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RETURNED TO GLORY

A. Introduction: We’ve been examining a statement that Paul the apostle made about the many hardships he
experienced in his life. He wrote: 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 (II Cor 3:17, NLT).
1. We’ve made the point that Paul was able to call his hardships momentary and light because he had an
eternal perspective. He recognized that there is more to life than just this life and, for those who know
the Lord, a glory is coming that will far surpass any hardship we have to endure now.
a. For Paul, knowing what is ahead lightened the load of his very difficult life and gave his hope and
peace. He also wrote: For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom 8:18, NKJV);
b. In this part of our study, we are taking time to examine what Paul mean by the glory that he was
anticipating, the glory that he often referred to as an encouragement to himself and others.
2. Before we say more about the glory that Paul was anticipating, we need to restate the big picture—why
we’re here and what this life is all about. Knowing the big picture and gave Paul an eternal perspective.
a. Here’s is the big picture: God is working out a plan that began in eternity past and will be
completed in the life to come, His plan for a family of sons and daughters who will live forever with
Him in loving relationship. This plan affects every human being, going back to Adam and Eve.
1. God created human beings to become His sons and daughters through faith in Him, and He
created the earth to be a home for Himself and His family.
2. Eph 1:4-5—Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to
be holy and without fault in His eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into
his own family through Jesus. And this gave him great pleasure (NLT).
b. Both the family and the family home have been damaged by sin, beginning with Adam. As the
head of the human race and earth’s first steward, Adam’s act of disobedience affected both the race
resident in him and the earth itself. Everything was infused with a curse of corruption and death.
1. Rom 5:12—When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death
throughout all the world so that everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned (TLB).
2. Because of Adam’s sin all humans are born with a bent toward selfishness. And all choose
independence from God through sin, which disqualifies them for God’s family. In addition,
the world in its present condition, filled with pain, suffering, loss, and death, is not the way that
God created or intended it to be. I Cor 7:31
c. God knew this would happen before He created humanity and He already had a plan in mind to undo
the damage and recover His family and the family home through Jesus (redemption or salvation).
1. Jesus came to earth the first time to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin and open the way for
sinful men and women to be restored to God’s family through faith in Him. I Pet 3:18
2. Jesus will come again to cleanse the planet of all sin, corruption, and death and restore it to a fit
forever home for God and His family, in what the Bible calls the news heavens and new earth.
Heaven and earth will come together and God and His family of redeemed sons and daughters
will live here forever. Rev 21-22 (Many lessons for another day.)
3. That’s the big picture. Now, let’s talk more about the glory that is ahead. The word glory is used in a
number of ways in the Bible. We’re focusing on two aspects of the word: glory used in connection
with God and glory used in connection with the salvation (redemption) that God provides for us.
B. Glory is the essence of God Himself because God is by nature glorious. Glorious means possessing glory
(splendor, magnificence) or deserving glory (praise, honor, and esteem).
1. Almighty God is a glorious Being who does glorious things. He is worthy or deserving of all honor and
praise, worthy of all esteem, because of who He is and what He does. Note these facts about God.
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a. God is Transcendent. Transcendent means beyond and above. God transcends the material
universe and material existence. God is not a bigger one of us. He is completely other than us.
b. God is Infinite, meaning without limits of any kind, endless, eternal, no beginning or end. He is the
Creator and Sustainer of all things. God is Omni (Omni means all)—Omnipotent (All Powerful),
Omniscient (All Knowing), and Omnipresent (present everywhere at once). Ps 90:2; Ps 113:4-6; Jer
23:23-24; Jer 32:17-18
c. If God did not choose to reveal Himself to us, we couldn’t know Him. But this glorious Being has
chosen to reveal Himself. He wants to be known by, have relationship with, the beings He created.
1. God sees the excellence of His own attributes and reveals Himself (His glory) so that we can
glorify (honor and esteem) Him. God is not an egomaniac who demands worship and praise.
2. Although He is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory, God does not need our praise. He has
existed forever without it. He reveals Himself for our good. Knowing who and what He is
gives us a high view of Him which increases our faith, trust, and confidence in Him.
