Romans chapter 11 verses 33 through 36. Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become his counselor, or who has first given to him, and it shall be repaid to him. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever, amen. You may be seated. May the Lord be glorified in his word. We have been looking the last month at the solas of the Reformation, largely to commemorate. God's great deliverance of his church from Roman Catholicism, but also to remind ourselves of very vital truths that are directly connected to our lives in this world. That scripture alone is our guide and standard, that Christ alone is the only mediator between God and man, the only one through whom we have access with confidence to the Father, that we can only draw near by faith alone, by believing God's promises. And that faith is nothing we conjure up, but it's a gift that He gives to us as we looked at in Ephesians chapter 2. And closely related to that is that salvation is by God's grace alone, not by any works of righteousness we have done, but according to His grace, He has saved us. And remember, we looked at that great passage where the Lord says, I'll be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and whom I will, I will harden. So that if we know God's grace, it is a great mercy on his part for which we should praise him all of our days. The fifth sola that's often looked at as kind of a bookend to the whole is to God alone be the glory, soli dea gloria. It's not, perhaps properly speaking, one of the solas, but it's always included whenever these are looked at, and I think there's probably two or three reasons for this, and that is because, one, how dominant God's glory is. God's glory is a word in the Old Testament, kabod. It means His weightiness, His awesomeness. It can be translated splendor, majesty. It has any number of translations that are meant to elevate to us how glorious, how wonderful, how powerful He is. Our confession speaks of God's glory as one of His leading attributes. But of course we can, the academic definition is more played out for us because we're so dusty and have such low conceptions of God's glory, perhaps better than any place else in the Bible in Isaiah 6. If you want to turn there with me just for a moment, because to appreciate what it means to God's glory alone, we need to have some conception. We saw it in Romans 11. We'll return to that at the end, that everything is of God, all life and good. Everything is through Him or by Him and to Him. But here's a picture. that we as creatures can gain some sense, as weak as we are, of what it means to say that God is glorious. Isaiah 6, verse 1, and then to say that we should live for His glory alone and that salvation is to His glory alone. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim, Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. And one cried to another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is filled with his glory or full of his glory. And the posts of the door were shaken or moved by the voice of him who cried out and the house was filled with smoke. So I, Isaiah, said, Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth with it and said, Behold, this has touched your lips. Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is purged. And then it goes on to talk about the prophets call and I hate to break out the vision or we'll spend the whole time or break off looking at it or we'd spend the whole time looking but maybe some glimpse here and again Isaiah was already a prophet earlier in the book he'd been called and here he's given a vision of the greatness of God at a creaturely level because, frankly, that's all we can kind of grasp with. We're not even angels. We made a little lower than the angels and we certainly, those we've fallen and those who are not fallen, can see more clearly at this point than we can. But you get this picture that Isaiah sees the Lord exalted and that the angelic, the presence angels just cry and perhaps sing and shout. Holy, holy, holy. Other, other, other. Separate, separate, separate. Pure, pure, pure. And they're crying out and the smoke from what they're saying just kind of fills the temple and the post of the, Isaiah sees the post move. And then it says the whole earth is filled. with His glory. I mean, visions reflect reality at a creaturely level. So this gives us some sense. Every time you read, you know, give God glory, or God is great in His glory, or in Isaiah 2, there's three magnificent readings in verse 10, 19, and 21, you know, that God is so glorious, the ungodly will say, let the rocks cover us up so that we may flee from the glory of the Lord. Flee fear and tremble. God's glory is His heaviness, His weightiness, His awesomeness, His splendor. It's connected to all of His other attributes because if He's holy, He's so glorious in holiness as the prophet who had already been speaking God's word. He's on His face. My lips, my lips, who am I to speak God's word? And an angel comes and touches His lips with a burning coal from off the heavenly altar, God's glory. He's just like that in His love. He's just like that in His justice. His heaviness, His weightiness fills everything that He does. And specifically, you might say, how is that connected to the five solas of the Reformation? Why is that one then and now kind of a summation of this? Because if