the book of Romans chapter 15. I'd like to read verse 5 and 6 before
we have a word of prayer. Now the God of patience and consolation
grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ
Jesus that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God even
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we're gathered here
this morning from near and far from various and sundry places
and we come here I believe many of us with a great hope in our
hearts that the Lord might manifest himself even to us today. We long to feel the presence
of our God. We long to be able to serve our
God. Now as we come together this
morning, we read in verse 5 of Romans 15, Now the God of patience,
and isn't he a patient God? Isn't He a long-suffering, isn't
He a merciful God? Certainly He is to me. And I
believe that many of you would testify the same in your experience. And He's also the God of consolation. We read further in the scriptures
that He gives us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace. Everlasting consolation. Now
the consolation which our God has been pleased to give us is
a consolation that we enjoy in this world, and we enjoy it daily
and hourly in this world, and certainly are going to enjoy
it in the life to come. But he says that the God of patience
and consolation, he said, he grant you to be like-minded.
This is a gift of God when the Lord's people can be like-minded. When there can be some unity
of spirit and unity of heart among believers. And he goes
on to say, toward one another according to Christ Jesus. And I believe he means by that
that Christ is to be the center of our attention. That we're
to focus our attention not on human differences, not on differences
that we have in the flesh, but we're to set our affection and
our minds upon the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And let,
if there be any difference between us and the world, we know that
that difference is Christ and Christ alone. The only difference
between a saved man and a lost man is Jesus Christ. And when
we think of our fellowship together, if we could base it upon the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ, I think it would remove many,
many difficulties. In verse 6, that you may with
one mind This is the end of it all, that you may with one mind
and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, beloved, this morning, my
theme for the morning is unto Him be glory both now and forever. Amen. That's the theme of my
heart for this day. In verse 7, he said, Wherefore,
receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory
of God. I believe this morning that the
spirit of fellowship is in our midst, and I believe we can receive
one another. We can receive one another as
we've been received by Christ. You know, Christ received us
as poor sinners. Christ received us as being undone. Christ received us as not being
perfect or complete. He received us as we stood in
old Adam nature. And as we've been received by
Christ Jesus, then we ought to receive one another and lay aside
the petty differences, the differences that we might have in the flesh.
and that we would this morning give our hearts over to the glorifying
of our God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We notice
down in verse 11, and again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and laud Him, all you people. Laud means to praise. Praise
Him. all you people. In verse 9, in
the first sentence of verse 9, it says that the Gentiles might
glorify God for His mercy. Now we are Gentiles after the
flesh, and we glorify God for His mercy. We're the true circumcision,
but yet we're Gentiles after the flesh. And we receive the
gospel having been grafted in to the true vine. And it says
that we might glorify God for His mercy. So I hope this morning
that we can enter into a time of praise and adoration and glory
to our great and sovereign God. Now, beloved, there are two texts
of scripture that I want to share with you as I begin my message
this morning, and I trust that you'll give me your kind attention
for a little while. I believe that this subject is
one that we ought to deal with. I believe it'll be both inspiring
and encouraging to those that know our blessed God, and it'll
also be rebuking to those who do not know the Son of God as
personal Lord and Savior. I invite you to turn with me,
first of all, to the book of 2 Peter, the book of 2 Peter
3, and I want to read verse 18. 2 Peter 3, verse 18. And here we read where Peter
says, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, listen to these words, to Him be glory,
both now, in O.W., both now and forever, amen. Then if you would,
turn over to the book of Jude, the book of Jude, one chapter
in Jude, and I'd like to read verse 24, and verse 25, 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
to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion
and power both now and ever. Amen. Now the book of 2 Peter,
the verse we read out of 2 Peter and Jude, these two epistles
are similar and they close with similar doxologies. They have
the same ascription. They ascribe glory to the same
being. The glory of God, beloved, is
the revelation and it is the manifestation of all that he
is or all that he has and all that he is. Doxology means to
give or utter praise unto the Lord. It means to magnify. It
means to extol. It means to ascribe honor to
him, acknowledging him as to his being, his attributes, and
his acts. Now Jude said that the only wise
God, Peter said, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever. Jude says the only wise God is
the only one worthy of glory. Peter says the Lord Jesus Christ
is worthy of glory, and both are true. Peter and Jude are
dealing with the same subject, that is, the final salvation
of God's people, but from different angles. Peter is saying, don't
fall away, but grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jude is saying, the Lord is able
