Thank you, John. I'm Jeanette. Okay, go with me to 1 Peter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4. And let's read a few verses here. We'll dwell mostly on one of
the verses, but you remember Verse 7, remember this, for the
end of all things is at hand. Be therefore sober and watch
unto prayer. You remember that? And above
all things, above all things, have fervent, passionate charity
or love among yourselves, for charity shall cover. the multitude
of sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging. As every man hath received the
gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as oracles of God. If any man minister, let him
do it as of the ability which God given. For this purpose,
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ,
to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. That's the
subject, that God may be glorified in all things. Everything we
do and say. Now he said in verse 8, have
fervent love among yourselves. Love glorifies our Lord. It glorifies His grace in us
and His love that is shed abroad in us. By this shall all men
know you're my disciples, He said. You have love when doing
that. We know we've passed from death
unto life if we love the brethren. You see, that glorifies our Lord. We love our brethren. as blood
can, and we truly are. Truly are. Love covereth. That
glorifies God. Love covereth. Love forgiveth. Love forgeteth. Love hideth. Listen to this proverb. It says that it is the discretion
of a man deferreth his anger. You know, God is slow to anger. And it says it is His glory to
pass over a transgression. We're going to see God's greatest
glory is forgiveness of sin, mercy and grace. So He tells
us to do the same, that God would be glorified. This is for the
glory of God. His glory is forgiving us. Well,
we give Him glory by doing the same. Okay? Love covereth, forgiveth. It glorifies God's grace for
us to do so. It brings reproach if we don't
approach. It dishonors Him. It brings His
anger on us. It says in verse 9, use hospitality
one to another. How hospitable. The word hospitality
means fond of guests. Fond of guests. Our Lord is never
our guest. Because he owns everything. But
we're his guests. He's fond of guests. Like Solomon. You know good and well the reason
Solomon's table was so big is that anybody could come and eat
there that wanted to. He was fond of guests. He had a largeness
of heart. What a greater than Solomon is
here, our Lord. As he tells us, use hospitality. Be fond of guests. Love God's
people and love being with them and entertain them. Some have
entertained angels, unawares. I've entertained angels and I
was very aware of it. Love. Now everything that we
have belongs to our Lord anyway, doesn't it? He's going to tell
us as good stewards. of the manifold grace of God.
What's a steward? Well, a ship steward or a steward
on a train or wherever is one who's in charge of the goods
and the services on board that ship to dole them out. They're
not for him that he sees that they're given out and used where
they're needed. We're good stewards of the grace
of God. What do we have we have not received? Grace. Grace. Now everything we have is received. You know the story of the man
looking for the pearl of great price. And some of you have heard
this, but it's a wonderful illustration. But this man wanted this pearl
of great price, and the man, the proprietor said, well it'll
cost you everything you have. And the man said, well, I got
the hat that I wanted. So he said, he reached in his
wallet, and he opened it, and the man said, everything, it
cost you everything. So he pulled out a lot of money, all that
he had in his wallet, and he started to give it to him. He
held back $5. And the man said, hold on now, everything. He said,
but I've got to have gas in my car to get home. Oh, the man
said, you've got a car? I'll take your keys. I told you,
everything you have." The man said, OK, but how am I going
to get to work? Oh, you have a job. But he said, how am I going to
feed my family? Oh, you have a family. But they've got to have a place
to live. Oh, you have a home. I told you, it'll cost you everything. So the man did. He gave him the
keys to his car, keys to his house, gave him everything. He said, I've got to have that
pearl. All right? And then the man graciously and
mercifully and wisely said, I'm going to loan it all back to
you. But remember, it's mine. It's mine, and I'm loaning it
to you. Now, when one of my family, one
of my children comes into town, you won't mind loaning them my
car, will you? You won't mind putting them up
in my house, will you? If they have some needs, you
won't mind loaning them, or giving them rather, some of my money,
will you? And if I come to take one of
my children, you want mine, will you? They're mine. What do we have? We have not
received. Job said that, didn't he? The
Lord gave. The Lord hath taken away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. What did the Lord do? He gave
it all back. Gave it all back with interest. Use hospitality. How hospitable
is our Lord? How generous is He? Oh my, the
Lord loveth a cheerful giver. Oh, and it's more blessed, didn't
He say, it's more blessed to give than to receive. It really
is. You know, I've been in people's
homes and they thank me for coming. I say, well, thank you for having
me. We're both blessed, aren't we?
