Okay, this will be the last message
in the Glorifying God series. Next week, Brother Matt will
be doing Sunday School and then February we'll start a whole
new series in Sunday School starting in February. But this will be
the last message in the Glorifying God series. And it's called,
In All Things Glorify God. In All Things Glorify God. Turn,
if you would, to 1 Corinthians 10.31. 1 Corinthians 10.31. 1
Corinthians 10.31. Whether therefore ye eat or drink,
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Whether therefore you eat or
drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now
throughout this study, we've had our eyes upon what it is
to glorify God. What it is to glorify God. And
we've learned about what it is to glorify God. We've learned
how we can glorify God in our lives, and how we can seek to
aim to glorify God in our lives. And we'll finish off this study
with that in mind. Some ways which we can glorify
God in our lives. And it's been good for us to
examine ourselves in this way, because we should always seek
as believers His glory and His honor, His praise, because it's
natural for us, it's natural for us in our fleshy state of
how we were before. I know this was true for me before
the Lord saved me. And it's a struggle even afterwards
that we seek glory, don't we? It's natural. It's so ingrained
in the human flesh that this is also why you see
books like Colossians where it's exalting the preeminence of Christ.
The danger for folks is the preeminence, and we don't want the preeminence.
We want Christ to have the preeminence. He must get it all. He must get
it all. So the question has been, what
is the chief end of men? Why are we here as believers?
To glorify God. And to enjoy Him forever. And
we will enjoy Him forever when we're in glory. But we're here
to glorify God. And we do it when we tell others
of what He's done for us. What the great things He's done
for us. See, as I've said many times, witnessing, you know,
folks get all wrapped up in what is witnessing. Witnessing is
just telling people what God's done for you. what he's done,
because we can't do anything. But what he's done for us, he
saved me, he's redeemed me. He paid for my sins that I could
never pay for. And in doing that, we glorify
God, we glorify him. So Paul tells us here by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of
God. So think on this, beloved, when
we look at creation and we see all that he did, All that he
did by the word of his power, all that he did by his mighty
hand, the fact that he just spoke it into existence, it fills us
with awe. And what do we do? We glorify
it, don't we? We say, Lord, look what you've
done. This is marvelous. When we consider our salvation,
when we consider our redemption, when we consider the cost of
it, The fact that he left heaven
to redeem my soul. The holy God incarnate in the
flesh. And when we ponder how it was
purposed and planned by God in eternity to be so, it fills us
with awe. And what do we do? We glorify
God. We glorify God for his greatness,
for his goodness towards us. When we consider, when we consider
that, and this is a fact, when we consider that we are clothed
in his righteousness, knowing that when we're born into this
world and knowing that our striving and our laboring through our
lives is like filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord, right?
To gain merit and favor with God. I was there, striving. And to find out that all that
was filthy rags. And to find out now, that as
a believer, I'm clothed in His perfect righteousness. It fills
us with awe. And what do we do? We glorify
God. We give Him all the glory. When
we consider the mercy that God has had upon us, that we receive
mercy instead of wrath in Christ. When we consider the grace that
He's shown us by giving us faith and repentance, what happens? We glorify God,
don't we? We give Him all the praise. When
we consider that through an operation of God, the Holy Spirit, we're
born again, Something that we could never do on our own. It fills us with awe that he
would have mercy and show grace to dead sinners, spiritually
dead sinners, and make us alive by the regenerating power of
the Holy Spirit of God. And then we flee to Christ and
it's all God's working in us. What happens? We do that which
we never did before. We glorify God. We give Him all
the praise and we give Him all the glory for what He has done
in us. It's His work. He's the Alpha
and He's the Omega and we give Him all the glory. So let's look
at a few more points in closing out this study on glorifying
God. How do we glorify God in our
lives? How do we aim to glorify God in our lives? Well, we glorify
God by being zealous for his name. By being zealous for his
name. We see in Numbers 25 11, Phinehas
had turned away my wrath while he was zealous for my sake. Now,
Phinehas was a zealous, was zealous for the name of God. Zealous
for the name of God, zeal is a mixed emotion of love and anger.
Our love for Christ, for God causes us to be angry intensely
with sin. More in ourselves than anywhere
else, but we don't you hate sin? I hate my sin. I hate the fact
that I'm a sinner. I remember what Donnie said when
someone said to him, you all think that you're holier than
now. And he says, I hate sin more. You know, he goes, he goes,
I hate sin. I hate I hate committing it.
And I and I hate the fact that it nailed Christ to the cross.
Oh, my. And it was our sin that did that.
He's sinless. He's perfect. He's spotless.
