The Glory Of God Pt 5

Um, today is our last day in this series of studying God's glory. It's been edifying to me, I hope to you as well. And we would have had another week, but I think the snow got in the way one week. And so we're going to conclude on this topic of God's glory and redemption. So far we've looked at what glory is. It's weightiness, it's honor, it's richness, it's wealth, power. glory refers to remember glory refers to that sense of awesomeness if you're in the presence of something glorious you feel hushed you exalt in it you like to talk about it with other people we can all think of experiences like that we've had where it's so overwhelming that I don't know about you but being a parent a dad sometimes I have these experiences where there's something that happens Ellen will do something and it's almost so precious to me I just want to keep it to myself and treasure it but also you want to tell the world about it, right?

And we know what it means to experience glory. If you've been to a big game or a concert or the Grand Canyon or something that was powerful and overwhelming and awe-inspiring, that's glory. The second week, we looked at the fact that God ultimately seeks his own glory. He's the only being in the universe who it's actually the best thing for him to do is to seek his own glory.

If we seek our own glory, it's sinful, but God is God, and He seeks His own glory, and that's right, that's good. Third, we looked at what it means for us to glorify God, what it means to ascribe Him glory. And then last week, we talked about how God's glory is seen in creation, and this week we'll look at how His glory is revealed in redemption. So if you would, join me in a word of prayer.

Thank you, Paul and Glenna, for passing out the handouts, and let's pray. Father, we thank you for this evening. Thank you for your word. Thank you for revealing your glory to us. I pray that you would open our eyes wider and that we would have eyes to see your glory, that we would live in awe of you, that we would proclaim your excellencies to our own hearts and to our brothers and sisters around us in our households and in all the world I pray that we would be bright lights as we live righteous lives in this wicked world that men would see our good deeds and glorify you So as we study your word, I pray that you'd give us an appetite for your glory, and that you'd give us insight, real practical knowledge for how we can live lives that would better reflect your glory.

We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. so we just recorded a couple episodes of Reformation Roundtable it's on a new station and it's on a new time so the radio program that Tim and I and a couple other pastors have been working on it's now on 107.5 so you have to click it over a couple notches and it's going to be on let's see Thursday nights at 9pm I think it is and Sunday mornings at 8 so you can listen to it before you come to Sunday school It will also still be podcasted. But anyway, all that information will come out.

What we talked about today was the fall, original sin, right? Genesis 3, the fall into sin. And if you've been in adult Sunday school, they just went through total depravity, which is studying what it means for sin to be in the world. But the thing is, as soon as sin entered the world, God was no longer putting the emphasis on creative acts. He was putting the emphasis on redemptive acts.

So God has been working to redeem the world, at least in human history, ever since Genesis 3. Most of the Bible is focused on what God is doing to redeem the world. So there's a passage there. It's a beautiful passage, so I just wrote it out there, and then I scribbled on the reference so you know where to look. I think this is verses like 19 through 24, maybe.

Notice redemption in this passage. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith.

This was to show God righteousness because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Notice where redemption is mentioned in that passage. I believe this is verse 23. There is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace.

Justified through what? How are we justified according to this passage? Through redemption. Right? It's through redemption that we're justified. And where is that redemption?

It's in Christ Jesus, right? It is Romans 3. Yep. So, have you ever thought about that? What does it mean to be justified through redemption? And what does it mean for redemption to be in Christ Jesus?

Those are some kind of weighty thoughts, aren't they? to consider what does it mean for this redemption to be in Christ and how does this redemption justify me? We'll come back to that, okay? I hope to at the end of the lesson today. I think to start off, though, we'll start taking some baby steps and just look at some passages. And as we go through these passages, just ask the question, what is redemption?

We'll just look at how the word is used in the Bible and ask, what does it mean? So the first round of passages, Exodus 6-6, Who would look up that one for us? Greg? All right, Dad, would you do Psalm 69, 18? And then Titus 2, 13 through 14, Dennis. So here we go on the first round.

