! They had been through it to get to that! Oh, they had been tried and tested on this question: "Said I not unto thee, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Thou shouldest see the glory of God!

Do you want to see the glory of God in your own life? It is not going to be a life of loss, for if you get the glory of God then you cannot get anything beyond that, or better than that. Sorry if we leave out the big things, we leave it to the afternoon.

Father take this word and use it to the end which is in You, Thine own glory Lord, Thine own glory. Help us all to face this issue and all its practical implications and make the great committal and see the glory of God. In the Name of the Lord Jesus, amen.

Chapter 2 - Glory Only in the Newness of Resurrection Life

Lord we once again confess that unless Thou dost open the eyes of our understanding, we are going to listen to words and we are not going to be really, eternally benefitted by our listening. Oh Lord, grant unto us, grant unto us that Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Thy Son. Lord, let this be a time when eyes are really opened. There's a veil over the heart of man naturally, he cannot, he cannot understand the things of God. There's a great deal of the natural about us still, we shall never fully see until we are in Thy presence, but we know we can go on seeing more and more all our lives if Thy Spirit does His work in us. We pray that it may be so even in this hour, in this hour. Now quicken us by Thy Spirit, minister Divine Life to us that we, being freed from old grave-clothes, may come forth, may really come forth in newness of Life for Thy Name's sake, amen.

I bring you back again to this eleventh chapter of the gospel by John, in which we were moving this morning, reminding you that this chapter represents the culmination of the life, teaching and works of the Lord Jesus during the days of His flesh. And when we say "the culmination", that is quite evident in what remains of the chapter beyond what was read. You notice in verse 47: "The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we?" And the rest shows that this was the last of a number of such councils, and in this last council they decided definitely and finally that this Man must die. This must be the end of this. So that here we have that which marks the culmination of His life and work at that time. The finality, note: the finality is not by the act, which is the fullness of the very purpose for which He came, and more than that: it is the fullness of Divine counsels.

Behind this chapter there are these two wonderful things: the eternal counsels of God coming to their completion in His Son at this time, and then there's the counsels contrary to God to bring that Son to an end, to destroy Him. The Divine counsels are summed up in what is in this chapter. Now, no doubt you, dear friends, have read John 11 many times and perhaps you think you know, if you were asked, what John eleven is about; you would, most of you knowing your New Testament, say: "Well, of course it is the raising of Lazarus from the dead!" and perhaps that is all that you would have to say to it. In so saying (forgive me if this sounds a bit critical of your apprehension) in so saying, you would indicate how really you have missed the way. We all, of course, have said that in time past, as we have gone on we have come to see something more, and when I tell you that this (and it's a long chapter as far as words and verses go in our arrangement, yet it's not complete in itself) this chapter does contain all the major features and factors of God's ways unto glory. Have you grasped that? The end of all God's ways and works is glory, His own glory. It sometimes seems a tortuous way, as these sisters felt it to be while it lasted. It sometimes seems to be anything but glory, and you might very well decide, as perhaps they decided at a certain point, the end is not glory, this is not glory, this is sorrow, distress, disappointment, despair and all that; but really, from God's standpoint, in the way of glory, unto glory.

Let me repeat: when God takes anything in hand - you must lay hold of every half sentence of mine - when God takes anything in hand, the end is going to be His glory. You need make no mistake whatever about that! The end of all God's ways is His glory. Glory at the end! Read your Bible in the light of that, and you have your Bible in one chapter - the eleventh of John.

I have said that this chapter contains the main features and factors in the ways of God unto glory. What are some of these main factors?

A very big one is the incarnation of the Son of God; the Son of God taking flesh; God manifest in the flesh. That is a big one, isn't it? The very purpose, object of the incarnation, of God taking flesh, becoming incarnate, is found in this chapter - the very purpose of it. Well, hold that for a bit.

The method of God in redemption. Redemption is a big factor, isn't it? No one will dispute that! Redemption is a big factor in the eternal counsels of God and the method of redemption is the substance of this eleventh of John.

Another thing - and I am quite sure that, while you will agree with those other two, if you know anything at all about God's ways, you will agree with this - that God's ways are very strange. God's ways are very strange, they are beyond human explanation and comprehension. While God is in the process of moving towards His end, it is very difficult to follow Him.

