And they glorified God in me.
God’s glory in the soul
I. In the act of conversion God is glorified. It is strange how many misapplications of this word “conversion” prevail in the world and the Churches. It is used to express the change from one civilization to another; the Chinaman is converted when he becomes an American. It is employed to tell the story of a change of philosophical thought, when one begins to believe in the existence of spirits after having all his days supposed that God had nothing in this universe like unto Himself, but all was dead, inert matter. It is introduced, again, as the explanation of a person’s change of ecclesiastical relations. One passes from your church into the church opposite to yours, and he is “converted,” according to the usage of many. He has changed the mere form of his profession, whilst he holds to the same great essential truths. Yet not one nor all of these are here meant by the words in the sacred Scriptures. It tells the story of a Divine impulse upon our affections, to turn them from the things they have loved before; upon our will, to entirely change the purposes and desires which have prevailed before; upon our life, to make perfect the contrast of that it had been theretofore. It is the impulse of God upon man, turning him away from the things that tempt him further from God unto the things that attract him into nearer associations and relationship. And every part of the act of conversion is Divine. This act of conversion includes several facts.
1. The sense of estrangement from God is its first feature. Now you will admit that this is not a common experience among men. God produces this sense of estrangement. All conversions begin here, and no power but that which is Divine can make a man realize that great truth.
2. Instantly the desire for reconciliation springs up in the heart of him whom God is converting. This has God wrought. No human being can pump up such a desire out of his estranged heart. It is like the spring in the soil which God feeds from the clouds--it would run dry if He did not give the early and the latter rain and the morning and the evening dew.
3. Now comes the determination to return. It may have occupied only minutes, but what a journey it is of soul!
II. But I want to speak, secondly, of the influence of conversion. This is the glory of God. Both our conscious and unconscious influence as converted men and women is continually crying, “Let God be glorified.”
1. In this influence of a converted soul, the first fact is the withdrawal from dishonouring associations. “Conversion to God,” says one of the old seventeenth century divines, “begins with aversion from sin.”
2. A second fact in this influence is the attachment of one’s self to God’s people. “Let God be glorified,” is the desire and the expression of the soul. There is a ministry to which this influence impels him. The convert seeks his brother to save him.
III. Now, lastly, I want to point out some aspects of God’s glory that converted lives do testify. God does it all, and it takes all that there is in God to do it. It is no light work, Wherever you see a converted man, brother, there has been an Omnipresent God, there has been an Omniscient God, there has been the exercise of the omnipotence of God. Every natural perfection of God is engaged in the conversion of a soul. Now, it is very difficult to conceive of God in our times of thought, still less in our times of devotion. The eye is made for taking in the things of beauty in this world; the reason is adapted to comprehend principles. But the eye cannot look at the full meridian sun, and the reason is blinded when it searches the depths of God’s glory. Yet, when He manifests Himself in the works of His hands; when He brings the soul out of darkness into light; when He transforms a backsliding infidel into a true and accepted and faithful child of His; we testify, “God has been here.” The Arab was asked how he knew that there was a God; and he answered, “When I look out of my door in the morning, how do I know it was a man, and not a camel, that passed my tent?” We know Him from the marks of His presence. A converted soul glorifies all the natural perfections of God. The moral attributes are equally engaged in a soul’s conversion. Justice, mercy, love, fidelity, holiness; all these are rays of His glory. Take that prism, to-morrow, and let the sun shine through it, and you will see marvels. The white, pure light is divided into many colours. Even so this gospel of God’s grace analyzes the glory of God, and shows how justice and mercy have met together; how righteousness and peace have kissed each other. At Bethlehem! see God condescending; in Galilee I see God obeying; in Gethsemane I see God struggling and agonizing; on Golgotha I see God bowing his head in the substitution for man’s sin. What glorious rays of beauty! But when, with Peter and James and John, we stand on Mount Hermon to view a transfigured Christ, whose face did shine as the sun, we behold the glory of God in marvellous combination. Each ray may be contemplated in itself, but all blend in the glory of God a Saviour. All that each event of life testifies is there, and far, far more than the mind of man can ever conceive. But then, more than that, the covenant relations of God are glorified. The converted man finds a Father--meets a Saviour--is welcomed by a Friend. Now, it is sometimes the experience of children in this world, who never go away from home, that they find their parents in a new and better sense than they had ever met them before. If they have doubted them, if they have been disobedient to them, if they have suspected them, and if, at length, the dark cloud between child and parent passes away, the little one comes with new confidence to bury his head in his father’s bosom, or on his mother’s neck, to say, “I never knew you until now; I never understood you till now. The love has been deep down in my heart, but now I have found my father, I know the one with whom I have so long been living.” Even so is it here, dear friends. The converted man finds the fatherhood of God, who has been his father in Jesus Christ, ever since he was born; realizes the Saviourhood of God, who bought him with a price before his first returnings were ever experienced; and rests in the friendship of God, who is his abiding, faithful supporter and strength. This is my subject--the glory of God in the conversion of a soul. Now, dear brother, let us bring it down to one single point. Has any one glorified God on your behalf? (S. H. Tyng; D. D.)
