I would ask you to open your Bibles this afternoon to a text that we've been looking at in recent days several times, and passing at least, Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. And notice again those words in verse 30, where Paul speaks of the aim and ultimate outcome of our salvation. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called, whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified, perhaps spoken of in past tense, especially because, well, these other matters are just that certain and sure, and all of this goes together. In the mind of God, that predetermined purpose, this was it, that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, we were then effectually called to Christ, joined to Him, and then we were justified, that is, declared and forever treated in His perfect righteousness, for this, that we should be forever glorified, which is really something of a summation of what Paul had just written in verse 29, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That is to say, it is conformity to Christ. As Paul has already said in this chapter, how we are gonna be glorified together with him. that glory will be revealed in us. And part of that glory, as we've seen in recent days, is our physical conformity to the glorified humanity of Christ. We shall see him be like him physically even. Philippians 3.21, he will change these bodies of our humility to be like unto His glorious body, but along with that, there will be this inward conformity to Christ. That is, morally, that we will see Him and be like Him, even as He is pure, 1 John 3, or we'll be presented holy and blameless and irreproachable in God's sight, or that picture in Ephesians chapter five, that bride that at last He presents to Himself, a glorious bride without spot or wrinkle or any kind of blemish. Well, that's us. we will be partaking of his inward conformity to Christ as well. And all of this in order that we should share his status, his inheritance, his blessedness forever and ever being perfectly suited to it both outwardly, inwardly, that body that's immortal, etc. And as it says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that we were called for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and we will be perfectly suited to it. All of his people will obtain that glory. Now we've also noted that the word glorified In addition to conformity to Christ, it speaks of our being honored, of honor bestowed or glory given, much like when we're told the saints glorified God because of Paul's conversion and Galatians 1. Well, that's the word. And that concept, that side of glorification is included in that facet of our salvation, that God will honor, even to use the Bible's word, praise us before the whole moral universe. There will be that expressed approbation or that commendation of each of his own. And now we're not for scripture repeatedly asserting this. It would be irreverent. or even ludicrous for us to suggest it. But we've seen that this is Bible, 1 Corinthians 4-5, that when the Lord comes, then each one's praise will come from God, each of his saved people. Romans 2.29, whose praise is not from men, but from God. That is, we are those who now seek glory, honor, and mortality, Romans 2.7, and we shall then have it. As Jesus himself promised, if anyone serves me, him my father will honor. That's in John 12.26, right in the context of his speaking of our eternal life. Or 1 Peter 1.7, our faith will be found come that day to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Or 2 Thessalonians 1.10-12. especially on that day when Christ comes to be glorified in the saints, Paul says, and you in Him, all of you believers in Him, you too will be glorified or receive glory come that day. We even saw the words of our Savior, well done, good and faithful servant. enter into the joys of your Lord. And then you've got later in Matthew 25 that commending, and as much as you've done it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me, commending his people. And so it is that we see elsewhere how Christ, before again the whole moral universe, will own us as his people when he confesses us before the angels of God, Luke 12, 8, or when he even confesses us before the Father, Matthew 10, 32, and not just barely, but rather the idea with approbation, with commendation, with delight, here am I and the children God has given me, Hebrews 2.13. Well, To all of this, there's yet another way in which scripture emphasizes that great honor will be given to us come that day. And for the sake of time, I skipped over it, but I want to come back to it now. It's when the Bible speaks of crowns being given, crowns being given to us. It's stated in a number of places. We're not going to look at all those places, but 1 Corinthians 9.25, it uses the word imperishable crown. A crown that's gonna last forever and ever and ever. Not like some little wreath of leaves, laurel leaves or whatever that, okay, eventually that thing's gonna kinda come to nothing. No, we receive a crown that is imperishable. imperishable. Or James 1.12 talks about our receiving the crown of life. Or you've got 1 Peter 5.10, our receiving the crown of glory. Or notice the language in 2 Timothy and chapter 4. 