The Glory of God: For This We Were Made Pt. 1

[Music] you talking about the glory of God is very hard in a society as dark as this two days ago I was in Washington speaking for my good friend Kirk Cameron in Reviva stew there were other fine speakers there like Ben Carson and Joni Eareckson tada and a few others but the one sentence that really almost made it impossible for me to speak was given by a wonderful lady called Jennifer Rothschild she was sitting to my right her husband had ushered her in I don't know exactly I can't guess her ears maybe 40s I guess I don't know I hope I'm not wrong but she became blind from when she was 15 completely blind and she gave one line that made me nearly lose it I couldn't imagine what it meant for her to say that she said when you wake up every day in the dark and when she said that that's all I needed to hear to understand the plight of a person who opens their eyes but not only don't see anything all they see is darkness a grim unyielding darkness and how she lived like that just about you know I've had a few eye issues over the last couple of years with the dry eye syndrome and so on and sometimes I wake up in the morning and I don't know but I'm gonna have that shooting pain all day or whether it'll stay and if I do have it stays about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon and that I just keeps watering all the time and it's very very discomforting but that slight discomfort makes such a mark in your life to make you worry about just the next morning imagine knowing that no matter how long you live in this earth you're gonna see darkness and nothing more that was a moving moving moment but then she went on to say something like the she said but I consoled myself with the fact that this is only temporary I'm in this world for a short journey in eternity I will see as brightly as possible especially in the presence of the bright very bright and luminous Son of God this is a short journey but in this short journey I want to talk to you a little bit about how we put the bright light of the glory of God for which we were made you see if you talk about the glory of God it is not just that you're talking about something transcendent and distant and essential and defining but in understanding that essential nature of that luminosity of God and the weighted nough sub God meaning there's nothing hollow about God there's something substantive that's what we get from the Hebrew kavod kavod literally means weight and that's why CS Lewis takes off on punning in the title the weight of glory he takes the Hebrew word kavod and so when the glory departed it was iike Vaude or what we would say in the anglicized pronunciation ichabod that the substance has gone from the people but that luminosity is what we often think about and that comes from the Greek doctor the brightness the brilliance and when you take a precious jewel oftentimes the jeweller will not just put it down on a glass pane and show it to you he will take out a box with a black velvet background or a dark blue background and put that diamond on top of that background and then shined the light on it so the radiance coming from outside and the background that is dark from behind the luminosity and every facet of this diamond shines brilliantly and so I want to talk to you a little bit about this luminosity of God what does it mean why does Isaiah cover his eyes why does God say to Moses you cannot see my face and still live and tell him to get behind a rock and you will see the after-effects of my presence which is what it literally means not so much my back but as I have passed through and have been there you will know that I have been there what kind of a background are we living in many years ago Neil postman wrote a book in the mid-1980s amusing ourselves to death and in that book he began with this introduction what George Orwell feared with those who would ban books what Aldous Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book because there would be no one who wanted to read one or will feared those who would deprive us of information Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we will be we would be reduced to passivity and egoism Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance Orwell feared we would become a captive culture Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture preoccupied with some equivalent of the Feelies the orgy Porgy and the centrifugal bumble-puppy as Huxley remarked and brave new world revisited the civil libertarians and rationalist who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distraction in 1984 it was said people are controlled by inflicting pain in brave new world they are controlled by inflicting pleasure in short or well feared that what we hate would ruin us Huxley feared that what we loved will ruin us and goes and my postman goes on to say that his book about the possibilities about the possibility that Huxley and not Orwell was right that the pleasure syndrome would take over and create a kind of a darkness in the pursuit of the exhilaration ecstasy we would actually become Hollow and trivial and empty people till the most sacred things of life sexuality and life itself have been trivialized and so the entertainment is a the nation of killing and perversion that's what entertains us now the substance of the real has gone and the hollowness of the trivial has become real that's what we are battling in our time but that's why the younger ones are struggling even to want to live because by the time they are 12 and 13 and 14 they have felt and tasted and seen that which was only reserved for mature years they have now tasted it seen it experienced it and they end up saying I have nothing left to look forward to and