R sbc
Date: February 12, 2006
Sunday Morning
Series: Christ the Sum & Substance of The Bible”
Sermon # 71
Subject: “ THE GLORIFICATION OF CHRIST IN HIS SAINTS”
TEXT: II THESS 1:11-12
Intro: The word “glorify” in the old and the new testaments means to make honourable by exalting or bring praise to. The Lord Jesus Christ used this term several times. One he used it in a request: Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
The Lord Jesus Christ prayed to his Father: Joh 12:28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
The Lord Jesus said of himself and the Father also: John 13-31 ¶ Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
So what does it mean for his people to glorify him as he does us and will do us in his coming?
I... “ THAT CHRIST IS GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS GROWTH: VS 3
It is not normal for children who are born into a family not to grow. It is not normal for them to show signs of growth. If they don’t there is a health problem. Likewise the saints of the LORD must grown in order for them to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a biblical fact: Ps 92:12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
It is so amazing that people cannot see that even in the womb children grow which means that they are humans: Ec 11:5 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.
There are three verses that are undisputable:
(1.) That our growth is in him: Eph 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
(2.) The means of our growth: 1Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
(3.) The purpose of our growth: 2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
II... THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS EVEN IN THEIR PERSECUTIONS: VS 4
We have been studying on Wed night the Twelve Apostles and their lives and how they died. It was in their persecution and their deaths they glorified the LORD JESUS CHRIST
It was Peter that Christ told he would glorify him in death:
Joh 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Joh 21:19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
Oh that we could see the glory of this on our LORD. What faith it would take, what patience it would take. Let me site a few of the suffering saints of GOD...not from history books but from the word of GOD.
Heb 11-32 ¶ And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
Fifty million Baptist and others died for the cause of Christ during the dark ages... wow and must we go on beds of ease? While others have suffered such lose. The Apostle Peter writing to suffering Christian in his epistles...
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
The Lord Jesus Christ said: Mt 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
III. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS GLORIFIED IN SAINTS ENDURING THEIR SUFFERINGS...VS 4 & 5
The word endure: “means to hold ones self erect and firm, to persevere through it. It is what is expected by the LORD JESUS CHRIST of his people.
Mr 13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Paul told Timothy: 2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He said of himself: 2Ti 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
(1.) We endure when others fade away: 2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
(2.) We have plenty of examples which endured for Christ sake: Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
1Pe 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
IV.. “ THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS WHEN THEY BELIEVE BY FAITH IT IS THE LORD’S JOB TO REVENGE THOSE WHO INFLICT SUFFERING ON THE SAINTS OF GOD: VS 6-10
It is so easy to seek revenge on someone for troubling you, for inflicting great stress on you, but it is not our duty nor responsibility to do the LORD will do it.
(1.) It is declared by the Lord to Moses: De 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
(2.) Repeated by Paul: Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Jude 1:7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
IV... THE LORD WILL BE GLORIFIED IN JUDGEMENT AND IN HIS SAINTS AT HIS COMING...VS 6-10
(1.) The exhortation he makes: vs 6 “rest with us”
Ps 37:7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
(2.) The encouragement he gives to motivate them to rest: vs 8-10
a. A definite day...” When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed” vs 7
The word “revealed” is the same word that is used in the last book of the Bible. It will be the unveiling of the Lord from heaven. 2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
b. A definite event: “Taking vengeance” vs 8
c. A definite cause : vs 8 “know not God, nor were they obedient to the gospel...
What a story they have ignored, what a good news they ignored, what precious saviour they rejected... came to his own and own received him not...Some thought of a more convenient time such as when Paul preached to Felix Ac 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee
Some thought that simply to be almost persuaded was good enough such as Agrippa Ac 26:28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
Ac: 26:29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.
To be almost is to be lost, to be almost is die without Christ and face the judgement that is sure to come. To be almost is leave here today lost and undone.
c. A definite cause for judgement: vs 9
This phrase in no way indicates a annihilation, it is the spiritual death in it’s full blown unredeemable sate, it is separation from the LORD never to be reconciled. It is not a payment for sin for that is impossible. It is not a purgatory in which one can be cleansed and then taken out.
Clarke says: it is an eternal continuance and presence of substantial evil, and absence of all good; The Lord Jesus Christ says in the gospel...Mt 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Mt 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Part of the punishment will from the presence of the LORD and all that will entail. The lose of love ones who are saved forever, the lose of rest, the lose of all things except their nature to sin against the LORD.
d. A definite victorious day for the saints of the Lord..vs 10 “To be glorified in his saints”
Matt 25- 31 ¶ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
John said in his book in reference to this day: Re 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.