THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL

THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL

July 10, 2022

Pastor Carolyn Sissom

 

2 Co. 4:4: In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.

 

The gospel of the New Creation shines forth in all its brilliance as the very expression of the thoughts and heart of God. 

 

Because He is God, He must make Himself known.  He must reveal Himself.  He is essentially Life, inherent Life, and Life must show itself to be alive.  Life must live.  Life must breathe.  That Life is Light.  Light must shine forth, for light is self-revealing.  The Name of God speaks of all that He is in the nature of His being; but the Word speaks of God declared and spoken forth. 

 

John 1: 1-4: In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and life was the light of men… (vs. 9) That was the true Light, which ignites every man that comes into the world… (vs. 14) and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:1;14).

 

The Word of God goes far beyond the scriptures; and the written Word is not fulfilled in God’s intention until it has been written in the hearts and mind of God’s people.  God’s Word has been written in nature and it has been written on paper…but its ultimate fulfillment comes when it is written in “flesh.”  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 (Jn. 1:14). 

 

The Word Himself is divine essence existent in a Person.  Because the Son is the brightness of the Father.  He has always shone with the Father.

 

Heb. 1:2-3: God in these last days has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power…

 

The purpose of God’s incarnation in flesh was not final in itself either.  For after having “finished the work” the Father gave Jesus the Christ to do on earth, Jesus ascended into the heavens to engage in a “more excellent ministry” from the throne of God.  He ministers the same Spirit of Truth that he walked in when He was here…but now He is ministering out from the true sanctuary in Heaven, to His own who are in the earth as “the Mediator of a better covenant(Heb. 8:6).

 

His redeemed in the earth are to become His very own living epistles, known and read of all men…manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God (2Cor. 3:2-3).

 

Not until the Church has become “the epistle of Christ” are the nations going to hear and see the Christ of the Bible. 

 

The Lord is preparing a family of sons and daughters in His image and likeness.  The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.”  He is preparing an army who will overcome by the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony (Rev. 12:11).   He is building a habitation for Himself, a building made up of “living stones,” a temple “not made with hands.”  He has found “a pearl of great price,” a pearl that is formed from a mere grain of sand, but transformed into a gem, by marvelous grace.  for it is the Spirit of God who takes the virtues of the living Christ and manifests them in His Church to bring about this precious gem.  He is cleansing for Himself a Church, “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, and how?  With the washing of water by the Word (His Word spoken forth) (Eph. 5:26).  He looks for a Holy Bride, and John saw her in prophetic vision coming down out of heaven, and “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband(Rev. 21:2; 2 Cor. 11:2).

 

He looks for fruit from the Vine that was planted in the earth; for Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit (Jn. 15:5).  For God is not only Architect, Builder, and Artificer, he is also Bridegroom, and Gardener.  And so, he tells us, “I am waiting for the precious fruit of the earth.”  He is not waiting around for the clock to strike the midnight hour.  He is waiting for something that will be the fulfillment of His heart’s desire, His holy Church, His spotless Bride, His Pearl of great price, His precious Fruit.  While he is waiting for that, He is diligently preparing His people for “the praise of his glory.” 

 

I believe all of Christendom believes that we are coming into the season of the glorious harvest of the earth.  God’s intention through the glorious gospel fulfilled in Jesus Christ and deposited in you and I is to bring forth a harvest that will satisfy the desire of the Father’s heart.  Let us become more acquainted with the heart of God, and we will discover what He is after.  Yes, he blesses us abundantly more than we can hope or think, but let us be so tuned in with Him that no matter how greatly He blesses us, our response to that blessing is simply, “thank you Lord for your blessings; but may I not fall short of the greatest blessing of all, to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, that I might become a “vessel unto honor.”  I know if I fail to become the gold and silver you are looking for, all the blessings showered upon me will have been in vain.  Guide my heart less your blessings blind my eyes to your desire and intention in my life, that I might come forth in your image and likeness (that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ will reveal in me the image of God).