I was saying to a brother this afternoon, the Lord is always a bit ahead of us. He made the remark that, something to this effect, that the Lord accommodates Himself to our measure, to help us through. I said, "Brother, I'm sorry, I disqualify that: He does not". He does not. The apostle Paul, who knew a good deal about the Lord, said of his experience: "Pressed out of measure" or, in another translation: "Beyond our measure". Under the hand of the Lord, beyond our measure - the Lord is always a bit ahead of us. It wouldn't do for us to be equal with the Lord, would it? We would soon be taking the place of the Lord! If we were right upsides with the Lord in everything, well, our dependence upon the Lord would very soon go. So the Lord gets ahead of us, beyond our measure, puts us out of our depth in order, in order to enlarge our capacity. We would never grow if that were not true.

The simple way in John's gospel of putting that by way of illustration is: "When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them". Well, of course, you have taken that sometimes as a comforting statement, but there's profundity in every clause of the Divine Word, and this gospel in particular reveals that. "When He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them" - He is always ahead of them, and they are always a bit behind Him. He is too much for them, in a sense. They have got to move on, and still move on, if they are going to come up to that degree of the Lord where He is, and when they get there, they find that He has gone ahead again. Keep going, running all the time.

The apostle Paul explained this when he said right at the end of his very full life: "That I may know Him... That I may know Him, I haven't caught up yet. He is still beyond me." The mystery of God's ways, the strangeness of what we call 'Providence', spell it with a capital P, the strangeness of Providence... that is a major factor of God's ways that's in this chapter. There it is.

And another thing, which is not by any means a small thing, the farsightedness of God. How much beyond our seeing He is! Oh, let us come to this chapter - how much the Lord Jesus was beyond the seeing of these sisters and the disciples! They just could not see beyond this present happening, this present experience. This thing that was immediately before their eyes, that was their horizon. God, in Christ here, was moving on the principle of farsightedness, beyond the incident, beyond the present. However big this was to them, He was far beyond it. His horizon was far outreaching this thing, and He was acting accordingly. And the farsightedness of God is no small factor in the ways, works and dealings of the Lord. Do you see that? It's all here in one chapter. Sit down with it again, spend much time, we can go on years and years with this one chapter - that's no exaggeration, to find how unfathomable are the ways, the works of God!

Now, having said that, let me step back for a moment and remind you of something here which we must get hold of. And do believe me, dear friends, it is not just the teaching of John's Gospel in one or all the chapters that I am concerned with, as teaching. This has got to come right into our very history. It has to be taken out of the Bible, out of the history of Jesus during His time here, and put right into our history, and we shall never get anywhere unless that is true. It is applied truth, and not theoretical truth that is here.

So let me say, the thing that comes out at us as we quietly and thoughtfully dwell in this chapter, is that the Lord Jesus has this situation in His hands. Let me put that in another way. If this is God incarnate, this is God with whom we are having to do here, it is God with whom we are having to do. And when you come to this chapter you see how the Lord Jesus has everything in hand, and in His hands, and He is not letting it go out of His hands all the way along.

Look at the various aspects! He said He would go back into Judaea. The disciples immediately reacted: 'The Jews recently sought to kill You there. You mustn't go back there. You must not go back there!' You see the move to take things out of His hands, to take these movements out of His hands, to govern His movements, His judgments, His decisions, but He is not having it. He has taken this thing in hand, and disciples or no disciples, He is going on. He has got something that He is after, He is in charge. Messengers are sent to Him away up there somewhere, about Lazarus; and undoubtedly, though it's not recorded, undoubtedly the story means this, "Lazarus is sick! Come, please, come quickly! Come as quickly as You can!" That was from the beloved sisters. That would have taken it right out of His hands and ruled His judgment, ruled His feelings, governed His movements, set a time that He did not set, and taken over. No, He abode where He was. He abode where He was; He's got it in hand and was not going to get it out of His hands, whether it's the appeal of those whom He loved; and it is stated that that was so, the appeal of a situation which could appeal to any sympathetic heart... no. That was not going to decide this thing. It was in His hands and He was going to decide the ground upon which He works, the time in which He works, and when He was going to move, and nothing, nothing will move Him.

And the Jews, of course, ever ready to criticise Him and discredit Him, and put Him in a bad light, said: "Could not this man, could not this man who gave sight to the blind have caused that this man should not die? He should have been healed", say the Jews. All these forces were at work in every realm, from the centre to the circumference of His relationships, to get Him under control, but He's not having it. He has this matter in hand, and that is a very important thing. Why? He states it, He states it: "This sickness is not unto death, finally, absolutely. This sickness is not going to end in death, but is for the glory of God." Yes, alright, what then? "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there." Oh, what are you going to make of that? Put yourselves in the position of these sisters with a beloved only brother, slowly passing out, in the grip of this apparently fatal sickness. Their hearts are wrung, wrung with distress, anxiety, breaking, and they know that He knows, and this is His attitude: "I am glad that I was not there! For your sakes!"