2 Timothy and chapter 4. This is in the context when Paul is talking about his own upcoming departure of this world by the martyr's death. And he says in verse seven of Second Timothy four, I have fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the faith, finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing, as we saw on a previous occasion, loved his appearing. That's not just talking about, you've got certain Christians who, that's a description of the Lord's people, looking for, longing for, loving the appearing. But notice here it's called a crown of righteousness, which simply means it is a reward or blessing because of righteousness. So, you see the point. Repeatedly, we're told how we're going to be given these crowns. What's that all about? I mean, literally, here you go, you've got a crown. Maybe you get an accumulation of crowns, that's what someone taught, you know. You got several tiers of crowns on your head there or something. Well, obviously, we mustn't take it that way. It's a figurative way of speaking of our coming blessedness, but it begs the question, why is our coming blessedness described as a crown or crowns? Well, clearly, a crown is a mark of honor and exaltation. Whether you think of it in terms of a runner's wreath like 1 Corinthians 9.25, you know the equivalent to the Olympics going on even now, well they would get this laurel wreath or whatever, a crown. But it was the mark of honor for victory. or whether you should think of it as a crown of royalty. The Bible does use the word crown in that way. Well, that too is a mark of dignity and the honor due one of an exalted rank. So either way, whether it's the mark of victory or the king's crown, doesn't matter. emphasis on crowns in connection with our glorification because all this is speaking of when Christ shall come. Emphasis on crowns has to do with the honor that will be bestowed upon us. The great dignity and exaltation that will be ours in that coming when again, underscoring the same truth of these passages that we've looked at. Openly, here, you are given that praise, that honor, that commendation from God. Did you notice in the reading of 2 Timothy 4, 8, who it is that gives that crown of righteousness? It's our Lord Jesus Christ, of course, but you remember how he's there defined? Look at it again. How he's described, rather? Verse 8, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day. When Christ gives that honor to his people, he does so as the righteous judge. That is to say, it's perfectly suitable for all of his saved people that they should get that reward of righteousness. Well, how is that so? Well, it's because of that great and thorough salvation with which he saves his people. Remember the very name, he saves his people from their sins? Well, he saves his people this much delivered, not only in this life, but then in that coming day, such a a salvation from sin that we are glorified, that is that we are commended before working in us to will and to do God's good pleasure now, but then at last we're commending us, giving that honor and approval to all of his own. And as I pointed out in the previous hour, what grace then to hell deserving sinners, those who are dead in trespasses and sins, in whom Satan, the spirit of disobedience, was very at work. Those who were by nature children of wrath, from that to being forever praiseworthy and so honored by a holy God. That's the salvation with which Christ saves sinners. Again, I appeal to that 2 Corinthians 8-9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. that through his poverty you should be made rich, not tawdry things of this world. Rather, here's one who made himself poor in our poverty, taking to himself the punishment we deserve, that we should forever share in the unsearchable riches of Christ, rich indeed. But now, that teaches us then volumes about our salvation, about the extent of our salvation, as well as how effectual that salvation is. That's what I emphasized in the previous hour. I come back to it because also it speaks glorious truth about our God and Savior. As I already emphasized, what grace, what grace did God to sinners like us. But even beyond that, brethren, in this teaching, that is that we will be glorified, we will be commended, praised, to use that word the Bible uses, by this God, come that day and forever, brethren, see in that His heart toward us. There's a real window into God's disposition and God's heart constantly, forever, but already. Who's the one who decreed this salvation? Who's the one who provided this salvation, even at the cost of Christ coming and bearing the sin as a substitute? And why did he do this? Well, Romans 8.30, he predestined, called, justified, glorified, that is that we should be forever glorified, all that that involves. That full conformity to Christ and his glorified humanity, but also praise and honor before the whole moral universe. It's God who designed that salvation and made it effectual to that end. Here's his desire, here's his aim and his purpose, here's his delight, here's his delight in his people. In other words, here's his heart towards you, dear brother, dear sister, towards you. Not because you're so wonderful, but because of his grace. Notice the words of Ephesians 2, I've already referred to verses 1 through 3, but let's come there. Ephesians 2, and you, Paul says to all those believers, they're in Ephesus and it applies no less to us, and you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit, who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom Also, we, that is Paul and all the Jews as well as Gentiles, all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as others. So, Jew, Gentile, this is all deserving eternal damnation. That's us. Well, what happened? Verse four, but God. If you've never heard Dr. Lloyd-Jones' sermon on that, I would commend it to you. Very well known, but God. But God, here we were, but God, who's rich in mercy. because of his great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead and trespasses and sins made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. That is your glorification, Christian. God has dealt with you. Why? Oh, because of that great mercy. Why? Because of the love with which he loved us. And therefore this, his plan, his delight, his heart. Or we could look over a couple of pages to Ephesians 5, how Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Yes, that