The first talk, God's Glory, a Purpose for Life. And I think that's what it says on the screen now. And I think people struggle, or at least a lot of people in our society and our day, with why am I here? What's there for me to do? Why do I even exist? And we're going to be saying in this conference that the reason for that is to glorify God. It's a God-given purpose. And I want to just show you a couple of things that talk about that. But I want to first say that this is one of the primary things that is to be properly identified with Calvinism. There will be plenty of Calvinism talked about here, but in such a way that you don't have to be a Calvinist insider to follow what's going on, and you don't have to agree with all of that at the moment. We hope you will agree with more of it by the time you leave if you've come not having embraced that. Orthodox Presbyterian Church and most other Presbyterian denominations have as their doctrinal standards, which our officers hold to, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, referred to here, the Westminster Larger Catechism, which I'll mention later, and also the Westminster Confession of Faith. The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is what is the chief end of man? And the answer is there, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That's the starting point for that catechism. The larger catechism has a similar answer, but is expanded slightly. But that's a starting point for Calvinism. God's glory, and we'll be talking more about that. I quoted just parts of two verses here. Here's one of them. Isaiah 43, 7 is talking about mankind, and it goes on to say about mankind, God is speaking, whom I have created for my glory. That's why we're on this earth. That's why mankind is on this earth, for the glory of God. But then again, 1 Corinthians 10 31 says as a part of that verse, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. That's everything. So you've got a purpose in life, you're created for that purpose is glorifying God, and all the things that you do should be done to the glory of God. This is talking about how we live, how we live day by day. I know some of you are not used to thinking of Calvinism in terms primarily of practical things, but that's practical. What do you do day by day? Well, glorify God. Now, I just printed two verses, but there are more. In fact, in Nave's topical Bible, and I encourage all of you to have one if you don't, because it has Bible verses listed by topic from throughout the scriptures on tons of different subjects. So it's a topical or subject kind of arrangement alphabetically by topic. So very helpful. It has three pages. on the glory of God. And that's a lot of verses on a page, fairly fine print. So I want you to know that scripture makes a lot of that issue. We'll be seeing more of that as we go along. I want to go to the next slide, the question that we're dealing with tonight is how do you do that practically? I mean, it's real easy to think of glorifying God in a practical sense, as a practical concern. But, I mean, as a theoretical or theological concern, but practically, how do you do that? And there's some difficulties in doing that, in making it practical and real world as opposed to theoretical and ivory tower. Let me first take note of this, that We can't add to God's glory when we're glorifying God. His glory is already infinite. He possesses that glory objectively. Whether we agree with it, believe it, or contribute to it in any way or not, it is glory that belongs to him already. So however we think of glorifying God, we're not think, shouldn't think of it in terms of adding to the glory that God has, as though without us, he doesn't end up with as much glory. So, but going on, Here's another part of the difficulty that's involved practically. Saying that we aim to glorify God sounds like we're aiming only to do something. That glorifying God is only in terms of active things or good works, if you will. And thinking of it that way begins to truncate or narrow what all is included in glorifying God. And so we want to avoid that, and we will try to do that tonight. But then also, God is glorified anytime Glory, or if you will, credit is given or attributed to him. And then I highlighted the next words because we're going to be looking at them, especially in terms of the practical sense of it. Anytime glory or credit is given or attributed to him or to his name. So we'll be coming back to the name part of that. Now, those last two items, we will deal with more. In fact, the next slide will deal with the concern about being more than simply doing something, and then we'll later get to that about God's name. So we go to the next one, more than duty. Glorifying God is more than duty. First, it is true, God is glorified by good works. He is glorified by good works. He is glorified by our fulfillment of duty. The things we're supposed to do, when we do those, we glorify God. So that is a part of it, but it's not all. Going on in line with what's said in the other one, God is glorified whenever men and or angels have their esteem of Him raised. When they think more highly of God, God is glorified. And so that's a part of it. Also, God is glorified when men and our angels subjectively perceive or recognize or acknowledge God's glory. God's glory, we said, objectively belongs to him, but it is when we recognize that, acknowledge that, that God is glorified in addition to the other things. And then also I want to say this because it will come up again. God is glorified when men depend on him. The first and the last of those, God is glorified by good works, and God is glorified when men depend on him, are things that basically are key in understanding this, and we'll treat them that way. Now, I've been trying to say that glorifying God and making that something we value highly is a part of Calvinism. I want us to look at Calvinism in terms of a couple of things briefly right now. Duty and dependence. So let's start with this. We'll get right down to the nitty gritty thing that people sometimes object to. Calvinists insist that God is sovereign over everything. I mean, by everything we are not