[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to another episode of Line Upon Line Ministries podcast. I'm your host, Mark Williams. At Line Upon Line, we are committed to the expository ministry of the Word for the life of the local church, all to the glory of God.
We have been steadily updating our website with archives of Brother David's sermons. We've also been working to add an archive of his newsletters and other resources that we can find that he had saved here. But also if you have any of those kinds of things that you got from Brother David over the years or he came to your church to preach and you have a recording of that, we would love to get those from you. If you would like to provide them so that we can make them available on our website in that archive, please email me lineuponlineministriesmail.com and we can get together about how you can get those resources to us.
As you know, Brother David Miller, our founder, was committed to expository preaching. But more than that, he was committed to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to his Word and to his gospel.
This special episode is being posted on the one year anniversary of Brother David Miller's passing on into glory. So for this one we have something special.
We sat down with Brother David's son, Josh Miller to interview him about what it was like to grow up in the home of the country preacher at large. We will be sharing this interview over the next couple of podcasts, so be sure to stick around over the next couple of months to get the rest of the interview with Brother Josh.
Then after the interview, we have another classic sermon from Brother David on the doctrine of glorification from Romans chapter 8. But first, enjoy this first part of the interview with Josh Miller.
[00:02:18] Speaker C: Well, man, it's been almost a year year since your father passed away and we have been talking about having ever since we started talking about doing a podcast.
We've been talking about having you come on the podcast and talk about your dad and talk about what it's like to grow up under David Miller's roof and just, you know, get your perspective. Because it's different than ministry friends or people that knew him or even his other family members. You just have a unique perspective that I think that our listeners, those people who have loved Brother David for many years, will really appreciate.
So I don't really have an agenda for this like we've talked about. We're just here to talk.
So if you want to talk about what it was like to grow up in the house, you want to talk about some Specific memories of your dad.
It's really. Just open it up to, hey, let's talk about David Miller and what it was like to be his son.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Well, I appreciate that.
First off, I think it would be good to note that if dad were here right now, he would probably be rolling his eyes and shaking his head because of what you just said. We don't have an agenda agenda. And we're just talking and we're not here with a three point alliterated outline.
[00:03:48] Speaker C: Well, we could do that. We could be like growing up as David's son, as an adult. David. I mean, we could think it through if we needed to.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: Well, dad's outline, Dad's outline for that would probably be growing up, gearing up and getting out.
[00:04:10] Speaker C: Hey, there it is. You said it. We've got it.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: So I could see that a little.
[00:04:16] Speaker C: Bit of, little bit of David rubbed.
[00:04:17] Speaker D: Off on you a little bit.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: I've heard him preach a time or two.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm sure you have.
[00:04:22] Speaker A: And a lot of times, not even.
[00:04:24] Speaker C: In church, just at the house, just.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: One on one or going down the road or be like, hey, now, listen to this for a minute.
And then he would start in and quote a passage and give me his outline. And I was always hoping, like, well, I hope you're not going to ask me what that means because I didn't always know, but I know a lot more now than I did then. But.
Well, first of all, I want to say this just a couple things in general, but, well, specifically, Mark, about you and I appreciate you and the work that you have done to put all this together, the podcast, the stuff with being able to continue line upon line. I, I, you know, you and I talked not long after, after dad went home to be with the Lord. And, and I didn't feel, I didn't feel, I just didn't feel comfortable just closing the doors and, you know, closing the books on everything.
And you know, you came alongside and I, it's been a, you put. You have done a whole lot of work to go into this and I appreciate it.
And I know I've heard from people, you know, all around that do so just first and foremost about that and then secondly, but of no less importance, I want to thank the folks who have supported Line Upon Line for years and are continuing to do so as we, you know, kind of forge off into this, into this new chapter of, you know, doing stuff more online. Dad, I talked to dad for years about doing a podcast.
Podcast. What is that?
And you know, and I get it. It just wasn't his.
It wasn't his cup of tea.
But, you know, the Lord blessed him with an ability to expound the Scriptures in a way that helps, had an impact. And I think if we don't do anything but just keep that out there where folks have access to it, that we're doing good.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: I agree.
