Here are two sermons on creation for the glory of God from Romans 11:36.

It would reply, “Because my master, the sculptor, placed me here.”

“Why are you so motionless?”

“Because he willed me to be so.”

“Of what use are you?  What does it profit you to be here?”

“I am not here for my own sake, but solely because it is the will of my master.”

“But you can’t even see!”

“No; but he sees me, and chooses that I should stay here.”

“Wouldn’t you want to have the power to move and go nearer to your master?”

“Not unless he wills it.”

“Don’t you have any wishes of your own?”

“None; for I am where my master placed me, and his pleasure is the sole object of my existence.” ~ Unknown

But now, O Lord, Thou art our Father,

We are the clay, and Thou our potter;

And all of us are the work of Thy hand. ~ Isaiah 64:8

Christ died for our sins – 1 Cor. 15:3-4.

The Bible does not allow gospel-believers to use their past as an excuse for present sin. Paul knew well that his converts to Christ came from “unpromising material.” In fact, there is no such thing as “promising material.” We are all part of the “unpromising material” of a fallen world. Our past pursuits in sin do contribute to our present war-waging in our souls (1 Pet. 2:11), but past pursuits in sin do not keep us from present pursuits and growth in Christian virtues. Yes, it is true – “saints come from unpromising material.” But it is also true that grace changes souls from the inside out. Christ is in the business of saving sinners – the worst of sinners, many sinners, horrible sinners. He forgives us of all sin and gives us grace to live for Him. Christ blesses the means of grace to the benefit of our souls and we grow to be more like Him. By his grace we can fight-off those vices that we used to live in and characterized us and by His grace we can put on virtues that He calls us to live in and be characterized by. Though Christian virtues in no way contribute to our acceptable standing with God (only the virtue of Christ does!), they do show forth our gratitude and “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Tit. 2:10).

Here’s the audio of the sermon.

Here’s the outline of the sermon with some commentary.

 I.                   The Fact of Christ’s Death: Christ died

He was a real man, with a real human nature – body and soul. Jesus Christ possessed all the essential attributes of humanity – body and soul. There came a time in his life when he stopped breathing and his real human soul left his real human body. He said to His Father in Luke 23:46, “crying out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit.’” At that moment, Christ, like his people, entered the intermediate state between physical death and bodily resurrection. His human soul went to Paradise with the soul of the believing thief on the cross. But why did He die? If death is because sin is and if Christ did not sin, then why did Christ die?

II.                The Reason for Christ’s Death: concerning sins

He died because of sins. He was put to death because of sins. It is due to sins, capital offenses against the law and holiness of God, that He was put to death. Herein is an apparent dilemma: The sinless Savior dies and His death was due to sin? Yet He never sinned against God or man. And if He died for sins, then He died under the wrath of God, not merely due the wrath of man. Peter is not talking about the sin of putting Him to death. The Bible is jealous to maintain the sinless integrity of the Son of God. And since He was sinless, then He could not be put to death for His own crimes. What we have in the death of Christ for sins, then, is an amazing transaction that took place while Jesus hung on the cross. The Father made an incision into time and poured out Divine wrath upon the Son. He died to pay the punishment for sin. What was taking place on the cross was not merely a tragic example of human injustice. Though Christ suffered on the human level, on the horizontal level, as the hymn says, “but the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that Justice gave!”

III.             The Finality of Christ’s Death: once for all

Unlike the sacrifices of the Old Covenant which were offered again and again, Christ offered himself once for sin. Here all the types of Christ in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament find their terminus, their end, their fulfillment. All those priests offering up those bulls and goats never took away sins. They were all arrows pointing to Jesus’ once and for all sacrifice of Himself on that sacred tree. When Jesus said, “It is finished” part of what He meant was that wrath had been exhausted. He tasted wrath and damnation for those He came to save. No more sacrifice is needed.

IV.             The Nature of Christ’s Death: the just for the unjust

He’s just, we’re not. He’s was holy, we are unholy. He was sinless, we are sinful. He was God’s friend, we were God’s enemies. But, He was a friend of sinners and He gave up his life for sinners!

V.                The Goal of Christ’s Death: so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit

In one sense, everyone will get to God; but not everyone will be ushered into the safe presence of God.

Here Peter also tells us why Christ is qualified to present us to God: His death and resurrection. He died to deal with justice and wrath and His resurrection displays His power over sin, death, hell, and the grave. The Spirit of God raised the Son of God who is now glorified and in His exalted state. And unlike Adam the first who failed, Adam the Last will not fail. He will bring many sons to glory!

Jude 1:24-25 ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,  ²⁵ to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

If we are to put away these six vices from us as believers, the implication is that we are capable of these things. This is one of those open, honest texts in the Bible that goes to show that Christians can sin and do sin and sometimes it gets ugly. Listen here.