Turn with me in your scriptures to the book of Philippians. We are in the closing portions of this epistle, chapter 4. And if you'll stand with me, I'll read in your hearing verses 19 and 20 of Philippians chapter 4. This is God's very word. Let us hear and heed Philippians chapter four at verse 19. And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. This is God's very word. Let us beseech his mercy as we feed upon it and the preaching of it. Most Holy Father, we pray that we may have much of Christ open to us, the marvels of your word that we, feeding upon Christ, may be nourished in his strength. We ask this in his name. Amen. We may be seated. Last week, we saw Paul's instructive response to the gift of support sent from the Philippians as he describes a promised provision. Paul continued using the language and traditions of friendship common in that day, but he transformed those in light of the gospel relationship he and the Philippians enjoyed. The mutual care and concern they had, Paul for them and the Philippians for Paul, this was bound up in their loving relationship together with Christ and the ministry of the gospel. Paul says that the ordinary duty of reciprocity would be taken up by God as they sent a gift to meet his needs. In the normal traditions of that day in friendship, they would understand what he was talking about when there would be a return of that display of friendship in meeting their needs. Of course, Paul would not have a means to do that, and he takes the opportunity to say, as we've been bound together in a mutual union with Christ and commitment to his gospel ministry, our bond of friendship is not like those around us, a passing of obligation back and forth, but rather, as you've given to me, you've given to Christ the ministry of the gospel. and the abundance of the grace of God. And as you've done that, it is God who will, in fact, in turn, meet your need. And so, Paul transforms that traditional language of friendship in giving and receiving to say that as we've been bound together, Philippians, in a gospel union with Christ, your gift to me is a gift to the Lord, and your thankfulness to me for what Christ has ministered, and that which has drawn a grateful, sacrificial gift, that will be met by God in a return of meeting your need in our gospel-centered relationship. The grateful feeling of obligation to Paul is fully met as they have really given to the Lord out of a genuine spirit of sacrificial service. And Paul assures them that as they have given to the Lord to meet Paul's needs, so the Lord will in turn supply all their need. And we noted that this promise of provision is related to their need. He says that God shall supply all your need. This is not a promise of a blank check for selfish consumption. No, rather, God is promising grace to supply all the work of grace in their lives, materially and spiritually, that as they have had a heart of sacrificial abundance in giving, gratefully to the work of the gospel, out of a love for Paul, they're giving to the Lord, and the Lord loves a cheerful giver. He will in turn abundantly meet all their needs out of his glorious riches. And then Paul describes how those people Those promises of provision will be met. He had first described that reciprocity, being focused in God as they are both serving the Lord. Then he turns to describe the resource of that reciprocity. How will God meet their needs? Well, he describes it in marvelous terms. He says, the riches of God, sourced in the glory of God, would be accessed in Christ. This is the resource out of which their needs would be abundantly met. Their needs would not be met, as it were, out of the wealth of God distributed singularly on occasion to meet a need. He uses particular language to say that all the wealth of God, sourced in his glory because he's God, would be brought continually to the supply of all their needs. There's a treasured wealth that Paul is saying. they know or they must know is promised to them. And they need those promises. They have given eagerly out of their own time of need, materially. And they have given eagerly and gratefully to the ministry of the gospel in a time of great affliction. As Paul says, that they're experiencing the kinds of affliction that he's experiencing. Here is a promise that's connected to earlier declarations of what they have in Christ. The Lord will meet all their needs. They can rest assured that everything they need, materially and spiritually, is richly and overwhelmingly continually at their disposal because God is in such love bestowing that wealthy provision upon them, not measuring out bit by bit, but rather bringing the full resources of his wealth sourced in his glory to meet all their needs. As he describes it, being sourced in God's glory, He's describing the wealth of God, the riches of God, that is God's because He is God. What's the limit then? Where are the restrictions on all of God's possessions? There is no restriction. There's no limit. The Creator owns all that He made, and all that wealth is lavished surrounding them, meeting all their needs continually. And Paul says that all that wealth is theirs in union with Christ. They have it in keeping with the glory of God. And that, by reason of that union they have in Christ, he starts and ends with Christ. And he goes from describing that reciprocity of the giving and receiving and the resource by which God will meet all their needs to describe now the result of that meeting of their needs. That result is a doxology. It is going from glory to glory. And we need to consider the pattern of what's happening here. As we mentioned at the close of the sermon last week, we should take note of what is happening at the end of verse 19 in describing that resource in the glory of God, there is a pattern Paul is touching. It's briefly touched here, but it's rich and permeates scripture, the pattern of going from glory to glory. We need to consider this doctrine of the glory of God and what Paul is describing, going from glory to glory. Paul describes that flow, going from the end of verse 19 into the doxology of verse 20. And he's taking up a central doctrine of God's word when he touches on the glory of God that he has of himself. Glory, starting in the places you find it throughout the Hebrew scriptures in the Older Testament, is the word glory is rooted in the idea of weightiness It has that idea of the serious honor, the magnificence of God. And so the word used to describe the glory of God takes up that sense of a due honor and respect that is God's by reason of who He is. There are two senses of glory described as we trace it throughout