From Western South Dakota
No Other Place On the Earth Like It
Where the Great Plains Prairie & Grassland Meets the Rugged Badlands Wall
www.scatteredchristians.org
|
Word-for-word transcription of the audio sermon - transcribed by Bob Harris |
|
"According to the Scriptures" |
Here we go. Uh-oh. Oh, this is April 1st, isn’t it? Uh-oh. So, you all be careful out there, that somebody doesn’t catch you on this April Fool. See, April Fool is just another, legitimate way to lie. It’s all it is. So, if you want to go by the letter of the law, you have all the mics out. Well, I got 1 and 2 is all I have to have on, then you guys can hear me. Guys, see? Here you are. You ladies and guys can hear me.
Let’s get started here. Good morning, Web site. I know how to cut that stuff out now. Dig. Yeah, I got the digital in my pocket going here. Let’s go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 this morning, and I heard a song yesterday, and it was doctrinally Great Commission junk, you know, they’re talking about “He’s my Messiah,” or something like that. And he’s not our Messiah. He’s the Jewish Messiah, but he’s not our Messiah. He’s our Saviour.
And I kept seeing the word “glory.” And I just got to thinking last night, you know, I had something else I was going to do, but “glory.” “Glory.”
If you have an unknown God and you know nothing about your God, then you give him glory in any way you think he accepts the glory and, fine, whatever, who cares. Just glorify his name and he’ll bless you. Kind of how I think people look at it.
And we get this verse 10:31, 1 Corinthians 10:31, where it says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” OK, well, that’s a pretty blanket statement, but we should give him the glory. But this can possibly mean we’re doing something wrong and give God the glory. Although — look at it this way — if we’re doing something we ought not be doing, first of all, all things are lawful. Period.
But then you’ve got some strings attached, and you know what they are. If I was in a live service, I would stop and say, “OK, some of you out there, yell, tell me what these strings are attached.”
Somebody would stand up and say, “Well, you can’t cause somebody to stumble with it.” And somebody else would stand up and say, “Well, you know, you can’t do it as an occasion for the flesh.” And one would say, “You can’t have it empower you, you have to be in control of this thing.” And one would say, “It has to edify,” and somebody else would jump up and say, “Well, it’s got to be expedient. It’s got to be the right thing to do a well.”
And that’s true. But, you know that when we do do something wrong, that it’s going to burn in the Judgment Seat. And it’s a public testimony, somebody sees that it’s not a right thing. So it kind of blows your testimony, causes somebody to stumble or something, you know.
You know that God still gets the glory for that thing? He just doesn’t get it with the people. He gets it from us, because it’s not imputed. So he still shows us the victory that he gives us when we’re the ones that have messed up.
So, yeah, whatever we do, whatever we eat or drink, as it says, he does get the glory. But on a public testimony basis, if you do the right thing, according to Paul’s teachings from the risen Saviour, he still doesn’t get the glory because people don’t like it. They don’t want it.
So, if you want to give glory to God according to this modern Christianity — and I heard the phrase the other day, you “fit in” — well, no, that doesn’t give God true glory. People can say, well, “You know, you’re looking nice, you’re dressed right,” and you know you’re not. You’re saying something you shouldn’t be saying. You’re hyenial laughing at the restaurant, everybody in the story hears you. I mean, the whole thing. And everybody says, “Well, you’re such a good person, such a happy person, God gets the glory out of you.”
No he doesn’t!
But, to the modern Christian, he does.
So let’s look at the Scriptures today. Just a simple list of Scriptures that talks about his glory, that he actually gets glory from us. Because it says, “In everything that ye eat and drink, you know, whatever you do, do it to the glory of God.” Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I’ll show you some things this morning. First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 29: It says here, “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” OK, so, boom, right there.
Now, it’s not talking about him not getting the glory. It’s about your flesh isn’t going to glory in his presence — “that no flesh should glory in his presence.” Got to read that closely. God is going to still get glory in what we do in our body and our flesh, our music and the things that we do that we covered up shamefaced — the whole list that goes with my own walk. Sure, he can still get the glory.
It says, “That no flesh should glory in his presence.” I think that we have taken that verse, just thinking about it, and we have twisted that thing a little bit.
