You Were Made to Celebrate
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:05.000 | Celebration comes so naturally to us because we were created to rejoice.
00:00:10.000 | And that is the point that John Piper made in his 1999 sermon on Romans chapter 5.
00:00:16.000 | Here's a brief clip of that sermon.
00:00:19.000 | Paul said in Romans 9.23 that the goal of creation and judgment and salvation is to make known the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory.
00:00:37.000 | You were made, Christian, to enjoy the glory of God.
00:00:43.000 | That's why you were created, to enjoy the ever-flowing, increasing revelation of the glory of God.
00:00:55.000 | Which is why Paul in that magnificent chapter 3 of Philippians said,
00:01:02.000 | "I count all things as loss for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
00:01:10.000 | And indeed, I count everything as rubbish in order that I might gain Christ."
00:01:22.000 | What do you gain if you gain Christ and lose everything else?
00:01:27.000 | Well, in 2 Thessalonians 2.14 he says it like this.
00:01:33.000 | "It was for this that Christ called you through our gospel so that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ."
00:01:48.000 | That's what you gain.
00:01:50.000 | You gain the glory of the maker of the universe and the redeemer of your souls.
00:01:58.000 | Now that just leaves this to talk about on exalting in the hope of the glory of God.
00:02:05.000 | If you've seen the glory in the gospel, if you know that it's a million, million times greater than what you have seen,
00:02:12.000 | and you've put your hope in it by faith, what does it mean to exalt in that hope?
00:02:19.000 | What does that mean?
00:02:23.000 | I'm 53 years old.
00:02:26.000 | I lived through the Vietnam War.
00:02:28.000 | I almost was drafted.
00:02:29.000 | I did not go to Canada.
00:02:31.000 | It just didn't fall.
00:02:33.000 | But I went and got my physical and got my number.
00:02:38.000 | And I can remember some videos.
00:02:40.000 | I will never forget them.
00:02:43.000 | Near the end of the war, those of you who are old enough, maybe even others, have seen them.
00:02:50.000 | You can't watch these videos without tears unless you are really, really unemotional.
00:02:59.000 | It's near the end of the war.
00:03:01.000 | The POWs, no report, three years, five years, six years, and she was faithful.
00:03:11.000 | They were faithful.
00:03:14.000 | The children grew up.
00:03:17.000 | And then came the phone call.
00:03:21.000 | He's alive.
00:03:23.000 | He's on an aircraft carrier.
00:03:25.000 | It will dock in San Diego on such and such a date.
00:03:31.000 | We will pay your way.
00:03:33.000 | You get your ticket and be there.
00:03:36.000 | And the videos of these wives running across the deck of that aircraft carrier into the arms of a dead husband who is alive after six years.
00:03:54.000 | And having him sweep off her feet and put his arms around the little ones that he would never be able to recognize.
00:04:03.000 | It moves everybody to tears.
00:04:05.000 | But now, go back two weeks.
00:04:10.000 | The phone rings.
00:04:12.000 | He's alive.
00:04:14.000 | Be in San Diego at the dock, 59, on such and such a date in two weeks.
00:04:22.000 | Nothing has changed in those two weeks.
00:04:25.000 | Nothing has changed except one thing.
00:04:28.000 | News.
00:04:30.000 | News.
00:04:32.000 | He's always alive.
00:04:35.000 | News.
00:04:37.000 | And the news produces hope.
00:04:43.000 | I'm going to touch him.
00:04:45.000 | I'm going to kiss him.
00:04:47.000 | I'm going to sleep beside him in two weeks.
00:04:51.000 | And he's going to sit at the breakfast table.
00:04:53.000 | And he's going to know his kids.
00:04:55.000 | And he's going to be there.
00:04:58.000 | You don't need anybody to teach you about what exaltation means.
00:05:02.000 | Do you?
00:05:03.000 | You don't need anybody to teach you or show you or give you a list of things that you do in those two weeks to exalt in hope.
00:05:11.000 | It changes everything.
00:05:13.000 | This one little thing changes everything.
00:05:16.000 | News.
00:05:17.000 | News.
00:05:18.000 | News.
00:05:19.000 | He's alive.
00:05:20.000 | In two weeks, you see the glory.
00:05:24.000 | And the exaltation will be in proportion to the longing and the love that we have for the glory of God.
00:05:37.000 | Do you love the glory of God?
00:05:42.000 | Oh, that God would open your eyes so that Jesus would not pronounce over you,
00:05:48.000 | seeing they did not see, and hearing they did not hear, and perceiving they did not understand.
00:05:56.000 | But their hearts were hardened.
00:05:59.000 | May it not be so for any of you.
00:06:02.000 | Yes, amen.
00:06:03.000 | That clip was pulled from the sermon titled "Let Us Exalt in the Hope of the Glory of God."
00:06:07.000 | It was preached on October 24, 1999.
00:06:11.000 | And this clip was sent in to us by Todd Liddell from Lantana, Texas.
00:06:15.000 | Thank you, Todd, for this clip.
00:06:16.000 | Listeners, you are sending in some really great clips like this one from Todd.
00:06:19.000 | Please keep them coming in to us so that we can share them with everyone else.
00:06:23.000 | Email us the sermon name, and if you have it, a time stamp of when and where the clip appears in the message.
00:06:29.000 | We're always looking for those clips that are five to eight minutes long.
00:06:33.000 | And you can pass those along to us through our online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:06:41.000 | Well, it looks like the next president of the United States could either be Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
00:06:46.000 | So there's a lot of cultural pessimism right now for Christians.
00:06:50.000 | What would John Piper say to a cultural pessimist who looks at culture and just wags their head?
00:06:56.000 | We'll find out tomorrow.
00:06:57.000 | I'm your host, Tony Ranke.
00:06:58.000 | I'll see you then.
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