It's good to see and be with
you. I feel like that you could have
had any of these men who speak here and had far better than
myself. The Lord's providence, for some
reason I'm here and maybe you could put up with me. Turning your Bibles this morning
to Romans chapter 8. And we'll read a verse of scripture
that I know is very familiar to you. And that verse is verse
30. Well, we'll go ahead and read verse
29 also. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Now, what I want you to notice
this morning is the last word in that 30th verse, and it is
that word glorify. I think most people have as their
thoughts concerning what that means something that I've always
had in my mind. and that it has something to
do with a great change that will take place in us sometime in
the future, that we will be made better and that maybe it has
also to do even with our being in heaven itself. But there are several things
that I feel like that we need to learn especially in the light
of the tense that is used when our Lord gives this to us through
the Apostle. I was telling some of the men
yesterday that we ought always to remember that the Lord refers
to Himself as the I Am. and that there is no progression
in God. That's why he has that name. And the progression has to do
with his revelation of himself and the revelation of his purpose
to us. So when the apostle writes here,
he speaks of our having been glorified in the past tense. And this same word is used something
like 50 times in the New Testament. And of that 50 times, it is used
many times when God is speaking of Himself. So when you stop
and think about that, is there any way that God can be changed? Or is there any way that He can
be made better? And so it brings to my mind a
little bit of a question, as many things often do, it brings
to my mind a little question as to what does it really mean
to be glorified? And so as a fellow like myself
has to often do, I went searching and looking and trying to find
from various Greek definitions and dictionaries maybe some of
the uses of this word and most especially as to how it is used
in the various portions of scripture in the New Testament. And when
I began to look, I found some definitions that were like this,
that it means to magnify, that it means to celebrate or to honor
or to hold in honor or to adorn with luster and splendor And
then I found this definition. And when I found this definition,
you know, sometimes even people who know nothing about the gospel
but know something about language, at least God has called them
to be at least intellectually honest. And sometimes we can
profit from that, I believe, because this was the definition,
to cause the dignity and worth of some person or thing to become
manifest or acknowledged. Let me tell you that just one
more time. the dignity and worth of some
person or thing to become manifest or acknowledged. And when I read
that definition, it came to my mind that this really seems to
be, at least in part, the meaning of this word. especially because
it is used concerning God Himself. When something was done by Christ,
a miracle performed by Him, in verse 8, it says, But when the
multitude saw it, they marveled and glorified God which had given
such power unto men. Now, they didn't make God better,
and they didn't change God. And so something in glorification
has to do with that which can even be done of God. All right? Listen also in John chapter 17. John chapter 17 in that first
verse and also in the fourth verse, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is
come, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." Look
down in verse 4. He says, I have glorified thee
on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do, and now, O Father, glorify thou me with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was." This is spoken concerning Christ. who is described
elsewhere in the Bible as the same yesterday and today and
forever. So, in truth, to glorify someone
is to recognize them as to who they really are and to honor
them as such and magnify and acknowledge and manifest them
as such. And in that sense, this is how
we glorify God. I know I say it sometimes myself,
and I've said it probably a lot of times, but we speak of glorifying
God with our lives. But when I think about that,
there is nothing about me personally. There is nothing about my life,
if you will, that could ever glorify the thrice holy God. So the only way that such as
we are can glorify God in this world and before men is to speak
of Him acknowledge him as he says he is in his word and acknowledge
him in all that we say and all that we confess and he is especially
glorified therefore in the preaching of his gospel. You see that? That's the only way that sinners
like we are in this world, and yet still in this flesh, can
ever glorify God. We can't make Him better by anything
we do. And the only way we can glorify
Him is to believe what He says about Himself, and to honor Him