scripture, that glory which is God's by reason of who he is, the weightiness and magnificence of God in the fullness and perfection of all of his attributes, and the response that is drawn from his people by reason of that glory. There's an essential glory and an echo of that glory that comes back from those exposed to that glory. So first, let's consider, as Paul starts with, that essential glory. Let's consider what is going on in that, and then we'll look as well at the response as Paul then gives that response in verse 20. First, describing that magnificent fullness of God in himself. That glory which he has in himself cannot be experienced directly. We're told repeatedly that man cannot see God in his glory directly. That at best, man would perish. Should he experience directly the manifest glory of God in himself, it's impossible that he should see God and live. This is mentioned in Exodus 33, verse 20. Yet God condescends to give glimpses that are accommodated to our creatureliness, glimpses that communicate something related to his inner glory. It is a true revelation, but an accommodated revelation. And there's a double accommodation when God condescends, bends low, as it were, to reveal his glory to his human creatures. A double accommodation. One, he must accommodate our creatureliness. But not only so, because man, as a creature, would have no means experiencing the glory of God if he did not condescend to find a true way to manifest some hint of it to his human creatures. But the second accommodation is that we're sinful. And so even that accommodated hint of glory would be our undoing. We're not means provided to sustain us when exposed to the revelation of that overwhelming splendor. And as we trace that through scripture, God reveals that glory as he condescends to manifest his presence at various times and places. And when he does so, there is an overwhelming of the senses of those who experience that hint of this accommodated glory. The overwhelming splendor is described, for example, when Isaiah is ushered into a vision of that accommodated display of the glory of God. He, in Isaiah 6, verses 1 through 5, records that experience and what does God use to accommodate his experience. As you look what's described there, all of his senses are overwhelmed and he is overwhelmed in his vision as he just brushes across the wonders of what he's seeing. There are clouds of smoke and angelic beings and his hearing is overwhelmed as there is an overwhelming shout of holy, holy, holy. And everything is shaking. The senses of his feeling are trembling outwardly and inwardly as the pillars are shaken in the place of this vision of the temple. And he is shaking inwardly. He says, woe is me, for I am undone. He is given a crippling sense of his sin. We see the double accommodation happening here as God then sends a means to sustain him, purifying him, to be even in this accommodated vision of the presence of God. This is a brief but typical experience of those in the presence, the accommodated revelation of the glory of God. Again, God is accommodating his self-revelation to creatureliness, and yet, even in that accommodation, it's overwhelming. The glory of God manifests is a hint of the fullness of His perfection in all His attributes, being exposed in a way that overwhelms. As overwhelming as it is, this experience of God's glory is altogether desirable because God Himself is altogether desirable. we need to consider. Paul is touching on that when he's describing the abundance of provision that is sourced in the glory of God. Even though that glory is overwhelming, because we are made in God's image with His glory as our primary purpose, it is altogether Desirable. Consider the experience of Moses in Exodus 33 and 34. Moses had been on the mountain. Remember, he had a unique experience of the presence of God, something more than anyone else had experienced since the time of the garden. And he was there. for a lengthy period of time, surrounded by manifest exhibits of the glorious presence of God on the mountain. And you'll recall the things that took place and God's response to the sinfulness of his people. Let's look at Exodus. We need to see As Moses appeals to God on behalf of the people, and God condescends to the appeal of Moses, Moses makes one last request. He says to God, show me your glory. This is a remarkable request. Consider all that he had experienced thus far. overwhelming, surrounding exhibits of the glory of God. So it's not that he's saying, I just want to stay here and experience what I've been experiencing. He's asking something special. And God's response demonstrates that he's asking for something more than just the flames that have been surrounding him, the smoke, the shaking of the mountain, the glorious light and cloud All this was an accommodated experience of the glory of God. But Moses says in chapter 33 and verse 18, he said, please show me your glory. He's asking, let me go right into your very presence. Why would he ask that? He's already experiencing what's making everybody else run away. The mountains shaking, there are flames everywhere, smoke, billows of cloud, shining light. And Moses says, give me more. So desirable is the presence of Almighty God, he says, take me right into the very brightest center of the exhibit of your glory. God answers. "'I will make all my goodness pass before you, "'and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. "'I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, "'and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' "'But,' he said, "'you cannot see my face. "'No man shall see me and live.'" And the Lord said, here is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen. The Lord knows what he's asking. He's saying, let me see your face. I've experienced your presence, and now I want nothing but more of that presence. Let me see your face. And God says, you can't see my face and live, but I will give you more of my glory. And he uses accommodated language, standing in there, covering him and letting him see his back. How will he give himself to Moses? By declaring his name. Again, Can't dig deep there, but God's name is associated with his glory. God reveals himself in manifest ways, and all his glory is tied up with his name. It's why his name, all the means by which he reveals himself, must be treated with reverence, with awe. with weightiness, because in it, God manifests his glory. He says to Moses, I will give you more of the manifest presence as I accommodate in this way and overwhelm you even more. Moses wants that. This is a pattern we need to recognize. This is what is empowering, as it were, the