God’s glory incapable of addition
The God whose glory is in the heavens, revealed in the history of earth, and declared by the experience of every sincere and trusting soul, has perfections impossible of addition as they are evasive of all analysis. He is the standard of holiness, the source of life, the saviour from wrong. His glory belongeth unto Him; He will not give it to another; yet every soul, every life, every home, every Church, dwelling in the brightness of the beauty of God, declares, extends, exalts His glory. Before the eye and in the ear of rational creatures, theology cannot make God either more or less than He is. The panegyric does not add one virtue to the person about whom it is told; the picture that is true cannot make the portrait more beautiful than the face; the window, translucent, does not create, but lets in, the light; even so our relation to God in His glory. It belongs unto us to declare--it does not belong unto us either to diminish or increase the majesty of God. All our consecration cannot add one ray, all our scorning cannot detract aught from Him. (S. H. Tyng; D. D.)
They glorified God in me
I. THE MANIFESTATION OF GOD IN MAN. God is manifested--
1. In nature.
2. But this is surpassed by His manifestation in man.
(1) Physically;
(2) mentally;
(3) morally; and because this latter is based on the manifestation of God in Christ--
(a) in the New Testament;
(b) in the believer;
(c) in ministerial gifts and fruit.
II. The glorification of God for this manifestation. In the way of--
1. Gratitude.
2. Imitation.
3. Trust that God will maintain the succession. (J. Stoughton, D. D.)
He does not say they marvelled at me, they praised me, they were struck with admiration of me, but they glorified God in me. (Chrysostom.)
They praised God, and took courage to believe the more in the mercy of God for that He had mercy on such a great sinner as he. “In me.” They wondered that grace should be so rich as to take hold of such a wretch as I was, and for my sake believed in Christ the more. (Bunyan.)
Christ glorified in Paul’s conversion
I am sure there was never a man who had more hurtful thoughts of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, than Paul had, for he could not endure to hear of His name, nor to hear of any that professed His name, but persecuted them all most cruelly. And yet our Lord, He did no more but speak a word or two to him, and with these same few words He cast him off his high horse, whereupon he rode so triumphantly, and lays him down upon his back and under his feet, to make him say, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” That is a cast of the power of our Lord’s right arm. (S. Rutherford.)
Divine grace seen in the life
Can I see the dew of heaven as it falls on a summer evening? I cannot. It comes down softly and gently, noiselessly and imperceptibly. But when I go forth in the morning, after a cloudless night, and see every leaf sparkling with moisture, and feel every blade of grass damp and wet, I say at once, “There has been a dew.” Just so it is with the presence of the Spirit in the soul. (Bishop Ryle.)
That the conversion of an immortal soul is cause of great joy and thanksgiving to the God of grace
I. This will appear if we consider the nature of the human soul, and the misery from which it is rescued.
II. If we contemplate the felicity to which a saved soul is exalted.
III. It will further appear if we consider the price paid for the salvation of the soul.
IV. This is evinced by the perfect nature of salvation. (The Pulpit.)
They glorified God in--
I. The subjection of the persecutor.
II. The conversion of the sinner.
III. The zeal and success of the preacher.
IV. The dignity of his office. (J. Lyth.)
God glorified in Paul
I. In his conversion--a persecutor and a Pharisee--yet called by special grace (verses 13-15).
II. In his call to the ministry--Divinely qualified (verse 16)--and instructed (verses 11, 12, 17).
III. In his labours--incessant--widely distributed--unsupported by human influence--yet abundant to the glory of God. (J. Lyth.)
God glorified in Christians
It should ever be the end of the Christian man, not only to promote the glory of God by his works, but to illustrate the glory of God in his character; in this, as in nothing else, are the goodness and power of God seen most strikingly. An architect rears a building. It is admired for its beauty in detail, and its grandeur as a whole; but the praise belongs not to the building, but to the builder. A tutor takes a youth under his care, and sends him forth to attain eminence and distinction in the early struggles and in the highest positions of life, but the tutor is glorified in the pupil. So the creation is the result of the Almighty hand, and He is glorified in it. Impressions of His glory are left upon the largest and upon the least; upon the stars in their courses discovered to the telescope; and on the minutest specimens of organized life which the microscope opens to our startled eye. And shall my God be less glorified in the new creation than He is in the old? Shall He not be glorified by the humblest Christian, just as He was glorified by the great apostle? All stars shine by His will, and one star differs from another star in glory, for this is His will; but each renders to Him its measure of praise. God, who is glorified in Saul of Tarsus pre-eminently, must be glorified in each of us, as Christians, according to our position and opportunity. If we have a Christian’s hope, it is to the glory of His name; if we have a Christian’s life, it is to the glory of His cross; if we have performed a duty, it is to the glory of His grace; if we have borne a trial, it is to the glory of His support; if we have overcome a sinful habit, or the lust which led to it, it is to the glory of His power which gave us self-mastery. (C. J. P. Eyre, M. A.)