Well, He has got hold of this situation you see, He is in charge. We are dealing with God. And God is in charge, and if God is working to a certain end, you can't hurry Him, you can't take over from God and make Him do what you want Him to do. He is going to reach that end, and it may be a very trying way for us, for our flesh, our natures, but He gets His end, He is in charge.

How glibly we sing our hymns, how superficial we are. The Lord is never superficial. I watch what I am singing and I noticed you sang two things this afternoon, and I wonder if you were challenged on both of them, or either of them, how you feel. You notice you sang: "Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love Thee..." The Lord help us, the Lord help us if that's our idea! It's only redeemed souls who know the meaning of love to God, and angels don't know that. You'll only love God if you have been redeemed and saved from the depths - that's the only true love. And the love of God manifested to man is in terms of His salvation - it's a two-way love on the basis of redemption - and angels know nothing about that, they have no experience of that. You want something better than angel love! I don't mean to criticise the singing, you mean well, ah, but then you finish with that last verse about, "How I long to climb to the utmost heights!" And I thought, the utmost heights are only reached through the utmost depths if this chapter means anything at all! You want to sing it again? And that reason, you see, to the point I am making just now, you and I, dear friends, the Lord help us, the Lord help us, but you and I will never reach God's full end, only along the pathway of brokenness. That is what this chapter says. While we are whole, and substantial, and well-knit, and self-confident, we are not going to reach God's end. No, no, no!

You see, God, right there at the beginning of the Bible and of human history, planted something in human experience which became the law of all true, true knowledge of God after that. The great issue in the Garden was knowledge, wasn't it, knowledge of good and evil. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge... they made a bid for knowledge, under the instigation and inspiration of the devil - made a bid for knowledge. And God came along on that, that declension, on that breakdown, and established a law. A law by which He said: "You shall never have true knowledge, true knowledge of Me, only on this law. Everything that is going to be true and real in the future is not going to be got so easily as you thought." The law of travail was planted right at the heart of human life. Remember the words don't you? Travail was introduced as a law for the future, and you and I know very well that true love only comes out of travail. Or put in another way: we never value anything that has cost us nothing. We can let it go very cheaply if we have not paid any price for it, but if we have paid a price, if it has been costly, if it has meant something to us of real suffering, or sorrow, or trial, that is infinitely precious to us, and we don't let that go, we don't let that go easily.

So God came right in at that point and put this law of travail into human life and human history, and said: "You tried to get everything cheaply, cheaply. You will not get anything that is worth having without cost in the future." And from that point, you notice all the way along, along, along, until you come to the travail of His soul, the travail of the Garden, the travail of the Cross, "He shall see of the travail of His soul", and out of that is the preciousness. It is the law, you see, that law that there is no reaching the heart of God and having true knowledge without costliness.

And Peter learned that by the deep way. By the deep way. He tried to get things cheaply. "It is good for us to be here, Lord. Let us build three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah", and I suppose, although he didn't say it: 'We will have some tabernacles, and we will stay here.' Peter was like that, but he went the deep way of utter devastation by the Cross of the Lord Jesus, and years afterwards he wrote: "Unto you that believe is the preciousness". The preciousness!

The last picture of the Church is of the City, and its gates are of pearl, pearl... the very symbol of agony, of blood, of tears. That is how it is made. It is costly, very precious because it costs.

All that, I said this is a comprehensive chapter, didn't I? We will come back to it. Here they are, in this deep, these dear sisters, how they are baptized into the passion, the agony of the Cross, and have to know a tasting of death in order that they might know the preciousness of resurrection Life! No way to come to it otherwise.

"I am glad that I was not there for your sakes..." farsightedness, seeing that, although He was running this risk of being terribly misunderstood - everybody, sisters and all, were misunderstanding Him, incapable of comprehending Him - He accepted the risk in His farsightedness. He saw beyond: "I'm glad I wasn't there, for your sake..." what is the ultimate? "Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" The end of all God's ways? The glory. How rich then, how full all this is! We are in the presence of God, and when we are in the presence of God we are in the presence of profoundest realities. Oh, that we might have the grace, when the Lord has us in hand, dealing with us, we should not wrench ourselves out of His hand, but remain there unto the inevitable glory!

I am so hesitant, dear friends, to just add words to words. I do want to make sure that what I say today is going deeper than your heads, going deeper than Christian theory and doctrine.