It's Exodus 6, 6, Psalm 69, 18, and Titus 2, 13 through 14. All right, so this is the Exodus. It's a picture of redemption. And God kind of puts it here in parallel with, in verse 6, I'm the Lord, I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptians, your oppressors, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm.

So those phrases are all kind of put in parallel there. the being delivered, the being brought out from under a burden, and this redemption. Psalm 69, 18. Deliver me what Deliver me because of my enemies Hear my cry deliver me I think the ESV has redeem in that passage, but it's the same thought. If it's a different word, that's no huge deal in the translation.

But the idea is that the psalmist, Psalm 69 is an awesome psalm. It's one of these psalms that talks about the fact that there's outside oppression, but also inside oppression. that at the same time that sometimes we're mistreated by others, we also have sin in ourselves. And that plea in Psalm 69, 18 is, God, in light of all of this, redeem me. Titus 2, 13-14.

Okay, Titus 2. Thank you, Dennis. Titus 2, 13 through 14. We're waiting for Jesus. Jesus is the one who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession. Very similar to the Exodus, right?

I'm going to deliver you. There's going to be a payment that delivers you from oppression and to be my possession. So these passages, this is how I summarize it. You could summarize it maybe a little bit differently. But redemption is God rescuing his people from their enemies or oppressors through a purchase. That was especially emphasized in Titus 2, that there's this purchase, that Jesus purchased a people.

It's really hard to see, isn't it? It's much clearer on my screen. I'll fix that for you. Actually, I think I can do it this way. Can I just select all of these? Then I can't do the font, though.

That's okay. We'll just do them one at a time. All right. It's God rescuing his people from their enemies or oppressors. And Titus 2, 13 through 14 really says that. points out it's through a purchase. Now, the exodus was also through a purchase, right?

Who paid the price for God's people, Israel, to be redeemed from slavery to Egypt? Who paid the price? Yeah, point forward to Jesus, but who paid? What was the final plague that got them out? The death of the firstborn. Or, if you didn't want that to happen, you had to kill a lamb and put the blood.

So there had to be a death of a lamb, right? And do you remember, if you've read the book of, I think it's in Leviticus, where the Levites belong to God, right? And they take the place of the lambs that didn't die, right? And of the firstborn that Israel, if they'd been like Egypt, would have given. And the Lord says, no, I'll take them to serve me. They don't have to die, but they'll serve me.

So there's this purchase that gets the redemption to happen, right? So in all of those passages, and we can look at more, but the emphasis in those is God is being called upon or actually declaring that he's going to or declaring that he has done this act of bringing his people out from... What's that? Away? Okay. In each of these passages, God is doing an action or being called upon to do an action or he's done an action where he's taking his people away from their enemies, those who are oppressing them.

We won't read all of Ruth 3 and 4, but would someone turn to Proverbs 23? Who's got that one? Micah, thank you. I'll summarize Ruth 3 and 4. If you know the book of Ruth, it starts off bad, right? Death, a family line is in the grave.

There's no hope, but God works a redemption. He resurrects this family through the Redeemer kinsman Boaz. And especially Ruth 3 and 4, you see this very practical form of redemption where Boaz purchases Naomi's property and also Ruth, and because of that, the family line is continued. Micah, you've got Proverbs 23, 10 through 11? All right so here a proverb Don remove these landmarks Don how does he say it Don enter the fields of the fatherless right Those who would have been like Ruth, what would have been like Naomi, right?

These fallow fields, because the father's gone, he can't work the field, he's sick, whatever. The poor can't work their fields. This proverb is don't encroach on their land just because they're having a hard time taking care of it. for their Redeemer is strong, and he will plead their case against you. Is that how he says it? Yeah, against you. Proverbs 23, 10 through 11.

