Reggie Weems Blog

From the pulpit I recently made the comment that God is glorified in the death of sinners. One of our members asked for clairification on that thought. Here are the reasons that I think God is temporally and eternally glorified in everything, including heaven and hell.

1 – Everything God does He does for His own glory
Isa 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.

Isa 49:3 And he said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
2 – Everything God does He does to please Himself
Ps 135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Isa 53:10 Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand.

3 – Everything God does is unmotivated by anything other than His own will
Eph 1:11 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,

Ro 9:21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use?

4 – Everything God does is ultimately intended to glorify His Son
Phil 2:9-11 - Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
John 3:35, “The. Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.”

Based on these (scriptural) assumptions:
1 – Everything God does, the saving of the lost and the damning of the unsaved is for His glory, revealed in the Son. When people trust Christ and are saved it glorifies Jesus’ work on the cross. When people don’t trust Christ and are not saved it glorifies Jesus’ work on the cross. If God said the only way to heaven was through Jesus and then people got to heaven outside of trusting Christ, it would diminish the God’s glory in His Son. But, when people do not go to heaven because they do not trust the Son, it glorifies God’s work in His Son by evidencing that God so loves His Son that He has made Him the only way to heaven. It is God’s will to glorify the Son by honoring His Son’s death and life (passive and active obedience). So, whether a person is saved or unsaved it glorifies God Who does all things for His own glory, pleasure, according to His will and Son’s honor. “Every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” will be accomplished by both the saved and unsaved. They will each confess that Jesus is indeed Lord, some to their gladness and others to their sadness. But it will all glorify God through Jesus. Christ, for both believers and unbelievers is the key to God’s glory in redemption. Contrarily, if this is not true, then God’s glory is diminished every time a sinner perishes. So, if God is not glorified in both the salvation of the saints and the damnation of sinners then, according to Jesus (Matthew 7:13-14), God will not have much eternal glory for more people will perish than are saved. But when a saint is saved God is glorified because He told people that Jesus was the only way to heaven. And when a sinner is not saved God is glorified because He told people that Jesus was the only way to heaven. God’s word and Jesus work are vindicated and the Trinity is glorified. In the eternal end God must be forever glorified throughout all of His creation, including heaven and hell. If He is not glorified even in hell, then the devil or the lost person has stolen God’s glory, which we know is impossible.

The reason I said it is:
1 - To remind people of our sinfulness and God’s righteousness. We tend to value people above God’s righteousness. How sad that we should value the
created above the Creator; in effect committing idolatry. This misalignment of priorities effects how we ‘do church’ and what we are willing to do as a church. Our priority (in the singular) determines how we organize our programs, spend our money, exert our effort, etc. It is more important than any church leader or member actually realizes.
2 – To help our people evangelize correctly. Our primary aim in evangelism (Plunge) should be God’s glory. This releases us from the burden of whether or not people are saved by our witness. We witness to God’s glory in Jesus Christ on the cross…so that, whether people trust Christ or not, God is glorified in both. God values what is inestimably valuable, Himself. We tend to value people most and thus judge our effectiveness based on people’s responses and not how God is glorified among both those who trust Him and even those who don’t.
3 – To encourage and arrange our prayer lives which should be for God’s glory. Let us pray with passion for God’s will to be done and God’s glory to come!