TCC 08 :: Session 10 :: Glorification by David Miller
I was guilty with nothing to say, and they were coming to take me away, but then a voice form heaven was heard and said, “Let him go and take me instead.”
I have been saved. I have been cleared of guilt, and I am glad. Glory! Glory!
I have been declared innocent, and I have been given the righteousness of Christ. It is a done deal. I’ve been delivered from the penalty of sin. Death holds no fear for me. I’ve been saved.
Have you?
You haven’t gotten over it, have you?
I’ve been justified, and I am being saved. I am pressing on to higher ground, forgetting those things which are behind, I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ in Jesus. I love to apprehend that for which I have been apprehended. I long to be more like the Lord. I long to be delivered from the power of indwelling sin. I am working on it. The Lord is working, and I am gaining ground. I’ve had some peaks and some valleys, but when I look back on my experience and chart it on the graph, with deep gratitude I say, there has been some ascension. I’ve gained some ground; I’m being sanctified.
Are you? Are you gaining the victory more and more? Day by day?
The warfare continues to rage, but we are going on; our hand is on the plough; our shoulders at the wheel; we are pressing on, are we not? We are being sanctified.
There is a sense that I am yet to being saved. There is coming a time when I shall be delivered from the presence of sin. That is the subject tonight–the biblical doctrine of glorification.
Are you interested.
TEXT: Romans 8:28-39
I thought about giving a disclaimer of giving a full exposition of this text. I read Martyn Lloyd-Jones (cut into my deer hunting time). I read Donald Grey Barnhouse. My mind was spinning for days. But my purpose is to talk about glorification from this text. Are you ready?
Glorification guaranteed. I want to do two things.
I want to give an explanation around three headings: definition, details, and the design.
Definition
That we might become conformed into the image of God’s Son–that’s what glorification is all about. That we might ultimately and altogether be like Jesus. That we might derive from Him this image.
Now the Mormons are wrong. The New Age folk are wrong; Benny and Kenneth are in error.
To be conformed to the image of God’s Son does not mean that we are going to be little gods. It doesn’t mean that. Even in our glorified resurrection bodies, we are not going to be little deities. God possesses certain characteristics that are incommunicable and non-transferring, and even Benny doesn’t have some of them.
God is omnipresent, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him; he is omniscience, and the high minded cannot comprehend Him. The God of the Bible is also immutable, and in essential essence, God remains the same. For one to become a little god would require a rather substantial change in their essential nature. When we speak of glorification, being conformed to the image of God’s Son, we do not mean to teach even by implication that we are going to be little gods, not even itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny gods.
You can only have one superlative, and Christ Jesus is that one superlative. But if you are interested, I will give you some details what our resurrection bodies will be like.
Explanation of Glorification
Details
We will not be little gods, but as Christ is immortal, we shall be immortal also.
This life is not all there is; the best is yet to come. One day the trumpet is going to sound; those who are dead in Christ will be raised, and those that are alive will be caught up with us in the clouds, and we are going to have incorruptible bodies.
I cut my teeth on the old heavenly highway hymnbook. I believe that stuff.
Your best life now? Give me a break! Those people need to get a life. This is not it!
Not only shall our bodies be incorruptible, but our minds will be greatly improved; we shall know even as we are known. We are going to see glories in Christ that are going to make us shout with joy. Some of you have wondered how are going to maintain an intensive level of worship for eternity. I tell you, your mind is going to stretch further than you ever imagined.
If we have suffered with him, we shall also reign with him. What Adam lost in the Fall, God is going to restore when Jesus comes again.
Design
“That he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
“He is the body, the church, the first born from among the dead, that in everything he might have preeminence.”
It’s not about you. It’s about Him! In eternity past, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost had a meeting, and they entered into what we call the everlasting covenant; God the Father arranged our redemption; God the Son accomplished our redemption; and God the Spirit applied our redemption. And at the appointed time, God the Father is going to say to God the Son, “Go get my children.” We have been given to Jesus by the Father; and those whom the Father gave, not one shall be lost.
Now, put that aside. Let’s look at the exposition of the text.
Exposition of the Text
You have been predestined for glory. That means to determine beforehand. If you saw me easying out to the edge of the platform, and I am not paying attention and get too close, and the front wheels go over the edge, and I commence to fall out over the alter, and you said, “David, I predestinate you to fall into the alter.”
