Author: Sherry

We Beheld His Glory

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, salvation, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

…and we beheld His glory… – John 1:14

What is the word “Beheld?” It says not we heard of His glory, we read of it in prophecy, or we listened to it from the lips of others, but we beheld His glory. What a privilege was this, which was accorded to the first disciples! Have you not often envied them? To see the Man, the very Man, in whom God dwelt-to walk with Him as one’s companion along His journeys of mercy-to listen to the words as they stream all living from those eloquent lips-to look into His eyes, and mark the depth of love that glistened there-to see His face, even though it was more marred than that of any man… “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth”-to have had one’s faith encouraged by touching His very flesh, as He did of whom it is written, that he put his finger into the print of the nails and thrust his hand into His side. But what are we talking about? All this is carnal, all this is of sight, and the Christian is a nobler being than to live and walk by sight. He lives by faith; and to this day, brethren, there is a sight of Christ which can be had by faith; and therefore, we need not murmur because we are denied the privilege of sight. The sight of Christ it seems, did but little good to those who had it, not even to His disciples, for they were sorry dolts, even though He was the Master. It was only when the Spirit came down at Pentecost, that they began to know Christ, and to understand what He had said to them, though He himself had said it. And truly ’tis better to see Christ by faith than it is to see Him by sight, for a sight of Him by faith saves the soul; but we might see Him with the eye, and yet crucify Him, and be found amongst the greatest rebels against His government and power.

Now we say to you, have you beheld His glory by faith? Oh! ye have all of you heard of it. Ye may hear of His glory and perish in your sins. Oh! to behold His glory! This is soul work, saving work, blessed work, everlasting work: have ye any interest in it? ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0414.cfm

Do I perceive His glory?

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God, The Father, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

(and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. – John 1:14

We may say of those who beheld His glory, the favored people, that they were chosen of sovereign grace, that they were called effectually by the Holy Spirit, and that they were anointed by the same divine person. And to this day, brethren, it is the same. None believe in Christ but those who are His sheep; no man cometh unto Him except the Father who hath sent Him draws them, and none ever perceive Him but those whose eyes are opened by His own healing fingers. Let the question be passed round among us-Do I perceive His glory? Have I seen something of the splendor of God in the humble man of Nazareth? Have I learned to magnify Him in my soul, and have I desired to glorify Him in my life, as my God, my life, my love, my all in all, though once despised and rejected of men? If so, beloved-if we can say this from our heart, we are favored indeed, and especially favored if we remember how many there are who have never obtained this grace. Not many great men after the flesh see any glory in Christ; they find their glory in the clash of arms and in garments rolled in blood, but not in Him who is meek and lowly of heart, who gives rest to weary souls. Not many wise men have seen any glory in Christ; they find glory in philosophy; they can see glory in nature, but not in Him who is nobler than God’s creation, inasmuch as He is the only perfect one among the sons of men. They say they see something of glory in providence and yet fail to perceive anything wonderful in grace. Not many wise men are called. Oh! let us be astonished at the sovereignty of God, let us be filled with gratitude at His compassion; let us pray that if ere we know something of the glory we may know more of it day by day, and may set it forth among the sons of men, that they too may by-and-by perceive His glory, “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0414.cfm

A Favored People

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, Sovereignty of God 1 Comment

… (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) … – John 1:14

And who are these-the “we” to whom the apostle here refers? They were first of all an elect company, for Jesus said, “I know whom I have chosen;” “Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” He came unto His own, and His own received Him not; but they who did receive Him are described as men who were “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” The elect in Christ’s day, though they were but a small remnant, nevertheless did exist…There were twelves and seventies, and afterwards we read of three thousand, and then of many others who were added to the Church of such as should be saved. In Christ’s own day, however, the lines of manifest election seemed to be but very narrow, for there were but few that followed Him, and of those who followed Him it is said, many from that day went back and walked no more with Him; for His truth had sifted the mere professors, and reduced them but to a slender company who followed the Lamb whithersoever He went. The “we,” then, who “beheld Christ’s glory,” were a chosen company.

They were also a called company, for of many of them we read their special calls. Of John himself we read, that Jesus walked by the sea and “saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father and followed Him.” Of most of the apostles and immediate attendants upon Christ’s person we have a record of their divine and special call by Christ’s own voice; and in the case of those respecting whom there was no record preserved; yet was it, nevertheless, the fact, for He had called them as the shepherd calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them out. Indeed, in all of us who shall at any time perceive Christ’s glory, it must be because He has called us unto this special privilege as the result of His election of us thereunto…”Blessed art thou, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0414.cfm

Jesus

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You who are King of kings and Lord of lords, we worship You. Before Jehovah’s awful throne we bow with sacred joy.

