Will you please turn to 2 Thessalonians 2:14; Colossians 1:27; 2 Corinthians 3:18; and Hebrews 2:10.
Whereunto He called you by our gospel, unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and through Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we are gathered together unto Thyself. We are all before Thee. What dost Thou want to say to us tonight? Speak; Thy servants hear. We do commit this time into Thy hands, and trust Thy Holy Spirit to do His work. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Thine is the glory. Glory belongs to God. God is a God of glory.
There is a part of His glory that He will never share with anybody. This is the glory of Him as God. In other words, there is only one God, One alone in the whole universe, and that glory He will not share or give to anybody.
If anyone dares to challenge that glory, to try to rob God of His glory as God, he will discover that God is a jealous God, and He is a consuming fire.
Therefore, when we come to this matter of glory—the glory of God—there is a large part of it which is really beyond not only our reach, but even our understanding. God is always a mystery to us, and because of this, it draws from us worship and adoration, acknowledging that He is God. He is high above all things.
But thank God, He is not only the God of glory; He is also the Father of glory. So you find that there is another part of His glory that He is most anxious to share with us.
He wants to share with us His divine life. He wants to share with us His image—that is, His character. And together with that, He wants to share with us all the outward expressions of glory and honor. This part of the glory of God is something that He wants all of us to have a share in.
Now we consider the second session: We Behold His Glory—that is, the glory of our Lord Jesus.
Again, we have to say that our Lord Jesus has two kinds of glory. One we call His essential glory. That is the glory that He shared with His Father before the world was.
Our Lord Jesus, being the second Person in the Trinity, shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit the glory that belongs to God alone. This is the glory that belongs to Him, and it is glory that He will not share with anybody.
But then we find that there is another part of His glory, which we may call given glory. Our Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that those who are with Me, they will behold My glory, which Thou hast given to Me; that where I am, they may also be, that they may see My glory.”
Brothers and sisters, this is that part of glory that we share together. Last time we saw that the glory of our Lord Jesus is the perfect representation of the Father.
There is no one—no man, no angel, no creation—there is nothing that represents God in such a perfect and full way as the incarnate Son. That is His glory, because when we see Him, we see God. We see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He lived as the perfect Man—the Man that God had in His mind when He created man. Christ is the perfect Man. There is in Him a moral glory.
As we mentioned last time, this moral glory cannot be veiled. He could veil His glory as the Son of God. He could veil His glory as the Son of David in His majestic glory. But His moral glory was something that could not be hidden.
When He lived on this earth, we beheld Him as the perfect Man. You find that three times heaven opened and said, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I have found My delight.”
The moral glory of our Lord Jesus was not only in His life; we find His death also was glorious. Even though the cross, from the human standpoint, was shame, reproach, and accursedness, from the Father’s point of view—and from the point of view of those who know Him—the cross is the place where His glory is manifested to the fullest.
That is the reason why you find the Apostle Paul saying that we glory in the cross of Jesus Christ.
After He had finished the work that the Father had committed to Him, He returned to the Father. Brothers and sisters, when He returned to the Father, actually He returned to a double glory: glory as the Son of God, and glory as the Son of Man.
Now there is a Man in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Almighty. And it is glory. Apostle John was given a glimpse of that glory in Revelation. You find the whole creation bursting out in praises, giving glory to the Lamb, Who is worthy to receive it.
Definitely, God has made Him heir of all things, and He is to execute God’s purpose, to bring all things under His feet. Then He will bring everything back to the Father. That is the glory of our Lord Jesus.
We also mentioned the glory of our Lord Jesus in His coming again. When He comes again, He shall come to judge the world and establish His kingdom upon this earth.
This evening we would like to share together concerning this matter of transformation from glory to glory. In the first session, we spoke about the glory of God. In the second session, we spoke about the glory of Christ, the Anointed One of God. Now this evening we would like to speak about our glory—the glory that God has provided for us.
We would like to go through a number of Scriptures, just to show that throughout the New Testament, this matter of the glory that God intends to give to us, and that God wants us to enter into, is a subject found everywhere. We would just like to mention a few examples.