OK, so, the glory has to be a glory that pleases him, of course. First Corinthians chapter 3, verse 21, it says here, “Therefore let no man glory in men.” See? Our glory has to be something that gives God the glory.
Romans 11:36. Let’s look at Romans 11:36. We’re going to go quick this morning; I don’t want to make this a two-parter. People get tired of my two-parters. Romans 11:36 — at least I think they do anyway. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever.” OK, so the glory is there. It’s possible for him in this perverted era, just before Tribulation time, to still get the glory.
Let’s go to 2 Corinthians, back to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 17. Second Corinthians 10:17 — and I’ll bet you’re not flipping pages. I’ll bet you’re just listening, huh? Oh, well. “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” See now, I could get all fleshy here and think, you know, I’m doing a better job, I’m doing a good job with kids, blah blah blah blah, but the glory’s got to be with him. I won’t go into the particulars of how we got here, da da ta da, and where we’re going, I don’t know, we’ll see — I hope whatever we do it’s an opportunity to give him the glory. And I can accept that.
And then let’s go to Philippians chapter 2. This is just telling us that we can give him the glory. It’s possible to give him the glory. We just have to define it Biblically, not according to our thoughts. Not because we did something we shouldn’t have done, but we did a good job, so God gets the glory. That kind of justifying what you do.
Philippians chapter 2, verse 11: “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” OK, so God gets the glory when people confess Jesus Christ as Lord.
Now, look at Romans 14, and Hank, keep your finger on Philippians chapter 2, let me bunny-trail this for just a second. Romans 14, verse 11, says, “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Confessing your sins, 1 John 1:9? No, no, not at all. Read back through the text.
But look at 1 John chapter 4. Let me show you how wrongly dividing can slip into something without even people realizing it here. First John chapter 4, verse 15: “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” So those three verses that talk about God getting the glory, because one says everybody should, one says everybody shall, and this one says, “Confess that Jesus is the Son of God,” about that confession thing.
So you want to take Romans, where it says, “Every knee shall bow to me and shall confess to God,” what are they confessing? That Jesus is the Son of God? No! Not at all. It’s a different statement there. See the difference? Just confessing that Jesus is the Son of God does not make you dwelling in God and God dwelling in you. Not during Paul’s time, or the Gentile time.
OK, anyway here, let’s get started. Let’s go to Acts chapter 7. So we can give God glory. But let’s try to concentrate on doing it the Biblical way, and I’ll show you what we mean here in a minute.
Acts chapter 7:55. Look at this verse; an interesting verse here: “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.” There’s a comma in there, so don’t forget that comma, and It’s not talking about Jesus being the glory of God. It says he saw the glory of God. Comma — and — he also saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God.
So what’s this glory of God? He saw it. Go over to Romans chapter 9. He saw the glory of God. Well, we won’t even get into it, but man has really polluted that statement. You know, “see you in all your glory” — that’s an earthly, worldly, perverted statement, taking something that was given to God. He saw the glory of God when Stephen saw what he saw.
Romans 9:23: “And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy — “ that’s us! “— which he had afore prepared unto glory.” “Riches of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:18 has the same phrase in it; Ephesians 1:18. So there must be something in his glory that’s in it for us as well. And you’ll see this. Let’s go here. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 18. This is one of Paul’s prayers, that we may know — the bottom half of that verse: “what the riches of the glory of his inheritance.” So there’s a giveaway. There’s part of the glory of God, is his inheritance, that we receive. So he gets the glory because we receive his inheritance; we’ll get to that in a minute here.
Go to 1 Corinthians 15. Like I said, we’re just going to flip pages all over the place, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 40. No here’s some glory that we’re not talking about this kind of glory. “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.” But we’re not talking about this kind of glory. We see modern Christianity and good people in this world that get excited about the glory of the heavens, you know, and the glory of this, and the glory of life; they fight for life. And that’s a fine thing to fight for, I suppose.
But everybody is still just missing the true glory that God should be getting.
OK, now, let’s get into it here. Here’s a list of things that give him the glory, and it’s the right kind of glory to be singing about if you’re going to be singing about that glory. You look at Romans chapter 1, you look at what people are singing about; they’re singing about something that has to do with them. They’re singing about themselves and what God has done for them. Romans 1:23; we’ll just do part of the verse; it says, “And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God —” and then it goes on “— into an image made like to corruptible man.”
