If you would turn in your Bibles
to 2 Thessalonians. In my message last Sunday, I
tried to make two points out of that message. One being the
word of truth and how we can look into God's word and we know
we are reading the truth. The world around us, we can't
trust Him. The more we hear from the world around us, the more
we hear lies. Lies are made truth. Truth is
made lies. Evil is made good and good is
made evil. Yet we can always turn to the
word of truth and hear what is true. And secondly, I pointed
out that can we believe God? And yes, we can if God has moved
in the hearts of men. And those are the ones who do
believe God. I would like to continue along
that same kind of subject today, speaking of the Word of God.
And my title is, The Word of God Glorified. I'd like to begin
in chapter 2 at verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians, reading, But we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, Beloved of the
Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. That's God's Word. It's not man's
interpretation. I'm not standing up here saying,
well, this is what this means. Read it for yourself. God hath from the beginning chosen
you. That means before you were ever
born, doesn't it? The beginning means when? The beginning of
last week? No. How about the beginning of
anything? In the beginning. That's what
God says, in the beginning. God created the heavens and the
earth. Salvation was bestowed upon a
people, a people called the people of God. He says in scripture,
you will be my people and I will be your God. He doesn't say,
maybe you're gonna come to me, I'm gonna do this and maybe you
can make a decision. No, no, he says, you will be
my people and I will be your God. Salvation is bestowed upon
a people of God. Sanctified, that means set apart,
made holy by the Spirit of God through the Word of Truth. Not through men, not through
the preachers that stand before the men of this world, but through
the Word of Truth. That's this right here. That's
this book that we call Holy Scriptures. The Word of God. Inspired, written
by men, yes, but inspired by God for men to write. Now there's
a lot of men who say that they were inspired to write. I think
there's a Mormon man somewhere who thinks that God inspired
him to write a special book of his own, which is completely
different from this book. In fact, it's all about what
men should be doing for their God. But in Revelations, Chapter 22, I believe it is,
our Lord says, there's a curse on any who might, let me see
if I can read that exactly for you. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city
and from the things which are written in this book. He which
testifieth these things saith, I surely come quick. Amen. Even
so, come the Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. If any man shall add to these
things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book. sanctified, set apart, made holy
by the Spirit of God through the Word of Truth. This is why
Paul was so adamant about preaching Christ and Him crucified. He
said to those around him, I wish to know nothing of you. I don't
want to know about how you serve the poor. I'm glad you do. That's a wonderful thing and
we should all do that. That's a good thing to do. I'm
not putting that down at all, but I want to keep pointing that
out because that's the business of the churches in the world
today. That's exactly what I hear from those of other churches. Oh, we've done this. And oh,
we've done that. But that's not the gospel. The
gospel is Christ and Him crucified for His people. The good news
is that Christ came to save sinners. Are there any sinners here this
morning? Christ came to save you. And if you know you're a
sinner, it's because Christ has moved in your heart to show you
that you are. Because you didn't come into
this world thinking you were. No, you came into this world
speaking lies from your mother's womb. And if you say you didn't,
you lie for that because the Lord Jesus Christ says you did.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If you say
there is no God, then you have lied that there is no God, for
there is a God, a creator of everything. Paul was very adamant. There
was no, well, maybe I can preach on this someday, and I'll preach
about Christ and mix it in a little bit. That's what a lot of churches
do, don't they? We do this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
is what they do, and they puff up their chest and say, see what
we do. There's a story in the Bible
about two men, one who was rich and powerful, and he went into
church. And over in the corner was a guy who probably hadn't
bathed for weeks. Poor, weak. This guy, he goes
over and he sits down and starts praying to the Lord. Lord, I'm
sure glad I'm not like that guy over there. And the guy over there is praying
to the Lord. Lord, have mercy on me. a sinner. This is why all of God's sent
preachers stick to what God commanded. Our Lord said go and preach the
gospel. He didn't say go out and tell
everybody of the good works. He didn't say go do those kind
of things. He said go and preach the gospel.
