Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to
follow along in the scriptures, I'm going to pick up from where
I left off last week with the subject to glory in the Lord. This is part two, and I'll finish
up this today. But if you didn't hear last week's
message, I urge you to get it. You can order it or get it off
of our website at reignofgrace.org. Talking about Jeremiah 9, this
was my text last week and I'll just re-read it and make some
comments. What we're trying to understand is what does it mean
to glory in the Lord? Where is the glory of God? What
is the glory of God? I dealt with a lot of that last
week. And the glory of God is basically
the revelation of God's nature, His character, who God is. That
which sets God apart from anyone or anything else. There's no
other gods like Him. There's one God, the scripture
says. And that glory of God is revealed
in what God reveals of Himself in His Word. Whatever this book
says about God, that's His glory. And it's true. And there's so
many people today who call themselves Christian, who denies these aspects
of the glory of God that he reveals here. For example, his sovereignty. Very few people today understand
the sovereignty of God. God is a God who works all things
after the counsel of his own will. And then his revelation
of himself in the gospel as both a just God and a savior. Yes,
God is a loving God and His love is His glory, but not at the
expense of His justice. God is a merciful God. His mercy
is His glory, but not at the expense of His truth. He must
be true to Himself. He must punish sinners to whom
sin is imputed. That's why it's the glory of
God to find a way that His people can stand before Him, not having
their sins charged to them. And do it in a just way, a righteous
way, a truthful way. And of course, that's found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God is a gracious God, but not
at the expense of His righteousness. And so Jeremiah, he writes here,
he said in his prophecy, look at verse 23, let's reread this.
Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich
man glory in his riches, but him that glorieth. Glory in this. Now, remember what glory is like,
to glory in something is like boast in it. That's something
you place your confidence in. Let him that gloryeth, glory
in this, and listen to it, that he understandeth and knoweth
me. Now, how you gonna understand and know God? Somebody says,
well, we can't understand God. No, we cannot understand the
fullness and the depth and the height and the breadth of God's
glory, but we can understand what God teaches us. That's what
the Bible says. The Son of God hath come and
given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true.
Now the natural man won't receive the things of the Spirit of God.
He can't know them, he can't understand them because they're
spiritually discerned. But when God reveals Himself,
and how does God do that? He reveals Himself in His Word
and He reveals Himself in the person and work of Christ. And
so we can understand what God teaches us. If God says that
he's a sovereign God who chose a people before the foundation
of the world in Christ to save, well, that's his glory. Now for
me to deny that is not, I'm certainly not glorifying God. You know,
most people today, their gospel goes something like this, that
God loves everybody, Christ died for everybody, now you make the
decision. Well, that's not what this book
says about God. No, sir. When it says, for God
so loved the world, it's not talking about everybody without
exception. It's talking about believers there. Those who God
brings to faith in Christ, because Christ has done what was required,
met every condition for their salvation. So he says, let him
that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord, And the word Lord there, the title Lord
is the God of salvation, which exercises loving kindness, judgment,
righteousness in the earth. Now, how does he do that? Through
Christ, the salvation of sinners by his grace through Christ in
the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. And then last week I dealt with
this verse here over In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, where the apostle,
when he's talking about his glory, and he says in verse 6, this
is 2 Corinthians 4, verse 6, for God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, now that's the God of creation. And
so what we see there is that God's glory is the revelation
of Himself in His attributes, who He is, but also in what He
does. If God does a work, it is a work
that glorifies Himself. And certainly, we see the glory
of God in the creation of the universe, the creation of the
world. In beginning, God created the world, created the earth.
And that was God's work and it was God's great work. And we
see his glory, we see his wisdom, his power. We see all of that. But he says, the same God who
created the world, he says, for God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. Now what is this
shining in the heart? What is the heart? It's the mind,
the affection, the will. And in whose heart has God shined
to give the knowledge, he says, to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? Now, in whose
heart has God shined forth to give that knowledge of Christ?
In the heart of His chosen people, His redeemed people, His church.
In the heart of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. My
friend, if you are in unbelief today, and you remain in unbelief
unto death, the glory of God did not shine forth in your heart. That's the key. The shining forth
in the heart, that's the light, the truth, the revelation of
God given to those who are born again by the Spirit. Christ said,
you remember, you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom,
you cannot understand the kingdom of God and enter it. Well, when
you're born again by the Spirit, born from above, He gives you
a new heart. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
6, you were servants of sin, you were unbelievers, but you
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered
you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants
of righteousness. And so that's what he's talking
about here. Now here's what he's saying.
It is in the person and finished work of Christ that God glorifies
him in the highest. Remember when Christ was born
and the angel came up and said glory to God in the highest? In this person, God in human
flesh without sin, God would be glorified in the highest way,
even more so than in creation, even more so than in providence.
