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THE HOPE OF GLORY
A. Introduction: We live in a broken world and face constant challenges, from minor to major. There’s no
such thing as a problem free life in this sin damaged world—even if you do everything right. John 16:33
1. The emphasis in the Bible is on deliverance in the midst of troubles through changing your perspective,
rather than deliverance out of trouble. To deal with life’s hardships, we need an eternal perspective.
a. An eternal perspective recognizes that there is more to life than just this life, and that everything in
this life is temporary. We’re only passing through this world in its present form, and the greater
and better part of life is in the life to come, and God will get us through until He gets us out.
b. Paul the apostle, an eyewitness of Jesus, faced many hardships as preached Jesus throughout the
Roman world. He had an eternal perspective and made a statement that inspired our recent lessons.
1. II Cor 4:17-18—For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they
produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever (NLT). What can be seen
lasts only for a time; but what cannot be seen lasts forever (Good News Bible); (So) we keep
our minds on things that cannot be seen (CEV).
2. Keeping his attention focused on glory enabled Paul to see his many troubles as momentary and
light in comparison to that glory. And, this perspective lightened the load of his hardships.
This perspective gave him hope.
2. We’re talking about what glory means so we can learn to keep our focus on that glory and be lifted up in
the midst of our troubles. The Bible uses the word glory in several ways, and we are focusing on two.
a. Glory is used in connection with Almighty God. God is a glorious Being who does glorious things.
He is by nature glorious—splendid, magnificent, beautiful. He is the King of Glory. Ps 24:9-10
b. Glory is also used in connection with the salvation that God provides for us through Jesus in this life
and the life to come. We have more to say about glory tonight.
B. To appreciate what glory means we must start with the big picture. We part of an eternal plan, a plan that
began before the earth was created and will outlast this life—God’s plan for a family. Eph 1:4-5
1. God created human beings for a position of glory—to become His sons and daughters through faith in
Him, and then live in loving relationship with Him as we reflect His glory to the world around us.
a. God made us in His image and likeness, to be His imagers. He gave us the capacity to receive Him
into our being—His Spirit, His uncreated, eternal life, His glory. Gen 1:26; Ps 8:4-5; Matt 5:16; etc.
b. Men and woman have chosen independence from God through sin. As a result, we are cut off from
God and disqualified us for our created purpose. We fell from glory. Rom 3:23
1. Jesus came into this world to die as a sacrifice for sin and open the way for all who believe in
and on Him to be restored to glory as sons and daughters of God who reflect His glory.
2. Heb 2:9-10—Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone in the world. And it was
only right that God who made everything and for whom everything was made—should bring
his many children into glory. Through the suffering of Jesus, God made him a perfect leader,
one fit to bring them into their salvation (NLT).
2. To fully appreciate what it means that you are being brought or restored to glory, you must know that you
matter to God. You exist because God wants you. He brought you into being. You are part of His
eternal plan for a family. You have value, purpose, and hope.
a. When God created Adam, He made a son, and a race of sons in Adam. The entire human race was
in Adam when he was created. We didn’t exist yet, but our DNA goes back to Adam, the man God
created before sin, before he (and we in him) fell from glory.
b. God, who is All-Knowing (Omniscient), knows a perfect you, a you before sin. God told the
prophet Jeremiah: I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb (Jer 1:4-5, NLT).
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Israel’s King David wrote: You are the one who put me together inside my mother’s womb…With
your own eyes you saw my body being formed. Even before I was born, you had written in your
book everything I would do (Ps 139:13-16, NLT).
1. Yes, we inherited corruption from Adam and Eve, and that corruption expresses itself in a bent
toward selfishness. We all go our own way and put ourselves above God and others. Isa 53:6
2. But Jesus died to restore us, the me and you that were created in our mother’s womb at the
moment of conception, and He breathed into us the breath of life.
3. Last week we considered a parable (short story) that Jesus told when people criticized Him for eating and
drinking with sinners. In response, Jesus talked about a shepherd who lost a sheep, went looking for the
sheep, and searched diligently until he found it. Then he rejoiced with his friends. Luke 15:1-7
a. Jesus also talked about a woman who lost a coin and searched her house from top to bottom until she
found the lost coin. She too rejoiced with her friends (Luke 15:8-10). In both parables Jesus said
that this is how Heaven responds when a lost sinner repents and returns to God—with great joy.
b. Jesus told a third parable about a lost son (the prodigal son). But in this parable, the emphasis
changed to what happens once a lost son (a repentant sinner) comes home. Luke 15:11-32
1. A brief summary of the story: A rich man had two sons. The younger son took his
inheritance, left home, and went to a far away country. There he spent all his money on wild,
sinful living. When a famine struck the land, the son ended up feeding pigs in a pigpen.
