It's a blessing to get together.
The name of the message is glorying in God alone. Glorying in God
alone. Turn if you would to Romans chapter
15. Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. We'll read verses 13 to 21. glorying in God alone. Now the
God of hope, oh what a title for our great God. The God of
hope. Fill you with all joy and peace
and believing that ye may abound in hope. In God's people, we
abound in hope, don't we? Because Christ is our hope. He's
our hope. Through the power of the Holy
Ghost, through His power, And I myself also am persuaded of
you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled
with all knowledge, able to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren,
I have written the more boldly unto you, and the same sort is
put in you in mind because of the grace that is given to me
of God, that I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the
Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God that the offering up of
the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy
Ghost. I have, therefore, whereof I
may glory through Jesus Christ in these things which pertain
to God. For I dare not speak of any of
those things which Christ hath not wrought by me to make the
Gentiles obedient by word and deed. through many signs and
wonders by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem
and round about into Elchoyim, I have fully preached the gospel
of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach
the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build
upon another man's foundation, but as it is written, to whom
he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard
shall understand. Now note in verse 17 the word
glory. I have therefore wherever I make
glory through Jesus Christ and these things which pertain to
God. Now the Greek word there for glory means to boast or boasting. It means to boast or boasting
or the act of boasting about something. And this Greek word
is used 12 times in the scriptures. 12 times. 6 times it's translated
boasting. Turn if you would to Romans chapter
3. In Romans 3.27 it's translated boasting. Let's read the context
of the verse though. Same Greek word. Romans 3 verses 24 to 28, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say, at this time
His righteousness, that He might be just in the justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then, same
Greek word, is glory over in Romans 15, 17, same Greek word. Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? Of works, nay, but
by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. So we see
the verse in context that there's no room for boasting by the Jew
or Gentile in self. There's no room for us as believers
to boast in ourselves. None at all. None at all. It's cast away for the believer.
By what principle is boasting excluded? By works? Well, certainly
not. Not by our works, no. No, our
sins are revealed and laid bare by God's law that we're all depraved
and we all come short of the glory of God. And the principle
of faith destroys boasting in self. The principle of faith
destroys boasting in self because we look outside ourselves to
another. We look to the Lord Jesus Christ. And faith receives
all from God and claims nothing from ourselves. Because we have one object of
our faith, and that's Christ. All spiritual blessings come
to the believer through Him. So the conclusion then stands
firm. Justification is by faith without
the works of the law. So we can't boast in ourselves
or anything we do. We boast in Christ and what He's
done. We boast in Him. We glory in
Him. We glory in Him. Turn now, if
you would, to 2 Corinthians 11. We'll read verses seven through
11. Paul is bringing forth that he took nothing from any of the
churches that he might, or that they might be exalted, but he
boasted in Christ, how? By preaching the gospel. By preaching
the gospel. So the gospel preacher boasts
in Christ by preaching the gospel. Because again, we can't boast
in ourselves, we're just a bunch of sinners. We preachers are
saved sinners. We don't boast in ourselves,
but we boast in the only Savior of sinners. We boast in the one
who saved us from all our sins, just like you do. We all do that
as believers. We boast in Christ. We boast
in Him. Look at 2 Corinthians 11, verses
7 to 11. Have I committed an offense in
abasing myself, that ye may be exalted? because I have preached
to you the gospel of God freely. See, Paul didn't mess around
with anything else, did he? He preached Christ. He preached
the gospel of the grace of God in and through Christ. I robbed
other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. No,
he didn't. And when I was present, or yeah, he took wages of them
to do the Corinthian church service. And when I was present with you
and wanted, I was chargeable to no man. He didn't take anything
from the Corinthians. He didn't take anything from
the Corinthians. He was chargeable to no man. For that which was
lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.
Another church supplied his needs. So he didn't have to take anything,
anything from the Corinthians. And in all things I have kept
myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep
myself. As the truth of Christ is in
me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the region of Achaia. What was he boasting? He was
preaching Christ. No man's gonna stop him from
preaching Christ. No man's gonna stop him from
boasting in Christ. That's what he's saying here.
