The Lord will say, well done, and I shall enter into rest. Do you reckon that's really so? The Lord will say to you, well
done. Now do you reckon that's really
so? Indeed it is, if you're his. That's the glory that awaits
us. Psalm 84. Psalm 84. When you think about death and
immortality and heaven and hell and eternity, I'm sure there
are many questions that pop up in your minds, some which almost
defy belief. When a person dies without Christ,
does he go to hell? And will he then be raised up
to judgment and be cast into hell again? When a person dies
in Christ, does he go immediately to heaven? In what state do the
believers exist, God's saints, in heavenly glory between death
and the resurrection? When we come again with our Lord,
will we then be taken back to heaven? What will be the state
of God's saints in eternity? How will we live? How will we
serve our God? What will the resurrection body
be like? What's the judgment? Will there
be a judgment immediately after death, and then the great white
throne judgment. What do the scriptures teach
concerning these things? Some of those questions are not
answered distinctly in the scriptures, but most are. And over the next
few weeks, I want to try to address some of those questions, all
of those questions, and answer them for you from the word of
God. Here in Psalm 84, David is in trouble. He's been in exile,
away from the house of God, the city of God, and the worship
of God for some time. He's in the middle of a battle,
in the middle of great trouble. The psalm is described by some
as a marching psalm. And in the 11th verse, God's
pilgrims are inspired in their march through this world with
these words of promise. Just look at this one sentence
in the middle of verse 11. The Lord will give grace and
glory. The Lord will give grace and
glory. Grace and glory. That's my subject. Grace and
glory. That's the two points of my sermon.
The Lord will give grace and glory. What a statement. What a promise. Like all the
promises of God, read it as broadly, as fully as your mind's imagination
can possibly take it. And understand that when you
have understood the utmost breadth of your own knowledge, you haven't
come close to grasping the fullness of the promise. The Lord will
give grace and glory. This is the Lord's gift. The
Lord, Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will give, give, give. This is not something merited
by you, not something won by you, not something earned by
you, not something deserved by you. The Lord Jehovah, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost will give grace and to all to whom he gives
grace, he will give glory. The two gifts are inseparable. If God gives grace, God gives
glory. And wherever God gives grace,
God gives glory. So we're taking immediately in
this text off the footing of works, off the footing of merit,
and placed upon the footing of free grace. Everything you get
from God except hell. Everything you get from God except
hell, you get by grace. Hell you get by merit. Everything
you get from God, except judgment and wrath and condemnation, you
get by grace. Judgment, wrath, and condemnation,
you fully earn. There are no degrees of glory,
for glory is altogether by grace. There are great degrees of hell,
because hell is earned by your merit. Greater condemnation is
given to those who sin against greater light. But the Lord gives
grace and glory. These are inseparable. In fact,
they're really the same thing. Grace is glory begun. Glory is grace consummated. The Lord will give grace. That's the first thing. What
a tremendous declaration. What a promise. How I love that
word grace, don't you? Oh, to grace, how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee. Grace. Grace. God gives grace. He says, my grace is sufficient
for thee. The Lord will give grace, grace. Read the promise in the boldest
letters imaginable and rejoice. I've thought of many ways by
which to express this term, grace. Spell it out in acrostic if you
want to. Grace, that's God's work, God. Grace, righteousness. God makes people righteous by
his grace. grace Christ or atonement atonement
righteousness comes by atonement and that atonement comes by Christ
Jesus the Lord and this is God's eternal gift the Lord will give
grace by his own sovereign almighty effectual will God bestows his
grace upon his people now I think perhaps the Best way, usually,
to handle any subject where there's a lot of questions is simply
to raise questions and answer them. Let me do that with regard
to grace and glory. To whom will the Lord give grace? We know he will give grace. It
is asserted plainly in scripture. Someone is going to get grace
from God. Someone is going to get grace
from God. Who? The Lord God gives grace
to whom he will. Mark just read it for us in Exodus
33. He says, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. The
Lord God gives grace to his elect, to all of his elect, and only
to his elect. You mean, Brother Don, God doesn't
give grace to everybody? Of course not. Now, of course
not. Everybody doesn't have grace.