I could suggest a couple of three reasons at the outset and then we'll get real granular for just a few minutes. God's work of salvation is where his glory for us as creatures and sinful creatures It's kind of where it reaches its climax. Whether we think of sola scriptura, of why? Why did people die to be free from the doctrines and the commandments of men? Because God will have his glory in that we listen to his voice alone. Jesus said, I'm the good shepherd. My sheep hear my voice, not the voice of men, not the voice of their own reason, not the voice of nature. They hear my voice. And they follow me. And of course when we think about it, we'll get more specific with this in a minute, God's glory in Christ and sending His Son and His Beloved and all He went through and the glory of His grace, which we'll look at the verses in Ephesians again. It's particularly, God would not have us look at His glory as if we were looking at something in a Petri dish. and trying to understand it and put it under the microscope of our own reason, He would have us look at it in the face of Christ. He would have us look at it in what He has done for us. Because we cannot look directly on His glory. Even Moses, as godly as he was, God says, you cannot see me and live. I'm going to hide you in a rock. And so He reveals to what? He comes by him and says, I'm going to show you my glory. and he preaches a sermon to him in Exodus 33 and 34. The Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful. So, one of the reasons we look at God's glory in this context, His highness, His weightiness, His awesomeness, is because His work of salvation particularly reveals His glory to us in critical ways, but also it shows what a tremendous thing it is to be a Christian. Okay, we forget this because we're so, you know, again, earthbound and dusty and trying to fight with the ungodly over scraps. But as a Christian, as someone whom now God's glory has come in the person and work of Jesus Christ, please understand you live in the Shekinah. That's why we don't need to build, you know, massive cathedrals to man and centralized religion. That's why we don't need a hierarchy of priests and saintlings and everything else the church has come up with to have hierarchies of grace. You and I, because of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we live now in the presence of that glory. That was one of the critical things of our Lord Jesus coming to earth in our flesh. You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration. that Peter, James, and John were there, and suddenly the cloud, the Shekinah, that basically meant death to anybody who got near to that in the Old Covenant. And you couldn't, Moses couldn't go near, as great as he was, it was too bright. Suddenly they're enveloped in the cloud. Because now the glory, God's weightiness, His holiness, His goodness, His power, His righteousness, His justice, His goodness, His truth, now through the God-man, the Lord Jesus, we've been brought into that glory so that every believer in here, even though we struggle, Even though we feel our wretchedness, you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in you so that this salvation, which reveals God's glory, now brings us back into fellowship with the glorious God. So in Him, we fellowship and move and live and have our very existence far more than any of the ancient poets could ever understand. So God's glory is at the heart of all that He has done for us in salvation and also that we now live with a reconciled God. Remember Isaiah? We didn't hear the New Covenant side of that. He's still in the ground groveling and there's a cold that touches his lips, but now we're brought near. We can draw near Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2. We have access with boldness to the glorious God because that glory now brings us into renewed fellowship. And that's why third, and we'll talk more about this at the end, we now live for God's glory. So God's glory has been revealed in salvation. We've been brought into fellowship with the Father to the glorious God through Christ so that what? Oh, we should go in our merry way and live like we want to. No. So that whatever we eat or drink or whatever we do, the smallest, the biggest, we should live to magnify the greatness of our great God. Let me look just for a moment, God's glory in redemption. That'll be our main point this morning. We're gonna look at the Father's glory, we're gonna look at the Son's glory, and we're gonna look at the Spirit's glory in our salvation. Let's focus there and then we'll look a little bit at the end about how this changes us and how this directs how we should live. the Father's glory. Now, go to Ephesians 1. This is stated for us. It's plain. You don't have to have advanced theological training to see that God is revealing His glory, His weightiness to us. After going down in Ephesians 1-4 that we're chosen in Christ, verse 5, we're predestinated to be His sons and daughters. Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Verse 7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Verse 12, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. Chapter 2, verse 7. that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness to us. So let's look at this for just a moment. The glory of the Father in extending grace to us. So there's two points. Go to Isaiah 2. Let's first look at how high He is. Now granted, we looked at Isaiah 6. I just want to drive this in one more time. Because low views of God always lead to low views of grace and what God's doing in the world. How high is God? How glorious is He? Just three verses, I referenced them a moment ago. Isaiah chapter 2, verse 8. I'm just jumping in the middle. He's talking here to the house of Jacob, verse 5. Verse 8, their land is full of idols, they worship the work of their own hands that which their own fingers have made. People bow down, each man humbles himself, therefore do not forgive them. Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the Lord. and the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Verse 19, They shall go into the holes of the rocks and into caves of the earth from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty when He arises to shake the earth mightily. In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each for himself to worship to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rock and into the crags of the rugged rocks from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth mightily. Sever yourselves from such a man whose breath is in his nostrils, for what account If we're going to appreciate the glory of God's kindness to sinners, at some level a passage like this in Isaiah 6 We've got to find a place in our hearts where, wait a minute, God is, He is high. He is not like, you know, just a bigger version of us. He is holy. He is righteous. He is a purizing to look at iniquity and what to sinners. He's addressing this to His people. Your idols, the work of your own hand, your pride, your haughtiness. He says you better try to enter into the rock and hide. from the majesty, from the glory of the Lord's majesty. That's how high He is. He is holy, holy, holy. I'm so weak and dusty. I don't even know how to go any higher than that, except to then say this. But that high and lofty and exalted God, there'll be no cases that you'll make on the day of judgment. When you read Isaiah 2, you realize, well, I'll make my case with God. I had somebody tell me that one time when I stand before Him. And I just said, friend, you'll make no case with God. Because this God is so high, so majestic, so glorious, you will pray, as John repeats this very idea in Revelation later, that you'll pray for the earth to open up and the rocks to fall on you. But this God, this high and holy God who is a purer eyes than to even look at sin, did what? He's kind to sinners. And He gave His Son. And so as low as our sins have sunk us, so that we have lost any claim. Remember this is the argument, go to Romans 5, this is the argument Paul makes there to appreciate the greatness of our redemption. Romans chapter 5 verse 6, you know these verses well. For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely will a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die, verse 8. But God demonstrates his love toward us, including himself, all men, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, verse 9, much more than, having now been justified by his blood, not our works, the blood of Christ, once for all spilled on Calvary. Look to that blood and be saved and healed this morning. We shall be saved from wrath through him. Verse 10, for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Who were we? Enemies, defiled, sinful, and what did the holy and righteous God do? He, in kindness, sent His Son, His Son, His beloved Son, because we couldn't do anything to save ourselves. We didn't have preparatory grace. We weren't almost there with the old philosophers and we just need somebody to push us over the... We were dead. All the world is dead. Christ has demolished the wisdom of the world. The Holy Spirit says the world by wisdom did not know God. Whatever else it may have done, it did not know God. And what did this holy God do to reveal His glory? In His grace, He moved to work to send His Son and to save us from our sins. So maybe, you know, you need something to encourage you today. I do. This holy God would be kind to me. this God would be gracious to me? And not just in a general, you know, we say, well, we need to be gracious to people. No, that's not what he does. He says, I'm going to be so gracious to you, I'm going to remove the barrier by putting all of that curse upon my son. And that's why Ephesians 1 says, to the praise of His grace. To the praise of His grace. To the praise of His glory. Because to God alone be the glory for our salvation. He has done it. But it's not only the Father, it's also the Son. If we think about the Son of God together with the Father agreeing, we don't know how all that works. We're just creatures. But we do know several things. Go to John chapter 1 verse 14. We don't know everything. We're not God. But what we do know is enough to occupy our best thoughts all of our life. But think about not only the glory of the Father in extending kindness to sinners, but the glory of the Son of God in humbling himself. John 1 14. And the word whom John has been describing in verse 13 is eternal, one with the Father, the maker of everything, but distinct from the Father also. And this Word, verse 14, became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word, the eternal God, the Son of God took upon Himself our flesh. That in and of itself is Wait