With whom, if He comes shortly, I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen." Our text this morning is found in Hebrews 13. We'll be considering verses 20 and 21. Hebrews 13. Verses 20 and 21. Now, the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. In grammar, prepositions are often little words. So the function of a preposition ordinarily is to connect two nouns or two noun phrases. So you think of words like in and on, at, but, to, for, with. All of these are examples of prepositions. So in grammar, they're little words. But in theology, prepositions pack great power. Think even briefly, God with us, Christ in you, justification by faith. We could list a whole bunch of others. But two more examples that are helpful for us to keep in our minds is the distinction between God's work for us and God's work in us. God's work for us, God's work in us. In preaching, these two things have to be always kept together in tension, woven together in balance. God's work for us is something outside of us, right? It refers to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ and things like that. But then God's work in us is something obviously taking place inside of us. It's the distinction between redemption accomplished, which is objective, outside of us, Christ's atoning work, and so on, and redemption applied. where the Lord comes, the Spirit comes, and we have calling, and we have regeneration, and faith, and repentance, and justification, and adoption, and sanctification, glorification. All of that is the Lord applying redemption to us and the work of God within the believer. Well, here we have in our text some references to God's work in us, God's work in the believer. You'll remember that in the previous verses, the Lord has been calling his people to work. And so, Throughout the course of chapter 13, there are many exhortations of things that the believer is to be about, things that they are to be doing, things that are to be engaged in. And most recently we saw in verse 17, you're to obey and submit to those who have the rule over you. You're to pray for them, and so on. So the Lord gives to us these exhortations, these calls to work. But it's followed here in verses 20 and 21 by the desire that God himself would work. That God would work in his people in order to bring to pass all of the things that there to be said about doing. So it's the Lord working in His people that is especially highlighted here. And it is, to narrow the scope a little further, it's especially the work of sanctification that is highlighted, which dovetails so naturally with all of the exhortations that precede it. So we're going to note three things this morning as we consider verses 20 and 21. First of all, we begin with the God who sanctifies. First of all, the God who sanctifies. First thing set before us is the Lord himself. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, and so on. And so it is the Lord. And you'll note here that there are references to all three persons of the Trinity. So in verse 20, the God of peace, it's a reference to the Father. And then there's immediately his relation to the Son, who he brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, there's the Son, who is the great shepherd of the sheep. And then when you come to verse 21, and he's describing how he will make you perfect in every good work, working in you, that which is well-pleasing in his sight. The Holy Spirit isn't named by title, but that is the Holy Spirit who's being referenced. It is his work that is being highlighted there. And then, of course, you have reference again to the Lord Jesus, that this is all carried out through Jesus Christ, and it ends with, to whom be glory forever and ever, an antecedent to whom could be Christ, could be the God of peace, but in fact It encompasses the whole of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as we'll see more in a minute. Now, I highlight this, the fact that all three persons of the Trinity appear in the passage here, because it's helpful for us to put this in theological context. We have to put on our thinking caps a little bit and focus and concentrate, but these are foundational truths for us to remember. God is one. God is one, one indivisible essence. We believe that with all of our hearts. Consequently, there is one will, one essence, one will. Not three wills, but one will. And so, God is one, indivisible in his essence, one will, with inseparable operations in the world. So, what that means is, the Trinity is not a team of three gods, who each perform their own, you know, unique actions, right? It's not, we're not to think in terms of a cooperation, a division in labor within the divine essence. The external, you know, theological jargon, which is standard classical Trinitarian theology, we say that the external works of the Trinity, that is, the works of the Trinity outside of himself, in reference to everything outside of him, the external works of the Trinity are undivided. They're inseparable operations. And so we think in terms of the kind of Trinitarian grammar, all comes from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit. And whenever Scripture says any person of the Trinity is at work, we understand that the other two are equally involved in that operation. So the scripture may highlight or force to the front in our minds for appropriate reasons one person of the Trinity and their