Go with me to 2 Timothy chapter
4. 2 Timothy 4. Last Sunday, we ended our Bible
study with verse 18. And when I read the last line
of that verse, I immediately knew that I wanted to spend more
time on that one line. So that's what
we're gonna look at for our message this morning. This is the title
and the subject matter of the message. The last line of verse
18 says, to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. I hope this is a simple message.
I hope this is a brief message. I want to get one thing across.
To whom be glory forever and ever, amen. The word amen means I believe. That's what it means. When you say amen, what you're
saying is I believe. I believe that. I believe what
was just said. I wholeheartedly agree with that
statement. to whom be glory forever and
ever, amen. It is my sincere desire to get
the attention of people with the word of God, to know what
this says. It is my deep desire to really
get the attention of people with God's word. It's not my desire
to shock people just for the sake of shocking people. But when a person sees what this
book is really saying for the first time, it can be a very
shocking thing. People honestly do not know what
this book is saying. Generally, people tend to lump
all religion into the same category of this man-made, you know, made-up
idea of what the Bible says and what salvation is. Everybody
just kind of has a general made-up idea. People walk into churches
kind of expecting them to all I mean, generally say the same
thing. You go into one building or another
building and you're just kind of expecting everybody to roughly
say the same thing. Do good. Don't sin. And everything will be okay. You'll go to heaven. Accept Jesus as your personal
Savior. Give your life to him, and that's
all God requires of you. You'll be okay, you'll end up
in heaven. That's what people assume the Bible says. But do
you know that that is not what this word says at all? Not at all. It says the opposite. It actually says you are dead
in trespasses and sins. How many times does it say, yes,
you? None, no, not one. You are spiritually
dead. Physical life throws people off. I get it. It throws people off. Physical life, people confuse
that with spiritual life. That which is flesh is flesh
and that which is spirit is spirit. Two totally different things.
And this word says, yes, you've been given for three score and
10, maybe if by reason of God-given strength, four score years of
physical life, but you are born into this world spiritually dead
before God. You are spiritually dead, dead,
dead, dead in trespasses and sins. This word says you are
only evil continually. It says there is none good but
God. None good but God. I believe
there's a little bit of good in everybody. God does not believe
that. Not in the flesh of man. There's
none good but God. This word says you were conceived
in sin. Born into this world a child
of hell, not a child of heaven. Everybody thinks, well, you're
born and the goal is to not mess it up. You're born sinless, you're
born innocent, just don't mess it up. That's not what this word
says. You're born ruined. You're born
in trespasses and sins, a child of hell, not a child of heaven.
This word says you're dead, so you can't accept Christ as your
personal savior. You're dead. It says you're dead, so you have
no life to give to him. People say, now give him your
life. You're dead. You don't have a life to give
to him. The word says everything is not
okay. Because in your natural condition
right now, nothing makes you worthy, nothing makes you acceptable
to enter into heaven. That's what this word says. I
mean, we could turn and turn and turn. That's what this word
says. That's kind of shocking. That's
kind of shocking. Turn to Colossians 2 with me. verse 13 Colossians 2 verse 13
it says and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh Hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven
you all trespasses? You being dead means He had to
do all the work. That's what it means. He had
to quicken you. That means give life to you and
to me first. And after He quickened us from
our death, Then he had to save us from our
sins. He had to bring the knowledge
and the understanding of salvation from sin. Without him doing all
of that, none of that would be done. Turn over to Ephesians
chapter 2. Verse 1, and you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air. That's the adversary. You're
under the control of the adversary. The spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our
conversation. That means way of life. In times
past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, he hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
you are saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are you saved, through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. We were born into this world
dead and sinful. And he has to do all the work.
He has to do all the work in giving life to us and in saving
us. And seeing that and saying amen
to that is what it is to believe on Christ. That's what it is
to believe on Christ. It's to not believe on self,
but to believe on Christ. It's to not look to self, or
life, or salvation, or for assurance, but to look to Christ. And even though to the natural
flesh that sounds like an insignificant detail, that seems insignificant,
like you're trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. No, what I
want to make clear today is that detail is the exposing evidence
of whether a person is going to heaven or hell. There is a consequence to not
believing on Christ. There's a consequence to not
believing on Christ. Turn over to John 3. See if this will stand out to
you, okay? John 3. Verse 14, And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. But he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God. He or she that believes on Christ
is not condemned. But he or she that believes not
on Christ is condemned already. Verse 35 right here says, the
father loveth the son and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. there is a consequence to not
believing on Christ. And every person on this earth
ought to ask himself or herself, do I believe on Christ? Do I believe on Christ? That question can be answered
by asking this right here. Who gets the glory? who gets the glory. In the work
of salvation, who gets the glory? Everybody's gonna say, well,
Christ, God gets the glory. Christ gets the glory. Does he?
Does he? In your heart, in my heart, does
he? All right, in the decision, you know, do you wanna be saved,
yes or no? All right, in the decision, Who gets the glory in the decision
of it? In the choosing on who's going to be saved, who
gets the glory? In the redeeming, who gets the
glory? In the calling, who gets the
glory? Did I get saved? People go around saying they're
just so happy about it, they won't go around telling anybody.
I got saved. You know, we had a revival last
weekend and I got saved. Now, here's the question. Did
I get saved or did God save me? That's the question. Did I choose
God or did God choose me? Now, you're going to have to
make your choice for God. You're going to choose Jesus.
