I must admit then that when I
read that verse of scripture, whether therefore you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And I had to ask myself, what
do I know of that? What do I know of that? What led Paul to make this statement? I've entitled this message, God's
Motive and Ours. I cannot infallibly see what
your motive is in what you do. And you cannot infallibly see
my motive in what I do. It's impossible. Therefore, anytime we try to
judge somebody's motives, we're wrong. Every time, without exception. If you judge my motives, you're
wrong. If I judge your motives, I'm
wrong. We cannot infallibly see what
is driving somebody, what's behind it. So if we can't infallibly
see uh, the motive of somebody else, what makes me think I can
see God's motive? Well, he tells us what his motive
is and all he does, he does for his own glory. Now turn with me for a moment
to Ephesians chapter one. In this passage of scripture,
it's a very familiar passage of scripture, I hope with all
of us, but the three persons of the Godhead, their work and
salvation is brought out in this big, long sentence, or maybe
two sentences, I don't know, but beginning in verse three,
blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of His will,
here's his reason, to the praise of the glory of His grace. That's why God the Father does
what He does to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein
He hath made us accepted. And that word accepted is much
graced. He has much graced us in the
beloved. Now he talks about the work of
the Son in verse seven. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him and whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him that work of all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory. There
it is again. Who first trusted in Christ?
Who first trusted in Christ? God did. Not Paul, not Adam,
not Abel. God was the first person to trust
Christ. He trusted Christ for the salvation
of everybody he gave him for his glory. Now look at verse
13, in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word
of truth, not before then. After that, you heard the word
of truth. You never trusted until you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that you believed you were sealed or having believed you
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance into the redemption of the purchase possession under
the praise of his glory. Now you see in all three persons
of the Godhead, God's motive in doing what he does, his glory. God's motive for all his works
of creation, all of his works of providence, and that covers
everything. And all of his works of salvation
is his own glory. And there are many benefits that
come to us because of that. Namely, salvation. In salvation,
who gets the glory? Now, if he gets the glory, that
means he does it all. You know what that means? That
means salvation is all of grace. If he gets all the glory, that
means he does it all. Salvation's of the Lord. That
means somebody like me or you can be saved since salvation
is all of his grace. For God to have some other motive
would be beneath the infinite glory of the excellency of his
person. And when I talk like that, I'm
using words that I think I don't even know what any of these words
mean when we're talking about the excellency of the divine
glory. And our motive should always
be whatever we're doing, his glory. What do I know about,
you know, I'd like one time to preach only for his glory. I'd
like to do that once. I don't think I ever will. As
long as I'm in the flesh, uh, something about myself will always
come up. I've never done anything where
I wasn't trying to glorify myself on some level, but wouldn't it
be something to preach once. Wouldn't it be something to sing
just once with only his glory in mind. Wouldn't it be something to sweep
the floors for his glory? Wouldn't it be a blessing to
go to work tomorrow for the glory of the blessed God? Whatsoever
you do, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, he says,
do all to the glory of God. Now, if his glory is not mine
and not my end, My glory is my aim and end. It really is that
simple. It's either his glory or my glory. And if all I'm doing is seeking
to glorify myself in the process of that, I'm seeking to rob him
of his glory. Paul said, whether you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Now this issue. is the issue of what I hear and
what I say. In this thing of salvation, who
gets the glory? If man gets any glory, In what
I'm preaching, what you preach, what you believe, what you receive,
if man gets any glory, it's not of God. It's evil. Quite that
simple. It's evil. It's devilish. It's
satanic. God gets all the glory in salvation. And that's the simple test. We
put what we're hearing. Who gets the glory? Now you think
of all the glorious doctrines of the gospel that make up the
one doctrine of Christ. I love to think of this election. How much glory do I get in election? Absolutely none. God chose me
freely by his grace. He didn't look for something
in me to choose me. He did it to the praise of the
glory of his grace. That's why he did it. In saving
somebody like me, if I'm in heaven, God gets all the glory. I'm dead
sure of that. when we think of the redeeming
work of Christ. Did the Lord Jesus Christ die
on the cross to share the glory with you? Was there something
in you that caused him to go to Calvary's tree and willingly
have himself nailed to a cross? Well, you were a sinner, but
you can't share in the glory that he by himself purged our
sins. You and I don't get any credit in that. What about the
great way of him justifying it? Justifying me. We read in Romans
5 just now, I guess it was Brian, you were reading that, Romans
5 now, being now justified, being now justified. Now, right now,
I love the word now, being now justified, right now, I stand
before God as one who has never sinned. All the stuff I feel
guilty about every day, I have a cloud hanging over my head
every single day. And yet I stand before God as
one having never sinned. The very righteousness of Jesus
Christ being my righteousness before God. How much glory do
I get in that? Absolutely none. Who gets the
glory? And they think about being born
again. born from above when God the Holy Spirit gives you life.