But anyway, the first part, “Changed the glory of the uncorruptible God.” Number one, point number one, his glory. Well, he’s uncorruptible! Nobody’s going to change who he is. Now, you read the rest of those verses, and they change the glory of the incorruptible God into an image like unto corruptible man. They can’t imagine God being the way he is when it comes to, you know, forgiveness and not imputing all the sin that we did, his longsuffering — we talked about that last week — he is so powerful that he endures, he’s tremendously longsuffering, even though he’s willing to show his power and he’s willing to show his wrath. He wants to, but he doesn’t.
So, they change all this. They don’t understand that God is not like us, and that we’re not like God. God is uncorruptible. Our thought processes aren’t going to have anything to do with the way God thinks. If you stick in this Bible, you’re going to start thinking like God if you stay with these Scriptures, thinking like God in some respects. We’re no going to become God right now — that’s a fact.
So one of the indisputable facts about him getting glory is the fact that he’s uncorruptible.
Number two, look at Romans chapter 4, verse 20. You see what we’re doing? This is how you do it. You just, you don’t come up with these deep, intense, psychological sermons. You just show people what the Bible says, let’s look at these verses, and you can read these verses later and put this together. This is talking about God getting true glory. He gets real, honest-to-goodness true glory in these things right here.
Romans chapter 4, verse 20; this is Abraham: “Romans 4:20 "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” So a strong faith gives God glory. Now, we all have something going on — which is why I think, when I wrote that letter out there, people, I just wanted to tell people what’s going on in their quote-unqote “Web site pastor’s” life. It wasn’t really a whine. Didn’t get many comments back. And I’m thinking, “You know, I think people are just thinking, ‘I’m the only one who’s got problems, you know.’” No, that’s not true at all. I know we all got our problems. But I just want people to know what’s going on here.
And moving on. We have to have faith.
Now, I realize we have his faith. We know that. Think, the faith of Jesus Christ. But what Abraham’s talking about here, what’s talking about Abraham is the fact that he was strong in faith. So that faith that we have gives him the glory. We have strong faith. Doesn’t mean that we’ll get what we want — which we’ll see here. But we just have faith. We still have to have our faith. “Faith cometh by hearing the word of God.” And his faith cometh by hearing the word of God as well. And our faith will get stronger. If our faith is strong, God gets the glory.
I’ll be the first to say that it’s getting hard enough that we all have the tendency to just give up and just crash, just get out of the life, I guess — I don’t know. But if we have a strong faith, he gets the glory.
Let’s look at Romans chapter 6 verse 4. So people can sing about all the glory they want to sing about; but is he getting that kind of glory from you? He’s uncorruptible. We have a strong faith gives him glory. Romans chapter 6, verse 4: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father.” So Christ was risen, Christ was raised by the glory of the Father. Now, there’s a glory you can’t get rid of. God gets the glory; he raised Christ.
Now, what’s the tightest thing about that is look at Romans 15:7. Romans 15:7. I hope that little Daniel is getting there faster than your dad does, if you’re there. Romans 15:7: “Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” So, do a little study on this thing, and you’ll see the fact that God is going to raise us — that’s in Ephesians chapter 1 — God is going to raise us. There’s the glory. The fact that Christ, God through Christ can even just raise us from the dead when we go to be with him. That’s a fantastic glory. That’s how we get this glory.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Second Corinthians chapter 1. Which is after 1 Corinthians. Second Corinthians chapter 1, verse 20: “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” OK, you want to give God some glory? Look at his promises; learn those promises. And they’re in him, and he’s in us, and we’re in him. So those promises of God give him glory. Read the verses before and afterwards; they’re all kind of a tying it all together. We’re just going to get on here.
Second Corinthians chapter 4. The promises of God give him glory. The fact that he has risen Christ and he rose us, he will rise us, gives him glory. Our faith, when it’s strong, gives him glory. He’s an uncorruptible God gives him glory. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” So, when you learn the knowledge of Christ, you learn the knowledge of God, do a study, see what the different places the knowledge is applied, the light that comes from that knowledge gives him the glory. “To give the light of the knowledge of the glory” doesn’t just say to give us the knowledge; it says, “to give the light of the knowledge.” So the more we learn, the more see. And I think we would all say, “Boy, the more we see, the harder it gets, or the sadder it is, or the frustrations.” What’s that verse that talks about it? I never can remember that thing. “The more you know, it’s grief and sorrow.” It is; it’s tough to know what’s going on.
