Soli Deo Gloria
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
All glorious above, and gratefully see His wonderful love. Our shield and defender, the ancient of days. All will young in splendor and burden with grace. Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here.
If you will, grab your Bibles and go to Romans chapter 11. That's where we'll start today. I turned 30, and then my body... No, no, not recently. It was years ago. At that point in the past, my body then decided that I was going to lose my voice once a year due to pollen for some reason.
So that's nice. I got that going for me. So I am having a hard time talking today. I don't feel bad, just sound bad. And it's possible that my voice will give out on me, and this will be a shorter sermon. And I know what some of you are thinking.
As you pray and pray for something, and it's just encouraging to see God finally answers prayers. We are... We usually just walk through books of the Bible. That's what we spend most of our time doing on Sundays. We work through books of the Bible together. But we have taken the past several weeks to look at what are called the solas, the five solas, the five solas of the Reformation.
And Reformation. And these are theological distinctives that they were clarified. So we've taken a series to walk through clarified theological distinctives. And I know all of your hearts are a flutter because who doesn't want to spend a lot of time looking at clarified theological distinctives. But that's what we've done.
We've looked at during the Reformation, the entire church in the West was Catholic. And the Catholic church at that point was not teaching sound doctrine, was abusing their power, was mingled not just with church power, but had all this political power. And there were these people that are called the Reformers who started looking at the Scriptures and saying, this doesn't line up. What we're doing, what we're teaching doesn't line up with what the Bible says. And so we spent some time looking at where they clarified. And the reason it's clarified is that these Reformers, when we've talked about them, we've talked about Luther, we've mentioned Calvin.
We've said Zwingli's name. I don't know if we've actually quoted him on anything. But they weren't coming up with new points of doctrine. They were pointing back to the Bible and saying, we've gotten out of line. We're no longer in line with Scripture. And their intent was to reform.
The Catholic church did not want to be reformed. And so they protested and they became the Protestants and they broke from the Catholic church. And I want to read a little bit of John Calvin. This is a letter he wrote in 1538. An Italian cardinal had written a letter to the Swiss city of Geneva where Calvin was helping lead that city. And that city had become a reformed city.
So they were no longer Catholic. They broke up with the Catholic church and they were teaching these reformed ideas. These changes to Catholic doctrine that are coming from the Scriptures. And so he writes and he says, hey, y'all need to come back. And in the response, this is what Calvin says when he writes back to say, here's the primary issue. Here's the problem that we have and what we need to talk about.
He says, your zeal for heavenly life is a zeal which keeps a man entirely devoted to himself. He says, the problem is the stuff that you're excited about, the stuff that you're working towards, the stuff that the Catholic church is telling us to pursue, ultimately keeps humans, keeps myself at the center. That I'm the one who has to earn. I'm the one who has to achieve. I'm the one who is going out and accomplishing salvation. He says, and does not, even by one expression, arouse him to sanctify the name of God.
Sanctify me, glorify, honor, praise, set apart as holy. He said, the problem is that your teaching fails the test. It does not glorify God. It glorifies man. That's a problem. The Scriptures are about a glorious God and how he works to bring about a glorious redemption for an inglorious people.
And if when we look to the Scriptures, what we come up with is here's how we can be awesome. We've read it wrong. He keeps going. He says, you touch upon justification by faith, which is sola fides, what we talked about, that we are justified, made right with God by faith alone. Meaning that you do not accomplish your salvation. You trust Jesus and he accomplishes it.
It's like when a little kid brings you a toy that's broken. They just walk over and hand it to you, hoping for the best. But they have no ability to accomplish it, fixing this. That's what he's saying is that we come to God and all we've got is mess and sin. And we trust Jesus to fix that. So he says, you talk about that idea, and he refers to it as the first and keenest subject of controversy between us.
Wherever the knowledge of it, salvation by faith alone, is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished. He's saying we're either saved by faith and Christ is glorious or saved by our works and we're glorious. He says, that's the problem. So when the guy wrote and said, y'all need to come back, Calvin wrote back, no. That was a paraphrase. I shortened it way down, but that's what he wrote.
