To The Glory of God Alone

Transcript

Well, family, as we turn our attention now to the teaching section this morning, I just got to say I’m really excited that we’re going through the five solas for Advent. And I remember back to when Thomas opened it up and told us that this isn’t something that just came about in the Reformers’ age. These truths are not just relevant from then until now. These are truths from the dawn of time. They were reminded from the garden that after Adam sinned and fell, that God promised to send a Savior, who indeed is Jesus. And so we celebrate that in this season, and we’re going through this series to help us understand both our salvation and the purpose of Jesus’ arrival. Now normally when we’re going through the five solas, you would do for God’s glory alone last, but we had a slight change in order. God has his way of making his timing known, and we got to be obedient and follow him.

Defining Glory

So I just got to say thank you to Thomas and Andre for giving me a lot of help in prepping this sermon since it was a little bit last minute, and I am so excited, family, to dwell together on God’s glory this morning. It has been a blessing to me to sit and revel in his glory. Not just to revel in it, but to be convicted by it, to be encouraged, to be pointed to God our King. So this morning before we get started, would you please pray with me and ask for the Lord to help us. Holy one, full of light, full of truth, full of goodness, you are perfect. You are everything to us. Lord, this morning we ask that you would help us by your Holy Spirit’s power. Would you give me your words? Would you humble me, and would you speak this morning?

Would you open all of our ears and our hearts to receive what you would have us to hear? We love you so much, Jesus, in your name we pray, amen. So we think about the other solas, right? Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone, and God’s word alone. All of these are necessary to explain how we are saved and the truth about how we are saved. There is indeed nothing else that can be added. It is God’s grace, and that is the only thing. Nothing else saves, and it is through faith alone, not works or any other thing that we can add. And Christ is that only Savior, and God’s word alone is our final authority. When we get to the end, when we get to God’s glory alone, the fifth sola, it really gets at what the purpose or the goal of salvation is. It is for God’s glory alone.

That’s it. We so often think about how our salvation is the endgame of what God is doing in the world, but that idea falls short of what is God’s actual purpose in saving us. In reading and preparing, I read from David Van Drunen on the fifth sola, and this is what he says. Our focus so easily becomes self-centered. Even when we ask the same important questions that occupy the Reformers, where can I find God’s authoritative revelation? How can I escape the wrath of God? What must I do to be saved? The other four solas provide necessary and life-changing answers to such questions, but Soli Deo Gloria puts them in proper perspective. The highest purpose of God’s plan of salvation in Christ, made known in Scripture, is not our beatitude or supreme blessedness. As wonderful as that is, the highest purpose is God’s own glory. God glorifies himself through the abundant blessing he bestows upon us.

So as we cruise into Advent season, and we start thinking about all that will distract us and tempt us to take our eyes off of God and his glory, it is good for us to remember this part of the five solas. We can so easily fall prey to worshiping creation rather than creator. We think about trees and Christmas lights and all the gifts we exchange. We think of family and gatherings and food. And we neglect to think about the one who has given all good things to us, including our salvation. It is a time when we are tempted to think about that Jesus only came to save us so we can be reconciled to the Father, and that’s it. And although that is true, it is not the whole answer. Jesus came to earth as a humble baby to display his power, his might, his glory.

By coming to save us, we see the glory of God in the Son. By reflecting on soli deo gloria, we are reminded that all glory belongs to God, not to us or anything else. So this will bring us to our first point for the morning. How are we going to define glory? What does that even mean? How do we think about what is glory? If God is so glorious, what is that? Now it’s hard for us, I think, to wrap our mind about what glory is. My wife and I spent some time this week trying to talk through it, like how do you define glory? What do you think of when you think of glory? And glory, I think, quite honestly, is not a concept or idea that we can define and nail down in its totality. I really love how Greg said last week that we often misuse words or overuse them and