as He is and for what He has done, and to speak forth the
gospel which is the gospel of the glory of his grace in the
Lord Jesus Christ. But in our text, in that thirtieth
verse, it is not God that is said to be glorified, it is his
people, and it is said of them Not only did He foreknow them,
or forelove them, not only did He predestinate all these things
concerning them, call them, justifies them, but glorified them. Now, what in the world does that
mean? Well, we know that this is something
that God has done and does, and we know that he does that for
this people that he has identified in these verses. And these are
not only the saints that were at Rome that Paul writes to,
but these are the Lord's people in every age. This has to do
with his purpose of grace in Christ concerning them. He foreloved them. He predestinated
all things concerning them, everything necessary to conform them to
his Son. He calls them. He justified them. He glorifies them. What does that mean? Well, I
know this, that men do all things to be glorified by men. As a matter of fact, I came down
Dawson Road this morning from the motel, and I believe there
are a lot of fine and fancy places for lost religious sinners to
hide. A lot of places. And one reason
they hide in such places is because in these places of religion,
God is not glorified, but men seek to glorify men and exalt
them and say good things about them and say good things about
what they do. But the truth is, if we preach
the gospel, we can't do that. That's why there's not a packed
house here already this morning. Because nobody's ego will be
inflated, nobody will be addressed as anything but a sinner, and
the only one that'll have any glory, if it's up to me and by
grace God enables me, is God Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. But you can mark this down. He
has and does glorify his elect people. Even though it says in
the Revelation, speaking of the harlot, speaking of that harlot
religion, it says how much she hath glorified herself and lived
deliciously. But so much torment and sorrow
shall be given her, and she says she sits as a queen, and am no
widow, and shall see no sorrow. But what has she done? She has
glorified herself. That's always, I tell my folks,
the chief rule of thumb in determining whether or not something anything
is of God or whether it's of man. If it is of God, it will
glorify God and only God. But it says, He glorified us. And that means, that is, He distinguished
us and He recognized us and He made manifest that we are His
people when He chose us from among men and wrote our names
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. If this is what glorification
is, if this is what it means in his having done it to us in
the past, this is where it begins. God distinguished us, and he
loved us for a reason known only to himself, and he chose us in
Christ, Paul says, before the foundation of the world. We didn't do anything. We didn't
do anything to deserve it. He never looked on us and saw
something that would incline Him toward us, but He, in a sovereign
act of His grace, glorified us. That is, in that everlasting
covenant, He chose us and distinguished us from all of Adam's fallen
race, chose us in Christ, and set us apart unto Himself as
His people. He glorified us. We are no different
than any other sinner in this world, and yet in His mercy,
in an amazing display of His grace, He glorified us. He made us manifest. He acknowledged
us. before the world began. But not only that, he glorifies
his people in that purpose and grace in which he himself is
glorified. The prophet says in Isaiah 44,
he says, For the LORD hath done it, shout
ye lower parts of the earth, break forth into singing ye mountains,
O forests, and every tree therein. For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel."
Now, he's not talking about that nation of people there. As a
matter of fact, those two names which are found associated with
the same people are speaking about that one and the same spiritual
people of which every individual is in both senses Jacob and Israel. What was Jacob? The conniver,
the sinner, the supplater. And what was Israel? His name
changed Israel. Why? He said, Yahuwah the Prince
with God. That's what we all are by nature
and by grace. And in the saving and in the
glorifying of a people of such kind in Jesus Christ, He has
in that glorified Himself and will always get that glory. But he glorifies his people through
what he says of them. I'll say by the names that he
calls them. He says they're my people. My people. You know, as Americans,
we're a pretty proud lot. And if you don't believe it,
just go over to Europe somewhere and they'll tell you pretty quick
we are. Not that they're not either. And one day, one day,
I was feeling kind of patriotic, you know, I'm a patriotic person. And I had this little flag pin. And so I put it on my lapel and
I said, dang, I'm gonna wear that to church this morning.
