I don't know whether it's because
I'm getting old, I'm serious now, or because I'm nearer and nearer
to that day, that day. May you find mercy of the Lord
in that day. or whether possibly by his grace
and by his spirit God is giving to me more understanding of and appreciation
and gratitude for his grace in Christ Jesus. But I am more interested in these
matters of faith than I have ever been before. I'm more interested in who God
is and what God has done in Christ
and what God is doing. I'm more interested than I've
ever been in my life. And I have a greater fear of
missing Christ, a greater fear of missing Him. And therefore, I want to bring
you a message this morning on the subject, God's great design. I don't claim to have the answers
to the events and advents of the future. I was standing out
in the parking lot of the Fairmont Motor Lodge yesterday morning Friday morning it was, and a
man walked up to me and he said, I have some tapes here in which
you may be interested. He said, these tapes are preached
by a man who for years and years and years was wrapped up in Arminianism
and free willism, but he came to a knowledge of the doctrines
of grace. And he said, you may be interested.
I said, well, I'm terribly, terribly busy. I have a lot of tapes to
listen to and things to read and sermons to prepare. Well,
he said, why don't you just look them over and pick out one that
you want to listen to? I said, all right. Let me see
them. Well, the first one I picked up was Who is the Great Red Dragon? But I told him I wasn't interested
in that. Well, he said they all have a prophetical leaning. Did
you see these tapes, Bill? One of them was, how many resurrections
are there? Well, I told him I wouldn't be
interested in that. I was just interested in one resurrection. And he went
on and on. And I tell you, this world is most
confused in regard to God, more confused than any other single
subject. and religion is so confusing
on all these unanswerable questions. I don't claim to have all these
answers to these many problems that are in the future, but by
God's grace I do have, I do have some concrete, definite, scriptural
answers regarding my subject this morning. Now I want you
to, if you want to, get a pencil and paper or a pen and jot down
these things that I'm going to say. I'll give you my outline
like we were in a classroom. I want to pull up a chair and
I want to talk to you. I want to talk to you. And if
you want to, write them down. I'm going to give them to you
very plainly. Now, first of all, first of all,
there are many sermons that have been preached from this pulpit
on the means, M-E-A-N-S, the means of redemption. And I hope
there'll be many more. I hope there'll be many more.
The means of redemption. What are the means of redemption?
Well, number one, I'll tell you this, the moving cause of all
mercy is the love of God. Mercy begins with God, not with
you or me. The moving cause of all mercy
is the love of God. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but He loved us. We love him because he first
loved us. He said, I have set my affection
upon you, and I have chosen you, not because you were more in
number, but because the Lord loved you. The Lord had drawn
us with an everlasting love. Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians.
He said, I give thanks to God, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
for you, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. I have no time to argue this
matter and don't intend to. But I chose God because He chose
me. I sought God because God sought
me. I love Christ because Christ
loved me. It all began with God. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according
as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Not because we were holy, but that we should be holy. And without
blame, before him in love, having predestinated us to the adoption
of children, according to the good pleasure of his own will,
wherein he made us accepted in the beloved to the praise of
the glory of his grace. The moving cause Of all mercy
is the love of God. There's not anything found in
us that would commend us to God. All right, secondly, in regard
to this means of redemption, the moving cause of all mercy
is God's love. Secondly, the procuring cause.
The procuring cause of all mercy is the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, every attribute of
Almighty God is fulfilled in Christ. He that hath seen me
hath seen my Father. In Galatians 4 verse 4 and 5,
in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son into the world,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem us who were under
the law. Everything I need is met in Christ. Everything God requires is met
in Christ. His holiness is honored in Christ. That's why Christ came. In order
that God Almighty might be just and holy and righteous and justify
folks like you and me. By the disobedience of one, we
were made sinners. By the obedience of Christ, we
were made righteous. My righteousness is Christ. That's
the reason, Bill, that Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. God's righteousness is in Christ. Our righteousness is because
of Christ. His law is honored, His holiness
is honored, and His justice is satisfied. Turn to 1 Peter 3.
