I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Romans chapter 5. Keep your hand there and we will
be visiting here shortly David in Psalms 34. Romans chapter
5. As we are continuing our exploration
through the book of Romans, the title of our message today is
boasting in his glory, which is something I don't think that
we are real good at. Because even virtues and imperatives
that God gives us to do, we have a tendency to pervert them or
corrupt them or misuse them. When you think about the idea
of boasting, it generally has a negative connotation, boasting. And so you won't find the Christian
who is aware of his or her weaknesses and their fallibilities and their
just inconsistencies in their walk with God, you won't find
them boasting. You won't find them over-exaggerate,
jubilant to the degree of irritation on the part of others. You won't
find them that way. But the reality is every Christian
ought to be boasting in the glory of God. So what I want to try
to do today is press home an insight that the Apostle Paul
is affirming is to be the normative state of the heart and disposition
of every believer in Romans chapter 5 verses 1 through 5 of which
if we understand the foundation upon which we stand as believers
in Christ and if we have received the exhortation that was given
last week that on the grounds of a justifying work that God
has done to bring us into his presence in a way of full acceptance
and righteousness because of Jesus Christ, the child of God
is forever in the presence of God in a state of permanent security,
in a state of absolute liberty. in a state of not only righteousness
but permanent fellowship with God because of who he is, who
she is in Jesus Christ. And if last week's study came
home to us with regards to having already been justified a past
passive work that God does for us outside of us to bring us
to himself If God brought me to Himself, He brought me there
for a purpose, and that purpose is for us to know God in His
glory. I think we closed out last week
appropriately with me visibly demonstrating the awe and wonder
of God bringing sinners into His presence, and us being able
to say, I'm in His presence. I stand in the presence of God
on the grounds of His eternal grace in Jesus Christ and nothing
will ever separate me from the love of God. In that place, in
that place, on that standing, on that ground, on that basis,
it is the privilege of every child of God to discover all
that they have. all that they are, and all that
they are to be in Jesus Christ. And the man or the woman that
understands why God justified them will understand that the
destiny of every believer is glory. And glory is the thing
that should preoccupy our minds every day of our lives. Every day of our lives we should
be enamored with, fixed on, contemplating, meditating upon, longing for,
longing for, longing for the revelation of God's glory and
all of the things that He has said, that He has done for us
until we finally one day be in His presence in the ineffable
bliss. that state of glory for which
that terminology that terminology that phraseology dog sauce is
exclusively to the people of God only The people of God are
destined for glory For which here's what Paul says in verse
1 and 2 of Romans chapter 5. I want you to hear it now if
You get this you'll understand Why David said what he said in
Psalm 34 If you get this, this is the grounds upon which David
said what he said in Psalm 34, of which when our elder read
it, I looked around and I said, they don't get it. Listen to what he says in verse
one, therefore, having already been justified by faith, we have
what we got. And we talked about that, right?
It's the peace of knowing that the wrath of God never ever Hangs
over our head again that it has been settled in the person of
Christ by his propitiation and atonement God will never punish
me for my sins having punished Christ for my sins. I am fully
and totally free to go That brings about peace in the soul the peace
of a right relationship with God. Remember that? By which
God now reconciles me to himself necessarily and desirably. Not only God necessarily brings
me to himself, he desires to bring me to himself. And having
brought me to himself, I now am preoccupied with what follows. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have what? Access. Didn't
we talk about that? Access. Christ is the key in.
Christ brings me in. I enter in by the death of Christ.
I am in the presence of God because Christ is the one who escorts
me in. I stand because Christ is my
mediator. And the words, who shall separate
me from the love of God, echoes all throughout heaven, nothing.
Why? Because I have a mediator and
a high priest, whoever lives to make intercession for me.
This is to boggle my mind. that I am permanently in the
presence of God in the state that I am in presently. That's
a contradiction experientially because how can the holy dwell
with the unholy unless he found a way to make the unholy holy
even though he or she doesn't feel that way. And this is why
I have peace with God by faith. Because faith is the work of
trusting God for his grace on the outside of who I am and what
I've done You guys learn that right faith goes elsewhere for
its confidence. It does not look to me It does
not reside in me it Departs from me and anchors itself in God
and in his grace and remember grace is always the work that
God does alone Upon which the soul says yes, Lord Yes to all
that you say even though I don't personally experience it. Here's
what Paul says in verse 3 Listen to what he says now. I'm sorry
verse 2 the latter part having had access Into the presence
of God through Jesus Christ We're in we stand on grace We rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. Do you see that last line? All
right, so that last line is a conclusion that says the child of God understands
who they are. That last line says you get it. You recognize that you're standing
before God is on the basis of a perfect work that he has accomplished
and the net result of that work is that you and I spend all of
our lives rejoicing in the hope of glory. Do you see that? Rejoicing
in the hope of glory. Rejoicing in the hope. If I can
paint the picture, I'm in God's house. I'm in glory land. I'm standing on grace. And everywhere
I look, I see pictures and images. I see works and artifacts. I see those who are part of the
kingdom of God. Everything in God's house is
glorious to me. and my soul is constantly imbibing
and taking in what I see. And what I see, God has told
me, is all mine in the person of Christ. And even though I
am not able to fully embrace it experientially yet, because
He has given me faith, which is a gift of God, because He's
made me a new creature in Christ, which is a gift of God, because
I am in the presence of God right now, Coram Deo, and I can see
these glorious realities, My responsibility is to rejoice
in the hope of glory. I'm to spend all the days of
my life rejoicing in the hope of glory. However, I need to
bring this to another point of view, another perspective. It
is not merely the idea that I am to rejoice. I'm to boast. I'm to boast in it. This is Crazy! To me, I don't care about you,
this is crazy to me. Because what Paul is telling
me is, if I get this right, I am going to be telling everybody
about how good God is. how awesome he is, how magnificent
he is. I'm going to learn how to frame
my words and my terminology and my actions to exalt in God, to
declare his glory, to triumph in him. Now watch this now. I'm
going to boast in such a way that I'm going to agitate folks. I'm going to provoke people.