2. God created human beings for a position of glory—to become His sons and daughters through faith in
and dependence on Him. But there’s more to it. He created us with the capacity to receive Him, by His
Spirit and life, into our being and then reflect His glory by the way that we live.
a. Because of sin we have fallen from the purpose and position for which God created us. Jesus came
to die for sin so we can be restored to that position of glory. Rom 3:23; I Cor 2:7-8; Heb 2:9-10; etc.
b. Jesus, in His humanity, is the pattern for God’s family. God wants sons and daughters who are like
Jesus in character and behavior—sons and daughters who are conformed to His image, who “bear
the family likeness of” (Rom 8:29, J. B. Phillips). (Many lessons for another day.)
1. When we acknowledge Jesus as Savior and Lord, God justifies us (declares us no longer guilty
of sin), indwells us by His Spirit, and begins the process of glorification (restoring us to glory).
2. Rom 8:30—Morever, whom He predestined, He also called; whom he called, these He also
justified; and those He justified, these He also glorified (NKJV).
c. To be glorified means to be restored to our created purpose as sons and daughters that glorify God,
restored to sons and daughters who are like Jesus in character and behavior.
1. We were created to glorify God, to bring glory to God through praising Him and through
reflecting and expressing His glory (His moral excellence) by the way we live.
2. I Pet 2:9—But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation, [God’s] own
purchased, special people, that you may set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues
and perfections of Him Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (Amp).
d. Glorification is a process of character development that begins in this life as we seek to grow in
Christ-likeness (become more like Jesus). Glorification will be completed in connection with
Jesus’ second coming and resurrection of the dead, when our body is instantly glorified (made
immortal and incorruptible) like Jesus’ resurrected body. Note these verses.
1. I John 3:2—Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we
shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as
He is (NKJV).
2. Phil 3:20-21—We are eagerly awaiting for Jesus to return as our Savior. He will take these
weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same
mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere (NLT).
3. A quick, but important side note. Some teach that we can have a glorified body in this life.
Glorification of the body will not take place until the second coming—And when Christ, who is
your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory (Col 3:4, NLT).
3. Lessons like this one may not seem practical. But all of us have to deal with certain questions: Why do
I exist? Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life? Consider these thoughts.
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a. We have a purpose that began in eternity past and will outlast this life. You and I exist because God
willed it. Almighty God brought us into existence by His power, and we exist for His pleasure.
1. John the apostle was taken into Heaven where he saw twenty-four elders worship God saying:
You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created
everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created (Rev 4:11, NLT).
2. God brought us into being for a reason. He wants sons and daughters who glorify Him. That
is the only place of true happiness and fulfillment for a human being—bringing glory to God.
b. When God made Adam He made a son, and a race of sons, in Adam (Luke 3:38, Gen 5:1-2). God
created you and me in Adam (potentially). God in His Omniscience knew you before you existed.
1. God’s first pronouncement over you was—very Good. Gen 1:31—And God saw everything
that He had made, and behold, it was very good—suitable, pleasant—and He approved it
completely (Amp). God, in His All-knowingness, knows a perfect you (potentially).
2. We can never cease to be God’s creation, but we have all gone astray. Isa 53:6—All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way (KJV).
3. Jesus came to seek and save the lost—men and women lost to their created purpose because of
sin and rebellion (Luke 19:10). But we can be returned to our Faithful Creator through Jesus.

C. I need to make something clear at this point. When the Bible talks about being glorified or conformed to the
image of Christ, it isn’t talking about you and me trying to be better people. Glorification is supernatural.
1. God’s purpose in salvation is to restore those who believe in Him to the position of glory that He always
intended for His sons and daughters. Salvation is the complete restoration and transformation of human
nature, by the power of the Holy Spirit, on the basis of Jesus’ sacrificial death. It’s supernatural.
a. When the first man, Adam, chose to go astray by choosing his way instead of God’s way, he took the
whole human race into the pigpen of sin, corruption, and death. God immediately began to reveal
His plan to undo the damage done and recover His family and the family home through Jesus.
