He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself
is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth." Not he that commends
himself or is commended by someone else is approved, but whom the
Lord commendeth. I'm not sure... how well taught
I am in this verse. But I do believe that I have
a little bit to say from its rich and bottomless pit to draw
from. Anytime a man gets up here and tells other men and women
about God's glory, he has to wrestle. with himself, his flesh,
because the flesh tries to take over and seek the glory and get
the glory and make a fair show of it. So I do covet your prayers
and I need your support every time I get up here. There's a
story told about an old preacher. I thought it was Bunyan. Jean-Claude
thought it was Spurgeon, but it fits anyway. He had just got done preaching
a message, and it was a good message. And
he had left the pulpit, and someone told him that that was a fine
sermon. and we ought to encourage one
another. I'm not saying that, but someone told him that that
was a fine sermon. To which he replied, I know,
Satan just told me so. This business or this task of
gospel preaching, gospel living, gospel breathing, and gospel
dying is all about and must be about the glory of God. It's His most precious truth,
and we must be certain that when we speak it, that we're not in
it, that we're not in it. He says, for not he that commendeth
himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. And he could take this candlestick
away from this place anytime. We are not irreplaceable. We're not the be-all, the end-all
of gospel preachers. He's gonna use whom he chooses,
as he chooses, in this generation and then it will be set aside.
And I have to constantly remind myself this is not my work. This is the Lord's work together. We are less than nothing and
we do not add one item to God's character or his grace or to
his son's work upon that cursed tree. The Lord of glory needs
nothing and cannot be added unto. Matter of fact, when he rode
into Jerusalem, what did he say on that donkey? He said, if I
don't get your praise, These rocks and stones, and I'm sure
they would have, they will stand up and they will shout, Hosanna
in the highest. So he, that kind of tells you
right there, you know, we're as important as rocks. He is going to be glorified when
he needs to be glorified. We need to remember this before
we start praising one another or commending one another. Now,
I'm not talking about, and I'll get to that in a minute, I'm
not talking about encouraging one another for the work's sake.
Paul says that's very important because I get discouraged often. He's not talking about that. But when I mean glory, the word
literally means to boast or to brag or to joy. in someone, to boast or to brag
or to joy in someone. Turn to Jeremiah chapter nine. And I'm just going to take this
simple, I'm just going to go right down this, this, this verse. And we'll find some illustrations
and examples in the Bible. We'll just see what happened
there. I know, and I know it's a concern
for all of us, is that this work will continue for our children's
sake. It may or may not. You know,
you think about it, if you think about it, of the generation that
we know right now, Danville, where Marvin is at and where
you guys are at now, you're the first generation. There was nobody
before you. Now, didn't somebody before you
say, boy, I pray that this will continue? I'm sure they did. So I'm seeing statistically for
what that's worth, it's one and done. However, it's not my concern. My concern is right now. because
we're not guaranteed tomorrow anyway right now. So let us be
about our Father's business. Let us be about encouraging and
helping one another. Let us be about glorifying the
Lord. Look at Jeremiah chapter 9 and
verse 23. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom. Stop right there. Well, what
else would he have to glory in? If he doesn't know the gospel,
what else would he have to glory in? He has compared himself to
other men and he ranks high among the intellects. He can order
his case before men. He has a high IQ. He's gonna
glory in his wisdom. We should not expect him to glory
in anything else but his wisdom. It's natural, it's expected from
him. And it's a natural and expected
from us. This is all he can do and we as well. Let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom until. until he sees the full and complete
wisdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ, which makes the
wisdom of men foolishness. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
eight for our first example. Exodus chapter eight. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
verse one, unto Pharaoh and say unto him, thus sayeth the Lord,
let my people go that they may serve me. And if thou refuse
to let them go, behold, I will smite all the borders with frogs
and the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall
go up. and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and
upon thy bed, and in the house of thy servants, and upon thy
people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading trolls. And the frogs shall come up both
on thee and on thy people, and upon all the servants." And look
at verse 7. And the magicians did so with
their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. This is what the Lord says that
He'll do through the hand of Moses. And the magicians matched
it. And then you go down here and
the rod. The rod became a serpent. They
said, well, we can do that. Rod became a serpent. And they
did this and the magicians did that. The wisdom, Pharaoh, the
largest and wisest of all the ancient world, Moses brought
forth frogs and so did the magicians and other things they could do.