For instance, Romans 8:29-30:
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren:
and whom He foreordained, them He also called:
and whom He called, them He also justified:
and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
Some people may find some problem with verse 29, but I find verse 29 to be the most assuring verse. Here you find God: whom He has foreknown. God is a God of wisdom. He knows everything from the beginning to the very end, because with God there is no time factor involved.
So whom He has foreknown, He has predestinated. I love predestination. What does He predestinate? He predestinated that those whom He has foreknown should be conformed to the image of His beloved Son.
Now, brothers and sisters, there is nothing more glorious than this. It is the will of God that those whom He has foreknown, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son—that is to say, to be characterized by the character of His Son, or, to put it another way, to be like His Son in character.
That His Son may be the firstborn among many brethren. His Son was the only begotten of the Father, but because of His great love for His Son, He wants to give many brethren to His Son.
But where can He get these many brethren unless there are those who are conformed to the image of His beloved Son? And that is predestination.
Sometimes, when we speak about predestination, we say, “You are predestinated to go to heaven, and he is predestinated to go to hell. He is predestinated to be saved, and the other one is predestinated to be lost.” Now, if that is the case, what is the use of preaching the gospel? If he is predestinated to be lost, he will be lost.
Brothers and sisters, that is not predestination. That is the human concept of predestination. God is such a great God; He is such a glorious God. Therefore, what He predestinates must be something tremendously glorious.
He has predestinated that there will be those who will be conformed to the image of His beloved Son, and they are not ashamed to be the brethren of His only begotten Son.
Now, how is it to be done? In verse 30 He says, “Whom He has predestinated, these also He has called.” If you want to know whether you are predestinated, it is very easy to find out: are you called?
If you are called, you know you are predestinated. And whom He has called, He has justified. Are you justified? Our brother in the afternoon has gone through Romans 3 through 8 and has told us about justification.
Whom God has predestinated, He has called; and whom He has called, He has justified. But is that the end of it? If only to be justified, and that is it, how can verse 29 be fulfilled? To be justified is not to be completed. It is just the beginning.
So here you find, whom He has justified, He has glorified. Now, brothers and sisters, what is the meaning of being glorified? The meaning of being glorified is explained in the preceding verse: to be conformed to the image of His Son. That is being glorified.
We say that glory belongs to God: “Thine is the glory.” Only that which God has given is glory. Only that which is of God is glory. That is why, when you are conformed to the image of God’s Son, you are glorified. There is glory there. Other than that, you do not have any glory.
Another verse that we use sometimes is 1 Corinthians 2:7.
But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory.
In the first part of 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 through 5, Paul says, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
Here you find the Apostle Paul telling the Corinthian believers, “Before I came, I had determined that when I came into your midst, I would know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Why? Because the city of Corinth at that time was a city of culture.
The people there loved to talk about theories, ideals, and philosophies. They loved to speculate about these things. Paul understood that what they needed was Jesus Christ and Him crucified—not in word only, but in the power of God—so that their lives could be transformed.
Some people think that Paul knew nothing else, that all he knew was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. But from verse 6 he says, “Among the perfect we speak wisdom”—but wisdom not of this world, wisdom that the rulers of this world do not know.
The wisdom of this world is carnal and devilish. Only the wisdom that is from above is pure. Paul said, “When I came to you, I only told you Jesus Christ and Him crucified because this is the foundation.”
Without that foundation, if you try to talk about wisdom, it is just speculation. It does not do you any good. If you really receive Jesus Christ, if you really come to know Him crucified, if you really know the cross of our Lord Jesus, you have the solid foundation.
Then we will build on it. We will tell you about the wisdom that has been hidden throughout the ages. There is a mystery—a mystery hidden in God. A mystery is a secret. God has a secret, and He keeps that secret in Himself.
You know, when you have a secret that is so wonderful, probably you will not be able to keep it for a day. But our God knows how to keep secrets. He kept a secret for centuries.
Before He created, He already had that mystery and secret in His mind and in His heart. But He kept this secret and mystery hidden throughout the ages. He did not reveal it to anybody, not even to those in Old Testament times.
But one day the secret was revealed. And when that secret was revealed, you begin to see what that secret is: “which God has predetermined before the ages for our glory.”
Our glory is not something that comes by accident or by chance. Our glory is something that God has predetermined before the ages. Now, is that not wonderful? God, because of His love, has predetermined before the ages for our glory.
