All for God's Glory #2

You and I need to understand God's gift of salvation is not first and foremost that you could go to heaven. Salvation's purpose is for the glory of God. Hello and welcome again to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

I'm Bill Wright. Today, as Don shares part two of his message called All for God's Glory, he'll show us that as believers, if we want to be able to stand firm during life's most challenging battles, we must seek to better understand the intrinsic nature of the glory of God. Let's join Don Green right now as he sheds more light on the subject here on the Truth Pulpit. The realm, the sphere in which we exist is designed for the glory of God.

Let me just remind you Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11 where it says that we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to his purpose who works all things after the counsel of his will. You see, my friends, this is what you and I must understand. It is comprehensive. It is exhaustive.

It is exclusive. It covers everything. Just as the sky covers the earth, the purpose of the glory of God covers all of the created order. It exists for his glory. And you and I, as we move about in the sphere of what he has created, we're moving in the sphere of things that are ordained for his glory. That brings us to point number three, and that is our salvation in Christ.

You know, we love the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that Jesus left heaven, took on human flesh in order to live a perfect life and offer that life to God as a sacrifice for the sins of his people. He was buried. He was raised again.

He was exalted to heaven. And from that position of preeminence, he now calls on sinners to repent of their sin, to receive him for the forgiveness of their sins, and to yield to him as the Lord of their lives that they might be forgiven and enter into eternal life, to be delivered from Satan, to be delivered from the power of sin, one day to be delivered from the very presence of sin. You know, that's the gospel in a nutshell.

Well, look, friends, you can start to anticipate the answer to my questions here today. Why did God design a gospel before the world began? Why was the gospel embedded in his purpose in creation, his purpose for the creation of man, his purpose in permitting and even ordaining the reality of the fall of Adam and the subsequent ruin of the human race? Why did God ordain that?

Why did God plan that? What was his purpose in that? What was his purpose? What is his purpose as he saves men and women, boys and girls, from sin? Keeping this whole service in mind, what was his purpose? What was his purpose in saving any of you? What's his purpose in calling those of you that are still unrepentant, calling you, inviting you, pleading with you, to come to Christ, to leave sin behind and to come to Christ for your salvation? What is the purpose in all of that? Well, I'll give you one guess.

I'll give you one answer. The purpose in all of that is the glory of God. And the Bible could not be more clear and more specific about that than what it is in Ephesians chapter 1. I know we've looked at this many times. It's because it's so very important for us to grasp. Look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3.

We won't rush through this. So that in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3, you see Paul starting out. Watch, this is gorgeous.

This is wonderful to see. You see Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 opening with the ascription of glory to God. He is praising God as he opens. Verse 3, he ascribes glory to God. He doesn't make God more glorious. He just acknowledges it in what he says with his inspired pen.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Why would he do that? Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him. Why would he do that? In love he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will. Why would he do that? Why would he choose, adopt, preordain, predestine sinners to salvation in Christ?

Why would he do that? Verse 6, he says, to the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. He did it that we might praise the glory of his grace to us.

It's for his glory. He goes on in verse 7. He says, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

And he goes on and on, why would he do that? Verse 12, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of his glory. Verse 13, in him after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Why would he give his Holy Spirit to his people? Verse 14, given as a pledge of our inheritance.

Why would he do that? The end is the purpose of it all at the end of verse 14, to the praise of his glory. Verse 6, to the praise of his glory. Verse 12, to the praise of his glory.

Verse 14, to the praise of his glory. Now, look, I may shock some of you with what I am about to say here, but this is one of those fundamental shifts in foundational thinking that needs to take place if we're going to get it right in our theology and in our lives and in what we proclaim to a sinful, godless world. You and I need to understand this, is that God's gift of salvation is not first and foremost for the benefit of man. It is not first and foremost that you could go to heaven and have your sins forgiven and all of that.

Those things are a means to a greater end. The greater purpose, the salvation's purpose is not primarily about man. Salvation's purpose is for the glory of God. That's what the Bible says.

Listen, it's God's word. It's God's salvation. It's God's purpose.