right now in this world, as we're told there in verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word. But wait, not just that as an end in itself, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish and then be received by him and honored as his bride, his perfect bride. Such a high honor, right? Right? Again, if scripture didn't say this, it would be ludicrous for us to even think that this could be, but there it is. Giving praise to his bride come that day. Well, brethren, in this emphasis that we've seen from scripture this morning, and then I repeat it now, it's not so as to boost our egos. Boy, look how wonderful you are. It's not to make us feel good about ourselves and give us all kinds of warm fuzzies and certainly not to puff us up with pride. But rather, my concern is that we should think right about God. That we should think right about our holy, infinite, altogether glorious God. And that would include an accurate view of his heart, of his disposition, his love, as displayed in our salvation. That this should be prominent in our thinking, not only from today's studies, but always. Because sadly, sometimes some of us people are guilty of thinking of God as some kind of omniscient fault finder. I can never do anything good enough. Here I am. He's omniscient. He knows everything. He's holy and look at me. I'm sure he's just looking for a reason to come down heavy on me. My friend, he has plenty of reason to come down heavy upon us, but he deals with us in grace. Psalm 103, not according to our sins. Rather, well he's as far as our east is from the west, so far as he removed our sins from us. He's given us Christ's perfect righteousness. He deals with us in grace with this ultimate end to give us glory. That we should be glorified together with Christ and all that that includes. That he should forever show his approbation. Our acceptance, a perfection of our acceptance in Christ that is already ours, but will then be experienced and seen by all. His delight in his people. You know, like in Psalm 149, talks about God taking pleasure in his people, and this honor have all the saints. This is revealed in his word. that we should see and understand this now. We're gonna experience it forever, okay? Come that day, yeah. But it's given to us that we think this way now. And seeing the good that God has done should show us his great willingness to bless, that he's ready, that he rewards, that he commends. Brethren, such is his grace. Such is his unswerving purpose, notwithstanding us and our hearts, no, no, such is his heart, and it's for us to see it, what he has revealed in his word, to see his delight in his people, that come that day he will manifest unmistakably before the whole moral universe. that includes us, maybe because of our having a hard time grasping at the me, this God could so commend me. But what a striking insight we're given into the heart of God our Savior in a comparison of two passages in Luke's gospel. I would ask you first to come to Luke chapter 17, but then we'll compare that with Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 17. Let's think about a reading of verse 7. Which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat. But will he not rather say to him, prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk and afterwards you will eat and drink. Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you. When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do. We've only done what is commanded, and sadly, we've done less than what is commanded. unprofitable servants. Well, it's very right that this should be our posture. What's being said here, you agree? Very reasonable, right? The master, you work, now then fix me and then afterwards you can eat and rest. Very right, reasonable, right? Please come to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. Here in the context of even looking ahead to our Lord's coming. Luke chapter 12, verse 37. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he, and he is that master, will gird himself and have them sit down to eat and will come and serve them. Here's what's reasonable. You've only done what's commanded, now then you serve and make ready for me, and then you can... But here's what our Savior does. Come, sit, dine. See his heart. Don't think of him as we would act, or even as would be reasonable by the world's standards. See the heart of your Savior, ready to come in. when he will say, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. It's because every one of those servants, they've done everything perfectly all of their days. No, they're unprofitable servants. But such is his grace. such is his heart. In this very connection in Luke chapter 12 verse 32 our Lord has said it's the father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Now brethren we're not looking at this from the standpoint of some kind of health and wealth prosperity gospels. heresy that's grown out of an abuse of such passages, but we mustn't let that heresy or any abuse of these passages rob us from the truth that is taught. See the heart of God. See our Savior's disposition. What does that do to you? Seeing the heart of your Savior, the heart of God our Savior, what does that do to you? Make you lazy? Careless? Let's use grace as a license to sin. Make you unloving toward him? It's not so, Christian. In fact, if it is so, then beware, because that sounds like those religious people that can say, we did this, that, and the other, and Jesus will say, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness, I didn't know you. No, surely. Seeing the heart of your God in Christ, does that not melt your heart? Does that not cause you to love Him yet more and more, to be truly amazed at His grace? And doesn't that drive you to seek that honor that He gives to His honor? To