Wherefore, because I love you not, God knoweth. So we see the
word boasting in verse 10, same Greek word as glory in our text,
same Greek word. And we see that Paul would not
stop boasting in Christ. He'd not stop boasting in Christ.
He'd not stop preaching the gospel. That's what he was sent to do.
And he preached the free grace of God in Christ. And he would
not be chargeable to the saints or burdensome to the saints at
Corinth. That's what he's saying here. He's saying, I don't want
to be burdensome to you. And the same Greek word then
is translated rejoicing in 2 Corinthians 1, turn there if you would. The
same Greek word, except now it's translated rejoicing. And we see Paul answering the
charge that he falsified his word and not coming to Corinth
as he had promised. Some people were causing trouble
in the church saying, see, Paul didn't keep his word. He told
us he was gonna come, he didn't keep his word. So he's answering
that charge. Look at verses 12 to 14. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony
of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with
fleshy wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation
in the world, and more abundantly to you, word. For we write none
other things unto you than that what you read or acknowledge,
and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end. is also ye have
acknowledged in part that we are your rejoicing, even as ye
also are others in the day of the Lord Jesus. So in verse 12
there, rejoicing is the same Greek word. Now the Greek word
in rejoicing in verse 14 is a different Greek word, but it means the
same. It means to boast. It means to boast. So Paul boasted in Christ. He
boasted in Christ. He rejoices here to inform the
saints and all others that his conscience and his conduct, his
heart and his mouth behave together in simplicity. He's not double-minded. The Lord did not allow him to
go to Corinth. That's what he's saying. It's the Lord who did
this. I wanted to come, but the Lord
said no. The Lord forbade him. But by the grace of God dwelling
in him, he's acted in the world and especially towards the saints
of God in sincerity and in truth. Now turn, if you would, to 1
Thessalonians 2. 1 Thessalonians 2. He's writing
to the saints at Thessalonica and he longs to see them. He
longs to see them. And the same Greek word here
is translated rejoicing. 1 Thessalonians 2, verses 17-20. being taken from you for a short
time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly
to see your face with great desire. He desired to go and see the
saints. Wherefore, we would have come unto you, even I, Paul,
once and again, but Satan hindered us. And we know that's all by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, right? For what is our
hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? There's the same Greek word,
boasting. Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy. Now let's go back to our text
in Romans 15, 17. And we see the same Greek word
is here now translated glory. One thing is evident in religion. Folks in religion like the glory
about what they do. They like the glory, they like
to tell you about what they do. But the believer in Christ, we
rejoice in Christ. We serve Christ. We do things
because we love the Master, don't we? And we don't do things for
the praise of man. And if we do, God forgive us,
please. We desire to serve our King,
don't we? That's why we're here. This church
is here for the furtherance of the gospel. And we, as the body
of Christ, are together for the furtherance of the gospel. And the gospel goes forth from
here all over the world, beloved. Just look at the download reports.
It's amazing where the gospel's going forth from our group here
in Alma. It's absolutely mind-blowing.
It's incredible. All for the glory of God. All
for the glory of God. It's absolutely incredible. And
that's what we're here for. Now look at here, he says here,
I have therefore wherever I may glory, boast through Jesus Christ
in those things which pertain to God. So Paul's saying here,
I'm rejoicing in the things that pertain to God. I'm boasting
in the things that pertain to God. I glory in the things that
pertain to God. I boast in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what He's done. And what He's done. We don't boast in ourselves.
We've got nothing to boast about, do we? Only thing we boast about
is our sin and it shames us. Shames us. We boast in our Savior. The born
again blood-bought believer seeks to give all the glory and all
the honor and all the praise to our great Redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ. The one who rules and reigns
right now in glory. Right now. You're not waiting
to rule and reign. Beloved, he's ruling right now.
And he's reigning. And he's watching over every
one of his sheep. Think of that, too. We don't
know how many of his sheep are on this earth right now. He's
watching over every one of us. It's incredible. Our great God. Knows exactly what's going on
in our lives. Knows exactly what's going on.