accepting anything, all of it, God is sovereign over. So I want to take you to some things that give some support for that. And again, we are not going to be trying to exhaustively prove from scriptures each of these things, but I hope knowing that they come from scripture, you will yourself follow up on some of these things. So I wanna read, I want to read Ephesians 1 and 11. Chapter one, verse 11. And it begins in him, or literally in whom, because it's following the pronoun from way back in previous verses, but it's talking about in Christ. Christ also we have obtained an inheritance, Being predestined, so it's in the verse, but that's not where we're going right now primarily. Being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. That second part of the verse is a statement of the doctrine of God's sovereignty. God's sovereign over everything, and he works all things according to the counsel of his will. Yes, included in that is predestination. But as I say right now, we want to see this in terms of especially God's sovereignty over all things because we're going to be looking at a contrast to that or something that is often thought of as a contrast. I'm one ahead. No, I'm not. Yes. God's sovereignty and man's responsibility are frequently considered to conflict. If you've been a Calvinist for any length of time, you know that already. but you may have heard it even if you're not, as one of the major arguments against Calvinism. If God is sovereign over everything, if he's behind everything, how can he hold men accountable or responsible? If God's sovereign over everything, how can he hold us responsible for things that he's behind? Now, if you brought your Bibles, I wanna take you to a passage that deals with that briefly, and it's Romans chapter nine. I'll read through verse 20, but I'll warn you. Verse 20, if you're not a Calvinist, is really one of those in-your-face verses. But recognize, you're not hearing this as truth from a Calvinist. You're hearing it as God's Word. And so if God's in your face with this truth, then we ought to listen to it and accept it. But I want to start reading in Romans 9 at verse 14. He's just talked about having made distinctions before they were born between Jacob and Esau. And so we read in verse 14. What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God? And then he answers his own question, certainly not, or absolutely not. But the question is, of course, is it fair? If God made the choice like that before they'd ever been born or done anything, and Paul says, yes, it's fair. There's nothing unfair about it. Verse 15, and he goes to the Old Testament, Paul does, for some support for what he's saying. For he, that's God, says to Moses, I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy. and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. So there's God's statement of being sovereign over things like mercy and compassion. And the statement in verse 16, so then it is not of him who wills, not man's free will, nor of him who runs, not man's activity, but of God who shows mercy. For It went out on us, did it, Bob? Okay, I saw the light change, okay, while I was looking down. For the scripture says to the Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth, which is basically going to redound to God's glory. Okay, but he raised Pharaoh up for that purpose. In fact, if you read in Exodus, it's interesting to read through a few chapters there where Moses takes his demands to Pharaoh. Pharaoh says, okay, yeah, I'll let y'all go out and worship or whatever you wanna do and come back. Yeah, I'll let you, and then it says, either one of two things, and it kind of alternates. I don't mean a strict alternation, but it kind of alternates here between saying, and Pharaoh hardened his heart and didn't let him go. And then the next time it might say, and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. God's behind it, but Pharaoh's being held accountable for his hardness of heart. And we'll see more about that kind of thing. Verse 18, Therefore he, God, has mercy on whom he wills, and whom he wills he hardens. You will say to me then, and here's that question about how God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is expressed rhetorically by Paul. Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? If God's sovereign, if his will is being done, he's softening certain hearts and hardening other hearts, why does he blame people for their hard-heartedness? And yet you find in Scripture that he did with Pharaoh, he does with others in Scripture. But there's the question. So we know from Paul using this rhetorical question That that indeed is the issue. That it's indeed an issue that people, Paul assumes, are wondering about. How can man's responsibility coexist with God's sovereignty? Because he raises exactly that question. And here's the in-your-face answer. But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God. He wants to put us in our place, not in a bad sense, but in the recognition that God is infinitely above us. And so he raises that question that particular way. Now, if you're, again, following sometimes in your Bible, turn to the first book of the Bible and the last chapter of that book, Genesis chapter 50. Most of you will know the story about Joseph and how he ended up through basically treachery on the part of his brothers, ended up in Egypt. And then through a series of events that over which God is clearly sovereign, he ends up the second man in the kingdom. He is in control of all of the food supplies and stuff like that. that has been brought into or gathered from previous years before the famine, gathered into the storehouses of Egypt. He's in control of that, the number two man in the Egyptian kingdom under Pharaoh. And at the end, his father, Jacob, known also as Israel, brings the whole family, his 12 sons, their families, their wives and children. They're all brought to Egypt where they can get food. And then after that, and I think after, yes, after Jacob dies, You have, I'm sorry, after Jacob dies, Joseph's brothers come to him and they are worried. I mean, he's powerful. He can have them put to death, no problem. And they know they