work, but we always understand that the other two are equally involved in that operation. So all of that sort of little review, I think for many of you, review in terms of Trinitarian doctrine is helpful when you come to a passage like this where all three persons of the Trinity are being mentioned. because God is at work, the one God, subsisting in three persons and carrying out his will and work in the heart and lives of his people. So it opens with these words, now the God of peace. And we see especially what is being referenced here appropriately is the Father. because it's speaking about him in relation to the Son, as one who brought the Son up from the dead. And so the Father is described as the God of peace. But we know immediately, of course, just to highlight what I've just said, that Jesus Christ is also the God of peace. He's described as the divine Prince of peace. And we know that the Spirit is the Spirit of peace, and so on. But here it's the Father, as the fountain, author of peace. that there is no peace without God. All there is is war. Think about that for a second. The world without God would be undeterred war, incessant War. Constant war. And I'm not speaking just here in terms of military machinery. I mean war in the most, in the broadest sense. At war with ourselves. At war with one another. In every relationship. Husbands, wives, parents, children, siblings, friends, employers, employees. You know, governments and people and all of the various circumstances would be one unrelenting war. The Lord himself is the God of peace. And He's the one who comes in the midst of all the discord. He's the one who comes in the midst of all of the division. And He is the God of peace, brings peace. And so it's describing His relationship, the God of peace, His relationship to His people. You go all the way back to the beginning, what happens? They're in Eden, and the fall takes place, the first sin, and there is a great expulsion. from the presence of God. Separation. They're banned. They're exiled. They're driven out of the garden. You have an angel there with a flaming sword to bar the way, shouting loudly, no access. There is a breach so that The sinner, Adam, and all of his posterity are in a position of hostility against the Lord, and he comes as the judge of all the earth, of which we sang in Psalm 9, and he will work out that judgment against all sinners in keeping with his own justice. And so we need peace. And the God of peace comes through the gospel of peace, in the proclamation of the prince of peace, in order to bring about peace. And here we see in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, in his work as sacrifice and atonement upon the cross, propitiation is obtained. Another theological word, to propitiate, propitiation. A reference to the wrath of God being appeased. The wrath of God being satisfied. The Lord Jesus Christ satisfies the wrath of God. And therefore, through the work of Jesus Christ, as well as the removal of guilt and all else that happens, hostility is replaced with reconciliation. so that sinners are brought, enemies are brought, into friendship with the Lord himself. He is the God of priests. And here, specifically what's highlighted is now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. the one who brings again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. A reference to the second person as the incarnate word, as the the gone man. And here, so the father is being described as the one who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ. All that's appropriate. We're thinking in terms of what's being spoken of here. But we also know that there are references in the New Testament to Jesus raising himself from the dead. In fact, he even says so ahead of time. I have the power to lay down my life. I have the power to take it up again. And we have reference to the Holy Spirit who raises the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is predominantly the one who is pushed to the fore, most often throughout the New Testament, is the Father. Here is the God of peace bringing up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. And the language here is, of course, referring to his resurrection. But he doesn't say that he raised him from the dead. And he doesn't refer to resurrection in those words. He says, brought again from the dead. And so it's a reference, clearly, to the resurrection. Christ, who is in the grave three days, is raised from the dead. But what's being highlighted here, especially, is something a little more. Because it was the Father who delivered up the Son for our offenses. And the son, of course, delivered up himself. But here it is the father who brought again from the dead. You know, you think of, for example, elsewhere in the New Testament where similar language is used of a person who is being brought out of prison. They're being escorted out of prison. The father Bringing Him up again from the dead is sort of an official delivery, if you will. He's being officially brought from the prison of death and brought back in His resurrected glory by the Father. Why is that? Because in the resurrection we have the vindication of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the open declaration of his conquest over sin and hell and death and Satan himself. We have in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, that which was prior to his ascension