I'm gonna cause people to be disturbed why I am so visibly
and exhibitionally happy about what God has done for me. That's
what boasting means. It means to shout it out, declare
it aloud. When you and I contemplate the
word rejoice, which is used in verse 3 too, we'll get there
in a moment, Paul uses this particular Greek word frequently. And he
uses it in the context of having the head held high. and walking
about with a level of confidence that you expect people to look
at you. You expect people to observe
you. You want that occasion to occur
so that you can say, I'm so glad you noticed. Can I tell you why
I am the way I am? Now you begin to understand just
a little bit, just a little bit of what Psalm 34 is about. Go
back to the text. Let's snatch this portion of
scripture out of the hands of religious folk who love to say,
I will praise the Lord at all times. His praise shall be continually
in my mouth, because when we codify it in mere religious terminology,
we fail to understand its depths. See, that's the danger of making
something too religious. Will you hear what David said?
A man who also contributed to Paul's argument in Romans 4 about
how God freely justifies guilty hell-bound sinners not imputing
their trespasses to them. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute his trespasses. How blessed is that man? He's
boasting in God all the time. I will bless the Lord at all
times. I will bless the Lord once a week on Sunday. I will
bless the Lord at all times. I will bless the Lord when it
is convenient for me to do so. I will bless the Lord at all
times. I will bless the Lord when he pours out a blessing
upon me. I will bless the Lord at all times, says David. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. David says every opportunity
I get to open my mouth. You're gonna know what's in my
heart My heart is indicting a good matter and that is touching the
king of glory who has come in and taken his seat on the throne
of my heart and has begun to instruct me in the matters of
redemption and salvation and has taught me just how blessed
I am and I can't help but that every time my mouth opens up
I I want to bless him for how good he is to me. Now, this is
going to come off for some people as boasting. The problem is if
they were in my place, they'd be boasting just like I am. If
they knew what I knew, if they had what I had, if they saw the
glory that I see, if they were impacted by the Spirit of God,
the way I'm impacted, if they have beheld the unsearchable
riches of Christ that are poured out to me in the Word of God.
They would be rejoicing too. They would find that the only
worthy conversation a redeemed sinner who stands in grace is
to have with every eternity bound soul is to declare His glory
to them. Listen to it. I will praise the
Lord at all times. His praise shall be continually
in my mouth. David says, my soul shall make
her what? That's our word in Romans 5,
3. My soul will make her boast in
the Lord. My soul will find occasion to
talk about how big God is, how glorious God is, how righteous
God is, how holy God is, how magnificent God is, how good
God is, how perfect God is, how patient and kind God is, how
saving God is, how keeping God is, how redeeming God is. God
is glorious. And the humble, not the proud,
the humble will hear and be happy to hear such words. Because we
all need a God like that. We need a God just like that.
And the humble will hunger and yearn to be in that same state.
The humble shall hear thereof and be glad, as the text says. But he doesn't stop at boasting.
Now he is inviting everyone. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together. Still trapped by your religion.
Because if you were to give it your soul right now, ought to
be elated. Elated! At the tiptoe of your
faith, your soul should be ready to jump out of your body and
say hallelujah to God, hallelujah to God. And every time you meet
a true believer, an authentic believer, a saved sinner who
knows the grace of God, and they say, come magnify the Lord with
me, say, thank you for asking, let's do it right now. And praise
Him and exalt Him and magnify Him and proclaim His glories. Now, As I say this, because we
are all different kinds of human beings, might I make it clear
that how we boast in God is different for everybody. How we boast in
God, how we stand tall in the grace of God, how we make ourselves
visibly happy in the grace of God, how we bubble over in our
confidence in God for the grace of God is different for everyone.
We've got some quiet folks who are scared to death to speak
from this part of their voice. I understand that they too can
boast in the Lord. They have their own way of boasting,
don't they? Then we have other people who are much more extroverted,
like your pastor, who is more than ready. to talk about God
and to declare His glory and to cause men to be offended in
a jealous way to want to have what I have. What I'm saying
is boasting can be manifested in many different ways, just
as our joy is to be manifested in many different ways. So don't
get upset with me when I raise my voice as I talk about God.
I'm not going to be upset with you. Watch this. I'm not going
to be upset with you when you do the things that you do to
glorify God. Because I know some of you, you
guys know how to worship him. You know how to serve him. You
know how to reach people with the gospel, impact them with
the word of life. All that is boasting. And in
fact, I must tell you, you won't do anything for Christ if it's
not motivated by boasting. You won't do a thing. You'll
be glad to watch us boast, but you won't boast. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? It's very important for you to
get this. He says, oh magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt
his name together. Now watch this. There's a premise
or a basis upon which Paul, David now is exalting. To exalt, to
exalt is to be in a state of triumph in a state of victory,
in a state of conquest. It's what you do when you have
won a battle. It's what you do when you have
won a race. It's what you do when you have
finished your course. You are exulting. You know that
feeling that you get? Have any of y'all played any
sports? And have you played it well? Because if you haven't
played it well, we're going to leave you alone. But if you played it well, like
some of us have, we know what exalting in the game is all about.