First of all, as we began this morning, there has got to be the basic and utter committal to the Lord. Now, of course, I suppose there are few here, if any, who would not say that they have surrendered their lives to the Lord, they are given to the Lord, and perhaps would go as far as to say, "I am utterly given to the Lord". You don't know what you are talking about! I am sorry to say that, I say it with a long, very long experience. We shall never get beyond the point, dear friends, beyond the point where there is no more battle to get perfectly adjusted to the mind of the Lord. You heard that? It doesn't matter how long you live here, if you are walking with the Lord there will be, right to the end, occasions when you find it is not easy to accept some new revelation of the mind of God for you. Indeed, you will have a new battle on this, you will, and that is what I meant when I said: 'You don't know what you are talking about if you say that!' But that is not, of course, to discourage or to discount any consecration that you have made, but there has to be a basic, initial, fundamental committal, in which we say: 'Now, Lord, I do not know all that it is going to mean, how it is going to work out, what it is going to cost, but I put myself into Your hands. I am Yours. I am committed. You are my Master, and I want You to have the absolute mastery of my being. And if at any time it becomes difficult for me to yield to Your mastery, I am going to seek grace to adjust to it.' There must be something, an attitude taken, which is complete committal.

And I ask you - not with the sum total of all that it means known to you - but I do ask you: has the Lord got the mastery of your being, of your life? And as we were saying this morning, it touches every point and aspect. Has He got the mastery of your business, in your business relationships, in your business transactions? Are you doing business that does not lie in line with the glory of God? That is, are you doing business that is a contradiction to the glory of God?

I knew a young fellow who got on very well in business and had tremendous prospects, but he was in the biggest tobacco manufacturing firm in Europe. He had a good position, with great prospects - and he came up against this matter of whether the Lord was glorified in his doing that kind of business. He decided no, that kind of thing was not to the glory of God indeed. As he saw it working out, he found that it was contrary to the glory of God in human lives. He surrendered his position and came right out of it. For a time he was very tested by his action and by the position which he had taken of faithfulness to God. The Lord looked after him in the end, but I am not throwing that in to say that you will get a reward, or you'll get compensation.

The point is not policy, but principle. This world is governed by policy, by policy: what is politic, what is diplomatic. That's the whole spirit and law of this world. The Lord Jesus Christ's is not policy, or diplomacy, but principle and the principle is the glory of God.

That is what it means to be committed. Is your home in the committal, your domestic relationships in the committal, your social life and relationships in the committal? And so we could go on, you see. It is not just getting on your knees and saying: 'Lord, I am Yours. I give myself to You absolutely', and the Lord tomorrow comes along and says: "What about this?" - "Oh! Oh, I... I didn't mean that..." The Lord is very practical!

Forgive me being like this, but we must, you know, we are in times, very serious times, when God is coming very near to His people to sift out, to sift out. The end, the end is going to be a tremendously sifting time amongst the Lord's people. Peter says, speaking about the time of the end: "The time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us, where will the sinner and the ungodly be?" Sifting! And it will be sifted down to this: is your priority in life settled; really settled, and that priority the glory of God? If so, you'll go through; whatever happens, you'll go through and you will reach God's end: the glory. "It is God with whom we have to do!"

A few minutes more perhaps, not long, we come back to this chapter. We are dealing with the ultimate things, the primary things and the eternal things here, this chapter is just divulging these in the Light. God's attitude, God's attitude toward humanity as it is... I am going to say a very difficult thing, for you perhaps to accept; but it shouts at us in this chapter, we can't get away from it, much as it hurts us and we don't like it. The attitude of the Lord Jesus toward this situation and all concerned with it, is God's attitude toward human life as it is. And here in this chapter you find human life represented by a number of different aspects.

You have got these wretched Jews, Scribes and Pharisees. Well, you are not surprised at God's attitude toward them and that, but you move in, in, into the heart of it. Here are these dear sisters, and there is this dear man Lazarus and these dear sisters, as far removed from Scribes and Pharisees and ruling Jews as could be, humanly. You would say lovely people, lovely people. What is the attitude of the Lord Jesus? Non-committal. Non-committal - holding reserve. It says He stayed where He was for two days, and then at last when He came, he has been dead four days. Four days between receiving the news and arriving, and as you know, the state of things which naturally would have prevailed, they mentioned to Him. That's His attitude. Why did He let Lazarus die? He could have raised him, for He had healed many others and raised other dead. Why not this one who was so beloved? Why did He allow the sister's hearts to be broken, torn with this sorrow and this distress? Why this attitude? This is God's attitude to humanity at its best in Adam, as well as at its worst, but at its best! This humanity at its best is something that God has set aside in Adam, and He is not going to patch it up. He is not going to give it medicine to cure it. He says: 'It must die!' The only thing is resurrection, a new life altogether, a new life altogether: something different from the natural at its best, the earthly at its best.