So in these passages, redemption is God rescuing his people from their dire circumstances. Now, in the Proverbs, there's also sort of this enemy, the one the Proverbs written against a person who might be thinking about taking advantage of this poor person. But really, what these passages are talking about is sometimes we end up in really bad circumstances.

Maybe not because of a human enemy oppressing us. Maybe it's not just sin oppressing us, like our spiritual battle. But we live in a sin-cursed world, and it's hard. And sometimes we need rescue just because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. and it's also again I put through a purchase because in Ruth especially you see Boaz purchasing this family line so that it doesn't end up in the grave so redemption is basically God rescuing his people through a purchase he's doing something, he's paying something to bring his people out and that's how we use the word redeem right? you've redeemed coupons, you've redeemed proofs of purchase you know you redeemed tokens at the games you play a skeet ball enough and you redeem your tickets for one of those little toys that break after 15 minutes we know what redemption is this is redemption this is glorious redemption this is better than skeet ball here we go we've kind of seen this already but let's split these up and read these passages Psalm 130 the whole thing Who would read that?

It's kind of long, and you've got that one. Ephesians 1.7. Thank you, Chelsea. And Hebrews 9.15. Somebody else got it Hebrews 9 You quiet tonight Dennis thank you again for stepping up to the plate Colossians 1 is really similar to Ephesians 1 so we hold off on that Greg, though, if you want to grab Psalm 25, 16 through 22, that'd be great. It's not that long, no.

So the whole thing. Yep, yep. So listen to Annie. She's going to read Psalm 130. Thank you. Beautiful psalm.

The psalmist is struggling with personal sin, and in that context he focuses on the Lord and the redemption that He brings. He will redeem Israel from all His iniquities. Ephesians 1.7 Alright, Paul uses a positive there to just define what he means by redemption. We have redemption, which is the forgiveness of sins. In the last one, Hebrews 9.15. A death has taken place which redeems them from the transgressions.

They're redeemed from their transgressions, their breaking of the law. So each of these passages really hone in on redemption being God forgiving his people their sins. And I've got to edit again. But forgiveness of sins is in view in these passages. Okay, let's see. God forgiving his people their sins.

Starting to get a clear idea of what Paul said in Romans that we justified through redemption Well if redemption is the forgiveness of sins that helps me understand what it means to be justified through redemption That God redeems me from my iniquities so they're no longer oppressing me. Colossians 2, Paul says that the record against us was nailed to the cross. And so, redemption involves God forgiving his people their sins.

Greg, would you read Psalm 25? It's the same thing we read in Psalm 130, right? This psalmist is waiting and praying, God, redeem Israel from all its troubles. And this is another passage that shows it's not just, it is external enemies, right, from all my oppressors, but also the inner turmoil, the sin that we fight against, that we need redeemed from, we need freed from it, right?

1 Peter, let's just all turn, I'll read 1 Peter 2. 24, Jesus, he himself, bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. You see, Jesus bore our sins in his body so that we would be freed from sin and able to live for righteousness. It's really, the parallel to the Exodus is really striking, right? The firstborn died and those lambs died so that the people of Israel could be freed from bondage and slavery to Egypt and free to live for God, to worship Him in the desert.

That's the language in the Exodus. Of course, Isaiah 53.6, the Lord has laid on Him the iniquities of us all, and by His stripes we are healed. So redemption happens when God forgives His people their sins. All right, and last up, Romans 8.23 and Ephesians 4.30. Who would get these? Romans 8.23, Dad and Paul, would you do Ephesians 4.30?

We've already kind of looked at this, we've seen this theme throughout the passages we've read, but these two kind of give us a fuller picture of when redemption happens. Okay? So, Dad, go ahead with Romans 8.23. All right? We're along with the rest of creation, groaning, waiting, because we know it's coming, but it's not yet fully here, right? Like, we are forgiven, we're redeemed in a certain sense, but these bodies are still corruptible.