I'm gonna be patriotic, you know, and I'm gonna stand up there
and I'm gonna show my colors today and And so I'm sitting
up there in the chair on the pulpit before the service reading
and thinking and just having to catch that pin in the corner
of my eye. And the thought came to me, one
nation under God. You know what my next thought
was? All nations are under God. They're
under his sovereign rule and reign, no matter whether it's
one country or another country, and they ain't none of them any
good in themselves. They're all under him. And my
next thought is this. Son, you better be in a part
of that holy nation, that royal priesthood, that chosen family
that God has identified himself with. And that's what he does. He glorifies all his believing
people. He says, they're my people. That's
who my people are. That's who I'm going to spend
eternity with. I'm going to spend eternity with
my people. And I mean, they're my people
because they're his people. You're my people. Every believer
in Christ, he describes them also as my sheep. They're my
sheep. They're not goats. They're my
sheep. He distinguishes them. He acknowledges
us, and He identifies us, and He says they are those who are
given to Christ by the Father. They're His Israel. They're His
Zion. They're His Jerusalem. They're
His church. They're His children. He said, They're mine. I'm their
Father. Christ said, I go to my Father,
and you will follow. I'll tell you, there's many a
father out here in this world that their children have done
in such ways that they would never, as a father, they would
never hardly acknowledge their children. But the Bible says,
like a father pities his children, the Lord pities us, and He knows
our frame, and He remembers that we're just dust. their mind. Now, not only does he do that, but
he does just like he's always done to his people. I just, something
happens to me every time I read this verse in scripture when
the Lord is talking about the difference that he distinguishes
between Israel and Egypt. He said, Against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast,
that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel. He distinguishes his people. And he did so throughout all
the Old Testament. And he made it known and made
himself known as such to men like Moses and Noah and Abraham
and a host of others. And he made them known among
many people and in the hearts of some such as kings. And he
showed himself in the midst of them." You can throw Daniel in
that den of lions if you want to, but I'm going to be right
there with you. You can do what you want to against
all my people, but I'll just turn it against you. I remember what Moses prayed.
He said, Lord, he said, how will anybody know that we're your
people except you be in the midst of us? And if you don't go up
with us, I don't want to go myself. He identifies with us. He's in
the midst of us. And he did it also when Christ
Jesus went to the cross. In just that priestly garment
of the high priest. The Scriptures give all these
definitions and descriptions of the priest's garments and
a host of other things, not only to show the glory of Christ,
but to show also how his people are glorified in Christ. When
that priest went into that Holy of Holies to offer that sacrifice
of blood and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, he had a special
garment on. And as a part of that garment.
There were those platelets of gold on which were inscribed
the names of the tribes of the children of Israel. And on that
breastplate of gold were those 12 stones, which really, though
in an outward display, they represented all the tribes of Israel. But
who they really represented was Christ, who bears his people
on his shoulders and in his heart. before God. You see, He's our prophet, our
priest, and our king. You know He's our king, and He
rules over us. You know He's our prophet, and
He reveals God to us. But He's our priest, and in all
He has been as the mediator of His people He has borne us, identified
with us, stood in union with us from before the foundation
of the world, and you, who the world don't hardly even know
anything about, He's made known before the very
throne of heaven. God came into this world to be
the priest to be the representative, to be the sacrifice, to be the
covenant head, to be the bridegroom of a people out of every nation
and kindred and tribe and tongue, all of whom were sinners. So when He hung on that cross
in their behalf, He represented them before God and glorified
them. That's right. He acknowledged
them. He said, these are the ones that
I'm dying for. These are the ones that I'm suffering.
These I acknowledge them. I'm not only acknowledging you,
Father, but I acknowledge them. I'm manifesting myself before
you in this particular way on their behalf. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Now, I don't care what men say.