Who's more blessed? I tell you, we have, we've had,
well, we've had all these precious sites on our own. It's been a
blessing. In the home that God loaned us. And he says this without grudging.
Do it without grudging. Verse 9. Do I have to? That's law, isn't it? Love given. We'd never say that about our
children or our sister or brother. Do I have to have them over?
Do I have to have my children? I never think, oh, the grandkids
are coming. And, you know, Hannah thanks
me. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you for letting
me have him. You know, some people withhold
their children and grandchildren from their grandparents. I know
a man that his son hated him so much he never let him see
his grandchildren. Just killed him. without grudging. Verse 10, as
every man hath received the gift, whatever gift it is, minister
the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace
of God. Look at Romans 12. This same
thing is written by Paul because they both were taught by the
same Lord. Romans 12, look at it, very same things. Verse 4, Romans 12, 4. As we have many members in one
body, and all members have not the same office, so we being
many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another,
vitally joined together, having then gifts differing, different
gifts according to the grace that's given to us, the measure,
Paul said in another place, of Christ, the way he gives him
out. And there are different gifts, you know, play the piano,
or sing, or pray, or give, or serve, or whatever it may be.
I never tired telling this about Virgie Jones. She hemmed every
pair of pants I owned. But she'd always say, I don't
do nothin'. I don't do nothin'. She said,
she's in every service, wasn't she? Wasn't she? Every servant. Boy, that did something for me. Ellen Franklin. Oh, my. She was
right there 30 minutes before every service. If she wasn't
30 minutes early, she was late. Her car was the first in this
parking lot. Oh, that did something for me.
And every time she'd walk out of this building, she'd walk
out that door. She'd say to me, now that big
smile I heard, Ellen, she said, now that's the gospel. Like, what's your wife's name? Irene says, I needed that. That does me good. Just faithfulness. Just faithfulness. Just being
here. Whatever gift you've been given, read on. It says in Romans
12, verse 7, ministry, that's serving. Let's wait on our ministry.
Let's wait on each other. He that teacheth on teaching,
oh, we have some good. You care if I let everybody listen
to that? Oh, it was a blessing to me,
her teaching those children. I wish you could hear my wife,
what she tells me that she teaches. He that exhorteth. Oh, exhortation. Most every one
of you exhort me constantly, and it does me so much good. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love in
honor of preferring one another. Not slothful in business. Keep
reading. fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope,
patient in tribulation, continuing in prayer, instant in prayer,
distributed to the necessity of the saints, given to hospitality. So, back to our text. Do it willingly,
cheerfully, not grudgingly. Whatever the Lord has given you
to do, even if it's just faithfully attending, do it as unto the
Lord for the glory that God in all things might be glorified.
If any man speak, verse 11, let him speak as the oracles of God. That's the Word of God. Paul
told Timothy. He said, let no man despise your
youth, reprove, rebuke with all authority. He said, preach the
Word, Timothy, preach the Word. You know, we preach the word,
don't we? I say we, because it takes you and me both. I remember that fella that called
my dad one time, and he was up in West Virginia, a little small
church, and dad was on TV, and he thought, Mike, I guess he
thought dad was a televangelist with a mega church, you know. And he called him and said, would
you come preach for us here in West Virginia? We've got a little
old church in the mountain. He said, how many people would
it take for you to come preach here? Dad said, two. Me to preach and
you to hear. Takes two to preach. Sounding, you're my sounding
board. I'm doing for you what you would love to do, right? And you're doing for me what
I need you to do. Sounding board. A face answered
to face in the water, in the glass, in the Word. Speak as
the oracles of God, as the Word of God. If you speak a word to
anyone, let it be the Word of God. And this is what we want,
isn't it? To be able to recall God's Word
and say, thus saith the Lord. We don't want to, this is what
I think, or this is what my preacher says, or this is what I did not,
no, no, no, no. We want to know, we want to say a Word of God
in Caesar. The Oracles of God. Any minister
that doeth his ability which God giveth, They're better preachers
than me, but I'm giving it all to God. Giving it all to God. That God in all things, verse
11, here it is. Here's where my dad used to say,
let's camp here a while. That God in all things may be
glorified. Through Jesus Christ to whom
be praise and dominion forever and ever. That God in all things
might be glorified. All things do glorify God. Unregenerate man can't hear it,
can't see it, doesn't acknowledge it, doesn't like it. God's gone. He's a fool. He said there is
no God. Man. That all things glorify God.