He said, you failed the test. So when we talk through the five solas, sola being alone in Latin. So we say sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura, sola Christus, and sola Deo gloria. That's just Latin phrases for an answer of how are we saved, which is we are saved by grace alone, meaning God has accomplished this for us. Through faith alone, we just trust him to do it. We come to him and place our faith in him.
In Christ alone, meaning that it's accomplished by him, not the church, not by us, but it's in Christ. In the scriptures alone or as revealed by the scriptures alone is under the authority of the scriptures alone, meaning there is no church or pope that we have to look to. We look to the scriptures. It is our authority to the glory of God alone. And to the glory of God alone is in some ways the nucleus that all of these spin around. In other ways, it's just the final pinnacle result of all of these.
That if you're saved by God's grace through faith in Christ, it's to his glory, to his credit, not yours. And so that's what we're going to spend our time looking at this morning. So let's pray and then we'll read Romans 11, 36 together to start. God, we ask that you would be glorified. That you would be honored. That you would help us, the power of your spirit, to see and to delight in your glory, how good it is for us.
In Jesus name. Amen. Romans 11, 36. For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
From him. Through him and for him. Why does the world exist? It exists for him. It exists for Christ the King. It exists for God the Father Almighty.
It exists from him and through him. It's held together. It's brought together. Salvation is wrought through him. And it is for him. Ultimately for his glory and his delight and his joy because he is glorious.
And he says to him be glory forever. Now when the Bible talks about glory. It talks about it in two ways. It talks about it as a noun. And it talks about it as a verb. Like the way we use the word dance.
You go to a dance. And you dance at the dance. Or you stand against the wall and make fun of people. Because you like to dance but you don't know how. That's it. It's a dance where you dance.
And that's how glory works. That God is glorious. He has glory. It's in some ways it's the expression of his attributes. That the Bible talks about his glorious power. Or his glorious might.
Or his glorious grace. His glorious mercy. It's the wonderfulness. The shining forth of who he is by his very nature. So here's the thing.
God is glorious whether you like it or not. Ultimately. Soli Deo Gloria is an encouragement. Or a threat. Either to the glory of God alone. Let's join in this.
Or to the glory of God alone. You'll find out. Maybe not that squeaky. But you know. He is glorious. Then it talks about glory as a verb.
That you can glory in something. Or that you can glorify something. So that it'll say. To him be glory forever. Meaning. And it's used there in some ways in both.
That he has glory. But that we also give him glory. Or we glory in him. Meaning to praise. To give him weightiness. To show him honor.
This is where Jesus. When he gives the model prayer. He says. May your name be honored as holy. Three starts. Meaning.
That you be set apart. As holy and pure. May you be glorified. May you be worshipped. May you be honored. So that we give glory to God.
But the Bible also say. That we give glory to our shame. Or that we glorify ourselves. Meaning that we wrongly. Attribute praise and honor to ourselves. Or we attribute praise and honor.
To other things. But God has glory. And he is to be glorified. It's the appropriate response. To who he is. Because it's all about him.
I have a quote from John Piper. Who is not a reformer. He just likes them. But he's a pastor in Minneapolis. For many years. And he says this.
He says that people will periodically ask you questions. Like why is there such a meaningless vastness. Of uninhabited galaxies. And only one tiny dot. To human existence. And they'll use this.
As some kind of a thing against Christians. Like when we talk about God's design of the world. And you know. They'll say oh yeah. Well what's all this other stuff. How is it not just a big random mess.
And he says your answer should be. This universe is not intended. To portray the importance of man. It is intended to give man some inkling of the grandeur of God. And it is an understatement. That it's all about him.
And that he is glorious. And in essence. He is to be glorified. That's the appropriate correct response. If I came to you and said. This cake is so good.
Your response. Is to eat it. That's the correct appropriate response. If I came and said. This perfume is amazing. You smell it.
Because in essence. That's how you respond. God is glorious. And so our correct. Appropriate. Designed response.
Is to glorify him. The beautiful thing about this is. All genuine praise. Is delightful. So that what God has called us into.
He's. More glorious than anything. He's more delightful. More enjoyable. More worthy. To be worshipped.
So when he calls us to worship him. It's him calling us to what is ultimately best for us. And true worship and praise is enjoyable. Every time you've absolutely just. Celebrated something. That you were overcome with joy for.