Don't we? We know what exalting is. And
I'm just saying it comes naturally as a consequence of doing something
well. And when we come to know that
God does all things well, and that Jesus is glorious and is
saving of our souls, the people of God have the right and the
privilege, and God is glorified when we exalt in Him everywhere
we go. Here's the reason why. I sought
the Lord, and He heard me, and He delivered me. Watch this now
from some of my fears. See, now, now, you're saying
that, you're saying that, but you don't believe it for a minute.
That's why I say when my elder read that text, I said to myself,
now, let me see if anyone is going to get it. Because see,
he made an absolute statement here. Have you yet said in your
relationship with Christ, watch this now, I sought the Lord,
he heard me, And he delivered me from all my fears. You haven't said that. Tell the
truth. See, honest people won't go to hell. Don't sit around
and be religious. You haven't even contemplated
what it means to be delivered from all your fears. Some of
us are trapped right now by fears, anxieties, stresses, limitations. hindrances, things that we worry
about keep us up at night. Don't say God has delivered you
from all your fears unless you understand the grounds of your
deliverance. May I quickly tell you what it
is? If God has justified you, he has exonerated you from all
guilt against his law so that God's wrath does not hang upon
you, there is nothing in this world that can rightly accuse
you and make you guilty of anything. That ought to be the grounds
upon which you say, He has delivered me from all my fears. See, justification is the grounds
of this boasting. It springs up from justification. Who is it that will lay any charge
against God's elect? It's God that has justified me. There's the boasting again. Who
is it that died? Christ died! Yea, rather, is
risen again, seated at the right hand of God, and he stands to
mediate on my behalf so that I will never ever come into condemnation. God's delivered me from all my
fears. See, David is speaking deeply,
deeply, Christocentrically and on a redemptive level. He's not
talking about the fears that come in the daily troubles of
life. He's talking about the fears
that come If a man dies and ends up under the wrath of God the
fear that come where we live our whole life Neglecting who
God is and what he's done for us in Christ and find ourselves
facing God at the judgment That's the fear that David has been
delivered from verse 5. Listen to this. I want to run
through a few of these verses They looked unto him and they
were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. Who is that?
Every believer that looks to God is illuminated There's a
revelation that comes in our heart when we look to God. God
is light, is that true? God is light. And in fact, when
you're walking in darkness and you're going through your troubles,
do you know the answer to your troubles? Looking to God. Do
you know how quickly God rescues us from the darkness and the
obscurity of our sinful situation when we look to Him? Can I get
a witness? Can I get a witness from a man or woman who knows,
watch this now, who knows that when you're in trouble, you're
in darkness. When you're in bondage, you're in darkness. When you're
trapped and limited in your ignorance, you're in darkness. And the only
way back to the light is to look to God. And it's amazing how
that when you look to God, He sends a shaft of light right
into the dungeon of your darkness to lead you out. And immediately
you have a sense of relief and confidence. Watch this now. God's
going to deliver me yet again as He has delivered me every
other time. This is what David is saying.
Their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord
heard him. Here it is again and saved him
out of a few of his troubles. See, my point is this. When you
read the Psalms carefully, David is coming from a place of complete
justification. That's the only way you can use
the term all. Because when God justifies us,
he justifies us from all things. All things. Watch the next verse.
Here it is. The angel of the Lord encamps
round about them that fear him. And what? Delivers them. There
you go. We sing about it. We use it in
our little colloquialisms. But do you believe that the angel
of the Lord encamps round about those that fear him? Do you act
like you believe it. Thank you, TC. Folks be lying
in here. You don't act like you believe it. Sometimes, can I
get an honest sinner in the house? Sometimes I wonder where God
is at all, let alone his angels. For me, and I love eating, but
I haven't eaten something so good that I had a revelation
of angels encompassing me about. Now on a good day, on a good
day, I believe that text. Do you hear me? But on a bad
day, the only thing I feel like is devils all around me, let
alone angels. Am I telling the truth? But see
what David is talking about is what he knows by faith is the
case. He's not talking from his emotions. He's not talking from his feelings.
He's not talking from his experience. He's talking from faith rooted
in grace based upon the justifying work of God. And it's rooted
in, are you hearing me? The promises of God. I've been
telling you about this for the longest. The way you and I get
rooted in God is to get a hold to His what? Promises! That's
where we speak from. That's where we live. We live
on the promises of God. When I'm in the middle of a threatening
situation, the promise of God is that his angels encamp round
about them that fear him and will deliver me. And when I'm
delivered from that situation, I know that God has intervened. But in the midst of it, I don't
know nothing but that trouble. Yet David is speaking from a
place of justification, which is where we're going back. Oh,
taste and see that the Lord is good. This is what we call an
experiential knowledge of God. This is not speculation. This
is not theory. This is not hypotheses. This
is not what you gather by correlating three or four Bible verses. This
is where God shows up in your life in a very tangible way. In a super tangible way. Where in his dealings with you,
he is so good to you, That is like tasting God. Tasting God. These are anthropomorphical terms,
but this is the way God in His humbleness is inclined to relate
to you and me. Have you tasted the Lord? Have
you drunk of the water of life? Have you eaten of the bread of
life? Have you been clothed in the righteousness of Christ?
