September 7, 1997 -- PM
THE POWER OF GOD’S GLORY
Luke 4:1-14
INTRODUCTION:
It is the closing scene in the motion picture, Ben Hur. The sky is disappearing behind the ominous looking cloud formations. The movie camera takes a long shot of three crosses rising out of a distant hill. Then the camera moves in close, closer, to the figure stretched out on the center cross. Lightning reveals a man squirming in silent agony to the rhythm of the flashes. It is raining hard. With each flash of light, the pool of rain water at the foot of the cross grows larger. Suddenly a single drop of blood drips into the pool and scatters. Then another drop falls. And then another. The pool is now tinted light red. The rain comes harder and the pool overflows into another pool immediately below it. The second pool reddens and enlarges, overflowing into still another pool which, in turn, overflows into a small stream. The blood-stained stream flows into a larger stream which meets a river which flows into an ocean.
PROPOSITION: NOTHING LIMITS THE GLORY OF GOD.
Here are five qualities of God’s powerful glory.
I. The power associated with God’s glory is SUSTAINING POWER (Luke 4:2 – Being forty days tempted . . . He did eat nothing).
A. Jesus was sustained by a divine and glorious power to deny Himself and His needs in order to fulfill the purpose of His Father.
B. The very power in Jesus keeps everything intact.
Colossians 1:16-17 -- For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
C. God’s glorious power sustained Jesus to the cross and beyond.
D. It is this power that will sustain you in your hour of need.
II. The power associated with God’s glory is CREATIVE POWER (Luke 4:3 –Command this stone that it be made bread).
A. Jesus had the ability to remake or create from nothing whatever He wished.
B. Satan knew that Christ could create what He wished.
C. All of creation declares the power of God’s glory.
Psalm 19:1-6 -- To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. [There is] no speech nor language, [where] their voice is not heard. Where...: or, without these their voice is heard: Heb. without their voice heard} Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, line: or, rule, or, direction} Which [is] as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, [and] rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth [is] from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Romans 1:18-21-- For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed [it] unto them. in them: or, to them} For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: so...: or, that they may be} Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
D. Let the new creation also declare this glory in thankfulness.
III. The power associated with God’s glory is INTRINSIC POWER (Luke 4:6 – All this power will I give thee, and the glory).
A. Intrinsic is defined as "Of or pertaining to the essential nature of a thing; inherent” according to Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
B. The power of God’s glory is within God Himself.
C. Jesus already possessed the glory Satan offered to give Him. There was nothing Satan could add to Jesus.
John 1:14 -- And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Matthew 7:29 -- For he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes.
Revelation 4:11 -- Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Revelation 5:12-13 -- Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, [be] unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
Revelation 16:9 -- And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. {Scorched: or, burned}
IV. The power associated with God’s glory is GOVERNING POWER (Luke 4:8 – get thee behind me Satan).
A. Jesus exercised the authority associated with God’s glory when He commanded Satan to take his palce behind Him.
B. Authority in all other realms stems from some other source and ultimately God controls it.
C. Our God reigns! This is true in events, in life, in health, in sickness, in chaos, in the seen, in the unseen, in things great or small, in things bright or dull, in things convenient or tragic. Nothing overrules God. From the highest peak, as far as one can see, God rules it all. Then if one looks into the depths of the ocean, God controls all in that realm as well. This is not all. One can look up into the sky and far beyond the reach of the most powerful telescope, and God is there and in control. Were it possible to view the workings of the microscopic and nuclear worlds, we would have no power more than what God grants us. When man goes to the top of a high mountain, he must borrow the power of bottled oxygen and temperature resistant clothes and shelter. When he flies in the air, man must borrow the power of an airplane. To go into outer space he must borrow the power of rockets and life support systems. When descends into the sea, he must borrow the power of diving gear or even a submarine. When he lives on earth in his normal habitat mankind has to borrow the power of food shelter, even companionship. Every realm where man ventures, he does not fully govern. God does however. He rules everywhere. Man has difficulty governing himself and the workings of his own heart and spirit. But God is sovereign there as well. Even in redemption and damnation God rules. His power is glorious governing power filling both Heaven and Hell.
Hebrews 1:1-3 -- God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
I Chronicles 29:11 -- Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
John 19:10-11 -- Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? 11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power [at all] against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
V. The power associated with God’s glory is SPIRITUAL POWER (Luke 4:1, 14 – Full of the Holy Spirit . . . led by the Spirit . . . returned in the power of the Spirit).
A. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit.
B. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness.
C. Jesus returned to Jerusalem in the Holy Spirit’s power.
D. Our lives would be more powerful if we were more spiritual and spiritual-minded.
I Peter 4:12-14 -- Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy [are ye]; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
I Corinthians 2:4 -- And my speech and my preaching [was] not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: {enticing: or, persuasive}
II Timothy 1:7 -- For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
CONCLUSION:
Simply that He has the power of glory does not obligate Him to use it. This restraint is part of the power. He uses His power according to His will and no one else’s.
We have access to the power of this glory. He chooses to wrap His glory in us. Jesus described the manifestation of the power of His glory when He quoted Isaiah 48:8-9 in Luke 4:18. The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself. Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is -- "I must have it now," whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ. ". . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives . . ." (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous control it has over you. Even though you say, "Oh, I can give up that habit whenever I like," you will know you can’t. You will find that the habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It is easy to sing, "He will break every fetter," while at the same time living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.
Authorized By The Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. -- 1997 RBC Ministries
None but Jesus can give deliverance to captives. Real liberty cometh from Him only. It is a liberty “righteously bestowed” for the Son, who is Heir of all things, has a right to make men free. The saints honor the justice of God, which now secures their salvation. It is a liberty which has been dearly purchased. Christ speaks it by His power, but He bought it by His blood. He makes thee free, but it is by His own bonds. Thou goest clear, because He bare thy burden for thee: thou art set at liberty, because He has suffered in thy stead. But, though dearly purchased, He freely gives it. Jesus asks nothing of us as a preparation for this liberty. He finds us sitting in sackcloth and ashes, and bids us put on the beautiful array of freedom; He saves us just as we are, and all without our help or merit. When Jesus sets free, the liberty is perpetually entailed; no chains can bind again. Let the Master say to me, "Captive, I have delivered thee," and it is done for ever. Satan may plot to enslave us, but if the Lord be on our side, whom shall we fear? The world, with its temptations, may seek to ensnare us, but mightier is He who is for us than all they who be against us. The machinations of our own deceitful hearts may harass and annoy us, but He who hath begun the good work in us will carry it on and perfect it to the end. The foes of God and the enemies of man may gather their hosts together, and come with concentrated fury against us, but if God acquitteth, who is he that condemneth? Not more free is the eagle which mounts to his rocky eyrie, and afterwards outsoars the clouds, than the soul which Christ hath delivered. If we are no more under the law, but free from its curse, let our liberty be practically exhibited in our serving God with gratitude and delight. "I am
Thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds." "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?"
Morning and Evening by C.H. Spurgeon * 11/25/AM
The great English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon told of a man who had been sentenced to death by a Spanish court. Because he was an American citizen but also of English birth, the consuls of both countries decided to intervene. They declared that the authorities of Spain had no right to take his life, but their protests went unheeded. Finally, they deliberately wrapped the prisoner in their flags -- the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack. Defying the executioner, they issued this warning: "Fire if you dare! But if you do, you will bring the powers of two great nations upon you!" There stood the condemned. But the rifleman would not shoot. Protected by those flags and the governments they represented, the man was invulnerable.
We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique-they are the gateway into life for us.
It was not death on the cross that Jesus agonized over in Gethsemane. In fact, He stated very emphatically that He came with the purpose of dying. His concern here was that He might not get through this struggle as the Son of Man. He was confident of getting through it as the Son of God-Satan could not touch Him there. But Satan’s assault was that our Lord would come through for us on His own solely as the Son of Man. If Jesus had done that, He could not have been our Savior (see Hebrews 9:11í15). Read the record of His agony in Gethsemane in light of His earlier wilderness temptation-". . . the devil . . . departed from Him until an opportune time" (Luke 4:13). In Gethsemane, Satan came back and was overthrown again. Satan’s final assault against our Lord as the Son of Man was in Gethsemane.
The agony in Gethsemane was the agony of the Son of God in fulfilling His destiny as the Savior of the world. The veil is pulled back here to reveal all that it cost Him to make it possible for us to become sons of God. His agony was the basis for the simplicity of our salvation. The Cross of Christ was a triumph for the Son of Man. It was not only a sign that our Lord had triumphed, but that He had triumphed to save the human race. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has been provided with a way of access into the very presence of God.