A. The young man came to his senses (woke up to his condition). He realized that he had
sinned against Heaven and against his father and decided to go back to His father’s house.
B. His father saw him coming and, filled with love and compassion, he ran to meet his son.
The father embraced and kissed this dirty, stinky son who was fresh from the pigpen.
C. The father welcomed his son back, and then cleansed and restored him to the position and
relationship he had before he left his father’s house.
2. This story is loaded with details that had great cultural meaning to the people Jesus originally
told it to (deserves another lesson). But for now, note these points.
A. The son said to his father: Father, I have sinned against God’s heaven and you. And I am
not worthy to be called your son (Luke 15:21, NLT).
1. The father did not mention the son’s sin. There was no need to talk about it because
the father knew his son was sorry. Instead the father called for servants to bring fresh
clothing (a robe) for the son. Jesus’ audience would have been familiar with an
account in Zech 3:1-5 where a change of clothes meant removal of sin.
2. The son was given a ring which signified restoration to his rightful place in his father’s
house, and a pair of shoes. (Only slaves and prisoners went shoeless). Then the
father held a joyful party to celebrate the son’s return.
B. Note the father’s explanation as to why he responded as he did: This son of mine was
dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found (Luke 15:24, NLT).
4. The point for our present discussion is that Jesus came to seek and save lost sons (Luke 19:10) and open
the way for them to be restored to their created purpose if they will come back to God their Creator.
a. When lost sinners turn back to God and believe on Jesus they (we) are united to the life in Him—
uncreated, eternal life. We are restored to glory as sons of God through union with Christ.
1. Rom 6:23—For the wages which sin pays is death; but the [bountiful] gift of God is eternal life
through (in union with) Christ Jesus our Lord (Amp).
2. John 3:16—For God greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only-
begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts, clings to, relies on) Him shall not
perish—come to destruction, be lost—but have eternal (everlasting) life (Amp).
b. There is a present and a future aspect to glory. Glory is in us now because God by His Spirit and
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life is in us, providing us with power to live godly lives (treasure in earthen vessels, II Cor 4:6).
Future glory is resurrection from the dead (our bodies made immortal and incorruptible) like Jesus’
glorified body to live on earth again when Heaven and earth come together (Phil 3:21; Rev 21-22).
C. When you turn back to your Faithful Creator in repentance and faith (turn from your ways to His way), your
Father welcomes you back, celebrates your return, and cleanses and restores you by His power. He cleanses
and restores us through justification and sanctification.
1. When you believe the good news that Jesus died for you and was raised from the dead and submit to Him
(You are my Lord; I give my life to you; I want to follow you), God justifies you (declares or counts you
righteous, acquitted, in right standing with Him)—all on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice at the Cross.
a. Rom 5:1—Since we are justified—acquitted, declared righteous, and given a right standing with
God— through faith (Amp) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Amp).
b. Justification is a means to an end. Once you are justified God indwells you by His Spirit and life
(glory) and begins a process known as sanctification. To sanctify means to make holy.
1. I Pet 1:15—But now you must be holy in everything you do just as God—who chose you to be
his children—is holy. For he himself has said, “You must be holy because I am holy” (NLT).
2. Jesus is the pattern for God’s family. God wants sons and daughters who are like Jesus in
character and behavior. Rom 8:29—God in his foreknowledge chose men to bear the family
likeness of his Son, that he might be the eldest of a family of many brothers (J. B. Phillips).
3. God doesn’t replace you with Jesus. He restores the you that was created in your mother’s
womb by His indwelling Spirit and life, you with Christ-like character and behavior, and
ultimately immortality—you radiating the glory of God.
c. Jesus came and died to restore us to glory in this life by empowering us to express and reflect our
Father’s moral attributes (His moral glory—holiness, love, peace, joy; etc.) to the world around us,
just as He, the Perfect Son, did.