Do you think I am exaggerating, I am going too far? I want you to pick up this gospel again and go from beginning to end. Why the marriage in Cana of Galilee? His attending, the wine failing and that terrible predicament arising. "They have no wine", says His mother, in a kind of appeal and expectation to Him to do something. Why? Consternation is over the whole situation. There is no resource left. It is an end of the very thing that makes the feast, that makes life. "What have I to do, woman, what have I to do with you? Mine hour is not yet." The appeal of a predicament, the appeal of an opportunity, the appeal of a mother's heart, the appeal in a difficult situation? No. Not at all. None of that. There is something more in this than just patching this feast up. There has got to be something that is above the natural, and that is newness of life, not the old thing patched up. This old thing must die, and then resurrection alone is going to be the answer. That's the explanation - something different. The old creation is bankrupt, that's His attitude: it's bankrupt. And the only prospect is a new creation life.

"This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and showed forth his glory". Glory is the end of God's ways. How? In something that is beyond all natural possibility. That's the beginning, and Lazarus is the end of the story. In between - oh, take them all, I dare not start, but I remind you of them - remind you of poor Nicodemus, with all his religion and all his learning, to whom Jesus says: "Art thou the teacher in Israel and knowest not these things?". All the religious knowledge, learning, position and tradition is bankrupt. 'You must be born from above. This natural life of yours, though it be all like that, won't get you through.'

The man at the pool of Bethesda a little later. Thirty-eight years lying in that condition, struggling every day to get on to his feet or to get into the water. Try it out for thirty-eight years, perhaps a dozen times a day, and see whether you have much hope left at the end of that! Jesus comes on the scene, without the use of the pool, without any artificial means, without the line of nature, He who is the Resurrection and the Life has come on the scene. Another sign, another showing, of how hopeless, how hopeless the natural is until Jesus comes in, but it is with another kind, another order of Life.

The woman of Samaria at Sychar's well. What a story! Moral bankruptcy, isn't it? Moral bankruptcy. "Go, call thy husband... I have no husband... That is well said, thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband." Moral bankruptcy, and everything, everything has been exhausted in that realm, "but the water that I shall give shall become in him a well of water springing up unto life eternal" ... "Oh Lord, give me drink".

And so I could go on, you see, all the way along, the man born blind; born blind - until you come to Lazarus, and you have all this gathered up into Lazarus in one chapter, showing that the glory of God - "Thou shouldest see the glory of God" - the glory of God is in something that only God Almighty can do with human life, He is not going to patch it up. Men can do that. You call in the doctors and they may help to keep this thing alive for a time, but He says: 'No let it die. The glory is not in that kind of thing at all. It is in something absolutely new and different.'

The end of all God's ways is like that. I must stop for the time being, but I do trust that you interpret things in the light of this. Have you suffered? Have you been knocked about? Really knocked about and suffered? What are you doing about it? What are you doing about it? Are you putting it merely and only into the category of things common to men? [Audio message ends here].

Chapter 3 - Father, Lord, and Spirit of Glory

A word of prayer: Lord, as it is a matter of our spiritual capacity that determines how much we can receive, we do pray for enlargement this evening, real enlargement Lord, that we may be enabled to receive what Thou dost want us to have; not less, not more. We just pray that it may be Thy measure, Thy measure Lord, that Thou would see to it that it is what Thy Thyself has desired for us in this hour. So help us, for Thy name's sake, amen.

In pursuing the matter which has been before us all day today, I want to call to your remembrance three fragments of the Word in the letter to the Ephesians. The letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 15: "For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which ye shew toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him".

Now in the letter of James, the letter of James chapter 2: "My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons".

The next letter is the first of Peter, the first letter of Peter and chapter 4 at verse 12: "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of His glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you".

For those who have not been with us earlier, may I just say that we have been led to be occupied with the matter of the end of all God's works being glory. And we have defined glory as being the expression of God's full and final satisfaction, God giving out from Himself His pleasure, His delight. And like a heavenly contagion, those who come within its range and its reach are very conscious of the Lord being pleased and satisfied. You know, He is in one place translated as "the blessed God", but the original says 'the happy God'. The happy God! And you know if you come into the presence, or go into the presence of people who are very happy, really happy, you catch and are affected by and infected by their happiness. It is possible to go amongst people who are heartily laughing, and you begin to laugh, and you don't know what you are laughing for; you don't know what they are laughing about, and yet you begin to laugh! The atmosphere influences you. Now, if God is like that, that is, He is happy, He is satisfied, He is well pleased, He is delighted, and you come within touch of Him when He's like that, you catch something from Him, you feel that happiness. That is exactly the meaning of glory: God being completely contented with a situation, or with a life, with a person, and if you should happen to be that person you just take from God something of His contentment and satisfaction. It is a glorious sense of contentedness, of satisfaction, of blessedness. And that is the meaning of glory.