to continue his glorious work, reigning as the King of Kings and interceding as the high priest and proclaiming his word as the great prophet. You have in Him being brought up again from the dead a clear indication that the Father is satisfied with the work of atonement that He has brought to pass. But it's also an official declaration for every believer that strengthens their confidence and hope in their very own resurrection from the dead, which is tied inextricably to Christ's resurrection. and is guaranteed as a consequence. So the believer can be more certain of their resurrection than whether they're awake or asleep at this moment. The Lord has declared it in the resurrection of His Son. And that resurrection power is the same power that will raise His people unto glory. And so power is being highlighted. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, who has the power to raise the dead. No mere man has the power. Men have power to create technology and computers and ballistic missiles and, you know, things that go super fast and they have the power to do all sorts of things. But they never have the power to raise the dead. This is divine power. This is reflective of the infinite power that belongs in God Almighty Himself. His power. And it's tied to all that's going to follow. This God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, with such staggering, divine display of limitless, infinite power. It is that same God, with that same power, who is set about to renovate and sanctify His people. So we see in verse 21, So he brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. He who is the good shepherd, yes. He who is the great shepherd here in connection with his resurrection, the chief shepherd, often in relationship to his ascension and his reign. All the same, Christ is the great shepherd. Great in terms of excellence. Great in terms of above and beyond every other conceivable and kind of shepherd. He is no hireling. He is the one who laid down his life for the sheep. He is the one who tends his flock with perfection, constantly having his eye upon his people. If you're a believer here this morning, The Lord Jesus Christ is present with us by His Spirit as a shepherd, shepherding your soul. He is engaged in shepherding your soul in these very moments, filling your mouth with praise to sing to Him, directing the course of your thoughts and the inflaming of your affections. He's the one who's speaking to you in the reading and preaching of His word. He's feeding you as sheep with His own precious word, which is better than the best manna that has ever come down from heaven. He's the one who's protecting. and satan and all of his attacks and the snares of all that that the world lays before our feet and our own vexation of indwelling sin within us the shepherd comes he defends he protects he provides he's the one who consoles he's the one who guides and leads his people my friends we must have him The Lord has given to you under-shepherds, as we saw in verse 17, ministers, elders, and so on, that serve Christ by serving you. You have that, everyone here this morning has under shepherds. What you desperately need is the great shepherd, to be the shepherd and overseer of your own soul, for him to be yours and for you not to be a wolf, not to be a goat, but to be one of his sheep, one of his flock, savingly, to be under his saving care. So He brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd, the Sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. All of this, the God of peace, Christ being brought again from the dead, Christ as the Great Shepherd, all of this is sealed and ratified by Christ's blood. It all hinges on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You go back to the prophets and you think of the reference, for example, in Zechariah 9, verse 11. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. This is the meritorious cause. Here is the Lord who differs from all others, and it is through His blood and the blood of the everlasting covenant, a covenant that is never repealed, a covenant that can never be disposed of, a covenant that is sure and firm and endures forever and ever. It is through the blood of this everlasting covenant. that the Lord, as we see in what follows, goes on to bring about the conforming of His own people to the likeness of His Son. And so we begin with the Lord Himself, the God who sanctifies. Our eyes are glued on Him. He is the one the Triune God who is at work. But then secondly, we have the good work of sanctification. So the God who sanctifies, now we think about the work that he's carrying out, this good work of sanctification. Make you perfect in every good work you do as will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. And so you have the fountain, we said, the God of peace. You have the channel through the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We see something here, the nature of the work. This is, if you will, the fruit of the covenant being worked out in the souls of his people. Here we see God rectifying every disorder in the souls of his people, fitting them for every call to holy service before him. The believer is not only saved from the penalty of his sins. It's not only that there is a propitiation for sin through Christ Jesus, a removal of wrath. It's not only that the guilt has been canceled. All of that's true. The penalty of sin has been