deserve it because of the way they treated him. And so they come and ask, him to spare them in verse 17 in chapter 50. They say that his dad said, which we're not told that he did, but they say this, you should say to Joseph, I beg you, please forgive the trespasses of your brothers and their sin for they did evil to you. And then they say, now, please forgive the trespasses of your servants of the God of your fathers. And Joseph wept when he spoke to them, they fell down before his face. It says in the next verse, And in verse 19, Joseph said to them, do not be afraid for am I in a place of God. Now, the next verse shows you both God's sovereignty and man's responsibility and how they do actually fit together rather than being in conflict. Verse 20, but as for you, he addresses his brothers, you meant evil against me. And we know they did. God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. It was God's plan to do that. God intended to do that, to do something good through the means of the work of Joseph's brothers who were doing something evil. And God is not guilty in any sense of the evil that was done to Joseph because he was using that for good ends and for Joseph's good and for the good of really the whole covenant people. But the brothers, They meant evil, and that's why they could be held responsible. Now, Joseph wasn't going to hold them responsible and execute them, and he's not doing that simply because he's recognizing that God has used that for good. But they're accountable, they're held responsible for that in this particular passage. So, Basically Calvinists find both God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in scripture and believe in both of those. Now, I want us to put something else before you that I think is real practical and I learned in studies of Jonathan Edwards. God's sovereignty is something we respond to in terms of depending on Him. Dependence is the way we respond to, react to God's sovereignty. If God's in control, what does that mean? I'm not. If God's in control, then we are dependent on Him for accomplishing anything, good or bad, for growing our crops, I'll skip the illustration I've used so many times, but yeah. Some of you may remember the movie, Shenandoah, and the dad's prayer before a meal one time. So if that didn't mean anything to you, then let it go. I will. But God's sovereignty leads to man's dependence. Man's responsibility leads to duty. That's our response to our responsibility. Our accountability is the path of duty. But what we need to recognize that those good works that may be our duty When we do them, we're not depending on results from our doing our duty, but we're depending for results on God's sovereignty. Do catch that distinction. So much of the time, you work hard at work and you expect good results from your hard work. And it ought to happen that way because you worked hard. But now, if you get a promotion, every promotion you get, where does it come from? God's sovereign grace and mercy and bestowment is providence. God's behind that. So as we perform our duty, take for instance, the duty of evangelism, we'll be talking about that more, but take that duty and we're not expecting success based on how well we execute that duty, but on the blessing of God. We are dependent as we evangelize. We are dependent as we try to live a holy life and avoid sin. We are dependent as we try to love other people as we're called to do and to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. So, those two things are a part of Calvinism and they go together, not separated. Just to mention this briefly, and I won't take a lot of time on this, but Jonathan Edwards' second best known sermon after Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which many of you had to read in high school or college or something like that. It was excerpted in one of your textbooks probably. But after that, a sermon entitled God Glorified in Man's Dependence. It was the first thing by him that was ever published. And it's based on 1 Corinthians chapter one, verses 26 through 31. I just wanna highlight some of the things in those verses that he highlights. God has chosen to bless the lesser things in this world in several different categories and ways that are mentioned specifically there in verses 26 through 28. And then it is of God, It says in the text there that we are in Christ Jesus. If we're Christians, And in Christ, and that's just terminology that scriptures in the New Testament, especially in the epistles, use regularly. If we are in Christ, it is of the work of God. We are dependent on him. And Jonathan Edwards says, the greatest work of all of those that God does is the work of redemption. And in that work, especially, we are completely dependent on God. But then it goes on earlier in that passage, kind of in between the two verses that I've mentioned thus far. It says, I should look around, no flesh should glory in his presence. That's God's plan and purpose in doing it that way. And then it tells us, if any man glories, he should glory in the Lord. It's not for us to glory in ourselves, the things we do, who we are, our family, our accomplishments, our SAT scores, our IQ, our salaries, our positions. All the glory belongs to God, and especially in the work of redemption. Now I want to talk just a little bit about the five points of Calvinism because most people associate Calvinism with that. When you think about the five points of Calvinism, please remember that Calvinism is much more than five points. Those five points were established more completely. It was a part of the whole system and were more completely and firmly established when there were people that objected to those very five points. And so the Dutch, the Netherlands church called a synod at Dort in the Netherlands and invited people from other countries as well, theologians, to look at are those five points biblical that Calvinism has or the five points that the followers of Jacob Arminius were suggesting as alternatives. And they reaffirmed those points that were a part of the large whole Calvinistic system. So I want to say that Calvinism is much more than five points, but We Calvinists do