Sermon # 226          Series: Isaiah

 

Title:  GOD’S MAKING HIMSELF AN EVERLASTING AND GLORIOUS NAME!

Text:  Isaiah 63:12, 14

Subject: God’s Purpose to Glorify Himself

Date: Sunday Evening – November 5, 1995

 

Introduction:

 

My friends, I have good, comforting, soul-cheering news to report to you today.  The Lord our God Is Making Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.  This is God’s purpose in all things.  Everything that he does, and everything that he allows to be done, is done according to God’s holy and wise purpose to glorify himself, to make himself a great and glorious name.  This is what he says in our texts.  He led his people “by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name… As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.”

 

Proposition:  God’s Greatest and Highest Object Is To Make Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.

 

Since God is God it must be so.  He is so full of love and kindness to his creatures that he cannot more fully bless us than to make himself known to us.  Everything that is good, true, holy, excellent, and loving is in God.  He is not only the Giver of “every good and perfect gift,” but he is himself the Sum and Substance of “every good and perfect gift.”  He is only the Giver of all blessings, he is the Essence of all blessings.  The greatest blessing God can ever bestow upon a man is to make himself known to that man.   It is eternal life to know him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ when he has sent.  Oh, may you all know the living God this day.  All hope, all comfort, all holiness, and all heaven is found in the knowledge of the ever-blessed, Triune God.

 

God may well desire to make himself a name – that is to say, to make himself known – because he is worthy to be known.  There is no one like him.  There is none that can be compared to him.  He can truly say, “I am God, and there is none beside me.”  God ought to be known.  It is a worthy motive of his actions that he should make himself a great, everlasting, and glorious name.

 

This Knowledge of God Is The Perfection of Heaven.  There is no greater joy and bliss and glory in heaven than this.  They that dwell around the throne dwell in the presence of his dazzling glory, and they know him in constant, perfect communion.  They know even as they are known.  To know God perfectly and to behold him in righteousness is all that any heart can need or desire.  “At thy right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).  “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness.  I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness”  (Ps. 17:15).  To know God himself, in the fulness of his glory, is the perfection of heaven.

 

This Knowledge of God Is The Life Of God’s Saints Upon The Earth.  What is eternal life, but a living knowledge of and a living union with the living God?  The children of God in this world grace in grace and grow in sanctification as they grow in the knowledge of God.  God makes himself known to us in the gospel, teaching us of his works and his ways, that we may grow in his likeness.   The more a man knows of God’s grace, the more gracious he becomes.  The more a man knows of God’s love, the more he loves his fellowman.  The more a man knows of God’s forgiveness, the more readily he forgives others.

 

And The Knowledge Of God Is The Great Hope Of Sinners.  My friend, if you only knew my God, you would flee to him.  If you only understood how gracious he is, you would seek him.  If you had any idea of his holiness, you would loathe your sin and your self-righteousness.  If you really knew anything of his power, you would not dare contend with him.  If you really knew anything of his grace, you would not hesitate to call upon him.  The more God reveals himself to you, and the more you know of God, the more hope there is that he will be merciful to you.  “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee.

 

I do not attempt to defend my God.  He needs no defense.  I do not apologize, when I stand before you and declare what he has revealed, that the one great purpose of all that he does is to make himself an everlasting and glorious name.  This is the best thing that God can do.  By making himself an everlasting and glorious name, God is merciful and gracious to sinners.  Let us praise him that sitteth upon the throne, that he is pleased to make himself a name, by which he reveals himself to fallen men.

 

Divisions:  I want to show you four things.  May it please the Lord God to speak through me this day to each of your hearts, for the glory and honor of his great name, as we meditate upon these four facts.

 

  1. The Lord Our God Has Made Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.
  2. God Is Making Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.
  3. The Lord Our God Shall Yet Make Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.
  4. I Am Delighted That It Is So.

 

I.  The Lord Our God Has Made Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.

 

From all eternity he is God most glorious.  He always has been as he is today.  He is eternal.  But when God dwelt alone in the glory of his Three Persons, he had no name.  A name is that by which a person is revealed. But when God dwelt alone there was none to whom he could reveal himself.  Once God had created the angels, his name was manifested and magnified.  “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.”  The angels sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts!”  Then man was made in the image and likeness of God for his glory, and all things existed for his praise.  “He is over all, God blessed forever.”  But I want you to see how that God has made himself an everlasting and glorious name in his creation.

 

A.  Our Text Tells Us That God Has Made Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name In Redeeming Israel Out of Egypt.

 

·         Their Redemption was by the Price of Innocent Blood.

·         Their Redemption was by the Power of Omnipotent Grace.

 

1.  God had raised up Pharoah to get glory to himself. (Rom. 9:17).  And even so, Pharoah, in the hardness of his heart and in the obstinacy of his rebellion, was an instrument in the hands of God for the glory of his name.

 

2.   God got himself a name among his people. (Ex. 15:2, 6, 11, 13, 18, 21).

 

3.  God got himself a name among the nations of the world. (I Sam. 6:6).

 

4.  God got himself a name by which he shall be praised throughout eternity.  The saints in heaven today, and throughout the endless age of eternity, sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. (Rev. 15:1-3.

The Lord got himself a great, everlasting, and glorious name at the Red Sea.

B.  But He Has Made Himself An Everlasting Name That Is Infinite Greater And More Glorious In The Great Work Of Redemption By The Sacrifice Of His Son, The Lord Jesus Christ.

 

·         In the Incarnation his name was made great.

 

1.  In the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ all the great and glorious attributes of God are revealed in glorious splendor.