Now Paul throughout his ministry, he was very, very careful throughout
his ministry to give God all the glory and not to boast or
brag in the flesh. Turn if you would to Philippians
chapter 3. We see it very clearly in Philippians chapter 3. Very,
very clearly in this section. And remember who Paul is. He
sat under one of the greatest teachers of his time. He was
a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a smart man, well-educated,
but he said, I count all that like dumb, for the excellency
of Christ. I'm not going to boast in anything
I did or anything I even, he was a Benjamite, right? He had
the lineage. I ain't gonna boast in any of
that stuff. None of it. His boast was Christ. His boast
was Christ. I believe, as a matter of fact,
that Paul could've went toe-to-toe with any philosopher of his day.
I really believe that. I think he was that smart, that
intelligent, that he could've went toe-to-toe with any philosopher. And I mean go toe-to-toe. He
could've, but he's, no, I'm determined to preach Christ. I'm determined
to exalt Christ and to preach him. Think of him going, this
is just my own thoughts, my own thoughts. I've often thought
of him going through the streets of Corinth. And here's a conversation,
because you hear conversations in the streets. And here's a
conversation over here, they're talking about things in the stars
and all this, different things. And over here, someone's talking
philosophy. And he's walking by going, I'm
determined to preach nothing but Christ and him crucified.
I'm not going to get tangled up in all that stuff. I'm going
to preach Christ. Because that's what Christ sent
him to do. That's what Christ sent him to
do. And he had the scriptures, right? And that's what he did.
He preached Christ from the scriptures. He preached Christ from the scriptures.
Look what he says here. Philippians chapter 3, verses
1 to 11. Finally, my brethren. Brethren,
what a beautiful word. Brethren. Rejoice in the Lord,
to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. See, the gospel preacher doesn't
have nothing new to preach. We preach Christ, the same old,
old story, beloved. We preach Christ. Look what he writes here. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, false
teachers. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have,
look at this. This is a wonderful portion of
scripture right here. No confidence in the flesh. Philippians three,
verse three. No confidence in the flesh. Do
you have confidence in your flesh? Cast it away. The believer says,
I have no confidence in my flesh. I have no confidence in anything
I do. My confidence is in Christ. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, and this is talking about working your way to salvation.
Though I may also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh that he hath wherever he might trust in the flesh,
I more. Now Saul, he's going to give us some of his pedigree
now. Okay, look at this. circumcised the eighth day of
the stock of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of Hebrews. It's touching the law of Pharisee.
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church. And we know some
of what Paul did. He persecuted the church. He
went into people's homes and tore them out of their homes
and cast them into prison, beloved. That's why the Lord said, Saul
saw a boy, persecutest thou me. He was persecuting the body of
Christ. See, when somebody persecutes a believer, they're persecuting
Christ. When somebody speaks evil of
a believer, they're speaking evil of Christ because we're
his body. Look at that. concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is of the law blameless.
He saw himself in his state. Now this is the height of self-righteousness,
isn't it? Paul saw himself, and this is
what self-righteous people see themselves. This is what these
Pharisees thought. They considered themselves blameless.