It's been a fun year so far, getting to try to keep his legacy going and preserving some of those sermons and things like that, but then also trying to continue on in the same spirit of that legacy.
It's been fun, and it's really been neat to see the response from people.
How many people are just coming from all over the place, or you get a comment on Facebook or on YouTube or an email of somebody just sharing a story about how Brother David came to their little town in the middle of nowhere for years, every year, and preached the word. And they were so encouraged by him. So it's been. It's been a neat experience. And I'm glad the Lord's continuing to use Brother David's legacy in all these different ways. So. Yeah, that's neat.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: Well, that, you know, if you listen to dad very long, you would hear him quote Granny Miller. Oh, yeah, a lot. And we had a, you know, growing up, we had a whole lot of Granny Miller isms that were used. And now I find myself, you know, quoting dad.
[00:08:30] Speaker C: Yeah, well, dad would have said.
[00:08:33] Speaker A: Dad would have. Well, I can tell you what dad would have said about that.
You know, not all of them I need to share right now, but, you know, just.
It was such a privilege and one I didn't know that I had growing up. But to be David and Glenda Miller's son was.
I mean, it's just a gift from God and just simply God's grace that. That got to be me.
My mom was such a wonderful woman, and she was a.
I don't know of a better example of the biblical term helpmate than what my mom was to my dad.
And she supported him. A lot of times.
A lot of times, you know, Dad's name might be out there and people might be talking about dad, but man.
And he would tell you he wouldn't be there if it weren't for her.
And, you know, so many others.
Uncle Bill, Bill Williams, who travel with dad for years and was, you know, just Dad's.
They were just the best of friends and loved each other, cared about each other. Uncle Bill loved me. I loved them and their family, just like their Uncle Bill and Aunt Oneita and, you know, and then. And then others down through the years who travel with Dad. I got to travel with dad quite a bit growing up. And after I turned.
A lot of people may not know this. Of course, I know a little bit more about the law and state laws and how all that stuff works now than I did at the time. But When I turned 14, dad had his first motorhome. It had it maybe about a year.
And when I turned 14, after.
After a couple of attempts at passing the written test.
Driver's permit. Not the driving. I could drive. Yeah, the permit test. It was the written test. Written test, yeah. I wasn't too big on that stuff, but I finally got that passed and drove dad around. I think one of the first days I had my permit, dad was preaching over here across the lake at Clinton, and he said, josh, get in the van. They're gonna drive me over there tonight.
Okay, cool.
And so off we went.
And it was a few weeks later. Later on in that summer, I don't remember.
I don't remember what he. Dad had something to do at the Southern Baptist Convention, and it was in Atlanta. Okay. And one day dad said to me, said, hey, son, you about ready to drive the motorhome?
I'm 14 years old.
[00:12:05] Speaker C: Did you even reach the pedals?
[00:12:06] Speaker A: I could reach it. I was tall.
[00:12:08] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:12:09] Speaker A: And so I was like, yeah, sure. So we got in it and left the house, and we went out to the church to Tumblin Shoals, turned around, came back, and when we got back to the house, he said, there you go. You can drive this thing anywhere in the country now.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: And I thought, okay.
A couple weeks later, we're loading up to go to Atlanta to the Georgia Dome for the Southern Baptist Convention. Oh, my goodness. And dad says, hey, Josh, you're driving into Atlanta. So I don't know if you can drive in Alabama or Georgia or Tennessee or Mississippi. Oh, with a permit. With an Arkansas permit at 14. But I did.
We didn't really think that. We didn't think that all the way.
[00:13:04] Speaker C: Through, maybe, but that was 30 years. Anyway, there weren't those laws yet.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah. No. And it wasn't. You know, there's the. The letter of the law and the spirit of the law.
That's another quote from dad.
But anyhow, we definitely weren't breaking the spirit of the law anyhow.
We, you know, dad would sit right up front with me and say, hey, get over to the left a little bit. Get over there. And, you know, and there were several times I. I wanted to look at him and say, well, how many buses have you ever driven?
But I didn't, because he always knew and he was always right. It was amazing.
He just had this knack for knowing. And he could just say, hey, you know, he taught me how to.