Another verse is Ephesians 1:18:
Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints? When Paul was illuminated by the Spirit of God, he saw something so wonderful and so glorious that he did not have words to explain it. He said, “What? The riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” He does not describe it. He only says, “What?” It is beyond description.
Strictly speaking, this does not refer primarily to our glory or our inheritance. That is secondary. Primarily, this refers to the glory of His inheritance.
We know that one day we shall inherit. We will be co-heirs with Christ. Thank God for that. And that inheritance is rich and glorious. That is true. But what this verse tells us is the riches of the glory of His inheritance—in other words, what God has inherited.
What He has inherited is the saints. We are His inheritance. Now, brothers and sisters, what kind of inheritance are we to God?
When we think of the inheritance that God has prepared for us, it is the land flowing with milk and honey. But if you think of the inheritance that God would inherit in us, what can you give to God? Yet the Scripture says, “What the riches of the glory of His inheritance.”
It means that we who are the saints—now, by “saints” it simply means that we are called. It does not mean that you are canonized. It simply means that you are saved. Even in the letter to the Corinthians, you find saints, all saints—not called saints, but saints.
If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are a saint, because there is a holy life in you. Here you find the power, as our brother has mentioned: the exceeding greatness of the power that worked in Christ now works in us, to transform us so that, when God inherits us, He has a rich inheritance, a glorious inheritance. Think of that.
Colossians 1:27:
To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Again, you find here the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. We Gentiles had no part in God—no God, no hope, outside of the covenant. Yet there is a mystery among the Gentiles. God has a mystery for the Gentiles.
That mystery has the riches of glory. It is glory, and it is riches—the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. What is it? Christ in you, the hope of glory. That is the mystery.
1 Thessalonians 2:12:
To the end that ye should walk worthily of God, Who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory.
Brothers and sisters, this is what we are called to. When we are called, what are we called to? We are called into His kingdom and glory.
2 Thessalonians 2:14 says:
Whereunto He called you by our gospel, unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are called by the gospel. It is the gospel that calls us, and the gospel calls us to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is His glory, but He shares His glory with us. This is what we are called into.
Hebrews 2:10 says that it became Him, for Whom are all things and through Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings.
1 Peter 1:7 says:
That the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
As our brother has said, glory is proved by testing and trial. We are called to glory, but we have to be tested and proved. The result will be praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ—that is, when our Lord Jesus returns.
Then 1 Peter 1:8-9:
Whom not having seen ye love; on Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Brothers and sisters, we have not seen the Lord with our physical eyes. But even so, we love Him because with our spiritual eyes we have already beheld His glory.
Even though we are not looking, but believing, we are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Just the very thought of our Lord Jesus fills our hearts with joy and glory, even in times of trials and tears.
Then 1 Peter 4:14:
If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you.
On their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified. Even if you are reproached in the name of the Lord Jesus, you are blessed. There is a glory upon you. You are glorified.
And 2 Peter 1:3 says:
Seeing that His divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that called us by His own glory and virtue.
God calls us by virtue and by glory. In other words, He calls us according to His glory.
Having read all these verses, I wonder whether we can still think that, if only we have our sins forgiven, if only we escape the fire, or if only we can go to heaven, we are satisfied.
Lots of people think that this is salvation. As our brother mentioned in the afternoon, lots of people think that salvation is nothing more than having our sins forgiven and receiving eternal life.
To them, eternal life means that you have an insurance policy: after you die, you can cash it, and you can go to heaven. And that is salvation. That is your calling.
Brothers and sisters, if you are satisfied with that, our Lord is not satisfied. Our God is such a great God. When He provides salvation for us, He has glory in view.
What He desires is that He will call a people out of every nation, every tribe, every tongue, and He will give them glory. He will glorify them so that they may glorify God.
Salvation has glory in view—not just barely being saved, but entering into the eternal kingdom abundantly so that God will be glorified.
Do you think God will be glorified if you are merely saved? As some people say, “If only my two legs are within the gate of heaven, that is enough for me.” But will that glorify God? That is not God’s purpose. That is not like God.
Brothers and sisters, do remember this: what God desires for every one of us whom He has called is that we should be glorified.
Now, are we being glorified? How can we be glorified? What is the way to it? This is something we want to consider together before the Lord tonight.