The good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Verse 14. Whereunto he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word of truth spoken of in
verse 13 is the salvation. It's salvation of the Lord and
of the Lord alone. The obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. If you could add something such
as getting baptized, or worshiping on Saturday, or even coming down
to the front of the pulpit and making a decision. Today, I follow
Jesus. Have you ever asked me, how long
have you been a Christian? Well, I began to, I turned to
the Lord in such and such a year. I came to the Lord at such and
such a time. I hear that all the time from
my Christian friends at work. How long have you been a Christian? When the Lord came to me, and
called me out of that darkness that I walked in. That's when
I became a Christian. Because He loved me enough to
come to me when I knew Him not, when I was dead in trespasses
and sins, He quickened me at that time and gave me life that
I might know Him, that I might come to love Him. I cannot add
anything to, just as you can't add anything to the Word of God. Nor can you take anything away
from the grace and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you could, then it wouldn't be called grace. In Romans 11, 5 it says, Even
so, then, at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no
more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. This is God's
Word, folks. I'm not giving you an interpretation.
This is God's Word. But if it be works, then it is
no more grace. And what are we saved by? We're
saved by faith in grace. We're not saved by works. Otherwise, work is no more work.
God chose to love one and hate the other before either was even
born. Before either could commit evil or good, as it says in Romans
9-11. for the children, speaking of
the two twins, being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand not of works, but of Him that calleth. It was said
unto her, unto the mother, the elder shall serve the younger,
and as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."
The world hates to hear that. They don't want to hear that.
That's not what God means. That's not what God means. God
doesn't hate anything. He says He loves everything. God is a
God of love. Which is true, but He's also
a God of hate. He hates iniquity. There will be people in hell.
There are people in hell right now. Just as there are people
in heaven right now. And the difference is, God hated
some and He loved others. That's His Word. I don't argue
it. I don't debate it. It's a declaration. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. These are the truths of God's
Word. These are the words that are given by the Creator of all
glory. And such it will be, He will
not share glory with another. And that is especially true with
mankind. All have sinned and come short
of His glory, His holiness. Only the ones for whom Christ
died can stand in the presence of God. You see, to be in the
presence of God, we have to be as holy as He is. He cannot even
look upon iniquity. When any one of mankind have
come into the presence of the Lord, what did Moses do? Remember? Take off your shoes. For this is holy ground, you
stand on. And he went to his face into the dirt. Another time, he asked the Lord,
show me your glory. And the Lord says, okay, you
need to stand over here in the cleft of this rock, because when
I go by, you would die if you saw my full glory. That's the
glorious God that is the creator of all things. How can we deserve such a great
God? You can't. Unless you belong
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Who has paid our sins in total. Every single one. Every one we've
ever committed. Every one we will ever commit.
Even the ones that are going through our minds right now. Only the ones for whom Christ
died can stand in the presence of God. Because of the perfect
righteous blood that was shed upon that cross just over 2,000
years ago, the chosen people of God, the elect of God, they
shall be saved. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That's God's word. That's not
an interpretation. That's exactly what he says.
He says, all that the Father giveth me, not more, not less,
No empty seats. He says, My sheep hear My voice. You're here this morning because
you're a sheep of God. And you're hearing the Word of
God preached from God's Scripture, not from this man who stands
before you because all I am is a sinner. Just as you, just as
any one of God's people, a sinner, declaring God's Word. This is
how the Word of God is glorified. His Word being proclaimed as
it is, not as an interpretation of men. What do you think this
means, John? Well, it means, whereunto He
called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means. Simple
as that. We come to Christ because He
first came to us. He makes us willing in the day
of His power. And all power in heaven and earth and even under
the earth belongs to the King, King Jesus. The people of God,
we look to Him as our all in all, not just once, but continually. You see, sin is going to be in
this flesh as long as we walk this earth. We were saying the
song earlier, I am weak, but thou art strong. Oh, oh, dear Lord, keep me from
all wrong. I know what I'm capable of doing.
Do you? Do you know what you're capable
of? There was a time in my life when
I would have been capable of killing an unborn child. Yeah. That was what my life, that's
what I thought about. And it was all about John. It
was all about John at that time. I'm too young to have a child.
And the Lord brought a child into my life with my wife and
I and took it before we could even see it. And from that point
on, I began to gradually see the importance, the fact that
this child in the mother's womb is a baby, a life. So that by
the time a year had gone by, nine months, and my son was born,
I was excited about it. It meant everything to me to
see my children be born. And I was there. The Lord blessed
me with that. But there was a time. You say, oh, I'm not capable
of that. Are you sure? Was there ever
a time in your life you might have been capable of those things? We look to our Lord continuously
for strength, but most of all for forgiveness. We're studying
in the book of David, I mean the book of Samuel, how David
was about to attack and kill a family for an entire family.