Did you cooperate in that? Well, no more than you cooperated
in your first birth. You didn't have anything to do
with that. And you don't have anything to do with your second
birth. He gets the glory and regeneration, the new birth,
the fact that you've persevered up to this point. You've not
fallen away. How come? You know that if the
Lord left you to yourself, you'd fall so quick. I like what Charles
Spurgeon said, if you got all the way up by his grace to right
before you took your first step into glory, and if he took his
hand off of you, you'd fall straight down to hell. If he took his
hand off of you, in preservation, in persevering in the faith,
that is, we don't get any glory. And I said this Wednesday night, Not only do we love him getting
all the glory because he deserves it, but we have a, maybe this
is a bad motive. I don't know, but I'm glad he
gets all the glory because if he doesn't get all the glory,
that means there's something up to me to do. And if that's the case, I won't
be saved. That's why I love him getting all the glory because
that means he does it all. That means salvation is completely
his work from the beginning to the end. Now, when we hear who
gets the glory. You can discern if what you're
hearing is true by who gets the glory. Does God get all the glory? If any glory goes to man, it's
false. It's evil. It's devilish. In the gospel, God gets all the
glory. Aren't you glad it's that way?
I love that. And like I said, I'm afraid that
a part of my motive, I never have a perfect motive ever for
anything I do, but I know part of my motives because it means
that nothing's required of me. He did it all. And I love it
being that way. If God looked to me to do something,
I'd be in trouble, but thank God salvation is of the Lord. He gets all the glory. Now, what led Paul to make this
statement? Back to our text in first Corinthians.
10. Wherefore my dearly beloved flee
from idolatry. That's what we considered last
time. Idolatry is a false concept of God. It might be a material
idol. It might be some false concept
of God in your mind that you make up to make you feel comfortable.
Flee from that because it's robbing God of His glory. It's changing
the image of The invisible God into an image made like an incorruptible
man, to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things is
what Paul said in Romans chapter one. Flee from idolatry. God is so glorious and try to
bring him down to our level, to try to bring him down to where
we can understand him and make him the way we want him. Oh,
flee from that. Flee from idolatry. Verse 15,
I speak as to wise men. Speaking to the Corinthians,
and you know, every believer is a wise man. It's wise to look
to Christ. If you don't look to Christ,
you're a fool. But if you're looking to Christ alone as everything
in your salvation, that's some God-given wisdom. Now, I'm speaking
to wise men, Paul says, and you know, the Corinthians have this
issue and that issue, and Paul's not being facetious when he says
this, he means it. I speak as unto wise men, you judge what
I say, you listen. Now he talks about the Lord's
table. Verse 16, the cup of blessing,
which we bless. Is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ, the bread, which we break? Is it not the communion
of the body of Christ? Now the Lord's table, it's so
important. It has no saving efficacy. It's
not a sacrament. I hate it when people call it
a sacrament. A sacrament means it's a means of grace. It's grace
that's conveyed through that. No, it's not. It's just a picture. It's a picture of our only hope
of being saved is the broken body and shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's how we have communion
with God through the person and work of Christ as it's identified
in the taking of the Lord's table. And this is so important. It's
a command. It's a command. It's just like baptism is a command.