pattern as Paul describes it. from glory to glory. The desire for more of the glory of God is exactly what we were designed for. And Moses gets exactly what God promised. It's described at verse 29 of the next chapter. Now it was so when Moses came down, he sees it. There's a transformation as a result of it, and that's described in verse 29. This is also true in a persistent pattern. As God displays his glory to his people, it transforms them. See how that's pictured in Moses. Now it was so that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. So as they, down at the foot, see this, it is remarkable to them, and they're stricken with fear. But the power of the presence of God is transformative. What Paul is describing, the glory of God, is something that when we experience it, it transforms us. And we see now not only that result, but a hunger for more of that glory. Both of those are exhibited in Moses' experience. And Paul is touching that when he says, we have all that glory. that is altogether desirable and altogether transformative, we have that, which would be altogether inaccessible to us, now accommodated in the way that is beyond anything we could have imagined. It's now in fullness in Christ Jesus. The glory of God that is the source of all that we desire, all that we need, is entirely ours in ways that we could never have accessed it before, now that it is in Christ Jesus, in fullness. The glory of God revealed in Christ, that which cannot be seen in God himself. because he is the invisible God, entirely removed from creatureliness. God accommodates in various ways, but now, in fullness, exposes us to his glory in Christ Jesus. Paul's touched on this in Colossians 1, verse 15, when he says that Christ is the image, now visible, of the invisible God. Something that was impossible before. God could not be imaged. That was not only forbidden, it was impossible. And it would be profane to make an image of God. But God made an image of himself, Jesus Christ. And Paul touched in chapter three on how altogether desirable that is. One day, we'll see the face of God. something that was altogether impossible until God, the Son, became incarnate. He is the image of the invisible God. And in 2 Corinthians 4, verses three through six, Paul touches on the exhibit of that glory in Christ. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is provided to us in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul is touching on that, saying all that is in God is on full display in nourishing and redemptive power to us in Christ Jesus. This glory of God transforms us and causes us to return glory back to God. This is that second use as we look at the doxology that follows in verse 20. We, in union with Christ, being exposed to the glory of God in Christ Jesus, are moved to doxology. When we then pour forth glory in response to the glory of God. We're not adding to his glory. He is full of glory in himself. He is unchanging in that glory. And he is full, beyond measure, with inherent glory. But exposure to that glory causes us to reflect back to him that glory. So we do not add. to His glory, that's impossible. Rather, we fulfill, in that reflection back to Him, our highest purpose. What is? Our chief end. Our chief end is to glorify God. And we may say, thereby, to enjoy Him forever. The altogether desirable one. Draws forth from us. the reflection of his glory back to him. The glory of God in Christ results in glory to God. There is mutual doxology. Paul returns from saying, my God, we'll meet your needs now. He says, together we are so full of God's glory in union with Christ, we now together glorify God, our God. is to receive all glory. He says, now to our God, the Son brings glory to God, the Father. He's touching on that here. That marvelous union we have with Christ, by which we have all the riches of God's glory, meeting all of our needs, material and spiritually. draws forth a transforming power by which we then pour forth doxology to God together. The triune God is all about magnifying His glory. Redemption experienced in fullness will grip our soul with God's glory and pour forth in praise and honor, glory, to God the Father who sent the Son. That's what Paul is describing in his doxology here. glory without end, forever and ever, perpetual praise as the cycle of salvation and the reward of heaven, to which there is a firm conclusion of the deepest desire of God's people. Amen. So may it be. We must consider how we are growing in grace in this way, increasing in longing for the glory of God. The more we have of that glory in Christ Jesus, the more deeply we desire the presence of God manifest in Christ. This results in praise and honor and ever deeper longing. The people of old longed for what we see on display in the Psalms. there was a desire to be in the presence of God. That transformed the experience of the rest of life, so that the glory of God was seen everywhere. And this then deepened the longing to return to the intimate presence of God, where that glory being filled up in a transformative way, one was sent out, where that glory was now on full display everywhere. There's a cycle of this beatific vision, as it were, that draws us ever more deeply to the desire for that never to end and to be experienced even, as Moses said, oh, let me see the face of the one I long for more than anything else. We have, as those united to Christ, an ever-increasing foretaste of heaven even now. As we experience the glory of Christ in worship and are sent forth with an ever-deepening understanding of His glory as we experience it in all of life, our hunger deepens and we're drawn back into His holy presence where the cycle continues until it will find its epitome, its climax in heaven and eternity. This is a growth in grace that is God's calling upon all his people, and it's a marvelous gift that we have in Christ Jesus. We have it in his word preached. We have it in his word made visible and tangible in the sacraments. We have it in all of his glorious ordinances. Let us beseech his mercy, his grace, to minister to us that transforming power of the experience of his glory. Let's pray. Great God and merciful Father, how marvelous is your glory. And we desire what the Apostle Paul describes here, to move from glory to glory as we, united to Christ, experience the marvelous glory of our saving God. Oh, transform us that we in turn pour forth glory and praise to our saving God. You are altogether glorious. We pray that we may have much of that glory in your worship, and day by day, drawing us ever upward, as it were, in transforming power of your grace to your glory, forever and ever. Amen.