He taught me how to read road signs. He said, son, if you'll learn basic directions, north, south, east and west, just always remember, the sun comes up in the east, it sets in the west.
And he said, if you can learn that and you can learn to read and observe road signs, you can go anywhere in America.
Now, it may not be the quickest route, but you can get there. You won't ever be lost.
And stuff like that. Just practical stuff that has stuck with me. That. That. And I feel bad for kids these days because you north.
[00:14:37] Speaker C: And they'd be like, is that.
[00:14:38] Speaker A: Yeah, no, you might as well be speaking Latin, you know, hey, go over here. It's on the east side, huh?
But anyway, dad, he talked about all that as I grew up more, you know, I got a little bigger and got to where dad and I could go places, just the two of us, and I could.
I could help him around and stuff.
And I'm not going to say I always wanted to go on every trip, because that wouldn't be true, but, man, I wouldn't trade that for anything now.
And, you know, dad just going down the road, he'd just talk. And I didn't know it then, but, like, just the wealth of knowledge, even when I had zero desire to learn anything spiritually, the Lord worked it out where I did because I was hearing it, even though I didn't necessarily want to learn it then.
And, you know, dad would say, and I'm not going to get this quote right, but he would always say, there's not always a guarantee.
This is something to the effect there's not always a guarantee that the word's going to stick with whomever's hearing it. Sure. But there's a 0% or there's a hundred percent guarantee that it's not going to stick with somebody who's not getting to hear it. That's right.
And, you know, and so, you know, he was always adamant about, hey, when I get up to preach, I'm going to have something from the word.
And, you know, if you listen to dad very much, you probably heard him make reference to skyscraper preaching one story on top of another story on top of another story.
And he would always tell me, josh, don't let me.
Don't let me be guilty of that.
And he never Was.
But, you know, we just.
Just getting to grow up in our home and then to get to travel with dad and see, you know, going in and out of churches. And, man, there's a lot of funny stuff that happened. I'm sure just a ton of funny stuff I remember dad telling about, you know, as he started being more and more affected with the muscular atrophy that he had.
And, heck, I may not even been born yet, or maybe I was little, but some couple of little old ladies in a church came up to him and said, brother Miller, we've figured out what you need to do to regain your strength and to be able to continue walking.
And he said, well, please share it with me.
And they said that it had been laid on their heart to share this with people, of course. But if he would rub Icy Hot on his legs.
That's a true story.
It actually happened. I'm not naming the name of the church.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness.
[00:18:20] Speaker A: But that really did happen.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: That would fix it, huh?
[00:18:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Just Icy Hot.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Yeah, just Icy Hot, you know.
[00:18:26] Speaker C: Why didn't he think of that before?
[00:18:28] Speaker A: Well, it's like he kind of wondered that.
And then, you know, there were several other one.
One good brother had mentioned to him, asked him if.
If he had considered getting a.
Getting a set of those prosthetics. Prosthetic legs.
Well, he'd be like that guy on TV that was running in the Olympics.
So cut his legs off.
Cut those legs off and put some prosthetics on there. And then he'd probably be able to be doing all he could do anyway. Just stuff like this, you just gotta laugh at it, you know, and it was. We had.
We had a lot of fun with all that. And then.
But, man, through it all.
[00:19:22] Speaker C: I mean, was it just. Just lots of trips to churches or were. I mean, I'm sure you had hunting trips, things like that.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: Well, you know, it. We went. We did our. We did our share hunting.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: Did your fair share of hunting, dad?
[00:19:34] Speaker A: Yeah, dad. And dad had this uncanny ability to schedule some revival meetings around particular places where we also. Where we also had hunting invitations during the fall of the year. So that was. We. We did that. We did that a lot growing up. And then obviously, as we got more and more into hunting, got.
Had a great deer camp down in Mississippi. And I know a lot of folks have heard stories from the deer camp, but we did, you know, we did that. We would.
You know, we'd go to deer camp. You'd be there, like, opening day would be on Saturday.
So we're going to be there on Sunday. And as that progressed, and at the time I was up to being a teenager, we were there. It was an annual thing. We'd be at Deer Camp the Saturday before Thanksgiving for opening day.