There is no problem, no doubt, with what God has ordained for us: it is glory. But how are we going to enter into that glory? Or how will we be glorified?
The secret is in Colossians 1:27: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
When God created man, He had glory in view. He created man according to His image, after His own likeness.
In other words, what God had in view when He created man was to make man a vessel, capable of receiving Him and His own life, that man might be joined to His beloved Son.
Why did God create man? Why did God create me? If our understanding of the Scripture is correct, we find that in the first creation it does not seem that God created man such as we are. In the first creation, it seems that the highest creation was the angels, those celestial beings.
But after the rebellion of the archangel, this earth entered into judgment. Then we find in Genesis 1 that God’s Spirit brooded over the face of the deep. It is a picture of the love of God—the warm love of God—brooding over the ruins, cursed and corrupted, and bringing it back into a habitable place.
It was not until the sixth day, in the final and highest act of His creation, that God created man. God created man altogether differently, because when He created the other creatures, it does not say that He created them in His image. Only when He created man did He create man in His image.
Why? Because God loved His beloved Son. He said, “It is not good for Him to be alone. I will give Him a helpmeet.” He needs companions. He needs brethren.
Because of this, God created man. When God created man, He had glory in view: to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
But unfortunately, you find that the first Adam, the first man, rejected the tree of life—the way into union in life with God. Instead, he wanted to develop his own self.
The result was the fall. We all know about it. Do you notice that when man sinned, suddenly both Adam and Eve discovered that they were naked?
Why did they not see that they were naked before? They discovered themselves as naked and shameful. They needed to be covered, and they tried to put fig leaves together to cover their nakedness.
I do not know—this is not Scripture, so you may take it or leave it. But the Scripture, you have to take; you cannot leave it.
I wonder whether, when God created all these living things, God clothed them with clothing. When it is cold, they do not need to put on a jacket. God has already clothed them.
Can you imagine that when God created man, He did not clothe him? I have a feeling that when God created man, man was a glorious being. There was a glory around him. That was God’s glory resting upon humanity. There was glory there.
You did not need other clothing because there was glory there. The glory was their clothing, as God Himself is clothed with glory.
But when man sinned, the glory disappeared; it vanished, and man appeared naked. Sin is the flesh appearing naked, shameful. Wherever the flesh appears, there is no glory—only shame and nakedness.
So I wonder whether that is what happened. God had to clothe them with the skin of a slain animal, which is a type of Christ. We have to be clothed with Christ. If we are not clothed with Christ, we are naked. We cannot appear before God. We are shameful.
Brothers and sisters, man lost his hope of glory. Sin entered through our forefather, and the whole human race fell in Adam. In Adam all died. There is no hope of glory. Dead in sin is shameful.
Because of this, people in this world refuse to accept the judgment and standard of God. Because of sin, they are naked before God. Man tries to gain glory for himself in wealth, position, power, authority, and all these things.
They think that these things become their glory and cover their nakedness. But brothers and sisters, these things are vain glory. They are adulteration. They pass away. They do not come from God.
Only that which comes from God is glory. Anything that you are able to attain without finding its source in God, remember, brothers and sisters, is not glory. It is shame.
Man lost the hope of glory. But thank God, one day God, in His great love, sent His only begotten Son into this wicked world.
The Word became flesh, and He lived among us, full of grace and truth. He was tested. He was tempted in all things, yet without sin. He was the one Man who obeyed God all the time, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
In this second Man, hope comes. Our Lord Jesus not only proved Himself to be the perfect Man, and revealed the glory of the Son of Man, but now He is in heaven. A Man is in glory now because He has earned it. Thank God.
In Christ all are made alive. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we come into union with Christ, and Christ comes into us. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Do you have Christ in you? All who believe in the Lord Jesus have Christ in them. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that we are of God in Christ Jesus.
When you believe in the Lord Jesus, the word “believe” means believing into. When you believe into the Lord Jesus, you are in Christ, and Christ is in you. Christ in you is the hope of glory. This is the foundation of glory.
Do not at any time think that aside from Christ in you, there is any hope for glory. Your only hope of glory is in Christ.
It is not in your flesh. No matter how you adorn it, dress it, comb it, or perfume it, it is death. It is naked. It is ugly. It is shameful. It has to be buried, hidden from sight.