All the time they're lost sinners. See, self-righteousness blinds
you to the things of Christ. And that's why we pray, oh Lord,
bring the sinner down, because that's what he's done for every
one of us, and we're but saved sinners now. He brings us right
down, doesn't he, into the dust. Oh, he does. He does. He hedges
us up right to Christ. Look at this. But what things
were gained to me. Think of this. All the teaching
he had as a young Pharisee. All the wealth he had. All the
prestige he had as a Pharisee. Now people, think of this too,
when Paul walked down the street, people would say, that's Saul
of Tarsus. That's Saul of Tarsus. Now they're saying that's Paul
and throwing rocks at him. But before, don't forget, he
had positions. For what things were gained to
me? Those I count lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Who's he boasting in? See, he's saying, well, if you
want to boast in the flesh, I could boast more than any of you. But
now we see who his true boast is in. He counts all that stuff,
all that stuff, loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, but do
count them but done, that I may win Christ. And look at this,
I love this, verse 9. And be found in Him. In Christ. In Christ. Not having mine own righteousness,
Now remember, what he mentioned up there in verse six, he said,
Concerned is zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness,
which is the law, blameless. Look at that, now he's saying,
I don't want to be found in my own righteousness. Because he
knows, he wrote in Romans, remember, he's the same one who wrote Romans,
he wrote that all our righteousness are like filthy rags. Let's never
forget the books that they wrote and how they interact with each
other too, in that sense. So when we see this, he's the
same one who said, All our righteousness is like filthy rags. There's none righteous, no, not
one. We know Isaiah wrote that too, but Paul quoted it in Romans. And be found in him. All my prayer
is that you'd be found in him. If you do not know Christ, that
he would reveal himself to you and that you'd be found in him. And every believer says, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. And every believer is clothed
in that righteousness. That's the perfect spotless righteousness
of Christ. Look at this, that I may know
him. That I may know him. There was
a time when I didn't know him. Is it so for you? Now we know
him. Paul says that I might know him
and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.
And Paul suffered, didn't he? Paul went through some things.
Being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. And in that passage right there
we just looked at, we have a clear example of Paul not boasting
in his past doings, but he's boasting in Christ. He's boasting
in what Christ has done for him. He's given God all the glory,
and God all the glory alone. It doesn't go nowhere else. Paul
taught others not to boast in themselves or in their deeds,
and he would not glory in himself, not in his religious heritage,
not in his attainments, not in his gifts, not in his labors,
and he knew that the success of his ministry was all in and
through Christ Jesus alone. As every preacher knows, we seek
to glorify God. We seek to glorify Christ. In
Galatians, Paul wrote this. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Same guy who wrote what we just
read. Same apostle. But God forbid that I should
glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth nor anything nor uncircumcision.
Jew or Gentile, don't avail anything, right? but a new creature in
Christ. In Christ. And as many as walk
according to this rule, peace beyond them, and mercy upon the
Israel of God. Who's the Israel of God? The
Church. The Church. And so we see now why Paul, in
our text there, in Romans 15, 17, we see why he says, I have
therefore wherever I may, we can say boast, glory, boast through
Jesus Christ and those things which pertain to God. The whole reason he has to glory
is the things that Christ has done for him. He can't glory
in anything in himself and he won't. We've seen that in Philippians
and we heard that in Galatians. And so there's a lesson for us
as believers too. We ought to glory in what the
Lord's done for us. We ought to boast in Him and
what He's done for us. We are but recipients of this
mercy and grace, beloved. Marvel that you're even a recipient.
It's incredible that God The God of the universe who controls
all things visible and invisible has had mercy on me in Christ. Wonder of wonders. Wonder of
wonders. Now remember too in our natural
unsaved state and the things that pertain to our sinful nature
give us no motivation to glory or honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Because man in his natural state
wants the glory in the things pertaining to themselves. We know that because we were
there. As a result of Adam's sin and
rebellion, man fell into condemnation, and we have absolutely no reason
to glory in the flesh, and yet in our natural state we do. The
flesh will lead us downward, just like a river on a hill will
flow straight down. That's what sin in the flesh
will do to us. Lead us right down. And it will lead us to
glory in ourselves when it has absolutely no reason to glory. What are the works of the flesh?
Turn if you would to Galatians chapter 5 and then put your finger
in In Colossians chapter 3, Brother Jim read there, and as he was
reading there, I thought, wow, we're going there tonight. So,
but Galatians chapter 5, and then put your finger in Colossians
chapter 3. Galatians chapter 5, this is
the works of the flesh here. Galatians 5, 19 to 21. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies. 19 and 20 in Galatians 5. And
then verse 21 continues, enviums, murders, drunkenness, revilings,
and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have told you
in past times, that they which do such things shall not inherit
the kingdom of God. Now we're told in the Scriptures
to put off the old man with his deeds. Let's turn to Colossians
3 now. We are told in the Scriptures,
exhorted by the Apostle Paul, to put off the old man with his
deeds. To put off the works of the flesh
that we just read. Put those off. Now look at this in Colossians
3, starting in verse 9. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. Now on Paul's
day, lying, believe it or not, in the days of Paul, lying was
thought to be virtuous. If you could cunningly deceive
someone, it was looked at as a virtue. Unless the liar happened to be
found out, If the liar was found out, then it was considered wrong.