Baptism doesn't save you. It doesn't do anything for you.
but it's obedience to his command. The Lord's table is a command.
He says this, do as oft you do it in remembrance of me. And
in this observance of this table, we're having communion with the
Lord, the gospel. Grace is not conveyed through
me eating the bread and drinking the wine, but I know this, my
all in salvation. Everything God requires of me
is found in the broken body and shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We preach Christ crucified. And that's where we have this
communion. The cup of blessing, which we bless. Oh, we bless
God for it. We thank God for it. Is this not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
this not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being
many are one bread and one body, for we're all partakers of that
one bread. We being many are all part of
that one body. You can't take the Lord's table
by yourself. It's a thing the church does,
the many as that one body. Verse 18, behold Israel after
the flesh, are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers
of the altar? He's talking about even in the
old Testament, when you eat the meat that was offered in the
sacrifice, you become a partaker of the altar. What say I then? That the idol is anything or
that which is offered in sacrifice to idols of anything. Now he's
going to get back into this issue of eating food, sacrifice to
idols. Once again, it was very big in
Corinth, but let me read several verses here. What say I then,
that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice
to idols anything? What's an idol? It's nothing.
It's non-existent as far as what it represents. A false concept
of God, it's nothing. But I say that the things with
the Gentile sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should
have fellowship with devils. Now, what was going on is he's
addressing the Corinthians of the fact that they were going
to Gentile worship services. in order to eat meat. It was
good meat. It was God's meat. And what Paul
is saying is you identifying with it. This would be like me
and you going to a freewill works Armenian church because they're
having a potluck and we're going to get a good meal. And we'll
say, well, there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah, there is. Yeah,
there is. Because you're identifying with that message. This is what
he's talking about. What they were guilty of doing
when they were going to these Gentile feasts. But I say that
the things, verse 20, that the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice
to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should
have fellowship with devils. You can't drink of the cup of
the Lord and the cup of devils. You can't be partaker of the
Lord's table and the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord
to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Now,
all things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.
In other words, it's lawful. If I go to the store, I go to,
and all they have is Meat that was sacrificed to idols. I'm
not going to ask any question about it. I'm going to buy the
steak. I'm going to buy the filet mignon.
I'm going to buy the ribeye that comes out of that and I'm going
to eat it. It belongs to the Lord anyway.
There's nothing wrong with eating meat sacrificed to idols in and
of itself. All things are lawful for me,
but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but
every man another's wealth. Now, that means it's more blessed
to give than receive. Don't seek, well, I got a right
to eat this meat. Well, if it causes your brother
to stumble, no, you don't, nor should you. Now let's go on reading,
verse 25. whatsoever sold in the shambles,
the meat market, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake,
for the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. You go
into the shambles and you know that that piece of meat was used
in a sacrifice to a demonic God in a false religion. Eat it.
It's the Lord's. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. Don't have unnecessary scruples. Eat that
meat. There's nothing wrong with that
at all. Verse 27, if any of them that
believe not bid you to a feast, and you be disposed to go, whatsoever
said before you, eat, asking no questions for conscience sake.
Let's say they put down a big piece of meat before you, don't
say, hey, was that all? Was that sacrifice to an idol? No, don't
ask that, just eat it. I mean, it's the Lord's meat.
You don't need to ask questions about that and have these unnecessary
scruples. But if any man saying to you,
and that's talking about a believer, that's talking about a believer,
If any man say to you, this is offered in sacrifice and idols,
and their weak conscience makes them think that'd be a bad thing,
are you gonna eat this desecrated meat that was sacrificed to idols?
Now, obviously, if he did, there was nothing wrong with it, but
that person's gonna stumble at it. So what does he say to do? Don't try to protect your own
rights. Well, that guy's an idiot. I can eat that meat if I want.
I mean, I know it was sacrificed to idols. I don't care what he
thinks about it. No, Paul says, don't have that kind of attitude.