a minute, so knowing where that would lead, he didn't just do this like, hey, let's try this out for a while. A body, you have prepared me. And that body was to be obedient in. That body was to obey in. That body was to suffer in. That body was to fight the devil in. That body was to die and bear our judgment on the cross. Just in the word of God made flesh, But it's not only that, Philippians 2, that glory is also revealed in how low He sank for us. And we never can forget this because this helps us to glorify God instead of looking at everything we don't like or how our expectations are not being realized. What about Him? Philippians 2, 5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, Everything God was, the very form of God, he did not consider robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Okay, so the glory of God, the glory of the Father in His grace in sending His Son, and what did the Son of God do? Well, He took upon Himself our flesh, but what? He became a servant. The Lord of glory became nothing. He gave up all claims that were rightly His. They were still His, but He didn't demand them. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And so, as we think about glorifying the Lord Jesus and singing praise, we always need to remember His humbling of Himself to even take upon Himself our flesh, and then to become what He became, a servant, obedient unto death. But then, to add to all this, it gets a lot grittier. 2 Corinthians 5.21. It gets a lot grittier. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Now He made Him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Who knew no sin. See, this is why we're redeemed. We're not redeemed because we do some good stuff and then God's grace makes it better than it is. Or because other people did more good things and we can buy into their good works. No, the Son of God in our flesh became sin. He became the offering for us. Go to Isaiah 53. Again, in our world where there's so many glory haters, so many self-gloriers, we constantly need to go back. What are we about? Why should we praise God? Why should I wake up on Monday morning and give glory to God? Isaiah 53 verse 2, He has no form or comeliness. You mean the one who made the world and everything became so low? When we see Him there's no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs, he's carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God. No one could sink that low unless God was judging him, that's right, on account of us, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace, the payment that had to be paid for us to have peace with God and be reconciled was upon Him. Not upon anybody else, but upon Him. And by His stripes, we are healed. Again, I wish we had more time just for while we're here. Verse 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief. Talking about the Father putting His Son to grief. When you make His soul, His life, An offering for sin. That's who Jesus Christ is for us. That's what the Son of God did for us, and if we're honest about our sins, and we, wait a minute, and He, the Holy Son of God, the demons, you remember these accounts in the gospel, when the demons are like, oh, we know who that is. That's the Holy One of God. Have you come here to torment us before the time? It's sad that demons know more than we do about the glory of Christ. And yet here we see that one who is so holy that even the demons said, hey, whatever you say, we're going to do it because we know who you are. What did he do? He gave his life, an offering for us. A burnt offering is the idea there for sin. Chapter 50, while we're nearby, I just was listening to this this morning. Verse 4 of chapter 50, the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak. A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear. To hear as the learned, the Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted. No wonder at the heart of the Christian faith, the beating heart. is not only praise to the Father for giving His Son and glory. Glorify You for Your grace, Father. Thank You. You are wonderful. You are so kind to sinners. But to the Son of God, for what He endured, He gave His back to the smiters. That's your back. They pulled out His beard and they spit on Him. That's your and my spit for our shame. that we deserve. This is why soli dea gloria, because the Lord, our Lord and God, the Son of God, was pierced for us and stricken, smitten, and afflicted. But it's not only the Father and the Son, it's also the Holy Spirit. And here this would open up itself to all kinds of looking at scripture that we just don't have time for. But let me just suggest three things that are well known. Jesus said in John 3, you cannot even see the kingdom of God unless you're quickened by the Holy Spirit. So all that, so can you imagine how many people today are going to games and never give a thought to all these things that we hold as being more precious than life itself and if push comes to shove, we would lay down our lives for them just like our fathers and mothers of old did to have the true gospel. Why? Because God in His grace came to you one day and He quickened you by the Holy Spirit. so that suddenly who you really are became clear to you, who God really is became a little clear to you, and Jesus Christ became precious to you. And you looked at him as a dying man would look at a remedy, as a drowning man would look at a raft and go, that's the only one. That's the only one who can save me. Who did that for you? Well, I'm smart. I was born in a Christian home, or I read a book. Well, you may have been born in a Christian home, but that doesn't make you a Christian. And you may have read a lot of books, but that doesn't make you a Christian. Who has to take away the dead heart, the sin darkened mind, Colossians 2, Ephesians 4? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. The glorious God has to come and quicken. And not only does He quicken when we were dead, But He also does what? Then He also works graces in us and turns us into the opposite. Instead of being hateful, we love one another. Instead of being proud and haughty, we're lonely like our Savior. Where do you think that came about? Well, I'm just better than everybody else, okay? Or I'm just naturally predisposed to be of a holy disposition. No, you're not. The Holy Spirit, and this is where perhaps we've lost some of the sense of the eminence of God's glory in our lives. If you've ever been able to forgive anybody, it wasn't you. It wasn't because you're magnanimous. Because you're not. It is because the Holy Spirit worked. The grace in you were knowing forgiveness from God yourself. You were able to extend that to others. Maybe you didn't think it all through. but dead men don't forgive. Only the Holy God enables us to forgive and love one another, but that's not even all of it. In terms of the Holy Spirit, He quickens us, He works fruit in us, but if I could just say it in plain old Southern, He puts up with us. I mean, think about this. The God who led God's people through the wilderness, the burning fire and the pillar of fire by day and the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, That God now dwells with us. Now granted, it's simpler. Less bells and whistles, praise God. Some people say, well, if we can only go through life terrified like that. But again, I think with the coming of Christ, we're supposed to have more liberty as sons to draw near to the consuming fire. But even so, let's think this way. Did you provoke the Holy Spirit? I mean, if we live kind of in the Shekinah, let's just go to simple things that we're probably all guilty of in one way or another. How about a complaining spirit? How about anxiety? How about disrespect toward your parents? How about disrespect toward your husband, indifference to authority figures in your life that God has set up? How about unjustified anger? How about disobedience to parents? How about a refusal to forgive? How about a demanding parental attitude and expectations so high that Jesus could barely reach them? And we could go on and on. All these things we provoke. the Holy One, which is why Scripture says, Ephesians 4, 29, hey, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5, don't quench Him, don't put out His fire. Now, I've got, I wanted to boil this down, because when you hear in the future, slowly to have glory, to God's glory alone, oh yeah, yeah, that's my t-shirt, I've got that on my coffee cup, it's right here, to God alone be the glory, I know what that means. Okay, well do we? Do we remember the glory of the Father's grace in sending His Son Do we remember the glory of the Son in humbling Himself and becoming sin and the sacrifice for us? And then the glory of the Holy Spirit, because remember it's the triune God who saves us, not just one person in the Godhead. It's the whole God who saves us. The Holy Spirit quickening us so that we can believe, so that we can rest on Christ. What have we been describing? We've been describing an old word called monergism. that salvation is the work of one person. It's not you, it's not me, it's not popes, priests, pastors, prelates, famous philosophers, teachers. Salvation is monergistic. It is the work of God alone. It's not the work of people who want to remake the world. It is the work of God alone. So we're here this morning, if we believe these things, it is because the Father has been gracious through the Son, the Son of God has humbled Himself, and the Spirit of God has taken what is Christ and applied it to our hearts. And now how should we live in the light of that glory? We'll go back to the verses that we read at the outset this morning, Romans 11, and let's just look at a few ways Scripture encourages us That since we're brought into the fellowship of the son, how do we what are we supposed to remember? How are we supposed to live? Particularly, I want to focus on verse 36. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. If you read commentaries on this, it's all basically they try to focus on the nuances of the prepositions of him. He's the maker of everything. Every blessing, every gift comes from Him. James says the same thing. Remember James? Every good and every perfect gift comes from the Father, in whom is no variableness or shadow of turning, of Him. Through Him, that means by Him, by His power, by His generosity, by His graciousness to sinners. And to Him, meaning it's all gonna return to give Him praise. One of the reasons the earth is a muddle right now and our own nation is a muddle is because we're listening to too many radio stations. And I don't just mean actual radio stations, although these would be included. We have too many twos, to this end, to this