And God's people clearly see His glory in all things. Psalm 19, you know this psalm. Go back there with me. Psalm
19 and Romans 1, you know, is the condemnation of of mankind
in general that has changed the glory of God, rejected the glory
of God, and worships and serves a creature rather than a creator
who's God-blessed, who's blessed forever, and professing themselves
to be wise have become utter fools. They don't see, though,
the power of God, His eternal power in Godhead are clearly
seen. And without excuse, yet, no. But Psalm 19, the heavens declare
the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork day unto
day, every day, every single day, uttereth this speech. What
speech? Glory to God. And night unto night showeth
this knowledge, knowledge of the Most High. There's no speech,
there's no language where the voice of day and night is not
heard that says to everyone in every language, God is. God is
glorious. God is great. God is our creator. Everywhere, everywhere. All things
glorify God. The elements declare His glory,
don't they? The sun, the moon, the stars,
the wind, the waves, the thunder, the lightning, the animals. Flowers,
trees, birds, and bees all declare His glory, don't you? The birds,
their carols raise the morning like the lily white, declare
our Maker's praise. We just sang that, didn't we?
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have
created all things. Without our Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's all through Christ, and it says, without Him was
not anything made that was made. That proves Him to be God, doesn't
it? The Creator. And it says here
in our text, go back to 1 Peter, that God in all things might
be glorified through Jesus Christ. For of Him, through Him, and
to Him are all things. All things give glory to Jesus
Christ. The elements do. The sky, Psalm
19, we didn't read it, but verse 4 says, He set a tabernacle for
the sun. You know why God created everything?
For His Son's glory. Before there were any creatures,
before there were any angels or anything, God dwelt in glory. His Son dwelt in glory. The Spirit
dwelt in glory. They had need of nothing. But
God purposed to create a universe full of elements and the creation
of the earth and all that's in it. It's all for the glory of
His Son. To declare His Son. Every single
thing God has created declared the glory of Jesus Christ. That's what it has to have. Again,
the elements of the sky is a tabernacle for the sun, a monument that
is a place to display the sun of righteousness, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The sky is a tabernacle. The moon is under His feet. He is the bright and morning
star, isn't it? And He is the rose of Sharon,
the lily of the valley, the tree of life, and all these things
declare. The clouds are the dust of His
feet. Animals, He is the Lion of Judah,
He is the Lamb of God. Everything. The Spirit, I remind
you, is called the wind. He walketh on the wings of the
wind, our Lord Jesus Christ. Plants its footsteps in the sea
and it will rise upon the stone. Everything. Creation declares
His glory. Everything was created for His
glory. That God, through Jesus Christ,
might be glorified in all things. Glory. The word glory means honor. It means praise. It means worship. All glory belongs to our God.
All praise, all honor, all worship belongs to our God, to His Christ,
to His Son, and the Holy Spirit. No glory belongs to man. No glory. Zero. Why? Because what do we
have we have not received? If we received it, why would
we? Glory, as if we had not received. But that's what men do. But the
Scripture says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, the
mighty man in his might. Let not anyone glory in anything,
because everything we have is by the grace of God. Everything
we know, everything we can do. And yet, man, everything man
does, nothing, not one single thing done by man may be said
to be glorious. Can you think of one single thing
done by man that you could say, that's glorious? No. Nothing
made, nothing done by man comes even close to the glory of God. Nothing man made. You know, man sought out many
inventions of Scripture. Not one of them is better than
what God has done. Nothing. It always ends up that
we come right back around to agreeing that God did it right.