Strange way of thinking, isn't it? But that's how they did it.
That's how they thought. To lie through thick thin and
to lie skillfully as to deceive was looked upon by the culture
as an accomplishment of which one might be proud. So the Apostle
Paul here writes in Colossians chapter three, again, the setting
of the context of the letter, He writes then to the believers,
lie not one to another. Don't lie one to another. Don't
do what the world does. Seeing you have put off the old
man with his deeds. Don't do that. Look at verse
10, and they put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. So we're born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. There's nothing false or untrue
in God. He's perfect, he's holy, God
is true, and in him is no falsehood at all. If you and I have really
been born again as we profess to have been, we shall hate the
very appearance of a lie, and our word will be as good as our
bond. And then look at verse 11. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Now, have you ever heard people
say? Have you ever heard people say
that the promises of God were for Israel and not all those
promises in the Old Testament, they were for Israel and not
for the church? I used to hear that all the time. Brother, you
heard it too. You used to hear it all the time.
Oh, those are for the Jews. They're not for the church. They're not for the Gentiles.
Don't let someone mislead you. Don't let someone mislead you
with that. Just quote, just quote these verses to them. Where there
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free, right? But Christ is all and in all.
That's speaking to the church, the body. Old Testament believers
and New Testament believers. There's neither Jew or Gentile
in the body of Christ. Circumcision or uncircumcision,
that's Jew and Gentile. Barbarian, Scythian. Barbarians
were bad enough. Scythians were the barbarians
of barbarians, they were called. They did things, I looked them
up for the study that we did in Colossians. I looked them
up. I'm not even going to tell you what they did. It was incredible.
They were the barbarians of barbarians. But it says here, look at this,
there must have been some of them, the Lord saved some of them, because
it says barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, slave or a free
man. But Christ is all in all. So therefore, all the promises
of God are to his people in and through Christ, whether it be
the Old Testament promises or whether it be New Testament promises.
They all pertain to the people of God, all of them, all of them. The distinctions between, what
Paul's writing here is, he says the distinctions between Greek
and Jew, which is circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, the distinctions vanish in Christ. They vanish
in Christ. All believers are one in Christ.
All of them. All the elect of all the ages
are one in Christ. That's what's being written here.
And to them, Christ is all and in all. I love the fact that
you read that, brother, with the text. He's all in all to
the believer. He's all in all. Then look at
verse 12. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, and long-suffering. Be ready to feel for others.
Be very considerate of others' needs. Kindness. Look to others as if they were
your family. Look to your brethren as if they were your family.
Your brothers and sisters in Christ. Because we are. We are
family. So, Paul says put on kindness.
Humbleness. What's humbleness? Humbleness
is the opposite of boasting. Humbleness is the opposite of
pride. We've all been around people
who boast all the time and what they do and we've also been around
some people who are pretty humble They're the opposite aren't they
so Paul's saying here be humble Be humble Meekness quiet strength
don't lash out at people Don't lash out at people who provoke
don't lash out be meek and gentle Long-suffering. Put up with others
and remember the Lord's long-suffering with you. I was thinking about
this. I've been thinking about this long-suffering all weekend.
Actually, since Friday when we're putting all the different messages
together. And I was thinking about this.
You ever hear people say, well, I forgive that person, but I'm
not gonna forget. You ever hear that? We've all
even said that, haven't we? We've all even said that. I forgive
them, but I'm never gonna forget them. Aren't you glad? that the Lord isn't like that
with us? I was thinking about that, Lord,
thank you that you're not like that with us. You're long-suffering
with your people. You're long-suffering. Even when
we were dead in sin, he's long-suffering with us. And then he says, I
forgive you in Christ, and I don't remember it anymore. Isn't that
amazing? Because in the flesh, when somebody,
when someone wrongs us, oh, I'm going to get that guy. That's
the flesh. I'm not gonna forget that. But God don't treat us like that.