I’ll tell you what’s the problem here. It’s not the fact that these kids are what they are. It’s the fact that Mom is the problem in the home. Well, you know, where am I going to go with that thing? We see the truth behind the problems that are going on. So there’s a light. So the light of that knowledge is what gives God the glory.
OK, here’s the time for the Baptists and the meaning of the invitation. Have you been closing your eyes to the Scriptures? Have you been closing your eyes to the light? Are you tired of what you see? So you’re closing your eyes, you don’t want to see the light anymore? No, I hope that’s not the case.
Although we know in Ephesians chapter 4 that if you don’t hear from the risen Saviour as such, you’re going to have an understanding that gets darkened, and you’re going to quit seeing what you need to see. You might become happier, but your joy will disappear.
These are tough times.
OK, so the light. So the key here is the light of the knowledge.
OK, let’s go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, same thing, verse 15. Let’s go down to verse 15: “For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace —” there you go “— abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.” So this abundant grace is something we need to be thankful for. And when we’re thankful for that grace that he has, that gives him glory.
The same thing is in Ephesians chapter 1. Same type of thing. Ephesians 1:16. Ephesians 1:16; this is like a classroom session here: “much knowledge bringeth much sorrow.” Yep. “Much wisdom brings grief,” I think it goes.
Ephesians 1:16 says, “Ephesians 1:16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention ...” That’s not what we want. Where’s the grace? Where’s the grace in Ephesians 1? Ephesians 1:16. Maybe it’s 2:16 here, check it out. Somebody find it here. Ephesians 1:6. Not 16, but 1:6. There it is: “To the praise of the glory of his grace.” Now, what his grace all about? Well, “he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” We are accepted. And we’re part of the family. So, we see Ephesians 1:6 and 2 Coritnhians 4:15, is it we’re thankful for his abundant grace, and the glory of his grace, gives him glory the light of the knowledge, the promises of God, the fact that we’ll be risen. Our strong faith gives him the glory. And he’s an incorruptible God.
Same chapter. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 12, it says here, “That we should be to the praise of his glory.” How does this “praise of his glory” come about about? Well, keep reading: “who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Now, there’s the details of one’s salvation. It isn’t just, “I’m saved.” Well, how do you know that? Well, I just feel it. None of that stuff.
Here’s the process. Here’s what takes place. Here’s how salvation comes about. And it’s to the praise of his glory. He gets glory because we are saved, and here are the details of it. You hear, you believe, and you trust. And then you’re sealed. He gets the glory for that.
Let’s jump right down to verse 17. “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation —” there it is “— in the knowledge of him.” See, he’s the Father of glory that gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge. So, because of our knowledge, and if we used wisdom and revelation — meaning what? — Look what you get in the Bible. God isn’t going to show you anything that isn’t in this Bible. That “advanced revelation” stuff? No. This Bible opens up more and more to us as we get closer to what’s coming. No doubt about that. But we have the truth revealed to us; the more we learn, the more he reveals. And it’s the spirit of wisdom. And, because of that, he gets the glory. The spirit of wisdom and revelation he gives to us.
Go down to verse 18, the last part of that phrase we said earlier: “the riches of the glory of his inheritance.” So the inheritance that he has there for us is his glory.
Look at chapter 3, Ephesians 3:16. Do you understand what we’re doing here this morning? Nothing deep, nothing far out, except it doesn’t match what people when they sing “the glory of the Father,” whatever, they have no idea what they’re singing about. They just think, “Well, he’s God,” and whatever that means. That’s how people talk about an “unknown” God. They know nothing about him. That’s how people sing about a God they know nothing about. That’s how these songs, this modern Christianity, are watered down to worthless. And I would tend to say that if sing them, we’re participating in that.
I’ve got a quote here; I can’t remember, I’m going to see if I can pull it up here really quick on my e-mail. Yeah, there it is: “If you become aware of a lie, and you do nothing to expose the lie, you then become part of the lie.”