I want you to look at this scripture, 1 Peter chapter 3. It says here
plainly and clearly, listen to it, 1 Peter 3 verse 13. For Christ
also hath once suffered for sins. Not many times, just one time,
suffered for sins. suffered in the state of, in
the place of, for the guilt of, our sins, the just, Christ is
the just, for the unjust, we are the unjust, that he might
bring us to God. Not that he might fix us so we
can come to God, not so he can fix a way by which we can get
to God, but he himself brings us to God in himself. He brings
us to God because He is our righteousness, we have none. We're in Him, and
He's perfect, that makes us perfect. We're in Him, He's holy, that
makes us holy. We're in Him, He paid the debt,
therefore the debt's paid. God has nothing to lay to the
charge of Christ, and my being in Christ, God has nothing to
lay to my charge. You see that? That's so clear,
that He might bring us to God. He supplies everything we need.
God has no quarrel with us. He reconciled us to God. Being
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Everything's
in Christ. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. All right. Thirdly, now we know
this. I said first, the moving cause.
If you want to trace mercy to its source, mercy to its fountain,
and grace to its beginning, you've got to go back to God. There's
nothing here, there's nothing in me or you that would merit
or earn the grace and the mercy of God. It all starts with Him.
And the procuring cause that brings me, the defiled, the corrupt,
the ungodly, that makes me holy and righteous and pure and lovely
and unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight is Jesus Christ
who came from there to me and brought me back. Now then, the
instrumental cause, this is so important, the instrumental cause
of mercy in us and to us is what I'm doing right now, the preaching
of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel.
God loved me. God chose me. Almighty God set
his affection upon me, but I didn't love God, and I didn't choose
God, and my affections weren't on God. And Jesus Christ came
and he reconciled me to God. God's not angry, but I still
am. God's not at war with me, but
I'm at war with God. It's like Saul of Tarsus is a
perfect example of this. Saul of Tarsus, he said, God
separated me from my mother's womb. In other words, God loves
Saul in Christ. Even when Saul was breathing
out threatenings and cursings against God, even when he hated
Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is God. You say, but he loved
the Father. Oh, he hated the Father. You
can't hate the Son and not hate the Father. You see, Saul of
Tarsus loved his idol. He loved his idea of God. Just
like folks in our land, they love their idea of God. They've
got a God. And they call Him by the same
name you call yours. They call him Jesus. But he's
a figment of their imagination. This generation of religionists
and fundamentalists, they have a God, but he does what they
let him do. They have fashioned them a God
according to their own imagination. And Saul of Tarsus loved his
God. He hated the living God. He loved
his identity of God. He was a theologian. He was a
moralist. He was a legalist. He was a religionist. And he had a God, and he had
a law, and he had works, and he had all these things that
would finally get him to a happy hunting ground. But in his heart
of hearts, and in his innermost being, in his soul, he hated
the living God. He despised the living God for
the first 40 years of his life. He did everything in his power
to blot out the name of Jesus Christ. Did he not? He said,
I sought to do all manner of things against that name. But
God loved him. Now how is God going to bring
this man to love him? God loves this man. God set his
affection on this man. God, by the work of Christ, by
the person of Christ, by the righteousness of Christ, by the
holiness of Christ, loves this man in Christ, reconciled to
him. How is he going to get that man
to be reconciled to him? See, Paul deals with this over
in Corinthians. He says this over in 2 Corinthians
5. You want to look at it? 2 Corinthians
5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Listen to this. 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. Verse 19. Now listen to it. Verse 18. Let's read 2 Corinthians
5. And all things are of God. That's
what I said. Everything starts with God. what
you have started, all things of God, who hath reconciled us
to himself. How? By Jesus Christ. God didn't put his tongue in
his cheek and overlook your sins and say, I forgive you. No sin,
he forgave you in Christ. He reconciled you by Christ.
He's not angry at you because he's not angry at Christ, and
you're in Christ. I've fulfilled the law. God's got no reason
to be angry with me. I've got, the reason I'm angry
with God in my natural self is I don't know Him. If I ever saw
His love, I'd love Him. If I ever saw His holiness, I'd
bow to Him. If I ever saw Him for what He
is and as He is, I'd submit to Him. But I don't know that, see,
I'm blind. The God of this world blinded me in my nature. All
right, read on, verse 18. And God has given us the ministry
of reconciliation. I thought he was already reconciled.
