Glorifying God: The Essence of Sin and Salvation

Devotional

Day 1: Sin as a Failure to Glorify God

Our understanding of sin should transcend personal guilt and focus on the failure to glorify God, which is the essence of sin. This perspective shifts our focus from ourselves to our relationship with God, highlighting the importance of His glory in our lives. Sin is not merely about wrongful actions or the guilt we feel afterward. Instead, it is fundamentally about failing to give God the glory due to His holy name. By recognizing this, we can move away from a self-centered view of sin and understand it as a disruption in our relationship with God. This understanding calls us to examine how our actions and thoughts either honor or dishonor God, urging us to live in a way that reflects His glory. [12:53]

Isaiah 42:8 (ESV): "I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols."

Reflection: Consider a recent action or thought where you failed to glorify God. How can you realign your focus to honor Him in that area today?

Day 2: Salvation as Restoration and Glorification

Salvation is not merely about personal transformation or happiness; it is about restoring our relationship with God and glorifying Him. This understanding aligns with the biblical call to repentance and faith, emphasizing God's glory as the ultimate purpose of salvation. Salvation should be seen as a divine act that brings us back into a right relationship with God, allowing us to reflect His glory. It is not just about the joy and transformation we experience but about fulfilling the purpose of glorifying God. This perspective encourages us to view our salvation as part of a larger narrative where God's glory is central. [17:33]

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (ESV): "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."

Reflection: How can you actively participate in God's ministry of reconciliation today, reflecting His glory in your interactions with others?

Day 3: Doctrines Pointing to God's Glory

Every Christian doctrine must ultimately point back to the glory of God. Whether discussing humanity, salvation, or any other aspect, our beliefs should reflect and proclaim God's glory, as emphasized by the Apostle Paul. This means that our understanding of Christian teachings should not be self-centered but should always aim to highlight God's majesty and sovereignty. By doing so, we align ourselves with the biblical narrative that consistently points to God's glory as the ultimate purpose of all things. This perspective challenges us to evaluate our beliefs and practices, ensuring they are rooted in the desire to glorify God. [18:23]

Ephesians 1:11-12 (ESV): "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory."

Reflection: Reflect on a specific doctrine or belief you hold. How does it point back to the glory of God, and how can you better align it with this purpose?

Day 4: Salvation as God's Work

To live to the praise of His glory, we must have a grand view of salvation, recognizing it as entirely the work of God. This perspective eliminates human boasting and acknowledges that salvation is solely by God's grace. Understanding salvation as God's work from beginning to end evokes wonder and gratitude, reminding us that it is not by our efforts but by His grace that we are saved. This realization humbles us and calls us to live in a way that reflects our gratitude for His grace, ascribing all glory to Him. [22:10]

Titus 3:5-6 (ESV): "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior."

Reflection: In what ways can you express gratitude for God's grace in your daily life, acknowledging that your salvation is His work alone?

Day 5: Our Calling to Glorify God

Our calling as Christians is to glorify God in all aspects of our lives. By ascribing all glory to God, we fulfill our purpose and reflect His glory to the world, as described in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. This means that every action, thought, and decision should be made with the intention of honoring God. Our lives should be a testament to His greatness, drawing others to Him through our example. This calling challenges us to examine how we live and to make conscious choices that reflect His glory in every area of our lives. [24:09]

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV): "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Reflection: Identify one area of your life where you can better reflect God's glory. What specific steps can you take today to align that area with your calling to glorify Him?

Sermon Summary

In our journey of faith, it's crucial to examine how God truly fits into our lives and thoughts. Often, we become so engrossed in our religious practices that we inadvertently sideline God, failing to let His glory govern our doctrines and beliefs. This oversight can lead to a flawed understanding of fundamental Christian concepts, such as sin and salvation. Sin, at its core, is not merely about wrongful actions or the guilt we feel afterward. Instead, it is fundamentally about failing to give God the glory due to His holy name. This perspective shifts our focus from a self-centered view of sin to one that recognizes our relationship with God as the essence of sinfulness.

Similarly, when we consider salvation, we must look beyond personal benefits and experiences. Salvation is not just about the joy and transformation we experience; it is about restoring our relationship with God. The ultimate purpose of salvation is to glorify God, aligning with the biblical narrative where figures like John the Baptist and Jesus Christ called for repentance to escape God's wrath, emphasizing a right relationship with Him.

Every Christian doctrine, whether it concerns humanity, salvation, or any other aspect, must ultimately point back to the glory of God. This is the prime objective of our faith journey. Our lives, as Christians, are meant to reflect and proclaim God's glory. This is evident in the Apostle Paul's teachings, where he consistently returns to the theme of glorifying God, whether discussing predestination, the work of Christ, or the unity of Jews and Gentiles in faith.