1. God promised that there was coming the Seed of the woman who would break the power of sin,
corruption, and death. The Seed is Jesus, the woman is Mary. Gen 3:15; Gal 3:16; Matt 1:18
2. When God made this promise, only He knew what He intended to do—Incarnate in the womb
of a virgin, die as a sacrifice for sin, and then indwell all who believe in Him by His Spirit.
b. Down through the centuries Almighty God progressively revealed aspects of His plan in the pages
of His inspired Scripture (the Old Testament) until the full revelation given in and through Jesus.
1. Peter the apostle wrote: I Pet 1:10-11—This salvation was something the prophets wanted to
know more about. They prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you, even
though they had many questions as to what it all could mean. They wondered what the Spirit
of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering
and his great glory afterward…they were told that these things would not happen during their
lifetime, but many years later (NLT).
2. Paul the apostle wrote: I Cor 2:7-8—I speak God’s secret wisdom, which he has kept hidden.
Before the world began, God planned this wisdom for our glory. None of the rulers of this
world understood it. If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (NCV).
c. Paul called himself and his co-workers who preached the gospel of Jesus Christ “servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God” (I Cor 4:1, NKJV). Mystery means something in the plan
and purpose of God that, up to that time, had not yet been revealed. Paul preached the full plan.
1. Note what Paul wrote in an epistle to Christians living in the Asian city of Colosse. At the time
Paul wrote, he was imprisoned in Rome for preaching the gospel and facing possible execution.
2. Col 1:24-27—I am glad I can suffer for you…God’s plan was to make me a servant of his
church and to send me to preach his complete message to you (v24-25, CEV), the mystery of
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which was hidden for ages and generations (from angels and men), but is now revealed to His
holy people (the saints) (Amp)…the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of
sharing God’s glory (CEV); Christ in you the hope of your glorification (Williams).
3. Paul not only preached about the glory ahead, he lived with the awareness of it. He lived with
the awareness that God’s plan for a family of glorified sons and daughters will be completed,
and that in the life to come we will be fully restored to all that we were meant to be.
2. God’s glory is a manifestation of His person or power in any way He chooses to show Himself. In the
Old Testament we read that the visible glory of God (God Himself) filled both the Tabernacle and the
Temple (Ex 40:34; II Chron 5:13). Those are lessons for another day. Here’s the point for us.
a. These events pictured what God intended to do through salvation, open the way for men and women
to be indwelled by His Spirit and then glorify Him by revealing and expressing His moral character.
b. I Cor 6:19-20—Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you,
whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore
glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (NKJV).
1. This is supernatural. This is not us simply trying to be a better person, but rather God
manifesting Himself in us and through us. We glorify God by revealing and expressing His
character by the power of the indwelling Spirit of God.
2. As we read and obey God’s written Word, the Holy Spirit works together with us to produce
change and transformation in us. II Cor 3:18—And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because
we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a 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).
3. Paul lived with the awareness that he had indwelling glory, the Holy Spirit in him, to help him to live as
Jesus did. Note what Paul said about himself as he faced his hardships and the way that he prayed for
and exhorted Christians in regard to their behavior.
a. Rom 6:4—Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (NKJV).
b. Eph 3:16—May he grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced
with mighty power in the inner man by the (Holy) Spirit [Himself]—indwelling your innermost
being and personality (Amp).
c. Phil 4:13—I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me—I am ready for anything and
equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me (Amp); Phil 4:19—And my God
shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (NKJV).
d. Col 1:11—(I pray) that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, being fruitful in
every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to
His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy (NKJV).

D. Conclusion: Salvation is the complete restoration of human nature by the power of the Holy Spirit on the
basis of Jesus’ sacrifice death. This transformation restores us to our destiny as God’s glorious sons and
daughters, and it is the remedy for the brokenness in us and this world. God will accomplish His purpose.
1. Eph 1:13-14—And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy
Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us everything he
promises and that he has purchased us to be his own people.
2. Phil 1:6—And 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 Jesus Christ comes back again. This is just one more reason for us to
praise our glorious God (NLT). Much more next week!!