He determines why he does these things, and Scripture tells us that it's for his own glory. You and I are not at the center of the saving purposes of God. The glory of God is at the center of it, and you and I, he saves so that there might be a people who would one day be a bride for his son, who would be a people devoted, gladly giving praise and glory to the God who saved them from their unworthy condition. That's why he saves us, is that we would be a people unto his glory.

Now watch how this works. We started with Christ, the glory of God incarnate. John chapter 1 says, We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. From Christ we went into the realm of the totality of the existence of the universe. You and I dwell, as it were, as sub-parts of that universe. That universe designed for the glory of God, you and I now fitting into that realm, our salvation under the realm of the universal purpose of the glory of God, our salvation being one aspect of that. And so there is this driving, unifying purpose of the glory of God in everything that we find.

And so, you know, I want to stop and dwell on this more, but I got to keep going here. We see it in our Savior. We see it in the sphere of our existence. We see it in our salvation, stated in plain, direct language in God's Word. This is for the glory of God. Now, point number four, our supplication to God. Our supplication to God.

I'm going to spend like 90 seconds here just to make the point. When God saves a man, that man becomes a praying man to one degree or another. God puts His Spirit in us, and our response is to speak to, to pray to, to acknowledge the God who saved us. There's an aspect of prayer that is intrinsic to true Christian life. Jesus Christ taught us in Matthew chapter 6 and in Luke 11 what our first priority in prayer is to be. Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Father, may Your name be set apart for the praise and recognition that it deserves. Father, honor Your name, glorify Your name. And so, just as in the whole sphere of salvation, generally and broadly, when you come to an aspect of the practice of Christian living, that central element of prayer, we find that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the glory of God Himself, in perfect consistency, tells us that when you pray, you are to seek the glory of God as your first priority and theme in prayer. Father, hallowed be Your name.

Now look, I'm going to spend more than two minutes here. Look, the fact that you and I have a habit of running past that, walking over that in order to talk about the things with God that we want and need in a particular moment, the fact that our practice falls short of making that the first priority in our prayer life doesn't change what the reality of it should be. You pray for the glory of God. We pray, we pray and we have the honor of God in mind as we pray. How could it be any other way? The force of this, the impact of this on our thinking is just immense. It is incalculable. Christ for the glory of God, creation for the glory of God, salvation for the glory of God.

Well, look, look. Then how could the purpose of my prayer from day to day and over the course of time be anything other than seeking the glory of God? And when we pray as he invites us to do, when we pray for our daily bread, when we ask for the forgiveness of our sins, it's in the context of seeking the glory of God, not seeking our personal benefit apart from that great theme.

So our supplication to God is directed to the glory of God. Point number five, our sanctification in life. Our sanctification in life.

So we've seen our Savior, our sphere of existence. We have seen our salvation, our supplication, and now we come to our sanctification in life. When God saved you, he justified you, and everyone that he justifies, truly justifies, truly gives new life to, everyone starts a process of being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Everyone starts a process of being, as it were, weaned off of sin and onto the image of Christ as a reproduction of what their life is to be.

Now, the Bible could not be more clear, my friends, that your Christian life, your sanctification, now that you have come to Christ, understand this, let me state it like this. Christian living is not preeminently about your happiness. It is not about your physical well-being. It is not about life going well for you. It is not about that.

It could not be about that as its preeminent primary goal. No, your Christian life is about the glory of God. It could be no other way in light of these prior four things that we've said, and what the process of sanctification does, sanctification leads us to ascribe glory to God. Our Christian growth is designed to praise God, and you can't, let me just say this as bluntly and directly as I possibly can, you cannot glorify God. You cannot give glory to God when you are living in unrepentant, unconfessed sin. You're dishonoring the glory of God when you do that.

We can only live life properly when we understand that our lives in these bodies are given so that we might live to the glory of God. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. In the context of an unrelenting, uncompromising call to sexual purity in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, a condemnation of fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and all other manner of sexual sin in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, along with other sins like theft and covetousness and drunkenness, all of whom practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Look at what Paul says as he brings that argument to a close in chapter 6 verse 18 of 1 Corinthians as we talk about our sanctification in Christ.

He says, flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Do you not understand these basic things? He says, and then he clinches it in verse 20, speaking about our redemption in Christ, the price that Christ paid for our salvation at the cross. He says in chapter 6 verse 20, you have been bought with a price.

