WEBVTT 0 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:00.720 1 00:00:04.690 --> 00:00:07.322 Welcome to the Willow Ridge Sermons podcast. 2 00:00:07.466 --> 00:00:11.150 This is where you can find audio from Sunday morning messages and more. 3 00:00:11.300 --> 00:00:14.442 Make sure you're subscribed so that you don't miss future episodes. 4 00:00:14.506 --> 00:00:15.950 And thanks for listening. 5 00:00:20.770 --> 00:00:22.302 We're glad to be here with you. 6 00:00:22.356 --> 00:00:26.246 My family and I are a part of Willow Ridge, and we're grateful to be here, especially days like this. 7 00:00:26.268 --> 00:00:29.846 We get to celebrate baptism and the Lord's Supper here in a few minutes together. 8 00:00:29.948 --> 00:00:36.230 I'm grateful to be able to sing praises to the Lord, thankful for Joel and the team helping us to do that. 9 00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:40.982 And I'm grateful to be at a church that week in, week out takes us through the Scripture. 10 00:00:41.046 --> 00:00:50.106 So I want to say publicly, I'm grateful for Pastor Beau and Dave as they preach week in, week out and care for us in that way. 11 00:00:50.128 --> 00:00:51.498 And so it means a lot to me. 12 00:00:51.504 --> 00:00:52.734 It means a lot to my family. 13 00:00:52.852 --> 00:01:02.350 We're only nine chapters in, nine tennis chapters into Genesis, so we're nine chapters in to a book that's 1189 chapters. 14 00:01:02.690 --> 00:01:03.802 So we're at the beginning. 15 00:01:03.866 --> 00:01:07.598 All right, we're definitely at the beginning of this journey through Genesis. 16 00:01:07.694 --> 00:01:12.434 And anytime I'm reading anything, I kind of want to know, what's the end game like? 17 00:01:12.552 --> 00:01:14.130 What is all this for? 18 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:19.974 And we could go to the end of the Bible and we could read some of the culmination of what God's going to do. 19 00:01:20.012 --> 00:01:27.110 But there's a question, I think, deeper there as we read every single one of those over a thousand chapters. 20 00:01:27.630 --> 00:01:28.380 Why? 21 00:01:29.790 --> 00:01:31.500 Why is God doing this? 22 00:01:32.350 --> 00:01:33.866 Why does he want to do this? 23 00:01:33.968 --> 00:01:35.946 Honestly, I mean, nine chapters in? 24 00:01:35.968 --> 00:01:38.090 I mean, it's not exactly a rosy picture. 25 00:01:39.150 --> 00:01:40.970 There's been gross evil. 26 00:01:41.470 --> 00:01:45.840 There's been the unleashing of wrath on the whole human race except for one family. 27 00:01:47.170 --> 00:01:56.322 And when I look at that picture, it then gets a little bit difficult for some of us that have said this to people when we're trying to grasp, what's this book for? 28 00:01:56.376 --> 00:01:57.298 What's God doing? 29 00:01:57.384 --> 00:02:02.020 And we say things like this, well, this is God's love letter to you. 30 00:02:03.270 --> 00:02:05.214 That's strange to me when we say that. 31 00:02:05.272 --> 00:02:05.974 And I've said it. 32 00:02:06.012 --> 00:02:09.350 Maybe you've said it because it's misleading. 33 00:02:09.690 --> 00:02:11.778 Here's why we know it's misleading. 34 00:02:11.954 --> 00:02:30.140 When you read the scores of nameless, faceless soldiers that wrote from a battlefield, love letters to their spouse to their girlfriend, when you read historical records that we have of love letters we just think are interesting. 35 00:02:30.690 --> 00:02:32.282 Ronald Reagan to Nancy. 36 00:02:32.346 --> 00:02:42.510 For example, on Air Force One, Johnny Cash to June Carter Cash calling her princess on her birthday, jimmy Hendrix to whatever girl that was. 37 00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:48.130 And it's half poetry, half we don't know what it is in true Hendrix style. 38 00:02:49.190 --> 00:02:51.582 Beethoven to his immortal beloved. 39 00:02:51.646 --> 00:02:55.682 And we think we got an heir to one to two women, but we don't actually know who that was. 40 00:02:55.816 --> 00:02:57.094 Maybe it was both of them. 41 00:02:57.132 --> 00:02:58.310 That's one theory. 42 00:02:59.130 --> 00:03:02.182 Do you know what all those love letters, all of them. 43 00:03:02.236 --> 00:03:05.080 And anyone you've ever written has in common. 44 00:03:06.410 --> 00:03:15.130 When you sit down to pour out your heart onto the page, it's very clear, every word, every phrase. 45 00:03:16.510 --> 00:03:28.480 The party of honor, the party that's focused, the party that is the reason for the letter, is the recipient is the person you're writing to. 46 00:03:28.850 --> 00:03:32.962 Or if guys, if you didn't know that that was just a quick crash course, all right? 