their meaning gets lost. When we think that something is awesome, we don’t stop and think about something that is awe-inspiring, something jaw-dropping, heart-captivating, totally worthy of all our attention and focus. Glory, God’s glory specifically, is something that is as close or is only the ultimate beauty or majesty. It is holy, pure, awe-inspiring. It is captivating. It is weighty. It radiates from God. It gives forth light, and it is on display in all of creation. Everything points to God and His glory. I love the description in Exodus 24 about the glory of God. In verses 16 and 17, we see Israel camped at the base of Mount Sinai, and the glory of the Lord is described as resting on the top of this mountain as a consuming fire. Do you guys remember the fires from 2020 when the gorge was just totally in flames? I remember seeing that in person at one point, and I just couldn’t stop looking at that,

the fire raging. It was a power in that drew me in, and I couldn’t look away from it. I wanted to be closer to it to try to understand it better. It was an image that was so seared in my mind because the force was so powerful, so consuming, that I will not ever forget that. Now, God’s glory is not just a destructive kind of descriptive force, it is also captivating or enrapturing. It is a reality of who God is, in His love, in His mercy, in His generosity, in His care and compassion. God’s glory is something that draws us near to Him, something that we want to be around or be surrounded by, yet it is still uncomprehensible. Though it moves us at a core level, we cannot fully understand or see it. While Israel was camped at the base of Mount Sinai, the Lord told Moses to go up to spend

time with Him. During that time, Moses had interactions, verbal conversations, with the Lord. In Exodus 33, we see Moses ask one of the boldest, most daring questions a person can ask. Moses said, Please show me your glory. Let me see you. Let me understand you. Let me comprehend you fully. He that is God said, I will make my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, the Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I am gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. For those of you who know the story, you remember that God still had to hide Moses from His full glory. He could not, could not take in the full glory of God. We see elsewhere how God’s scripture tells us that God’s glory is in creation. We see His glory in each other as His created image-bearers.

I remember the first time I’ve held each and every single one of my nieces and nephews, looking into their eyes and seeing this is a life that God has made. There is a soul behind those eyes, and though they may not be able to see very well yet, they are life that God has made. How precious and valuable they are, and how that moment was so deep and so real, and it showed to me just a glimpse of God’s glory, of His goodness. We see God’s glory also in the world around us, in creation. We can be completely awestruck when we view a mountain, a whole landscape. We can see it in the sunrises. Earlier this week, I was sitting with my dad before the sun came up, and I could see out the window, just as it was starting to get light, the sky was turning from a super dark

blue to kind of a light blue, and the moon was just a sliver in the sky, and you could see its shadow still. I thought, how awesome, how incredible is that, that God made that all. Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God. Isaiah 6 says, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. When we stop and we think about how the Bible is trying to get us to focus and think about the glory of God, it is a way for us to ascribe to the Lord who He rightly is, and to recognize that He is utmost, all-important, above all else in all of creation. Everything emanates from and points to God. Romans 11.36 tells us, for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever.

So we can experience and see God’s glory in creation, in one another, in the scripture, how it’s described and talked about, but God’s glory is made most directly visible in Jesus. John 1.14, it says, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. That in coming to earth to save us, Jesus displays God’s glorious person, His nature, His care for His creation. Second Corinthians 4 says, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown on our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When it says there, let light shine out of darkness, this is a call back to creation, that God made everything. He is the one who instigated it all. And that same power has shown on our hearts to awaken us, to show us the light of the

Directing Glory

glory of God in Jesus Christ. And though glory is something that we may not be able to fully comprehend, there’s something about it that draws us in and makes us want to be close to God. That brings us to point number two, directing glory. So why is glory a main part of what the Reformers taught? When we think about it, I don’t know if anybody was actively denying that God is worthy of ultimate glory of all of it, but anything that we add to our salvation that comes about not by God is detracting and stealing and robbing from God’s glory. If we go back to our quote earlier from Van Drunen, it is really easy for us to get human centric when we think about salvation. We think about our salvation, what God has done for us, and how we can be made right with God.