Conscience, I say, not thine own, but the other. For why is
my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by
grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for what I give thanks
for? I mean, you're going to be judged. He said, I know I'm going to
be judged, but I'm still not going to do it anyway. If I eat it,
I'm not going to put that brother in a position where he's offended
by the fact that I'm eating this when he thinks it's wrong and
to encourage him. Verse 31, wherefore, therefore,
whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of
God. Give none offense, neither to
the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God, even
as I please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but
the profit of many, that they may be saved. This is what I'm
concerned about. I don't want to be a hindrance
to anybody in hearing the gospel. And I'm going to seek the profit
of many. I hope the Lord gives us all
that attitude to be fishers of men. That's all I want is to
be a fisher of men. He says in verse one of chapter
11, be followers of me, even as I am also of Christ. Now back to verse 31. Let me
spend a few moments on this verse of scripture, whether therefore
you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of
God. Two times. The gospel is called
the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. Now that's so transcendent,
infinite. I mean, this is one of those
concepts that you can't wrap your mind around. And the only
thing you can do is bow down. The gospel of the glory of the
blessed God. His glory is the infinite transcendent
excellence of the divine perfections. He is called the God of glory. His holiness. His otherness. His separateness. Where he says, there's none like
me. He's altogether glorious, isn't
it? His sovereignty, the fact that
he controls everything. He controls the thoughts that
are going through the minds at all times of every individual
alive. He's the first cause behind everything. He's the secondary cause. He's
the tertiary cause. He's the cause of causes. He's
an absolute, complete control of everything. He is glorious
in His sovereignty. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in earth and sea and in all deep places. He's glorious in His power. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that
did He. What glorious power in putting
away my sin to make it to where it is no more. What glorious
power is involved in Him making me just like Christ. Christ,
the wisdom of God and the power of God. He's glorious in His
omnipresence. He's not bound by space or time. That's so glorious to think of.
You can't go anywhere where he's not. He doesn't have the limitations
that you and I have. He's glorious in his immutability.
Malachi 3, 6, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. You think of how often you change
in a day and how often I change in a day. He never changes. I love He's glorious in His independence. He said, cattle on a thousand
hills are mine. If I was hungry, I wouldn't tell
you about it. He doesn't need anything. And that's so glorious
how He is in His person. He's the God of glory, absolutely
just, absolutely righteous. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of His throne. He's glorious in His love. I've
loved you. This isn't some kind of generic
love. This is said to every single believer as an individual. Behold,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. How glorious he is in his love. God of glory. I love it when Peter is talking
about the man of transfiguration. When Peter and James and John,
they saw the glory of Jesus Christ, his deity, burst through his
humanity. I don't understand that. But
the scripture says his face shined as the sun and his raiment became
white as light. And Peter is retelling that event. In 2 Peter 1, chapter 1, and
he said, That voice from the excellent glory. When his glory burst through
his humanity. Here's what I want to close with. Probably all of us have heard
of what they call the five solas of the Reformation. Scriptures
alone. Christ alone, grace alone, faith
alone, and the glory of God alone. Now let me say first, those are
not the five solas of the Reformation. Those are the five eternal solas. This is not something that was
discovered in the Reformation or it wasn't even rekindled in
the Reformation. This is the way it's always been. Scriptures alone. The Lord said, my word have I
magnified above all my name. Don't you love it when Romans
chapter 9, the scripture saith to Pharaoh, now wait a minute,
scripture hasn't been written yet. The scripture saith to Pharaoh,
even for this same purpose have I raised thee up. The scriptures
has the personality of God because it's the word of God. The scriptures
are eternal. The scriptures preached before
the gospel unto Abraham, we read in Galatians chapter three. This
is the majesty of the scriptures. Scriptures alone, we don't look
to, the older I get, the more I hate man-made documents and
confessions. Why? We got the Bible. You came
to improve on the Bible. This is God's Word. From Genesis 1-1 through Revelation
22-21, God states a gospel exactly as it should be stated. And am
I going to try to make an improvement on that? Well, we're gonna go
to this confession or this creed to prove that that's so. No,
scriptures alone. Scripture, our only rule of faith
and practice, and the scriptures alone give God all the glory. Nothing else does. The scriptures
alone. The scriptures alone tell us
of Christ alone. Now what does that mean, Christ
alone or Christ is all? That's something you and I better
have some understanding of. Christ alone. The best way I can describe
it is if when you enter the straight gate and walk on the narrow way,
if you have anything other than Christ alone, you can't get through
the gate. Can't do it. If you have anything
else, some other work, some other hope, some experience, some understanding,
if you try to bring anything through the straight gate other
than Christ alone, you can't get through. Christ alone is
everything in my acceptance before God. Christ alone, my only ground
of acceptance, not Christ and, Christ alone. Now, when I look
to Christ alone, only then do I give God all the glory. If I add anything to that, I'm
giving myself glory. I'm giving man glory. Christ
alone. And then the third sola that
supposedly came out of the Reformation, but it's always been that way,
is grace alone. How was Noah saved? He found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Now, that was a long time before
the Reformation. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God
saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, grace alone.