47 00:03:33.016 --> 00:03:34.260 It's about her. 48 00:03:34.870 --> 00:03:41.220 It's about her beauty, her greatness, her characteristics that you're enamored with. 49 00:03:42.390 --> 00:03:49.400 But there's no way we can read the Bible and think that God wrote the Bible to put us at the center. 50 00:03:51.130 --> 00:03:55.080 Again, nine chapters in, and it's already very clear he's at the center. 51 00:03:56.330 --> 00:04:16.990 This book is about its author, and the love that exudes from Him is a love that's unmatched because he's actually God, and he actually wants us to know the love that he will not hesitate to pour on us, not just now, but if we hope in Him through all eternity. 52 00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:28.020 And so because that's true, it can't be a love letter in the sense that we usually think about it, although it unhesitatingly, speaks of his love for us. 53 00:04:28.950 --> 00:04:32.420 So I come back to why do all of this God? 54 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:34.018 Why make people? 55 00:04:34.104 --> 00:04:35.282 Why interact with them? 56 00:04:35.336 --> 00:04:36.980 Why stay committed to them? 57 00:04:37.590 --> 00:04:39.026 Why interact with them in this way? 58 00:04:39.048 --> 00:04:40.920 And why record it for us? 59 00:04:41.610 --> 00:04:47.960 And there are a number of passages that we could go to to try to uncover that what is God doing and why does he do it? 60 00:04:48.410 --> 00:04:52.746 But we're just going to look at, at least at the outset, isaiah 48. 61 00:04:52.928 --> 00:04:57.740 And so just a note about Isaiah, and particularly Isaiah 48. 62 00:04:58.110 --> 00:05:03.694 Isaiah's prophesying and telling the people of Judah, he said, here's the situation. 63 00:05:03.892 --> 00:05:05.710 There is exile for you. 64 00:05:05.780 --> 00:05:07.198 They understand their history. 65 00:05:07.364 --> 00:05:09.834 Enslaved in Egypt, they understand now they're in exile. 66 00:05:09.882 --> 00:05:10.942 They're not in their home. 67 00:05:11.076 --> 00:05:12.880 They're pushed out from there. 68 00:05:13.570 --> 00:05:18.100 And God is going to communicate how he's going to deliver them and bring them back home. 69 00:05:18.550 --> 00:05:19.810 Man what welcome news. 70 00:05:19.880 --> 00:05:21.940 I mean, some of us never left our home. 71 00:05:22.790 --> 00:05:25.906 Some of you, like me, you've moved multiple places away from your home. 72 00:05:25.928 --> 00:05:28.680 And maybe now I'm back home where I'm originally from. 73 00:05:29.370 --> 00:05:43.354 But regardless of that, there's something about being brought home all the more when you're pushed out and held in subjection to a ruler and to a kingdom that you don't honor, you don't respect, and you really shouldn't even be there. 74 00:05:43.472 --> 00:05:48.202 And God's going to deliver them and rescue them, because that's what he does consistently for his people. 75 00:05:48.336 --> 00:05:49.642 He rescues them. 76 00:05:49.776 --> 00:05:57.520 He loves them, he cares for them, and he's going to be very specific about why he does that. 77 00:05:58.210 --> 00:06:00.366 Isaiah 48, verse nine. 78 00:06:00.548 --> 00:06:04.370 For my name's sake, I defer my anger. 79 00:06:05.030 --> 00:06:10.820 For the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you that I may not cut you off. 80 00:06:11.270 --> 00:06:14.318 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. 81 00:06:14.494 --> 00:06:16.870 I've tried you in the furnace of affliction. 82 00:06:17.850 --> 00:06:19.590 For my own sake. 83 00:06:20.330 --> 00:06:22.760 For my own sake, I do it. 84 00:06:23.610 --> 00:06:31.900 For how should my name be profaned my glory I will not give to another. 85 00:06:33.310 --> 00:06:34.810 Here's the punchline. 86 00:06:35.230 --> 00:06:40.310 God does everything that he does ultimately for his own glory. 87 00:06:40.470 --> 00:06:42.330 That's his ultimate purpose. 88 00:06:42.910 --> 00:06:44.494 That's very clear from this text. 89 00:06:44.532 --> 00:06:46.990 It's very clear in the reading of the entirety of scripture. 90 00:06:47.330 --> 00:06:52.400 I mean, you'd be at pains to try to find another understanding of this. 91 00:06:53.090 --> 00:06:54.494 God, you're going to rescue us. 92 00:06:54.532 --> 00:06:56.046 You love us lavishly. 93 00:06:56.078 --> 00:06:57.970 You're committed to us no matter what. 94 00:06:58.040 --> 00:07:00.674 We are going to be yours forever as your people. 95 00:07:00.872 --> 00:07:02.420 Why do you do that, God? 96 00:07:02.790 --> 00:07:05.330 I do it for my sake. 97 00:07:05.670 --> 00:07:07.830 I do it for my glory. 98 00:07:09.130 --> 00:07:12.614 And immediately, if we're not careful, we go, what does all that mean? 99 00:07:12.812 --> 00:07:14.680 What do those words even mean? 100 00:07:15.530 --> 00:07:18.706 And could it be that God's a narcissist? 