God did it best. God made it better. Nothing that
man has made, nothing that man has done, there's no building,
no edifice, nothing man has built compares to one mountain built
by God. No art, no artwork comes even
close to God's canvas. Not even close. No music. You know, there's this
artist, Thomas Kincaid, and he claims to be a believer, but
I don't think he'd let himself be called the painter of light,
if he was. They call him the painter of
light. You can't paint light. Try it. Try to paint the sun. It's not even close. You can
look at that picture all day long. You glance at the sun,
it'll blind you. Light? A light bulb is lighter
than this picture. I hate these designations. They
glorify man. I hate them. Anybody that loves God's glory
hates man getting any glory. No music compares to the music
in the wind, and the waves, and the trees, and the birds, the
seraph's song. We haven't heard that yet. I like to think about David. You know David, Jeanette, you
played so skillfully in Robin Hood. And I've heard some amazing
musicians that just But David, I have to think that
David must have been some harpist. I bet his boy, I bet he sang
beautifully. Don't you imagine? Can't you
think that David must have been a... He's called the sweet psalmist
of Israel. Why? Because he is such a type
of Christ. Now try to imagine. They said, no man spake like
this man. His enemies came to get him and they were mesmerized.
They were spellbound. They came to get him to apprehend
him. They ended up sitting down with him. No man spake like this
man. Well, surely no man sang like
this man. No, nothing man has ever done,
nothing man has ever made compares to the glory of God. No poetry,
no prose, no book, no story comes Even anywhere close to the greatest
book. The only book. That's why it's
called the book. The Bible. There are no books,
really, compared to this. The wisdom of it. The mystery of it. The power
of it. God's Word. The beauty of it. The glory of it. Everything.
This is why God hates pride. Young people, God hates it. He knows how to bring down pride.
He that walketh in pride. will be the base. You can count
on it. It's going to happen. It's going
to come down. Everything man has ever made,
this is why, everything man has ever made is coming down. There's not one stone going to
be left standing on the other. All the works of man will be
burned up. Why? Man's glory. I learned this verse in Isaiah
years ago, and it's always stuck with me. The Lord of hosts had
purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into
contempt all the honorable of the earth. That which is highly
esteemed among men is what? An abomination to God. Oh, humble
yourselves in the sight of God. We ought to be. We've got nothing
to glory in. Now, His greatest glory. Oh, that glorious to you, God's
creation? It pales in comparison, compared to His greatest glory. Exodus 33. You know where we're
going. Exodus 33. What is God's greatest
glory? God's people know. Salvation. Salvation. Salvation of our souls. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord, to his to do, his to give, and for his glory. Moses, after
he'd seen all that he'd seen, the Red Sea parted and so many
other things, Moses said in Exodus 33 verse 18, I beseech thee,
show me thy glory. Show me your person. The glory
of your person. Your mind, your will, and here's
what God said, Exodus 33, 19. I believe it was the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking. He said, I will make all my goodness
pass before thee. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,
and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. There it is. There's the glory of God. His
goodness, His grace, and His mercy. Now where is that seen? He said in verse 20, Thou canst
not see my face, no man shall see me and live. But hold on. John, we have. We've seen the
glory of God. Where? In the face of Christ
Jesus. And even our Lord said, He that
seeth the Son And believeth on Him, seeth what? His glory. And
believeth on the Son. He says, I'll have everlasting
life and I'll raise Him up at the last day. Chapter 34. He
said, I'll make my goodness pass before you and proclaim my name. Verse 6, the Lord passed by before
him, this is Christ, and proclaimed the Lord, Jehovah, the Lord God,
merciful and gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and mercy,
keeping truth and keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin. Oh, He'll by no means clear the
guilty. But that's why Christ was made guilty for His people,
made sin. This is the glory of God. This
is His greatest glory. That God in all things might
be glorified through Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christ and
Him crucified is God's greatest glory. On the cross is seen all
the attributes of God, all the glory of God. This is why Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of my
Lord Jesus Christ. All the attributes of God, His
holiness is seen in Calvary. Man doesn't know, doesn't believe,
doesn't see the holiness of God. Where can you see it most clearly?