So, when these songs are lying, or watered down, we become part of that process of lying and watering them down — even though we know the difference. We should be able to sing about God’s glory because we’re understanding his glory here. The people out there that hear us don’t hear that. They don’t see that.
Ephesians 3:16: “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory —” there it is again “— to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” It only comes about from Bible reading, as our faith grows, we get strengthened. So, if we turn to him to get our strength, which is turning to your Bible for strength when things are going horrible, or whatever.
I remember when I was let go at First Bible in New York, I prayed and said, “Lord, I’m going to find what to do in this Bible.” And we did. And I have to say the same thing again. (Deep breath.) OK, here we go again. Six hundred and twenty years old, I get to move again. How we going to do this? We can’t do it this time like we did last time. I’ve got to get my strength from my Scriptures, and from the brethren, by the way — that’s a bunny trail sermon — but I’ll be happy with the strength of the Scriptures for now.
OK, let’s review here. God gets the glory; he’s an uncorruptible God. He gets his glory from our strong faith, the fact that he rose up his Son, and he’s going to receive us as well, his promises, the light of the knowledge he gets glory from, we have that light lit, if we’re thankful for his abundant grace, if we understand our salvation in detail, he so totally gets the grace. He gives the spirit of wisdom and revelation in that King James Bible. That’s his glory, the inheritance he has for us. He gets the glory for giving us that. And we’re strengthed. He gets the glory when we’re strengthened from him and from his words.
Let’s go to Philippians chapter 1. You hear none of these people singing about this stuff. Who’s clicking? Hey! OK.
Philippians chapter 1 verse 11: “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.” The “fruits of righteousness”! Boy! Give me a list of the fruits of righteousness that you’ve been receiving in your baskets as you try to do the right thing. You know? Have you ever noticed that, as you start “fitting in” — I heard that phrase, it’s an excellent phrase. In a matter of time, leaven just gets us to want to “fit in.” OK, the more and more we fit in, are we seeing the rewards of fitting in? Yeah, we do. Flesh is happier, probably more friends, not as much argument, not as much stress. But that’s not the fruits of righteousness. The fruits of righteousness is doing the right thing.
OK, so what happens here, if we do the right thing based on Paul, you know, risen Saviour type of thing, then there’s where he gets his glory. He doesn’t get glory, the more and more we fit in and the happier we become. He gets the glory when we’re doing the righteous thing based on Paul, Romans 2:16, Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9, 2 Timothy, 1 Timothy, Jude — all that stuff. There’s where he gets the glory.
OK, simple enough. Philippians chapter 2, verse 11, another one. Here’s the way God gets glory truthfully. This is not based on “unknown God,” people coming up with glory. This is what the Scriptures tell us that God gets the glory through. We’re looking at Philippians 2 — I hope that’s verse 11 — I don’t write very well at 3 in the morning. Yeah, here we go: “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” What we’ve talked about earlier. Romans 14 says “shall.” First John says confess that he is the Son of God. Does the fact that we confess that Jesus is the Son of God, is that what he’s talking about here? Well, of course not! The confession here is that Jesus Christ is Lord. Not that “Jesus Christ is the Lord.” Doesn’t say that Jesus Christ is “the Lord,” “the Son of God.” But, if Jesus Christ is Lord, that means you’ve got your salvation based on him.
So, there’s three different examples, and only two fit today. One is Tribulation, 1 John.
OK, so if you can actually confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, he’s your Saviour. Now, this doesn’t mean this is that “lordship salvation” where if you’re doing everything right, he’s your Saviour, and when you’re not doing stuff right, he’s no longer your Lord. No, that’s not — this is just silly. That’s more pastoral pulpit guilt, that’s all that is.
No, confess Jesus Christ as Lord. And when you do — your salvation — God gets the glory. Takes us back to Ephesians 1 again, his salvation. And it certainly isn’t 1 John 1:9, confessing your sins — doesn’t say that. Jesus Christ is Lord.
OK, let’s go to another one. A couple more to go. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4, verse 19. Now, this one’s tough: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory.” While we’re looking at the riches in glory here, and is he supplying all of our need? According to the Scriptures, he is. And we all know the clue word here is “need.”