But our love for Christ, for God, causes us to be angry intensely
with sin, our own sin more than others. And zeal is impatient
of God's dishonor. A Christian fired with zeal takes
a dishonor done to God worse than an injury done to himself. Do you find yourself cringing
when you hear someone using the Lord's name in vain? I never
used to do that. I was one who used to use that
name. Now you cringe when you hear it. And it makes you zealous. An illustration of this is what
our Lord told the Ephesian church in Revelation. Turn if you would
to Revelation chapter 2 verses 2 and 3. And then put your finger
in John chapter 2 verses 13 to 17. Revelation 2, verses 2 and 3. Our Lord told the Ephesian church
in Revelation, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience,
and how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast
tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast
found them liars. and has borne and has patience
for my name's sake, has labored and has not fainted." And here's
a picture, a picture of zeal for God's name. And then turn,
if you would, over to John chapter 2. Our Savior glorified God the
Father when He drove the money changers out of the temple. Remember
that? He drove them out. Look at this, John chapter 2,
verses 13 to 17. And the Jews Passover was at
hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money
sitting. Now, this is supposed to be the
temple of God where God's worshipped. And they're buying and selling
and trading. When he had made a scourge of
small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep
and the oxen poured out the changers' money and overthrew their tables.
He threw their tables, and said unto them, That soul
does take these things hence. Make not my father's house a
house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered
that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten thee
up. Oh, he was zealous for God's name. Our next point to consider is
we glorify God when we have our have an eye to God and being
temperate in our natural and civil lives in our natural affections. Turn back to our text in first
Corinthians 10 31 in our natural affections and eating and drinking.
We see this in our text. Look at this. Whether therefore you eat or
drink or whatsoever, you do do all to the glory of God. So in
our buying and selling and all that we do, we're to do it to
the glory of God. And remember, when you're purchasing
things, it's God who's given you the ability to do that. He's
provided for you. Everything. Everything. And the wicked are not so, they
do not do things to the glory of God. They live unjust. By unjust gain, by falsifying
the balances. Turn, if you would, to Hosea
12, 7. So we are to do all things in buying and selling. We do
it to the glory of God. But the wicked are not so. Look
at Hosea 12, 7. They use the balances of deceit,
beloved. Look at Hosea 12, 7. They don't
even care about God and His glory. And I remember, because I was
there. Look at this, Hosea 12, 7. He
is a merchant. The balances of deceit are in
his hand. He loveth to oppress. Thomas Watson comments on this
verse. The balances of deceit are in his hands. And thus, while
men make their weights lighter, they make their sins heavier. When by extracting more than
the commodity is worth, they do not for 80 write down 50,
but for 50, 80. They're ripping people off. They're extorting people when
they exact double the price that a thing is worth. Remember Zacchaeus?
What happened to him after the Lord saved him? He wanted to
give everything back, didn't he? Because he knew he gained
it unjustly. So we glorify God by being honest
in our dealings with folks. Turn, if you would, to Matthew
23, 25. Now, God's preachers seek to
glorify God by preaching Christ and Him alone. False preachers
seek to tell you what you have to do. We see that. It's evident. And they themselves at that time,
the same time, are full of extortion. Look at Matthew 23, 25. Our Lord
says to the scribes and Pharisees, what does he say to them? He
does not mince words. Warrant you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you make clean the outside of the cup and of
the potter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Now we live our lives seeking
to bring glory to God. for what he's done for us. We don't seek attention. We're
not to. We're to seek to glorify God
in everything we do. And remember the words of John
the Baptist. I think these are so magnificent. John chapter three, verse 30.
I think these words, this is the motto of a Christian. of a believer, he must increase,
I must decrease. He must receive all the glory
and I must, I'm down here. Why? Because he did it all. Did
we redeem our own souls? No. Christ has redeemed us. He did that which we could never
do for us. So he must increase. He must
receive all the glory and all the honor and all the praise.
But I must decrease. And the believer, we say, hallelujah,
glory be to God. We want him to be exalted. We glorify God, the third point,
by telling others what Christ, about Christ and what he's done
for us. Now this is witnessing. When you're telling someone what
Christ has done for you, you're witnessing. Thomas Watson comments, we should
be both diamonds and lodestones, magnetic rocks. Diamonds for
the reflection of grace and lodestones for the attractive virtue in
drawing others to Christ. Now we know that we don't draw
people, that the Holy Spirit has to draw them, right? But
beloved, we're living epistles. People read us every day. My little children of whom I
travail and birth again until Christ be formed in you. Turn,
if you would, to Galatians 4.19. My little children of whom I
travail. in birth again until Christ be
formed in you." A little wee small verse in Galatians chapter
4, verse 19. And note, Christ be formed in you. And this is what we proclaim,
isn't it? That it's Christ alone. He's the one. He's the one who
must redeem me. He's the one who must reject.