He is in Christ, but you're not. And I've got a ministry to you,
and it's the ministry of reconciliation. God is reconciled to you in Christ,
and I want you reconciled to God. You see what I'm saying,
Joe? Read on. Namely, to wit means
namely, that God was in Christ. Jesus Christ is God, and God
was in Christ. God not only purposed this, he
purchased it. And he reconciled the world unto
himself, men of every nation, tribe, tongue, kindred unto heaven,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, but who did he impute
them to? To Christ. And hath committed to us this
word, this gospel of reconciliation. Now then, I am an ambassador. What a responsibility. You see
the weight on us preachers? We're ambassadors of Jesus Christ,
representatives of Jesus Christ. As though, oh how heavy this
is, God Almighty himself did beseech you by us. Be ye reconciled to God. Lay down your sword. Put up your
shotgun. fall on your knees and bow to
God. And you know the means of that,
the instrument? It's this gospel right here. Oh, you see, you see, Saul said,
well, who are you, Lord? And he said, I'm Jesus Christ.
I didn't know that. I didn't know that. And that's
what I'm saying is we come and preach. We've got this glorious
gospel, this good news, who God is. God is righteous, and God
is love. God is just, and God is merciful. And we're undeserving, but Christ
is our reconciler. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our redeemer. Christ is our rest. Oh, I didn't
know that. I'm so glad to hear that. I'm
so glad I don't have to get to heaven by my works, because I
don't have any. I'm so glad I don't have to justify
a holy God by my doings, because I don't have any doing. of his
own will beget he us through the word of truth. You see, the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the
seed that begets life. The gospel is that seed, the
word of God, that brings a man to Christ. That's right. Turn to Ephesians 1 for a moment.
Listen to this. We covered this in our Sunday
school class this morning. I'm not going to read the whole
thing, but let me just bring you right up to this verse I'm
going to read. Paul talks about God chose me.
God predestinated me to be like Christ. And Almighty God in Christ
accepted us. And then Christ, Christ Jesus
redeemed us and he enlightened us and he enriched us. And then
the Holy Spirit came. Now look at verse 13. in whom
you trusted after you heard the word of truth. I told my class
this morning in whom you trusted after you heard not just anything
but you heard the truth. I just do not believe that a
man can trust a Christ and be saved who's not the Christ of
the Bible. I believe a man has to hear the truth, the truth
about God, the truth about himself, the truth about Christ. And you
heard that word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also, after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. All right, you have that? Let's
move to the second point now. We talked about his means. God
is the moving cause, Christ the procuring cause, the gospel instrumental
cause. Now, many sermons have been preached
from this pulpit and many more I trust will be preached on the
glorious benefits of redemption. I told my class this morning
that when a mother goes to the hospital to give birth to a child,
and that child is delivered from the womb, and that doctor holds
that little infant whether boy or girl. That infant, as it is
right there, one minute old, two seconds old, has everything
he'll ever have. Isn't that right, Bill? Everything. He's got five, four
fingers and a thumb. He's got fingernails. You ever
looked at him? Those little old fingernails
about the size of the top of a pen. He's got eyes and ears,
two arms, feet. He's got a bladder, kidneys,
lungs, heart. He's not going to grow anything
else. Now, it'll develop. It'll develop, but he'll never
grow another member. He's got them all. In other words,
when that child is first born, he has everything he needs to
be a full-grown, mature man or a full, mature woman. When you're
born into the kingdom of God, by the mercy of God, by the blood
of Christ, by the word of God, you've got everything, everything
you'll ever have in glory. You don't add one thing. Now
you'll mature. That love with which I love Christ
in glory, I got right now. It's not like it's going to be,
but it's there. That faith that I have, that'll
praise his name forever is the same faith I have right now.
