Q. Who are those who fight against God's glory?
A. Such as oppose that whereby God's glory is promoted. His glory is much promoted by the preaching of the word, which is his engine whereby he converts souls. Now, such as would hinder the preaching of the word fight against God's glory. 1 Thess. 2:16, "Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved." Diocletian, who raised the tenth persecution against the Christians, prohibited church meetings, and would have the temples of the Christians to be razed down. Such as hinder preaching, as the Philistines that stopped the wells, stop the well of the water of life. They take away the physicians that should heal sin-sick souls. Ministers are lights, Matt. 5:14, and who but thieves hate the light? They directly strike at God's glory; and what an account will they have to give to God, when he shall charge the blood of men's souls upon them! Luke 11:52, "Ye have taken away the key of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered." If there be either justice in heaven, or fire in hell, they shall not go unpunished.
USE 3.-Exhortation. Let every one of us, in our place, make it our chief end and design to glorify God. (1.) Let me speak to magistrates. God has put much glory upon them. Psalm 82:6, "I have said, Ye are Gods;" and will they not glorify him who has put so much glory upon them? (2.) Ministers should study to promote God's glory. God has entrusted them with two of the most precious things, his truth, and the souls of his people. Ministers, by virtue of their office, are to glorify God. They must glorify God, by labouring in the word and doctrine. 2 Tim. 4:1, "I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead: preach the word, be instant in season, out of season," etc. It was Augustine's wish, "that Christ, at his coming, might find him either praying or preaching." Ministers must glorify God by their zeal and sanctity. The priests under the law, before they served at the altar, washed in the laver; so such as serve in the Lord's house must first be washed from gross sin in the laver of repentance. It is a matter of grief and shame to think how many who call themselves ministers, instead of bringing glory to God, dishonour him. 2 Chron. 11:15. Their lives, as well as their doctrines, are heterodox; they are not free from the sins which they reprove in others. Plutarch's servant upbraided him, by saying, "he has written a book against anger, et ipse mihi irascitur, yet he falls into a passion of anger with me." So is a minister who preaches against drunkenness, yet he himself is drunk; he preaches against swearing, yet he himself swears. Masters of families must glorify God, must season their children and servants with the knowledge of the Lord; their houses should be little churches. Gen. 18:19, "I know that Abraham will command his children, that they may keep the way of the Lord." You that are masters have a charge of souls. For want of the bridle of family discipline youth runs wild.
It will be a great comfort in a dying hour, to think we have glorified God in our lives. It was Christ's comfort before his death: John 17:3, "I have glorified thee on the earth." At the hour of death, all your earthly comforts will vanish: if you think how rich you have been, what pleasures you have had on earth; this will be so far from comforting you, that it will torment you the more. What is one the better for an estate that is spent? But to have conscience telling you that you have glorified God on the earth, what sweet comfort and peace will this let into your soul! How will it make you long for death! The servant that has been all day working in the vineyard longs till evening comes, when he shall receive his pay. How can they who have lived, and brought no glory to God, think of dying with comfort? They cannot expect a harvest where they sowed no seed. How can they expect glory from God, who never brought any glory to him? Oh in what horror will they be at death! The worm of conscience will gnaw their souls, before the worms can gnaw their bodies.
If we glorify God, he will glorify our souls for ever. By raising God's glory, we increase our own: by glorifying God, we come at last to the blessed enjoyment of him.
The second part of our subject is that man's chief end is to enjoy God for ever. Psalm 73:25, "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" That is, What is there in heaven I desire to enjoy but thee? There is a twofold fruition or enjoying of God; the one is in this life, the other in the life to come.
1st. The enjoyment of God in this life. It is a great matter to enjoy God's ordinances, but to enjoy God's presence in the ordinances is that which a gracious heart aspires after. Psalm 63:2, "To see thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary." This sweet enjoyment of God is when we feel his Spirit co-operating with the ordinance, and distilling grace upon our hearts. When in the Word the Spirit quickens and raises the affections. Luke 24:32, "Did not our hearts burn within us?" When the Spirit transforms the heart leaving an impress of holiness upon it. 2 Cor. 3:8, "We are changed into the same image, from glory to glory." When the Spirit revives the heart with comfort, it comes not only with its anointing, but with its seal; it sheds God's love abroad in the heart. Rom. 5:5, "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:3. In the Word we hear God's voice; in the sacrament we have his kiss. The heart being warmed and inflamed in a duty is God's answering by fire. The sweet communications of God's Spirit are the first fruits of glory. Now Christ has pulled off his veil, and showed his smiling face; now he has led a believer into the banqueting-house, and given him of the spiced wine of his love to drink; he has put in his finger at the hole of the door; he has touched the heart, and made it leap for joy. Oh how sweet is it thus to enjoy God! The godly have, in ordinances, had such divine raptures of joy, and soul transfigurations, that they have been carried above the world, and have despised all things here below.
Use 1. Is the enjoyment of God in this life so sweet? How wicked are they who prefer the enjoyment of their lusts before the enjoyment of God! 2 Pet. 3:3, "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life," is the Trinity they worship. Lust is an inordinate desire or impulse, provoking the soul to that which is evil. There is the revengeful lust, and the wanton lust. Lust, like a feverish heat, puts the soul into a flame. Aristotle calls sensual lusts brutish, because, when any lust is violent, reason or conscience cannot be heard. These lusts besot and brutalise the man. Hos. 4:11,"Whoredom and wine take away the heart;" the heart for anything that is good. How many make it their chief end, not to enjoy God, but to enjoy their lusts; as that cardinal who said, "Let him but keep his cardinalship of Paris and he was content to lose his part in Paradise." Lust first bewitches with pleasure, and then comes the fatal dart. Prov. 7:23, "Till a dart strike through his liver." This should be as a flaming sword to stop men in the way of their carnal delights. Who for a drop of pleasure would drink a sea of wrath?
Use 2. Let it be our great care to enjoy God's sweet presence in his ordinances. Enjoying spiritual communion with God is a riddle and mystery to most people. Every one that hangs about the court does not speak with the king. We may approach God in ordinances, and hang about the court of heaven, yet not enjoy communion with God. We may have the letter without the Spirit, the visible sign without the invisible grace. It is the enjoyment of God in a duty that we should chiefly look at. Psalm 13:2, "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God." Alas! what are all our worldly enjoyments without the enjoyment of God? What is it to enjoy good health, a brave estate, and not to enjoy God? Job 30:28, "I went mourning without the sun." So mayest thou say in the enjoyment of all creatures without God, "I went mourning without the sun." I have the starlight of outward enjoyments, but I lack the Sun of Righteousness. "I went mourning without the sun." It should be our great design, not only to have the ordinances of God, but the God of the ordinances. The enjoyment of God's sweet presence here is the most contented life: he is a hive of sweetness, a magazine of riches, a fountain of delight, Psalm 36:8,9. The higher the lark flies the sweeter it sings; and the higher we fly by the wings of faith, the more we enjoy of God. How is the heart inflamed in prayer and meditation! What joy and peace is there in believing! Is it not comfortable being in heaven? He that enjoys much of God in this life carries heaven about him. Oh let this be the thing we are chiefly ambitious of, the enjoyment of God in his ordinances! The enjoyment of God's sweet presence here is an earnest of our enjoying him in heaven.
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