that Christ did. I don't care who they say he
died for. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. Well, he glorifies his people when
he brings them on the course of their life through all things
so that they might hear the gospel of his glory. And here are all
these masses of people trudging through this world on a course
that leads to destruction. And I can't say anything about
you too much. I know a little bit about some
of your background. But here I was, a lad, grew up
in Southern Baptist Sunday School and had all the Sunday School
pins enough to look like a third world general, you know. Mama's
boy and Papa's son and the preacher's favorite and the boy that's going
to preach and sure enough he did, lost as a javelin. But one day he glorified me. Through all that maze of error
and junk and God dishonoring stuff and all these things, He
came to me with the gospel. I wasn't looking for it. But he came to me with the gospel, and he revealed himself to me
in the Lord Jesus Christ as all, as the grace of God, as the mercy
of God. that I was one of his by sending
that gospel to me and effectually calling me and bringing me to
believe that gospel. He said he's mine. He's mine. Then, you know, we just have to know
this if we're even honest at all. They're not a person hardly
in religion, at least what we would call evangelical Christianity,
so-called, that doesn't believe that we're saved in some way
connected to faith. They say we're saved by faith,
but I don't think they mean the same thing that God means by
that. You're talking about their act of faith. But if we believe
what he says, that faith is the gift of God, We have faith to believe the
truth. It's because God gave it to us. And when he gave us faith, which
I believe is the most awesome, unbelievable thing that ever
happens to us in this life, when God gives us faith to believe
the truth, he glorified us. Because he said, hear my voice,
and they followed me. And in the book of Acts, the
apostle was preaching, and the Jews, for the most part, especially
the religious ones and the leaders, they said, well, we don't have
nothing to do with that, what these fellows are saying. It says, when the Gentiles heard
this, they were glad. and glorified the word of the
Lord, and as many as were ordained into eternal life believed." You see, He glorifies us in giving
us faith that we, in believing on Him, might glorify Him. The first thing that happened,
you see, you say, well, did you quit smoking or drinking or cussing? of this kind of stuff. I've put
most of that, but that ain't the first thing that happened. The first thing that happened
was I confessed with my mouth God Almighty, His salvation,
and His Son to be actually who He said He is and to have done
what He said that He's done. That's what glorifies Him. And He glorifies His people as
He preserves them and maintains them through the greatest of
troubles and tribulations. And we all have them, don't we? A lot of times they have to do
with their families and their friends and their children and
stuff like that. I got a little one going on right
now. I didn't even know if I was going
to be able to come down here or not. It seemed like the Lord
has done something. I'm not sure exactly what yet.
I'm just like all of you in your situation. I'm just waiting to
see what he's been pleased to do. But somewhere between my house and his, He
gave me peace. No matter what happens, it's
not going to change what I am in His sight. It's not going
to alter anything in the light of eternity. And whatever He
does, it will be right. It will be for His glory and
my glory. He glorifies his people when
he gives them great deliverance from their enemies. There have been a lot of people
who'd have shut my mouth many years ago, but they've not been able to.
There's a lot of people who would, they'd just love to shut the
mouth of every true gospel preacher and every believer. Just stop
you from bearing witness to the truth. But they can. He glorifies us when he preserves
us in all our faults and failures and weaknesses. That's the end of him. She's
done it now. Not if we're his child. He said,
if they fall seven times or seven times sin, He said, I'll raise
them up and I'll keep them. And when He keeps us, He acknowledges,
He makes manifest that we're His. He glorifies us. And in the midst of it all, the
world is made known, made known to the world, whether they want
to admit it or not. These are the Lord's people.
There's just something different about them. There's just something,
there's definitely something different about what they believe,
and maybe I don't understand it, and maybe I don't even like
it. There's something going on there. And then God will glorify all His people when Christ comes. He'll glorify every one of them. Look back at verse 18. Paul says,
For I reckon... Somebody said he must have been
a southerner. I reckon. For I reckon, that means I determine,
I count, that the sufferings of this present hour, of this
present time, they're not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. He said the whole creation waits
for the manifestation of the sons of God. He will glorify
us. And all I've got to say is that
if that glorification is even more and greater than how He's
already glorified His people, it'll be something. I don't even
want to try to speculate on it. But he said, in that hour, when that final day comes, he
says, then, then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. And when he shall come to be
glorified in his saints. and to be admired in all them
that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that
day. And He'll glorify us when it
says that He will make us to sit with Him in His throne forever. Then He also glorifies.