That's right, John. He hath made us sufficient in
Christ to be a partaker of the saints and glory. That's exactly
right. We have ever been, we're justified
before God. I'll never be more justified
than I was the day God called me by his grace. Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. I'll never be more
sanctified, never, not even in glory, in the sight of God and
before God, than I was the day God saved me. Perfectly sanctified. Now, I expect to do some growing,
don't you? But I'm perfectly sanctified
in God's sight. I don't know. I love you folks
more now than I did five years ago. One of us has changed, I
reckon. No, we're still the same, but
we've grown in grace. Ain't that right? I think I can
preach a little better than I could 15 years ago. My gospel's the
same, but I know a little more about him. But I knew him then. Isn't that
right? Well, does he love me more now than he did then? Oh,
no. Am I more saved now than I was then? Oh, no. That thief
on the cross, that man that loved Christ and looked to Christ and
was saved like that, just as holy as you are or I am or anybody
else, right then, he's justified, sanctified, redeemed, ransomed,
right then. Isn't that right, John? It's
exactly so, because everything I have is in Christ. I wish I
could make that clear. As Bill said, conditioned only
on Christ's obedience, not mine. Isn't that right? That's the
issue. That's the issue today. The blessings... I'm not what I ought to be. Under
God I know it. And I'm not what I want to be.
Are you? And I'm not what I expect to
be. But I know this, I ain't what I used to be. I know God,
and I love him, and I believe him. Do you? Sure do. Ain't no mealy-mouthing about
that. He's my, like Thomas said, he's my Lord and my God. I've
got no other. Like Peter said, to whom shall
I go? He has the words of life. I believe and I'm sure he's the
Christ, the Son of God. And being in him, I'm perfect.
In fact, actually, we're already seated with him in the heavens.
Now, if I'm not perfect, I got no business there. If I'm not
perfectly sanctified, I couldn't be seated within the veil. But
that's where we are in Christ. Do you know that? All right,
now moving to the third point. Under that benefits of redemption,
you can put we're justified, Romans 5.1, we're sanctified
in Christ. bond slaves, third, we're seated
with Christ in the heaven, Ephesians 2. But there's also, thirdly, God's
great design in this thing of redemption. Now, return to Isaiah
25. Isaiah 25. Let me read this one
more time. And then I'm going to bring this,
I hope, to a close. In Isaiah 25 verse 8,
he will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces. And the rebuke of his people
shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken
it. And it shall be said in that day, oh, lo, this is our God
we waited for. Brother man, what do you believe
God has designed to do? Alright? Five things, briefly. I'll give them to you briefly,
briefly. Number one, our God is going to put an end to everything
contrary to himself. Now get, buckle your seatbelt.
Buckle your seatbelt. He's gonna, the Lord Jesus Christ
was revealed to destroy the works of evil. and God's going to put
an end, he's going to stamp out, he's going to destroy, he's going
to annihilate everything contrary to himself, whatever it is. Now listen to me. It'd be well
for me and well for you to lay our religious traditions
aside and what we've always thought, what we've always believed, just
lay them down now and make a study Make a firm, diligent study of
the nature and character of the Holy God. Now I'm dead serious. I know we've got an idea, this
generation's got an idea of God. I see preachers talk about God
said to them last night and they said to God and, now wait a minute. I hear them say, well God wants
to do this and you just won't let him. It do well for us to
make a firm, diligent study of the nature and character of the
holy God as he's revealed in his word, for the day is coming
when every thought, will, mind, and nature contrary to God is
going to be destroyed. Every imagination, every thought,
whether it be religious or otherwise, whether it be moral or otherwise,
every thought and imagination and idea contrary to God himself
will be destroyed. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter what you have.
