What Does it Mean to Glorify God? (Paul Washer)

[Music] well we're back again for another session and it's my privilege to be here and to share with you the Word of God in our last session we studied this question what is the chief end of man and the answer is this the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever that means the purpose of our life the reason why we're here the reason why we breathe is to glorify God now today we're going to look at what does it mean to glorify God you know it sounds really nice it sounds like something that you would want to do but it's important that we understand what it means to glorify God now I want to give you the answer in two parts and I've tried to simplify it so that we can understand it and actually apply it to our lives the first part is this to glorify God means to recognize that he is greater and more valuable and more beautiful than all other things combined and that we will find peace and satisfaction only in him so to begin with in order to glorify God we have to recognize who he is we have to recognize his supremacy now I know the word supremacy is kind of big but just look at it this way supremacy means that God is over everything that he is above everything that God is more valuable he is more of you more beautiful more important more lovely more wonderful more spectacular than everything else combined there's just no comparison between the greatness and the splendor and the beauty of God and any other thing now the second part to this answer after we recognize who God is and recognize his value then secondly to glorify God is to live your life in light of what we know about him in light of the fact that he is the greatest and the best and the wonderful to live in a way that demonstrates that we actually believe what we're saying you see it's one thing to say man god is great God is greatest God is supreme God is the most beautiful the most wonderful the most valuable it's one thing to say it it's another thing to believe it to believe it and if we do believe it we will live according to what we're saying alright now I just want to give you a few illustrations that I'm going to read for you and explain to maybe give you some understanding of the supremacy or the greatness of God that he's greater than absolutely everything the first I want you to imagine that you have a a scale or a balance you know a scale where if you put something on this side it weighs it down and lifts up the other side okay if you put something on this side it weighs it down and an ax and lifts up the other side well now I want you to imagine that we weigh everything everything that exists in heaven earth everything and we put it on this side of the scale okay so everything that is is in this scale right here well then over here this one goes down because it has everything in the universe in it and this one goes up all right but now let's imagine that we put God on this side what's going to happen this is going to happen just that quick okay God outweighs everything and what I'm trying to say is that he's greater than everything else combined there's just simply no comparison now I want to read a text to you a Bible verse that I think will help us understand this it says behold this is from Isaiah 40 verse 15 and then verses 17 through 18 and it says this behold hey look the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales all the nations are as thing before him they are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless to whom then will you like in God or what likeness will you compare with him wow that's pretty amazing isn't it now look it says behold look it's telling you to pay attention God's going to tell us something very important it's a truth that you must understand and what is that truth the nation's are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales so imagine that you had those scales again and you put a put all the nations here everything that exists in this scale but if God's on the other side all those nations they're like a little tiny speck of dust and that's all that's all that's how great God is okay it says that like a tiny drop of water from a bucket I mean we don't even know how large the universe is and we can't even see how small it is it is so great and yet all of it combined is just like a little drop of water that falls out of a bucket compared to the greatness and the value and the importance of God now he also says they are regarded that is the nation's everybody that exists they are regarded by him as less than nothing and meaningless now what does that mean you think is God saying that all the people on the earth mean nothing to him well if that's the case then I don't mean anything to him and you don't mean anything to him but that's not what this verse means it means that if all the nations were to turn against God and fight against him if all the nations were to declare war on God it would mean nothing it would literally mean nothing that all the greatest powers with all their bombs and armies and everything they're nothing it would be I want you to imagine if all the nations of the world and even all the angels and devils and everything if they all decided to come together to fight against God you know what it would be like it would be like a little tiny Matt a little tiny bug beating its head against a mountain of rock wouldn't that be ridiculous they couldn't do anything they couldn't affect him change him at all they couldn't overthrow his government but but here's what I want you to understand it doesn't mean that people are not important to God how important are people how much does God care about people he cares about people so much that even though we were rebellious even hating him disobeying his commands he sent his son His only Son to die for us now you say wow that means I'm really something important well it does and it doesn't you are important to God not because you and I deserve to be considered important we are important because God is love He loves us not because of some great value in us or some great thing that we've done so I don't want you sticking your chest out in and boasting and bragging about how great you are I want you to realize that the reason why God cares for us it's not because of us it's in spite of us God cares for us because God is love and he proved it by sending His only Son now let's look at another illustration that I've written here for you it's one of my favorites and I'm just going to read it for you imagine collecting all the most beautiful things that ever existed in the whole world and putting them in one room now that would be wonderful I mean it