So that the end of everything that is really of God is that; that wonderful power of His own personal pleasure. I think there is nothing in all the universe so blessed as to have a sense that the Lord is well pleased. The Lord is well pleased. It must have been a great day for Abraham, a wonderful day, inexpressible, when God called him His friend, "Abraham, My friend, My friend". Or for Daniel, when the messenger of God said: "Oh man greatly beloved". What do you want more than that from God? That is glory, isn't it? Well, God is working toward that in all His works in the universe, in creation, and in the redeemed.

Now, you will have noticed from the three passages that we read that the triune God, the three Persons of the Trinity, are personally related to glory. First, the Father of glory; secondly, the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory; and thirdly, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of glory. Each member of the Godhead takes character from this very word 'glory'. Each Person of the Trinity is supremely concerned with glory. That opens up a very large door, I am not going to enter that door very far this evening, I leave brother Harrison to take up in the future that if he wants to, and show you through the Bible how God, as Father, the first Person of the Trinity, is always concerned about glory; and how the Lord Jesus, the second Person in the Trinity, is always working on the line of glory; and then how the Holy Spirit all the way along is operating toward glory, as glory is the governing concern. I leave that, for it is a long, long line of very blessed revelation. The point for me just now is that the Godhead is united, is one in this thing, this alone thing: they are united concerning glory; their interest is one interest; as we have called it today: their priority. The priority of the triune God is glory.

All I am going to do this evening is just to say a little word about each of these designations - the Father of glory, the Lord of glory, the Spirit of glory - and may the Lord give us something in our hearts from our brief meditation.

The Father of Glory

What does that mean? Well, it means that God is the source and emanation of glory. That is, that all that comes from Him, on the principle of fatherhood, the principle of fatherhood is that He is the source, the beginning, and the projector; that's fatherhood. And it means that all that really emanates from God has, as its very purpose and destiny, glory. We are children of God, but the very object and purpose of our being children of God in God's mind is that we should come to glory, that is, that we should be brought to that position where at last - oh, wonderful thought! Too, too wonderful for us to grasp - but at last we should come to that place where God says: 'I am satisfied; perfectly satisfied! Content!' Can you imagine God ever saying that of you? Almighty God, eternal, perfect, holy, everything that is great, looking down on us and saying: "I am well pleased. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, the very satisfaction of My Father heart." It is too much for us to grasp just now, isn't it? That is, if we know ourselves at all, but that, that is the meaning of His Fatherhood. He has begotten us, He has brought us into being as His children, He is responsible for our coming into being as His children, He has taken responsibility for us as His children, and all with this one object: of bringing us along the line, along the way, to the end of which is entering into that unspeakable awareness that He has nothing whatever against us, but is satisfied to the last possible degree. Father of glory!

And whatever comes from God, whether it is children or His creation, really comes out from God, comes out as destined for that glory of His perfect satisfaction. The end of the Bible finds things like that - a state of glory, a glorious condition, which just means the outgoing, the emanation of God's own perfect satisfaction. Paul puts it this way: "Foreordained, foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son". And what is that? His SON - the Father, Son: "My beloved, in whom I am well pleased". Conformed to that - to inherit His own attitude toward His Son, to come into that position and condition that His Son occupies of the perfect satisfaction of the Father.

You see, His Father-dealings with us are along that line. "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art reproved of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth". What is it all about, the chastening? "No chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous; but afterward, afterward it beareth, it bringeth forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness". What is that? That complete sense of peace in the heart that God's sense of rightness is satisfied. Father of glory.

That's enough of that for the moment.