removed. But the Lord in His saving work sets about to sanctify His people that they might live for His glory. That He might change them from the inside out. God sanctifies. Now the importance here is this. The Lord is the one who is carrying out this good work of sanctification. God sanctifies. We don't sanctify ourself. So when we say God sanctifies, it's in contradistinction to any notion that we sanctify ourselves. What's being described is God himself at work. Indeed, you'll remember the language of Ephesians 4. Ephesians 2, where it says, for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in. We are His own workmanship. In Romans 8, we made reference, I think, on Wednesday to the fact that the Father predestinated that his people would be conformed to the image of his Son. Christ comes in his redeeming work and purchases the sanctification of his people. The Spirit comes and the Spirit is the one who transforms the believer from their old ugly self into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Dying unto sin, living unto righteousness, and being transformed from one glory to another glory. This good work of sanctification is a work that God Himself is carrying out. Now that's a great encouragement to us. Because if it's the Lord who has this unlimited infinite power, if it is the Lord who Himself is God, if He's the one who has purposed in His own will to bring about this work in the believer, then we have good crowns to expect it. We have confidence and hope and encouragement that He who began a good work in us will in fact bring it to completion. That He will bring these things to pass and that amidst all the fog of our own complexities in our soul and struggles and sin and the beating and battering and all that comes with it, we can take heart in the fact that the Lord Himself is at work. And what He has said about to do, He will do. for his own glory. Now having said that, there'll be objections that are coming up in some of your minds. Some of you will be thinking to yourselves, well, but, but, but, but, but. And so let me make clear, this does not mean that we, the believer, is passive in sanctification. It does not mean that the believer is passive in sanctification. Far from it. See, all the language the Bible's loaded us with, you know, striving and wrestling and fighting and resisting and all of the vocabulary that the Lord has furnished us with to describe the pursuits and actions of his people. But what we have here is the Lord bringing together, if you will, his divine sovereignty and our human responsibility. And this is captured on this very point in Philippians 2, where you read in verse 12, so Philippians 2, verse 12, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So there are all the emphasis placed in those words upon the believer's own activity, the believer's own pursuits. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But it doesn't stop there. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you. both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Work out your own salvation for God is the one who is at work in you, both to will and to do. And so we have our responsibility. The Lord calls the believer to all sorts of action and obedience before him, and we're culpable in every instance and to every degree to which we neglect that. We ourselves are responsible. We're culpable for our failures in that. But we have our responsibilities that are to be carried out. But you'll notice here, they're to be carried out with dependence upon the Lord. They're to be carried out with dependence upon the Lord. He is the one that is working in and through us to bring about this renovation and transformation. And so we're conscious that it is the Holy Spirit, it is God who sanctifies, and it is the Holy Spirit indwelling the believer, that amidst all their activity, which they do with a conscious dependence upon the Lord, that it is the Lord working in those things, through those things, with those things, alongside those things, by those things, However you want to describe it, He is the one who is working in order to bring about this transformation and this change. And so it says that God of peace make you perfect in every good work to do His will. Make you equipped. Here it's not perfect in the sense of sinless, sinless perfection, make you sinlessly perfect. That doesn't take place in this world. That only happens at death where the soul is perfected in holiness. The word perfect here carries with the idea of being equipped or fitted, sound, complete, mature, not defective, you know, framed or prepared. for every good work to do his will. Every good work to do his will. It's not as if the believer needs a help in a few things or most things. The believer actually needs God to be working in all things, in every good work. Now, every good work to do his will, those two things together, every good work to do his will, have to be held together because that's part of the definition of a good work. A good work has to be something that's coming from God. It has to be according to His will. So the rule that defines a good work is God's will. Someone says, well, I come up with all these harebrained ideas. I'm going to do these things for the glory of God. I'm going to do these things to please Him, and so on. And they're not things that are in keeping with His will. They're never a good work. So they have to be from