101 00:07:18.898 --> 00:07:19.302 Right? 102 00:07:19.356 --> 00:07:22.986 Because now, especially in 2023, we love to throw around clinical terms. 103 00:07:23.088 --> 00:07:26.698 We don't even know what they mean, but they show up on social media all the time. 104 00:07:26.864 --> 00:07:43.646 So if we just took a clinical diagnostic narcissistic personality disorder, the key indicator that you have that disorder is that you have an improper notion of your value or station. 105 00:07:43.838 --> 00:07:47.700 You have an inflated view of who you are. 106 00:07:49.750 --> 00:08:00.374 God, who fashioned all reality and is holding every molecule in the cosmos together, including every fiber of your body right now, including your beating heart. 107 00:08:00.412 --> 00:08:01.766 And my beating heart. 108 00:08:01.948 --> 00:08:05.670 I'm not really sure he could have an overinflated view of himself. 109 00:08:07.130 --> 00:08:09.820 I don't think that's possible to do that. 110 00:08:10.510 --> 00:08:12.890 I think he estimates himself, rightly? 111 00:08:13.790 --> 00:08:21.050 And so because of that, he cares about the fact that his people have not been faithful to him before all these other nations. 112 00:08:21.950 --> 00:08:29.866 His people have not honored him with who they are, and so he's going to rescue them even after an exile and a period of refinement. 113 00:08:29.898 --> 00:08:47.560 But he's doing it because who he is is inextricably connected to who they are, and he loves them with all he is, and he wants to maintain the person of who he is, not just in front of them, but before all the nations and all the world for all time. 114 00:08:48.170 --> 00:08:53.880 And so what does he mean by all these statements of his own sake, his own name? 115 00:08:54.330 --> 00:08:56.562 Think about it like this his own sake. 116 00:08:56.706 --> 00:08:59.494 If you say this is for me, it means exactly that. 117 00:08:59.532 --> 00:09:00.390 It's for you yourself. 118 00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:01.426 You're referring to yourself. 119 00:09:01.468 --> 00:09:02.614 It's for my sake. 120 00:09:02.742 --> 00:09:05.740 It gets a little bit more murky when we start talking about name. 121 00:09:06.270 --> 00:09:07.820 You do this for your name. 122 00:09:08.350 --> 00:09:14.318 That's odd to us in particular because I know your mom and daddy just like maybe you did. 123 00:09:14.324 --> 00:09:16.942 If you have kids painstakingly, right? 124 00:09:16.996 --> 00:09:20.734 You had the, like, 3 million book names, book boom, right? 125 00:09:20.772 --> 00:09:23.438 We got to go through every name to make sure we get the right one. 126 00:09:23.524 --> 00:09:24.974 And what does it mean, right? 127 00:09:25.012 --> 00:09:30.260 And I want to make sure it has good meaning and you and I but nobody cares what your name means, right? 128 00:09:30.710 --> 00:09:34.530 In our culture, your name is a way to tell each other apart. 129 00:09:35.510 --> 00:09:36.082 Oh, yes. 130 00:09:36.136 --> 00:09:36.462 Steve. 131 00:09:36.526 --> 00:09:37.506 Steve who? 132 00:09:37.688 --> 00:09:38.482 Steve Phillips. 133 00:09:38.546 --> 00:09:39.314 Not Steve Brown. 134 00:09:39.362 --> 00:09:40.518 Oh, okay, good. 135 00:09:40.684 --> 00:09:42.150 I wonder what Steve means. 136 00:09:42.220 --> 00:09:43.270 What does Steven mean? 137 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:44.354 Nobody cares. 138 00:09:44.482 --> 00:09:46.022 We don't care about that now. 139 00:09:46.156 --> 00:09:48.778 I just know you're not the same guy as this other guy. 140 00:09:48.864 --> 00:09:50.540 That's the way we use it. 141 00:09:51.150 --> 00:09:55.386 The idea of God's name is much more like a superhero, right? 142 00:09:55.568 --> 00:10:01.546 When you hear about Superman, it's very clear from his name what's distinct about him. 143 00:10:01.648 --> 00:10:03.614 He's a superman, right? 144 00:10:03.732 --> 00:10:05.054 He's greater than men. 145 00:10:05.172 --> 00:10:07.886 He can do things that other men aren't capable of. 146 00:10:07.908 --> 00:10:12.670 That's why he's superhuman, or in this case, Superman, because he's from Krypton. 147 00:10:13.170 --> 00:10:15.706 Batman, he dresses up like a bat. 148 00:10:15.748 --> 00:10:16.658 That's not a good example. 149 00:10:16.744 --> 00:10:20.594 But Aquaman aquaman lives in the water. 150 00:10:20.632 --> 00:10:21.602 He's from the water. 151 00:10:21.656 --> 00:10:23.714 He can actually navigate the water. 152 00:10:23.752 --> 00:10:27.026 I don't understand why he has a submarine in some of the Super Friends episodes. 