Your Crown of Glory
Your crown of glory lies in the heart of your current hardships, and you must be willing to pay the price of hardship to achieve great things.
Charles E. Cowman preaches about overcoming challenges through the blood of the Lamb and the willingness to sacrifice one's life for Christ. He emphasizes that hardships and trials are essential for achieving victory and receiving the crown of glory from God. The sermon encourages believers to face their current difficulties head-on, as these struggles are designed by God to lead them to their ultimate triumph.
Text
"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb . . . and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. 12:11).
When James and John came to Christ with their mother, asking Him to give them the best place in the kingdom, He did not refuse their request, but told them it would be given to them if they could do His work, drink His cup, and be baptized with His baptism.
Do we want the competition? The greatest things are always hedged about by the hardest things, and we, too, shall find mountains and forests and chariots of iron. Hardship is the price of coronation. Triumphal arches are not woven out of rose blossoms and silken cords, but of hard blows and bloody scars. The very hardships that you are enduring in your life today are given by the Master for the explicit purpose of enabling you to win your crown.
Do not wait for some ideal situation, some romantic difficulty, some far-away emergency; but rise to meet the actual conditions which the Providence of God has placed around you today. Your crown of glory lies embedded in the very heart of these things--those hardships and trials that are pressing you this very hour, week and month of your life. The hardest things are not those that the world knows of. Down in your secret soul unseen and unknown by any but Jesus, there is a little trial that you would not dare to mention that is harder for you to bear than martyrdom.
There, beloved, lies your crown. God help you to overcome, and sometime wear it. --Selected
"It matters not how the battle goes,
The day how long;
Faint not! Fight on!
Tomorrow comes the song."
Sermon Outline
- I. The Price of Coronation
- A. Hardship is the price of achieving great things
- B. Triumphal arches are built on hard blows and bloody scars
- C. The Master gives us hardships to enable us to win our crown
- II. The Present Moment
- A. Don't wait for ideal situations, rise to meet current challenges
- B. Your crown of glory lies in the heart of your current hardships
- III. The Hidden Trial
- A. There may be unseen trials that are harder to bear than martyrdom
- B. God can help you overcome and wear your crown
Key Quotes
“Triumphal arches are not woven out of rose blossoms and silken cords, but of hard blows and bloody scars.” — Charles E. Cowman
“It matters not how the battle goes, The day how long; Faint not! Fight on! Tomorrow comes the song.” — Charles E. Cowman
Application Points
- Rise to meet your current challenges, and remember that your crown of glory lies in the heart of your hardships.
- Don't faint, fight on, and remember that tomorrow comes the song.
- The Master gives us hardships to enable us to win our crown, and to prepare us for our coronation.