Sermon Text

A Surpassing Excellence

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises, The Father Leave a comment

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. – John 1:14

The apostle points to a surpassing excellence in Christ the tabernacle, by which He wondrously excels that of the Jewish Church. “Full of grace and truth.” The Jewish tabernacle was rather full of law than full of grace. It is true there were in its rites and ceremonies, foreshadowings of grace, but still in repeated sacrifice there was renewed remembrance of sin, and a man had first to be obedient to the law of ceremonies, before he could have access to the tabernacle at all: but Christ is full of grace-not a little of it, but abundance of it is treasured up in Him. The tabernacle of old was not full of truth, but full of image, and shadow, and symbol, and picture; but Christ is full of substance; He is not the picture, but the reality; He is not the shadow, but the substance. Herein, O believer, do thou rejoice with joy unspeakable for thou comest unto Christ, the real tabernacle of God. Thou comest unto Him who is full of the glory of the Father; and thou comest unto One in whom thou hast not the representation of a grace which thou needest, but the grace itself-not the shadow of a truth ultimately to be revealed, but that very truth by which thy soul is accepted in the sight of God.

“All hail Immanuel, all divine
In Thee thy Father’s glories shine;
Thou brightest, sweetest, fairest one,
That eyes have seen or angels known.
O may I live to reach the place
Where He unveils His lovely face.
Where all His beauties saints behold,
And sing His name to harps of gold.”

~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0414.cfm

Access to God Through Christ

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, promises Leave a comment

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. – John 1:14

In the Jewish Church its greatest glory was that God tabernacled in its midst: not the tent of Moses, not the various pavilions of the princes of the twelve tribes, but the humble tabernacle in which God dwelt, was the boast of Israel. They had the King Himself in the midst of them, a present God in their midst…Here they met each other through the slaughter of the bullock and the lamb, and there was reconciliation between them twain. Now, Christ’s human flesh was God’s tabernacle, and it is in Christ that God meets with man, and in Christ that man hath dealings with God. The Jew of old went to God’s tent, in the center of the camp, if he would worship; we come to Christ if we would pay our homage. If the Jew would be released from ceremonial uncleanness, after he had performed the rites, he went up to the sanctuary of his God, that he might feel again that there was peace between God and his soul; and we, having been washed in the precious blood of Christ, have access with boldness unto God, even the Father through Christ, who is our tabernacle and the tabernacle of God among men.

The greatest glory of the tabernacle itself was the most holy place. In the most holy place there stood the ark of the covenant, bearing its golden lid called the mercy-seat. Over the mercy-seat stood the cherubim, whose wings met each other, and beneath the wings of the cherubim there was a bright light, known to the Hebrew believer by the name of the Shekinah. That light represented the presence of God…Jesus Christ was God’s tabernacle, and “we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” Jesus is not the tabernacle without the glory; He is not as the temple when the voice was heard with the rushing of winds before the siege of Jerusalem, crying, “Arise, let us go hence,” but it was a temple in which God Himself dwelt after a special manner; “for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon

https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/0414.cfm

The Way of God’s Mercy

Sherry Attributes of God, Character of Jesus, Christian Life, prayer, promises, salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Holy Spirit Leave a comment

“Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened.” – Isaiah 48:8

It is painful to remember that, in a certain degree, this accusation may be laid at the door of believers, who too often are in a measure spiritually insensible. We may well bewail ourselves that we do not hear the voice of God as we ought, “Yea, thou heardest not.” There are gentle motions of the Holy Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us: there are whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are alike unobserved by our leaden intellects. Alas! we have been carelessly ignorant–“Yea, thou knewest not.” There are matters within which we ought to have seen, corruptions which have made headway unnoticed; sweet affections which are being blighted like flowers in the frost, untended by us; glimpses of the divine face which might be perceived if we did not wall up the windows of our soul. But we “have not known.” As we think of it we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement. How must we adore the grace of God as we learn from the context that all this folly and ignorance, on our part, was foreknown by God, and, notwithstanding that foreknowledge, He yet has been pleased to deal with us in a way of mercy! Admire the marvellous sovereign grace which could have chosen us in the sight of all this! Wonder at the price that was paid for us when Christ knew what we should be! He who hung upon the cross foresaw us as unbelieving, backsliding, cold of heart, indifferent, careless, lax in prayer, and yet He said, “I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour … Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore, will I give men for thee, and people for thy life!” O redemption, how wondrously resplendent dost thou shine when we think how black we are! O Holy Spirit, give us henceforth the hearing ear, the understanding heart! ~ Charles Spurgeon

FB source: The Daily Spurgeon Group