He's long-suffering with us. So we ought to be long-suffering
with one another. With one another. And this is
practical teaching for us, isn't it? And this is offered by the
Holy Spirit of God. And this is how we are to be.
Look at this, look at this, and it continues. Forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. We should remember this verse
when our tempers flare up. If we have a fallen out with
someone, with our brother or sister in Christ, we should remember
this. Remember the words too. Let not the sun go down upon
your wrath. Just remember how much Christ has forgiven you,
and it will be very easy to forgive others, and to let it go. And
to let it go. Show a forbearing spirit to others. And then he says this, and above
all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
We know charity is love. And then he says, and let the
peace of God rule in your hearts. to the which also you are called
in one body. We're one body, beloved. We're
one body. We're the body of Christ. He's the head and we're the body.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also
you are called in one body. And be you thankful. Be thankful
that God saved you and be thankful for one another. I thank God for y'all all the
time. That he brought me here and knit our hearts together.
It's absolutely incredible. It's amazing. And we're all from
different walks of life, and yet he saved us and brought us
together in ecclesia, which means a called out assembly in the
Greek. And here we are for the furtherance of the gospel, beloved.
For the furtherance of the gospel. And we give all the glory to
our great God. We give Him all the glory. And it's easy to be thankful
when we consider the mercy that God has shown us in Christ. It's easy for us to be thankful.
Just start thinking about the mercy of God towards you. If
you find yourself in a spot where you're not very happy, you're
not very joyful, you who are the born-again blood-bought saints
of God, because we can get there very easily, just think of the
mercy that God has shown you. Just think of that. Think that
he don't remember your sin no more. Why? Think of his greatness. And think of how, here we are,
Spurgeon used to call us animated pieces of dust to the Lord. That's cool. Animated piece,
little piece of dust. See dust flying in the wind.
Little animated pieces of dust he used to call. He called us
humans. And God has mercy on us. That'll make you thankful when
you start thinking about God. And then look at verses 16 and
17. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly again. Remember
what we looked at this morning about the Scriptures? Oh, look
in the Scriptures, read the Scriptures. Have joy in being able to go
and read and look for Christ. Pray that the Holy Spirit would
illuminate the Scriptures and teach you the things of Christ.
He's our hope. He's our hope. Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts. And who put that grace in our
heart? It's the Lord. He's given us a new heart that
hungers and thirsts after righteousness. We're saved by the grace of God
through Christ and not of ourselves. It's all by the mercy of God.
With grace in your hearts. And who do we sing to? The Lord.
The one we boast in. And whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving
thanks to God and the Father by Him. Give Him all the glory
for everything in your life. Everything. Do everything you
do to the glory of God. And those who have been redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ find absolutely nothing in ourselves
to glory about, do we? We don't find anything in ourselves
to glory about. We can only glory in the things
that pertain unto God. The wondrous things that He's
done for us. He saved my soul. I was dead
in trespasses and sins, and I had no care for God at one time.
I remember the state I was in. No hope, beloved. No hope at
all. And God had mercy on me. Born
again by the Spirit of God. Was I looking for Him? Nope.
Not at all. He found me. He found me. And praise God, He saved me.
