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I WILL BE GLORIFIED!

January 24, 1999 AM

Sermon Outline

Lev 10:1-3

INTRO: Aweis a wonderful thing. To be so moved by beauty, power, grandeur and such that one has a sense of appreciation or littleness proves, among other things, that he has feelings. I have stood in silent awe at the rim of the Grand canyon. At my first sight of the Sydney Harbor Bridge I felt awe. Holding our babies and grand babies for the first time was an occasion of awe. Each of these was an event which engaged my physical senses. Then, there is God!

I. I WANT TO NOTE THE TEXT - LEV 10:1-3

A. ... I will be glorified ...

1. Aarons sons had offered strange fire

2. there had apparently been some definite command about the fire used on the censers

3. we might well reason fire is fire

4. but God had commanded ... Aarons sons disobeyed

5. God is glorified in obedience

B. Aaron was not permitted public grief!

1. note v.3b and v.6a

2. their disobedience dishonored God - punishment ensued

3. and Aaron was not permitted public displays of grief because he had to identify with Gods viewpoint

4. Gods being glorified took precedence over all else

II. AND NOTE HAGGAI 1:8

A. ... I will be glorified ...

1. note 1:2-6 they put themselves first

2. yes, they may have been able to justify doing so

3. their personal business came second to Gods business

B. The pleasure of God was the important thing!

1. where was their awe of God?

2. consider Isa 29:13 (quoted by Jesus at Mt 15:8)

3. this may be one of the great problems for us ... but God knows our hearts and cannot be hoodwinked by superficial honor

III. BUT HOW DO WE VIEW GOD?

A. We are in a faith realm here

1. unlike Grand Canyon, architectural wonders

2. even unlike direct, physical manifestations we note in Old Testament

3. Gods saying, I will be glorified may not have much weight to us if we have only a vague notion of God

4. in practice, do we come to the question which the Pharaoh asked (Ex 5;2) ... and plagues answered (Ex 9:14-16)

5. but there was another reason for those plagues - to bring the awesome God to reality for Israel (Ex 10:12)!

B. Behold your God - Isa 40:9

1. Isa 40:12-15 God had no teacher!

2. Isa 40:22,23 God is over nature and rulers

3. Isa 40:28-31 God is ever on His peoples side

4. Isa 42:5 God the Creator, Source

5. Isa 43:10,11 God is the only God

6. Isa 44:8 God recognizes no deity as deity other than Himself

(Isa 42:8)

7. Isa 44:24 God formed us from the womb!

8. Isa 45:12,18 Again, Creator

9. Isa 46:9,10 God declares the future long before - the future is now

10. this, friend, is your God ... no vague apparition or ethereal mist ... awesome God is He!

11. when He says, I will be glorified, that is exactly what He means and expects

CLOSE: Isa 44:6 ... Everything begins and ends with God. That is the most important reality of all.

Cecil A. Hutson

24 January 1999

God's Plan of Salvation

You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)

You must believe and have faith in God because "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)

You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called "Sinner's Prayer" that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the "Sinner's Prayer" to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)

You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus "Lord of your life." Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just "accept Jesus as your personal savior." We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)

Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God's grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God's grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)