I know this world puts a lot of emphasis upon class and education
and riches and all these things. But it doesn't matter who you
are. It doesn't matter who you know. It doesn't matter what
you are, what you have, or what you do. That which is not glorifying
to God will be destroyed, wiped out, and forgotten. Now that's so. Turn to Colossians
1. Colossians chapter 1 everything
contrary to God Colossians chapter 1 It says this Verse 16 talking
about Christ Jesus for by him were all things created and that
are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. And he's before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he's the head of
the church, head of the body of the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, in all things,
he might have the preeminence. Now, my friends, I do not know,
you who are here and you who will listen by tape, I don't
know your relationship to the Son of God, but I do know God's
design toward His Son. I do not know your relationship
to the Son of God, but I do know the Father's design toward His
Son, and I do know this, that one day He'll destroy every person
and every thought and every will contrary to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I just know that. And I know there are people who
just want to make a way. They say, well, my old preacher
didn't believe that, but I know he's in heaven. Somebody else didn't believe
that, but I know they're in heaven. Now, wait a minute. That very
thought is contrary to God. This is what I'm talking about,
that very thought. You see, that's the glimmer of rebellion against
his work. I received a letter from a dear
television listener last week, and I've already answered it,
and this person was talking about how much foolishness is on television,
how she liked what I preached. I was preaching the Word of God,
but she said, Brother Mann, don't you think that people who were
innocent and ignorant and never heard this gospel, that God somehow
out yonder in the eternity will make a way for them to be saved.
See, that's a thought against God right there. And I know it's a hard thing. I know, Bob, what I'm dealing
with right here is just, it's just, it's too much for me. It's
too much for me. But I do know this. The Father
hath given all things into the hands of the Son. The Father
hath declared that every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess in heaven, earth, and under the earth that he is Lord.
The Father hath given him all preeminence, and every thought,
imagination, desire, idea, contrary to that decree, God's going to
destroy it and the person with it. You see, God has created
a new heaven in which nothing shall enter. that worketh or
maketh a life. That's just it. And I know today
the preacher is talking about the second coming of Christ,
going to talk about rebuilding the temple and Gog and Magog
and tribulation, the church going through a tribulation. I don't
care. But I do want to be conformed
to the mind of God and the mind of Christ. Because I do know
if I'm not, He's going to wipe me out. Whether I'm in Gog or
Magog, whether I'm on the left side of the three and a half
or the right side, or whether I'm in Jerusalem or in Ashton,
He's going to wipe me out if I've got even a glimmer of rebellion
against His design for His glorious Son. Now, I'm going to have to
submit right now. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
all in Thee I find. That's it. Secondly, God's going
to restore the ruins of the fowl. That's right. We were ruined. We were ruined by the fowl. A
man said to me this morning, one of my dear friends over here,
we sat and talked about this. He said man was created in the
image of God, and he was. We were created in the image
of God. That's what it said. You know what it said? We're
created in the image of God. And that image has been defaced
and marred and broken. But do you know we still retain
at least the ruins of the image? For example, let me give you
an example. I don't know about those Greek buildings over there,
but there's a Parthenon and several of those buildings. and they're
ruins, and the Coliseum in Rome, the ruins, built 2,000, 3,000
years ago, 2,500. But you can look at that building,
or what's left of it, and tell something about what it used
to be, can't you? And you can look at this man, and that man,
and that man, and that man, and that woman, and tell a little
bit about what we used to be. See, God has a will and I have
a will. Mine's fallen, but I have a will. Talks about the mind
of God. I have a mind. A gorilla doesn't
have a mind of ideas and perception and initiative and understanding,
but I do. I think. I think wrong, but I
think. I love. I love wrong, but I love.
See what I'm talking about? And I have retained, though my
image is ruined and in ruins, Jesus Christ became a man. He was a perfect man. And Jesus
Christ at the right hand of God is what right now, Charlie? He's
a man. That's what the man Christ Jesus.