Has the Spirit of God, the Comforter we talked about this morning,
led you, guided you, strengthened you? delivered you, sustained
you, kept you, fed you in your soul to keep you from the times
of famishing. If you have, then you know what
it means when the psalmist says, oh, taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed is the man that what? Trusts in him. Do you understand what David
is doing? He's boasting in God, is he not? He's boasting in God. Saints, listen to me. This should
be our contemplation. Look at verse 9. O fear the Lord,
ye his saints. I love it. Do you see verse 9.8? Had a person email me a couple
weeks ago. They said, Pastor, why you keep calling your people
saints at grace? I wrote back and said, I don't
know because they don't act like it. No, I didn't say that, but
it's true. Why do you cut it was really
a theological inquiry? Why do you call them Saints because
all she knew is the Catholic version of Saints where people
live did good works and ostensibly miracles and when they died in
their post human state they would then be anointed as Saints but
the Word of God calls every believer a saint the moment that they
are regenerated so a Saint is not what you do a Unfortunately,
a saint is who you are in Christ. It's your standing. It's your
position. It's your relationship It's your
title deed to glory. It's because God set you apart.
It's because God chose you He called you and brought you to
himself. What makes you a saint is God not you Did you get that
What makes you and me Saints is God He declares us to be his
people set apart people and therefore I'm holy because he's holy And
that's why we're saints, because of who he is. Listen to what
he says, O fear ye the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no
one to them that fear him. Do you believe that? There you
go again. There you go again. There you
go. No, you don't. Because if you
did, you would never one time in your Christian walk complain.
You would never once complain if you believe that statement.
But you see where David is coming from? A grounds of justification. That on the grounds of what Christ
has done for us at Calvary Street. See, Romans 8 is going to be
picking up on where we are in Romans 5. You know what Paul
said? If God spared not His only Son, but delivered Him up for
us all, how shall He, not also with Him, freely give us all
things? Is that the promise? Is that
the way this verse is to be understood? Absolutely. Watch what it says.
For there is no want to them that fear him. God has saw to
it in the person of Christ that you and I have everything necessary
for life and godliness down here and to get to glory. There's
not going to be one person who doesn't make it to glory for
whom Christ died, that doesn't make it to glory because of something
they've done. Christ will not lose one soul
for whom he died. they all will make it to glory. And because he has promised to
get us there, what he tells you and me to do every day of our
lives, boast in him. When you wake up in the morning,
you boast in him. When you put your clothes on,
you're boasting Him. As you're headed out to your
car, you're boasting Him. You know why? Because you got
a car. Some people don't. As you're riding down the road,
you're boasting Him. As you're headed to work, you're
boasting Him. You know why? Because you got a job. Some people
don't. When you're making it to work,
you're boasting Him. Because you know what? God gave
you some great matter to do a job. Some people don't even have a
great matter. I'm sorry, they don't. You and I have a whole
lot to boast in God about. And we really need to understand
that this is to be normative in the life of the Christian.
Normative! Normative in the life of the
Christian because of all of the resources that God has given
us. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that
seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. My, my goodness! Is David boasting in God? Is
he putting God on the line? Is he making God famous? Is he
setting a standard for the character and faithfulness of God? Has
this attribute of God been true since the days of David to now?
That's what our elder was saying this morning. As me and Angelo
were walking and we were talking about the state of grace, this
fellowship, I told him, I said, Angelo, the Lord has been so
good to us. Undeserving sinners is not even
funny. He has been so Good to us that
the only right thing that we should do is boasting him. Boasting
God, boasting God, boasting God. Exalt God, glorify God, magnify. Tell it, tell it on the mountain.
Tell it, tell it on the mountain. Tell it on the hilltop. Everywhere
you go, tell it about this true and the living God. I may not
be getting this across to you, but my soul is indicting a good
matter. Touching the king going back
to Romans chapter 5. I want to develop this just a
bit more now what Paul says in Romans 5 around this boasting
of which if you are persuaded to make this in a Characteristic
of your life, you're gonna see God working through that to get
glory to himself when Paul talks about our boasting our triumphing
our exulting in our walking in an exuberant state of of absolute
thankfulness and confidence by which others then are compelled
to ask about that. He wants us to be sure that what
we are rejoicing in not only has a foundation in the justifying
work of Christ, but it also has a goal orientation. Notice what
it says in the latter part of verse two. And we rejoice, or
we boast, or we exult in hope of the glory of God. Do you see
that? All right, what we're going to do now briefly is talk about
how critical it is for the Christian to be doctrinally sound. Doctrinally
sound in his or her joy. Unfortunately, in our present
day, we often rejoice in carnal, earthly, temporal things that
have no eternal relevance. Unfortunately, we waste our joy
frequently on material things temporal things on fleeting things
and even more unfortunately we often waste our joy on sinful
things unfortunately Christians are often so inept in their knowledge
of God and so undisciplined in how we think we waste our time
glorying in folly and What God tells you and me that we should
be anchoring our glory and our boasting in is what he promises
for us in the future. So let me reestablish our argument.
