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##### God Will Get All the Glory

{Proof That the Heavenly Trade is the Best Trade

The Terms of the Heavenly Trade

God Will Get All the Glory}

Fourth, another condition [term] in this trade is that God will have all the glory, but those who trade with Him and for Him will have all the good that comes by it. Glory is the main revenue that the great Lord reserves to Himself and will not part with to another. “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images” (Isaiah 42:8 NASB). This is His great design in all the works of His hands and gifts of grace: that He may be glorified. “Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified” (Isaiah 60:21 ESV). This is God’s great purpose in bestowing redemption mercies: to have all the glory to Himself. “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:11–12 ESV).223 Christian, the revenue must be the Lord’s, but the fruit will be yours. “He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, And he who cares for his master will be honored” Proverbs 27:18 NASB). All the sweetness of the vine is for those who possess it, and the plants of the earth are for those who cultivate them. (See Judges 9:13, Hebrews 6:7.)224 “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, For they shall eat the fruit of their doings” (Isaiah 3:10 NKJV). The present comforts of holiness are not small. “Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble” (Psalm 119:165 NASB). “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 3:17 ESV). Christianity is the most pleasant trade. There are no delights like those that are in God and fetched from Him. God gives the world the bones and keeps the marrow for His laborers.225 The godly feed on the wheat, but the wicked have only the bran.226 Take careful note: those who trade upon Christianity have a share in all the good, comfort, credit, and happiness that Christianity provides, both here on earth and to all eternity. “Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?” (1 Corinthians 9:7 NKJV).

223The editor wishes to suggest The End for Which God Created the World, by Jonathan Edwards. Most readers will probably want John Piper’s God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World), ISBN-13: 9781581340075.

224“But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’” (Judges 9:13 ESV). “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God” (Hebrews 6:7 ESV). Ashwood’s intent in including these two verses may have been to show that God expects the fruit of the Spirit from us, from the analogy of productive farmland.

225Bone marrow is a healthy and tasty food considered by many to be a delicacy.

226Bran is the hard outer layer of many cereal grains. It is not chaff, but part of the grain itself. It is present in whole-grain foods and often absent in over-refined grain. Ashwood may perhaps meant chaff.

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