now insist on those over against the objections to them because they give the glory to God alone. I'm only going to talk about this briefly on sermonaudio.com is a lecture from a previous conference that we had on the anniversary Calvin's 500th birthday. birthday anniversary in which I talk expressly about those. But it is true that those five points specifically in each of them give the glory to God alone. Scripture says numerous times, especially in the Old Testament, he will not give his glory to another. And yet, the alternative proposed to the five points of Calvinism do just that. Here's how you can get at that. So I'm getting behind. Ask the question with regard to each point, who makes the difference? between one person that becomes a Christian and has eternal life and another that doesn't. Is it that person or is it God? Ask the question with regard to each area, total depravity, Man's depravity, is man fully depraved and has an inability to do anything of saving value to himself? Those that answer, no, man is able to do what is needed, ask the question. If he does that, who makes the difference? If God does the same thing for everybody and leaves everybody in the same place in terms of ability with some presumed, but not found in the Bible, common sufficient grace, Then who makes the difference? If God has to treat everybody the same, then God's not making the difference. So who makes the difference? It's the individual. And the point there is, if it's the individual that makes the difference, who gets the glory? And you can work that through each of the five points, and it's very clear that God makes the difference. Now, each of the five points are not believed by us simply because of this logical construct that we have to give the glory to God, but they are, each of them, specifically taught in the Bible. There are a lot of things that are in the Bible that we affirm as being generally important and all like that. We sometimes hammer these five points because other people brought them up, but because to not reinforce and teach and uphold them is to allow someone else to get the glory that belongs to God alone. So in our last little bit, what I want to do is talk a little bit more. So we've looked at how all of this fits and God's glory fits with Calvinism and God's sovereignty and such as that and duty independence. But I want to try to make it practical. If it's not just doing good things, doing your duty, but there are other things involved as well. And we saw a little bit of what those are. I want to try to give you a concrete, practical proposal at how you can work at glorifying God. So, here it is. And we're going to expand on this over the rest of our time. Start every day with this earnest desire and prayer. that God's name be made glorious to you and through you. And there's a significance in that order, that the first is foundational for the second. I confess, I don't always start every day that way. I am not the earliest of early risers. And when I get up, my inbox is already full and stuff like that. And so sometimes I put this off, I shouldn't. But I am guided by this approach in my life. For instance, in my preaching. I prepare myself to preach first by working at understanding the text in such a way that I am grasped by the glory of God revealed in that text. However well I might outline the text in the preaching of it and exegete it, If I do so without my own personal appropriation of, appreciation of the glory of God in the text, then that's not going to come over to the congregation. But you can apply that in your own life in lots of different ways as well, and so we'll talk about those. But part of what I wanna do is just point out though that there's this language Not that God be made glorious, but that God's name be made glorious. We already said God has infinite glory already. We can't add to that, but his name can be made glorious. So I want to look at God's name and his glory. and see some of how they are attached to one another. First, we need to understand that God's name represents him, and God's names, and there are numerous of them, are part of... I must have held the button down. are part of a self-revelation. It's okay if you read ahead, but I wanna at least keep my focus as close as I can on where we are. And part of what I wanna do here is read something from, and I said I'd comment on it later, the larger Westminster, larger catechism. If you've never done it, it's gonna come up one other time as well. But the Westminster Larger Catechism is an incredibly instructive document, not only for your theological education, but also for its application to your heart. And in the exposition, both catechisms, shorter and larger, give an explanation of each of the Ten Commandments. The third commandment is one you may be familiar with. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. There's one of the places, and it's later on the slide, but it's one of the places where the emphasis is on God's name. But what's interesting is in the exposition of that, what is required in the third commandment, there's a question, it begins to talk about what is meant by the name of God, that we're not to take it in vain. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God's names, titles, attributes, ordinances and works, all of those things that reveal God are to be respected and treated referently. What is forbidden in the third commandment, the third commandment forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known. So if someone was taking notes, which I said you don't need to do, but if someone was, that is questions 53 through 55 of the larger catechism. So then just to point out another place where God's name is used, In the Lord's Prayer, Christ taught us to pray, hallowed be thy name. Hallowed, reverenced, sacred, beloved, adored, that God's name would be set apart and hallowed and reverenced is a part of what we're to pray. In fact, that's the first thing as a petition, as a prayer, in the Lord's Prayer. And then, of course, the third commandment, as I mentioned, forbids us to take God's name in vain. Again, we're supposed to reverence God's name. So we are supposed to do it. We're