"Our Lord Jesus, the Lord of Glory"

So James calls Him, and it is a wonderful thing for James, His own brother in the flesh, to say that! There was a time when James, His brother in the flesh, did not believe on Him, you know. "For His own brethren believed not on Him" that's what was said about him formerly. Of course, we have got a fairly shrewd idea of why that was you know, because James and the other brothers of Jesus after the flesh in those days were a bit worldly, and they had an eye to business, to success, to popular acceptance, and especially to stand well with the authorities. Of course, that is worldliness, isn't it? It is the spirit of the world to stand well with the authorities. And this Brother of theirs, this elder Brother of theirs was taking the course that was getting Him into trouble with the people who have it in their power to take from Him everything, and "We belong to His family, and that means that we, we'll suffer because He has taken that line." Well, we will leave that, that's fair, I think it's a fairly true judgment of that statement: "His own brethren did not believe on Him." They could not accept the way that He was taking, it was not going to bring popularity.

But here is this brother, this brother of Jesus, these many years afterward, calling Him "the Lord of glory"! Something has happened! "The Lord of glory" - His own brother! He didn't believe in Him once, now he calls Him "the Lord of glory". That is a wonderful thing! But what did he mean, and what does it mean to call Him "the Lord of glory"?

Well, if anybody is lord, you know, they have everything under their control, don't they? If you should be a lord, then you've got things under your control; they're in your power. You dictate how they are going to work out. Yes, you are lord in this situation, indeed, you are lord in all situations, or He is and as Lord of glory He is in a position of mastery.

Peter, Peter who at one time, you know, denied Him, and denied Him vehemently, later said: "He is Lord of all" He is Lord of all! A big thing happened in Peter too, as well as James, or in all of them; however: "Lord". And we know from the very context of those words of Peter, that Peter was at that time having to recognize the absolute mastery of the Lord Jesus (I won't go back to remind you of the context) the mastery of the Lord Jesus! Peter was arguing a bit. And it was very strange that Peter should at that time have been arguing with the Lord Jesus: "Not so, Lord, nothing unclean has ever entered my mouth... not so Lord", and Peter had to succumb to the mastery, and he did. And then he said: "He is Lord of all", meaning that He was in charge both of Peter and of every situation, and being in charge, this situation is going to work out to the end that He intends it to. And then, when James says "Lord of glory", it means that the Lord Jesus is in charge of everything to make it work out for glory.

You have only got to begin your book of the "Acts of the Apostles", as it is called, (wrongly, I think) and go through and see the Lord of glory holding the situations. Yes, phase after phase, and stage after stage. We have only got to lift one or two examples out.

Peter is in prison, with his feet in the stocks and four quarternions of guards, and the doors are closed, the inner and outer doors. And Herod has made very sure that that man is not going to escape! This looks a pretty difficult proposition, doesn't it? I doubt whether it would have been possible for any man to have liberated Peter that night. At any rate, all the forces of this world were determined that Peter should not escape. He is a key man, a strategic man in this new movement, indeed, he is the key man, so keep him safe. All right, do all you can and all you will. Take every precaution, every measure, to make this secure. The Lord of glory has other ways! And so an angel comes and smites Peter on the side, he is asleep!

It is rather wonderful that when Jesus is Lord you can go to sleep in situations where tomorrow you are going to be brought out for execution; in the condemned cell, and you know that tomorrow you are going the same way as James, the other James, and be executed, but you go to sleep through the night. Well, that wants the Lord of glory to make you do that, doesn't it? It means you are able to say: 'Well, the Lord has got this thing in hand, however it turns out, the Lord's got this thing in hand, so I am going to sleep. I'm going to sleep.'

I remember a man away here in the wild days of long ago, was travelling and came to a shack, and it was a perilous place where the bears were roaming. And he was very tired after travelling all day, and he couldn't get into the shack. He could only rest under the awning outside, and so he lay down. He belonged to the Lord and before he settled down he read a Psalm: "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." He said: 'Well, Lord, it is no use two of us keeping awake. If You say You are keeping awake all night, I am going to sleep!' And so had a good night and went off to sleep. That is trusting the Lord!

And Peter went to sleep and the angel smote him, struck off his chains and his fetters, and said: 'Rise up and follow me.' They left the guards, left the cell, left the chains, out through the first door, and out through the next, until they came to the outer gates, which opened to them of their own accord, and Peter was landed out there in the open. This circumstance, so seemingly adverse and impossible, was in the hands of the Lord of glory. Now the glory: we've got these letters, years afterward, wonderful letters, aren't they? Wonderful letters after, and a wonderful life, so much wealth has come to us through Peter's ministry in these letters: glory, glory - the Lord of glory.