when you have nothing left to look forward to you want to make an exit and leave a hollow existence it's not just the young some of the loneliest people I've met are those who have experienced it most or have been able to afford it the most it's like being surrounded by all the wealth in the world and saying I'm bored the glory of God has a lot to say about this in the Book of Ezekiel we have a remarkable story and I would like to just read a few verses to you Ezekiel was a 30 year old man in captivity for him the glory had gone why it had gone because they thought Jerusalem would never be destroyed Jerusalem is that sacred city when you take even those who once lived in Jerusalem and were evicted from there you come back with them to Jerusalem and they're walking down that cobblestone they will look at you and tell you there is no expression that I can give to you that fully explains what it means for me to walk in Jerusalem again that city that was intended to be the city of peace and a place that would symbolize the eternal city that has now become a city of warfare and constant contention so Jerusalem is gone he is now in captivity he's a thirty year old young man God pours into him physically and emotionally what his calling was going to be like if you just read the first 10 chapters you will see exactly what that means the physical pain the loss of his wife all of these strategies that were taking place and having the dreams that they would be dragged away and taken to a place where they did not want to go but then he comes to chapter 10 and I wanted you to hear this it's very important that you hear carefully what it is he's saying I looked and I saw the likeness of a throne of Sapphire above the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim the Lord said to the man clothed in linen going among the wheels beneath the cherubim fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city and as I watched he went in now the cherubim was standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in and the cloud filled the inner court then the glory of the Lord rose above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple the cloud filled the temple and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord the sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court like the voice of Almighty God when he speaks that's the line I want you to take note of God is moving away from his people he's departing from them almost like in the New Testament Jesus said you know henceforth you shall see my face no more until you shall learn to say blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord it is amazing to me that even when despair comes God always puts a comma there to say until he's never really abandoning his people I'm moving away from you goes to the threshold he pauses he doesn't really want to leave but it betrayed him again and again and again repeatedly now over a thousand years of repeated betrayal Isaiah talked about it Daniel talks about it his eagle talks about it Jeremiah talks about it and now as this departure is taking place he pauses and then he departs from the eastern gate and if you are into prophecy you will see how fascinating the rest of it is but when you move towards the end of the book in chapter 43 it says this then the brand man brought me to the gray gate facing these this was where they had last seen him begin to depart and I saw the glory of God of the God of Israel coming from the east his voice was like the roar of rushing waters and the land was radiant with his glory if you notice what happened there Ezekiel 10 is equal 43 you go to Exodus 3 Exodus 33 similar things happen Moses and the why in the wilderness and he's he sees a bush burning and the bush is not being extinguished and he walks so towards the bush and the voice of God comes from the bush to speak to him Moses Moses 33 when he says look I don't want to go Sarah mentioned that this morning I don't want to go without the assurance that you're gonna go with me and I want to you to show me your glory it was a very audacious prayer from Moses God says alright you're gonna see my glory but you're not gonna see my face you will see the after-effects of my presence and God speaks to him there you come to the New Testament you have these three disciples going right to the top of the mountain and they are not sure what they're going to see it comes immediately after Jesus says you know some of them still alive are going to see the kingdom of God coming and glory people say what did he mean well the very next verse begins by telling us that he took three of them up to the Mount of Transfiguration and when he takes the three of them up to the Mount of Transfiguration at Thomas and Sands traveled with me they will remember when we were in Israel a the Year last year a year before I told him I want you to see this place I know many of you have been there but that to me was the most beautiful spot I'd ever wanted to be in Morgie was with me years ago and when you go up that Mount of Transfiguration it's so identic so restful so quiet and your mind begins to wander about what had gone on out there the rest of the disciples are asleep at the bar mother hen the mountain there and then far into the distance the other followers these three boys are brought up to the front Peter James and yelled and when they come up to the front the Bible says the body of Jesus began to glow with the whitest white that the human eye could see just imagine that the whitest white that the human eye could see but the eye could not contain it they fall prostrate before the fascinating thing to me is the two men for whom Jesus whom God was the Undertaker Moses and Elijah God buried them not yet Elijah's just took off on