God Will be All in All

Introduction

Genesis 1:1–3 CSB

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Why did God create anything? God doesn’t need anything. He has eternal fellowship in himself.

I. God will be in charge of everything

1 Corinthians 15:23–28 CSB

But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For God has put everything under his feet. Now when it says “everything” is put under him, it is obvious that he who puts everything under him is the exception. When everything is subject to Christ, then the Son himself will also be subject to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

A. Christ’s Resurrection is First

B. Christians Follow in Christ’s Resurrection

C. The World Follows in Christ’s Resurrection

D. God is All in All

Revelation 21:22–22:5 CSB

I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there. They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

1. The End is a Redeemed World

2. The Means is Resurrection

3. This is all planned ahead of time

II. The Church Exists for God’s Glory

A. The Church is Christ’s Bride

B. The Church is the Temple of God

C. The Church Engages in Good Works

III. Salvation is for God’s Glory

A. Salvation is Dependence on God

B. Salvation Allows People to Glorify God in their Actions

C. Salvation is God Redeeming for Himself a People

IV. The Gospel is for God’s Glory

A. The Gospel is Jesus Keeping the Law

B. The Gospel is Jesus Paying Our Penalty

C. The Gospel is God Saving us from Himself

The Grand Paradox or supreme irony of the Christian faith is that we are saved both by God and from God. -R.C. Sproul

1. The Penalty of Sin: God’s Wrath

2. God’s Justice and Wrath Bring Him Glory

“We are not really surprised that God has redeemed us. Somewhere deep inside, in the secret chambers of our hearts we harbor the notion that God owes us his mercy. Heaven would not be quite the same if we were excluded from it. We know that we are sinners, but we are surely not as bad as we could be. There are enough redeeming features to our personalities that if God is really just he will include us in salvation. What amazes us is justice, not grace.” - R.C. Sproul

Anything short of perfect justice would undermine who God is.

TRANSITION - If God must be just, then why was the tree in the garden in the first place? I understand that God will win, that everything will bring him glory, and that Hell is included in “everything.” But why couldn’t God have just created us without pain and suffering, without sin and death, without the fall?

V. The Fall was for God’s Glory

It is a sin to call good evil or evil good; nevertheless, it is good that there is evil, otherwise it wouldn’t be in a universe ruled by a perfect God.

A. The Fall was Plan A

B. If Evil was an Accident, God is not God

C. Evil Highlights God’s Holiness

“The glory of God is the manifest beauty of his holiness. It is the going-public of his holiness.” - John Piper

God’s Holiness is what he is; God’s Glory is the revelation of that to people. What happens when they see God?

VI. Theology must lead to Doxology

So what? God will glorify himself, is glorifying himself, and always has been doing so. What does that mean for me on a Tuesday?

A. God is Much Greater than I Can Imagine; I Must Study Him

B. God is More Sovereign than I Expect; I Must Obey Him

C. God didn’t need to save me; I must Worship Him