153 00:10:27.058 --> 00:10:28.550 Because he's Aquaman, but he does. 154 00:10:28.620 --> 00:10:34.834 Okay, so he's Aquaman, my personal favorite because we have the same last name, spiderman. 155 00:10:34.962 --> 00:10:35.302 Right? 156 00:10:35.356 --> 00:10:37.394 So Peter Parker. 157 00:10:37.442 --> 00:10:39.594 I mean, when you're a little kid he's got my last name. 158 00:10:39.712 --> 00:10:41.114 That's my favorite superhero now. 159 00:10:41.152 --> 00:10:41.770 He still is. 160 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:42.860 He still is. 161 00:10:43.550 --> 00:10:44.774 Why is he called Spiderman? 162 00:10:44.822 --> 00:10:46.010 He acts like a spider. 163 00:10:47.070 --> 00:10:55.120 His name indicates something that only he is able to do, because only he is like that. 164 00:10:56.370 --> 00:11:04.110 His name is a designation in the case of God that speaks to his uniqueness in his holiness. 165 00:11:05.250 --> 00:11:17.080 That's why the Jewish people, even to this day, are fearful of and refrain from speaking the proper name of God for fear they might mispronounce it and in some way profane or dishonor it. 166 00:11:17.690 --> 00:11:28.498 And because that's true, they don't want to in any way violate who he is because they know that name describes his perfection, his holiness. 167 00:11:28.594 --> 00:11:31.098 It's a way, a title to depict that. 168 00:11:31.264 --> 00:11:34.310 Okay, well, he's passionate for his own sake. 169 00:11:34.470 --> 00:11:37.334 He's worried about his name being profaned. 170 00:11:37.462 --> 00:11:39.894 And he's also saying, this is for my own glory. 171 00:11:39.942 --> 00:11:41.440 So what does glory mean? 172 00:11:41.970 --> 00:11:49.214 I think glory is a way to display all those perfections of who he is. 173 00:11:49.332 --> 00:11:53.040 It's a way to show you, to show the world, to show me. 174 00:11:53.810 --> 00:11:55.700 This is how great he is. 175 00:11:56.550 --> 00:11:58.366 This is how we should be enamored. 176 00:11:58.398 --> 00:12:00.146 Because look who he is. 177 00:12:00.328 --> 00:12:02.018 Look what he's done. 178 00:12:02.184 --> 00:12:07.320 Look who he continues to be, not just right now, but without end. 179 00:12:07.770 --> 00:12:10.870 And he's always been that way, with no beginning. 180 00:12:11.290 --> 00:12:12.840 That's who God is. 181 00:12:13.530 --> 00:12:14.870 How glorious. 182 00:12:15.450 --> 00:12:17.640 And so what are we to do? 183 00:12:18.010 --> 00:12:21.020 He's concerned about the praise of his name. 184 00:12:21.550 --> 00:12:24.490 We praise we just did that in singing. 185 00:12:25.070 --> 00:12:29.930 The whole idea behind worship is that God has revealed himself to us, shown who he is. 186 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:32.074 We respond in worship. 187 00:12:32.202 --> 00:12:33.966 That's what praise is. 188 00:12:34.148 --> 00:12:40.240 It's a response to the greatness of the glory of God that's depicted in his name. 189 00:12:40.770 --> 00:12:54.340 Because of who he is in his essence, and God is not a narcissist, and he's also not an idolater, because for some of us, some of this is hard to hear. 190 00:12:55.430 --> 00:13:06.054 You're telling me God is chiefly concerned with his glory, his greatness, his grandeur, but that sounds like his off base a little bit. 191 00:13:06.092 --> 00:13:07.990 That doesn't sound like the God of the Bible. 192 00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:19.226 Actually, in Exodus 20, he's pretty explicit that no human being is to have any other god before him, and that's not a numerical list. 193 00:13:19.328 --> 00:13:25.150 That does not mean make sure that he's the top number one God, and then all the other gods are listed afterwards. 194 00:13:26.130 --> 00:13:33.330 That's much in the way any king would say, don't bring evil before me, in front of me anywhere. 195 00:13:33.830 --> 00:13:36.020 There are no other gods at this point. 196 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:47.538 And if that's his standard for humanity to be right and good and virtuous, is he not right and good and virtuous? 197 00:13:47.634 --> 00:13:51.880 If he is, then there are no other gods before him but him. 198 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:53.830 He's central. 199 00:13:54.570 --> 00:14:04.380 If that's not true, then he commits sin, and the second he commits sin, he ceases to be God, and you and I have no hope ever again, ever. 200 00:14:06.030 --> 00:14:18.750 He has to be central, but he's not a narcissist because God is not selfish in his desire to be glorified and to be honored. 201 00:14:20.290 --> 00:14:27.950 I think this passage actually teaches us that because God is ultimately concerned with his own glory. 