And He's what this ruin is going to be. God's going to restore
the ruins of the fallen. And I'm going to be like Christ,
perfectly conformed to His what? Image. And then those trees out there,
and flowers and grass, you know why they die? The fall of man. Read Romans 8. I won't bother
to read it this morning, but the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain, waiting for what? My redemption. Waiting
till God puts this old building back like it was, and then he's
going to put everything around it back like it was. They wait
for the redemption of the body of the child of God. God's going
to restore all the ruins of the fall, the desert and the mountains
will blossom like a rose, and everything in God's creation,
the new heaven, new earth, will take on the beauty of God. And
there won't be an ill wind, not in anybody's mind or out yonder
in the universe. It will destroy it. God will gather together all
in one Gather together in one all things in Christ now stay
with me. You can read that Ephesians 1
Matthew 24 He's gonna gather together all things in one In
Christ that they may be one as we are watch this now listen
to me There are 4,000 brands of religion in this world You
claim the Baptists are right? No, they're just as wrong as
anybody else. You claim the sovereign graces are all right? No, they're
just as wrong as everybody else in most things. There are 4,000
brands of religion. There's one living temple, and
Christ is the foundation. And whether you're in the Baptists,
Methodists, or whatever, it won't do you any good unless you're
in Christ. Whether you're in Calvinism or Arminianism, it
won't help you unless you're in Christ. That's right. Religion
is not the temple. Christ is the temple. It's one
body, and that's Christ. Isn't that right? I'm not belittling
our sovereign grace beliefs. It's the truth. But I'm simply
saying that a man can be lost even believing good theology
if he's not in Christ. And there are 4,000 ways of salvation
in this world with just one Savior. To be in Him is to be in God.
To believe Him is to believe God. To know Him is to know God. To suffer with Him is to rise
with Him and reign with Him. This is the record, my friends. God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. And the word today, Christian.
She's a Christian woman. He's a Christian man. It's just
lost its meaning. I wish we could come up with
something else. Maybe the word believer. Fourthly,
our God will glorify his elect. Our God will glorify his elect. I want to read 1 Corinthians
15, just a part of it, verse 50, beginning with verse 50.
1 Corinthians 15, verse 50. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither corruption
inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed. For this corruptible shall put
on incorruption, and this mortal, immortality. Oh, what a day. Think about it, Mike. So when
this corruptible shall put on incorruption, shall have put
on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass to say, death is followed up
in victory. And fifthly, in closing, you
know we're literally gonna see that which Hannah talked about
from the dung here to the throne. We're going to actually partake
of that glorious mystery. Tom from the dung hill, I'm going
to sit on the throne with him and reign with Christ in immortality,
in corruption, in holiness, beauty, perfection. I can hardly wait. Fifthly, our
God's going to glorify himself. Now in Ephesians 1, Now this
is my closing point and I kind of believe it might be one of
the stronger points. At least, at least it's a point
that needs to be considered. If your, Ephesians 1 will read
it to me, if your religion does not glorify God, well you better
leave it. If your faith does not glorify
God, you better forget it. I don't care how long you've
had it. I don't care how much it's helped
you. If God does not get all the glory, you better forget
it. If your gospel does not glorify God, give him all the glory,
he said my glory I'll not share with another, you better drop
it. If your way of life, listen to
me, if your way of life and your pursuit in business, socially,
or whatever does not glorify God, you better change it. I'm dead serious. Well, can't
all be preachers? Well, I know that, but we can
all love God and glorify God. If your attitude does not glorify
God, you better change it. Because he's going to be glorifying,
isn't he? If your friends do not glorify
God, you better get you a new circle of friends. I'm dead serious. I'm not playing games. I'm simply
saying, God said, let not the rich man glory in his riches,
let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty
man glory in his spirit, let him that glory in this, that
he knows me, that I am the Lord, and my glory I'll not give to
another. Friends, we're too close. to
the day of reckoning to play games. And I'm simply saying
if your church does not glorify God, you better go to another
one that does. Yeah, but mama was there. Maybe
somebody preached something when she was there. I don't know,
but that won't help you. If my preacher didn't glorify
God, I'd fire him or get another one. I'm serious about that. You see here in Ephesians 1,
when it talked about the work of the Father in redemption,
in verse 6 it says it's to the praise of the glory of His grace. In verse 12, when it talked about
the work of the Son in redeeming us, it said that we should be
to the praise of His glory. In verse 14, when it talked about
the work of the Holy Spirit in redeeming us and calling us,
the last line says unto the praise. of His glory. What's God's great design in
all of this? To put an end to everything contrary
to Himself. To restore the ruins of the fallen. God's going to make things like
they were. He restoreth my soul. Almighty God is going to glorify
His Son. He's going to magnify, exalt,
and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to glorify His elect.
He's going to make us like Christ. And He's going to glorify Himself.