The Holy Spirit must regenerate me or I will never come to Christ. But when he regenerates his people. We run, don't we? We run to Christ. We run so fast. Oh, my. And then what do we proclaim?
We proclaim that salvation is in Christ alone, nowhere else. And we proclaim it to the glory
of God alone. And we desire that others would
come to Christ. And we desire to hear the gospel
of Christ proclaimed and preached, of His free and sovereign grace. And we give Him all the glory. and all the honor and all the
praise. And when we see Christ formed
in one of his lost sheep, like Paul, right here, my little children,
whom I prevail in birth again unto Christ be formed in you,
regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, born again. We give God
all the glory, don't we? We give him all the glory. When
we see God's power at work in translating one of his lost sheep,
regenerating them from the power of darkness into the kingdom
of his dear son, we glorify God. Because we know he did the same
for us. See, each time the Lord saves one of his sheep, it's
just a reminder for us of what he's done for us. And we rejoice
the lost sheep's being found. Always being one of his sheep.
They didn't know it, just like we didn't know it. Oh, but we
glorify God. And we seek to tell others, right?
When God opens the door. That's the other thing. When
I was in religion, they were always trying to kick the door
in. Wait till God opens the door. He will. And it's marvelous, you just
get to proclaim Christ. You get to proclaim Christ. And
what do we do afterwards, too? We glorify God for Him, even
open a door for us to speak about Christ. It's wonderful. He gets
all the glory. He gets all the glory. Another
point I'd like us to consider is, in glorifying God in our
lives, is we glorify God when we suffer for Him. When we suffer
for Him. And God's people, We go through
hard times. There's hills and mountaintops,
and there's valleys, isn't there? There is. Turn, if you would,
to John 21. John 21, verses 18 and 19. We glorify God when we suffer
for Him. I'll read Philippians 1, verse
27. to 30 while you're turning there. Only let your conversation
be as it become as the gospel of Christ, that whether I come
and see you or else be absent, I hear of your affairs, that
ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. Striving together, right? We're one. Here in this body,
we're one. We're striving together for the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a lost sheep, or I'm a saved
sheep just like you guys are. I'm a saved sheep just like you
guys are. We're striving together. We're
moving forward, aren't we? We're moving forward. We're moving
forward. Striving together for the faith
of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversaries.
which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation,
and that of God. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake." God's people will suffer for his sake, having the
same conflict which he saw on me, now here to be in me. Philippians chapter 1, verses
27 to 30. And then John 21, 18 and 19. "'Verily, verily, I say
unto you, When thou wast young, thou girdest
thyself, and walkest whither thou wouldest. But when thou
shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another
shall gird thee, and carry thee, whither thou wouldest. This spake
he signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when
he had spoken this, he saith unto them, Follow me, follow
me. We glorify God when we suffer
for him. It is not so much the suffering,
but the cause of the suffering that we submit to, knowing that
it comes from God. Knowing that Christ went to the
cross willingly, didn't he? He knew what he must do. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine will be done. And in Philippians chapter one,
verse 29, it says, to suffer for his sake. to suffer for his
sake. So let us remember that. Let
us also remember that when Paul is penning this epistle on the
Philippians, he's in prison. And it's not a prison like today's
prisons, not at all. And he's writing, he's writing
knowing that it's, as you put in the card for Jean-Claude,
it's for the furtherance of the gospel. It's for the furtherance
of the gospel, beloved. How many times has a dear saint
went through things and passed into glory and members of their
family are in awe who aren't saved. And sometimes the Lord
will save one of their family members after seeing what they
went through and how they endured. We know that they're one of God's
lost sheep, but still, He uses that time to bring them to Him. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 11, and I'll read Acts 16.25, which says, And at midnight
Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners
heard them. Paul was a prisoner at times
for preaching the gospel, beloved. And yet he submitted to the one
who works all things, all things out for our good and for his
glory. So remember, no matter what we
go through, and I know it's easy for us to say, but oh, it's so
true. Well, no matter what we go through,
God is never going to leave us. And it's for our good and for
his glory. for our good and His glory. And we've all went through
painful times and painful things. But we can look back and marvel
at how God has brought us through it all. Turn, if you would, to
Hebrews 11, verses 24 to 27. By faith, and remember this, God's people
glorify God when we suffer for Him. By faith, Moses, when he
was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king,
for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible, but he chose,
look at verse 25, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God. I remember when I first came
and John and I were talking, when I first arrived here last
year and John and I were talking about how we almost ought to
warn young converts that here it comes. Here it comes. You're gonna go see some things
and it's true. Because when the Lord saves us,
we go through some things, we go through some trials, because our minds are now set upon Christ.