202 00:14:28.030 --> 00:14:35.140 That is the proof, in fact, beyond argument, that he loves us completely. 203 00:14:36.070 --> 00:14:40.120 The reason I say that is when you look at how he's dealing with the people here. 204 00:14:40.650 --> 00:14:43.510 For my name's sake, I defer my anger. 205 00:14:44.090 --> 00:14:54.870 For the sake of my praise, I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off, but I have refined you, but not a silver. 206 00:14:55.030 --> 00:14:57.542 I've tried you in the furnace of affliction. 207 00:14:57.606 --> 00:15:00.102 For my own sake, for my own sake I do it. 208 00:15:00.256 --> 00:15:01.674 How should my name be profane? 209 00:15:01.722 --> 00:15:03.680 My glory I won't give to another. 210 00:15:04.530 --> 00:15:07.280 How does this passage communicate love to us? 211 00:15:08.770 --> 00:15:10.880 God is angry with them. 212 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:15.440 Why is he angry? 213 00:15:17.060 --> 00:15:19.250 Isaiah 43 is very clear. 214 00:15:20.020 --> 00:15:26.240 The reason that God created everything and every human being is for his own glory. 215 00:15:28.040 --> 00:15:29.428 Isaiah 49. 216 00:15:29.514 --> 00:15:40.916 The reason why, out of all that creation, he put his blessing on Abraham and his descendants and the promise that would come to Messiah through Abraham. 217 00:15:40.948 --> 00:15:45.240 The reason he did that explicitly for my own glory. 218 00:15:46.780 --> 00:15:55.336 In the Exodus, in chapter 14, for example, pharaoh is actually going to come in and try to overtake the Israelites. 219 00:15:55.368 --> 00:15:57.420 They've come out and through the Red Sea. 220 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:03.260 Why is God going to wash over and drown Pharaoh and his army? 221 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:06.412 So that he would have glory over Pharaoh. 222 00:16:06.476 --> 00:16:07.970 That's why he does it. 223 00:16:10.260 --> 00:16:13.248 Why is it that he brings them out of exile here? 224 00:16:13.334 --> 00:16:15.490 Why is he doing Ezekiel 36? 225 00:16:16.920 --> 00:16:26.260 I'm doing it to demonstrate my name, he says explicitly, for my glory to be seen and beheld. 226 00:16:28.200 --> 00:16:29.690 He's made them. 227 00:16:30.940 --> 00:16:36.810 He's rescued them and put his compassionate, covenant love on them and never left them. 228 00:16:37.900 --> 00:16:40.552 Through all the twists and turns, he's there. 229 00:16:40.686 --> 00:16:49.230 There's no question, because like Numbers 23 says, he's not like a man who lies or who changes his mind. 230 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.990 He is stuck with them. 231 00:16:53.760 --> 00:17:00.764 And he has ensured that they have lived and survived and ultimately that they will thrive and a savior will come that he promised. 232 00:17:00.812 --> 00:17:07.350 In the garden, Adam and Eve, what have they done in response to that? 233 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:10.804 For his own sake, for his name? 234 00:17:10.922 --> 00:17:12.176 For his glory? 235 00:17:12.368 --> 00:17:13.220 Praise? 236 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.110 No, they have not praised him. 237 00:17:18.620 --> 00:17:20.920 They have profaned his name. 238 00:17:21.070 --> 00:17:28.250 The text says another way you can translate that term is they have prostituted his name. 239 00:17:29.340 --> 00:17:31.720 And that, connotation, is what's intended. 240 00:17:33.020 --> 00:17:35.308 You carry my name because you're my people. 241 00:17:35.474 --> 00:17:39.784 Every other nation, even you, one to another, you're looking at each other and going, we're gods. 242 00:17:39.832 --> 00:17:40.924 We belong to him. 243 00:17:40.962 --> 00:17:42.030 We're his people. 244 00:17:44.080 --> 00:17:45.340 You know what you've been doing? 245 00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:50.608 You've been going and in idolatrous fashion, giving yourself to everything else other than me. 246 00:17:50.774 --> 00:17:55.824 And then when times get hard, things are a little thin, you're not sure which end is up. 247 00:17:55.862 --> 00:17:57.000 You're confused. 248 00:17:57.180 --> 00:18:10.360 You run back to me, you plead with me, you call on my name, you sing praises to me, and then you drift again and then back and forth. 249 00:18:11.340 --> 00:18:14.650 You use me for improper things. 250 00:18:15.100 --> 00:18:17.144 I'm not to be used that way. 251 00:18:17.262 --> 00:18:19.400 I'm not to be prostituted. 252 00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:21.790 And that's what they've done. 253 00:18:24.080 --> 00:18:26.700 So then I'm going to ask the obvious question. 