These bodies are still enslaved to decay. Ephesians 4.30, Paul? And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed in the day of redemption. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for this future day of redemption when Christ returns and things are brought to their final end. If we had another week, we'd look at the glory of God in consummation.

When God's plan of redemption comes to its conclusion in Christ's return. But both of these passages show that redemption is all ready but not yet. We are redeemed in a certain sense. The price has been paid. We've been set free. We've been buried with Christ in baptism and raised to a new life. so sin doesn't have any say-so over us anymore.

It's not our master. And yet, it's not fully here. We're not all the way redeemed yet. So redemption is already, but not yet. There's something about it that's future. Okay?

I think that's all I have on what redemption is. Any questions or extra additional thoughts about what redemption is? before we look at how specifically God is glorified in redemption? Make sense? So redemption is being freed, right? Through God paying a price, He sets us free. Pretty simple when you boil it down.

But it does have different facets. So let's look at... Well, you won't look at it because it's in blue font and you can't read that. But I will change it. The glory of God and redemption okay First off no one else could accomplish it Only God could pull this off, right? One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Isaiah 59.

Is anybody familiar with Isaiah 59? Greg, you know it? This is a great chapter. What time is it? Do we have time to read this whole chapter? We have time.

We're going to read this chapter. Isaiah 59. It's too good not to read. As I read this chapter to you, just pay attention to how well it describes our world today. Isaiah 59. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, or his ear dull that it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly. No one goes to court honestly. They all rely on empty pleas.

They speak lies. They conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adder's eggs. They weave the spider's web. He who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not serve as clothing.

Men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their words are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths.

They have made their roads crooked. No one who treads on them knows peace. Therefore, justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us. We hope for light, and behold, darkness, and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope for the wall like the blind. We grope like those who have no eyes.

We stumble at noon as in the twilight. Among those in full vigor, we are like dead men. We all growl like bears. We moan and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but there is none. For salvation, but it is far from us.

For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities transgressing and denying the Lord and turning back from following our God speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words justice is turned back and righteousness stands far away, for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Now here's where it gets good. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him. That right there is a reason to glorify God, right? That it displeased him. I just know a little bit of it. You watch the news, you see all this injustice and violence, and it displeases me.

I have to turn it off so I don't get too angry or depressed or whatever. God sees it all. He doesn't see fractions of it. He sees it all and it displeases him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no one to intercede. Then his own arm brought him salvation and his righteousness upheld him.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, so will he repay. Wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies. To the coastlands he will render payment. So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun.

For he will come like a rushing stream which the wind of the Lord drives. and a Redeemer will come to Zion to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, declares the Lord. So the Lord wonders, who can do this? There's no man. There's no one who can do this. There's no one who can take care of the mess that we get ourselves in. So God says, I'll do it.

And this text points forward to Jesus, the Redeemer who comes to Zion as Christ Himself. Romans 8 1 through 4 these are just sub points to that main point that only God could pull it off no one else could pull it off only God can do it Romans 8 1 through 4 says this therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free redeemed you, right? In Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So the law couldn't do it. Even God giving his people the righteous rules to follow, the good and holy law that would have made their society harmonious and peaceful and glorifying to him, the law is weakened by the flesh.

We don't even have the ability, even if we're aware of what God demands, we don't have the ability to carry it out. The law is weakened by the flesh. Galatians 3.13 Galatians 3.13 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith ask yourself, who else could become sin for us?

Who else other than God incarnate? Everyone else is full of sin. They can't become sin for me because they already are sin for themselves, right? No one else could do this because we're all burdened and wracked by our sin. We're all those in slavery. So who else could become sin for us to redeem us from the curse of the law other than God himself?

How many times in the Christian Bible have you read this? Yeah. Yep. Here's another one. This is another place where God says there is no other way. Check out Psalm 49, verses 7 through 9.