 

If it is harvest time, then we know for sure that the Gardener is looking for one thing in this great hour, and that is fruit…fruit that is nothing less than the reproduction of His own character and nature in the hearts of His people.  Anything less than this cannot delight the heart of the Gardner who planted the incorruptible seed of truth within His people.  He is waiting patiently for that seed, through His own care and watchfulness, to bring forth “after its kind.”  It is the law of the old creation, and it is the law of the New Creation…the seed must bring forth “after its kind.”  The Seed of Christ and God cannot be satisfied with a harvest that does not bring forth the character, quality and nature of Jesus Christ in His people.

Gal. 3:16:  To Abraham and his seed were the promises made.  He saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.

Rom. 1:20:  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. 

 

Everything God made is an expression of some particular aspect of His glory and wisdom---so man might see and hear and come to know God.

 

Christ is the ultimate expression of the heart and mind of God.  Christ is in reality that Word, the Logos…the One through whom God made all things (Jn. 1:3; Heb. 1:2).    So fully and completely did He reveal the Father that there was nothing lacking of the character and nature of God in our Lord Jesus when He walked here in the earth.

 

The scriptures/gospels were written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and can only be understood with the mind of the Spirit.  We receive a spiritual mind by new birth.  We are utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit for anything we receive from God by way of knowing and understanding truth.  As our eyes are anointed with the eye-salve of the Spirit, and our ears are opened to hear His voice, only then do we hear the voice of Truth.  Only then do we understand the “mysteries” of God.  We then see the whole earth to be filled with His glory; for all things were created to be a praise and glory to God who created them.  So, let us live to the praise of the glory of his grace (Eph. 1:6,12).

 

By vision and revelation, I have been blessed to have my spiritual ears opened to hear creation praising Jesus.  Every leaf, every blade of grass, every song bird, every breeze all sing in perfect harmony one song, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

 

The names of God speak of all that He is in the nature of His being; but the Word speaks of this same God declared and spoken forth.  For you have magnified your word above all your name (Ps. 138:2).  Why is the Word above His Name?  Because God is more glorious in the expression of His being, than He is in secluding Himself from His creation.  What is a Word, but the declaration and unfolding of that which is in your heart and mind?  Words fail us many times, because of our inadequacy to say clearly what we mean.  But in Christ the Logos, the Word, the expression of God’s heart and being was complete that the Word was Himself God, shining forth in the face of Jesus Christ.  

 

Christ is the image of God. “Antichrist” (something or someone instead of Christ) is any other image!  Anything outside of the Christ nature, the new nature of the new creation man is lying vanity. 

 

God must fully reveal Himself to His creation, because of who He is.  It was with purpose and design that God did not annihilate the old creation and then begin to create a new one.  He needed both creations…the one that fell into futility, and the one that He would raise to life and glory.  The old creation became the fertile soil in which he would drop the seed which would bring forth the new.  The old was to become the womb, out of which a New Creation would be born.  The old creation is even now in the bondage of corruption and decay, and travailing in birth-pangs, yearning for the deliverance that shall come with “the manifestation of the sons of God.”

 

The plan of redemption preceded the creation of man, and the fall of man.  God had an “eternal purpose” concerning His chosen ones, even “before the foundation of the world.”  In the Book of Revelation, we see the Lamb as One “slain from the foundation of the world.”  God saw fit to use the old creation, and fallen man in particular, as the vessel through whom he would reveal the fulness and completeness of his glory. 

 

How shall we know the infinite depths of His love, except through the revelation of the Cross, where God lavished His mercy and compassion on rebels such as you and me?   God needed His infinite plan of Redemption for the full display of His own unsearchable attributes.

 

By faith we understand the mysteries of God, not because He gives the wisdom to reason it all out, but because we know there is a rest in God when we believe what He has spoken.  The apostle tells us, “Through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God(Heb. 11:3).  God has given us a faculty that is beyond that possessed by any of earth’s great intellectuals, the faculty of faith. 

 

And God said, let there be light; and there was light (Gen. 1:3).  