And dad wouldn't be scheduled to preach anywhere for a couple of weeks in there at least.
And so we would be there that Sunday and a lot of times through the following Sunday. But it got to where every Sunday that we would be at Deer Camp, which Mississippi had, I'm assuming, still does have a long deer season.
And so we'd be there a lot through Thanksgiving during December and Christmas, even into January.
But on Sundays, we wouldn't. We would occasionally go into town, go to church, but usually we had church at Deer Camp.
And guys from surrounding camps would come over. Oh, wow. And dad would either preach or now we'd have camp. We'd have church on Saturday night a lot of times or maybe Sunday night. It'd always be a night service.
We didn't.
That's to, you know, we kind of thought that the Lord could be honored and glorified just as well at night as he could be during the day. And dad would always say, this way you boys can take your Bibles to your deer stands and think about what you've heard during the day. So we wouldn't.
Anyway, it was just great. But we'd have.
There might be 25 or 30 men and boys and ladies, just folks gathered around the. Gathered around the fire. Hearing either dad or.
I can remember, Uncle Bill preached a few times. I can remember other great preachers who were in, you know, visiting at Deer Camp that would bring the sermon and, man, that stuff sticks with you.
You don't even realize it at the time, but it does. And just getting to be there. And I pity folks who don't have just that knowing, loving relationship with their dads and moms. The way I got tapped, I knew no matter what I did and no matter how far out in left field I may have been at times when I was a young adult, I knew my parents loved me.
And I knew, you know, I knew I might aggravate the fire out of them.
[00:23:41] Speaker C: Not you, Josh.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's hard to believe, but.
But I knew that they loved me. And I knew, you know, I could always come home.
And now I may hear about it, and it may not be.
It may not always be, you know, a bed of roses or whatever. Sure. But they gave me what I needed and just, you know, man, heck, all the time spent with Dad, I hope And I feel bad for Malachi, my son, a lot, because I've tried to be.
But I don't know that I could ever be as good a dad as I had.
And he was just. He was.
And that has nothing to do with the preaching or his ministry, just him just being a dad, being a man and being a dad, and my mom being a mom. And then there was no.
There was no.
In the Miller household at 1008 Trailwood in Heber, there was no playing mom against dad or vice versa. I tried.
[00:24:58] Speaker C: They were a united front.
[00:25:00] Speaker A: It was a united front, and it was. And it wasn't.
It wasn't happening. I know. I know that.
You know, maybe they weren't. They might not have always been so united when I wasn't in the room.
Yeah, sure. But as is. As is the case with most couples who would be honest, but they.
But they never let me do that. They never let me play one side against the other because I tried. Oh, yeah. I'm sure they didn't work. And, you know, if mom said, hey, you've got to either make sense, Cs are better, or you can't go to deer camp.
And I know dad really wanted me to go to deer camp.
And it may not have mattered quite as much to dad about my making Cs, my academic average being average academically as it did to Mom.
No, they would have much preferred me to make A's or B's, but after a while, the sea was the minimum. You had to do that.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: But he wasn't going to let you go if she said, you can't.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: No, no. And I can remember him telling about a time that he was at deer camp and I wasn't, and he sat on deer stand and cried, but he knew it was what I needed.
And I was. Oh, man, I was aggravated about that.
I still don't like school because of some of that.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: Because I missed out on that hunting trip.
[00:26:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I missed out on a couple hunting trips, dad. Gummit.
But, you know, all that stuff's just part of growing up, and that's part. And my parents weren't different than anybody else.
Dad didn't try to.
They didn't have.
They had expectations for me, but they weren't unlike.
They weren't unlike anybody else's expectations, dad.
You know, they.
They let me have opportunity to be me and be who?
Figure out who I wanted to be. And all this stuff. There wasn't, you know, there wasn't some expectation of, oh, you're gonna follow in your Dad's footsteps or whatever. Because you know that I think a lot of that. Well, I mean, I just think that was them being good parents and not trying to.
They wanted me to, they wanted me to be a God fearing Christian man. Right. I grew up first and foremost.