We need to have a very clear understanding. God’s purpose for us is glory. But where can we find that glory? How are we going to attain it? It is only through Christ Jesus: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
But Christ is in you—He is in you. There is hope. But how does this hope become perfect? How is that hope translated into reality? The seed is there. How is the seed to grow into maturity, that we may be conformed to the image of Christ?
Let me use an illustration. You remember the type of the temple. You have the outer court, then the sanctuary—the holy place—and behind the holy place, the holiest of all.
People could come to the outer court. The priests could enter into the holy place. But only the high priest, once a year, with blood and the smoke of incense, could enter behind the veil to make atonement for the nation.
In other words, the way to the holiest was not yet open, as the book of Hebrews says.
In the holiest of all there was the ark, with the mercy seat and the cherubim, and the glory of God dwelt there. God dwelt in the holiest of all upon the mercy seat, and Christ is the mercy seat.
He is the One Who covers the ark. In the ark were the two tables of the commandments. In other words, He is the only One Who fulfilled the law of God. On the basis of righteousness, God can be merciful to us, and there God would meet us.
His glory rested upon the mercy seat. Because of this, no one could enter into the holiest of all. Anyone who dared to do that would be smitten to death. Even the two sons of Aaron, when they tried to offer incense with strange fire, were burned to death. God is a holy God. No one can see God.
You remember that when our Lord Jesus died on Calvary’s cross, something happened. It is recorded that when our Lord Jesus on the cross said, “It is finished,” and bowed His head and committed His spirit to the Father, He was outside Jerusalem.
But within the city, in the temple, the veil that separated the holy place from the holiest of all was torn from top to bottom in two.
Unfortunately, at that time the temple was empty. There was no ark, no mercy seat, no glory of God. It was empty. But typologically it shows that God dwells in the holiest of all, and only in the holiest of all. No one can really see Him.
But when the veil is rent, what happens? The glory of God in the holiest place shines forth and fills the whole house.
You remember in Hebrews 10, the writer says that we can approach the throne of God, the throne of grace, the holiest of all, with holy boldness. Why? Because of the blood of our Lord Jesus.
And because of the veil that is rent—the veil which is His flesh—a new and living way has been dedicated to us. Through the veil being rent, which is His flesh, we can enter into the holiest of all.
When our Lord Jesus was on the cross, when He was rent on the cross, the veil was rent. Hebrews says that because it is rent, we can enter into the holiest of all—not only enter into the holy place, but even dwell there. In other words, we dwell in the presence of God through our Lord Jesus.
Put it another way: the glory of God has come out and filled the whole house.
Here is my body. Within the body is my soul—my personality, me, my thoughts, my emotion, my will, my volition. But within the soul there is our spirit.
God created us with spirit, soul, and body: our body to communicate with the physical world around us; our soul to communicate with ourselves; and our spirit to communicate with God.
When God created us, He breathed His breath into the nostrils of Adam. But because Adam sinned, God had said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Physically, Adam lived for hundreds of years longer than all of us. Historically, he lived on and gave birth to sons and daughters, had a family, and became a farmer. But on the day that he ate the forbidden fruit, his spirit died.
It does not mean that he no longer had the spirit as an organ. It means that that spirit had lost its function. It could not communicate with God’s Spirit anymore.
There was a cessation of communication with its proper environment. The proper environment of our spirit is God. But the communication was cut. That is death in sins and transgressions.
This is the reason why we need to be born again—born from above. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” What does it mean? It means that the human spirit is made new by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes into our dead spirit and quickens it into life, making it new. Communication with God is renewed. Then we cry out, “Abba, Father.”
Thank God, the Holy Spirit has come and dwells in our spirit. He has found a resting place. Here you find Christ in you. The holiest of all is in you. Christ is in you. The Father is in you, because the Lord Jesus said, “We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.”
The Triune God has come and taken up His dwelling place in our spirit. Oh, brothers and sisters, the glory of God fills within us. There is glory within us. Do you know that? Do you understand that?
When you first believed in the Lord Jesus, did you not have peace and unspeakable joy deep down within you? You did not mind what happened to you at that time. Nothing could take away that glory within you. Is that not true?
Remember, the seed of glory is there in you.