If everybody had grace, everybody would be saved. God gives grace
to his elect. You have not chosen me, our Savior
said, but I have chosen you and called you and ordained you.
The Lord God gives us grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Moses found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. I have found grace in the eyes
of God because God found me by his grace as the object of his
grace. He says it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Hold your hands here in Psalm 84 and turn over to Matthew 11.
Look at our Lord's words. Grace belongs to God. It is God's
sovereign prerogative to give it to whom he will. He owes it
to no one. And there are some among the
fallen sons of Adam to whom God has chosen to be gracious, whom
God has chosen to be the recipients of his grace. And not one of
those chosen ones, not one of God's elect, not one of those
loved of God from everlasting shall be without grace. Every
vessel of mercy shall be filled with mercy. Look here Matthew
11 and verse 25 the Lord Jesus speaks and says Jesus answered
and said I thank thee Oh Father Lord of heaven and earth and
watch what it says Because thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent and has revealed them unto babes God hides his
grace from some and reveals his grace to others and God will
not allow some to see, and he causes others to see. If you
see, it's because God gave you eyes to see. If you hear, it's
because God gave you ears to hear. If Christ is revealed in
you, it's because God revealed him in you. I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Babes. The Lord Jesus took the
little children and set them on the lap and said, except you
become as a little child, you can't enter the kingdom of heaven.
Babes. Babes are totally dependent. Babes are ignorant. Babes are
helpless. Babes must be given everything,
provided everything. They can provide nothing for
himself. That's the kind of people to whom God reveals his goodness.
Poor, helpless, ignorant, defenseless babes. Thou hast revealed them
unto babes. Now watch this, verse 26. How
come God hides the truth from some and reveals it to others?
How come God gives some light and keeps others in darkness?
How come God makes his word a snare and a gin and a trap, a stumbling
stone by which some stumble into hell and makes his word light
and life to others? Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Somebody says, explain the election
to me. All right. It pleases God. It's just that
simple. It pleases God. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. Why did God choose Jacob
and hate Esau? Why did God choose you and cast
off another? Because it pleased God to do
so. But he don't. Even so, Father,
for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son, but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. To whom does God give grace?
To all his elect. The Lord God of heaven, just
and true, righteous and holy, will give grace to every sinner
redeemed by the precious blood of his darling son. Now I keep
coming back to this matter of limited atonement. effectual
particular redemption, because this is the crucial issue of
the gospel of God's grace. Either Christ Jesus redeemed
his people, or he's a failure and there is no gospel. Either
he redeemed his people or he's a fake and a charlatan and not
to be believed and not to be trusted. The crucial issue of
the gospel is redemption by Jesus Christ. And that means that every
sinner for whom Jesus Christ laid down his life at Calvary
shall assuredly be the recipient of God's grace in time. There's
no possibility that any sinner for whom Christ died shall not
obtain grace. All for whom Christ died, those
redeemed by his blood, have the grace of forgiveness, of complete
reconciliation, of free justification, of perfect righteousness, of
eternal sanctification, and eternal life in him. He says concerning
his people, Other sheep I have, them also I must beg, and they
shall hear my voice, and they shall be one fold and one shepherd. The Lord Jesus gives grace to
his elect. We preach the gospel to men everywhere. We preach the gospel to men and
women indiscriminately. I go wherever God opens a door
and preach the gospel of God's grace. You send me wherever the
Lord opens a way for us to go with the gospel. We send the
gospel out of this place both by audio recordings and video
recordings and missionaries and carry the gospel wherever we
can to people all over the world. So if you believe in election,
why do you do that? Because we believe in election.
Because God has a people whom he will save, and he will save
them by the preaching of the gospel. Now, we don't know who
they are. Don't have any idea who they
are. Can't identify them. Somebody says, well, I believe
he's one of God's elect. I'll believe it when he believes.