We have access to the Father, permanent, unchanging, eternal
access to the Father through the Son by the Holy Ghost. And
we stand permanently in a state of grace, which is unmerited,
demerited favor by which God brings us into a constant favorable
disposition with Him forever. And as a consequence, we rejoice
in what? Hope. So stop right there. That's
my point. See, we rejoice in hope. The
joy of the believer is not in things seen, it's in things unseen. The boasting of the believer
is not in things now, it's in things in the future. The boasting
of the believer is not rooted in earthly conditional promises
that God gives us that if we do this, he'll do that. The boasting
of the believer is rooted in the hope of glory. The hope Glory
and under that I want us to deal with a few concepts in our in
our point here Point number one where we deal with this The joy
of glory to come our boasting is in three things. The first
one. Are you ready is the return of
Jesus Christ? the first Hope of glory to which
the believer is to be preoccupied is in the return of Christ and
Let me see if I can drive this home. The reason why I contemplated
the return of Christ as the hope of the believer and the thing
which he glories in and triumphs in is because the believer is
assumedly in love with Jesus and can't wait to see him. And
when you're in love with somebody with whom you have been separated
a long time, your hope is to one day see the lover of your
soul. And while as yet you are separated
from that lover, every day of your life you're thinking about
him. Every day of your life you're thinking about her. Every day
of your life, you're thinking about that person who is the
object of your adoration, affection, and love. And for the Christian,
if you are not thinking about seeing Jesus one day more frequently,
you have been distracted. Your glory and your boasting
has been diverted to carnal things. The devil has deceived you. You have missed the point altogether. Christ saved you to bring you
to himself. He saved you with a promise that
one day you would be with Him forever. And deep down in the
soul of every believer should be constant contemplations of
one day this glorious Savior who died on Calvary Street as
my substitute is going to break the heavens and show up to rescue
me from this sin-cursed world, to rescue me from this wicked
life, this ungodly life, to rescue me from this state of separation
that I am presently in with Him. See, when you love somebody,
you want to be with them. When you love someone, you want
to be with them. Shout of God, I'll ask you once, do you want
to be with Jesus? If you do, your soul hopes in
that state. Now, we also call it Return of
Christ the great and glorious rescue I want you to turn in
your Bible to 2nd Thessalonians 1 10 because I want you to I
want you to see this at the foundation of our future hope Wherein we
glory at the top of the list must be the return of Jesus All
the New Testament teaches that that we are looking for his return
everybody who knows Jesus who has spoken in the New Testament
writings is has spoken about the return of Christ. How come
we're not doing that today in the present Christian church?
Because our love for Christ has waned so bad that we don't mind
him staying in glory for another 10, 20, 30 years. We don't even
yearn for him to come back. I warn you that's dangerous to
your soul. That was the reason for which
he told the church at Ephesus, you better go back and start
all over again because you've left off with your first love.
Am I making some sense? At the top of the list of our future
hope must be a longing for Jesus to come, because when he comes,
that's when all of the benefits and the blessings of the inheritance
unfold. And I want mine. I don't know
about you, I want mine. I want every bit of mine. But
they don't come apart from him. He's the one in whom all blessings
will unfold. And this is an opportunity for
you and I to ask the question, do we love him? Or do we love
what he has for us? Listen to what it says in 2 Thessalonians
1.10. Start back at verse 8 for me,
because I want us to get the context. Paul is speaking to
the church in the context of suffering, and that answers a
lot as to why you and I don't really have a longing for Jesus
to return. Can I tell you why? Because we're
not really suffering. Think about our brothers and sisters around
the world going through hell. I guarantee you they're saying,
Lord Jesus, come quickly. Guarantee you this in Lord come
I guarantee you they see the coming of the Lord as their great
and glorious Rescue see you and are distracted by the cares of
this life you and are encumbered by materialism You and I are
laid and down by a carnal mind that has no desire to hurry up
and go to glory That's a problem for us. And you know, one of
the indications is we don't boast in God We don't boast in God
He says that Jesus is coming in flaming fire But I said that's
an interesting way in which Christ is coming. He's coming in flaming
fire He's not coming to beg people to accept him. He's coming in
flaming fire To take vengeance on them that what no not God.
It's just a bad thing to not know God Watch this and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a bad thing
to reject the gospel now Look at this next verse watch this
now who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
Now verse 10, now here it is, 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 believing that
day. Do you see what verse 10 says? When Jesus comes, all of those
who love him and all of those that admire him are going to
join in his glory. We're going to be one in His
glory and our glory will be fixed on Him and His glory will be
fixed on us. That will be the time when we
will enter into our final state of glorification with Him. That's
why I call it a great and glorious rescue. Ladies and gentlemen,
you and I need to be rescued from ourselves. It's so very
important. Point number two then, the second
thing to which you and I are to be casting our future hope
when it comes to God is not only the return of Christ, but the
resurrection of the dead in Christ. How does Paul talk about this?
First Corinthians chapter 15. Let's look at verse 42 through
44. First Corinthians 15. These are doctrines that used
to be taught a lot in the church. They are very little frequented
today. particularly in the West. And
here again is the reason why. Because we are comfortable. We
have everything down here. The idea of a resurrection of
our bodies does not appeal to us. It doesn't appeal to us to
be transformed from these weak and feeble states in which we
are to some magnificent glorious state. You know why? Because
we got drugs and we got pharmaceuticals and we got science and we got
technology and we got the carnal false hope that one day we'll
be able to live healthy to 120 years old. You're still gonna
die and go to hell. After 120 years of excellent health, you're
still going to hell. See, and so for the believer,
will you hear me? For the believer, the believer
knows part of the problem of their inability to know God as
fully as we want to are these sinful bodies. I know that. I do not experience God like
I want to. My body doesn't let me. My mind
doesn't let me. And as much as my soul wants
to leap out of my body and get a hold of God, my body brings
me down. And it's been so much time saying,
Jesse, you gotta take care of me. You gotta, you gotta, my
feet hurt. Jesse, my back hurt. Man, you
gotta feed us, man. I'm hungry. Oh man, I got a headache,
man. Do you understand what I'm getting
at? These physical bodies keep us distracted. Oh, something
hurt. Oh, oh. Jess, you got to stop.
Remember what the scripture says? You got to take care of your
body. You got to love your body, man. We need some sleep, Jess.
We need some sleep. I'm studying. I'm about to get into the revelation.