would just be wonderful you could sit there for days and just look at all the beauty I mean you wouldn't need a television set you wouldn't need some sort of video game you could just sit there for days and look at all the beauty that you had collected from everywhere in the universe okay but now listen if God if God walked into the room that room that contained all the most beautiful things of the universe if God walked into that room his beauty would be so great so great that you would never want to look at those other beautiful things again because they would be ugly in comparison to God that's how beautiful God is now something that let me tell you something that I think about God that I believe that God from the scriptures the beauty the way it talks about God and how great he is and spectacular and that no one can see him I believe that God is so beautiful that he will have to strengthen you supernaturally with his power just so that you can look at him because if he didn't his beauty would be so great that it would even well we probably lose our mind if not lose our life have you ever seen something that was so beautiful like a sunset or a sunrise or something like that that just took your breath away God would be so beautiful he is so beautiful that it would take your breath away you see when I talk to you about believing in Jesus and following God and all these things I'm not talking to you about a bunch of rules that you need to follow I'm talking about looking upon God who is so beautiful that it will create such joy and life in your in your life okay so to glorify God is to first of all see him as he is so that you can live before him in the way that you should and that's not just obedience that's not just obeying the rules it's joy it's a joy it's living in a way in which literally almost every time you look at God you lose your breath that's what we're shooting for here we don't want you just to know a bunch of things or to follow a bunch of rules now we want you to know God and and to be filled with that joy that only God can give alright let's go on to another illustration imagine all the most intelligent men that ever lived I mean the smartest guys that ever lived on this planet okay and they were all sitting in a room and they were talking about all their great ideas all the things that they had had thought of okay it would be amazing to hear I tell you I have been with some people in the university in different places whether they were physicists or or just all sorts of smart people scientists and hear them talk about creation and I've just been amazed at how Wow how smart they were and the things that they knew alright but now imagine this compared to God all the most brilliant men that have ever lived okay compared to God they know nothing they know nothing now let me read to you a really just a wonderful verse from the Bible it's romans 11:33 through 34 and it says oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments in unfathomable his ways for who has known the mind of the Lord or became his counselor who's ever taught God absolutely no life God knows everything and you know what else he knows everything all at once he knows everything without effort he doesn't have to study the situation or consider it he doesn't have to ask someone's opinion he knows everything about everything he knows it at all time and he knows it effortlessly he doesn't even have to work to gain the knowledge he is truth he knows everything and it says here Paul says oh the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God he calls the wisdom and the knowledge of God what God knows he calls it to be riches and you know who else does that someone I want you to be very familiar with the writer of the book of Proverbs he says that the knowledge of God is more valuable than silver or gold or anything now if you want to be someone who is living in a way that they ought to live and doing what they were created for you need to seek out God and seek out the riches of his wisdom and his knowledge I'll tell you what you need to consider yourself to be a treasure hunter and an explorer okay an adventurer the treasure that you should seek is the knowledge of God the thing that you should explore is not a thing at all it's person and you can explore him throughout all of eternity and you're still not even going to come close to finding out everything about him that's what makes him so wonderful now it says here that how unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways do you know the knowledge of God it's too deep it's too high it's too wide it's wonderful but it's so far beyond us although we can know so many things about God I want you to know that you'll be chasing that knowledge of God throughout all of eternity and you'll still have much more to explore that's why eternity is not boring you'll never come to the end of who God is there will be always much more marvelous things to know about him but there's also something else here important children very important God sometimes does things we don't understand and we just don't understand them but we don't have to understand what God is doing if we know who God is if I know that God is good and righteous and holy then even though I may not understand what he's doing I know that I can trust in him all right well let's go on to another illustration to think about how much you owe your parents and whether you know it or not you owe them a lot okay they gave birth to you they give you food clothing and shelter they do you your home you're probably not paying for it all right if it were not for your parents you would have nothing you know you were born you didn't have clothes on you were born with nothing and you would have nothing if it wasn't for the kindness of your parents now think about this think about God and all that he does for you and your parents okay he gave you life he keeps you alive every beat of your heart and every breath that you breathe comes from him so that if you if you oh your parents are great dead for what they have done for you how much has God done for you you know I just you know one of the reasons we shouldn't disobey God and we shouldn't neglect God or our or put things in a higher place than God is that we literally owe everything that we are and every good thing that's ever happened to us we owe God God did that I think I said this in the last teaching you know breathe in that breath came from God feel your heartbeat listen to it every one of those beats come from God now God isn't up there saying okay I give you breath I give you heartbeats now for that reason you owe me he's a loving God very compassionate