Grace alone, not grace and. Not grace and anything I do.
God's grace is not an offer. God doesn't offer you grace.
God doesn't offer you the forgiveness of sins. God doesn't offer anything.
Grace saves. Grace alone. Anything added to
that is giving man glory, isn't it? Only grace alone gives God
all the glory. And faith alone, faith alone
Most folks are going to go straight into James chapter 2. Well, faith,
what about works? You're not justified by faith
only, but also by works. Well, that's what the Bible says,
and I love that verse of Scripture. I love what it says, but most
folks just don't understand what it means. Talking about Abraham. Abraham, God says, go take your
son, your only son, offer him up as a burnt offering unto me.
Now, James uses that to tell us what faith and works means,
okay? Abraham obeys God. Now, how many
times have you asked yourself, could I do that? I don't think
I could. If God told me to take my child
and put them on an altar and cut their throat and kill them,
could I do that? I don't see how I could. Now,
wait a minute. Abraham believed God. And you remember that he
told those servants with him, I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. He knew that God would raise
him from the dead because he had promised the Messiah is going
to come through that boy. He believed God and he had no
doubt that even if he did kill him, God would raise him from
the dead because God made that promise and he really believed
according to Hebrews chapter 11 that God would raise him from
the dead. Now, what if he would have said, I can't kill him because
then God's promise wouldn't come to pass. I mean God promised
this. If I kill him, God's promise
won't come to pass. All he would have proved by that
is that he didn't really believe God. That's it. That's it. God's, you know, if I don't do
my part, God's promise won't come to pass. I can't let this
take place. What proved he believed God? His works. When he offered up his son on
that altar, fully believing that God would raise him from the
dead. He believed God. He was fully
persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform. Now that is faith alone. When do you have faith alone?
When all you have is God's Word. His naked Word. When do you have
faith alone? When you look to Christ alone.
Not Christ and anything else. My only hope is that when he
Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson
stain. He washed it white as snow. All
I have right now. Now, I'm a preacher of the gospel.
Do you trust in that? No! All I have is Jesus Christ
alone. The only way I can approach God
is through Jesus Christ alone. Nothing else. That's faith alone. The glory
of God alone, God gets all the glory in this, and I don't want it to be any other
way. He deserves all the glory, and
that's the only safety I see, is Him getting all the glory.
That means salvation's all by grace. It's all what He does.
Now, when He says, whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of
God. Now, you think of our doings.
I think of Matthew chapter 6 where the Lord gave us instruction
with regard to works of charity, almsgiving, works of devotion,
prayer to God, works of self-denial represented by fasting, and all
those things are involved in walking with Christ. There is
devotion to God. There is dependence upon God.
There is prayer. There is giving. There is the
giving of alms, whatever all that means. There is self-denial. The Lord said, if any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and
follow me. Now, what is the warning the Lord gave to all three of
those things? Don't sound the trumpet before
Him. Don't do what you're doing to be seen of men. If you're
doing what you're doing to be seen of men, you've got your
reward, and a miserable reward that is. What are you going to
get out of that? Well, so-and-so saw me do it.