And so that's the glory of God. It's in the person and work of
Christ. That's summarized in the phrase, the righteousness
of God. For the gospel's the power of
God and the salvation to everyone that believe it. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. What is the righteousness of
God? It's his glory in the salvation of his people by his grace through
the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the surety,
the substitute, the redeemer of his people. On that cross,
God glorified Himself in the highest because it was there
that Christ stood as surety of His people. That is, having the
sins of God's chosen people imputed charge to Him, it was on that
cross that Christ took their place. You see, He bore the iniquities
of His people. They were imputed, charged, accounted
to Him. The sin debt was laid to His
account, and it was on that cross that He paid the debt in full
with the price of His blood. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
from all sin. And it was on that cross in His
death that He established a righteousness, a perfection, Justice. That by which God could justify
sinners like me and like His people. Without denying or ignoring
any of His attributes. He's both a just God and a Savior. That's His glory. Now the Bible
says in Romans 3 and verse 23, that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now what is the glory of God?
It's the person and work of Christ. And what that verse means in
Romans 3.23 is that no matter how much we try, no matter how
good or righteous we try to be, we come short of the glory of
God that can only be found in Christ. You see, the glory of
God is in the perfection of righteousness that can only be found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so if we come to God expecting
Him to save us or bless us or accept us based on anything other
than Christ's righteousness imputed, charged, accounted to us. The
work of Christ, the merit of Christ, imputed, charged, accounted
to us. We're not glorifying God, we're
boasting in something else. Now let me show you what I mean
by that. Now, a lot of people would say something like this.
Well, to give glory to God means to give God credit. Just give God credit for whatever
it is that we're giving Him credit for. Well, what we have to understand,
and this is what, we have to, understanding God, how God reveals
Himself, you may be giving God credit for something He doesn't
want credit for. And let me show you two examples
of that in Scripture. The first one is in Matthew chapter
seven. And it begins at verse 21. This
is the closing words of the Sermon on the Mount. And it says here
in Matthew 7, 21, the Lord Himself speaking. He says, not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, or praise the Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. Now understand, the will of the
Father which is in heaven is to believe on the Son, the scripture
says. To plead his blood, plead his
righteousness. Verse 22. Many will say to me
that in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied, preached
in your name, in thy name? Now whatever these fellows are
saying, they say, we didn't do it in our name, we're doing it
in your name, Lord. And somebody might say, well,
they didn't really mean it. Well, you don't know that. That's
not what the point is. The context bears this out. They
were giving credit to him for their preaching. They say in
verse 22, and in thy name have cast out devils. We did it in
the name of the Lord. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. Now, remember back up in verse
21? He says, or verse 22, he says, many will say to me in
that day. What day is he talking about?
He's talking about the day of judgment. The day of judgment. Now, Many will stand before Christ
in the day of judgment, and they'll say, Lord, Lord, haven't we done
this in your name? And he'll say to them, in verse
23, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart
from me, ye that work iniquity. Now, what does all that mean?
You say, well, they weren't sincere enough, or they didn't really
mean it. First of all, they were sincere, and they did mean it.
And there's nothing in the context that would lead you to believe
that. But let me ask you this question. When you stand before
the Lord at judgment, are you gonna plead your sincerity? Are
you gonna say, well, Lord, I really meant it? No. Well, if you do,
you'll hear the same words. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. I never knew you. What was the
problem? They claim to be giving Him credit
for everything. They claim to be glorying in
the Lord, but they weren't, because they were pleading what they
thought God had enabled them to do as the ground of their
salvation. Here they are standing at judgment.
Think about this. What is the standard by which
God will judge in the day of judgment? Now remember over in
Jeremiah 23 and 24, he talked about glory in this, that they
understand me. And let's read it again, just
to make sure that we get this thing, get this correct. In Jeremiah
9 and verse 23, he said, that they understand and knoweth,
understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise
loving kindness. Yes, there is love in God, but
judgment also and righteousness. Now, what is the standard of
judgment? Well, Acts 1731 says it plainly. There are all kinds
of verses that state this, but one of them is Acts 1731. And
it says this, that God, there's coming a day in which God will
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained
in that he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath
raised him from the dead. The standard of judgment in the
day of judgment is the perfection of righteousness that can only
be found in Christ. And so when you look at passages
like Matthew 7, and here these fellows are saying, Lord, verse
22, haven't we not prophesied in thy name? Now right now as
I sit here before you, I am preaching in the name of the Lord. That's
what I'm doing. Now, I've never cast out devils,
but they did. They said, we've cast out devils
in your name. We've done many wonderful works
in your name. Now, here's my question. Did
their preaching and they're casting out devils and their many wonderful
works, did that equal the perfection of righteousness that Christ
established in His obedience unto death on the cross? And
the answer is no, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. The word sin there in Romans 3.23 means to miss
the mark. You've come short of the glory
of God. all have sin and come short.
He said, you that work iniquity. What does it mean to work iniquity?