We read this, Truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice, that he should live on forever and never see the pit. In this psalm, there's this little meditation that, you know, that's something none of us have the money to pay for, is redemption. from sin and death. None of us have that ability.

I mean, we wouldn't even know where to take the check if we could write it. We don't know. We can't redeem, we can't ransom another's life. We all face the grave because we're all wracked by sin. But then Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, verses 17 through 19, And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear through the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold.

See, those things can't ever pay God off so that we don't die. Those can't ransom us from our enslavement to sin. but you were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. No one else could pay the price. Only God could pay the price. So God gets glory because he's the only one who could do it, and he did it. Everybody got those?

Any additional thoughts or comments on those points? Oh, that's the last one. I didn't know there was space, but there's space for one more. Jesus did it and he was victorious. Revelation 5, 9-10. This is the song that, who is this?

This is the four living creatures and I think it's the elders also. The 24 elders, they're falling down and they sang a new song to the Lamb. Worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God. From every tribe and language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God and they shall reign on the earth.

Jesus did it. It's not just that God could have done it, right? It's not just that he has the kind of finances, he has the kind of wisdom to pull it off. He did pull it off. He did do it. And so Jesus gets praised forever by these really amazing creatures because he did it and he was victorious.

He redeemed his people and he brought them out of their slavery so that they could be priests to him. They could worship him. so that's the first point no one else could have done it but God could and he did so we glorify him for that Here a neat thought Psalm 34 Psalm 34, 19 through 22. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Amen? Amen. But the Lord delivers Him out of them all.

He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. So not only has Jesus done it and he was victorious, but he gets every one of them.

He doesn't miss a beat. Nobody who takes refuge in him will fail to be redeemed. that's pretty awesome right you know how many other religions and even some people who think they're Christians are crossing their fingers hoping not to die right hoping they've made the grade hoping they've made the cut right like they're hoping that God looks on them with favor or that they've done enough good that outweighs the bad or whatever there are a lot of people that live that way we don't live that way because our redeemer is strong and he never fails no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. There's a beeline from this text, from Psalm 34, 22, there's a beeline to Romans 8, 1.

No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Psalm 107, another really, really good text. We won't read this whole psalm. I like it because it's highly structured, and I like highly structured psalms. They're easier to study. There are four refrains in this psalm. and it's a call.

We'll just read the first few verses here. Psalm 107, verse 1. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and the west and then from the north and the south. So four directions, and there are four groups of people who are in really bad circumstances, and God redeems each of the groups.

That's how this psalm is structured. but their refrain is, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let them thank God and praise Him and bring sacrifices of thanksgiving to Him because He saved them out of their affliction and their trouble So this is a really obvious one but God gets glory and redemption because redeemed people have a habit of praising and thanking him We're called to, and that's what kind of the reaction is. If somebody saves your life, I mean, you'd be a real dense person or just a real jerk if somebody saved your life and you just went on and ignored them, right?

But redeemed people praise and thank God. People who know they've been saved from their sin and know they're not condemned anymore. God gets glory from their lives because they're grateful. They're thankful that God's done that. And what's up next here? I think this is the last one.

Yeah. Redeemed people don't just praise and thank Him, but those praises and thanksgivings find their way into actions. Redeemed people honor and obey Him. two texts that we can look at for that. Acts 20, 28, this is when Paul is saying farewell to the Ephesian elders. And he says, Shepherd the flock which God has put under your care, which Christ redeemed with his own blood.

So, redeemed people. I mean, as a pastor, that's a text that really guides me. Talk about precious commodities, right? I mean, you were purchased with Christ's blood. right? I don't know if you've ever had a job where you had to work on fancy things or like I have a former student who does valet parking while he's in school and sometimes these like Maseratis and like these crazy expensive vehicles come in and like the boss usually drives those, right?

He doesn't trust the new employees to drive those because they're just too valuable. Or like when I worked at Rocky Cyclery, I remember getting bikes in there that were like three, four, five thousand dollar bicycles, right? And you just you treat those differently than some Huffy that came from Walmart, right? You treat those differently because they're so valuable.