254 00:18:26.770 --> 00:18:30.110 Is it right for him to be angry with them? 255 00:18:31.040 --> 00:18:32.510 He's given them life. 256 00:18:33.040 --> 00:18:35.772 He's given them divine relationship with himself. 257 00:18:35.916 --> 00:18:38.780 He sustained them and rescued them repeatedly. 258 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:45.410 He's upheld them and brought them through the most dire of trials, secured them over and over again. 259 00:18:47.400 --> 00:18:57.670 I'm a guess if you're sitting at dinner with your buddies or girlfriends, whichever friend group you're in, and somebody says, I've given my whole life to this guy. 260 00:18:58.540 --> 00:19:01.930 I've loved him, I've devoted myself to him. 261 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:06.360 I provided for him as he's provided for me financially. 262 00:19:07.020 --> 00:19:08.810 We've made a home together. 263 00:19:09.660 --> 00:19:11.432 We said, to death do us part. 264 00:19:11.486 --> 00:19:12.284 And you know what he's doing? 265 00:19:12.322 --> 00:19:16.510 He's running around everywhere and he's been doing it. 266 00:19:19.120 --> 00:19:25.868 Somebody at that table is going to be sitting across the table and go, man, this is three years of you saying, this, lady. 267 00:19:26.044 --> 00:19:27.090 Three years. 268 00:19:28.260 --> 00:19:31.170 Somebody's going to get it in their head, well, enough is enough. 269 00:19:32.340 --> 00:19:33.824 You want to keep doing that? 270 00:19:33.942 --> 00:19:35.650 You keep putting up with that. 271 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:38.464 Yes, he's right to be angry. 272 00:19:38.512 --> 00:19:40.644 I think we would all agree with that. 273 00:19:40.762 --> 00:19:43.236 That's worth being angry about. 274 00:19:43.338 --> 00:19:47.940 Not sinfully angry, but certainly angry about, because it's not right. 275 00:19:48.010 --> 00:19:55.530 It's not appropriate for his people to treat him in that way, just like it would not be right for your spouse to treat you in that way. 276 00:19:57.180 --> 00:20:03.944 So if he's right to be angry at them, and so anger requires consequence. 277 00:20:03.992 --> 00:20:05.580 It requires justice be done. 278 00:20:05.650 --> 00:20:06.252 That's right. 279 00:20:06.306 --> 00:20:07.790 We all agree with that. 280 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.004 Fundamentally, as human beings, we agree with that. 281 00:20:11.202 --> 00:20:13.230 Is God really doing the right thing? 282 00:20:14.320 --> 00:20:17.488 Because he's just been very clear in his lavish love for them. 283 00:20:17.574 --> 00:20:18.930 I'm holding back. 284 00:20:19.300 --> 00:20:20.832 I'm not going to do it. 285 00:20:20.966 --> 00:20:22.544 I'm not going to cut you off. 286 00:20:22.662 --> 00:20:24.048 I'm not going to leave you. 287 00:20:24.134 --> 00:20:26.080 I'm going to maintain my promise. 288 00:20:27.560 --> 00:20:29.910 Is that right for Him to do that? 289 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:33.510 It's only right for Him to do that. 290 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:48.968 If judgment falls somewhere, if that judgment for that Heinous life that they are living, if that judgment and that punishment doesn't fall on them, it's got to fall somewhere for God to be right. 291 00:20:49.134 --> 00:21:13.130 And just as God isaiah 53, verse four, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. 292 00:21:14.110 --> 00:21:21.070 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. 293 00:21:21.410 --> 00:21:26.058 Upon Him was the punishment that brought us peace. 294 00:21:26.234 --> 00:21:30.270 And with his stripes we are healed. 295 00:21:31.430 --> 00:21:34.450 All we, like sheep, have gone astray. 296 00:21:35.270 --> 00:21:47.910 We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, and that's where the judgment falls. 297 00:21:49.610 --> 00:21:57.094 God will do what is right and just, and he will have mercy on his people in ways that we can't even imagine. 298 00:21:57.142 --> 00:22:05.980 He does it right here, and he does that to demonstrate that he loves us enough to not be an idolater, but truly be God. 299 00:22:06.830 --> 00:22:12.970 He loves us enough to actually be central in everything, in creation and in eternity. 300 00:22:13.050 --> 00:22:14.480 Because he's actually God. 301 00:22:15.810 --> 00:22:26.658 And he loves us enough to be rooted in who he is and maintain his person to us because that is the only way he can give His Son in our place if he truly is God. 302 00:22:26.744 --> 00:22:28.340 Because only God can do that. 303 00:22:30.070 --> 00:22:31.682 And the New Testament is very clear. 