Glorying Only In the Lord

I have a scripture that I want
you to read with me, if you will. It's found in Jeremiah 9, verse
23. Now, as far as I'm concerned,
this scripture ought to be marked in every person's Bible, and
we ought to read it frequently, over and over. And it will speak
to us. I'm going to preach to you today
on this subject, glorying only in the Lord. glorying only in
the Lord. And I have something for us.
I know that God has given me a word for our day, and for you
personally, and for me. Now listen to this scripture,
Jeremiah 9.23. Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom. He's not saying there aren't
any wise men. He's saying let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom. And neither let the mighty man
glory in his might, in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which
exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth,
for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. Now these two
verses are sandwiched between two phrases. Thus saith the Lord,
and saith the Lord. Pretty important, isn't it? Thus
saith the Lord. Let not the wise man glory in
his wisdom. Let not the strong, the mighty,
glory in their might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. which exercise
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, for in these things,
not in human wisdom, not in human power and strength, not in human
riches, in these things do I delight, saith the Lord, in righteousness,
and in lovingkindness, and in judgment, justice. All right,
there's an irresistible urge in every person to glory in something. Now that's true of everybody,
there's none of you, none of you, I don't care who you are,
the rich and the poor, the old and the young, male and female,
the learned and unlearned, the free and the enslaved, the low
and the high, there's an urge, there's a tendency, there's an
irresistible urge in every human being to glory in something.
Someone said men will glory. They will glory. They'll glory
in their place, proud of their standing or their position, Their
glory in their face, their beauty, their strength, their glory in
their race, their glory even in grace. But man's going to
glory in something. Now what do we mean by glory?
That's important there. If Lord says, let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man glory in his strength,
nor the rich man glory in his riches, what do we mean by glory?
What do you think we mean? Well, here's what it means. It
means this. It's to honor. It means to honor
and exalt a thing or a person. It is to rejoice in something
and take great pride in it. And it is even to worship that
person or thing and give it the place, here's the key, of preeminence
in our lives. That's what it means to glory
in something. Now, when you take wisdom and riches and possessions
and place, or face, or race, or even religion, grace, and
a person glories in a thing, or glories in a person, he's
honoring that thing. He's exalting it. He's giving
it preeminence. He's giving it first place. He's
taking great pride in it. Now, many men, now listen to
this, and this is a lesson to us. Many men in the Scriptures
have gloried in vain things, and had those things turn out
to be their destroyer. Did you know that? In the scriptures
I can show you many examples of people who have gloried in
things, not the Lord, but gloried in things, and had these things
destroy them, turn out to be great grief. For example, Hezekiah
took the ambassadors of Babylon from treasure house to treasure
house. He was a wealthy king. He had
a fabulous kingdom. He had treasure houses, and diamonds,
and gold, and silver, and precious stones, and all these things.
And the visitors from Babylon came over, and he is proud of
his kingdom, and he took them around from treasure house to
treasure house, bragging, boasting of his riches. Well, that displeased
the Lord. And these very men, to whom he
boasted, came back and carried away all his beautiful treasures.
He lost all of them. He was so proud, so boastful.
And these very men that he took and showed his treasure houses
came and emptied them. And then Herod. Herod made a
great speech one day, a great oration. And he allowed the people
to praise him. Oh, it was a great speech. And
the people began to say, it's not the voice of a man, it's
the voice of a God. Boy, did that make him happy.
Did that please him. And he didn't correct them. He
allowed people to brag on his great speech. and his great powers
of persuasion, and they called his voice the voice of a God.
Well, God proved his humanity. God filled his whole body with
worms, and he was eaten of worms and destroyed. The proud flesh
that exalted itself above God, God proved his humanity, and
he died a shameful, horrible death, rotten death. God proved
he was a man. All right, take ease. Adam and
Eve had a son, the first son born to them. And if you'll read
some of the better translations, you'll find when Eve got that
boy in her arm, that first son, Cain was his name. And when she
gave birth to that first son, and evidently Adam laid that
son in her arm, she said this, I've gotten a man, I've gotten
a man. And the translations say, from
the Lord. But do you know what she said? I've gotten a man,
the Lord, the Lord. Now then, God had promised a
Redeemer. He had promised that the Redeemer
would come through woman, and Eve thought she held him in her
arms. She thought this was the Redeemer. She had given birth
to the Redeemer, the one who was deceived, the one who led
Adam into sin, the one whom Satan tried and tempted. She thought
she had given birth to the Deliverer, and she called that son of hers
the Lord. Well, he proved to be the first
murderer. He broke his mama's heart, killed
his brother. Jacob. Jacob, gloried in the
coat of many colors. He gave it to his favorite son.