We need to remember that the highest purpose in salvation in Christ is not our supreme blessedness, but God’s own glory. That though this is an amazing truth and reality, that is not the end. And this is what the Reformers sought to recover. If you could work your way into God’s favor, then you could take and earn glory for yourself. If you could wake yourself up from spiritual death and make that choice to follow him, then you get the glory for making the right choice, for doing the right thing. Sole Deo Gloria was a way for the Reformers to avoid being human centric and to point people back to God where all glory rightly belonged. At the time, the Reformers were addressing the church’s human misdirection of glory. They were taking what was created and giving it glory versus the creator. It was about earning a way in, doing enough right, or buying salvation and forgiveness.

The focus was not on God ultimately and his glory where it rightly belongs. Isaiah 42 reminded the early Reformers and us now what God says about himself and his glory. He says, I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory I give to no other. And in Revelation 4, it says, worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. At the time of the Reformers, the Roman Catholic Church would say that there is authority besides scripture that is equal in declaring truth, that we can work our way into right standing with God. Faith in Christ alone isn’t enough to save us. And so the Reformers fought from scripture to help redirect the church to where glory rightfully belongs. As his children, we ought to glorify God. This is one of my favorites, Ephesians chapter two says, for by grace you have been saved

through faith and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. We can’t do it. We could never do it. It is a gift given to us so that God may receive all the glory and honor and praise. The Reformers reminded the early church from first Corinthians, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. They wanted to remind people that all of our direction of worship should be to God in everything they did, in all ways, in all times. So this brings us to our point number three, displaying glory. I think you’re getting the point here that we should glorify God. Did you ever think about how we were made to do that from the very beginning? We were made to reflect God’s glory in our lives, through our worship, through enjoying

God, through loving Him, through obeying His commands alone. We as His creation should be reflecting and glorifying Him. He did not make us so that we could be autonomous and on our own having purpose outside of God, having some sort of meaning. It was so that He could be glorified. We read from Ephesians two already and I want to finish out this little section here from Ephesians two, verse 10, says that for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And Matthew five helps us see that what Jesus said, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. We were created to mirror, to reflect God, who He is, and show His glory, His majesty,

Displaying Glory

His wonder in all that we do. Family, we glorify God when we do what we were made to do. So do any of the kids who are here with us in the service remember our question number four from earlier this year, from our catechism questions? Any of my young friends, if anybody remembers it, can you just shout it out? Can anybody remember it? Loud. Super loud. If you don’t remember it, I’ll help you out. How and why did God create us? Do you remember the answer? I’ll give us the long answer here. God created us, male and female, in His own image to know Him, love Him, live with Him, and glorify Him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to His glory. When we ask ourselves, well, how can I glorify God, I want to remind us of question six,

that we glorify God by enjoying Him, loving Him, trusting Him, and obeying His will, His commands, and His law. Have you ever thought about that, that part of glorifying God is enjoying Him? That blows me away, that we get to enjoy our God. Our Creator made us to have relationship with Him, to enjoy Him. Think about Adam and Eve before the fall who walked with God in the garden, and they got to just enjoy His company. I think about like a long hike in the woods with a friend and just enjoying them, being near them, in their presence, in that relationship. We were made to glorify God by simply enjoying Him, by loving Him, by trusting Him, by obeying His will, commands, and law. You know, if this seems hard, if this seems like something that like, man, I don’t think I can do that, you’re not alone.

None of us can. None of us can do that perfectly, but we can grow in maturity and learn to do that more and more with all of the saints, so we can gather encouragement from one another. Second Corinthians chapter three tells us that all, we all, that is us, with an unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. So you are being made more and more like Christ, able to see Him clearer and clearer as you grow in maturity with the Lord. And Ephesians chapter one says, for the end, for this purpose, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory, so that as we walk with Him, as we grow in understanding and maturity and knowledge of Christ, it would be for His glory. As we understand Him more, as we understand ourselves more, as we understand our place