At Calvary. God says, I will by no means
clear the guilty. When he made his own son to be
sin for us, he didn't clear him. He spared him not. The wrath
of God. The holiness of God. The justice of God. Ah, the love
of God. Nowhere is the love of God seen
more clearly than God making His Son, delivering His Son,
that we might be delivered. Oh, behold, what a matter of
love the Father, hearing His love, not that we love God, but
that He loved us and sent His Son, gave His Son to be a propitiation,
a sacrifice, a substitute. I've said so many times that
I would not substitute my only daughter for me, but God did. Who for? It's the glory of a man to forgive. The glory of our God saying most
clearly, His mercy is not getting what we deserve. We were shown mercy. Why? For Christ's sake. Grace is getting
what we don't deserve. What do we get? We get His righteousness.
He wove this robe of righteousness to cover our naked souls, and
He stripped Himself. Those soldiers didn't strip him,
God did. Stripped him of that robe, an
unseen robe, and put it on his naked people to cover them. That's the glory of God. There
is seen the greatest glory of God. Go back to our text. It says in 1 Peter 4, it says
that God in all things might be glorified. And they've been
talking about doing whatever we do for the glory of God. That God in all things might
be glorified. Everything Christ did was for God's glory. He lived
a life that was glorious, that glorified God. He delighted to
do his will. This is the will of God, our
sanctification, that we be made like Christ. That God in all
things might be glorified in everything. Now here, you know
this, but you can tell the truth of a doctrine by who gets all
the glory, can't you? Can't you? You can test every
doctrine by this test. Who gets the glory? Such as the
doctrine of election. Who gets the glory? God choosing
man or man choosing God? Well, that's clear, isn't it? Whose decision? Whose will? Who gets the glory? Man's will? Man deciding for God? Or God
deciding for man? Who gets the glory? Anybody can
know that. God's people love Him. You see,
God's people love His glory, don't they? Let such as love
thy salvation say, the Lord be magnified, the Lord be glorified.
God's people love His glory, don't they? You love to hear
this? Do you hate anybody stealing His glory? You know that He calls
Himself jealous many times. Seven or eight times through
the Scripture, God says, My name is jealous. Meaning, I will not
give my glory to another. I will not. And every doctrine
can be judged by this test. Who gets all the glory? God must
get all the glory, not some of it, all of it. That's how you
know the truth of the doctrine. And that's how you know the true
people of God. They love His glory and they
will not share it. They won't steal it. That in
all things, He said here, in all things, let me just touch
on this a little bit. In all things, God may be glorified. It even says whether we eat or
drink. Do we grudgingly give thanks to God for the food that
we eat and drink? Oh, no. We're all... You know, Kelly, I know you're
this way. Tom, whoever leads in prayer. You ladies. You don't
feel comfortable praying at the table, do you? Who does? But
it's not grudgingly. It's thankfully. Aren't you thankful
we give thanks? The whole world takes everything for granted.
Doesn't God give God thanks? That's what it says in Romans.
Well, they weren't thankful. And they've robbed Him of His
glory. Just thanks. Thanks glorifies
God. Thank You. Give us. Forgive us. Thank You. Eating
or drinking, whether we eat or drink, do all for the glory of
God, dress in the house of worship. I'm still very, very insistent
on it. I feel very strongly about it.
That we should prepare ourselves, mind, body, and soul to worship
our Lord. Why do I dress like I do? For
you? in reverence, in respect, in
honor, considering who it is that I serve, and dignity to
our God. That's why every service, Sunday
and Wednesday, and I believe everyone should, whether we eat,
drink, dress, what we do in this place, sing the songs we sing,
need to glorify our God. Our prayers, the preaching, our
attitude. We can glorify God in our attitude,
can't we? Being thankful, being submissive,
being humble, being quiet. The thing that marks this generation
more than anything else is talk. Much talk. Loud and proud. The thing that marks God's people
is quiet and humble. God is in heaven, you're on earth.
Let your words be. Oh my, the way we talk, that
our words, our speech be seasoned with grace, seasoned with salt,
thankful, our attitude, our speech, the way we use His name, the
way we conduct ourselves in and outside the house of God, that
God in all things, might be glorified. Most of the world blasphemes
God, curses God. Let us be thankful. Let us glorify
Him. And it ends this way. To whom
be praise. Thanksgiving, praise, adoration,
worship, and dominion. He owns it all. He reigns over
it all, forever and ever. And what do the saints say to
that? Amen. You're dismissed.