And you know, whatever happened outside of that career, whatever that's, that, that, that was, that sort itself out. Yeah, but you know, you're going to have, at least they were going to do their part, right. To ensure that. That's how, that's how I developed and, and they did. You know, I, like I said, I couldn't ask for better. My poor mom.
I know I wore her out a whole lot and, but she, you know, she just loved me unconditionally, as did dad. And they loved each other unconditionally.
You know, they'd been married 55 years.
When.
In September, before mom passed away in November.
And that's a, that's an impressive statement in this day and time.
[00:28:54] Speaker C: Yes, it is.
[00:28:56] Speaker A: And so I, I don't have anything. Like, all I can say is just they were, were they perfect? No.
And they certainly had a very imperfect son, one who tried their patience a lot.
But I just like to have fun.
And they, you know, as dad would teach me stuff, he would say, you know, hey, he would tie in whatever it was to, you know, look, this is like, like your walk with the Lord.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: Before we get into the classic sermon from Brother David, I'd like to recommend a couple of books.
As you've heard from Josh in the interview with him, Brother David was a godly man, godly father, a wise man.
And so I want to recommend a couple of books that might help you to grow in godliness for the men. Specifically, I recommend Biblical Manhood by Stuart Scott. It's a short, easy read on masculinity, leadership, decision making, how we can be godly men, not just in our homes, but in the church and in this world.
And then for the second resource that I recommend is called A Call for Discernment. This book by Jay Adams is a helpful resource in learning how to be discerning, to be wise in this world.
Both of these recommendations will be in a link in a description or the comments below, wherever you might be listening to this or watching this podcast.
And now let's turn to this classic episode by Brother David Miller.
I do think it is interesting, of course, all due to the providence of God, that we come to this particular sermon as we were talking about Brother David on the one year anniversary of his passing.
This is Brother David's sermon on the doctrine of glorification from Romans, chapter eight.
Please enjoy.
[00:31:21] Speaker D: I was guilty with nothing to say, and they were coming to take me away.
But then a voice from heaven was heard that said, let him go and take me instead.
And I should have been crucified.
I should have suffered and died.
I should have hung on the cross in disgrace.
But Jesus, God's son, took my place.
I have been saved.
I have been cleared of guilt.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: Guilt.
[00:32:13] Speaker D: And I'm glad.
Glory. Glory.
I have been declared innocent, and I've been given the righteousness of Christ.
It's a done deal.
Been delivered from the penalty of sin.
Death holds no fear for me.
I've been saved.
Have you?
You haven't gotten over it, have you?
I've been just sanctified and I am being saved.
I am pressing on to higher ground, forgetting those things which are behind.
I press toward the mark of the prize, of the high calling of God in crisis. Jesus.
I long to apprehend that for which I have been apprehended.
I long to be more like the Lord.
I long to be delivered from the power of indwellings. Sin.
I'm working on it, and the Lord doth work.
And I'm gaining ground.
I've had some peaks and some valleys.
But when I look back on my experience from the time that I was saved to this present time and chart it on the graph with deep gratitude I say that there has been some ascension.
I've gained some ground.
I am being sanctified.
Are you?
Are you gaining the victory more and more, day by day?
We're not going to be done with this process.
The warfare continues to rage, but we're going on.
Our hand is on the plow, our noses to the grindstone, our shoulders at the wheel.
We're pressing on, are we not?
We're being sanctified.
But there is a sense in which I am yet to be saved.
It's not all over yet for me.
There's coming a time when I shall be delivered from the presence of sin.
That's our subject tonight, the biblical doctrine of glorification.
Are you interested?
Here's our text. Romans, chapter 8, beginning at verse 28.
I thought about giving a disclaimer that it's impossible in one sermon, even a long sermon, to give a full exposition of this topic. Text I read Martyn Lloyd Jones cut into my deer hunting time, and I read Donald Gray Barnhouse, and my mind was spinning for days.
There's a lot of stuff here, but my purpose is to talk about glorification from this text.
Are you ready?
For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed unto the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called.
And whom he called, them he also justified.
And whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies, who is he that condemneth.
It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written, for Thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things temptation come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There you have it.