But when it came to that wisdom of God in the institution of
his Passover, which just shows forth the glory
and majesty of God in redemption, it foretells redemption. And
it typified Christ. They couldn't do it. Let not the wise man, glory in
his wisdom, and he will, and you will, and I will, until he
shows, you might mimic this and you might imitate that, but as
far as the redemptive glory by the blood of Jesus Christ, the
lamb slain for the people, You can't do it." And then they just
shut up. He had nothing to do. He had
nothing to say. He couldn't even speak. And then
later as he tried to follow the brethren out to the Red Sea,
he was destroyed as the waters came in from the Red Sea. Everywhere
we look, we see and we can glory in the wisdom of God. So when you go to work tomorrow
and somebody is glorying in their wisdom, I get, you know, you
probably like me, you get a little aggravated, that's all they can
do. That's all they can do until, maybe it's through your mouth,
maybe it's through something you say, maybe it's you invite
them to hear your pastor, until they're arrested by the wisdom
of the glory of God and the redemption of His people, then they'll quit
glorying in it. Secondly, turn to 1 Samuel chapter
17. Well, we go back to Jeremiah
9, he says, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom and let
not the mighty man glory in his might. 1 Samuel chapter 17. Verse 23 and as you and you're
familiar with the story and as David talked with them behold
there came up the champion of the Philistines of Gath Goliath
by name out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according
to the to the same words, and David heard him. And all the
men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were
sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, have
you not seen this man that has come up against us? Surely to
defy the armies of Israel is he come up. And it shall be that
the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches
and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free
in Israel. And David spake unto the men
that stood by him saying, what shall be done to the man that
kills his Philistines and take it the way of the reproach from
Israel? For who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? Let not the mighty man glory
in his might. You see the mighty man strutting
all along the front lines. We see him stand taller than
any in that field of battle. But when it comes to the might
and power of a sovereign God, he can use a youth to fell this
uncircumcised Philistine. We can expect nothing more from
a sinner than to boast and to brag upon his strength and his
might until he sees the unmatched and supreme power and might of
our great God in the calling and pardoning and regenerating
work of Christ for us. He will glory in his might. It's
here today and it's gone tomorrow. Oh, the miracle of grace as it
makes the leprous fully clean. It humbles the very pride of
man and makes him a beggar at the table of grace. It makes
him like Mephibosheth. David, who am I? It's a dead dog that you should
take notice of me. Nahum experienced this And he
was right glad. Now this uncircumcised Philistine,
he didn't see another day. But Nahum, the captain of the
hosts, I think the Cyreans, he's a mighty man of valor. And he
gloried in that on his horse. He was leprous from head to toe. He went down to the prophet's
house, expected the prophet to do him service and he sent his
second in command. I just go out there and tell
him to wash, just tell him to wash in the river just three
times and then he was all mad. And he says, surely I thought
that he would come out and this reminds me that I can just close
my eyes and I can see The service, it's a Pentecostal service, is
what this guy was thinking. He would come out, snap his hands
together, do some dancing or whatever, and then, one, two,
three, you're clean. I could just see that in my head.
And he wasn't going to do that. He wasn't going to do that. Because
the salvation or the cleansing of one sinner is precious in
the eyes of God. And what it takes to save one
person or a thousand is no less the miracle of God's sweet, glorious
grace as it can ever be. Don't underestimate
the power and majesty and might of our great God. Well, Goliath,
you know his end. But wasn't he a strong man? Wasn't
he mighty? I mean, isn't that something
to glory in? And there probably, at the place
where he fell, there probably is a memorial there, Goliath. But he was killed by a youth. And that was stones. He didn't
even have shield or sword. Of course, he tried that on and
he told Saul, he goes, I haven't proved this. Let me just give
me just, just, just this right here. It's the same way I took
down that line. I'll take down this one and this
and in verse, um, verse 42, and when the Philistine looked about
and saw David, He disdained him, for he was but a youth and ruddy
and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said to David,
am I a dog? Yes, you are. That thou comest
to me with staves. And the Philistine cursed David
by his gods. And the Philistine said unto
David, come to me and I'll give thy flesh unto the fowls of the
air and to the beasts of the field. Then said David unto the
Philistine, you come to me with a sword and with a spear and
a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defiled." This day will the Lord deliver
thee into my hands, and I'll smite thee and take thine head
from thee, and I will give the carcass to the host of the Philistines
this day unto the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the
earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."
And you know, when you go to work tomorrow or the next day
or whatever, when you go and when you see your neighbor on
the street, when you tell them, about that wonderful person,
the Lord of glory, the sweet Savior, the sweet psalmist of
Israel, that there's Baum and Gilead. You go in the name of God. Let
not the mighty man glory in his might. Thirdly, what's that passage
say? Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. What can we expect from him?