And then all of a sudden, I get sleepy. These sinful bodies keep
me from worshiping God like I want to. And then I'm walking down the
street. And I'm thinking about the glory of God. And then my
eyes shift over there. And it shouldn't be looking that
way. And then my mind says, it's OK. Just do it for a second,
Jess. No, you can't do that. Do you understand how impeded
we are from absolute fixation on God because of these bodies?
These bodies are wretched, and we'll see that when we get to
Romans 7. These wretched bodies keep us from worshiping God like
we ought to worship Him. That's why we are torn if we
know God. Torn! Torn! Torn in our soul. Because what I want to do, I
can't do. I want to do it for at least
one 24-hour day, And I can't do it for 24 seconds. So also
is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It's
raised and in corruption. Verse 43. Watch this. This is
the body. It is sown and dishonored. You
know what our bodies do? They go to the grave as maggots
and worms. That's dishonorable. That's dishonorable. It's a consequence of the curse.
Is it not? Yeah. The naturalist arguing against
the reality of God, argues because of the only evidence that it
has. Now, when God made the universe,
he made it out of some of the common molecular material by
which we all have our existence. Our bodies are made from the
dust of the ground. We're really nothing but a bunch
of dirt bags. Did you know that? That's all
we really are, a bunch of dirt bags. And on a physical DNA level,
we are no different than the animals. We stink. We corrupt. We defile. We decay. We rot. We fall apart. It's dishonorable
in the sight of God. He did not make us that way in
the beginning. It was a consequence of sin. And so our going downhill
as we get older, it's humiliating. It's humiliating to lose your
mind. It's humiliating to forget where
you live. It's humiliating to forget your
name, to forget your children. It's humiliating to pee on yourself,
to go on yourself. Humiliating. It's humiliating. It's all because of sin. We can't
worship God like we want to because we're falling apart. Am I telling
the truth? We're falling apart. And then we crave for things
that just are not right. Is that true? It's sown in dishonor. It's raised in what? That's the
day coming, that's my hope. It's sown in weakness, it's raised
in what? Power! One day I'm going to have the
power and the glory to worship God, to serve God, to think about
God, to contemplate God, to boast in God. I'm going to be able
to jump one day and take off and don't come down. I'm going
to have power to take off and glorify God. I'm going to be
able to exalt Him in a state of resurrection, glory and power
that will be given to me because of Jesus Christ, my vouchsafe.
It is sown a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. There's
a natural body and then there's a spiritual body. Verse 45, watch
it now. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was a living soul, the last Adam is a quickening spirit. You and I are waiting for the
quickening. Paul will treat this in Romans
chapter 8. We groan now. We groan. Oh yeah, that's the noise in
the back here. He was wondering what that noise was. That's the
groan. That's the groan. Tell them, you 50-year-old. They
don't get it. Right? It wasn't there before.
It's there now. Right? And we actually do the
groan before we actually move. Because we got to get our groan
on. And then we move. Because you
need the groan to help you. Your groan is your helper. Help
you. That's your groan. We groan in
these bodies. Yeah, we got to get our groan
on. Now, you watch some of the older people, and they're groaning.
Don't even move yet. They're groaning. And you're looking
for them to move. No, they're just making sure they groan in
the engine to start. They get the groan in the engine. Now we can move a little bit.
You're getting your groin on. One day we will be quickened.
Quickened. That's the full bloom of the
second Adam state. We have it in seed form now.
The full bloom comes when Jesus comes again and we are completely
transformed. Completely transformed. Which
is another one of the points in our outline under the glorification
of our bodies. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
51 and 52. Watch it. Verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be what? I'm waiting
for my change, aren't you? In a moment, in a twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the
dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. And you talk about boasting on
that day, boasting, and even Paul is boasting now in verses
54 and 55. Oh, death, where is your sting?
Oh, grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, which gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, and he's
speaking from a place of justification. He's not speaking from the place
of his constant and success in spiritual and practical battles
here. He's saying we get all the victory because Christ has
won the battle. Let me move on to my second point.
As we are going back to Romans chapter 5 verse 1 and 2, I want
to go on to my second point. Now, I have been talking to you
briefly about our future glory. Our future glory. And it constitutes
the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and then the glorification
of our bodies. You will hear constantly in the
scriptures that the believer is to focus on glory. That's
what I want to press home. Romans 8 verse 30. Listen to
what it says. I'm going to quote two verses
and move to my second point. Romans 8 verse 30. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, then he also what? Called. Whom he
called, then he also what? Ah, here's the premise. And whom
he justified, then he also what? It's on the basis of this unbreakable
chain of salvation that the people of God rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. And again, Colossians chapter
1 verse 27 says it like this, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. You know what that means? If
Christ is in you, there's a hope for glory Sustains you every
day of your life if Christ is in you your longing is for glory
It's for glory and then there's one more verse. I want you to
see this is an absolutely amazing verse That's worth our meditation
upon to go with me to first Peter chapter 1 verse 8 9 first Peter
1 8 9 Peter talks about the believer living by faith informed about
his security in Christ because of the justifying work that God
has done for him. And he talks about in 1 Peter
chapter 1 how you and I are to understand our looking for glory. Now this is going to catapult
us into our second contemplation for a few minutes before we close.
We start at verse 3. Are you there? and I'm going
to make my way through verse 8. And I want you to hear how
Peter once again formulates his exhortation for us to look for
the coming of Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. which according to his abundant
mercies has begotten us again, made us live again unto a what?
Living hope by what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and
that does not fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you.
We've talked about this many times, have we not? The believer
understands that reserved for him in heaven is an inheritance.