Glory to His name. And I know He did the same for
you who are born again. I know He did. And it's incredible. What are some of the things that
we glory in in our Lord? Well, we glory, number one, we
glory in Christ incarnate as the only hope for sinners. We
glory in the fact that our great God and our Savior became a man
to redeem us from our sins. We glory in that fact that he
did that. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Again, like I said today, the Word of God states that. It's
a fact. It's not up for debate. God was
manifest in the flesh. That's what the Scriptures declare,
and that's the truth. It's not up for debate. 1 Timothy
3.16, and without controversy, grave is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, and his name was the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and he's still
being preached unto the Gentiles, isn't he? Wherever the gospel's
faithfully being proclaimed, he's being preached to the Gentiles. believed on in the world, his lost sheep being granted
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have been
saved. And he has been received up into glory, it says there
in 1 Timothy 3.16. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received up into glory. And that's where he is right
now, ruling and reigning right now. Glory be to Him. All the glory and honor and praise
to Him. We glory in the fact that Christ
became a man and died for the sins of His people. He is the
only hope for sinners. There is no hope outside of Christ. Absolutely none. Why was He manifested in the
flesh brings us to the next point. Well, we glory in Christ crucified
is the only remedy to put away our sin. The only way our sin
could be put away is by the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That's
the only way that our sin could be put away. My brothers and sisters, not
one of us could have put away one of our sins. But the Lord Jesus Christ, by
one act, obtained eternal salvation for
his people. Ephesians 1, verses 6 and 7,
the scriptures say this, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Accepted, what a wonderful word.
Accepted in the beloved. Accepted in the divinely loved
ones. He's done it. Where and he hath
made us accepted in the blood. It's a work of Christ. See why
Paul didn't boast in anything but Christ? And Paul's the one
who wrote this right here. Where and he hath made us accepted
in the blood, in whom we have redemption. Through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins. All our sins. According to the
riches of His grace, Ephesians 1, 6 and 7, all according to
the riches of the grace of God. What mercy and grace has been
bestowed upon the people of God? Marvel of marvels, wonder of
wonders, ungodly sinners are made righteous by Christ in Him
alone. Remember Paul said not being
found, with my own righteousness, but to be found in Him, in His righteousness. We do not boast in any works
which we've done, because God would never accept us based upon
our doing. God is satisfied with Christ
and Christ alone and all the believers of all the ages. Their
sins are absolutely forgiven in Christ. There's not one that's
not paid for. Not one. And all for whom Christ
died will be born again. They will be bought to Christ.
They will. Christ gives us His righteousness
and we stand before God accepted in Him. Accepted in Him. In the righteousness of Christ.
Accepted in the Beloved. Redeemed by His precious blood. We know the life of the flesh
is in the blood. Remember the Passover lamb? That's
an innocent victim, wasn't it? Blood had to be shed and blood
had to be put in that lentil, the doorpost. Well, the doorpost
of our heart, beloved, is sprinkled with the blood of Christ. And
the innocent died for the guilty. The innocent died for the guilty.
And in Him, all our sins are forgiven. All of them. And it's
all according to the riches of God's grace. And it's all in
Christ Jesus our Lord and through Him. Do you see how this leaves
absolutely no boasting for the believer? No boasting. No wonder Paul wrote that. And
every believer feels the same way. All I can do is boast in
Christ and what He's done for me. He saved my soul. And He saves
all who come to Him. He's not turned one away that
comes to Him. He's not turned one away. And in this salvation, in the fact that salvation is
of the Lord, our great God, our great Savior, our great Redeemer
receives all the glory. He gets it all. He receives all
the honor. He's the one who our lips praise.
He receives the glory. He receives the honor. And He
receives the praise of the saints. And do you know what? Do you
know what we'll be doing in glory? Giving Him glory. Praising His
name. And giving Him all the honor.
Worthy is the Lamb to receive glory and power. Worthy. He's the only one worthy, beloved. He's the only one who's worthy.
The only one. All our praise goes to Him. So again, who do we glory in?