to keep you from falling and present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with ecstatic joy. This, beloved,
is preservation. Well, both of them use this little
three-letter word now. As far as I know, of the many
doxologies in Scripture, these two are the only ones that use
this word now. They were led, these writers
of Scripture, they were led by the Holy Spirit. Holy men of
God spake as they were moved by God's Spirit. But God used
the personalities and used the intellects of the writers of
Scripture. They were not stones. They were
not stumps. They had to stop as they were
having the revelation of God given to them and as they were
writing these glorious things that God showed them. They had
to stop and they had to ascribe glory to God who had revealed
these things and had determined to execute and to bring them
to pass. They could not sit in the midst
of the glories of God unmoved. These writers of scripture were
moved to ascribe glory and praise unto God. Oh, how cold and how
dead and lifeless we are. Have you ever imagined how the
Old Testament saints would have loved to sit and to hear the
message of the gospel preached in the power of the Holy Spirit
sent down from heaven? We read in 1 Peter 1 about how
the gospel was revealed to them, but dimly, and how when they
preached it, they were revealing it to us. But they did not see
it clearly. And how that the angels desired
to look into the glorious mysteries of the gospel. But here we are
this morning. Oh might God break up our hearts
when we realize what we're dealing with here. We're dealing with
that glorious message that were hid from ages and were hid from
many, many peoples, but has been revealed to us by the revelation
of God's Spirit. And may God begin to move in
our hearts that we might be able to stop in our midst daily and
ascribe glory and praise unto the God who has given us the
glorious message of the gospel. Well, what do we learn here?
I believe we learned that theology learned correctly that it produces
doxology. Now doctrine, beloved, produces
devotion unto God. Now if doctrine makes you proud
and makes you arrogant, you've not learned the right doctrine.
You have not learned the right doctrine, or you've learned it
in the wrong place, or it is in your head. and it's not in
your heart. Doctrine moved these men to glorify
God who had revealed himself unto them. An understanding of
God must bring about an adoration of God. If we know the God of
the Bible, then we must adore Him. When that understanding
is of the Holy Spirit, then it will. It will cause us to adore
the Lord. I want to be sound in doctrine,
but more than that, I want to be sound in my heart. Psalm 119
And verse 80 says, let my heart be sound in thy statues, that
I be not ashamed. Those were the words of King
David. Not my heart, beloved, or not
my head, beloved, but my heart. Because what a man believes in
his heart must affect the way that he worships. He cannot help
but affect his worship unto God. I know two facts. First of all,
you cannot worship God without knowing Him. We know the Bible
says plainly that salvation is a knowing of the true God and
of Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Now Paul told the Athenians this
in Acts chapter 17 and verse 23. You know they had an altar
with this inscription to the unknown God. And Paul said, whom
therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. So if you know God, then you
can worship him. But if you don't know him, then
you're ignorant of the things of God. Someone said one time
that ignorance is the mother of true worship. Well, that's
not so. Beloved, ignorance is the murderer.
of true worship. And second, you cannot know God
without worshiping Him. You can know some facts about
Him and not worship, but you cannot, like Isaiah, see His
glory and not worship Him. Isaiah 6 and verse 3, and one
cried unto another and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And further, you cannot understand
what God has done for us in Christ without worshiping him. Our blessed
Lord has reconciled poor sinners unto himself. The Bible says
that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, but has imputed them unto Christ.
Those that that world of the elect, their sin has been imputed
unto the Lord Jesus Christ. In order that we might be reconciled
to God, there might be an atonement. between us and God. We were held
deserving riches, condemned people. We were those who worshipped
and served self, but he saved us in order that he might present
us faultless before his presence with ecstatic joy. How can we
have a worship service, beloved, one more time? How can we come
to that place where we can have one mind and one spirit and one
mouth when it comes to worshipping God when we're so diverse? in
so many other ways. Well, I think we can, if we could
gaze into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and see the glory
of God in his face one more time, I believe that it would stimulate
true worship in our hearts. In Exodus 34, in verse 6 through
8, Moses had no trouble worshiping after seeing his attributes. Well, what else could he do?
In verse 6, and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed,
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no
means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children and upon the children's children unto the third and fourth
generation. And in verse 8 it says, And Moses
made haste, and he bowed his head toward the earth, and he
worshiped. When God revealed himself unto
old Moses, he was able to worship. Oh, that we could live, beloved,
only for this, only to know the God of the Bible, only to worship
at his feet, only to adore him. Now this all brings me to the
first point of my message, and that is this. To him be glory
is the duty of all men. To Him be glory is the duty of
all men. Now, beloved, this is not optional.