First thing, you're going to have to make your choice for Jesus
Christ. Wait a minute now. Did I choose him or did he choose
me? Which one is it? Who did the
choosing? Was it my goodness? You wanna
go to heaven? You need to be good, okay? All
right, now wait a minute. Is it my goodness or is it his
goodness? Is it my self-righteousness or
is it his righteousness? Is it my works or is it his works? Who gets the glory? Do I start it or did he start
it? I mean this is a good, people
wonder this. Now do I have to take the first
step or does, he has to take all the steps. And his glory
is he already did take all the steps. He starts it. He performs it. He finishes it. He finished it. He will perform it and will ultimately
finish it. That's his glory. That's his
glory. Who gets the glory? The phrase, to whom be glory,
which is our text, that phrase is in the scripture four times.
All right, let me just show you those four times. Turn over to
Romans 11. Verse 33, O the depth of the riches, both
of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his
judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first
given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For
of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be
glory forever. Amen. That means of him are all
things and by him all things consist. He is not waiting on
anybody to do anything first and then he will recompense what
they do. Nothing was before Him. No one
helped Him. Not in creation. He didn't need counsel then.
He doesn't need counsel now. From Him, everything comes from
Him. Everything is by Him. Everything
is for Him. Including you and me. Including
us. And therefore, he gets the glory.
He gets all the glory in creation. He gets all the glory in the
creation of everything, everything that exists. It's all of him,
through him, to him. To whom be glory forever. There
was no big bang. There was just Jesus Christ,
Father, Son, Spirit. He gets the glory as the originator
of everything. Turn over to Galatians 1. Verse 3, grace be to you and
peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this
present evil world according to the will of God and our Father,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Christ gave himself
for our sins. Hebrews 1 says he did it by himself. He gave himself alone for our
sins. He gave his body, he gave his
blood in order to deliver us. And he did just that, he delivered
his people. in the sacrifice of himself. He delivered his people. He didn't
start the work of deliverance. He delivered his people. He didn't open the door to make
the way of deliverance possible. He delivered his people. He delivered
his people. He did that according to the
will of God. The father, he finished the work that the father gave
him to do. The father said, son, this is my will, save our people. He said, father, I finished the
work you gave me to do. By the death of his cross, he
obtained eternal redemption for all of his people. Salvation
is finished. Salvation is finished. You know,
when there is a quickening, when eyes are opened and ears are
opened and a person is called to a saving knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ, that's not salvation. Salvation is over.
That's an understanding of salvation. That's an awakening to salvation.
Salvation is over. By the death of His cross, He
obtained eternal redemption for His people. Not we, not Him and
us. He did it. He did it. So what
that means is, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. All of eternity, we're going
to be standing there saying, unto Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins. in his own blood. He did it.
He did it. Turn over to 2nd Timothy 4. This is our text. 2nd Timothy 4 verse 18. It says the Lord shall deliver
me from every evil work. What is an evil work? It's any work that is my work,
it's anything that I do. Any work of this flesh is an
evil work. The Apostle Paul said, every
time I try to do good, evil is present with me, every time. Verse 18. The Lord shall deliver
me from every evil work and will preserve me unto his heavenly
kingdom. He will preserve me. He will deliver me. He will bring me. He's the one
who will keep me all the way to the end. Verse 18 says, To whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. He gets the glory for that.
He gets the glory forever and ever. We're not going to keep
ourselves. We didn't begin this. We're not
performing this. We're not going to finish this.
He gets the glory in creation. He gets the glory in salvation.
He gets the glory in preservation. If we're kept, it's only going
to be by the power of God. He gets the glory. Turn to Hebrews
13. Verse 20, Hebrews 13, verse 20,
it says, Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in his sight. Through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever, amen. He's our glorification. He is our sanctification. He
is our holiness. He is our purity. He works in us what is well-pleasing
to him. Any goodness in us is Him in
us. Any good work in us is Him working
in us. If we're pleasing in God's sight,
it's only because Christ is pleasing in God's sight and Christ is
in us. God sees Christ in us. To Him
be the glory for that. To whom be glory forever and
ever, amen. In all things, He gets the glory. It doesn't matter what we're
talking about. He gets the glory. To believe on Christ, you've
heard people talk about repentance, okay? Repent, repent, here's
what it is. To believe on Christ. is to turn from man, repentance,
the definition means a change of mind. Completely changed mind
about religion, God, man, sin, salvation. It's a totally changed
mind. And it does bring sorrow. It
does bring sorrow to the heart and a crying out for forgiveness.
But it's to turn from man in every way, shape, and form. Religion's
got people looking to man, look to man, look to man, look to
man. You gotta look at self, you gotta fix self, you gotta
keep self. It's a turning from man in every way, shape, and
form to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in every way, shape, and
form. Whoever made the decision, that's
who gets the glory. Really? I think I'm going to
go ahead and make my decision for Christ. I'm going to decide
to be saved. Well, then you get the glory. To you be glory then
forever and ever. Amen. That will not stand with
God. That doesn't stand with God the Father. This is my beloved
son. He gets the glory. Whoever made
the decision gets the glory. Whoever did the work gets the
glory. Whoever finished the salvation
gets the glory. Whoever all the credit is owed
to, that's who gets the glory. Christ is the answer to every
one of those things. Jesus Christ. All the praise, all the honor,
all the credit goes to Him. I love, I ask our brother to
read Revelation 5. The end of it says, everything
and everybody was saying it's all to Him. Glory, praise, honor. I heard everybody saying it.
Everybody heard me saying it. It's all to him. To Christ be
the glory forever and ever. Amen. That is the saving belief. That is the saving belief. May
God give it to us. May God give that belief to us
concerning Christ. Amen.