That's praise and worship. That idea. Is what we're called into eternally. But if we misunderstand. Understand the nature of God's glory. Then we will misunderstand.
The nature of sin. So Romans 1 22. Is this. Says claiming to be wise. They became fools. And exchange the glory of the immortal God.
For images resembling mortal man. And birds and animals. Creeping things. And in this passage. He's talking about unrighteousness. Unholiness.
Sin. And he says after this. That this led them into further sin. But this is in essence. What sin is. For many of us.
We would like to think. Or we have in our head. This kind of framework. God made everything. So he's in charge.
And sin is primarily. Us breaking his rules. And that's part of it. But that's not the only understanding of it. That doesn't boil it down. To its absolute essence.
When you think about it this way. Then the primary problem. With Adam and Eve in the garden. Was that God told them not to. Which is true. He told them not to.
And they should not have eaten. From that tree. But it's just a list of rules. And they could be as arbitrary. As God wants them to be. And our job is just to follow them.
And obey. But. Here's the problem. If you only understand it. You miss. If you misunderstand glory.
What this passage is saying. Is that God. Is glorious. But that sinfully. We. We don't.
Give him glory. We want to. Give glory to other things. So that we pursue money. We pursue fame. We pursue.
Well. This is called idolatry. Glory. This is God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah. He says. Has a nation.
Changed its gods. Even though they are no gods. But my people. Have changed their glory. For that which does not. Profit.
Be appalled. Oh heavens. At this. Be shocked. Be utterly desolate. Declares the Lord.
He goes on to say. They have committed two sins. They have swapped me out. He calls himself. A fountain of living waters. And he says.
And they have. Dug out cisterns. For themselves. Broken cisterns. That don't even hold water. He says.
The problem is. They took me. Their God. Which is ultimately. The only place they would get glory. He calls himself.
Their glory. But Tim. Their glory. He is what makes them glorious. He is what brings good. In their lives.
And he says. They swapped me out. For broken things. And that is. Sin. And it is.
In it is very nature. A rejection of who God is. So it would be like. If I came to you and said. Oh man. This cake.
Is so good. And you go. Is it? I said yeah. And you go. Alright.
Let me get in there. Oh yeah. Oh that is good cake. So moist. And then I am staring at you. Like you are a psychopath.
Because you are. And you are like. What? I thought you said. I thought you were going to share. What is this?
I mean. That might be fun to do. At a birthday party. The last birthday party. You ever get invited to. But it is essentially.
The wrong way to respond. To someone telling you. This cake is good. If I said. This perfume is good. And you said.
Let me see. And squirted it into your mouth. And they looked at me. And were like. You liar. It's like.
Well you did it wrong. God is glorious. And therefore. As his created. Creatures. We are designed.
To delight in his glory. By glorifying him. And when we don't. We're sticking our hands in the cake. We have responded. Essentially.
Incorrect. So this. Helps us. To understand. Why sin. Is sin.
Because people will say things like. Well I don't see why God. Would send good people. To hell. I don't. I'm.
You know. I'm pretty good. I'm. I'm not that bad. But what we're doing.
Is we're using our goodness. To glorify ourselves. What we're saying is. I don't know if you know this. Pretty glorious on my own. And it's an utter rejection.
Of the God. Who created the world. You can actually. Use your good behavior. To reject God. It's actually one of the best ways.
To defend yourself from God. That people use. I'm a pretty good person. I don't need Jesus. But that glorifies yourself.
Dishonors him. And misses the point. Isaiah 42.8 says. I am the Lord. That is my name. My glory.
I give to no other. Nor my praise. To carve. Idols. He's holding out to us. What is best.
Namely himself. And to reject it. Is. Sin. But. Salvation by grace.
Alone. Through faith. Alone. In Christ. Alone. Heralds.
The glory of God. Salvation by grace. Alone. Through faith. Alone. In Christ.
Alone. Proclaims. The glory. Of God. So let's walk through that idea for a second.
Romans 3. 27. 28. Paul talking about salvation by faith. Not by works. Not by something you do.
To earn it. To merit it. He says this. Then what becomes of our boasting? Meaning if I don't accomplish this. What do I get to brag about?
We talked about this. We talked about. Sola fide. He says it is excluded. He says okay. I'm not allowed to brag.