You may have options open in other areas of your life. but
there is none here. We have no option if we are created,
we've been created by God's hand, then we're under this obligation
to Him be glory. This is the imperative and the
universal duty of all men. Whoever you are, whatever be
the color of your skin, wherever you were born, wherever you were
born, I say, before the flood or whenever, before the flood
or after the flood, on this side of Calvary, on that side of Calvary,
you were born under this solemn duty to God be glory both now
and forever. Beloved, this is your supreme
duty. This is the chief end of man. The Catechism says to glorify
Him and obey Him forever. This will answer some of the
questions for us. What am I doing here? Where did
I come from? What am I about? What is my purpose
in this life? Now, beloved, He did not create
us for ourselves. He created us for His glory. Revelation 4 and verse 11, Thou
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou
hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and
were created. not for yourself. You're not
to serve yourself. This is the highest form of idolatry,
is for men and women to serve themselves and to live for themselves. Next, this is man's all comprehensive
duty. It is the essence of every duty
and law God ever gave to his creatures. What does God require
of a man? not that we do the best that
we can, not that we be decent people, not that we be good neighbors. It goes much further than that,
you see. God only requires, and listen to me carefully, He only
requires that every thought from birth to death, every word and
deed be continually, totally for His glory. 1 Corinthians
10 and 31 says, whether therefore you eat or whether you drink
and whatsoever you do, he said, do all to the glory of God. Is that asking too much? Well,
who's doing the asking? The God in whom we live and move
and have our being, the great, the sovereign God that inhabits
eternity. This is the God who is saying
that we owe him glory and honor, and he's not going to lower his
demands. He will not. I know this goes
against human nature. It goes against fallen nature.
You just think about it. Everything you have, you receive
from a good, and a just, and a kind, and a merciful, and a
holy God. And He has a right that you use
it all for His glory, both now and forever. In Romans 1 and
21, it says, because that when they knew God, They glorified
him not as God, neither were thankful. They glorified him
not as God, John Gill said, that they did not conceive of him
and worship him as became his divine excellencies and his perfections. And he went on to say, neither
were they thankful. They did not own God to be the
author and the giver of all the good things they enjoyed and
returned unto him thanks accordingly. Next, let me say that this is
a reasonable duty. to God be the glory forever. This is a reasonable duty. Psalm
29 in verse 2 says, Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His
name. Now there are three reasons why
I believe this to be a reasonable duty. God deserves glory. He deserves it. Now God's not
trying to steal something that doesn't belong to Him when He
demands that you give Him glory. God deserves glory. The psalmist
says, given to the Lord the glory due unto his name. What you have
done, when you've done that, might I say, you can stop. When
you have given God all the glory that is due unto his name, you
can stop. He won't want any more after
he gets all that is due his name. Has anyone ever done that? Seems
to me like eternity would be too short for God to receive
all the glory that is due unto his name. If you ever give God
the glory due to such a majestic sovereign, you can stop. Till
then, you are obligated. We're such proud creatures, are
we not? Why does God hate pride so much? Well, he is clothed in majesty
and we are so proud and we're so sinful that we'll steal this
garment out of his wardrobe and we'll put it on our sinful selves. We want a little glory, don't
we? We want a little glory as we
live out our days in this world, but God the Father Son and Holy
Ghost is the one the only being in all the universe that deserves
one ounce of glory Amen, is that true? He's the only one that
deserves it. You're not doing God a favor when you give him
glory You're robbing him when you don't live to the glory and
praise of this God Next it's a reasonable duty because God
demands it Isaiah 42 in verse 8 He said, I am the Lord, that
is my name, and my glory will I not give to another. I'll not
give my glory to another. Brother, sister, it's all right
for God to use this possessive pronoun, my glory. That's all right. The one thing
God will not share with His creatures is His glory. He has shared His
grace and He shared His love in Jesus Christ, but He will
not share His glory. Now then, he has shared his grace
and his love in Christ, and we said that, but he will not share
his glory. His righteousness he will share,
and he shared that with the unrighteous in that that he has clothed us
with a garment of salvation, that garment that was woven from
top to bottom by the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he shared that. He gave it
to us. And that's our standing before
God. We're in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
power. He has shared that with us. Because
in Him, we live and move and have our being. But at no time
will God, the triune God, share His glory. Never. Never. I would invite you to
turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 12. And I'd like to show
you how God feels about men stealing his glory. In Acts chapter 12,
I want to read here a few verses about Herod. And this was after
Peter had been wonderfully delivered from the prison through the answer
of prayer. And Herod was highly displeased
with them, in verse 20, of Tar and Sidon. But they came with
one accord to him, and having made Blastus the king's chamberlain
their friend, desired peace, because their country was nourished
by the king's country. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed
in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and he 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,
in verse 23, And immediately the angel of the Lord spoke unto
him, because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of
worms, and gave up the ghost. Now, beloved, Josephus, the Jewish
historian, interviewed witnesses that actually they were eyewitnesses
to this very thing happening. The worms crawling in and out
of old Herod consumed him on the spot. And the Bible says
it was because he gave not God the glory. And I'm here to tell
you this morning, beloved, that God will at no time share His
glory with another. Now the third reason why it's
a reasonable duty is because if God's designed, He has determined
to get it. He has ordered everything, first
and foremost, to get His glory. Romans 11 verse 36 says, and through him and to him are
all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. All right, now I have something
sad to say at this time. This solemn duty, which is the
duty of all men, this solemn duty is an unfulfilled duty. No man by nature has fulfilled
this duty. Now to give God glory, as we
said, is the essence of all duty. And the failure to do this is
the essence of all sin. What is wrong with us? Are you outside of Christ? God
will send you to hell. What does that mean? Well, I
don't know all it means, but it means to be abandoned by God.
and just not to be burned up, but you will bear the unbearable,
my friend, for all eternity. What have you done to deserve
that? You may say, well, the natural man says, what have I
done? I'm faithful to my wife. I'm
a good neighbor. What have I done to deserve going
to hell? Here it is. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Romans 3 and 23. And we're all
like in this by nature. We've come short of the glory
of God. We have failed when it comes
to keeping the law of God, which When drawn out, it shows us the
very character of God Almighty. We've all broken God's law and
sinned against Him. We've come short of that which
is the glory of God. Now God could say the same thing
to everyone here that He said to old Belshazzar in Daniel 5
in verse 23. He knew, Belshazzar did, what
God had done to Nebuchadnezzar, how He had humbled him and brought
him down. beast of the field, until he
knew that the Most High ruled. But God said to Belshazzar, Thou
hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven, and they
have brought the vessels of his house before thee. And thou and
thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines have drunk wine in
them, and thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass
and iron, and wood and stone, which see us not. nor hear nor
know, and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are
all of thy ways, hast thou not glorified." This is a crime for
which God Almighty will send men and women, boys and girls
to hell. Failure in the duty of glorifying
God. Now the worst thief alive is
the man who would rob God of his chief attribute. Man has
not fulfilled this duty, but has declared himself to be at
war with God on this issue. We're rivals of God. This is
what's wrong with us. God said, I deserve this glory,
and I'm determined to get it. And we say, I want some glory. I want some glory. Hardly does
a man preach a message of sovereign grace. Somebody gets their hackles
up. whenever we suggest that God
deserves all the glory and the praise for the gospel and for
his reconciling sinners unto himself. No wonder that God is
angry with the wicked every day. We've declared ourselves equal
with Him. We're rivals. We're at war with
God over this business of His glory. If you examine it carefully,
that's exactly the true state of the natural man. Next, not
only is it the unfulfilled duty of man by nature, but it is the
desire, it is the delight of some men, and that is the regenerate. Oh no, not by nature. We told
you that the old damning nature is opposed to God and it's at
war with God and that it demands some glory itself. But those
that have been regenerated by the Spirit of God, they're a
different lot of people. God must put the desire in a
man's heart to glorify Him. If in our hearts today we have
that desire, we want the Lord to be honored, we want our God
preached up, and we want His message to go forth in the power
of the Holy Spirit. It's because God put that desire
in our hearts. No man, oh no man by nature wants
that. Now what he does, what natural
man does, it might look good to you, and you might pass on
it and say that looks good. But I'm telling you, beloved,
nobody really wants the God of heaven and earth to be glorified
except those that have received that principle of divine grace
in their hearts. Those that have been changed,
those that have had this glorious transaction take place where
they have passed from death unto life. Oh, my friend, we need
to focus on this, not until God does an operation of grace in
your heart. Everything you do is for yourself
some way or another. But it pleased God to redeem
a multitude and to restore them to the original purpose in creation,
and that is to glorify God. In our Father Adam, we all left
that purpose, but God, when he could have damned us all to hell,
said, I'm going to bring some back, I'm going to bring some
back to the original purpose, where they'll willingly come
back, and where they'll glorify God both now and forever. This is the chief cause for God
saving sinners. I would not detract. Now listen
to me. I believe that the chief cause for God saving sinners
is for his own glory. Now I would not detract from
God saving us unto a blessed heaven because he has. And we're
looking forward as we grow older day by day, we're looking forward
to that time when we shall be with him for all eternity and
enjoy that wonderful bliss forever. And I would not detract from
that, and I would not minimize the fact that he saved us from
an awful hell, because it was an awful hell that he saved us