merciful God I am telling you that since in love and freely without cost he's given you life and breath and the beat of your heart doesn't it just make sense isn't it just the right thing to do to serve Him to serve him above all others okay now let's look at a very important verse here acts 1725 and this is what it says nor is he that is God served by human hands as though he needed anything do you see that someone may have told you at one time in your life that God made you because he was lonely that's not true God did not make you because he needed something God made you because he is so full just overflowing with life so he didn't make you out of his need he made you out of his super abundance he has so much it just flows from him and that is why he can always be counted on to be everything that you need him to be now it says he's not served by human hands even though we need to serve God we should serve God it's what we were made for it's not that he needs us to serve Him it's that he's giving us the privilege the joy of knowing him and serving him as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all people life and breath and all things you know the person who receives breath and their heartbeat from God the person who does that and worships God with all their heart that's a wonderful thing to receive a breath from God to return it back to God and praise to have our heartbeat in order to make us strong to let us live to live for God but here's something else you need to understand the person who clenches his fist and shakes it at God because he hates God he can only do that by the power that God gives him isn't that sad the person who says horrible things about God and they first God and they they they they treat God as something that's that's horrible or maybe doesn't even exist the person who does that does that by the strength that God gives him that's what makes it such a horrible crime when we were a bell and disobey God we're using the gifts that he gave us in order to fight against him we shouldn't do that we should use everything that he gives us everything in order to serve him and to serve others now again I always tell my little boys Ian's in heaven I say you know why did God make you strong he made you strong to serve Him and to serve people who are not strong why did God make you smart he made you smart for his glory to think great thoughts about him but he also made you smart to help people who maybe struggle in that area or haven't had the privileges of an education like you okay so why did God make us strong why did he make a smart and why did he make us wealthy you say well we're not really wealthy well compared to most people in the world you are wealthy if you have a home and you know that you're going to eat today you are wealthy so why did God give us this privilege so that we could use what we have to help other people and especially children not just with regard to giving them food and clothing but also children to preach the gospel to them to tell them about Jesus so that their life can be changed so that God can be truly glorified in them now here's another good verse it's one of my favorites it's James 1:17 every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting of shadow every good thing I mean everything I mean my my little boys like Legos I don't know if any of you like Legos but they do and when I get them a new Legos said I asked them I say where does this come from and they'll go oh dad it comes from you I said no every good and perfect gift comes from God everything in your life that is good everything is a gift from God and that is why you know when the devil offers us something that is not in agreement with what God wants we shouldn't do it for many reasons but one of the reasons why we shouldn't take what the devil offers us is because what God offers us is always good and perfect and he's always been so good now children there is a sense in which you and I we need to fear the Lord we need to respect him we need to know that there's a day of judgment coming when we will be judged with regard to what we have done but even though that should move us and motivate us one thing you need to know children is that the greatest motivation in our life the thing that causes us to serve God it should be the goodness of God the goodness of God God is so good you know one of the one of the saddest things that I have to do is to tell people how good he is and you say well brother Paul why why is that why is that sad well because I always fail at it you see it's just absolutely impossible to describe to people how good god is and I'm not kidding I don't serve God because I just want to be a religious person who goes to church all the time I serve God because he's good and children I want you to know his goodness as the psalmist that's one of the guys who wrote the songs as he said taste and see that the Lord is good taste and see now okay let's go on I have one more illustration for today and it says imagine that you were locked away in a prison cell for one year for something that you stolen okay that'd be very frightening very dark prison cell you were guilty and there was no reason why they should set you free okay you really did it it's not that they got it wrong you really did steal okay and you really deserve to be in that prison cell it's not anybody else's fault but your own you stole it you did wrong and now you're locked up now how grateful would you be if someone came and paid for your crime to let you go free I mean would you be happy would you be thankful to that person who came and paid your crime paid for it he says whatever whatever this child has stolen I'm gonna pay for it all and you let that child go free and that person pays for that that crime that you committed and they just let you out well I don't know about you but I would want to be very good friends with that person I would appreciate them I would say thank you very much is there anything I can do I appreciate what you've done for me okay now think about this now you are so guilty that you should die and be shut out of heaven now I know that that sounds really hard but children I told you I'm going to teach you the Bible I'm not gonna lie to you or tell you fairy tales the Bible teaches that all of us are guilty of crimes against God and not only should we be shut up in a prison we should be shut up out of heaven we should be locked out we do not deserve to be there we should not know the goodness of God the beauty of God the joys of God we should be locked out of that for all eternity because we have broken God's law it's what we've done now I don't like to make people