Well, they brought him that coat back, shredded, torn to pieces,
and covered with blood. David. David, the mighty king
of Israel. God told David, now David, I
know how many people I got, and I don't need you to number them.
Well, David had climbed to the heights of his splendid kingdom,
and he got proud of his armies and proud of his kingdom, And
even though God told him not to number them, he numbered Israel.
He had to know how many swordsmen and how many spearmen and how
many of the cavalry and how many of these different ones he had.
So he numbered them. And his general told him, you
shouldn't have done that. And God came to him and told
him he shouldn't have done it too. And the Lord killed 70,000 of
his choice men because he numbered Israel. Pride. We want a glory in something,
don't we? Eve gloried in that son, and Hezekiah gloried in
his riches, and David gloried in his strength, and Herod gloried
in his voice. And what about Peter? Our Lord
was going to the cross, and He told His disciples, He said,
all of you will be offended because of me this night. Peter rose
up and threw back his chest, threw back his shoulders, and
threw out his chest. He said, not me. Now, these other
fellows may desert you, Lord, but not me. These other fellows
may deny you, but not me. Why, Lord, he said, I'll lay
down my life for you. Do you know, my friends, he was
the only one who verbally... Now, the rest of them deserted,
but he was the only one who verbally denied his Lord. He was the only
one who said, I know not the name. Now, you think about that. The rich young ruler gloried
in his righteousness and died, died an unbeliever. The rich
young man gloried in his wealth and died in spiritual poverty.
We'd better be careful. God said, thus saith the Lord,
let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and let not the mighty
man glory in his strength, and let not the rich man glory in
his riches. That very thing in which you
glory may just turn out to be your greatest grief. It may turn
out to be your destroyer. You make a God out of that little
lump of clay you are holding in your arms and it may turn
out to be your destroyer. It may bring gray hair to your
head and a broken heart and tears to your eyes because God is a
jealous God. He will not share his glory.
This is vain glory. This is vainglory. These are
examples of vainglory and examples of people reaping the dividends
of vainglory. Christ said, He that loveth father,
mother, brother, sister, husband and wife more than me, yea, his
own life cannot be my disciple. Now God has prepared a cure for
vainglory. I can give you a cure for vainglory,
if you want it. I can give you a cure for vainglory. Now, the cure for vainglory is
not to suppress the tendency in man to glory. Man's going
to glory in something. You can't just come to a fellow
and say, now just don't glory in anything. He's got pride,
and he's going to put it in something. He has honor to give, and he's
going to give honor. And he's got affection to show, and he's going
to show it. And he's got honor and custom to render, and he's
got tribute to render, and he's going to render it to something.
something in himself or something in someone else. So this is the
cure. This is the way to stop vain
glory. God doesn't take away our tendency
to glory, but he gives us an object worthy of glory. He gives us an object worthy
of tribute and worthy of honor. He knows we're going to have
something in our lives that's preeminent, something that's
first. So he gives us something worthy of that position. worthy
of that place. The cure for vain glory is true
glory. Now then, what is the true glory? Our Lord says, let not the wise
man glory in his wisdom, the rich man in his riches, the strong
man in his strength. Let him glory in this, that he
understands and knows me, that I am the Lord. The chief end
of man is to glorify God. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. You know, when we glory in the
Lord, if we can be brought to this place, and how I want it,
and how I want it for you, if we can be brought to the place
where we glory in the Lord, not in things or people, but where
we glory in the Lord, we will be in full accord with God's
universe and with God's kingdom. Did you know that? That's right.
The last verse in the book of Psalms says this, the hymn book
of the church, the book of Psalms, the last verse says this, let
everything that hath breath praise the Lord. The heavens declare
the glory of God. If I can learn to glorify God,
I'll be in tune with the heavens, because the heavens declare the
glory of God. Listen, all thy works, O Lord,
shall praise thy name. And Paul wrote, for of him and
through him and to him are all things. to whom be glory forever
and ever. One great old writer said creation
is a temple, a temple in which everything speaks of the glory
of God. Everything exists for the glory
of God. Everything is created for the
glory of God. And everything will result in
the ultimate glory of God. So if we learn to glorify God,
we'll be in tune with the heavens. And then we'll be in tune with
angels. You know what the psalm of the angels is? When they came
down here to the earth on the Judean hillsides and appeared
to those shepherds, how did they open their announcement? Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward
men. But glory to God. And when we glorify God, we are
in tune with the sun. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who said, Father, before He went to the cross in that
great high priestly prayer, He said, Father, glorify Thy Son
that Thy Son may glorify Thee. And then what of the Holy Spirit?