When he believes. We can't know who they are until
they believe on the Lord Jesus. So we preach the gospel to all
with this confident assurance. Every sinner for whom Jesus Christ
died shall be saved by his grace. for he shall see of the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
The Lord will give grace to every sinner then chosen of him in
election and redeemed by his precious son, his darling son's
precious blood at Calvary. And the Lord will give grace
to every sinner who trusts him. The Lord will give grace to every
sinner who trusts his darling son. How can I say that so that you
can get what I'm talking about? If you believe on the Son of
God, the Lord will give you grace. If you believe him, he'll give
you grace. You see, faith was purchased by the blood of Christ
for his people. It is a gift of grace performed
in us by God, the Holy spirit. If you believe it's because God's
given you grace and yet you will have this promise. If you believe
God will give you grace. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But brother Don, we can't just
tell anybody to believe. We don't know who the elect are.
We tell anybody believe on the Lord Jesus. Believe on the son
of god and your faith in christ is the proof The fruit the evidence
that you have grace from god and grace shall be yours Continually
as you believe on the son of god listen to this If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the lord jesus And shalt believe in thine heart that god
hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved It's what the book says, isn't
it? Do you believe Him? Do you trust Jesus Christ, the
Lord, as your only righteousness, your only atonement, your only
acceptance with God? Do you look to Christ for everything? If so, the Lord has given you
grace, and He will give you grace. Indeed, I repeat if you believe
on the Son of God the Lord has given you grace Because that
faith that you have is the gift of his free grace by grace Are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It's the gift
of God not of works lest any man should boast the long and
short of the gospel is this if you believe on the Lord Jesus
and If you trust His precious blood for your salvation, if
you trust Him alone for acceptance with God, He will give you grace. What is this grace that God promises
to give? To every chosen sinner, God gives
regenerating grace. That is the new birth. He gives
the grace of life. He passes by that deserted infant
in the time of love and spreads his skirt over them. And that
sinner chosen of God, loved of God in eternity, redeemed by
Christ is made one with Jesus Christ in the experience of life
and grace bestowed upon him. The Lord gives grace. He gives
grace to all who are loved of God. At the appointed time of
love, he gives the grace of life. Oh, what a wondrous gift. God
comes to the dead and gives them life. I preach the gospel with expectancy. Not the kind of expectancy I
wish I had, but I do preach the gospel with expectancy. I expect
people to believe the gospel. Frank, when I prepare this message
coming here tonight, I expect folks here to believe the gospel.
Not only that, I expect dead sinners to be brought to life
by the gospel. I'm not surprised when God saves
folks. Why are you? He said he would. He gives life to the dead and
only he can. Churches these days need much
instruction in the gospel and in other things as well But they
got the gospel right other things be right you understand this
We can't give life to anyone We can't produce conditions by
which God will give sinners life we can't Manipulate folks psychologically. We can't manipulate folks Emotionally,
we can't manipulate folks with songs and programs so that they're
in a condition to receive life sinners are dead God gives life
and he gives life to whom he will it does it by the preaching
of the gospel Not only does he give regenerating grace? He gives
that free Justifying grace for the Bob read Romans chapter 5
back in the office We're justified freely by God's grace through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Made entirely equal to
God's law. Made entirely equal to God's
demand of perfection. Made entirely right before God. So that having perfect righteousness
in Jesus Christ the Lord, You who believe on the Son of God,
Mark Henson, do you trust Christ? If you do, you have every reason
to expect Him to say, well done. Every reason! Because our righteousness
is Christ the Lord. Do you understand that? We are
accepted of God, not by our works, but by our Savior's works, not
by what we do, but by what he has done by his blood and righteousness. He gives us sanctifying grace,
making us holy. Holy. I stress this as well. Because we all have been all
our lives bombarded with papist Religious nonsense passed on
to us through folks who should know better That's just clings
to us because we all love works and we have the idea that somehow
While we're justified by grace and regenerated by grace Sanctifying
we've got something to do with that. We got it. We've got to
do something make ourselves holy Now just what is it you think
you're going to do make yourself holy? Just what is it that you're going
to do to make yourself holy? Oh, no. Sanctification is by
grace. It is our being made new creatures
in Christ, having a new nature put in us so that we're sanctified
by the blood of Christ, by the purpose of God and by the gift
of his spirit. And the Lord will give preserving
grace, preserving grace. Folks like to talk about perseverance
as if perseverance somehow depends on us. And I know the righteous
shall hold on his way. I know that. I know that believers
continue in the faith. I'm fully aware of that. I know
that we're saved if we continue in the faith once delivered to
the saints. I'm fully aware of that. I'm fully aware of the
fact that if you depart from Christ, you never knew Christ.