hear Him say, well done, good and faithful servant? Brethren, see our salvation and see our Savior again. See God's heart in this. Well, is that how you think of him? Or are you guilty at times of thinking, well, you know, he's an omniscient fault finder. He just sees everything bad I do. And he's got out to get rubbish. Perish that. See his love. See his love revealed on Calvary. See his love revealed in what Christ secured, including our glorification. Isn't it easy to lose sight of that? in light of our own remaining corruption. Or, I dare say, when you, in your Bible reading, come across a text like Luke 17.10, and when you've done everything you're commanded, say, we are in profitable service, that's the right posture, and how much more so since we've not done everything that's commanded. But because of that, we stop right there. We forget what Jesus said back in Luke 12. Or, Maybe it's because of painful trials. Maybe it's because of things that are totally perplexing to you. If God so regards me, how, why? Remember, that kind of got Job. It certainly got his three friends. Oh, you must be a terrible sinner. Look what's happened to you, Job. No, no. It's by that one offering, brethren, that we're perfected forever, on and on into eternity, in God's eyes, in our acceptance with God, and that means forever now. When John wrote 1 John 4.19, we love him because he first loved us, that at least includes, at least includes that our love is the response to his love for us. Well, shouldn't our seeing his love, shouldn't our mindfulness of his love and our acceptance with him stir us up to love him yet more and more? Again, those who use that as a license to sin, well, it's like those people in Jude verse four. They were false professors. But surely for us to see his love, does that not stir us up to, doesn't it? When Paul wrote those words, he loved me, he gave himself for me, I don't really care. No, no. There's his hope, there's his heart. Well, brethren, we need constant reminders of God's true love and disposition toward us. We have it in his kindnesses to us day by day. We have it in our life in Christ and every spiritual blessing in him. We've got constant reminders in his word. We've got the cross and we've got that ordinance to which we come this afternoon that was given us by the Savior himself to keep this reality regularly before us. Do this in remembrance of me. That broken body and that shed blood, which are the expression of his love for us all, for each of us, his people. But then also, as Paul went on to say in 1 Corinthians 11, we proclaim his death till he comes all the way to the end. We're proclaiming here's our hope and righteousness all the way to that time when he presents us to himself as that glorious bride. No spot, no wrinkle, nor any blemish. When we are then glorified together with Christ as joint heirs in that glory revealed in us. And then now to be reminded of that great salvation. How thorough and effectual it is. to be reminded of that glorious Savior, and to see God's heart always. Well, brethren, let's come, remember Christ, and be stirred afresh to live for that coming day, and to love Him who first loved us, and who so loves us, and that we would then be those who Romans 2-7 described as seeking that glory and honor and immortality from him by living for him, knowing this, you'll have it. You will have the immortality, but also the glory and the honor forever and ever. And even as that perfect bride that Christ presents to himself, you got a picture of it in the Old Testament, Isaiah 62.5, how God rejoices as a bridegroom over a bride, over his people. So forever. Oh my God, help us to use the supper as a reminder, always, regularly, of the heart of God toward us. Now, what do you want to hear? Come the day when Christ comes. when he comes as judge, what do you want to hear him say? Do you want to hear, well done, good and faithful servant? Do you want to hear, come, you're blessed of the Lord, enter into the kingdom, your father's prepared? Or do you want to hear him say, depart from me, you cursed and everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels? What do you want to hear? What do you expect to hear? You needn't hear this judge say depart from me if you'll hear him now. He commanded repent and believe the gospel. Believe the good news that Christ died to save sinners, he lives to save sinners, he saves all who put their trust in him. Repent, turn from sin to God through Christ, looking only to Jesus. God himself sets into pleading with sinners. Ezekiel 33 11, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn and live. Powerful statement. And yet it's made more powerful by God himself who then says, turn, turn. Why will you die? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to whoever believes in him, not perish. everlasting life. Will you have Christ? Will you go to Christ? Will you believe Him? Will you believe Him? When He says about coming to save sinners, will you believe Him so much that you'll go to Him? And those who do, no way will He cast them out. He saves sinners. Go to Christ. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, again we thank you for so great salvation from such a glorious Savior. Lord, grant that we would indeed See in this teaching of your own word about our glorification, your aim, that which our salvation has in view. Grant that we would see your heart and disposition toward us, providing such a salvation that we should forever be your children glorified together with Christ as joint heirs. Grant we would live like it now. Grant we would see your love. and we would love you yet more and more. Please grant that the supper would be a means to aid us. Grant your word, grant your Holy Spirit, oh Lord, that we should love you more. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.