Well, you've got your reward. That's
not much of a reward. Now, whenever we seek His glory,
we're in agreement with the heavens. because the heavens declare the
glory of God. When we seek his glory, we're
in agreement with the angels. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. When we seek his glory,
we're in agreement with Christ. He said, glorify thy son that
thy son might also glorify thee. When we seek His glory, we're
in agreement with the Holy Spirit because the Lord said, He shall
glorify me. When we seek His glory, we're
in agreement with those in heaven because they say unto Him be
the glory and the praise and the dominion and the power. And
when we seek His glory, we're with every other believer without
exception. Galatians chapter six. Verse 12, as many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh. And that would represent man's
religion. A fair show in the flesh. Aren't you impressed with how
pious I am? How devoted I am? How religious
I am? A fair show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised
only unless they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. You see, if you preach, if I
preach the cross in its naked simplicity, there will be persecution. It's the offense of the cross.
They don't want to go that direction. Now they constrain you to be
circumcised, but listen to this in verse 13. For neither they
themselves who are circumcised keep the law. They tell you to
keep the law. They don't keep the law. It's
pure hypocrisy. They don't keep the law. They
tell you to keep it, but the reason they want you to keep
it is so they can glory in your flesh. Look at the influence
I've had on this person. Look at the good I've done him.
Look what a difference I've made in his life. Oh, I've changed
him. I've got him to keep the law.
I don't keep it, but I've got him to keep it. You see the hypocrisy
of all that? Verse 14. Paul says, God forbid that I
should glory. Remember who's speaking? It's
the Apostle Paul. This is, I know the Lord said,
John the Baptist, of them that were born of women, none are
greater than John the Baptist. But I dare say, Paul II, I love
Paul. But what does Paul say of himself?
God forbid that I should glory, that I should rejoice in, that
I should have confidence in anything save the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. All I have confidence in is who
he is and what he accomplished. And I don't glory in anything
else. I don't glory in me being an
apostle. I don't glory in the fact that
I've written scripture. I mean, he's written scripture. If you
knew God used you to write scripture, would you glory in it? Well,
Paul said he didn't. As a matter of fact, he was given
a thorn in the flesh because he knew of his tendency to glory.
That's why God gave him this thorn in the flesh. But he said,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom, not by what, but by whom the world is
crucified unto me. And I in the world, all I have
confidence in, all I glory in, all I rejoice in is the cross,
what Christ accomplished on the cross. Now, here's my closing
statement. To the extent that what I'm doing is for his glory,
that's the extent to which you'll bless him. Now think about that. To the
extent that I'm doing what I'm doing for His glory is the extent
to which He will bless it in our homes, our marriages, our
jobs, in our believing, our giving, our singing, our preaching, our
hearing, whatever we do, do all to the glory of God. Now, any
other motive is a wrong motive. And I'm so aware of so many bad
motives. Every time I breathe, there's
a bad motive in it. Don't you find that so with regard to you?
I know you do. I realize that. But John Newton
made this statement, and I've always loved this. He said, if
two angels were commissioned by God, one to sweep streets
and the other to rule an empire, they would give equal zeal to
doing it, not caring which job they were given. All for the
glory of God. May the Lord enable us to do what we do for
his glory. And we're mighty thankful that
he does get all the glory because he deserves it. And that gives
us hope that salvation is his work. May the Lord enable you
and I, whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do, Do all to
the glory of God. Let's pray. Lord, we're so aware of our own
sinfulness and selfishness how quick we are
to promote ourselves and push ourselves forward and try to
make ourselves appear righteous to men. Lord, we ask in Christ's
name that you would deliver us from that. Lord, if you're glorified, we
don't care what the results are, as long as you're glorified.
Give us the grace to really enter into that. to do what we do for
your glory because of what your glory has accomplished on our
behalf. Lord, by your grace, make this
real. As we enter this coming week,
we ask that we might, whether we eat or drink or whatsoever
we do, we might do it all for your glory. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. Dwayne.