forbidden not to do that, to use God's name in any other way. But then we're also to pray that not only we ourselves, but that the world would reverence or hallow or consider sacred God's name, meaning, any of his names, but also anything else that reveals God as who he is. So, then breaking apart the aspects and elements of the practical way of using that particular suggestion, start every day with the earnest desire and prayer that God's name be made glorious to you, or I've changed it to to me, and through me, okay? As we start into that particular, how do you do that? How is God's name to be made glorious to us? What do we do with regard to that? Well, first, think about Him. I mean, doesn't it begin there in a lot of ways? In another way we can say it can begin somewhere else and we will say that, but in a lot of ways we meditate on God, on his works, on his names, on his attributes. That's a part of having God's name made glorious to you. If you don't think about God, if you only think about doctrines as doctrines and duties then where does God's glory begin to sweep over you? It probably doesn't. Think about those things. What are God's works? What has he done? What has he done that's revealed in scripture? What has he done in your own life? What does the Bible teach you about him? What do you know about him? Think about those things. And then acknowledge his works and his attributes and his names. I mean, you not only think, but you say, that's true. God's like that. My God's like that. The God I love is like that. He is glorious. That's what acknowledging his works and attributes and names does is lead you to the conclusion that you embrace that God is glorious. And so you worship and you praise and you ignore him. and then give thanks to Him, that's a part of God's name being made glorious. Because you realize that everything that happened, happened from Him, then you give Him thanks for it. If He's sovereign over all of it, you give Him thanks for it. You don't say, I made this happen, you say, God, thank you for making this happen. And so you give thanks and then as we said, you depend on him in a very real way and a practical application of depending on God, prayer, supplication, petition. You have an important goal, pray about it. You have an unimportant goal, pray about it. Ask God to bless, ask God to grant that. It's not in your power. That's a part of what Calvinism helps you to understand and leads you to that kind of dependence. And then I want to add one other aspect of God's name being made glorious to us as individuals. Enter into his presence. with thanksgiving, with supplication, with all of that, come into God's presence. Christianity, and Calvinism of course as well, is relational. We are not just people who have adopted certain doctrines. We are people who are in Christ. As I said, that phrase comes up again and again. We are people who are God's people. We have a relationship with him. We'll enter into his presence. There's your devotional life, and it includes basically meditation, scripture reading and studying, and prayer. The normal means of grace are supposed to lead us to fellowship with God and to glorifying God and having his name made glorious to us. So that's a big part of what goes on. I have this slide. Oh, okay. Here's some practical helps for thinking about God. And I could have listed all of the Old Testament like I did all of the New Testament in its parts, but especially in the Old Testament, Genesis and Exodus, Job and Psalms, Isaiah and Daniel, Man, they just floor you. They floor me, at least, with God and his glory. It's displayed, and especially displayed throughout the New Testament as we see Christ and his redemptive work. But not only the scriptures. You can do devotional reading of the shorter and larger catechism. That's separate from memorizing, and most will not memorize the larger. Many will not memorize the shorter. But read them devotionally, and especially the larger catechism. Those things help you to think about God, his attributes, his works. Those things are pointed out, pointed out in an orderly way, and applied to our lives and thinkings. And then also, think about your own blessings. How God has blessed you. That's a part of how you glorify God. Another part, the other part, the secondary part, God's made glorious through me. That hinges on his name being made glorious to me. It doesn't happen through me to others until it happens to me in my own relationship with God. So it hinges on that. Part of the way his name is made glorious is through our testimony in word and deed. the things that we do that glorify God, the deeds, but also explanations of it. Don't leave your friends wondering why it is that you show love in so many different ways. Tell them. Talk to them about the Lord Jesus Christ. And only as we talk to them about God, about Christ, Are you helping to make God's name glorious to them? Otherwise, they might be attributing those good things just to you and your goodness. Don't take that credit. Let the glory be God's. And then finally, I want to close with the idea that you can apply an expanded view of that same practical thing to the whole congregation. And this congregation, South Austin congregation, your congregation, for those of you who are involved in other churches. That God's name be made glorious to us and through us. To us basically in worship. through us as well in worship, if unbelievers or just other people are with us in our worship services, in our deeds, and in our testimony. in the things we say, the testimony in the scripture, I mean, the worship service itself, the preaching and such, but in the testimony that we as a congregation have in all the various ways we reach out with the gospel. So again, I want to encourage you to make it a practical part of your Christian lives to glorify God. Let me lead us in a brief prayer before we have a break for about 10 minutes. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace to us, your blessings to us, and especially for your glory revealed to us. Help us to learn practically, really, and in our daily lives to glorify you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.