The Glory of God In Resurrection # 2

The Glory of God In Resurrection # 2

When we come to the sense of the weakness and futility and worthlessness of the natural life as before God and hate it, and are horrified at the thought of it being exposed at all, we do not want it to be seen, oh, how different this is from so many who display the flesh, even in the service of God. It is themselves you are meeting all the time in the work of the Lord. They like to wear labels, their office written in large letters on the label, displaying themselves in the work of the Lord; "I am So-and-so and this and that!" Even if they do not wear a label, you can read it. What you meet is the natural man, his love of prominence and love of being seen and heard, known; rushing about with bundles of papers under his arm, so official. That never can result in the glory of God; that, or any other form of the flesh, does not bring glory to God. It is taking glory FROM God to the flesh. However, when we have been bought very low, to shrink from the very thought of that, of any flesh coming into view, taking the attitude that they took at the tomb, "Lord, don't you uncover that, it is too awful to contemplate now!" that is a very good position, because, once we have got there, there is the possibility of seeing the glory of God.

The Sovereignty of God Working for the Glory of God

Now, as our time has practically gone, the only other thing that I must say is this - the element, the feature, of sovereignty in all this for the glory of God; how the sovereignty of God is working for the glory of God. Take the man lame,for instance. Well, he had been thee many years and the story would imply that others had been there and got healed, but every time he lost the chance, and still he was kept there all those years, "and when Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been now a long time in that state..." Why? Was it an accident? The man might say, "Oh, how unfortunate I have been!" He might have spoken as men of the world speak today - "How unlucky I am! When there is healing going and the waters are disturbed, others get the good. I miss it every time; what an unlucky man I am! Somehow or other, I must be the one left every time!" Was it chance, misfortune, bad luck, anything like that?

Again pass to chapter 9, the man born blind, the inquiry: "Who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should be born blind?" The man might have said, "How unfortunate I am! I, among thousands, an born blind, I am the unlucky one, mine is an unfortunate lot, destiny has played a hard trick with me!"

Pass on to Lazarus. He is sick, desperately sick, and either Lazarus,or his sisters, or both, might have said, "What a misfortune, how unfortunate! We do have to suffer, others do not suffer like this, a lot of people escape, but we here are the unfortunate ones, the ones who seem to catch what is going every time".

And the Lord's reaction every time is, "Oh no, it is not like that, this thing has been in hand from the beginning, the Father and I have had it in hand!" Strange as it may seem, this man lying there was not there by accident, and did not miss the opportunities because he was unlucky. The Lord saw to it that he did not get them. The Lord had that matter in hand. The man born blind - it was not an accident of birth. The Lord had the matter in hand - that the works of God might be shown in him. Lazarus - oh, it was not just that he was caught and overtaken by some sickness, that they were the unfortunate family. No, "this sickness is not unto death but for the glory of God". God has it in hand.

The thing that I do want to say is just this: that if we are called into the sphere of the works of God, that is, into the way of the glory of God, we are going to be made the sermon, we are not going to preach a sermon. It will not just be that we are preaching the truth. We are going to be made that, and what happens in our lives under the hand of God will preach far louder than any words of ours. The Lord is going to make us living epistles and going to take hold of our lives and do those things in our lives which make it necessary for the power of His resurrection to be seen. And then, not by the teaching that we give, but because that truth, the doctrine, has been made a living thing in us in the power of God, others are able to look on and say, "Well, that one is the embodiment of the truth!" and that matters far more than all the addresses and discourses that could be given; that is far more powerful. "Now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might e made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God" (Eph. 3:10) that is, by the things through which we go.

That is a challenge, of course. It is not a pleasant thing. You would far sooner go to a Bible College and go and preach to the heathen than to present your body a living sacrifice to God and let Him take you down again and again into situations where the miracle of resurrection is necessary in order to preach through  you like that. But that is the thing that counts, that matters. I am not always sure that a great deal of glory comes to God by the things of the Lord preached, but I am positive that a great deal of glory comes to God when the thing is done in a life and the work of God is resurrection, the work of God leads to His glory.  That is a difficult way, a painful way, no way which you or I would covet for ourselves and rush after, but nevertheless it is the way of Divine glory. And when we think again of being in the work of the Lord, do not let us think about taking so many meetings and organizing so much activity, let us think rather, the work of God is this: raising the dead to get glory to Himself. There is no place and way and sphere in which more glory comes to God in resurrection. I do like the apostolic rejoinder, "You crucified Him, hanging Him upon a tree, but God raised Him" - you went as far as you could, you determined that should be the end, but God raised Him, and the laughter of God comes in there, the laughter of all heavenly intelligences comes in with "But God!"

Well, may the Lord give us to see His glory as in what He does in resurrection.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(The End)

[I have been using T. Austin-Sparks for many years, and, from time to time, let readers know that his ministry writings are not copyrighted. T. Austin-Sparks always, always said that God freely gave him his Christian knowledge and so, T. Austin-Sparks desired to "FREELY give His divine knowledge to everyone. Any book with his writings, published by various publishers, can only have the front page, title page, publishers name, and publication date - all can be copyrighted except for T. Austin's writings. I give you below the "official" wording as to what the T. Austin-Sparks foundation allows.]

[In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks wishes that what was freely received should be freely given and not sold for profit, and that his messages be reproduced word for word, we ask if you choose to share these messages with others, to please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of any changes, free of any charge except necessary distribution costs and with this statement included.]