Well, the church is composed of people who have been purchased with Christ's blood, so how precious. And that should change the way that we treat each other. It should change the way that we as elders shepherd you. And of course, 1 Corinthians 6, 19-20, famous text, right? You are not your own. You were bought with a price. therefore honor God with your body right you were bought with a price you were redeemed Christ paid for you purchased you to save you so he owns you right honor him with your body redeemed people honor and obey the Lord Can you think of any other ways I mean I sure there are more ways but I don want to put you on the spot.

If you don't have any ways, that's fine. These are deep thoughts, but can you think of anything else? Any other ways that God is redeemed, or God is glorified in redemption? it's really an overwhelming question in a way because the whole Bible after Genesis, well starting in Genesis 3 like the end of it, the whole rest of it is about redemption it's about God being who he is, the God who doesn't just create but also redeems and that's kind of an image to have in mind right, like there's this show on I've never maybe I've seen parts of it.

I don't know if you've ever watched a whole episode called Extreme Home Makeover. Right? Where they find a family in need. Right? They find a family who's kind of enslaved. They're entrapped.

They have dire circumstances. And they go into their house and they have a plan and they kind of demolish their house. Right? And build a new, basically build a new one. Like it kind of is on the same property and looks a little bit the same. but mostly it's just new. And that's a show, and that show is a tearjerker, right?

And that show, people watch that because it's glorious, right? Look at this. It's new. They've been saved from their dire circumstances in their gloomy house. There's no show that, I mean, I guess there is like This Old Shack, or there are shows like home improvement and remodeling shows, but that doesn't have the same effect on us, right, as when we see the story of this family being brought up from the dregs and somebody gave them a new house.

Like that's what God's done. he doesn't just build new houses, right? He takes a house, our house, creation that was just ransacked and the people who lived in it were just in poverty and he brings them up, right? Extreme what? Soul makeover? Yeah, I mean, that's what it is, right? I mean, the story culminates with, behold, I make all things new, right?

And it's just awesome. That's the point of redemption, that God would get more glory than just being the creator, but also the one who can redeem and who has redeemed what was lost. He proves himself to be more powerful than sin. He proves himself to be more powerful than even the desires of our own hearts. Paul? Yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. Okay. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah.

That's how to make a fool of yourself on the last day, right? is to try to bring your good deeds to... Yeah. ... God glorified through His way. His work. God is glorified through His work. Yeah.

Yeah so it tied right in with the Gospel right They were saved by grace through faith And it not of yourselves It the gift of God lest anyone should boast God gets more glory because He saved us in a way that it His work only It only Him And that's tied right into understanding the Gospel. That I can't save myself. I can't contribute to my salvation.

I always wonder at that moment when we stand before God, would we ever say anything about it? Yeah. I appreciate what you brought up there about where Jesus in Matthew 18 says there's more rejoicing over the one sheep that was lost and came back than the 99 who never went away. And that's a good example of the 99 who never went away. Whatever Jesus meant by that, the idea is, yeah, there's a certain amount of glory, of rejoicing and people doing what's right and being faithful, but there's a great big party when someone veers away and then comes back and you see the power of God not only to create but also to save.

So we're going to sing a song. Annie, would you come up? And we're going to sing Psalm number 8 together and be done with the evening and done with this series. Next week and the week after, so the next two weeks, we're going to talk about church planting. So I think the newsletter made it into the bulletin today. If you've read that, hopefully that was helpful to you.

But next week and the week following, during this hour, we'll talk about the church plant. So, that's right, yep, yep, we're going to do some church gardening. So, for this teaching, this opportunity for your word, for teaching us to love and live for your glory. Thank you for saving us, for redeeming us from sin. And I pray that we'd be faithful to honor you and to praise and thank you now.

In Christ's name, amen. Thank you.