304 00:22:31.736 --> 00:22:33.394 He didn't spare his son. 305 00:22:33.592 --> 00:22:34.980 He spared them. 306 00:22:35.590 --> 00:22:36.578 Restrain it. 307 00:22:36.664 --> 00:22:37.330 Hold back. 308 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:38.718 I'm not going to cut you off. 309 00:22:38.824 --> 00:22:40.694 I'm not going to exact judgment on you. 310 00:22:40.812 --> 00:22:42.642 I'm going to deliver you out of the exile. 311 00:22:42.706 --> 00:22:43.446 I'm going to do all that. 312 00:22:43.468 --> 00:22:45.480 I'm holding back, holding back, holding back. 313 00:22:48.090 --> 00:23:06.014 But I am going to, in your place, send a rescuer who will bear the brunt of all of that on your behalf, if you will hope in Him and trust in Him, which, by the way, if it troubles you that he's held back held back, that's exactly what Romans 325 says, that he held off. 314 00:23:06.052 --> 00:23:12.882 He overlooked the former sins to bring about judgment on the person of the Son, that the Son might be glorified, we might hope in Him. 315 00:23:13.016 --> 00:23:14.660 It's exactly what it says. 316 00:23:16.310 --> 00:23:26.470 So God, pursuant to his own glory, actually proves that he loves us enough to be God, and he bears this out in the giving of His Son, Jesus. 317 00:23:28.250 --> 00:23:46.060 Now, in case you think I'm making things up, in case you think that with the exception of my comment about romans Three we're only looking at the Old Testament like John Twelve jesus explicitly says, I'm troubled coming to this hour. 318 00:23:46.910 --> 00:23:51.786 I'm troubled in my spirit that I have to confront suffering and death. 319 00:23:51.898 --> 00:23:53.390 That is my mission. 320 00:23:54.850 --> 00:23:55.886 What am I going to say? 321 00:23:55.908 --> 00:23:57.200 I'm not going to do it. 322 00:23:57.810 --> 00:23:59.294 Absolutely not. 323 00:23:59.492 --> 00:24:01.250 I've come for this purpose. 324 00:24:03.430 --> 00:24:08.978 I pray that the Father would be glorified in it and through it. 325 00:24:09.144 --> 00:24:15.926 And the audible voice of God says, I have glorified my name and I will glorify it. 326 00:24:16.108 --> 00:24:23.510 That's Jesus understanding of why he's doing this, so that he could extend love and grace. 327 00:24:24.810 --> 00:24:27.782 It's interesting, even his fundamental understanding of what he's doing. 328 00:24:27.836 --> 00:24:28.102 John. 329 00:24:28.156 --> 00:24:28.806 Seven. 330 00:24:28.988 --> 00:24:30.114 What am I doing? 331 00:24:30.252 --> 00:24:33.702 The only things I'm doing are the things that are going to bring glory to the Father. 332 00:24:33.766 --> 00:24:35.354 That's why I'm doing all this. 333 00:24:35.552 --> 00:24:42.960 So any earthly ministry that you and I see, miracles, teaching, compassion, he's doing that for the glory of God. 334 00:24:44.850 --> 00:25:00.020 It's interesting even beyond that, that when you look at a verse that probably we hear most of the time at funerals, I preach this verse, multiple funerals, mostly family members, when Jesus is gone from Bethany and he waits to come back. 335 00:25:00.550 --> 00:25:06.950 He waits to come back, and Lazarus, his friend, the brother of his other two friends, Mary and Martha, dies. 336 00:25:08.650 --> 00:25:11.538 And it actually says that he loved them deeply. 337 00:25:11.714 --> 00:25:19.558 Really, you loved them deeply, you could have come back and probably done something about the fact that he was going to meet his demise, but you didn't. 338 00:25:19.654 --> 00:25:20.810 You waited. 339 00:25:22.110 --> 00:25:24.422 So he comes and arrived and he's mournful. 340 00:25:24.486 --> 00:25:26.860 He's sad that Lazarus has died as well. 341 00:25:27.710 --> 00:25:29.610 And he says, Move the stone. 342 00:25:30.430 --> 00:25:37.326 And Martha says, Lord, listen, it's been four days, there'll be an odor, right? 343 00:25:37.348 --> 00:25:43.300 And part of it is she's unsettled by the fact that we're going to open a grave which is unclean and is bad, and you just don't do that. 344 00:25:45.190 --> 00:26:02.040 You know what Jesus says out of his love and commitment to her, to her sister and to Lazarus, did I not tell you, if you will believe, you will see the glory of God? 345 00:26:03.450 --> 00:26:05.866 Now, was that an exhibition of love? 346 00:26:06.048 --> 00:26:07.900 There is no question it was. 347 00:26:09.310 --> 00:26:26.526 That is a unique way only he could have loved, because Lazarus comes forth when Jesus says to, and he's resurrected from the dead, but he's resurrected from the dead so that everyone would behold the glory of God in this act of unceasing love toward them. 348 00:26:26.628 --> 00:26:28.880 And no, god really is God. 349 00:26:29.970 --> 00:26:36.900 We really do have to deal with Him and recognize that he's in control and we need to look to Him. 350 00:26:37.910 --> 00:26:41.294 And the reason in part that he emphasizes that is in his high priestly prayer. 