Episode 116 - God ALWAYS Gets Top Billing

God’s love for us is based upon His commitment to His name, His praise, and His glory; not upon anything you or I can do or become. It is because of who He is that He has chosen to redeem you. It is solely because of His name, His praise, His glory.

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God’s love for you is at the top of his priority list. If it wasn’t, He would never have died in your place. He is zealous for you. He is passionate about you. While that is true, in Isaiah 48:9-11 we see God placing an even higher emphasis upon Himself, His name, His praise, His glory. This is why God is so angry over our sin. This is why He hates our worship of King Me. This is why He speaks out so forcefully against any and every form of idolatry.

Welcome to The Point of Purity Podcast. A weekly study filled to the brim with the all the tools from Scripture you will ever need to build a lasting life of Biblical purity. 

Each episode is designed to help you discover how to skillfully handle the word of God as you choose to live in freedom! 

I’m your host, Steve Etner, author, speaker, and purity coach for The Pure Man Ministry ...  and this is episode #116 entitled “God Always Gets Top Billing!”

Before moving on to our next verse in Psalm 25, I want to share one more passage of Scripture with you as it relates to God’s “name’s sake” (our topic in last week’s episode). This is a powerful text that helps us better understand what David is praying in Psalm 25:11.

God says, “For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:9-11)

I want you to notice in this text that God refers to His name’s sake, His praise, and His glory. This is highly significant. Let me take the time right now to quote it to you again, and as you listen, I want you to notice that God is passionately committed to His glory. 

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:9-11) 

God is always and ever all about His glory. Not yours, not mine, His – always His. 

“I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8)

I’m sure you are able to fundamentally grasp this truth, but we also struggle with it. We know that God is all about His glory, but we tend to focus our attention on the basic truth that God’s love for us is his highest priority. Right?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13)

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

Yes, God’s love for you is at the top of his priority list. If it wasn’t, He would never have died in your place. He is zealous for you. He is passionate about you. While that is true, here in Isaiah 48:9-11 we see God placing an even higher emphasis upon Himself, His name, His praise, His glory. This is why God is so angry over our sin. This is why He hates our worship of self. This is why He speaks out so forcefully against any and every form of idolatry. 

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.” (Psalm 8:1)

“Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!” (Psalm 108:5; see 57:5)

His glory is the most important thing to Him. This is why the angels in Heaven constantly cry “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3) David prayed, “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.” (1 Chronicles 29:11) 

God’s zeal and passion for his glory directly relates to His love for you. How? you ask. Listen closely as I quote Isaiah 48:9-11 again. This time focus your attention on what I will try to overemphasize.

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:9-11)

Here’s what I want you to notice. God defers His anger, He restrains it, He chooses to not cut you off; rather in unfathomable and incomprehensible love He is refining you and trying you – as opposed to consuming you and destroying you (which is His right). This is how He expresses His amazing patience with us and his eternal love for us. 

God’s love for us is based upon His commitment to His name, His praise, and His glory; not upon anything you or I can do or become. We see this in His words “for my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I am restraining myself from cutting you off. For my own glory I am doing these things.” Can you hear the expression of God’s awesome and unconditional love for you? It is because of who He is that He has chosen to redeem you. It is solely because of His name, His praise, His glory.

However: Don’t let His love for you blind you to the fact that He is angry at your sin. Equally true is the fact that He has deferred his anger. He is angry at your idolatry and rebellion, but He has restrained himself from cutting you off. 

Why is he angry? Because you still have the dross of sin in your life. Scripture often refers to your sinful impurities as “dross” (see Proverbs 25:4; Isaiah 1:25; Ezekiel 22:18-19; Psalm 119:119) Dross is the scum, waste, foreign matter, impurities, and unwanted material that forms on the surface of a precious metal when it’s going through the refining process. As the metal is intensely heated, the impurities (dross) rise to the top where they can be extracted, leaving a pure metal base.

Every time we choose to worship King Me, we choose to violate the sanctity of God’s Holy name. This is why we need to be refined. When we choose idolatry, we treat God with irreverence and contempt. We anger God by choosing to not live as though His name, His praise, and His glory is the highest, the ultimate, the absolute thing above all else. 

When we choose to worship King Me, we have chosen to live as if God exists for us instead of the other way around. This makes God angry. This deserves His wrath and judgment. 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18 for a deeper understanding, read the entire context - 1:18-32)

“For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.” (Colossians 3:25)

God’s commitment to His name, glory, and praise is restraining the punishment that is due you for the demeaning and disparaging of His name. For His name’s sake he has postponed, deferred, restrained the anger that is rightfully His to show. 

Now here’s an important point to take note of. God says, “For my name’s sake I defer my anger.” (Isaiah 48:9) To “defer” means to put off an action; to temporarily set aside for a future date. God is saying that his anger has been temporarily set aside, not completely resolved. In other words, because God is also a Just God (see Isaiah 30:18; Job 34:12; Deuteronomy 32:4), His wrath cannot be forever deferred, it cannot be eternally restrained. His Justice demands execution!

Here’s the most exciting news of all time: God’s anger at your sin (and mine) has already been dealt with! The guilt of our sin has already been paid for. God’s wrath has been fully executed.

“In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18)

God’s anger over your sin was fully expressed at the cross. This is why “Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:10) “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9) Consequently, we can confidently say “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)    

“For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past.” (Romans 3:25 NLT)

Before we wrap up today’s episode, let me take a moment here to reiterate a powerful point. 

“In (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

Oh, my friend, let this truth, let this promise, let this declaration settle deep into your chest. Let it bring you peace. Let it bring you encouragement. Let it fill you with joy. For it is “to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness.” (Daniel 9:9)

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NASB) Can I get an “AMEN!”?

OK, we’re going to hit the pause button here until next week’s episode as we look forward to continuing this study. 

If you would like to learn more about today’s study, or if you’re interested in learning more about The Pure Man Ministry, I personally invite you to visit our website to see the multitude of resources we’ve made available to you to help you grow in your walk with God – you can find our website at ThePurityCoach.com

One of those resources I would like to highlight for you here is a book I’ve written entitled “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E. – the Dethroning of King Me” available on Amazon.com. Let’s face it, life gets messed up when King Me is sitting on the throne of your heart. You know I’m right. To become the man or woman who is living a life that consistently honors God in all you say and do, you must first remove the “I” from your life. It’s not about you. It never was. It never will be. God always gets top billing!

In this interactive Bible Study, “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E.” examines such questions as: Why do I keep doing the things I don’t want to do? Why can’t I gain victory over the sinful issues in my life? Why can’t I be consistent in living a life that glorifies God? How do I live a life that is fully surrendered to God? The answers to these questions, and many more, are found in Scripture, and my book “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E.” takes you to those verses and helps you unpack them so you can understand how to apply them to your life.

If real change – lasting change – is going to happen, you need a different leader sitting behind the big desk in the oval office of your heart. Whomever is reigning in your heart will be calling the shots in your life. You must choose to remove the “I” from L.I.F.E. and allow God to take your place – His rightful place.

So be sure to go to our website, ThePurityCoach.com, and check out our resources page, or go directly to Amazon.com and purchase your copy of “Removing the ‘I’ from L.I.F.E. – the Dethroning of King Me” today.

Well, if you haven’t subscribed to this podcast yet, let me encourage you to do so today so you won’t miss any of our upcoming episodes!

So, until next time this is Author, Speaker, and Purity Coach Steve Etner reminding you that if you are going to glorify God in your everyday living, He must first be glorified in your every moment thinking.