Chariots of Fire got buried Moses they sort of unnatural departures from this world he brings them back onto the mound I would have thought Peter and all would say well I don't know what Moses looked like that boy what a thrill to see Elijah that great prophet no they are blinded with the transfigured body of Jesus they were seeing the kingdom as had not been vouchsafed to any other eye we had Colonel James doesn't here one year many of you remember he was one of the pilot one of the pilots for the space missions and he took pictures from there he landed the plane back safely when they returned he took pictures right from the spaceship and he was listening to one of my sermons when in space who is God so he took that CD put it in a frame along with a flag from India and a flag from the United States framed it came with one other astronaut to our office to present it to us and James Dutton said to me said you know out there thousands of miles away and you're looking at this tiny speck we call earth and home he said the grandeur was unexplainable the incredible vastness of the universe that we live in and we live in this tiny little speck we call Earth he said I was so overwhelmed that I would look out of that spaceship and say how majestic is your name Oh Lord that's why the astronaut in 1968 on Christmas Eve could go nowhere nowhere else except to the scriptures and they went round the Dark Side of the Moon and saw the earth rise over the horizon in that brilliant combination of blue and right garland it by the glistening light of the Sun against the black void of space the only thing that came to the mind was in the beginning God when we God was big enough to capture this all inspiring reality the glory of God and when the glory of God departed what happened Ichabod was writ large Eli was an old man and unfortunately he'd messed up with his voice and two boys were killed in the battle and the messenger comes and says I got bad news for you your two boys have been killed but then they said the Ark of the Covenant has been taken from our midst which signified the presence of God and his daughter-in-law was about to give birth and his daughter-in-law said I'm gonna call my son Ichabod because the glory of God had departed no substance no more light no more presence these three realities is what glory actually signifies and you hear the voice of God where he is present where the glory of God dwells there the voice of God is heard that's why in Ezekiel 10 his voice Ezekiel 43 7 hear the voice was like the sound of many waters now what I want to talk to you about is after the Transfiguration experience when they go back Peter talks about it as an apologist he says we are not following cunningly devised fables but we were eyewitnesses to his majesty we are not following cunningly devised fables but we were eyewitnesses to his majesty as a light shining in a dark place and you would do well to pay heed to it and then he says this but now we have the word of the prophets made more certain more dramatically certain than just the voice of God and a display of glory is the word of God that carries the narrative of what he intends for you and me so if you really want to know what the glory of God in 10 it is what he intends in your life and mine and if you don't understand his glory you don't understand how fearfully and wonderfully we are really made we are made to reflect that essential splendor that essential splendor of God's substantive Ness and God's luminosity we need to be bright lights in a dark world now why does the glory depart I will race through this very quickly the glory departs number one because there was no internalization of the truth truth is never intended to be a mere externality truth is intended to be internalized it has to be that which comes from within you not just that which comes from outside you that's really what happens at conversion when you are newly born when you and I have that new birth and the presence of God comes and lives within us the divine imperative takes over yay nay yay nay that voice that comes from within and when that voice gets garbled it is the word to which you go to find the clarity once again how he intended us to live in this dark world today we go anywhere but here to find out what God's will is of how we should live hence the darkness we are as confused a culture as I have ever seen in 45 years of ministry there are no answers out there in fact there are only questions of the questions of the question and when you see a person from whose eyes you see the brightness of God's presence and from whose words you hear the substantive nasaw what life is all about you understand why knowing Christ brings that brilliant light in your eye as we were listening to Jack and Shawna last night he saw something in her eyes that he'd never seen anywhere else he saw that beauty so that brilliance why on in heaven's name are you looking so happy what makes you shine like this you know there are two great soccer players in our time amongst many others one is Lionel Messi from Argentina and the other is Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal and they're always at each other as to who's number one and who's number two and Ronaldo was being interviewed by the media and he made the comment that he believed God had sent him into the world so that people could learn how to play soccer and show how soccer ought to be played so when he finished that statement another interview went to Lionel Messi and so what do you think of Ronaldo statement that God send him into the world in order to teach people how to play soccer Messi said I honestly tell you I don't remember sending him we have this extraordinary opinion of how great we are and athletes I suppose it goes