from, where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched,
and the smoke of men's torment ascendeth up forever and ever,
and there's no rest, neither day or night. We have been saved
from an awful hell, and I would not minimize the fact that God
loved us with an everlasting love, because before the first
angel ever sang, before the morning stars got together, before back
yonder, before man was ever created, back yonder when he only existed
in the mind of God. God loved his people, and I will
not minimize that. God is a God of love and a God
of mercy, but the first reason for God saving anybody here in
this world is for his own glory. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord because of who you are, and it's of the Lord because
of who He is. God will have all of the glory. The first reason for Him doing
anything, beloved, is for His glory. God's greatest glory is
seen in the salvation of His people. We read Jude 24. And
it tells us there that how he's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory. Now
listen to me. The poet said, bold shall I stand
in that great day, and who ought to my charge shall lay. You listen to me very carefully.
I'm talking about the greatest glorious scene in the salvation
of his sons, the salvation of his family. God will look at
me, God will look at you if you're in Christ, in his omniscience,
with his all-scrutinizing eye, and measure you by his strict
holy law. And God is going to look at us
and look us over and not be able to find a thought. He will not be able to find a
blemish. He will not be able to find a spot. I'm talking about
the glory of our God in the saving of hell deserving worm wiggling
maggots of the dust. I'm talking about God putting
us into a state where we're like his son and accepting us in the
beloved one. Now anybody who can take a worm
of the dust and dress him up where not even God can find any
fault with him, should have glory. Brother, sister, give it to him.
He should have the glory to the only wise God who could figure
out the way whereby he could remain just and justifier, whereby
he could save sinners and have mercy upon rebels. God to him
belongs the glory. Isaiah 43 and 21 says, this people
have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. There's a lot of things I do
not know about the fall, but it was God's opportunity. Hear
me, in his purpose to show himself off. Is that alright? It was
God's opportunity in his purpose to show himself off. Listen to
Ephesians chapter 1 and let me read verse 6. And then in chapter
2 verse 7, in verse 6 of Ephesians 1, to the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,
that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Does that not look like that
God has taken the fall and turned it into a glorious opportunity
to show himself off as being the God who is able to take these
wiggling maggots of the dust and turn them in and make them
to be priests and kings before him. Well, what kind of an attitude
do you suppose a man is going to have who has experienced so
great salvation? A man who has experienced it
and a man who has been instructed and tutored by the Holy Ghost
to understand this. What kind of an attitude would
he have? I believe we find that in Ephesians
3 verse 20 and 21. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we're able to ask or
think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be
glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout the ages world
without end. to him be glory." That's the
attitude of those that have experienced the regenerating, saving work
of our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that the man who knows
these things in his heart must feel compelled to lovingly glorify
God. Isaiah 45 and 25 says, in the
Lord shall all the seed of Israel, that is the spiritual seed of
Israel, be justified and shall glory. If you're justified, you
will glory. If you've been given a standing
before God just as if you'd never committed a sin, If you've been
given a standing before God wherein you stand before Him as righteous
as the Lord Jesus Christ, then, my friend, you shall glory. You shall glory. Now then, we
know we're lacking in some ways. We do. We all fall short. We
all fall short. We have a supreme desire. It
is in our hearts to glorify God. And this is my end in preaching
this message to you this morning, is that throughout the rest of
this day that we may glorify God in our hearts. This much
is sure. The man who cares nothing for
God's glory cares nothing for God's grace. Grace makes a man
interested in glory. You say, I believe in Christian
liberty, preacher. Well, so do I. But God never
gave us liberty to do anything that would dishonor His name. We are at liberty to glorify
God. To Him be glory is the present
purpose, then, of the saved. To Him be glory both now and
forever. When we all get to heaven, somebody
says, what a day of rejoicing that will be. It sure will. But
we ought to start now rejoicing and glorifying God. I can't wait,
somebody said, to get to heaven. I want to glorify God. You don't
have to wait. Why should you wait? Now, N-O-W,
and forever. Why now? Well, because salvation
starts now. Bless God, it really started
before the foundation of the world. But certainly in time
we've experienced the Lord's deliverance. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. It is not that I'm going to be
faultless then, we are now. in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
poet said, I am blessed, I am blessed, forever blessed. My
rags are gone and I am dressed in garments white as snow. I'm
married to the Lord, the Lamb, whose beauties I can never explain,
nor have His glory show. A salvation that does nothing
for you now will do nothing for you in eternity. A man better
not expect anything in eternity, the seed of which is not in his
life in this world. We need to remember that. Let
us glorify Christ now, because now is when He is so greatly
dishonored. Right now, men are out there
dishonoring my Lord. in the pulpits and in the streets.