feel bad but you need to understand this it's just true you say well I'm just a little kid I haven't done that much have you disobeyed your parents you have violated the law of God have you lied you have violated the law of God have you do you think about things and desire things more than God you know are your Legos more important than knowing God and serving him you see all those things our sins have you heard before about Jesus and yet not paid much attention to that well that sin and we ought to be shut out of heaven we ought to experience the justice and the judgment of God but now look let me read on you are so guilty that you should die and be shut out of heaven for all of eternity but God sent his own son to die for your sins how much more should you appreciate God for what he has done there is no greater illustration of love or the love of God then when Jesus Christ died on the cross for you you and I have sinned and because God is a good god he must judge evil he must judge bad things you and I have done evil we have done bad things God should judge us but in his great love for us he judged sin by his son sent by sin being placed upon His only Son and when Jesus was on the cross all the punishment that should have fallen upon you and me it fell upon him you and I should be forsaken of God but when he was on the cross he cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me you and I should experience the anger and the judgment of God in a place called hell throughout all of eternity but on the cross Jesus suffered his father's anger against us Jesus suffered his father's judgment against us he died for us now how should we live well we should believe him we should believe what God has done we should believe in Jesus we should stop believing in ourselves we should not trust in our religion or our good works or some thing like baptism or the fact that we read our Bibles or that we're homeschooled or anything nothing will take away our sins nothing there is nothing we can offer God but Jesus offered his life in our place and now we can be saved through believing in Jesus trusting in him now listen to Romans chapter five verse seven for one will hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die but God demonstrated his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us the Bible says that man it would be really amazing if there was a good man who was in trouble and another man came and died in his place to save him we would call that man who died a great hero because he died for a good man who should have been saved but now what I want you to see is this Jesus did something far greater God did something far greater than that God sent his son to die for us when we were not good men are good children God sent his son to die for us when we did not love God and did not follow his commands so you see God loved us even though we did not deserve to be loved and that is an amazing thing now let's also look at 2nd Corinthians 5:14 for the love of Christ controls us having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf now I know I just I said a lot didn't I it's very kind of kind of hard to understand but here's the point that I want you to get it's this one phrase he died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again children you see the reason why we believe in God and we love God and and we want to serve God is because of what God did for us while we were yet sinners deserving to die and deserving to be separated from God forever God sent his son you see I mean his son and his son died for us and because of that we believe in him and want to serve Him and love him you know I have served the Lord and for a while and I've served him also in some very difficult situations at times and you want to know why in a sense in a way I feel like I'm a prisoner you say you're a prisoner yes I am a prisoner to the love of Christ you see that's kind of what Paul is saying here he's saying when he discovered how much God loved him by giving his son for him he just felt like he had to serve God that he wanted to serve God that he wanted to bless God and please God because Jesus died for him and that's that's the way I want you to see it we don't we don't we don't just follow the Bible because it's the right thing to do or because it'll give us a better life we follow the Bible because of who God is and what God has done he is so wonderful and what he's done for us in Christ is it just goes beyond anything a man can say you know remember when I told you that it was kind of sad to be a preacher because he couldn't communicate to people how good god is you know that every time you try you fail that's especially true with regard to the cross of Christ a man could be the smartest man in the world and the most spiritual man in the world and have the greatest ability to speak he would still not be able to share with other people how wonderful God is and the wonderful thing that God has done for us in Jesus Christ that's what should control your life why should you obey your mom and dad because Jesus died for you why should you love your brothers and sisters even when sometimes you don't think they deserve it because Jesus died for you why should you read your Bible and pray and praise God and every good thing that you should do why should you do it because Jesus died for you okay what is the greatest way to glorify God believe in his son serve his son bless his son you know I don't pray that that you are my children we'll be great preachers are great missionaries or famous what I pray is this that God will give each of you a heart that is uniquely devoted to his son and that you'll live a life of honoring God's Son all right well we touched on the first part of what it means to glorify God that we should recognize how wonderful he is how wonderful his son is and the wonderful thing is son has done for us in the next session we're going to talk about the other part of how do we glorify God and that is not only recognizing how God how good god is but live in a way that shows that we really believe that God is worthy and God is good until then I pray that you will prosper in all the things that God has for you god bless you you please visit our website at heart crime machinery.com there you will find information about the ministry our purpose beliefs and methodologies and extensive information about the missionaries we are privileged to serve [Music]

Channel: LaneCh

Views: 111,658

Rating: 4.9078765 out of 5

Keywords: Paul Washer (Person), God (Deity), bible, Jesus Christ (Deity)

Id: Jj7kL1g3ibw

Length: 35min 42sec (2142 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 14 2013