He knows nothing else but his riches. He can help many folks. He can perform great acts of
charity and kindness with his money. All that he earned himself. No
one helped him. He's the sufficient man. Little does he know that with
one word, God can bring him down. And his wealth and his accumulated
accumulations mean nothing. You ever known people that had
quite a bit of money and they got sick and it doesn't matter? Someone once said, I've got more
money than I can spend. And I thought to myself, you
just get sick and it'll all be gone. Turn to Daniel chapter four. Daniel chapter 4. And we'll start in verse 28. And all this came upon the king
of Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of 12 months, Nebuchadnezzar
walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon, and the king spake
and said, is not this great Babylon that I... I'm sure he didn't
raise a finger. But you notice how people will
do that. Mighty men or wise men or those who have great wealth,
I did this. Take away their secretaries,
their laborers, and they're nothing. is not this great Babylon that
I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my
power and for the honor of my name. Now the Lord God will not
share his honor or his glory with another. We fully expect
this man to glory in his riches. What else does he possess? His
barns were full. He had full tables, a full bank
account, but he lacked in grace and peace and the forgiveness
of God until he beholds the one who owns the cattle on a thousand
hills, who makes men low before he raises them up. He empties
them before he fills them and strips us before he clothes us
with his righteousness. That very While the word was
in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O
king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is
departed from thee. And I get a little nervous when
I hear people talking about how great this country is. It's a wonderful
country. I wouldn't want to live anywhere
else. But there's only one greatness, one
universal greatness, and that is God. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. It concerns me when we boast
of what we've got and look down at other countries. He humbled Nebuchadnezzar, and
then by His rich, free, sovereign grace, He who was rich became
poor for us. It's no wonder we always should
talk about Christ. And that's what concerns me when
we start We're getting too involved with theology. We start getting
all this stuff going on because the heart of the issue, the heart
of the matter is Christ and Him crucified. And I love what George
Whitefield said, and I've used this and I've said this many
times. He said, I dare not preach an unfelt Christ. I dare not
preach an unfelt Christ. Romans chapter 11, oh, the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord or who hath been His counselor or
who hath first given to Him and it shall be recompensed unto
Him again. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things
to whom be glory forever. Our Lord cannot be outgiven.
He cannot be outgraced or any other thing for by Him and through
Him are all things. And that's who we ought to glory
in. That's who we ought to promote. That's who we ought to speak
about. And I know we've got jobs, and I know we've got fans, and
I know we have all these things. And, you know, function. That's
one thing that Bruce and I, years ago, we talked about Enoch. And
Enoch walked with God. Now, whatever that means, and
all that means, he just walked with God and glorified God and
honored his Savior. Well, we'll close in Jeremiah
9. So, what are we to do? "...but
him that glorieth," verse 24, "...but him that glorieth, let
him glory in this." We've got to have something to
glory in. We were created to glorify, to glory somehow, some
way. I mean, we're either going to
glory in ourselves or in someone else, are in the Lord. He that glorieth, let him glory
in this, that he understands and knows me. He understands and knows me,
that I'm the Alpha, I'm the Omega, I am the Truth, I am the Life,
Without me, you can do nothing. Born in sin, born in corruption,
have the greatest of needs, which we cannot meet nor satisfy. And plus, on top of that, God
demands perfection. We ain't got it. And so, we look to Him. We embrace
Him. We love Him. And he says, it's finished, like
we heard down at Crossville by Tim James. It's finished. It's
done. It's done. Just live your life
accordingly. Let him glory in this, that he
understands and knows me. To be known of God is to be accepted
by God, which exercises loving kindness, That's forgiveness. Judgment, he must punish sin
and righteousness. And he punished our sins upon
his son. Loving kindness, we need forgiveness. We need pardon. Judgment, mercy and truth have
kissed together. On whom? On Christ. For you specifically, if you
believe, if you are ever to know Him, if He's ever given you grace
to come to Him, if He's ever given you grace
to look and live, Do you believe this? Are we going to still glory in
something that we've done or our accomplishments or whatever
it might be? Let him that glorieth. It's real
easy, but it's not. It's a formula with the answers
already there. He that glorieth. We want a glory. Give me something to glory. Give
me something. Come on, you know. These little kids are running around and they're
just all full of energy and everything. Glory in this. That He understands
me. Loving kindness. Judgment. And we must have a righteousness,
His righteousness for us. Let me close, read something
from Henry. It's entitled, All Others. Got
it from one of the bulletins. All religious reformers came
to live. Christ came to die. All others
leave monuments and memorials. No one can find his birthplace,
grave, nor one possession. All others write diaries and
memoirs. He wrote on the sand. All others
chose their followers from the rich, the powerful, the influential.
He chose the poor and needy. All others praise human righteousness.
He condemned it. All others seek those who can
help. He sought those he could help. All others promised success
and happiness to their followers. He promised tribulation and sufferings.
All others held their disciples with fear and force. He invited
his disciples to leave him if they would." Boy, that's a flip right there,
because we want to keep everybody and keep them happy and we motivate
and re-motivate. If you can leave the gospel,
And I remember Jack Shanks years ago saying he got discouraged
because of the number of people that were coming and going and
this and that. And then he looked out at them and he saw that passage,
who hath believed our report? And he said, why you do and you
do. Where two or three are gathered
together in his name, he's there. All others, have palaces, mansions,
and headquarters. He had no place to lay his head.
All reward the most talented with recognition, titles, and
honor. And he said, the least should be the greatest. All others
say, follow me and I will show you the way. He said, come to
me, I am the way. All others stay dead. He arose
and all of his claims, works, and promises are true. because
God raised him from the dead. And that's true. Bruce, would
you close us?