But what. What kind of law. What rule. Excludes my boasting. He says. Is the law of works?
No. By the law of faith. For we hold. That one is justified by faith. Apart from works of the law. Paul's making a real simple point.
If you earn your salvation. Even a little bit. Then you can celebrate. You can boast. That's what Calvin was writing to them. Saying if you.
Act like we can earn our salvation. You extinguish the glory of Christ. That it. Somehow enhances man. But reduces Christ.
This is what Calvin writes. In his institutes. Calvin's institutes. Is a really thick. Theological book. It was not thick.
When he first wrote it. He wrote five more editions. When he first wrote it. He wrote it in the middle. Of a bunch of people getting killed. But he was not where they were getting killed.
For these ideas. But he said. He said he felt like. If he did not write. A clear theological manifesto. Of what they were dying for.
Why they had broken from the Catholic Church. He did not know. How he would ever. Be able to. Get away from the charge. Of being a coward.
So Calvin's institutes. Began with a. I'm writing these. Because we're in the middle. Of. Martyrdom.
And somebody needs to clarify. What we're dying. But he says this. When he's talking about this passage. Romans 3. 27 to 28.
He says this. From this. This idea that our boasting is excluded. It follows. That as long as there remains. A drop of righteousness.
In our works. We have some grounds. Of glorifying. Glorying in ourselves. That is why. If faith excludes.
All glorying. The righteousness of faith. Cannot exist at all. With that of words. So. Going from faith.
To the idea. That God gets all the glory. We understand that. If we're saved. Just by his work. He's the one who's on it.
He's the one who's glorified. And if we somehow add into it. We get some glory. But it's. It's excluded. We don't.
It's not how it works. He's the one who rescues. He's the one who's on it. If I was in a burning house. My house caught on fire. And they had to come in and get me.
I'm passed out. And choking on all this stuff. Can't get myself up. They come in to rescue me. And I mean. We got like.
Backdraft situations going on. Just shooting back and forth. There's a gas leak. Explosion. I don't even have gas in my house. But it does it just to be more dramatic.
You know. And so then they like. Take me out into the yard. I'm sputtering. They're going to give me like a. A ten-foil blanket.
And right about that time. People have gathered around. To watch our house burn. Because that's what happens. And they bring me out. And right as they're setting me down.
I'm catching my breath. I go. Yeah. Who's the man? I am. You'd be like.
What? I mean. Like I could high five the fireman. But I can't do like. Strut circle around him. Like I accomplished something.
And that's what. Paul's. Getting at. That idea. That we don't get. Nobody gets to flex.
In front of Jesus. He's the one who's the hero. He's the one who saves. And here's. And I said. Going from faith to glory.
But here's what you need to understand. If it's true. That all glory goes to him. Do you know how good that news is? Let's see if that's true.
And then. Then we'll talk about how good that is. Ephesians 1. 12 through 14 says this. Paul's writing. He says.
So that we who were the first to hope in Christ. Might be. What? To the praise. Of his glory. So they're saved.
They're rescued. But who gets the credit? Christ does. To the praise of his glory. And then in him. You also.
When you heard the word of truth. The gospel of your salvation. And believed in him. Were sealed with the promise. Holy Spirit. Who is the guarantee of our inheritance.
Until we acquire possession of it. What? To the praise. Of his glory. That God is saving us. To the praise of his glory.
In this same passage. He refers to. He says that we're. He lavishes kindness on us. To the praise of his glorious grace. Not to the praise of your glorious work.
Not to the praise of your glory. Your wisdom. Your bible memorization. Your behavior. None of that. It's excluded.
It all goes to him. Philippians 1. 10 and 11. Talks about Christ. Working in us. And it says.
So that we would be pure. And blameless. For the day of Christ. Meaning. We'll stand before him. Pure.
And blameless. Filled with the fruit. Of righteousness. That comes through Jesus Christ. So we'll have accomplished things.
But they'll have come through Jesus Christ. What? To the glory and praise. Of God. That we are saved. To his glory.
And praise. This is wonderful news. Here's why. If we were saved by our glory. To our credit. To our glory.
If we could do it. And get our name on the back of our jersey. You would need to be glorious. If you're saved. By your own glory. You need to be glorious.