You need to be thinking about that frequently. Reserved for
you in heaven is an inheritance. That's where our joy is. Listen,
who are kept, we are kept by the power of God. Is that true?
Through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Now he's getting ready to establish a caveat that I
need to talk about before we close. Wherein you greatly rejoice. You know what you're rejoicing
in? In the fact that you have reserved in heaven and incorruptible
inheritance that one day will be revealed to you. We rejoice
in that. But he says, wherein we greatly rejoice, even though
now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptation. Are our feet back on the ground
now? Are our feet back on the ground now? That's going to be
our third point as we close today. See, what I don't want you to
do is I don't want you to think that your job is to navel gaze. You miss that. Because there
are a lot of folks who would love to check out of life by
spending all their time looking at their navel Contemplating
ethereal things that have no basis in real life Now now if
you've been listening to me what you have been toiling with is
how on earth do I keep my mind? Fixed on God like that when I'm
struggling every day to just make it I Right? These are the
tensions we deal with. Am I telling the truth? These
are the tensions that we deal with. So when I say that your
mind and your affections ought to be fixed on things above,
I don't mean for you to retreat from life and start hiding behind
a computer screen like a lot of people do. Spend all their
time in front of the internet, in front of the computer, in
front of their little iPods and retreat from the world. See,
that's monasticism in the 21st century. The monastic monks retreated
from the world thinking that if you get away from the world,
you'll be holier and holier. No, you won't. You'll be more
sinful. You'll be more sinful. Your perversions will follow
you to the Internet. Your perversions will follow
you to your iPad, your iPhones, your iPods. Your perversions
and your propinquities to do evil will follow you right there.
And by the way, there are those who are on the other side of
your iPad, your iPods, your cell phones, your internet. They're
all behind there doing evil too. The world of evil is on your
iPad. Navel-gazing is not what we're
calling the Christian to. We're not calling you to retreat
from the world. We're calling you to live in
the world but not be of it. And that's where you have to
control your affections. Listen to what the Apostle Peter
says, wherein you greatly rejoice, greatly rejoice, greatly rejoice. The believer, if he's maturing
his faith and he's rooted in the word of God, he greatly rejoice
in the glory of God, does he not? Wherein you greatly rejoice,
even though for a season you are in heaviness through manifold
trials. Boy, don't we go through hell. Verse seven. that the trine
of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes
though it be tried with fire right now some of my brothers
and sisters are going through it what peter says however is
you have a hope it might be found unto praise and honor and glory
at the what appearing of jesus christ see see see god takes
us through trouble for the purpose of bringing us to understand
how important it is to know that our escape is not in ourselves
or in our situation, but it's in Christ. Now, Peter's going
to say something that I'm going to touch on, and then we're going
to go back to our text and finally close out with something we've
heard before, but I don't think we have let it really resonate.
Here's what Peter says. If you and I endure our trials,
which are much more precious than gold, We'll find that it
will redound to praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ Powerful proposition, you know what that means? Sometimes
you go through things that you don't know at all what God is
doing There are things that are taking place in the difficulties
in the trials of your life that God has no intentions on letting
you know anything about but in the day when he returns and pulls
back the veil he gonna show you exactly why you went through
that and how it resulted in an advancement of his glory and
the salvation of sinners and the honor of his name. See, you
and I don't need to always know what God is up to in our life
because our big old heads would steal his glory and it would
be so big we wouldn't be able to get out the door. So a lot
of times God doesn't tell you what he's doing. He simply calls
you to do what? Trust him. Listen to this next
verse though. This is amazing to me. Peter
exhorts the believer to look for the appearing of Jesus Christ
He says in verse 8 these words whom having not seen this is
true. We have not seen Christ yet But
do you love him? See it whom having not seen you
love watch this now watch this now in whom though you have not
yet seen him you believe him and Here it is. You rejoice in
There it is. You boast. You exalt with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. That's the character of the joy
of the believer who's fixed on Christ. It's joy unspeakable
and full. Have you ever been speechless?
Has a situation ever just overtaken you and absorbed you so much
that you can't put it in words? That's how the people of God
are supposed to be about Christ. The Spirit of God ought to impact
our lives. On some days, when we think about
all that God has done for us, and all you can do is from the
depths of your soul go, my, my, my, my. Look at what God has
done. See, for me, I go, Lord, that's
crazy. That's what I do in my study.
Crazy. Get up. I have to stand up and
go, this just don't make no sense. I have to go get a glass of water.
This don't make no sense. And think about the stupendousness
of what God has done for me in Christ. It blows my mind. It doesn't make sense. It's so
large. It's so huge. It's so magnificent. It's so massive in its implications. Cause a brother to start crying.
That's right. When you think about what God
has done for you, it just start coming down, coming down. You go, Lord. And see what that
is? It's glory. It's glory. It's
glory unfolding. It's glory unfolding. And it's
cleansing your soul. And it's causing you to straighten
out your life. Prioritize your life. Let go
of stuff. Because you and I are only getting
a glimpse of it. Go back to Romans 5. Let me close it out here.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God,
verse three. And not only so, but we glory.