Him, they have to be in keeping with His will, and they have to be for His glory, among other things. The pursuits of His glory. What's being described is fruitfulness. Make you perfect in every good work to do His will. The Lord wants His people to abound in good works. not as a means of attaining salvation, but as the fruit that flows from a true saving work in the soul. The Lord desires the fruitfulness of His people, and it's extensive in every good work. That we would be enabled to love the Lord with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, all of our strength. And that that love would be manifest and worked out in all of the various dimensions of our life, the faculties of our body and soul, all of the activities and relationships that we're involved in. That good works would abound. The fruit of sanctification in our lives extensively. Make you perfect in every good work to do His will. Working in you. Here's the Lord's activity. Working in you. That which is well-pleasing in His sight. God is at work in the believer. You say, well, okay, that's fairly obvious. Is it? Well, if we affirm that God is at work in the believer, then by consequence, God's not at work in the unbeliever? Who's at work in the unbeliever? The devil. The devil is at work in the unbeliever. He blinds the minds. He cools the conscience. He entices the affections. He lays all sorts of snares. Well, in that light, to say that God is at work in the believer is a tremendous consolation. But it's also a consolation because God is at work in His people. And so often, that does not feel evident. So we don't feel, at times, the believer as if the Lord is at work in us. And we feel as if we're perhaps lacking fruitfulness in so many areas that we're falling and stumbling and banging our heads and spewing sin and so on. But the Lord says, no, he's at work in you. Indeed, there are times when the Lord's at work in you, and He's sticking you in the furnace, and He's cranking up the temperature, and He's beginning to melt the gold, and what happens but dross is being burned, separated from the gold, purified, and it's coming to the surface. The Lord striving with us, convicting us, breaking us, humbling us. And there are times when that sin is especially acute to us. The Lord is at work here as well. And even due to our own folly and ours alone, and our own faults and sins, which we are responsible for, and we have full culpability for, even in those instances, if it is indeed a true believer, the Lord is pleased to work in us in those circumstances. Go back and read Westminster Confession, Chapter 5, Paragraph 5, Chapter on Providence, the paragraph on God's providence in the believer's sin. How does that work? It describes how the Lord uses in his providence our own sinful stupidity in order that we might be brought to greater humility, humbled under the hand of the Lord, seeing ourselves more accurately, we're made more watchful against future occasions of sin, more dependent upon the Lord, and a host of other things. God is at work in the believer. And he works through his appointed means, but he is the one who is doing it. God puts in his people the will. to do what is well-pleasing to Him. God puts within His people the desire to do what is well-pleasing to Him. But God also puts within His people the power to perform it. Go back to Romans 7, verse 18. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Here's the Lord. He comes and He puts both the will, the desire, and the power to perform His will. Without Him, we're powerless. We have no ability. The believer doesn't have anything in and of themselves. Within us that is in our flesh dwells no good thing. Our own right arm and our own sense of strength is like a broken reed. It can hold no weight whatsoever. That if the Lord were to remove himself, if the Lord were to cease his work within our souls, all would go to shambles instantly in a split second. Because it is only His power that it's at work. The power of His grace that is bringing forward the perfection and holiness of His people. Bringing forward what is well-pleasing in His sight. reinforces, doesn't it, the fact that the Lord works from the inside out. The inward man has to be renewed day by day. The Lord is dealing with our hearts and all of that probing soul work, and the fruit is the outworking into action. If you just are focused on the externals, do this, don't do that. Pursue this, don't pursue that. Without the heart work, you're in serious trouble. The Lord works in the souls of His people. He's working in you in order that He might work through you and all of the fruitfulness of external service and other things that come from it, sanctifying us both inwardly and outwardly in order that we might do what is well-pleasing in His sight. not well-pleasing in the sight of those that are around us, not well-pleasing in our own sight, what we think is especially good or important according to our own priorities, but doing what is well-pleasing in the sight of God Himself. This is living quorum Deo. This is living before the face of God, in the presence of God. This is living conscious of the Lord. in all that we're about, desiring to please Him above all else, to please Him in ways that are, in fact, suited to Him, that He deems pleasing. Go back to Proverbs 15. We read in verse 3, The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. A Christian is to