Well, we glory in our risen Savior. We glory in our risen, exalted
Savior who's seated at the right hand of God right now. Who was
delivered for our what? Justification. Delivered for
our offenses and raised again for our justification. Delivered
for our sin. And praise God He was raised
for our justification. That's Romans chapter 4 verse
25. Turn there if you would. We'll read that. Romans chapter
4. Romans chapter 4. Look at this in verse 21, speaking
of Abraham. And being fully persuaded that
what he had promised, what God had promised, he was also able
to perform. Each believer believes that,
don't we? We believe that what God has promised, he's able to
perform because he has all power. And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone, but it was imputed to him. but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses. He's the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God, and was raised again for our justification. The scripture there plainly proclaims
that Christ was delivered for our offenses. And remember, Paul's
writing to the blood-bought, born-again saints of God. He's saying God paid, or Christ
paid all that God demanded. Now we know we're sinners by
birth, nature, and choice, and by practice, aren't we? We know
that if any man denies this, that man or woman denies this,
that they're lying. So being in that state, what
do we desperately need? Well, we desperately need a Savior,
don't we? Because we cannot save ourselves. And notice the text
there, in verse 25, it says, who was delivered for our offenses,
our sins, and was raised again for our justification. Now, you
know what the Greek word for justification is defined, how
it's defined? Listen to this. He's raised for
our justification. What's that mean? Well, it means
this. The act of God declaring men free from guilt. Free from guilt. And it doesn't
just stop there. The act of God declaring man
free from guilt and acceptable to him. Oh my! Free from guilt and acceptable
to God. All because of what Christ has
done. And then it also means to be righteous justification. To be righteous. Free from guilt, acceptable to
God, righteous. What a verse. Delivered for our
offenses. My sins. Raised again for my
justification. Every believer can say that.
What a Savior. What a Savior. And God is absolutely
satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ in the room and place
of His people, and they are free from the guilt and punishment
of our sins. And I mentioned this on Wednesday
night a few weeks back. Now our conscience will come
up on us, won't it, sometimes, even still, as believers, and
condemn us. But you know what muzzles the
conscience? The blood of Christ. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
All my sins are bought and paid for by the precious blood of
Christ. By the precious blood of Christ.
Oh, what a Savior. And that's why we glory in the
things pertaining to God. We glory in what Christ has done
for us. Oh my. Our last point is we glory
in Christ Jesus coming again. And He is our hope throughout
all eternity. When He comes, we shall not only
see Him as He is, but we shall also be made like Him forever.
Turn, if you would, to Psalm 17 and 1 John 3. Psalm 17 and
1 John 3. There's one verse in Psalm 17
we'll look at, and then we'll go to 1 John 3. Psalm 17.15, the scripture says,
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Remember, we're
being conformed to the image of Christ. Now turn, if you would,
to 1 John 3, and look at these two verses. Remember the word beloved is
divinely loved ones. Look at this. Behold, 1 John
3, verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Behold, this love is an everlasting
love. This love is distinguishing love.
Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
And John is writing again to born-again blood-washed believers,
that we should be called the sons of God. God calls us the
sons of God, and God says that that's what we're called, and
it's so. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. That's why the world looks at
us and thinks we're strange. I thought that of Christians
before the Lord saved me. Now they're the only folks I
want to be around. We're born again of the same
spirit. We have the same Savior, the same Redeemer, the same Father.
Look at this. Beloved, divinely loved ones.
Beloved, divinely loved ones. Now, look at this. This is a
declaration of our state. Now, not in the present, not
in the future I mean, but in the present, now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. Remember over in Psalms, I shall
be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. John's right in
here. He says, it does not yet appear
what we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is
exactly what what was penned over in Psalm, Psalm 17. Oh, we glory in the fact that
our savior is coming again. He's coming again, and every
believer can say these words that David said, listen to this.
I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. That's the one we boast in, the
Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34 verses one
to four. Oh, may God grant you faith.
If you do not know Christ, may God grant you faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And for we who are born again,
may these scriptures be a comfort for us. May we glory in our King. May we glory in what he's done
for us. And may we glory in the fact
that he saved us and that he revealed himself to us. And that
we will one day be with him forever. Glory to his name. Heavenly Father,
we thank you for allowing us to gather together. And oh Lord,
we boast in thee. We boast in what you've done,
Lord. The fact that you've saved our souls. The fact that you
redeemed us. And Lord, we praise thy name.
Oh, we pray that you would regenerate one of your lost sheep through
the preaching of your word, Lord. And we'll give you all the glory
and honor and praise for it. Oh, we pray that their lips would
be filled with praise like ours are. to sing of the wondrous
things which you've done for us. Glory to your name, Lord.
May we take what we've heard this week, and may we hold it
close to our hearts, Lord Jesus, knowing that our salvation is
all of you, and giving you all the glory for it. In Jesus' name,
amen.