Displaced Glory

in the world, and understand that we were created to glorify Him, we do that by bearing His image in creation, we put on display God’s glory. And this is to His praise. We need to remember that it is for God’s glory alone. It is not about us, it is about God. This brings us to point number four, displaced glory. I think we need to ask the question after all of that, how are we doing church? How are we doing in enjoying God, in loving Him, in trusting Him and obeying Him? Are you living out that call to bear His image? I think if we’re completely honest with one another, we aren’t doing that perfectly. We haven’t been living up to the standard that we’ve been called to. We have not been bearing His image as we were supposed to. Humanity’s core problem is our sin, that we have exchanged and continue exchanging God’s

glory for lesser glories, things that are not worth it in the end. We eventually end up worshiping our own ideas or something in creation instead of God. And so we rob God of His glory that He rightfully deserves. I want to call us back now to remember that story about Israel camped at the base of Mount Sinai and witnessing the glory of God on the mountaintop. Moses went up to spend time with God, and while he was up there, the whole camp of Israel was watching. And eventually they said to themselves, you know, he’s been up there too long, Moses has been gone too long. We don’t know if he’s dead or alive or what’s going on. So instead of waiting and trusting in the Lord, we’re going to make a God that we can control. We’re going to make a God that we can determine what its limits are and how it will serve

us. So they made an idol in the image of a cow and began to worship it. How often have we done that exact same thing, family? When I read Romans chapter one, I think it’s so sad how applicable it is to my own life. Romans 1, 21 through 23, for although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise. They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Family, this absolutely convicted me this week of how frequently and how consistently I bow down to idols of my own making rather than God. This scripture is clear that they knew God. They knew who he was, but they did not honor him.

They decided to worship things that were created rather than the creator. It describes us as foolish, as futile, blind in our desires, willing to worship something other than our Lord and Savior. Romans 3 says that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jeremiah 2, the Lord says through the prophet, my people have exchanged their glory for what does not profit. There is no gain in glorifying things that are not God, in worshiping things that are less than God. Psalm 106 says that they exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox, a cow. How could you worship the cow when you know who God is? If I’m honest, I think I can understand the Catholic Church a lot more when I think about it through this lens because it’s my own heart’s desire to control how salvation works or

how God has made and ordered things. I desire to make something that I can have a say in or that I can find purpose in and I can define those terms. I end up glorifying things that are not God. I want to do what Israel did and have control over my gods. Ultimately, I want to be God in my life and have things ordered after my own heart and desires. This last week, I had a brother send me a great sermon by Tim Keller called Counterfeit Gods and as convicting as it was, it was also encouraging. He talked about our displaced or disordered loves and one of the questions he asked right at the beginning is, if you think about it, honestly and truly, what is it in your life that if it were taken or lost, would make you almost lose the desire to continue living?

Family, what is that thing? If it pops into your head right now, what are you elevating to a place of wrong worship? What are you putting on the throne of your heart above God? Is it your job? Is it your wealth, your house? Is it bodily health? Is it your spouse or your children? Now none of those things are inherently bad or wrong to enjoy, but it is wrong to put them in the place of our heart above God. We do what Romans 1 said and we exchange and worship something else instead of God. We give glory to something that does not deserve it the way that God deserves it. When we elevate anything other than God to the throne in our hearts, we are idolizing and in sin. We exchange the glory of God for something less. I thank God for the scriptures and the example that he gives us in Israel, who repeatedly

repented, turned from their sins, turned from their idol worship, and turned back to God and promised to be faithful over and over again. Yet they fell away time after time to pursue idols and worship things that were created rather than their Creator. Brothers and sisters, let us this morning repent of our foolishness and our self-centeredness that we continue to go back to you over and over again. Let us recognize areas in our lives where we have prioritized lesser things above God and ask for his forgiveness. Family, we say this week in and week out, but God is faithful and just, and he will forgive sins. He is kind, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and forgiveness. If you ask for forgiveness, it will be given to you. He will help you to walk in glorifying him and bearing his image in the world. If you are here this morning and you have not bowed down to God as your Lord and Savior,

know that you can. That there is nothing that will give you more purpose and joy and fulfillment. Everything that is outside of God will eventually let you down. It will hurt you and disappoint you. None of that is a worthy God to worship. Only the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is worthy of all of our worship. It is in this season that we celebrate what God has done in sending his son to be our salvation, that he came to bear our sins, to forgive us and reconcile us to God so that we could rightly glorify him, so that our eyes would be opened, so that the veil would be removed, so that we could see Jesus as worthy of all of our worship, all of our glory. Despite our faithlessness, despite our shortcomings and our futile thinking, God did not leave us in despair.