 

·         His hatred of Sin and His love of Righteousness.

 

2.  By his death upon the cross, God our Savior has gotten himself an everlasting and glorious name.

 

 

C.  And The Lord Our God Has Made Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name Among The Saints In Glory.

 

There is no name like the name “Jehovah-Jesus “beneath the heavens; and there is no name like his in heaven itself.  There, in that bright land to which I go, my God and Savior has no rival ( Rev. 4:11; 5:9-10, 12-13).

 

Father of Jesus, love’s reward,

What rapture will it be,

Prostrate before Thy throne to lie,

And gaze, and gaze on Thee!

 

Weak is the effort of my heart,

And cold my warmest thought;

But, when I see Thee as Thou art,

I’ll praise Thee as I ought!

 

Yes, the Lord our God has already made himself an everlasting and glorious name.  But that is not all.

 

II.  Right now, at this present time, God Is Making Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.

 

The purpose of God to glorify himself is being fulfilled today even in our very midst.  God is carrying out his gracious plan.  Our Lord said, on one occasion, “The Father worketh hitherto, and I work;” and it is still true.  God the Father, God the Son, and  God the Spirit are laboring together that the name of the Holy Trinity may be exalted.  Let me show you how that God is making for himself an everlasting and glorious name today.

 

A.  God Is Making Himself A Great Name By His Longsuffering And Patience With The Ungodly – (II Pet. 3:9, 15).

 

B.  God Is Making Himself A Great Name By Saving Sinners And Turning Them To Himself – (I Cor. 1:26-29; 6:9-11).

 

He breaks the power of cancelled sin,

He sits the prisoner free;

His blood can make the foulest clean,

His blood avails for me!

 

Oh, how my soul marvels at the wondrous ways of his great saving grace!

 

 

C.  God Is Making Himself A Great Name By Forgiving The Guilty.

 

My friends, God saves sinners and forgives sin for the glory of his own great name.  (Ps. 106:8; Isa. 43:25).  Our God is a great Forgiver!  You remember the words of the prophet Micah, how he describes God’s character “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardeneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.  He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.” (Mic. 7:18-19).

 

 

Here’s pardon for transgressions past,

It matters not how black their cast;

And, O my soul, with wonder view,

For sins to come, here’s pardon too!

 

God is getting himself an everlasting and glorious name.  He is a God who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin!

 

D.  God Is Making Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name By The Great Things Which He Is Doing For His People.

 

·         He revives and refreshes our souls with his grace.

 

Truly, there is no God like our God, great and gracious majestic and merciful, good and glorious.  I rejoice to tell you that he is making himself a name.  Still, there is more.

 

III.  The Lord Our God Shall Yet Make For Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.

 

The time for the restitution of all things is coming, when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.  The time will soon come when all men shall be made to know and acknowledge the great and glorious everlasting name of the Lord Our God.  (Isa. 45:20-25).

 

·         Every knee shall bow to the Lord our God.

·         All the hosts of his elect shall be saved to the praise of the glory of his grace.

·         Every rebel shall be ashamed before him.

·         All things shall be reconciled to the glory of his great name.

 

The eternal God shall be glorified in all his creation!

 

God has made himself a great name.  God is now making himself a great name.  The Lord our God shall yet make for himself an everlasting and glorious name.  Now let me tell  you won thing more.

 

IV.  I Am Delighted That It Is So!

 

I would not have it any other way.  “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth’s sake” (Ps. 115:1).

 

I am delighted that it is God’s purpose to glorify himself, to make for himself alone an everlasting and glorious name.  Because –

 

A.  It Destroys Every Foundation For Human Pride.

 

If God saves sinners for the glory of his own great name, then the whole of salvation must be ascribed to him, and nothing to men.

 

·         God did not choose us because of anything in us.

·         Christ did not redeem us because of anything in us.

·         The Holy Spirit did not call us because of anything in us.

·         We are not justified because of anything in us.

·         We are not accepted because of anything in us.

·         We shall not be rewarded because of anything in us.

 

All pride and boasting is excluded.  Salvation is by grace alone, that it may be “to the praise of his glory.”

 

B.  Since God’s Great Reason For Saving Sinners Is To Make For Himself A Glorious Name, There Is A Door Of Hope Open For Me And For You.

 

Surely, if God saves me, pardons my sin, and takes me to heaven, he will have all the glory of it.

 

I urge you to come to Christ.  He wants to make himself a great and glorious name, by saving great and terrible sinners.

 

C.  This Fact That God Is Making Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name Sustains Me and Comforts Me In All Things.

 

All is well, God is making a glorious name for himself.  I want no more.

 

D.  This Fact Also Gives Me Confidence And Assurance With Regard To My Everlasting Salvation.

 

If God’s great aim and purpose is to glorify himself, he will certainly not allow one sinner to perish who trusts in his great name.

 

E.  And I Am Delighted To Know That My God Shall Make For Himself An Everlasting And Glorious Name.  Because This Answers My Greatest Prayer And Relieves My Greatest Burden.

 

My God shall be honored.  He shall be glorified.  He shall be exalted.  I want no more.  Throughout the endless ages of eternity all things shall perpetually glorify the Eternal, Triune God.

 

Application:

 

1.       Children of God, Rejoice!  God shall be glorified.

2.       O perishing sinner, Arise and come to Christ for the glory of his great name.  He will save you for his own clear name’s sake.  Come to him and say,

 

No preparation can I make,

My best resolves I only break;

Now save me for Thine own name’s sake,

And take me as I am.