purpose. Scripture says that everything has one end. and that is to magnify the glory and the grace and the power and the magnificence of God. I urge you to remember this. To remember it in your calling, your work, your relationships, when you hear all the other voices out there this week and every other week that we've ever lived in this country. No, this is the purpose. That's the purpose. This is the goal. This is what's gonna happen. This is what, and as a Christian, we remember, wait a minute. is still resounding with praises to the Father for His grace, the Son for His humiliation and exaltation, the Spirit for His indwelling presence, and everything is tending to the end, and it is coming that God alone be glorified forever. Now in the light of that, since God has revealed to us that that's the goal and destiny of history, how about us? 1 Corinthians 10.31, you know this verse, but it makes more sense against the backdrop of all that God has done for us, all that he is doing, all that heaven is resounding with right now. Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. So that suddenly our lives become, now that doesn't mean, you know, I'm gonna go buy a hundred lottery tickets to the glory of God. That doesn't mean I'm gonna, you know, drink two 12-packs of beer a day to the glory of God and celebrate barley and malt, okay? Because that's basically your, I don't wanna get off on all that, okay? To the glory of God, does this magnify, does this exalt what I'm eating, how I'm eating, for whom I'm eating, with whom I'm eating? Young girls, you can't eat with an unbeliever as a potential boyfriend or girlfriend to the glory of God. I meant to apply that to both of you, not saying you can pick one of them, okay? In other words, we're supposed to, in all of our relations, all of our decisions, now granted, we're weak and we're gonna feel our wretchedness, taking care of people when they're sick, how we go about our work every day, we've been brought into the glory of God. So live that way. I reminded our trail life, or maybe it was a different group this week, of Luther's washer woman. You know, because he lived in an age in which, you know, the really important, the really, you know, glorious people were those who were, you know, in the pay of the church, and we don't have to get off into all that. And Luther, remember what he said? He said, you know, the washerwoman who does her work to the glory of God is serving him way more. that all these faults. God's never commanded these things. How about you? Do you do your work like that? You will rise, men, if you do. You will rise, young people, if you do. Are you doing your schoolwork? I've been brought into glory. The Holy God, my Father, has shown grace to me. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus, humbled himself. and died for my sins and became an offering for me so that I could have peace with God. The Holy Spirit of God dwells with me. Now I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be a, you know, I'm going to be a gamer, okay. I'm going to be a sports addict. Again, I can't do these things to the glory of God because they're not consistent with what His glory is and what He has called us to. Another verse or two and then we'll be done. Look in 2 Corinthians 10, 17. One of the reasons that salvation is said to be all of grace is for this very reason. Hebrews chapter 10, excuse me, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul here is talking about his upcoming gospel plans. He says in verse 16, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment. But he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. Quoting from Isaiah and certainly from Jeremiah. Is that who we glory in? There's a lot of things we boast in in this life. Well, I'm not really boasting, I'm just drawing everybody's attention to it so they'll see it. Did you draw attention to Christ? Okay, so how do I share the gospel with people? It's funny, you can read the Bible from cover to cover and basically what you get is Mark 6, 12, and they went out and preached that men should repent. Why? Because we're sinful and God has shown grace. Make that your story. Talk to people. Learn it again if you have forgotten why you're a Christian. It's not just to oppose the party of Satan in the upcoming election. is to magnify the name of Christ. So that when we boast and glory, it is to glory in Him. Does anybody in your life ever hear you boast in Jesus? I hope they do. Please pray for me that I'll do more boasting. But remember, this is the track of life. It's not boasting in man, boasting in man's accomplishments, boasting in what we've done. It is glorying in Christ. who has done such great things for us. One more, Galatians 6.14, and this gets very specific, and I know that you know this verse, but in this light, this even helps us, I think, with our witness even more. But God forbid, the apostle says, here he's dealing with the Judaizers, and then we've had later Judaizers in Romanism, and trying to join Christ to our works, but notice what he says in verse 14, but God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. There's a lot of people asking questions, right? How did we get here? How did we get here? I don't have all the reasons for that. I'm not God, okay? Neither do you and nobody. But I'll tell you one thing for sure, and this is particularly perhaps