 

Redemption is God’s Masterpiece.   God is the infinite Artist, Builder and Architect of all things.  Unlike “masters” here in the earth, He doesn’t try and try, and try again.  He waited in great patience and longsuffering for the day when He Himself would come on the scene, and bring forth the ultimate Masterpiece of His creative hands.

 

So, we have the story of Redemption.  It is there that God poured everything He had into the creative work of His hands and found rest and delight in a people whom He created for His glory.  For the apostle Paul tells us that “we are His workmanship” (Eph. 2:10).  To bring about our Redemption, God poured everything He is into the redemption of His people.  So, in reality, “We are His Masterpiece!”  It cost God everything He had, even His only Begotten Son.  We will never fully appreciate the glory of Redemption until we understand that it was God Most High who clothed Himself in flesh, and submitted Himself to the hatred and scoffing of His rebellious creatures for their redemption and transformation!  That it was this great creative work that He found complete fulfillment and could stand back and say, ‘It is finished.”  He made this declaration first from the Cross, and will declare it yet again from His exalted throne in the heavens.  For what He accomplished at the Cross must yet be consummated in a people made complete in Christ, and conformed to His image.

 

The shining forth of Christ in His servants will manifest Christ.

 

The old creation could manifest but the limited rays of His glory.  It took the New Creation for God to manifest the full shining Light of His glory.  The redeemed ones of Adam’s race are yet to be revealed to the highest of His celestial creatures, as His ultimate and perfect Masterpiece.  No wonder we are told that the angels desire to peer into these things that pertain to our salvation (1 Peter 1:12).  And so, in redemption, we behold God in His infinite depths, as well as God in His infinite heights.

 

In Christ Jesus, (Son of God and Son of Man).

 

We see Him stooping to lowest realms of darkness; to raise a people into the highest realms of light.

We see the glory of His condescension, as well as the glory of His ascension.

We see the glory of His weakness, as well as the glory of His power.

We see the glory of His emptiness, as well as the glory of His fullness.

We see the glory of His humility, as well as the glory of His exaltation.

We see Him stopping in His steps, to hear the cry of a blind Bartimaeus.

We see Him riding majestically in the heavens, as the One who has conquered over all the forces of evil.

We see Him riding into Jerusalem on the foal of an ass.

We see Him ascending in clouds, with power and great glory.

We see a bleeding Lamb, slain for our redemption.

We see the same Lamb, high and lifted upon the throne of Glory, with angels and cherubim falling down before Him, and the redeemed of the earth crying out.

 

Rev. 5:9:  Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

 

Through this combination of the weakness of man (Son of Man) and the majesty of God Most High, He is seen as the Master Workman of the New Creation.  God has invested everything He has, everything He is, in the people whom He has redeemed for His glory.  He can do no more for us, other than to open our eyes, ears and hearts to receive and to perceive the fullness of His salvation which is the glorious gospel of Christ.

 

In New Creation life, we can never exhaust the riches of Him who is infinite and eternal.  Even now as partakers of Eternal Life, there is to be an expansion of His glory within us, and this must go on throughout eternal ages.  There are galaxies of truth and revelation far beyond the limits of our present spiritual constellation.  As we find ourselves caught up unto God and unto His eternal purpose, the realms of eternity become more and more real to us.

 

In the ages to come he will show us the exceeding riches of his glory in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7). 

 

As we become one with Him in His love, we will continue to rise into greater realms of glory.  Our hope is that He will bring us to greater humility and worship before Him, for knowledge can very easily blind our eyes to the more excellent way, and nurture pride in our hearts.  Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

 

God is sending forth a Word from His heart this day that is sufficient to cause His people to come to the full measure of the stature of Christ.  He has made every provision for us “to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  But this Word carries with it a great responsibility---to walk with Him, to know His will and do it.

 

Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries Church

www.eastgateministries.com

Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors George H. Warnock (1912-2012).  Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Brother Warnock; Preached by Pastor Carolyn Sissom at Light Up America Conference, 6/1/22,    

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