Here's the consequence of that. Therefore, glorify God in your body because you were bought at the price of the precious blood of Christ. Therefore, glorify God with your body. Aim your life, aim your existence in this human flesh toward this unifying, transcendent, overarching purpose. Aim it to the glory of God, that the way that you live and the way that you speak and the way that you think would all be oriented toward this vertical purpose of the glory of God because that is what he is worthy of. It is how I mirror back the holiness of God.

I live in a way that pursues the holiness of God, that reflects the holiness of God, even though I understand that I fall short as I do. In chapter 10 verse 31, whatever then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Point number six, our suffering on earth.

Our suffering on earth. Yes, God sends even suffering to us for his glory. He sends suffering to his people for his glory.

Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. When Christ appears, we have persevered through our suffering. It will ascribe glory to him. It will show that our faith was given to us by God, that it survived the severe tests that God brought to us and led to his greater glory.

Martin Lloyd-Jones says this about this passage. He says, our Lord Jesus Christ will stand at that great day and look with a sense of satisfaction at Christian people, those whom he called. They have passed through great tribulation, but they have stood the test.

They have not faltered. He will look at them and he will be proud of them. They will be to his glory and praise and honor at the great day that is coming, so that even your sorrows, your profound sorrows, are working toward a purpose, in a minor key, you might say, to result in the ultimate praise and glory and honor of God. Now, that brings us to our seventh and final point. You could throw in here that even our death, but that doesn't alliterate, but even our death is unto the glory of God. Jesus said to Peter, you know, that men were going to carry you off in one day, and in John chapter 21 it says Jesus said that signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God, so that even our death is unto the glory of God.

That's a point 6a, you might say, 6b, whatever, but we'll just come to point number seven, our sanctuary in heaven, our sanctuary in heaven. Turn to Revelation chapter four. When we gather together in heaven, when this life is done, we will gather together to celebrate all of the glory of God. In Revelation chapter four, verse 11, this scene that the apostle John saw in heaven, he saw in verse 11 the living creatures, the 24 elders, casting crowns before the throne and saying this, worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created. The culmination, the purpose in heaven is going to be to ascribe glory to God. Chapter five, verse 13.

Verse 12, let's say instead. Angels, living creatures, the number of them, myriads of myriads, thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them, do you see how comprehensive it is, beloved?

It's everything. And he heard him saying, to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. And the four living creatures kept saying, amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped. Do you see, my friends, that the universe itself finds its unifying principle in the glory of God? You and I, as believers in Christ, we find our unifying principle in life in the glory of God.

All of life intersects with it in our Savior, in our sphere of existence, in our salvation, in our supplication, in our sanctification, in our suffering, in the heavenly sanctuary. It all has this central driving purpose of the glory of God and ascribing praise to him. And so, my Christian friend, this is the great theme upon which you are to set your mind in the days in which you live, the glory of God. My unrepentant friend, my unsaved friend, I call you to come to Christ for salvation and to repent of your self-centered life and to receive Christ that you might live to the glory of God.

His shed blood gives you access to the throne to be able to do just that. That's Don Green wrapping up a message called All for God's Glory here on The Truth Pulpit. Friend, if you've missed any part of today's message, or in fact any of the messages in this series titled The Glory of the Gospel, you can access them anytime by going to thetruthpulpit.com.

That's thetruthpulpit.com. Now, just before we bring our time today to a close, here again is Don to tell you about a great resource. My friend, if you enjoy these broadcasts, I am sure that you would enjoy the live stream of our church services from Truth Community Church. We meet Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time and Tuesday evening at 7 o'clock.

You'll find the live stream link prominently displayed at the top of our website, thetruthpulpit.com. And you know, if you do join us like that, drop us a note at the website to let us know. Even your brief note helps us know that our resources are reaching friends who want to grow in God's Word. Thank you, and may Christ be with you. Thanks, Don. And friend, when you tune into the live service Don mentioned, be sure to invite a friend to join you. Again, the web address is thetruthpulpit.com. I'm Bill Wright. We'll see you next time for more from the Truth Pulpit.