something that the Reformed community should take seriously. Are we boasting in the cross? Because the cross is the power center of the universe in terms of the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish but to us who believe it's the power of God. Why? Because it's there His grace is revealed. It's there we learn who the Son of God is. It's there the Holy Spirit shines His bright light so that we look for nothing but salvation and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus and yet Do we boast in Him? This could be your gospel witness. Hey, do you know the Lord Jesus? Let me tell you what He did for me. Let me tell you how He bore my sins on the cross. You're going to get a lot of questions. But that's your witness. It doesn't have to get more complicated. What if they're a Mormon and I don't know everything about Mormonism? Don't worry about it. You can learn and listen. But your message that you'll have to bring any Mormon back to who is even remotely conscious of Mormonism is that it is only the cross of Christ. that has paid for our sins and purchased our redemption. So that's glory, brothers and sisters, God's glory, what He's done for us, the Father's grace, the Son of God in humbling Himself, the Spirit of God in dwelling with us, putting up with us even though we grieve Him. Why? So that you and I, in our work, in our sports, in our recreation, whatever it is we do, He says anything. that we seek to magnify the living God and glorify Him. And let's pray for one another. This is a task way bigger than we can do in our own strength. But it's not too big for the Lord. But I tell you, if I can do one last thing, I've got another minute, it gets really, really small. Because if you read Matthew 25, and we won't look at it now, when we hear this, We think, oh yeah, I remember hearing this in the 80s and 90s. It was like the old Army ad. Some of you who are old like me, you'll be all you can be. And this message kind of resonated through the parts of the Christian community. Oh yeah, every Christian should aspire to be a movie producer or the highest thing, take over Harvard. I mean, whatever it can be. That's not in the Bible. That's not in the Bible. God may put people there, but remember what He says, 1 Timothy 2, 1 Thessalonians 4, that you study to be quiet, you mind your own business, you work with your own hands. As I have commanded you, why? Because on the last day, It's not going to be, all right, all the great Christians over here, please. All those who took over their field over here, please. Okay. Jesus, if you read Matthew 25, hey, I was naked and you put some clothes on my back. I was hungry and you fed me. And he's talking there to those of the first century. But the application to us is, if you give a cup of water, it gets that granular. Instead of living for the glory of me and the schedule of me and the griefs of me and the things that I really want to push on people because I think they're important. Jesus said, have you given somebody some food in my name? Have you, have you, have you boasted in me before others? Have, when people hear you, is it to God alone be the glory? Or is it, hey, that's for the rank and file, but I've got this other thing I've got going. No, let's be unified. The Father's glory in His grace, the Son's glory in His humiliation, the Spirit's glory in application, the glory of heaven rejoicing in now our privilege to live in that glory in your work, man, in your guarding of the home, dear sisters. Yes, vexations. Yes, troubles. Yes, unthankful children. To the glory of my God who has redeemed me from all of my sins, let's pray to Him together for His grace and let's pray for one another that we will glorify Him Our father, we thank you for your word and and we thank you that you're the one who is going to be glorified. And and even one day when you crown us for labors and faithfulness, we're going to throw all those back on you because you did it and it's you and you've made this world to magnify. your incredible grace and kindness to sinners in your son and to magnify your son so that all men should honor the son even as they honor the father. And we thank you Holy Spirit of God for taking what is Christ and showing it to us. Thank you for indwelling us. Thank you for sanctifying us. Thank you for bearing with us. Lord, please teach us to walk in the spirit even more that we may glorify you. Oh Lord, in our lives, in our relations, even the young guys and girls who are hearing, as they think about how they talk and what they talk about, the things that are important, and help them to remember that it is for your glory, that you're the listener, you're the one who is there. In all of our conversations, in all of our relationships, that you were there and that we would boast, not in anything we have done or that man has done, but that we would boast in your grace, in your glory, in your condescension and love to sinners. Oh Lord, please throughout your whole church, yes us, but everywhere, that we would all be of one mind on this. This is something that all Christians everywhere, Lord, should be able to be of one heart and mind. To God alone be the glory, not man, not our works, not our experiences, but what you have done for us. And help your praise and your honor to be on our lips all the day. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.