Destined for Glory

God has come to show us his glory by appearing in the form of a helpless baby. The King of the universe humbled himself and was born in a barn. He humbled himself by becoming the lowest of the low, the humblest of the humble, by coming to die for those who were stiff-necked, who were stubborn, who were foolish in their hearts. When Jesus was born, the heavens declared his glory had arrived. The host of angels came and God’s glory broke into the darkness. Luke chapter 2. You know, I don’t think I have this whole thing on the slides, but I really want to read this whole passage for us. It was in that time when Caesar, you know, he had declared that there would be a registration and Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to be registered since Joseph was of the lineage of David. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. Glory to God in the highest because he has come to save for himself a people in this advent season. We do have hope for the king of glory has come to shine light into our darkness and provide a way for us to be reconciled to the father forever so that we can live out. We can actually live out what we were made to do, which is give him glory. And that will wrap us up and bring us to our final point that we are destined for glory for those who are in Christ. The ultimate hope is the glory that awaits us. Eternal life in the presence of God’s radiant glory. Colossians chapter one tells us to them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Romans five, one and two says that therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into his grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. This passage reminds us that we do actually stand in his grace and we have hope. We don’t just have an idea of hope, but it is ours. It belongs to us. That hope of glory of God being made known something that we can rest in, stand confidently in that we can work through all trials, all suffering and family. I know it’s hard. I know it is hard and it is difficult, but there is hope that Jesus has come. Our savior is risen and defeated sin and death once and for all and guaranteed a place for

us in his house. This is the confidence that we can have right now that we who are made to glorify God and to enjoy him in all of his glory, have that future guaranteed. It is ours to the glory of God. God’s ultimate purpose and saving us is not just for us to be happy and ultimately blessed, but so that he would be glorified through us, through his actions, through what he has done. We do not earn it. We cannot make it happen on our own. We can only trust in him and by faith, understand that we now have access to enjoy the splendid glory of God for eternity. Family, unlike Moses, whose face God had to hide from his glory, God will not hide us from his glory. We will see him completely and be totally enraptured with his beauty, his love, his magnificence, his power, his justice, and his perfection.

We have no other response than to worship and give praise to the one who deserves it all. Family, as we close out, I want to read for you from Revelation as we think of our future hope and glory in God. I’m actually going to read a lot more than what’s up there. Consider this as a promise to you, saints of the Lord. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as

their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. And I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God, the almighty and the lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it gives it light. And its lamp is the lamb. Radiance of the Lord. I cannot wait for this day. When we will join with the hosts of heaven, when the whole bride of Christ will join around the throne of God and his radiance is shining full on us, the warmth of his glory completely satisfying and with all our might, we will respond and sing worthy.

For you are Lord and God to receive glory and honor and power. Until that day, brothers and sisters, we have hope that is our future. That is where we are headed. And in God’s timing, he will make all things new. And for those who are in Christ, we can rest confidently through all suffering, all trials, all joy, all goodness in all that comes to pass, that our future is secure in Christ. Until that day, family, let us sing just as the angels at the birth of Christ. Glory be to God in the highest. Would you pray with me? Holy One, thank you so much for revealing yourself to us, for creating us with such a singular purpose to glorify you. We ask that as your children, by your Holy Spirit’s power, you would enable us to serve you and glorify you, to make you known in all that we do.

Would you use us to share your gospel in a fallen and broken world so that we can point people to your glory? We love you so much, Jesus. In your name we pray, amen.