Do I need a job? I do. Well, I can get a job at Wall Drug. I just can’t live on what I have to make. See, we all got these what-you-call-them stipulations that God’s got to answer our prayer based on our stipulations. No, he’ll find me work. He’ll find the money to feed us. We just can’t live in as nice a house as we have; we can’t drive the cars, you know the story.
The basis here is need. Do you need a husband? Do you need a job? Do you need a wife? Do you need a new instrument? Do you need a new car? Do you need one? Well, you do have feet. Oh, I mean, you know. What do we need? Well, what do we want?
Extremely want is still not a need. So, of course, the key word here, “God shall supply all your need.” And when he does he gets the glory. We’re just the ones who are not satisfied.
So now I know what my needs are. Well, I’m going to trust God to fulfill them. But is he going to fulfill them the way I want them filled? That’s the problem. That’s my problem, not his, of course.
Let’s go to Colossians 1:27. We’ll go to 26, I guess, to make sure we know what we’re talking about here. “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages —” that’s Paul’s a mystery; we know that back in Ephesians, that he’s revealed to him “— but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.”
And he says, “Which is Christ in you.” That’s “the hope of glory.” Christ is in me. Now, what does that have to do with the mystery he’s talking about in Ephesians? Well, Ephesians chapter 3 says that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and of the same body. That’s the mystery that Paul’s talking about. How does that mesh with this one? Well, easily. Because in order for that to happen, Christ has to be in you. That’s the whole mystery put together in Ephesians and Colossians.
So, because of that, as it says there, God gets the glory. “Riches of the glory of this mystery.” So, there’s glory in that. And we know this mystery. This is no longer a mystery.
For for those who have studied the Ruckman mysteries, you know, the seven mysteries — you know, all those mysteries are explained in Paul. We’re supposed to be stewards of the mysteries — well, we are. We keep explaining to people, “Here’s the mystery,” but not with Paul: Here’s how it explains. Here’s how it’s stated. Anyway, bunny trail there.
Two more to go here. How we doing for time? Ah, we’re doing fine. Everybody still awake? Hello? Hello? Second Thessalonians chapter 2. Morning, John. Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 14: “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Well, this is an easy one. God gets the glory out of Paul’s gospel. I got two yeses — that means you’re awake. I need to get about one, two, three, four, five more actually — no, four more. Melissa, you’re probably awake. OK, Gramma, you’re awake. And Moon Fixer? Ah, you’re probably just in-and-out. That’s OK.
OK, it’s very simple: “Whereunto he called you by our gospel.” Ours, Paul and his buddies there. “To the obtaining of the glory.” So God gets the glory when we have Paul’s gospel. So, you see that? Paul’s gospel. We have the opportunity and we obtain the ability to give God the glory.
A guy could make that into a sermon all by itself. “Our gospel” — so, if you teach God’s in the gospel through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as God will get the glory? Well, he does. He does. You teach Genesis to Malachi, God gets the glory. Those are his words; that’s the truth. Hebrews to Jude? Well, sure, God gets the glory.
But Paul’s gospel says the obtaining of the glory. We become part of his glory. What are those other verses that talk about “we have his glory,” and “we have been saved for his glory to be in us,” and etc., etc., it’s another sermon.
But Paul’s gospel enables us to obtain God’s glory. And that’s the glory for today, and the glory to today.
Lastly, 2 Timothy chapter 4. We’re just going quickly here this morning. Second Timothy chapter 4, which is right after 1 Timothy, Daniel, and before 3 Timothy. Second Timothy chapter 4, verse 18: “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever.” Where’s the glory in that? Well, the fact that we’re delivered from every evil work, and will be preserved until his heavenly kingdom. Well, you can’t lose your salvation, that’s simple enough. Has he delivered you from every evil work? Well, that can’t be until the Tribulation. Well, because in Tribulation, Peter says we escape the pollutions of the world. Well, we haven’t escaped the pollutions of the world.
But have we not been delivered from every evil work? Our soul is separated from our flesh; our flesh is out there, doing the evil work. We’re part of an evil job; we’re part of an evil profession. “Well, it’s not that bad.” No, but it’s not that good. So it’s evil.
I was participating in a school that was evil. Those kids I believe were the Tribulation generation. And so could I have called an assembly and kept my Bible and preached the Bible to them? Yeah, right. That’s not going to work.