live with that, as it were, written over their foreheads, conscious of His presence, and prompted by the desire to please Him. Colossians 1 verse 10, That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. The goal is to please Him. If we've pleased Him, we've secured our heart's desire. But that's only possible if it is through Jesus Christ. That which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. In fact, all of this, making you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you, that which is well-pleasing in His sight, all of it takes place through Jesus Christ. never without Jesus Christ, so that it is impossible, you know, the idea of bare or raw moralism is completely ridiculous, it should be completely ridiculous, even with a little bit of knowledge of the scripture, but is an utter impossibility. You know, can the leopard change its spots? Can a bitter spring bring forth sweet water and so on? No, it's impossible. You know, can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit? It's impossible. Because the nature of an unconverted person is such that it is incapable of doing anything that is good. This has to be only through Jesus Christ. We have to be abiding in Him in order that we might bear much fruit. We have to be walking in nearness to Him, communion with Him, all of this flowing out of union with Him. This sanctification and these good works and this being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, all of it takes place through Christ's mediation. It takes place as a consequence of his intercession. And without him we have nothing, literally nothing. And therefore the believer is looking and expectantly and waiting and depending and drawing on all of the resources that are to be found in the person of Jesus Christ himself, pleading for his presence, pleading for his promises to be fulfilled, pleading for his power, because we're conscious that it can only come about through him. through Jesus Christ. And so you have this good work of sanctification. Time's hastening on. Thirdly, and more briefly, the glory of God in sanctification. The glory of God in sanctification. Verse 21 ends with these words, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. As I said in the introduction, the whom can refer to Christ, immediate antecedent, or it can refer to the God of peace. But it is true of the whole Trinity. And children, you know this. Why? Because you know your catechism. Even if you haven't gotten very far in your catechism, you know that in the question on the three persons of the Godhead, that it says that they are the same in substance, equal, in power and glory. That's our word, the word in our text. The same in substance, equal in power and glory. And so the glory belongs to the whole undivided Trinity. Here what's being highlighted is the fact that all comes from God, all that we've been hearing, all that we're talking about, all of this comes from the Lord. Everything good comes from Him, including the sanctification of His people. And therefore, all glory must go to Him. If it's all come from Him, then the glory goes to Him. No Christian who has made any measure of progress in spiritual maturity and in holiness and in sanctification can kind of, you know, grab themselves by their lapel, whatever, and say, look at me, look what I've done, look at the credit that I deserve, look at the good that I've accomplished, look at the attainments that I have reached. I've done something really wonderful here. No Christian can do that. To take any of the glory to ourselves is to defame God and is to distort the whole nature of the gospel and is to turn everything that God is doing upside down. It's the Lord who's at work. And when good is brought about and any fruit is born, we're to fall on our faces and give all glory and honor and praise unto him, for the abundant riches of his grace, where that grace is abounding, where much more, where sin has previously abounded. So all the glory goes to him, because all the grace comes from him. But it's also true, you see, the connection between the good works of God's people and their renovation and transformation into the likeness of Jesus Christ, that is tied to God's glory. The gospel, first and foremost, is always about God himself. People think of the gospel in terms of the beneficiaries, The sinner, the believer who's redeemed. The gospel is all about redeeming us, saving us from hell, reconciling us to God, giving us, you know, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost and so on. All of that is secondary. The gospel is chiefly about God himself. because it is chiefly about His setting about to magnify His glory. And the means through which He is pleased to do that is the gospel and the salvation of sinners. So if we have that context, then we can put into proper place our own growth and grace, the believer's growth and grace. and are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ and the good works which are so indispensable to that Christian life. Because we recognize that as we are shaped into Christ's likeness, we are actually gathering more and more glory to God, the triune God. When we are setting about through the ministry of the Spirit to bear fruit, when we are busy in the work of good works, all of this is gathering glory to God. I mean, Jesus tells us that. He says that men will see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. So