So, let me close by asking you four questions,
just one sentence questions.
Number one:
Is the glory of God the highest treasure of your life
on the horizon of your future?
As you look into your future,
is the glory of God fully known, fully experienced, fully displayed in your life --
is that the biggest treasure on the horizon of your life?
The reason I put it like that is because of Romans 5:2
where Paul, I think, expresses the heart of a Christian like this:
"we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
How is your hope? What is your hope?
Your hope, if you're a spirit-transformed, Bible-shaped Christian,
would be to look into your future,
knowing all your utter failures right now...
You fail to see him as he is.
You fail to enjoy him as he is.
You fail to show him as he is.
We all do, right? We feel like absolute failures.
That's what we are compared to what we ought to be,
which is why the cross is so incredibly precious to us.
But we're looking. We're looking out there.
There's going to come a day when he prays for us
that we would see his glory and we would be able
to love it with the very love of the Father for the Son.
Oh, for a day when we will be done with sinning
and not fall short any more of seeing him as he is
and loving him for what he's worth.
That's my first question to you:
Is the glory of God the most precious treasure on the horizon of your future?
Second question:
Is the glory of grace the sweetest news for your guilt-ridden soul?
Is the glory of grace, God's grace, the sweetest news
for the guilt-ridden soul you brought in here tonight?
Just feeling like, "I know when he preaches I'm going to feel as guilty as can be."
Right? Me, too. Now what?
If that's all we did was to help people feel guilty
we would only do half the gospel, right?
He made the universe to get glory for grace.
Is it the sweetest sound and taste of your guilt-ridden soul?
Number three:
Is the glory of Christ in your life the present, personal embodiment of the grace of God?
I mean, do you know him? Do you love him? Is he close to you?
You talk to Him. You read the Bible, and he's talking to you.
When you pray you're talking through him to the Father.
He's a friend. "I'll be with you, I'll be with you to the end of the age."
Do you know him like that?
He wants to be known like that.
And, fourth:
Is the glory of the cross -- and you see what I'm doing now:
I'm moving from the glory of God, the glory of grace,
the glory of Christ, and now I'm ending with the glory of the cross --
Is the glory of the cross the saddest and happiest reality
in your life, your redeemed soul?
Eternity's not going to be unhappy. It's not!
But I do believe it's going to have a memory to it
that puts an exquisiteness on our pleasures
that could only come from a touch of sadness
that will not be sad.
You'll just have to work on that one.
I'm groping for the glory here which is going to be.
Those are my four questions.