They went out from us because they were not of us. I'm fully
aware of that. But our persevering in faith is determined by God's
preserving us by his grace. Our perseverance in faith is
determined by God preserving us in his grace. We're kept by
the power of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Kept by grace. Paul said to the Philippians,
I'm confident of this one thing. that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He called
me, he keeps me. He kept me yesterday, he keeps
me today. And blessed be his name, he'll
keep me tomorrow. Our security, our security is
in his hand, in his grace. We are kept by the power of God
in grace. And the Lord God, as we walk
through this world, gives us grace to direct our lives day
by day. We seek wisdom. We try to guide
our children. We want to give them proper instruction. And when they about get grown,
you realize that You didn't do much. Because most of the instruction
you give, you deny the instruction itself by
your own behavior and your own unbelief. Just fact, isn't it,
Larry? I remember Lindsey saying to
me years ago, this thing of parenting, you only get one shot at it.
Just one shot. And we all mess it up. You have and I have. Mess it
up. But I have a parent who doesn't
mess up. He directs the steps of all his
children through this world. Both before they know it and
afterward. And this is his word of instruction.
Trust in the Lord. with all thine heart and lean
not unto thine own understanding. The two things, Frank, are mutually
exclusive. You can't trust him with all your heart and lean
to your own understanding. If you if you lean to your understanding,
you don't trust him. If you trust him, you don't lead
your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart. and lean not unto thine own understanding,
in all thy ways acknowledge Him. Acknowledge Him as God, as Lord,
as Savior, as King, the Possessor of your life, He who alone always
does right. Acknowledge Him, and He shall
direct thy paths. And the Lord gives grace to comfort
as it's needed. The Holy Spirit is given to his
church as the comforter. Isn't that wonderful? The comforter. The comforter. I'll pray the
Father and he will send you another comforter in my name. He comforts
us by showing us our need of Christ and by showing us that
Christ is ours. He comforts us by showing us
our sin and showing us that Christ put it away. He comforts us by
showing us our need of righteousness and declaring to us that righteousness
is ours. He comforts us by showing us
that judgment is over. And he comforts us by taking
the things of Christ continually and applying them to us. How
comforting it is for God's saints in the midst of their unbelief,
coldness, indifference, sin, and failure. How comforting it is for the
Spirit of God to speak peace, assuring us that faith in Christ,
faith in Christ, is the assurance of all grace. When you feel it,
it's good, and when you don't feel it, it's still the same
grace and it's still good. When you feel close to God, that's
wonderful. And when you feel so far off
from God that you can't even look up and see light, still
Christ is mine and God assures me as such by grace. Then we
walk by faith. We walk by faith, trusting Christ
in the teeth of sin. In the teeth of indifference,
in the teeth of our horrible iniquity, we trust him. And he
gives comfort to his own. And when we're fallen, he revives
and uplifts the poor, the humble. He revives by his spirit and
he gives grace sufficient. My grace is sufficient for thee. I've proved it so, haven't you?
My grace is sufficient for thee. I've been through a few difficulties. His grace has been sufficient.
I've met a few obstacles along the way. His grace has been sufficient. I've experienced some horrible
falls. His grace has been sufficient.
His grace sufficient to meet every need for his people in
every circumstance. To preserve, to keep from falling,
and to restore when fallen. His grace is sufficient to keep
you and to make you his own forever in Christ Jesus the Lord. He
giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more
strength when the labors increase. To add to affliction, he addeth
his mercy. To multiply trials is multiplied
peace. The Lord will give grace. And I'll tell you when he'll
give it. When you need it. When you need it. A lady came
to Spurgeon one time and said to him, I'm greatly troubled."
And he said, why? She said, I'm afraid I don't
have dying grace. He said, oh sister, are you dying?