To truly live to the praise of His glory, we must have a grand view of salvation, recognizing it as entirely the work of God. Our understanding of salvation should evoke wonder and gratitude, acknowledging that it is solely by God's grace that we are saved. This perspective eliminates any notion of human boasting, as salvation is entirely God's work from beginning to end. By ascribing all glory to God, we fulfill our calling as Christians to glorify Him in all aspects of our lives.

Key Takeaways

1. Our understanding of sin should transcend personal guilt and focus on the failure to glorify God, which is the essence of sin. This perspective shifts our focus from ourselves to our relationship with God, highlighting the importance of His glory in our lives. [12:53]
2. Salvation is not merely about personal transformation or happiness; it is about restoring our relationship with God and glorifying Him. This understanding aligns with the biblical call to repentance and faith, emphasizing God's glory as the ultimate purpose of salvation. [17:33]
3. Every Christian doctrine must ultimately point back to the glory of God. Whether discussing humanity, salvation, or any other aspect, our beliefs should reflect and proclaim God's glory, as emphasized by the Apostle Paul. [18:23]
4. To live to the praise of His glory, we must have a grand view of salvation, recognizing it as entirely the work of God. This perspective eliminates human boasting and acknowledges that salvation is solely by God's grace. [22:10]
5. Our calling as Christians is to glorify God in all aspects of our lives. By ascribing all glory to God, we fulfill our purpose and reflect His glory to the world, as described in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. [24:09]
** [24:09]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[10:15] - The Danger of Forgetting God
[11:14] - Understanding Sin Beyond Actions
[12:53] - The Essence of Sin
[13:46] - The Chief End of Man
[15:34] - Defining Salvation
[17:33] - Salvation and God's Glory
[18:23] - The Importance of Glorifying God
[19:40] - Unity in Christ
[20:31] - Our Calling to Glorify Christ
[21:20] - A Grand View of Salvation
[22:10] - Ascribing Glory to God
[23:13] - The Role of Grace in Salvation
[24:09] - Eliminating Human Boasting
[25:19] - The Magnitude of Salvation

Sermon Clips

The point I'm trying to make is that all our thinking must be governed by our conception of the glory of God and that if the glory of God does not enter into our every particular Doctrine, every idea, and every thought that we have, well then that thought and that Doctrine is quite defective. [00:10:54]

The essence of sin is not to give unto God the glory that is due unto His holy name. That's sin, and if that doesn't come into our conception and our definition of sin, well then I suggest our whole view of sin is entirely inadequate, is indeed even dangerous. [00:12:48]

Sin essentially is not to glorify God. Now I'm simply asking an obvious question, and yet I think you'll agree with me that it needs to be asked. How often do we remind ourselves that that is the meaning of sin? [00:14:01]

The great thing about salvation is that it restores men to a right relationship to God. You go back and read even in the gospels, the preaching, the early preaching. John the Baptist calls people to repentance. Why? Well, because they're in a wrong relationship to God. [00:16:23]

The Supreme object of Christian salvation is to glorify God. But the particular thing that the Apostle is emphasizing here and to which I call your attention is this: that you and I are to live to the glory of God and that all that happens to us as Christians is designed to promote and to proclaim the glory of God. [00:18:38]

A true view of Salvation is to the praise of God's glory for this reason: that we see at once that it is something which is entirely and all together of God to the praise of his glory. So the way you measure your view of Salvation is the amount of Glory that is ascribed to God in your view. [00:22:10]

The view of Salvation which is to the praise of the glory of God is a view that ascribes the entirety of Salvation to him. And the Apostle, of course, has been doing that in this very section. He starts off by saying blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ. [00:23:36]

Do we realize that we are what we are this morning, Christian people, solely and entirely and exclusively because of the grace of God? I repeat my question: where do you come in? Do you insist upon a kind of partnership? Is it a kind of synergism, or is it only the action of God? [00:24:40]

To give God the glory, you must give him all the glory. His is the glory alone, and there is none in men. Now that's the great theme of all these New Testament Epistles. Remember how the Apostle puts it in a very striking phrase at the end of that first chapter of the epistle to the Corinthians. [00:25:41]

Why is salvation such as it is? Well, he answers the question. He says that no man should boast, and any vestige of boasting or taking credit to ourselves is a detracting from the glory of God. It is God, God, and God Alone. He's the beginning and the end of Salvation, the author and the finisher in Christ. [00:26:43]

Our idea of Salvation is to the praise of God's glory if we have a large view of the whole idea of salvation. Oh, how poor we are to think of it, I say, in subjective terms and to forget that the whole conception of Salvation is the biggest and the greatest thing that the world has ever known. [00:27:59]

What a gigantic thing it is, formed, fashioned, thought out, planned in that Eternal Council between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, planned perfectly, being put into operation and going on to that ultimate climax, the Redemption of the purchased possession. [00:29:18]

Ask a question about this sermon

Chatbot

Transcript

What was the most surprising thing in this sermon?

Were there any personal stories shared?