with that kind of ability to be braggarts as well very few people brag as much as an athlete does of course when you can pitch a no-hitter you feel pretty important when you can hit a grand slam you feel you've really made it big millions have watched you do that but then the body begins to get frail and you're low no can throw like that you no longer can hit like that and then you wonder where's the glory wherein lies the glory the people I have seen who have that glory most are those who have really lived with the internal imperatives of how God wants you to live I'll tell you the truth and I'm not making this up many a time I wish to myself I could say I'm done I've paid my dues 45 years millions of miles I can tell you what every aircraft looks like feels like and who does the best service and who doesn't do a very good service who makes the worst tea I can tell you all of that stuff there's only one thing that keeps me going and that is the firm belief that more than ever this gospel is the only shining light against the dark background confused and messed up world Robert Jeffery was a great preacher the last three years of his life he's spent in a Japanese internment camp he was heir to Canada's largest newspaper The Globe and Mail but he started to study Chinese and the Standard Oil Company wanted to hire him he decided instead to become a missionary I have some of his books in my library Robert Jeffery and finally the Standard Oil Company offered him a huge salary to come and work for them as for being a missionary he turned it down they wrote back and doubled it he turned it down finally they sent him a telegram Jeffery at any price he wrote back with one line as well your salary is big your job is too small your salary is big your job is too small you see your job and my job is to be that bright light wherever we are to do it and to shine in this very dark world it's the Jeffrey's of the world that opened up China so that today we see the result results of how profoundly they had an impact the internalization of truth there was no internalization number two there was no concern for the poor and the marginalized in society when I started wellspring International my heart I shall and he was very correct I did what I did for wellspring because I was raised by a mother who never ever walked by somebody with need without doing something for them even when I moved to Canada when I would pack my suitcase she would ask me to take two suitcases one for the needy and the poor and I could come back with that suitcase empty if I so chose clothes money Goods watches things like that my mother wasn't a very wealthy woman but she had a very tender heart and God has called us to be a compassionate people to be there for the needy always love it when I see Naomi presenting that need many of you here were involved and buying that land for the building of a hospital that is the next great stage to treat burn victims but I think many of you may know that the greatest blessing I ever received the greatest benediction I ever received was from a beggar in Delhi as I saw him walking with one pushing himself one leg gone the other bandaged up with bus marks and blood marks on the other and pushing his hair himself like this I felt so much pity and compassion for him I wanted to give him something immediately but I didn't do it because I knew I'd be invaded by several others so from a distance I walked behind him till he pushed himself across the road somewhere and there were little less people on the other side I went over to him and I said by Sabich minute area brother sir pause a minute and I knelt beside him and I put a little money into his hand it was a hundred rupee note and I said yes oooh Masika nam say in the name of jesus christ i'm up good there there I'm giving this to you respected sir he opened his hand like that to see it was a hundred rupee note I don't know if he'd ever seen that in his life it was big for him for me it was a dollar fifty and he looked at it like that and looked at me and his eyes flooded with tears and he said sabji respected sir Bhagwan of capella Corre may God richly bless you the best benediction I have ever received from the man who couldn't have given me anything except his good wishes and his pray and what happened in those days as the poor were ignored and lost their way for the needy God said my glory is going to be the presence you've been watching that my people think of Ravi Zacharias we're grateful for your prayers and financial support if you'd like to know more about this ministry who would like to donate to our efforts you can call us at one eight hundred four four eight six seven six six or visit us online at [Music] www.cannainsider.com/itunes is our Z I am post office box 1 8 2 0 Roswell Georgia 3 0 0 7 7 the purpose of our gim is to engage meaningfully with the questions and heartfelt issues of our culture we live in an age of confusion and people from every continent are beginning to wonder whether there are any answers to life's biggest questions if you want to be able to take the questions that often serve as barriers to belief and instead use these as opportunities to share the gospel by clearing those barriers we can equip people to then engage with their friends family colleagues and institutions our purpose is not only to increase people's knowledge but to address the obstacles that stop people from seeing the credibility and beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ let my people think is a list porty television ministry and is furnished by ravi zacharias International Ministries Atlanta Georgia you

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Length: 28min 33sec (1713 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 31 2018