She said, well, no, I'm, I'm feeling fine, but I just, I'm
fearful because I don't have dying grace. He said, well, when
you need it, you'll have it. The Lord gives grace as you need
it, as you need it. Is there a sinner here who needs
grace? Let us, therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need. Are you, my brother, my sister,
in need of grace? Well, no. Don't expect any then.
Don't expect it. But as you need it, you'll find
it in abundant supply. You see, the Lord gives grace
readily, and he gives grace constantly to all his own. At home and abroad,
on the land, on the sea, as thy days shall demand, shall thy
strength ever be. Who is it that gives grace? It
is the Lord. He will give grace. All right,
look at the text again. The Lord will give grace and
glory. I would suggest you underline,
circle, and star that word and. It's more precious than gold. Here is a word that connects
and rivets together grace and glory. The Lord will give grace
and glory. That means that God's grace is
indestructible, and God's grace ends in glory. That means if
we have grace, we shall have glory too. God will not give
one without the other. That means that as grace is the
gift of God, glory is the gift of God. Nothing earned by you,
nothing by me. Now what is the glory that God
gives? What is the glory God gives?
This I know, I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered
into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them
that love him. I sometimes have wonderful, wonderful,
wonderful, anticipations of the glory that awaits us. As I think
about it in the light of Holy Scripture, the concept of heavenly glory
just expands and expands and expands and expands and expands. It never contracts. It never
shrinks. It just gets bigger all the time.
And Paul says, I have not seen, an ear has not heard, and it's
never yet entered into the heart of a man what God's prepared
for them that love him. Oh, that means it's infinitely
beyond your highest imagination, infinitely beyond your highest
conception. infinitely beyond what your puny
brain can get any handle on. Glory. And yet the very next
line reads like this. But God hath revealed them to
us by his spirit. For the spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. Well, what has the spirit revealed
about this glory? The glory we are to receive is
the glory of heaven. And when I said that, I said
more than I can grasp. Whatever may be meant by the
figurative language that describes heaven. And remember, the language
that describes it is figurative. Streets of gold and crowns of
gold. Gates of pearl and walls of jasper. mansions in our father's house,
palms and trees and water of life. Those things are figurative
terms. used to describe that which cannot
be adequately represented by anything literal, by anything
physical, I should say, rather than literal. They're figurative
terms to describe for us the great glory of heaven. Now, whatever
is implied by those figurative pictures we have of heaven, all
that it is, that tree of life with leaves
for the healing of the nation, that water of life, that fountain
of life, that rich, rich, rich, rich, rich city where gold is
so little thought of that you walk on it. That rich, rich,
rich city where everybody wears a crown of gold. That rich, rich,
rich bliss is indescribably beyond our comprehension. But whatever
is included in God's word describing heaven, that's God's gift. The
glory that God gives is the glory of heaven. It is the glory of
eternity. I can't think of things more
beyond my ability to comprehend than heaven and eternity. Eternity. We think in terms of
time, and we can't help it. We are creatures of time. We
talk about the endless ages of eternity. There aren't any. Eternity
is eternity. Nothing past, nothing future,
nothing except now. Eternity. Whatever awaits us
when we pass out of this world of time into God's heaven in
eternity. The glory of constant presence
with Christ. The glory of constant communion
with Christ. The glory of constant conformity
with Christ. That's eternity. And that's ours. That's ours. Moreover, the glory
God gives his saints is the glory of Christ himself. Turn back
to John 17 for a minute John chapter 17. Don't you see this?
Our Lord's great high priestly prayer He says in John 17 verse
5, I think it is let me get there And now oh father glorify thou
me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. He now has been manifestly given
glory as mediator and king, given power over all flesh to give
eternal life to as many as the father has given him. But he
says here, Alan, that this glory was given to him before the world
was. He said, this is what you gave to me in the covenant of
grace, in your purpose, in secret before the world was. Now show
it to everybody. Make everybody know I'm Lord.