It means to come short. It means that your works don't
measure up. You see, here's what I'm saying,
folks. Nothing that we do, nothing that I do, Nothing that God enables
me to do. Now, and listen, when you read
the Bible and you talk about believers and unbelievers, God
enables His people to do many wonderful, miraculous things. Number one, He enables us to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a miracle. He enables
us to repent. He enables us to persevere. But
those things are not my righteousness before God. My only righteousness
before Holy God is Christ's righteousness imputed to me. And when I stand
before God in the day of judgment, I'm not gonna say, well, Lord,
I preached on television for years. I pastored a church. I helped people. And I thank
you for it. I gave you the credit. No, I'm
gonna plead Christ, His blood. What can wash away my sins? Christ's
blood in my preaching? No, nothing but the blood of
Jesus. And that's the same thing as His righteousness. His perfect
satisfaction to the justice of God. So the glory in the Lord
is to come before Him as a sinner, pleading, begging for mercy based
upon the one righteousness that was accomplished by my substitute,
my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer on that cross. Let me show you
another example. of somebody who was giving credit
to God for something God didn't want credit for. And it's in
the book of Luke chapter 18. This is the parable that the
Lord spoke of the Pharisee and the publican. And it says in
verse nine of Luke 18, it says, he spoke this parable unto certain
or certain people, which trusted in themselves that they were
righteous and despised others. Now, when it talks about being
righteous, there's talking about a person who claims to be saved
and despising others, they're talking about others who are
not saved. And then he gives this parable, verse 10. Two men
went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other
a publican. Now listen very carefully, verse
11. The Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself or by himself, God, I thank thee. Now, what's he doing here? He's
thanking the Lord. He's giving credit to God. God,
I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. And he says in
verse 12, I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that
I possess. I thank thee, God, that I do
this. I'm giving credit to God. But then in verse 13, here's
the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. And Christ says in verse 14,
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. This
publican, this infamous sinner, went down to his house justified. What does it mean to be justified?
It means to be forgiven of all my sins. It means that God does
not charge me with my sin. He doesn't impute sin to me.
Bible says that who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. The blessedness of the man to
whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. That's what it
is to be justified, made right with God, accepted, righteous
in God's sight. And he said, this man, this publican,
went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone
that exalteth himself shall be obeyed, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Now here's the Pharisee. He says,
I thank God that I am what I am. I'm not like this publican, and
here's what I do. God has enabled me to do that.
What was wrong with that? You know, we've often made the
statement that, I think it was one of the pilgrims, who was
watching an infamous sinner hang. He was caught stealing or doing
something, or maybe he was a murderer. And under the justice of the
law, they were hanging the man. And I believe it was this pilgrim.
I can't remember which one. He looked at that man being hung
by the neck until death. And he said, there but for the
grace of God go I. And you know, in essence, that's
the same as saying, I thank God I'm not like him. I could be
like him. You know, if every true believer understands his
sinfulness to a point to know that I'm a sinner, I'm a sinner
saved by grace. And if God were to remove His
grace from me, I would be damned forever. If God were to judge
me based upon my best efforts to please Him, I would be damned
forever. I come short in every way. I
have one hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
I thank God that I'm not out here as a murderer, committing
the actual act of murder, that I'm not out here as a drug pusher.
I thank God, but that's not my righteousness before God. That's the grace of God, that's
the blessings of God, that's the power of God in me. But it's
not my righteousness. What is, who is? Christ is my
righteousness. And that's what the publican,
when he said, God be merciful to me, that's what he essentially
is saying. That word be merciful there, in the original, it would
be translated this way. It would be, Lord be propitious. What is a propitiation? It's
a justice-satisfying substitute who brings forth righteousness
that demands my salvation. And so the publican is asking
God to be merciful to him based upon justice satisfied in the
mercy seat, who is Christ. And that's what it is to give
glory to the Lord. So I hope you see that. Well,
look at Galatians 6. I mentioned this verse last week,
and I wanted to come back to it in closing here. This is Galatians
6 and verse 14. The apostle Paul makes this statement. But God forbid that I should
glory, that I should boast. What is it to glory in the Lord?
It's to come before Him as a sinner, like that publican, saying, God,
be merciful to me, the sinner. Have mercy upon me. I don't have
anything to recommend me unto you. I plead the blood of my
Savior. I plead the righteousness of
Christ, His righteousness imputed, a righteousness that I had no
part in producing. And so Paul writes, God forbid
that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's why He said, I strive
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
This is the person and work of Christ. My hope is not in who
I am or what I've become. It's not in anything that I've
done to improve myself. It's not even in my decision.
My hope is in the person and the finished work of Christ.
the righteousness of God. And he says, by whom the world
is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. My relationship with
the world is now different. Why? Because I glory in one thing,
the cross. I don't glory in my religion.
I don't glory in my church attendance. I don't glory in my baptism.
I don't glory in my decision. I glory in Christ. I'm in a different
relationship with the world. They look upon me as cursed and
I look upon them as cursed. The only thing that matters here
is what is my righteousness before God? It's Christ. And out of
that righteousness, I stand justified before God, forgiven of all my
sins, sin not imputed to me. And out of that righteousness,
I have life from God, the Holy Spirit, giving me a new heart.
That's what it is to glory in the Lord. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.