Now we know what sin is, when we never knew what it was before,
never even thought about it. Now it's a struggle, daily. Isn't that a struggle for you
daily? Struggle for me all the time, with sin. Oh, this, as
I said, this body's my worst enemy. The Spirit's willing. The flesh is weak. Oh my. Let us remember the words of
our master too, when he said this, blessed are ye when men
shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake. And they do, don't they? They do. Rejoice. It's hard to rejoice in those
times, isn't it? But rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great
is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets,
which were before you. Matthew 5, 11 and 12. When man shall revile you and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely for my sake. Happens to every believer, doesn't
it? And sometimes, sometimes it happens
with family members. And that cuts deep. I felt that
knife. Oh, it cuts deep. And then as
I say, you realize, my family is the body of Christ. And we all go through it, don't
we? So we glorify God when we suffer
for His sake. One commentator said, many pray,
let this cup pass from me, few pray, not as not not as I will,
but I will be done. And may God give us grace and
strength to suffer for him and submit to him, to his will when
we're going through times of trouble, because he is our refuge
and he is our strength. And beloved, let us always remember
this. He's a very present help in trouble. And we all know that, too, don't
we? When we look back, I do it all the time, when we look back
and say, look at this, the Lord took me from that, he delivered
me from this. And the older we get, the more
times, the older we get in Christ, the more times we can look back
and go, look at what Christ's done for me. And then one day, when we breathe
our last breath, We'll see Him face to face. And
what will we do, beloved? We'll glorify Him. We'll glorify
Him. Oh, what a great God we have,
beloved. The next point I'd like us to look at is we glorify God
when we give God the glory of all that we do. Look at Acts
chapter 12, verses 21 to 23. And then put your finger, if
you could, into 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12. Acts chapter 12,
verse 21 to 23. We glorify God when we give God
the glory of all that we do. Look at Acts chapter 12, verses
21 to 23. And upon a set day, Herod, arrayed
in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and made an oration unto
them. And the people gave a shout saying,
it is the voice of a God and not of a man. And immediately
the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory.
And he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. And in 1 Corinthians
15.10 says this, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. See,
this is the difference right here. God's people give God all
the glory. 1 Corinthians 15.10. The believer
in Christ knows that we know that what we are, who we are,
is all due to the mercy and grace of God. And we are quick as believers
in Christ to give Him all the glory. All the glory. Look at
1 Corinthians 15.10. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Every single believer could say
this. By the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.
Now turn over to 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12. I'm going to run
out of time. We have a picture in the Old
Testament of General Joab waiting for David to come, that he might
get the victory and that he might get the glory. And we give God all the glory
for any victories in our lives, don't we? Any of them. Look at
this, 2 Samuel 12, verses 28 to 30. Now therefore gather the
rest of the people together and then camp against the city and
take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name.
And David gathered all the people together and went to Rahab and
fought against it and took it. And he took the king's crown
from off his head. The weight whereof was a talent
of gold with the precious stones. And it was set on David's head.
And he bought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.
When a believer gets a victory over sin or temptation, what
do we do? We give God all the glory. What a picture we have
before us here. And we glorify God by living
a holy life. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter
2.8. 1 Peter 2.8. And what this is is a transformed
life, beloved. A transformed life. Grace is
transforming grace. We're not the same as we used
to be. We fight and struggle with sin all the time, beloved.
All the time. I'm going to take a few extra
minutes here, beloved. Here, look at 1 Peter 2.8-10. and a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of fence, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, were unto also they were appointed. But ye are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation. We're made holy
by Christ, aren't we? A particular people, that ye
should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous life, which in times past were
not a people, but now the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. One of the early church
fathers said this, the looseness of some Christians in his time
had made many of the heathens shun their company, and they
would not be drawn to hear their sermons. What we believe, beloved,
is a heart work, isn't it? It's a heart work. God, the Holy
Spirit, does a heart work in us. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. And we seek to walk to glorify
Him and to serve Him, don't we? walk and glorify and to serve
him. Well, I pray that this study has been a blessing for us and
glorifying God and in February, as I said, we'll start a new
series. Let's go, Lord, in prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, I thank
Thee for Your goodness and mercy and grace. Thank You that we're
able to meet here together and to worship You in freedom when
so many others do not have that opportunity and we don't take
it for granted, Lord. We are thankful that you brought
us together. And oh Lord, I thank you for these dear saints and
for their love of the gospel and for you working and moving
in their lives. And we seek to give you all the
glory in what we do, Lord, in this place and in our homes and
in our lives. And we love you and praise you
in Jesus' name. Amen.