Here it is. Here it is. Not only do we glory in the things
that are coming in terms of Christ's return, in terms of our bodies
being renewed, in terms of our being with him forever, but we
glory also in what? Yes, we glory also in tribulations
because we know that tribulation worketh patience and patience
experience and experience hope. hope make it not a shame because
the love of God is shared abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given us how can I explain verse 3 4 and 5 in 5 minutes
Let me see if I can just take a stab at it because this is
too much So what Paul said is when you and I come to learn
how to boast that's the same word exalt in tribulations We
figured out what God was up to in terms of his purpose in our
life. When you and I learn how to boast in our trouble, which
I would dare say most of us don't know how to do. We know how to
complain. We don't know how to boast. If you ever get what it
means to boast in your trouble, it's because you have been able
to pierce through your circumstance. and see exactly what God has
purposed in your life in terms of his objective of bringing
you into conformity to Jesus Christ. Now watch this. If you
want to be like Jesus, if you want to be conformed to his image,
if that's the heartbeat of your soul, every trouble that comes
into your life, you're going to invite. And you're going to
invite it because you know at the end of that trial, you're
going to be the better for it. And you're going to know God
better. You're gonna have a greater understanding of the ways of
God in your life and you need that because you don't know God
as you ought to know God But tell the truth Saints who've
been through it. Don't you know that when you and I come out
of trouble? We have a greater understanding of the character
and the ways of God in his faithfulness and his goodness in our life
Then we did when we went in we would have never went in if God
would ask me Jesse You want to go through that door? Nope But
now having gone through that door and come out on the other
side, I say, Lord, thank you for what you did, because it
taught me things that I could have never known outside of that
trial. I could have never known them.
I could have never understood how that tribulation. Are you ready? Works patient
in the life of the believer. See, what we're talking about
here is transformation. Are you here? Some of us are
not patient. Trials will beat you down. They
will slow you down and they will sit you down. Am I telling the
truth? Some of us are not patient, but
trials will beat you down. They will slow you down and they
will sit you down. And you'll look up one day and
guess what? You'll be patient. You're going to look at the Lord.
The Lord didn't taught a brother how to be patient. And see, there
are all kinds of revenues that come out of patience. You see
things more clearly. You're more objective. You have
a broader periphery of making right decisions. Instead of being
bulls-eyed, you know, when you have that tunnel vision, you're
upset. You can't see a thing. But when you're patient, you
can see the big picture. That's called maturity in the
faith. I'm so glad that I am where I am compared to where
I was 20 years ago, aren't you? Now, I hate the trials I went
through. I hate them! But I'm thankful for the outcome
See what we're talking about is being transformed into the
image of God more than that when God develops in you and me Patience,
are you ready when he develops you patience in us? He can use
us More powerfully haven't you discovered that that very time
you wanted to say something and God grace you to keep your mouth
shut that it worked out to his honor and his glory. And between
you and the Lord, you said, Lord, thank you. You kept the brother's
mouth shut. And it worked out much better
than it would have been if I had to give my little two cents.
And this is what happens when we mature. But it takes god grinding
us down through trials and tribulations. He has to place us in the furnace
of affliction He has to purge us of the impurities of our own
self-righteousness of our own self-confidence of us thinking
we know something when we don't know a thing When it comes to
the kingdom of god and so tribulation works patience And that patience
moves us forward where we comprehend other virtues watch this now
and patience experience now saints When you and I acquire experience,
aren't we confident? See, it's not confidence for
you to think you know something when you don't. It's presumption.
But when you really, really know, it's confidence. Like when you
really, really know how the Lord works, you can confidently tell
people this. God's not going to bless that.
Go ahead on if you want to. I tell the saints all the time,
Pastor, I'm thinking I want to do this. Don't do that. I'm going
to tell you now God's not going to bless it. Why? Because I'm
mature enough and experienced enough to know what God will
bless and what God will not bless. And if you want to go ahead on
and find out that God doesn't lie, fail, or change, go ahead
on and do that thing. I'll see you after the end of God tearing
your butt up, sending you back home, and we can try to fix it
afterwards. But we acquire experience where
we learn what to do and what not to do. And it's much easier
to walk with Jesus with experience. This is conformity to Christ
that I'm talking about. And Paul calls this a place to
glory, a place to boast. Let me finish here. He says,
and not only does patience work experience, but experience now
redounds to our what? Ah, if you and I are being sanctified
by the Holy Ghost, of which we talked about this morning, if
he's working in our life, if he's really working in our life,
this is how you know your hope is abounding. The very hope I
talked about earlier. As we get closer to the grave,
for those of us who are believers, our hope increases. Because it's
mixed with experience, it's mixed with patience, it's mixed with
wisdom, it's mixed with God's faithfulness in our life. Our
hope abounds. Are you hearing me? Your hope
ought not to diminish as you get older, it ought to abound!
Because it's built now on a foundation of God having worked in your
life. This is why some of the saints, when they pass away from
this world, pass away in such a glorious way. They're happy,
they're settled, they're rested, and they're ready to go. Do you
know why? Because tribulation works with
patience. Patience, experience, and experience hope, and hope
that never ever results in shame. Do you know why? Are you ready? Because Jesus Christ is always
walking with you in the middle of your trials. And the world,
you and I have in tribulation every day. And every day, you
and I are suffering the ravages of the lust of the flesh. Every
day, the devil is coming after us. Every day, the world is hurling
itself against us. Is that true? Every day, our
joy is being, as it were, curtailed and diminished and thwarted by
the cares of this life. Every day, you and I are under
assault, but God keeps us anyway. Why does he keep us? Because
while the devil is trying to pour water on the fire of your
soul, the Lord Jesus is on the backside pouring in the oil of
the Holy Ghost, lighting the flame of our soul, keeping us
persistently looking to Christ every day. Isn't it an amazing
thing that you can wake up every day after going through a horrible,
horrible day before and wake up the next day still believing
God? Still trusting God and then sometimes
actually boasting in God. Let me share something with you
That's only the grace of God doing that in your life. Amen.
Amen. Let's stop stop now. Praise God