Well, when our Lord was going back to glory after He had rose
from the tomb, He said to His disciples, If I go away, I'll
send you another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, who will abide with
you forever, and He shall take the things of mine and show them
to you, He shall not speak of himself, but he shall glorify
me." That's the work of the Holy Spirit, to glorify Christ. And
if I can learn to glorify Him, I'll be in tune with the Holy
Spirit. Man doesn't have the Holy Spirit who doesn't glorify
Christ. And then listen to the redeemed
in heaven. Listen to those who are around the throne of God.
Listen to those who have had their robes washed and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. Listen to them. salvation, Revelation
19 verse 1 and 2, salvation and glory and honor and power to
the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgments.
Now my friends, God is great and God filleth all things and
there's no room for a competitor. There's no room for a competitor,
not a church, not a bishop, not a preacher, not a group of people,
not a person, not a king, not a general. God is great and he
filleth all things and there's no room for a competitor. The
glory in anyone or anything else is to provoke God's wrath and
God's jealousy, for he said, and you might memorize this scripture,
my glory I will not give to another. My glory I will not give to another. Now, what we glory in today will
be gone tomorrow. But if we can learn to glory
in the Lord, he lives forever. The objects of our glory here
on this earth all are decaying. Change and decay all around,
I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me. I need to put my confidence in
that which does not change. I need to put my hope, rest my
hope in him who does not change. If I'm going to put pride and
honor and preeminence in anyone, let it be in Him who earns it,
who deserves it, and who never changes, and who will never betray
me. Yes, when we glorify God, we're
in tune with the universe, and we're in tune with the angels,
and we're in tune with the Son of God, and we're in tune with
the Holy Spirit, and we're already rehearsing the song we'll sing
in heaven unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in His own blood. and made us kings and priests
unto God, to him be glory both now and forever." That's the
song of heaven. Take the book of Ephesians sometimes.
I don't have time to go into it today, but take the book of
Ephesians, chapter 1, and read there the work of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit in redemption. And you'll find
after it describes in the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, after
it describes the work of the Father who chose us, who predestinated
us, and who made us his children, that it says in verse 6, he did
it to the praise of his glory. And then it describes the work
of the Son, who gave us an inheritance, who redeemed us, and who enriched
us, enlightened us. And it says in verse 12, to the
praise of his glory. And then it talks about the work
of the Holy Spirit, who called us, and who enlightened us in
the gospel, and who sealed us. And verse 14 says, He did it
to the praise of His glory. And that's why the Father and
the Son and the Holy Spirit redeemed us, to the praise of the glory
of His grace. Now, here's a legitimate question.
Why should I glory in the Lord? You know, when Moses came to
Pharaoh and said, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go. Pharaoh
had a good question. He said, Moses, who is the Lord? that I should obey Him. And here
I am telling you today on this program, don't glory in your
wisdom or your righteousness or your strength or your riches
or any of these perishing things, but glory in the Lord. And you
say, why? Who is the Lord that I should glory in Him? Well,
let me answer that. First of all, He's God. Scripture
says, in Him we live and move and have our being. He's King
of kings and Lord of lords. He's worthy of praise and glory
because He is God. And all things exist by His power. He rules and reigns over all
things. He has the highest office. In
Him are all offices. The Scripture says all power
is of God. The power I have tonight to breathe
is of God. The power I have to see is of
God. The power I have to move that
hand is of God, all powers of God. Christ said to Pilate, you
could have no power over me at all, except it were given you
from above. That's why we glory in God. God,
because He is God. And then secondly, He's holy.
Oh, Isaiah said, when King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and
lifted up. His train filled the temple,
and the cherubims and seraphims all about His throne cried, holy,
holy, holy. God is righteous. God is holy.
Holy and reverend is His name. I don't particularly like to
be called Reverend Mayhem. And here's the reason. Because
holy and reverend is His name. My name's not reverend. But His
name is. We learn to worship Him. We learn
to worship Him in reverence, in fear and all. And we'll cut
out some of this three ring circus things in the house of God and
call it worship. Be still and know that I'm God.