Just wipe them all out. Just because they didn't give
him food. And the Lord kept David from doing that by sending the
wife of Nabal out to David to ask for forgiveness. And that's
what our Lord does for us. He goes to the father and he
says, forgive this one for my blood was shed for that one. How can we not love the one who
loved us enough to do that for us? When the Lord lays it upon
our hearts to know this truth, how could we not turn to Him
in love, seeing how much He has loved us? Yes, we continue in this vessel
of death, weak and lowly, full of sin, yet our great Savior
has paid it all. We continue to look to His righteousness
to His perfection, to His works. You see, this is our traditions.
We no longer trust in our flesh. That was an old tradition. We trust in Christ, the works,
and His works for our salvation. When Paul says, stand fast, here
in verse number 15, Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or in epistle." When Paul is saying those very things,
he's speaking of that, the new tradition, the tradition now
that we turn to our Lord Jesus for everything. I am on the border of being very
distraught about this fact that this thing's not working on our
roof. But yet with Roger standing by
my side yesterday and reminding each other back and forth, this
is in God's hands, they'll get it fixed. He said that at least
ten times to calm John Reeves down. That's how easy and quick the
flesh can jump up before us, folks. Yet he sends Abigail to
stand next to us and remind us, no, that's evil. And because I'm even thinking
the anger about not having it done right the first time, not
getting it right, I've sinned against my Lord. Because I've
turned away and not trusted in Him, I've sinned against my Lord.
Yet that very sin is put upon our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He took that upon Himself willingly, knowing that I was going to do
that before I ever even did it. We look to Christ. We call upon
the name of the Lord. In our weaknesses, He is made
strong. When we see ourselves weak and
unable, we turn to Him because we know He is stronger than anything.
And then we see, oh, He is our strength. Do never trust in the flesh,
for it shall return from which it came, the dust. The grace of the Lord bestows
upon His people is an everlasting grace. You see, it was predetermined,
predestinated before anything that is to save His people from
their sins. He has loved us from before the
foundation of creation, and this is His word. This is the Word
of Truth. It's the Word of Christ. It's
who He is. God Almighty in the flesh. That's
my declaration. That's what I want to hear. I
want to hear about how my Savior is God. Why? Because that means that it happened.
It's not a salvation that's possible. It's a salvation that's true.
and assurance, because the blood that was shed on the cross is
the blood of God Himself. All power in heaven and earth
is given to Him. And if that blood was shed for
me, then I have nothing to worry about. The depths of hell shall not
have me, for my Lord Jesus already does. The word of truth, the word of
Christ is what he has done. He has taken every sin that I
shall commit, every sin that I've committed, and he's taken
it into the grave and left it there, never to be seen again. That's a tough thing for me to
understand a lot. That's a tough thing for me to
comprehend a lot. Sometimes even just thinking
about it once, you know, my brain just wants to explode at how
big that is. That's a pretty big thing. He's
taking every sin of mine and put it where it will never
be seen again. The Word of Truth, the Word of
Christ is what is He doing now. He's doing exactly what he has
always done, and that is sovereignly working everything out according
to his counsel. How can this situation bother
me when I know that it's God's will? Have you ever driven down
the street and thought, oh, man, I hit another red light. What
is going on here today? I heard Kathy say that the other
day on the phone. I don't know what's... Yeah,
she was following behind me as we were coming up here. She said,
I'm hitting every single red light. You know, even our Lord
controls that. He's sitting on His throne right
now, turning every red light that He wants me to stop at,
to stop at. We don't know why, but I know He's doing it. I know
that the man who runs this country right now and is fighting against
all the other men who are helping run it is God's will. And for whatever reason, he was
put there by God. And that goes exactly the same
for the man who was put there before him, of whom I complained
a lot about. God forgive me for that. I'm weak. But he's strong. And
he knows what to do, and how to do it, and when it should
be done, and how it should be done, and everything. Everything. All things are for
the good to them that love God, to them that are called. That's
another one of those really big things that's hard for my mind
to wrap around. All things. 9-11 was for the
good of God's people. Hitler and the Nazis were for
the good of God's people. And I don't see how that could
be at all, but I know that my Lord says it is, that all things
are for the good to them that love God, to them that are called.
We may not always see the good in what God has for us. Let me
ask you this. I've used this example many times.
Did Jonah Did Jonah see the good in being swallowed up by a whale
and dying in the belly of a fish? In the book that describes it,
it says the weeds of the sea were wrapped around his neck.