Skip down to verse 22 verse 22 and the glory which thou gavest
me I Have given them All the glory all the glory that
Jesus Christ the God-man mediator possesses by right as our obedient
substitute he gives to his people completely so that whatever the glory is
he enjoys now whatever the glory is he possesses now by right
as Jehovah's obedient righteous servant That glory we shall possess
with Him in the experience of heavenly bliss. That glory He
has given us already. It's the inheritance we have
obtained in Jesus Christ the Lord. The inheritance we shall
enjoy forever. Whatever that glory is that Christ
has as the reward of His perfect obedience, we have as one with
Him. What's the glory he's talking
about? The Lord will give grace and
glory. It's the glory of total victory. We're more than conquerors through
Christ our Lord. Look at Romans chapter eight.
Romans the eighth chapter, verse 32. By the grace of God and the blood
of the lamb, We shall yet be victorious, completely victorious,
utterly triumphant over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Completely
triumphant over the world, the flesh, and the devil. That means
that we shall suffer no loss by the world, the flesh, or the
devil. but we shall only experience
great gain in triumph over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Let's see if that's what the
book teaches. Romans 8, 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these
things, watch this, we are more than conquerors, through him
that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look at chapter
16 one more time. Verse 20. and the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly. Death will do us no harm. Sin shall bring us no grief. Satan shall give us no more temptation
when the Lord gives us glory. Death will do us no harm. Sin shall bring us no more grief.
Satan shall tempt us no more when the Lord gives us glory.
The glory which the Lord gives is the glory of perfection, a
perfect nature, a perfect nature. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory. with exceeding joy. This was
the purpose of God in predestination, election, redemption, and regeneration. And God's work will not fail
to accomplish his purpose. In heaven, we will have a perfect
nature, spotless, sinless, incorruptible. Bodies without weakness, sickness,
decay, or death. Souls incapable, souls incapable
of temptation, of sin, of care, or trouble. Incapable, incapable. Oh, what
a day that shall be. Incapable of sin, or temptation,
or care, or trouble. Hearts completely free, incapable
of unbelief, sorrow, and pain. Wills in complete harmony with
God's will. Imagine that. In glory, we will
possess perfect natures, body, soul, and spirit. Holiness. Perfect holiness and the glory
promised in our text is the glory of perfect rest. I got this from
Spurgeon. I don't remember where I got
a long time ago. He said, with regard to heaven's glory and
the perpetual Sabbath, that endless Sabbath of rest that's ours in
heaven, perfect peace, perfect happiness, perfect security.
Spurgeon said this. It shall not be possible for
man to have a wish ungratified, nor a desire unfulfilled. Every power shall find ample
enjoyment without weariness. Every passion shall have full
indulgence without so much as a fear of sin. That's what you call rest. Blessed,
blessed eternal rest. The glory I'm talking about here
is the gift of God's rich, free, abundant grace. The Lord will
give glory. He will give it to us as soon
as this day of grace is done. As soon as I work here is done. No sooner and no later. I don't know how my last days
will be on this earth, and I wouldn't prescribe to God how they should
be. And I don't know how your last
days will be on this earth, and I wouldn't prescribe to God how
they should be. He has, from everlasting, ordained
the means by which we shall best serve Him to our last breath. For some, for some it will be
how preach and say amen, sit down and go to glory. That'd
be all right. That'd be fine. Or I may be reduced to a shell
of a man and somebody having to wait on me hand and foot for
years. And I wouldn't choose it. I wouldn't choose it for
the world. But if that's what God has for
me, I choose that for me and for you. By whatever means, we
best shall serve him. But should this be the end of
my day service, and you get a call tonight or in the morning and
say, Brother Don's gone, don't let it disturb you in the least. Grace will have but consummated
in glory. The Lord will give grace and
glory. Grace and glory. And when our
appointed service here is done, glory shall be begun. At the
appointed hour, purpose of God from eternity, no sooner and
no later, the Lord will give glory. The Lord will give grace
and glory. Look at one more text and I'll
quit. Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter 8. Now listen
to me, children of God. The trials and temptations, the
dark days and the pain, the afflictions and the sorrow, the pain and
the heartache, the trouble, the difficulty, the steep hills and
the deep pits of darkness, we experience in this world are
nothing nothing compared to the glory
that awaits us Romans 8 18 I reckon I reckon I reckon God teach me
so to reckon every day I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. How does the hymn writer put
it? It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. Oh, may God give
you that hope through faith in his son. Amen.