That's why this is excellent news. You're not glorious. He is. That's why we gather. And sing his name. That's why we sang a song.
That said. If you could give voices. To everything. Suddenly. You'd just hear Christ. Be magnified.
He's glorious. He's holy. He's set apart. He's good. And this is so. Freeing.
It's freeing. Because we can get salvation. That we can approach him. Glorifying him. In our faith. That our faith.
Brings honor. To Christ. So that you come to him. And you say. I can't redeem myself. I need.
A savior. Here. And that's how it's designed. To work. That's what he's accomplished for us. That he would get the glory.
Not you. That you would come and say. I need. Someone. To redeem me. And rescue me.
And all I have is sin. And all I have is mess this up. And we would celebrate. That he's good. And the reason I said. Working from faith forward.
It gives him glory. But working from glory. It goes back. To just call us into faith. Is that I have to go backwards. So often.
I have to work my way backwards. And go. Hold on a second. The reason he redeemed me. Is so that he. Can be seen.
As glorious. Not because I am. And this helps me so often. When I have these moments. Where I'm very very struck. By the fact.
Of how fallen I am. And how far from glory I am. And I have these moments. Like oh. I messed this up again. Oh.
I failed again. I recently got to go on a trip. Um. It was a long trip. Down to Florida. And we were all excited about it.
Getting to go. And we've been planning. And going with Granddaddy. And all that stuff. Go. And I have a four year old.
And this didn't happen. But this is a sermon illustration. So just listen. I have a four year old. And uh. Every once in a while.
He gets real sad. And his lip will actually poke out. Like the little. Like little pouty lip thing. And uh. My older son had tried that some.
But I could tell he was just. Doing it. Because he had seen like cartoons do it. To like make himself seem more sympathetic. And it absolutely backfired. He was like.
Get that mess out of my house. But his little brother has done it a couple times. When he's been genuinely sad about a thing. That I didn't think he was trying to manipulate me. And his little lip has shot out. And it's like.
I'm not super sensitive. And I'm like. Dude. Oh man. What. Boy buddy.
Let's fix it. But if he came to me looking like that. And just said. Yeah. I'm so. I'm sad.
We're not going to get to go on our trip. Why not? I can't push the tunnels. And I don't know where we're going. And even if you gave me a map. I can't read.
I'd just be like. Buddy. Let's get in the back of the car. At no point. Were you responsible. For getting us there.
Like. Honestly. You need my help. To get in the back of the car. I'm going to strap you in. So you can't escape.
You're actually going to Florida. Whether you want to or not. Take a nap. Eat a snack. Steer out the window. Sing a song.
We're going to get you there. And I have to remind myself. That there are times. Where I come to God. And I basically am saying. I don't know how to push the pedal.
Like that somehow. Factors into the equation. There are times. Where I come to him. And I'm basically saying. God.
I know this is going to blow your mind. But I just found out. I'm not glorious again. And then my response. I can go one of two ways. But my response so often is.
Don't worry. Don't worry. I'm going to make myself glorious again. I'm going to work really hard. You'll see my glory. And you'll be so proud of me.
And in that moment. I am essentially rejecting Christ. Do you see that? There are times when I go. I'm going to just make myself feel bad for a while. Or I'm going to just.
I'm going to dig in. And I'm going to make this better. And I'm going to get better. And I'm not going to mess up again. What I'm saying is. Don't worry.
I'll be glorious again. But that's not the response. The response is to come and say. I just dawned on me. How inglorious I am. Thank you Jesus.
Oh glory and praise to your name. Infinitely. That you redeem a sinner like me. And I don't. My ability to push the pedals. Has nothing to do with this.
My ability to behave. My ability to keep it together. My ability to have enough wisdom. My ability to figure things out. My ability to respond appropriately. My ability to desire what I'm.
Thank you so much. That you save a sinner like me. And so then. In my repentance. Repentance. I give him glory.
We give him glory in our faith. When we come to him. But we give him glory in our repentance. When we come to him and say. I'm so thankful that you're the hero. So yes.
Our faith. Gives him glory. But sometimes. I think you got to work backwards. From glory to faith. And you got to remind yourself.