But it was a tough thing to see. And then in my music classes, I kept their music clean. And we were just letting them see that there is a clean music.
Anyway, I think the closest seed I left in them is the fact that when this late Baroque, early classic came about there was something that was written that was the most spectacular thing in this world that made all this music all come together like this in a time of great purity. And I challenge you to figure out what that is. The best I could do. Isn’t that sad? Anyway.
So, anyway, we are delivered from every evil work. Our flesh isn’t. But we are. And there will come a time that we will just flat be delivered from it. We’ll be gone. So, yeah.
“Shall deliver me” — sure, he will. And he shall; we’ll be taken out of here.
But, still, he gets the glory now, because we’re still delivered from it already. And he gets the glory forever and ever.
OK, let’s review, then we’re done. God gets the glory — not just because we sing a great, fancy, little fleshy-beat song. Not because we make up the fact that God gets glory out of what I’m wearing because it isn’t very modest, but at least I’m quiet about it. You know, or I’m not as loud. I mean, no, we’re talking about a Scriptural list where God gets glory. He’s uncorruptible.
Our faith, the stronger it gets, the more glory he gets.
Christ was raised up; he gets the glory.
We’ll be raised up; he’ll get the glory.
The promises of God, through Abraham that we’re reading here, he gets the glory.
The light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, he gets the glory for that.
We’re thankful for his grace — he gets glory.
We know the details of our salvation; we know what it takes to be saved, we know what happens when you get saved, and we know why we can’t lose that salvation. He gets glory for that.
He gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in a King James Bible through the Spirit of God, rightly divided to Paul —he gets glory for that.
The inheritance he has for us, he gets glory.
We’re strengthened from him. We’re strengthened with this King James Bible.
We’re filled with fruits of righteousness. But we’re not going to see the fruits until the Judgment Seat of Christ; that’s our weakness, right there. Make sure we’re doing the righteousness, and we’re filled with the fruits of it.
Personal confession — not sins, not the fact that he is the Son of God — but he is Lord.
Supply our need? He will. We just have to debate the word “need.”
And mystery from Paul, the mystery that Paul teaches gives God the glory.
And Paul’s gospel gives us the chance to actually obtain God’s glory that he has.
And then we’re delivered and preserved from the evil work and preserved until the heavenly kingdom, and we’re already delivered from our flesh. We learned all that stuff.
And then let’s wrap this up with a good concluding verse in 1 Thessalonians chapter 2, and then we’ll be done. First Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 12 says this: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.” The fact that he has done all this for us and given this stuff to us, and he gets the glory — and yet he’s called us into his kingdom, unto his kingdom — it says we shall “walk worthy of God.”
Reasonable service. Our body — we have to say no to things that please our flesh and please our body. And I know all of you out there, and myself included, it’s getting harder and harder to say no to what our friends and family are yes to. The heat that I’m taking from the family over all this stuff is just adding more to — I can’t, I cannot drop the Web site, I cannot claim the stuff. It’s gonna cost money, it’s gonna cost time, it cost a job — we’re all going through this, I know we are. I’ve got no special private whinings.
But let’s try to live a life somewhere, at least publicly, the life that means we’re walking worthy of all the things that God is getting glory out of us — if he is at all. And he should. And there’s the list of things.
I’ll type notes up on this when I get time now — ta da.
Speaking of which, I just updated all the sermon list of 2011, January through December. And I don’t want to sound prideful or whatever, but there’s a lot of good stuff in there. I tell you, that Bible is a fantastic Book. That stuff is out of that Bible. Those aren’t my sermons. Those are just notes and talks about what’s in that Bible.
Let me just read through the titles, and do an archive, and just click on 2011, and just at the stuff we studied and listened to. Fantastic book.
And then I’ve got 2012 up there as well, up until today, so I’m having a little amongst all these 50,000, a million job applications all over the Midwest — ah, what a thought! — to get some of these notes caught up too.
So, does anybody want to give me just $50,000 for me to stay on the Web stuff the rest of my life and not do anything else? Ha! I’ll give you a sermon every day! And you say, “Well, you tried that, and that didn’t work.” Yeah, you’re right. Anyway, there you are for today; we’ll see you folks for tonight. We’ve got some stuff for tonight that ought to be interesting to you, I hope.