2. Sanctification (being increasingly restored to holiness, to Christ-like character and behavior in this life)
is a process that will not be completed until we see the Lord face to face.
a. We are finished works in progress—fully God’s sons and daughters through faith in Jesus but not
yet fully like Him in character and behavior. But the process of being restored to glory will be
completed.
b. I John 3:1-2—See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God’s
children—and so, in fact, we are…We are now God’s children, but it is not yet clear what we shall
become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall become like him, because we shall see
him as he really is (Good News Bible).
1. Paul said his purpose in preaching was to restore men to glory: We preach Christ to all men.
We warn and teach everyone with all possible wisdom, in order to bring each one into God’s
presence as a mature (complete) individual, in union with Christ (Col 1:28, Good News Bible).
2. Paul wrote to believers: Phil 1:6—I am sure that God, who began the good work within you,
will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ comes back again
(NLT). Col 1:27—Christ in you is your hope of glorification (Williams).
3. Rom 5:2—Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where
we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory (NLT); and
let us rejoice and exult in our hope of experiencing and enjoying the glory of God (Amp).
c. Growing in Christ-likeness, becoming increasingly sanctified or holy in our character and behavior,
is a process. We must put forth effort to obey God’s Word with an expectation that He, by His
Spirit in us (His glory), will empower us (many lessons for another day). Consider these thoughts.
1. II Cor 3:18—And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the
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Word of God] as in mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very
own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes]
from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit (Amp).
2. Eph 5:25-26—Jesus loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (NKJV).
3. How does this relate to lightening the load and giving us hope in the hard times? Not only do we have to
deal with life’s challenges, many struggle with feelings of guilt and condemnation because we fall short
of God’s standards for character and behavior. Understanding your relationship to God through Jesus
(present glory) and the process underway (sanctification) helps you deal with condemnation.
a. Trusting in Jesus makes you right with God on account of what He did—not on account of your
perfect obedience. Recall the thief on the cross, one of two criminals crucified with Jesus.
1. As the other man mocked Jesus, this man acknowledged his sin and asked the Lord to save
him. This man’s faith was counted to him as righteousness (rightness). Luke 23:39-43
2. Jesus told the man: Today you will be with me in paradise. Note that because the man died
shortly thereafter, there was no opportunity for him to do good, no chance for him to grow in
Christ-likeness. Yet when he died, he went to glory (Heaven).
b. An important note: It is popular today in some circles to say that because we are saved by grace, it
doesn’t matter how we live: God doesn’t see sin in us. Our flesh commits the sin, not us. If a sin
makes us happy, God’s okay with it because He loves us. The Bible doesn’t teach any of that..
1. Titus 2:14—(Jesus) gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us
is very own people, totally committed to doing what is right (NLT).
2. If you aren’t pursuing holiness (a love walk, which means obeying God’s written Word and
treat others as you wish to be treated) are you really submitted to Jesus?
4 We face our Father in union with Christ. Paul wrote: By our union (with Christ) we also became God’s
own Possession (Eph 1:11, 20th Cent). In union with Christ, and through our trust in him, we find
courage to approach God with confidence (Eph 3:12, 20th Cent).
a. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who came to seek and save God’s lost sons by laying down his life for
us. He is also the one who restores us to holiness by working in us as we cooperate with Him.
1. Heb 13:20-21—May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip
you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus
Christ, all that is pleasing to him. Jesus is the great Shepherd of the sheep (NLT).
2. Paul wrote: Phil 2:12-13—Be careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives,
obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire
to obey him and the power to do whatever pleases him (NLT).
b. Paul was writing to finished works in progress (imperfect people). The letter to the Hebrews was
written to believers who were being pressured to abandon their faith. In the second letter he called
out to women who worked with him(Phil 4:3): Phil 4:2—And now I plead with those two women,
Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord settle your disagreement (NLT).
D. Conclusion: We have much more to say next week, but consider several thoughts as we close.
1. You have been restored to a position of glory through faith in Christ. God is in you by His Spirit and life
(present glory). And you are heading to a life that will far surpass everything in this life (future glory).
2. None of us are perfect yet (fully Christ-like), but He who has begun a good work in you will complete it.
(Phil 1:6) We have every reason to hope.
3. Jude 24—And now, all glory to God, who is able to keep you from stumbling, and who will bring you
into his glorious presence innocent of sin and with great joy. All glory to him, who alone is God our
Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord (NLT).