But unfortunately, there is a veil. There is a veil there, and the veil is our flesh.
Because our flesh is still not rent, the glory is confined. Our Lord Jesus—His body was rent, His flesh was rent—and He opened for us a new and living way. He opened a way for us, and it is a way dedicated to us. We have to go the same way.
If you do not go that way, the glory of God will be confined and imprisoned in your spirit. It will not be able to shine forth and transform you from glory to glory according to His image.
So our problem is this: why is the work of transformation not going on? What is transformation?
To put it in a very simple way, transformation is done in our soul. Our spirit has already been reborn, and the glory of God is already there: Christ in you, the hope of glory.
But Christ has to come out and dwell in your heart. Christ has to fill your soul, so that your emotion expresses the emotion of Christ, not merely your emotion; so that your thought does not express you, but expresses Christ—the mind of Christ in you.
Even your will should not express your own will, but your will should be so surrendered to God that it expresses His will. That is transformation. That is transforming you from glory to glory.
Brothers and sisters, this is a work that goes on from the moment you are born again. To be born again is not the end of your Christian life. It is the beginning. The seed is there; now it needs to grow.
How can the life of Christ fill your soul? There is only one way: your flesh—that is, what is not of the Spirit—has to be dealt with.
When you come to Genesis 6, you find God saying, “Man has become flesh. My Spirit shall not strive with man for ever.” Brothers and sisters, spiritually speaking, even though we have Christ in us, we still try to live by our old, natural life.
That is the veil that imprisons the glory of Christ from shining into our soul. Our Lord Jesus wants to fill Himself within us. Oh, how He wants to glorify us! But He cannot, because our flesh is so strong.
The outward man has to be broken for the inward man to come forth. What is our outward man? Basically, our soul, our self-life: me, my thought, my will, my desire. “This is what I want. This is what I like. I do not agree with you. This is my opinion. This is my right.”
Brothers and sisters, that flesh has to be rent. For the flesh to be rent is painful. Suffering is involved.
Sometimes people say, “We Christians in this country have such a good environment. We do not suffer. We find people in other countries, oh, how they suffer for the Lord’s sake! But we do not suffer. And because we do not suffer, we do not grow.”
Some people even pray that God will send some sufferings to this country. But brothers and sisters, remember one thing: those outward sufferings are nothing when compared to the rending of the flesh. It tears you apart. You do not like it.
No one does not love his own body, his own flesh. We want to hold on to ourselves, even though we want Christ to fill us. Yet we hold on to ourselves. You cannot have both.
The earthen vessel has to be cracked and broken for the radiance of the treasure within to shine forth.
The cross has to do its work in our lives. Oh, brothers and sisters, the cross is not just an objective cross that was erected on that little hill outside Jerusalem two thousand years ago when Christ was crucified.
Thank God, that cross is the foundation, the power, and the salvation for us to take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him. Without the cross, we would not have that power. We would not have that basis even to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. We cannot do it.
His cross bears us so that we may bear our cross. But remember, that cross has to be implanted within us—not just outside for you to look at, but implanted within you.
The veil has to be rent. The way has been opened. The Lord has opened it, and it is dedicated for us. Are we willing to go through it? Are you willing to have your outward man broken?
Paul said, “Our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day.” When we think of the light affliction that we are going through to obtain the eternal weight of glory, that is nothing.
Dear brothers and sisters, to be glorified is the will of God. But we need to take up that cross. We need to allow the cross to work in our lives.
Put it this way: the measure of the brokenness of the outward man will be the measure, or degree, of being glorified. How much you are conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son depends upon how much you are willing to let your outward man be broken.
In 2 Corinthians 3:
But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.
Here you find that we are all looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face. That unveiled face is nothing but a heart that is turned to the Lord.
If you read the preceding verses, you find:
But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil lieth upon their heart.
But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Dear brothers and sisters, in this process of transformation, our heart has much to do with it.
When we speak of our heart, we are not talking about the physical heart. The physical heart is the center of our physical being, but we are speaking about the spiritual heart. It is the center of our spiritual being.
In Proverbs it says, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Everything comes from the heart, goes into the heart. So our heart is very important.
But unfortunately, we do not know our heart. Our heart is deceitful above all things; who knows it? You do not know it. Other people do not know it. Nobody knows it, but God knows it.