One more thing from that book, we are in Philippi. Paul and Silas have arrived, because the Lord sent them there. 'They assayed to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not, they assayed to go into Asia but were forbidden of the Holy Ghost.' And that night, wondering what this means - 'Why, why are we not allowed to go this way or that?' - in a vision, Paul saw a man of Macedonia and heard him say: "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." And, assuredly gathering said he, assuredly gathering, or Luke said it, that "We have been called to preach the gospel in Macedonia, Europe" they set sail, and arrived in Philippi, quite sure the Lord has sent them there - quite sure the Lord has sent them there, and the next thing they find themselves in the dungeon with their feet fast in stocks and their backs bleeding after thorough lashing. Now what do you make of this? What are you going to do about this?

It seems an absolute contradiction, a big mistake has been made, "We have got into confusion over our guidance!" No! Not a bit. In that condition they are singing and praising God at midnight. The Lord of glory has got the situation in hand, and before the morning it is proved. The earthquake, the prisoners released, the jailer and his house saved and baptized, and the church in Philippi established. Amongst the first members was the jailer and his family - his family - I don't believe they were infants, because it says: "The apostle taught them", and you don't put up a little innocent baby in a chair and preach the gospel to it, or teach it the things of Christ. They were intelligent, old enough to understand the teaching and preaching of Paul, and to accept it, so they were all baptized as responsible persons. They were amongst the first members of that church; and we have that beautiful letter from Paul's own prison, years afterward, when he was in Rome: the letter to the Philippians. We wouldn't sacrifice that letter for a lot, would we? It is very precious.

The Lord of glory, you see? That is the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, or the Acts of the Lord of glory, He is in charge. I wish we could always believe it when we are in prisons, tied up, with things all against us, and we are having a difficult time - we could always just say: 'The Lord is the Lord of glory and He has got charge of this and the end of this is going to be glory - the end of this is going to be glory'! Well, it works out that way, even though He has to say to us afterward: "Oh you of little faith! Wherefore did you doubt?" Although we, under the trial, sometimes feel that there is anything but glory in this situation, in our condition, in the end He is faithful, He is faithful and we find that glory is the end of His strange ways. He is the Lord of glory - that is, He controls everything with glory in view.

Then, lastly, a brief word, Peter calls the Holy Spirit: "the Spirit of glory".

The Spirit of Glory

Now the context is necessary as the background of that very title of the Holy Spirit. If you read this first Letter of Peter, you will see that it is very largely about the sufferings of the Lord's people to whom he was writing. It says that he is writing "to the elect, scattered abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father" and so on. And then he opens up on the matter of the sufferings of these people: "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, just to try you, as though some strange thing had happened unto you."

There is a lot about the sufferings of the Lord's people in this letter of Peter, and when he has brought the sufferings up, mentioned them, referred to them, he has two things that he links with that: first grace, and then glory, grace and glory; grace issuing in glory. And it is very helpful to notice how he speaks of this word or this thing "grace", sometimes he uses the word properly; that is, he does call it "grace", he uses the word grace. Unfortunately, in our translation there are places where he changes the word, the word is changed in the English translation, and he says, "If when you are buffeted..." [break in audio message]

"Thy life is mine, dwell evermore in me; and help me see that nothing can untwine Thy life from mine" - from the bed of an invalid! That's something, isn't it? Well, this is what Peter is talking about - the sufferings, the fiery trial, and he says: 'Grace in that means glory.' The Spirit of glory.

The Lord help us! We can say these things, and as I say them, I say them carefully, guardedly, we can be so put to the test on things that we say you know. The Spirit of glory can take hold of the things which could destroy us, and could be our undoing if we had the wrong reaction to them, and can turn them to glory: this suffering, this affliction, this trial, this thing. Paul said: "Lest by reason of the greatness of the revelation I should be exalted, there was given to me a messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh... for this thing I sought the Lord thrice..." and when Paul sought the Lord you may take it that he did so, and very thoroughly, and when he did it three times you may be sure that Paul put himself into that! "Take this away Lord! Remove this thing, Lord, change this situation... take this, this hard thing from my life!" - "But He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmity...".

The Spirit of glory can take hold of our trials, He will, if we trust Him, and turn the dark thing, the hard thing, the painful things, into glory. That is, in those things lead us to find God's pleasure, God's satisfaction, God's 'Well done! Well done!', and what more glorious thing could we desire than that we should hear Him say: 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of thy Lord'?

Father of glory, Lord of glory and Spirit of glory. The Lord bless this word to your hearts. Do it Lord we pray, make the word a blessing, whether it meets a present need, as undoubtedly it does for some, or whether it is planted to be drawn upon in some day of trial and difficulty that is ahead of us, take it alive, make it a powerful means of help and may we all come into the forward reach of that ultimate glory and walk in its ray to the day of the fullness of the glory in the name of the Lord Jesus, amen.