That the whole point of this. Is that he's glorious. Not you. So that you can stir up again. In your heart. Faith for the one who redeems.
We give him. Glory in our faith. And we give him glory in our repentance. And we get to give him glory in our obedience. I just said. We won't always do that well.
But he saved us to the praise of his glorious grace. If you have a moment. Where you suddenly realize. You need the glorious grace. That's the whole point. Praise it.
But also. We choose to obey. And we give him glory in our obedience. You see. So often what happens.
As we get in our head. There are certain things in the Bible. If you follow Christ enough. If you read your Bible enough. There'll be things in there that you. Don't agree with.
Don't understand. Don't like. There's just will. Because you're a sinner. And God wrote this. If everything in here.
You're like. Yep. Good point. You know. Yep. That's not exactly how I would have said it.
But good. You know. I don't think you're reading your Bible right. There are going to be things where you go. Wait. Why can't I do that?
Why can't I have that? There are going to be times where you're having to go. I know you said. I can't pursue this. But I just don't understand why.
I don't see why I can't. Everybody else gets this. Everybody else has that prayer answered. I don't understand why I can't have this thing. I don't understand why I can't. And what we want to do.
Is short circuit the process into sin. But here's the thing. We get to give God glory. In our obedience. When we're saying. I actually trust that you're better.
I trust that if you don't want me to have this thing. That ultimately you haven't deprived me of anything wonderful. Because you've given me yourself. And you're more wonderful than this thing. We get to trust in his glory. This is what 1 Corinthians 10 31.
He says. Whether you eat or drink. Whatever you do. Do all to the glory of God. That whatever it is. Whatever you're pursuing.
Whatever you're abstaining from. That it's got to be to the glory of God. Because that's what lines us up with the ultimate reality of the world. In Colossians. He says the same thing to people working. He says.
Don't work for your boss. Don't work for your master. Work. Work for God. But you know how freeing some of that is.
Because if you have to work for your boss. If the only reason you're going to do a good job is because your boss is awesome. Six of us will work really hard. The rest of us are like. I'm not doing anything because this idiot gets out of here. But that's not how it works.
You're not doing it because your company is awesome. Your boss is awesome. We get to work because our God is awesome. We get to obey because our God is awesome. Because he's glorious. I get to serve.
And give him glory. This is beautiful. This is when we give away money. The Bible calls us to be generous and give away money. Do you know the only way you can do that is if you actually trust he fulfills his promises. And he's actually paying attention.
And he cares. And he notices. And he's going to provide for you. And there's rewards. All of life is like that. There are times where you're absolutely not participating in something you want to.
You may not even understand why. You might be like. I don't know why I can't live with my boyfriend. I just know the Bible says it's bad. It's bad for me. I don't know.
I just want to. But it's because it shouldn't. And then we choose to obey. What we're saying is I actually think you're more honorable. You're good. You're not buying to me.
Is it the trick? That you're going to lead me towards the light. And that ultimately at the end of all this. Just get you. I've gotten everything. So we get to glorify God in our faith.
We get to glorify God in our repentance. And we get to glorify God in our obedience. Because ultimately obedience is worshipful, glorifying faith. There are times where we obey because we agree. And those are the easier times. It's all the times when we disagree.
That we're saying I actually trust that you're smarter than me. I actually trust that you're more valuable than me. I actually trust that your desires for me are good. And so I'm going to fight my own for this. That's faith. And it glorifies God.
And it's what we ought to do. And it's hard. But he's good. And I don't know if you heard either of those words. But I'm moving on.
The end result of history. This is one of the most beautiful things that you'll see if you look at the scriptures. God repeatedly says I'm not going to share my glory with anybody. And then the ultimate end of history is that he shares his glory with all those who he redeemed. Now, now that he lied, he's talking about it in two different ways. He says I'm not going to share my glory with anybody.
What he means is when he shares his glory with us, it'll be to the praise of his glory. He'll be the one who we sing to, who we enjoy, who we delight. Now, on that day, he says this in Isaiah, he says on that day, I want to share my glory with another. Meaning when we stand in front of him, you don't get to go, I'm here. Because you helped, but I did most of it. That's not how it works.