For what? So what?
That would be nonsensical language. I’m going to hit the alter whether you predestinate it or not.
When the Bible predestinate, that means that God Almighty determined before what He intended to do. He set His heart’s affection upon us. Do you know where I preach Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week? I preached at the Alabama State Freewill Baptist Pastor’s Conference. I did. And I had great discussion about some of the brethren over the world “foreknowledge.”
God loved us and determined ahead of time that we would be glorified. But now not only have we been predestined, but we have been prepared for glory. You are not fit for glory. You had to be prepared. You know how God prepared you? He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, to be crucified, to be made sin for us though He knew no sin, and for confirmation, God raised Him from the dead. God saved you when you were a stranger; God quickened you and implanted in you the spiritual life and granted you the grace of repentance and faith, causing you to cast off any confidence in the flesh, and caused you to rest on the person and work of Christ.
Who is it that can bring any charge against God’s elect? God has prepared you through the sacrifice of His Son and the sprinkling of His blood.
You are also being preserved for glory. Who is he that condemns? Those of you who know me might condemn me. You know my infirmities and bring a charge. But Christ loves me though I was ungodly; in fact, herein is the grace of God manifested, that when we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. If Christ died to save me when I was ungodly, surely He will not let me go now.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Do you have victory in the midst of afflictions and trials? Is this not a true test of assurance? We are more than conquerors, even in afflictions.
I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities or powers shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. You might as well quick wrestling and worrying and start resting. It’s is a done deal. It is guaranteed.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
Personal Commentary:
I have thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Miller’s exposition and presentation of the gospel in all of its tenses. What wonderful meditation is it to think that God has predestined us, is preparing us, and preserving us for glory! Truly salvation is of the Lord! Indeed, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. Not to us, not to us, O Lord, but to your name be all the glory. SDG
Tags: 2008 True Church Conference, Church Discipline, David Miller, Glorification, live-blogging
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February 24, 2008 at 3:18 pm
What heavenly truth there is in the biblical doctrine of predestination and what poor preachers they are that fight with all their philosophical power to deny this truth by saying that a God that predestinates is a harsh God to people. The problem is as old as the gospel with these people, who don’t want to be emptyhanded. Even if we embrace this doctrine with all our heart and are saved by grace alone, we fight it, maybe not openly, but the more His Holy Spirit exposes the depths of our hearts and the dark rooms there that we have never soon before, we understand where this free-will theory is coming from. We want to have something to bring along with His grace and mercy. Everyone who has been saved will confess this sooner or later, depending on the measure of the working of the Holy Spirit that He grants us. This week when I read the famous letter from George Whitefield to John Wesley as a response to Wesley’s sermon “Free Grace” and I was struck by Whitefield’s humble and meek attitude towards Wesley and yet filled with such a zeal for the doctrine of Predestination. Every believer who’s eyes are opened for this truth that fully glorifies God and has to deal with people who don’t seem to see it, should read this letter and pray that we fight heresies this way of humble faithfulness to our Lord in preaching as well as witnessing. Why? Because this gospel is given to us who believe it, but still don’t see the depth of it all as long as we live, as much as we don’t see how depraved and sinful our nature is. I love the Heidelberger Cathechism’s Q.&A. 114 and 115:
Q. Can those who are converted to God perfectly keep these (10) commandments?
A. NO, but even the holiest men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of this obedience; YET so, that with a sincere resolution they begin to live, not only to some, but ALL the commandments of God.
Q. Why will God then have the ten commandments so strictly preached, since no man in this life can keep them?
A. First, that all our lifetime we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and thus become more and more earnest in seeking the remission of sin and righteousness in Christ; like wise, that we constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, that we may become more and more comformable to the image of God, TILL we arrive at the perfection proposed to us in a life to come.
You see, these are confessions, explained by Paul in Romans 7 (AFTER his conversion) where he cries out: ” O wretched man that I AM! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God-through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Therein is our glorification, that we sin no more and finally, after taking our last breath on this earth, we can fully enjoy Christ and start to glorify His name and His work in full!!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
February 24, 2008 at 6:27 pm
[...] of the logical tension we feel between them. And future-tense salvation is biblical truth as well (here is what Miller had to say about that). Too many of us only preach past-tense salvation. In the process, we rob our people of authentic [...]