Therefore, the important thing in this process of transformation is that we need to turn our heart to the Lord.
Just like the psalmist said, “Examine me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me.” How daily we need to turn our heart to the Lord.
The heart is the place of love and affection. How we need to turn our heart to the Lord. As we turn our heart to the Lord, we see Him. We see the glory of the Lord.
Do you know what happens? Then you see all the ugliness in your heart. You do not see your ugliness if you are in darkness.
But when you turn your heart to the Lord and look at the glory of the Lord—oh, how glorious He is in His character!—immediately you see your own corruption. You find that your flesh is all corrupted. Your best thoughts need to be washed by the blood.
As John Berridge said, even our tears need to be washed with the blood. Brothers and sisters, that is the way to glory.
We have a responsibility. Our responsibility is to turn our hearts to the Lord. As we turn our hearts to the Lord, light shines upon our heart and discloses all that is there. It is only then that you desire to see your flesh broken.
But remember, this is not your work. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Transformation is not your work. Only the Holy Spirit can transform you. Only the Holy Spirit can conform you to the image of Christ.
He is the power of God. He will make everything that Christ has accomplished on the cross real and living to you. He is the Spirit of glory. He does the work.
So it is by the Lord the Spirit, not by you. But what you do is this: you need to turn your heart to Him and love Him.
He will shine upon you. The glory of the Lord will shine upon your heart and reveal all the ugliness and hidden things in your heart. Then you will abhor yourself.
And you will hope—how you will long—that this flesh will die and be delivered to death. Who will do it? The Holy Spirit will do it. He will do it.
On the one hand, He will raise the veil upon your heart. On the other hand, He will fill your heart with Christ.
That is the reason why Paul, in his second prayer in the letter to the Ephesians, said:
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man;
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;
to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God.
It all begins in the heart. There you find the veil rent, and the glory of the Lord fills us all. And it touches the body too.
One day, when He shall return, in Philippians 3 you find:
Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself.
This is the time when we receive our full sonship. Oh, brothers and sisters, this is the purpose of God concerning you. This is what Christ has done for you. This is something that the Holy Spirit is eager to work into your life. Will we cooperate?
Now we are only touching one area of our glory. There is another area. Our glory is both inward and outward.
If you read the Word of God, you find that there is a glory that God has prepared for His people. There is a glory into which our Lord Jesus will lead many sons. There is a glory that is still in the future.
There is a realm called glory. But brothers and sisters, before you can enter into that glory, glory has to enter into you first.
Unless you are glorified, you are not able to enter into glory. Why? Because you cannot stand it.
As people say, if a person is not saved and goes to heaven, he will feel so uncomfortable. There is no casino, no theater, no dancing hall, and all these things. He wants to get out quickly.
Brothers and sisters, today is the time of being transformed. The Holy Spirit is doing this work today. Christ in you, the hope of glory. He will transform you from glory to glory according to His image, by the Lord the Spirit.
When this work goes on until the time He comes, even this physical body—the body of humiliation, so weak and so open to sickness and death—will be changed into the body of glory.
Then we will be co-heirs with Christ. The Bible uses many different ways to express the glory that is waiting for us, the glory prepared and ready for us.
There is inheritance. What we experience today is just a pledge, a little foretaste, but there is a full inheritance before us. There is the kingdom, the eternal kingdom; the crown of life; the marriage feast; the joy of the Lord; and that eternal union with Christ in God.
Oh, brothers and sisters, glory belongs to God, but He wants us to share all the glory that we can share with His beloved Son.
Do you not think that because of this, how we need to pursue after the Lord? Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, what dost Thou see in us that even before the foundation of the world Thou hast predetermined that we should enter into glory?
Oh Lord, how we praise and thank Thee that for this Thou wert willing to come into this wretched world and die for us, redeem us, that we may be justified and even glorified.
Oh Holy Spirit of God, how we pray, praise, and thank Thee that Thou dost dwell in us today. However much we may grieve Thee, Thou wilt not leave us until Thy work is done. Thou wilt bring us to glory.
Oh, how we pray. Indeed, we worship Thee. May Thy love touch our hearts, that we may not be complacent or careless. Oh Lord, we want to follow Thee all the way, from Calvary to glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.