Glorification guaranteed.
Now I want to do two things.
I want to give an explanation of our theme around three headings.
I want to give a definition, I want to give some details and I want to give the design.
Here's the definition that we might be conformed.
The image of God's Son.
That's what glorification is all about.
That we might ultimately and altogether be like Jesus, that we might derive from him this image.
Now the Mormons are wrong.
The New Age folk are wrong.
Benny and Kenneth are in error.
To be conformed to the image of God's Son does not mean that we are going to be little gods.
It doesn't mean that even in our glorified resurrection bodies not going to be little deities.
God possesses certain characteristics and attributes that are incommunicable and non transferable.
And even Benny doesn't have some of this.
God is omnipresent and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.
He is omniscient and the haughty and the high minded cannot comprehend him.
He is omnipotent and the host of hell cannot conquer him.
If these men became omniscient, omnipresent tonight, they still wouldn't be God.
For the God of the Bible is also immutable.
I am the Lord. I change not in his essential essence.
God remains the same.
For one to become a little God would require a rather substantial change in their essential nature.
When we speak of glorification, being conformed to the image of God's Son, we do not mean to teach, even by implication, that we're going to be little gods.
Not even itsy bitsy or teeny weeny gods.
You can only have one superlative, and Christ Jesus is that one superlative.
But if you're interested, I'll give you some of the details regarding what our resurrection bodies shall be like.
It doth not yet appear what we shall be. But this we know.
When Christ shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We will not belittle gods, but as Christ is immortal, we shall be immortal also.
Now this I say, brethren, we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.
For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Wherefore, beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
This life is not all there is.
The best is yet to come. One day the trumpets sound. Those who are dead in Christ are going to be raised. We which are alive and remain are going to be caught up together with them in the clouds. And we are going to have immortal bodies. We are going to have incorruptible bodies.
The other day I was thinking on these passages and my 5 year old grandson was in the room and I said, malachi, sit down and let papa quote for you.
The scripture passage that I've been learning. And I gave him these verses and he looked up expectantly and I said, do you know, Kai, one of these days your dad and I are going to leap like a deer.
And his eyes got really big and he said, you're going to run like a deer?
And I said, yes.
He said, paul, Papa, what about those wheelchairs?
I said, hey, man, we aren't going to need any wheelchairs up in heaven. And he and I just had a hallelujah good time thinking about that. Well, that's the truth. Beloved, listen.
Sown in weakness, raised in power, ready to live in glory land. I'll have a new body, Praise the Lord. I'll have a new life.
I cut my teeth on the old Heavenly highway hymn book. I believe that stuff.
Your best life. Now, give me a break.
Some folks need to get a life, man. I'm telling you, the best is yet to come.
This is not it.
Not only shall our bodies be immortal and incorruptible, but our minds will be greatly improved.
Then shall we know, even as we are known now? I know Brother Paul or Brother Jeff, or perhaps both. They've both gotten on my stuff from the beginning of this conference. Have y' all noticed that one of them said earlier that we're going to spend eternity looking further into the Gospel? But I want to tell you, while I said amen to that, I want to add this. We're going to be looking into it with an improved mind.
We're going to be looking into it with a higher acumen than we've ever possessed down here. And we are going to see glories in Christ that are going to make us shout with joy.
Some of you in this room have wondered how we're going to maintain intensive level of worship there around the throne for that long period of time called eternity. But I've got some news for you. Your mind is going to be able to stretch much further than it ever has before.
And you are going to see glorious things about the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost that you've only been able to touch the hem of the garment of here.
That's part of glorification.
If we have suffered with him, we shall also reign with him.
What Adam lost in the fall, God is going to restore when Jesus comes again.
Would you like to know what the design for this is?
That he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
He is the head of the body, the church, the firstborn from the dead.
That in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell, having made peace through the blood of his cross to reconcile all things unto Himself.
It's not about you.
It's about Him.
In eternity past, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost had a meeting.
And they entered into what we call the everlasting covenant.
The Father sovereignly arranged our redemption.
God the Son would singularly accomplish our redemption.
God the Spirit would selectively apply all that the Father arranged and all that the Son accomplished.