The waves splashed over his head. He was a man, remember that?
This is not just a story of something. This is a real man dying in the
belly of a fish. A fish that was prepared by God
to do so. Do you think he saw the goodness
in that? I doubt so. I doubt so. But in the end, what
happened? God brought him out of that fish,
spit him upon dry land, and what did he do? He stood before the
people of Nineveh, and he said, salvation is of
the Lord. This is the Word of Truth. It's
the Word of Christ. When we proclaim Christ our Savior,
we glorify the Word of God. We give Him all the glory. In
2 Corinthians 10, verse 17, it says, But He that glorieth. But He that glorieth. Let Him
glory in the Lord. If Christ has given us everything,
which He has, if God gives us everything that we need, which
He has, why would we glory in ourselves for it? It's a gift
of God, isn't it? This country we live in, this
warm building that we have, these are all things that God
has given us to enjoy. Why should we not glory in Him
for it? Verse 16, now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts. Comfort your hearts. Our Lord
says to His disciples and His men, His preachers, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people. There's only one comfort you
can have in this world. Oh, you may think we have a comfort.
We may think that there's other comforts in the things of this
world. But even those things will perish. There's one everlasting
comfort, and that is the comfort in our Lord Jesus Christ. And
exactly what I have told you, who He is, what He's done, and
what He's doing right now. Comfort your hearts. Establish
you. He's the one who establishes
you. He's the one who strengthens you in every good word and work. It is Christ and His works that
establishes us, strengthens us in our weaknesses as we go through
this world. Verse 1 of chapter 3. Finally, brethren, pray for
us. Pray that our Lord will continue
to have men who will stand before the people and declare the gospel
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Pray that our Lord Jesus will
continue to have men go out and preach the gospel of Christ and
Him crucified. That the word of the Lord may
have free course and be glorified even as it is with you. What do I have in common with
all you folks? We glorify the Word of the Lord.
How do we glorify the Word of the Lord? We declare Him as God
Almighty. I know you feel that way. You
tell me that. Not only do you tell me, you show up on Sundays
and Friday nights to hear it declared there. It's not something
we just do once and then, okay, we're Christians now, we walk
away, we go about doing our thing. It's something we do all the
time. Over and over again until the day the Lord takes my last
breath. I'm going to declare, whoever will listen to me, Christ
is God. One of the things that was the
biggest stumbling block for Kathy before the Lord called her out
of darkness, and the same thing for this young lady that wants
to be the wife of Bill, is that they don't believe in the Trinity.
How can God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost be
one? I don't know. But the Lord says
it's so. Our Lord Jesus Christ walked
this earth and he said, when you see me, you see the Father. In John 1 he says, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and the Word was manifest in the flesh. I and my Father are one. How is the Lord glorified in
you? Turn over to Psalms 126, please. This is our subject this morning.
Our subject is the word of the Lord glorified. Proclaiming God's word and the
word of truth without interpretation from men is glorifying to the
Lord. Are you with me in Psalms 126?
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like
them that dream. This was our mouth, filled with
laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. What has
the Lord done for you? He saved me from my sins. He's
loved me from before the world was. What has the Lord done for
you? He's turned me aside from the
sin that I once walked in. And He has made me walk in the
light of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What has the Lord done for you?
He's taken the old stony heart that says, I will be my God. And He's given me a heart that
says, this is my Lord. This is my King. This is my Savior. My God, Jesus Christ, the Lord. There's no glory in that for
me. There's no glory in that for what I have done. There's
no glory in it at all for men. It's all glorifying the Lord. If it's not glorifying Him, then
it's not the Word of God. And if you're standing before
or sitting before a preacher, and he's not glorifying the Lord,
you need to get up and run. The Lord hath done great things,
verse 3, for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again our captivity, O Lord,
as the streams of the south. They that sow in tears shall
reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth
bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again and rejoicing bring
the sheaves with him. We go about bringing the sheaves. telling people when they will
hear us what God has done for us. The glory lies in what He has
done, not in what we are doing. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. How is the Word of God glorified
in you? The same as it is with all the
saints of God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! What a Savior! I don't deserve
it, but He has saved me." That's glorifying the word of
the Lord. Not a single I in that phrase. It's all about Him. But
glory be to Jesus for His great love for us, proclaiming His
gospel gives Him all the glory and glory to His name. Would
you stand with me please and turn to page