We're redeemed by his grace as a gift. And he gets all the glory. But then, if you're in Christ, if you've placed your faith in him, what we're told is that he did that to share his glory with us. Romans 8, 17 says this, that we're adopted and we're made children of God. It says, if children, then heirs to get an inheritance, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. We're told that we will be given glorified bodies.
We're told that we will be brought into his glory and to share in his glory for eternity. The next chapter, when he's talking about this, he says, what if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory? But if you place your faith in Jesus, you're an object of mercy, meaning you received his mercy and that he prepared us beforehand to delight in and enjoy how glorious he is. Like a dad who takes his mercy and that he is. Like a dad who takes his kid to school, knowing that an hour later he's going to go pick him back up just to sneak him off the day to hang out and have fun.
And what he's sharing with him is himself, but he also knows what a wonderful gift. Because the child wants to spend the day with his dad, delights in his dad, delights to be delighted in by the father. That's what God has done. He is glorious and the kindest, most merciful, wonderful thing he's ever done is sent his son to redeem us out of our inglory to bring us back into his glory so that we might delight in him for all eternity. That's why he's worthy to be praised. Because he rescues sinners to the praise of his glorious grace.
This is what the Westminster Catechism says. It's a Westminster Catechism. This is a Westminster Shorter Catechism. It's a question and answer thing to help you remember some theological points. The question they ask is, what is the chief end of man? Meaning, why do you exist?
Why are we here? This is the answer they give coming out of the scriptures. It says, man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. That's it. That's why we're created. And if you're in Christ, that's your ultimate home.
Enjoying and delighting in God who has pleasures at his right hand forevermore. God is glorious. Whether we like it or not. But. When we see it. We get to delight in it.
And when you see that the whole point that he saved us was so that his name would ring forth with glory. You're free. To say the reason I'm here is because Jesus is good. Not because I'm good. And if you're here this morning. Trying to be good.
That's your aim. I'm going to be well behaved. I'm going to get it together this time. I'm going to make my parents proud. I'm going to make God proud. I'm going to make my wife proud.
I'm going to show my husband that I can do this. If that's why you're here. Oh, I've got better news for you. You are not glorious. But you are never going to be able to be glorious.
You need Jesus who is glorious to make you glorious. As he invites you into his own glory. You need him to redeem you. You need him to get the praise and the honor for your life. Sometimes people say, I don't like the church because everybody there is messed up. Yeah.
Join it. You'll see it's way worse than you thought. That's the whole point. That's why I'm here. Because he saves sinners to the praise of his glory. The band is going to come back up.
And we are going to, through song, praise his glory. That he redeems us. If you have not placed your faith in Jesus. Can I tell you something? You do not clean yourself up to do that. He doesn't need you 5% glorious or 10% glorious or 35% glorious.
And then he can work with the rest. Honestly, all that gets in the way because you're confused about how it works. You're walking into his house already telling him that he should give you some honor. And that's not how it works. You walk in and you say, I'm a sinner and I need a savior. And guess what?
He does not put to shame any who call on his name. Place your faith in Jesus. If you're a Christian right now and you've been falling into sin, you've been struggling. You've been seeing how fallen from glory you are. Do not promise yourself that you're going to fix it. Go to Jesus who does.
Praise him for his glory. Can I tell you something? If you're trying to fix your behavior, telling yourself that you're going to muscle it out is actually way less effective than going to Jesus and thanking him for saving a sinner like you. It changes your heart when you see how good and wonderful he is. And it motivates us to obey because he is glorious. He's worth giving our lives for.
The more you try to do it on your own and the more you think you've earned it, the harder it is. Because the further from him you've gotten, the more confused you are about how it works. May we praise his glorious grace who redeems sinners. May we be people with smiles on our face because we're not the ones who achieved this. We are held secure. We don't have to push the pedals.
We don't even buckle ourselves in. He's going to get us to the end. And when we do, it's going to be glorious. Let's pray. God, we thank you. Thank you that you're so good.
And that your goodness did not just work to cast us out. But your goodness is so good it overcame our wickedness. That your goodness does not just show the dividing lines so that we could be far from you forever. But that you have chosen to pour out mercy and kindness to the praise of your glorious grace. And may we be a people who praise your glory for all eternity. Amen.
And may we be a man Oh my God. Amen.