Our God is being dishonored. And oh, sometimes you wish that
you could be young again. Sometimes you wish that your
mind was quick again and that you could grasp the things of
God and run with them as you desired maybe to do long ago.
But my friend, hear me, now he's being dishonored. Now he needs
to be glorified. Now is the time to make that,
this my single purpose, to him be glory. There will never be
a time like this to glorify God. Now whatever we're doing, On
the job, at home, or in the church, may the Lord fix my heart to
do this. And I'm coming right to the end
of my message. Lastly, to Him be glory is the
certain destiny of all men. Philippians 2, verses 9 through
11, tells us that He's been given a name above every name. that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should
confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now this is not just wishful
thinking on my part. It is a sure word of prophecy. A sure word of prophecy. It is not if, it's when. You're going to bow your knee.
You're going to bow your knee and your tongue is going to confess. Maybe you could find it in your
heart by the grace of God to do it now. Maybe you could find
it in your heart to bow now and confess Jesus Christ to the glory
of God the Father. And God's glory is the surest
thing in the universe, my friend. You mark it down. This God's
not going to fail. He's going to have the glory.
And He's going to accomplish that which He set out to accomplish
before the foundation of the world. He'll have a people. His
Son will have a bride. And His Spirit will have a temple. And God's going to get the glory.
He's going to have the praise. And He's going to have the honor.
I do not know what God holds in the future for me and mine
and you and yours. But I know this, the lofty looks
of man shall be humble, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed
down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day that's
coming. This is God's purpose, and He
has all the resources to get it done. While I don't know much,
God will be glorified in everything. He will. I know this, God will
be glorified in every man, in you and me. We all have this
destiny in common. We all have it in common. It's
a solemn thought that everyone here is soon destined for one
of two places. God will save us to the praise
of his glorious grace, or he's going to damn you to the praise
of his justice. You will be experiencing the
unspeakable wrath of God for all eternity or delighting in
the bliss of the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity. I know whichever
it is for you, God will get the glory out of you. But I don't want to be damned,
do you? I do not want to be damned. John Calvin said a man ought
to be willing to be damned for the glory of God. He said none
would go to heaven but those who would be willing not to go,
if God would be the more glorified. I don't know about you, but I
don't want to be damned. Thou son of David, remember those
blind men crying? Thou son of David, have mercy
on me. I don't want to be damned. I
don't want to go to hell. Spurgeon said this. Here is something
for you to use, sinners. Lord, save me for Christ's sake. If I perish in hell, thou wilt
never have any thanksgiving from me. Songs of gratitude cannot
rise from the flaming pit of hell. O Lord, thou wilt doubtless
be glorified in my eternal condemnation. But then, O Lord, I cannot glorify
Thee voluntarily, and among the sons of men there will be one
heart less to bless Thee. I believe that God is glorified,
I just believe this, more in the salvation of a sinner than
in the sending of a sinner to hell. When we seek pardon, we
do not ask God to do that which will stain His banner or to put
a blot on His character. No, no. We're asking God to do
what he delights to do. He delights to show mercy. And he delights to do it in order
that his name be glorified. I hope this morning that we can
find it in our hearts, that we can with one mind and one mouth
glorify our God this day. Praise Him as we leave this place
this morning, and as we assemble this afternoon at 3 p.m., Fort
Shaw Bible Church, that we will have a word of praise and a word
of glory on our hearts for Him. Now, this time this morning,
I'm going to ask that you remain seated. I'm going to ask those
who have confessed Christ before