all of that is accumulating glory to him. And so we think back to the very beginning, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Everything that flows out of that, everything that comes after that, including all of the descriptions of redemption accomplished and then redemption applied to the individual soul, all of that is inextricably tied to man's primary purpose. Our primary purpose of existence, which is to glorify the Lord. We have higher motives. Believer, you have higher motives than your own self-interest. higher motives in terms of your sanctification, in terms of seeing sin killed, and growing in righteousness, and seeking to serve the Lord with faithfulness in ways that set forth His Kingdom first. It's not just because you benefit, you receive. You know, joy in that communion with Christ. You receive a sense of hope and confidence for the future. Your own situation is better. That as you're made more holy, there's less collateral damage from all the consequences of your sin. All of that may be true, but the motivation for the Christian is pleasing Him, glorifying Him. That will light up a Christian in a way that their own self-interest never will. Because at the end of the day, you think, well, I can dispose of that. All right, so I don't get as much of this, that, or the other thing. I can do with less, and I'm content. You can never say that when it comes to the Lord and when it comes to his glory. And so this lights the Christian in terms of the pursuit of his glory. And what's happening is we're adding praise to all of our petitions. You know, this desire for the God of peace to be at work in us, working what is in keeping with His own will. That petition, that longing, that desire is to be followed with praise, giving God thanks, giving God glory for every detail of it. to whom be glory forever and ever." That is eternal glory for the eternal God. Eternal glory. Believer, if God is for you, who can be against you? If God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is working good in you and for you, then you have every reason to take heart. Because there is nothing, the devil and his minions, hell, death, your own indwelling sin, none of it stands a chance against such a God as this. And sort of, he affirms with the word, Amen. This is a firm seal. This is, let it be so. This is a confirmation. It's a longing. Let it be so. But really, it's a longing for God's Amen. We say, Amen. Let it be so. But really, even in our saying amen, we are expressing a longing for God's own amen. That he would say, and does say, let it be so. That as it is in heaven, that so it would likewise be upon the earth. And so here is God's work in the believer, to be his workmanship. You know, we've seen a number of points here in reference to application to the unbeliever, but I'll leave the unconverted especially with this point. What is it to be created by God? To be created by God and then left to perish. To glorify God in your own damnation. To be absent of this work of which we've been describing. Think of it. To be created by God. And then, in his condescending mercy and abundant gospel grace, to be recreated by God after the likeness of his Son, to be redeemed, for your sins to be forgiven, for the Spirit to be given to you, in order that you might be made like Christ himself. Christ is the objective standard and definition of true beauty. The work of sanctification is the beautifying of his people. To make them like his son is to make them, to recreate them after the image of true beauty and glory. How is it, for those who are unconverted, how is it that you can stand not being a recipient, of this grace, to be content, to be created, and then to perish and to glorify God in your damnation, rather than to be received through Jesus Christ. his redeeming work, to be made a sheep in the fold of the great shepherd, for God the Holy Spirit to be at work and bringing working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, gathering glory to the God who both creates and saves. It's a wake-up call. It ought to rattle us, it ought to shake us to see the reality of these things and to cry out and plead, God save me. Oh God of peace, come with peace and make peace with me. Through the son, the prince of peace, grant that I might lay hold of him, rest in him, receive him. be reconciled through him unto God and made the workmanship of God. and being made in the likeness of Jesus Christ. This is glory. Glory to God. Glory of God manifest in the glory that is found in His people. We have glory. We exhibit glory. That's why we refer to the last step in the application of redemption as glorification on the last day. But it is Christ's own glory that we bear, and it redounds to his own praise. Let's stand for prayer. O Lord our God, the God of peace, who has brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. O Lord, we pray, give us eyes to see something of the glory of God, to see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit undivided in thy operations and work. Grant, O God, that we might have our hearts raised with expectation, our hearts settled with confidence and hope. Give, O Lord, that we would be drawn with greater sense of dependence upon thee. And we pray, O Lord, arise and work. Snatch brands from the fire, convert the lost. And, O Lord, work in thy people that which is well-pleasing in thy sight, all to thy glory, we ask.