And at the appropriate and appointed time, God the Father is going to say to the Son, go get the brothers and the sisters.
And he's going to bring us home to glory.
Not so much for our sake, but because we belong to Him.
We've been given to him by the Father. And of those whom the Father gave to him, not one shall be lost.
Now put that aside. That's the explanation for the theme. Now I want to give a brief exposition of the text.
I want to tell you first that you have been predestined for glory.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate.
That means to determine beforehand.
If you saw me easing out to the edge of the platform, really close, and I'm not paying attention, and I get too close and the front wheels go over the edge and I commence to fall out into the altar.
And all of you jump up and say, david, I predestinate you to fall in the altar.
[00:54:16] Speaker A: For what?
[00:54:20] Speaker D: So what?
That would be nonsensical language.
I'm going to hit the altar whether you predestinate it or not.
Oh, be.
When the Bible says predestinate, it means that God Almighty determined before what he intended to do.
He set his heart's affections upon us.
Do you know where I preached Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week?
I don't know if I ought to tell this or not.
I preached at the Alabama State Free Will Baptist Pastors Conference.
I did.
And I had great discussions with some of the brethren regarding the word foreknowledge.
One of them preached from Acts, chapter 2.
Whom God hath set forth.
No, that's not it. That's what I preached on the other night.
What is that passage about?
I'll quote the whole thing.
Verse 22.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you as ye yourselves also.
Here it is him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have slain. And do you know what Brother Fred Warren, the free will Baptist preacher, said?
He said, beloved, this does not mean that God had to wait until circumstances and eventualities were just exactly right so he could send His Son and they would crucify him.
No, this means that God foreordained it and purposed it, and he was right.
Later I asked some of them, why does it mean foreordination in Acts chapter 2 and doesn't mean that in Romans chapter 8?
It's the same word.
We're not at liberty to give meanings to words in one place and change it in another.
God loved us and determined ahead of time that we would be glorified.
But now, not only have you been predestined, you've been prepared for glory.
Now you are not fit for glory.
You had to be prepared.
And do you know how God prepared you?
He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.
Delivered him up to be crucified.
Delivered him up to be made saved for us, though he knew no sin.
And as a confirmation, God raised him from the dead.
And God sought you out when a stranger and called you by his power.
He quickened you, implanted into your heart the principle of spiritual life and granted you repentance with godly sorrow and gave you faith in Jesus, caused you to cast off any and all confidence in your flesh and caused you to rest upon the person and work of Christ.
Is that the one to whom you look for salvation now?
Who is it that can bring any charge to God's elect?
He's prepared you by the sacrifice of His Son and the sprinkling of his blood.
But not only have you been predestined for glory and prepared for glory, you are being preserved for glory.
Who is he that condemneth?
Those of you who know me well might condemn me.
You might know my infirmities and you might bring a charge.
But Christ died for me.
He loves me, though I was ungodly.
In fact, herein is the grace of God manifested that while we were without strength in due season, Christ died for the ungodly.
Now, if he died for me, to save me when I was ungodly, surely he's not going to let me go now.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Tribulations and distress, persecutions and famine?
Or nakedness or peril, or sword?
No. In all of these we are more than conquerors. You want to know the test of your sanctification?
Do you have victory in the midst of afflictions and trials are you able to say with Paul? For as the afflictions of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
No, we are more than conqueror even in afflictions.
Well, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, shall be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
You might as well just quit wrestling and worrying and start resting.
It's a done deal.
Our glorification is guaranteed. Hallelujah and praise the Lord.
[01:02:56] Speaker B: What a wonderful reminder to us of what awaits all of us who are believers.
We have been saved. We are being saved, but we will be saved in glory I hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Line Upon Line Ministries Podcast. Please be sure to like and comment and share this with anyone you believe may be edified by what what you've heard today.
If you have any questions about the ministry, or if you have any resources from Brother David, from any preaching he did at your church, or other resources you might have of his that you would like to share with us that we can make available on our
[email protected] please email me. You can email
[email protected] we'd also love to hear from you if you have any prayer requests or other questions about the ministry. God bless you as you continue to study and minister God's sufficient Word.