And then I'll tell you, He is merciful. The Lord God is merciful
and gracious and long-suffering and abundant in goodness and
truth, keeping mercy and forgiving iniquity. He's merciful. No man
is merciful, but God is. And then He's our Savior. Jehovah
Savior. For God so loved the world. He's
worthy of honor. He's worthy of glory. Nobody
ever loved like God loved. God is love. Anybody who loves
has to get it from God secondhand. For God so loved the world, he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should
not perish, but have eternal life. When I survey the wondrous
cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I
count but loss, and I pour contempt on all my pride. Forbid it, Lord,
that I should boast, saving the death of Christ my God. All the
vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
Where the whole realm of nature mine, that were present far too
small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my
all. Who is the Lord that I should
glorify Him? He's God. That's right. He's
God. And He's holy. He's holy, holy
and reverend is His name. He's gracious, gracious to the
guilty, merciful to the undeserving. He's my Savior. He's my Savior. And I'll tell you this, if I
don't learn to glorify Him here, I'm not going to be among those
who glorify Him there. If I don't learn to sing that
song of the redeemed here, I don't know why I should even suspect
or hope to sing it there. This is rehearsal time. This
is when men begin to walk the ways of God and learn the love
of God and partake of the nature of God. Yes, there's a change. Oh, what a change when we leave
this earth. But the change has already taken place. The love
which you shall enjoy in heaven is the love which you already
have in a degree. The nature which you shall have
in glory is the nature you already have in regeneration in the new
birth. You won't be born again the third time. You're just born
a second time by the Spirit of God. All right, watch this now.
Let us glory in the Lord. Let us glory increasingly in
the Lord. My Lord, I'll praise Thee while
I live, and I'll praise Thee when I die, and I'll praise Thee
when I rise again, and I'll praise Thee in the sky. How do you glory
increasingly in the Lord? You want me to tell you what
I believe? I believe the more I walk with Him, the less I'll
be taken up. with the vanities of this world.
I believe the more I study the attributes and character of my
Lord, the more I'll be weaned away from the things of this
world that don't measure up to his perfection. I believe this,
the more I see of his glory, the less I'll be interested in
all of the decaying possessions of this world. You know, somebody
said one time, strangers and sojourners do not bury their
stakes very deep. In other words, if I realize
that any fleshly relationship that I have here outside of Christ
is going to shortly be over, I'm not going to cultivate that
relationship quite as strongly as I will that eternal relationship
which shall never, which shall never be broken. Those possessions,
those little soap bubbles and sand castles that we're playing
with, called houses and lands and lots and estates and cars
and boats and membership in clubs and all these things. When we
realize these are nothing in the world but fleshly, decaying,
rotting toys that one of these days will be as meaningless to
us as our old broken drum is that we played with, or our little
bugle we tooted when we were five years old. When we realize
these things are utterly decaying objects, meaningless objects,
We'll quit playing with them. And we'll begin to set our affections
on things above. Lay not up for yourselves treasures
on this earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and thieves
break through and steal. Lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven where moth and rust doth not corrupt and thieves
do not break through and steal. You've got a whole drawer full
of precious diamonds and jewelry and money there in your home.
You're scared to death somebody's going to break in and steal it.
Get rid of it. Give it to somebody who needs it. You lay up treasures
in heaven, you don't have to worry about folks stealing that.
You don't have to worry about folks stealing your relationship
with God, and stealing your interest in the kingdom of God, and stealing
your seat in glory. It's as sure as the throne of
God. Nobody's going to break in and steal God's throne. Nor
mine either. That's right. That's right. These things are play-pretties.
And a lot of folks are still playing with them. Taking up
with them. And they're going to be buried
without any pockets in their suits. can't take anything with
them. Everything is going to be left
right here to be fought over by somebody else or to decay
and go back to the dust and as paupers we're going to stand
before God. Our debt is too heavy to pay. How can I glory in the
Lord? That's a question with which
I want to close. Well, first of all, I can own Him publicly
as my Lord and Savior, which I intend to do. Whosoever shall
confess me before men, I'll confess before my Father which is in
heaven. Whosoever shall deny me before men, I'll deny him
before my Father which is in heaven. Whosoever is ashamed
of me, of him shall a son of man be ashamed when he comes
in glory. I can stand up where his word and where his person
is opposed and ridiculed. I can be identified with his
people and with his church. I can believe his word. I can
trust him in time of trouble and say with Job, the Lord giveth
and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Trust him. Learn the glory
in the Lord. Now if you want this message
on tape, you write to me. The address will be given to
you. Last week's message and today's message will be on the
same tape. Charges $3. You write to me if you want to
receive it. Till next week at the same time,
I bid you a very pleasant good day.

Glorying Only In the Lord

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Glorying Only In the Lord

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