351 00:26:41.342 --> 00:26:45.706 John 17 few chapters later jesus actually praying for disciples. 352 00:26:45.758 --> 00:26:47.880 He's praying for those who are going to come to know Him. 353 00:26:48.490 --> 00:26:54.386 And in that prayer, he actually asked that he'd be glorified together with the Father. 354 00:26:54.418 --> 00:26:56.150 That's how he starts the prayer. 355 00:26:56.970 --> 00:26:59.302 I don't think we want to say that Jesus is selfish. 356 00:26:59.446 --> 00:27:01.014 He's never been selfish. 357 00:27:01.142 --> 00:27:03.450 But that's how he starts the prayer. 358 00:27:04.110 --> 00:27:05.210 Why is that important? 359 00:27:05.280 --> 00:27:06.780 Because of what he says next. 360 00:27:08.130 --> 00:27:16.110 Father, I'm praying that they would have eternal life, and eternal life is not heaven, period. 361 00:27:16.690 --> 00:27:27.540 He defines eternal life as eternal life is knowing you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent, that's eternal life. 362 00:27:27.910 --> 00:27:30.194 And the only way to give you that eternal life is God. 363 00:27:30.312 --> 00:27:36.870 What's interesting is, you know, what Jesus says is his reason for us knowing Him and then existing with Him in eternity. 364 00:27:37.530 --> 00:27:44.790 Father, I pray that they would believe in me so that they might be with me to behold my glory. 365 00:27:45.790 --> 00:27:46.922 That's his bottom line. 366 00:27:46.976 --> 00:27:48.460 Prayer at the end of the day. 367 00:27:50.030 --> 00:28:01.870 So there must be something incredibly loving, incredibly gracious, incredibly caring and compassionate for us to see Him as he is forever. 368 00:28:02.290 --> 00:28:15.074 If that's his focus, if that's his purpose in doing everything that he has done, in suffering and dying for us, it's actually because of what Jesus has done. 369 00:28:15.112 --> 00:28:24.102 The fact that he prays in this way, he actually says that, that's why I've welcomed you to be a part of my heavenly family. 370 00:28:24.156 --> 00:28:30.120 Romans 15 so he's welcomed us, and we should welcome each other because this is to glorify God. 371 00:28:32.490 --> 00:28:47.290 The sad reality is, by the time that Paul writes at least the second letter to the Corinthian Church that we have, he says, I'm going to tell you the truth about people who don't know Jesus, and this ought to sober all of us up as to their predicament. 372 00:28:48.750 --> 00:29:09.378 The issue that they're encountering is not just that they have a slightly incomplete life, or you do you and then add Jesus to your life, which is a notion some people have it's that the enemy has blinded them to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 373 00:29:09.464 --> 00:29:15.574 That's what he thinks their problem is they don't have eyes to see you. 374 00:29:15.612 --> 00:29:22.662 And I, if we're not believing, we don't have eyes to see the glory of God in the face of Christ. 375 00:29:22.716 --> 00:29:24.760 We don't have the knowledge to see it. 376 00:29:25.530 --> 00:29:27.242 And so what does God have to do? 377 00:29:27.296 --> 00:29:34.780 Paul says in that letter you remember a few chapters ago in Genesis when he said, Let there be light, and there was. 378 00:29:35.790 --> 00:29:48.350 Paul actually says that God has to say, let light shine out of darkness so that he can shine in our hearts and give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ. 379 00:29:48.420 --> 00:29:52.734 That's what people need, because, again, that's what Jesus prayed for. 380 00:29:52.932 --> 00:30:07.494 You'd actually see me and all my worth and all my value for who I am, because that's love to you, that you actually might know me, who I really am, and I'm God in all my glory if they don't ever see and believe in Jesus Christ. 381 00:30:07.532 --> 00:30:10.200 If you and I don't ever believe in jesus Christ. 382 00:30:11.210 --> 00:30:19.260 Some people are of the mindset that we'll just party in h*** with all our other rowdy friends that didn't know Jesus, and that's how it will be. 383 00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:39.566 Philippians Two goes great pains in Paul's writing to show how God the Son, Jesus person I just read about in Isaiah 53, how he lowered himself, he humbled himself to actually move from where he was with the Father, to live in this place with us. 384 00:30:39.748 --> 00:30:46.820 And there's great stuff I love so much about our life, but there's so much that we mourn, is there not? 385 00:30:47.670 --> 00:30:53.540 He lived here with us, took on flesh, fully God, fully man. 386 00:30:54.630 --> 00:30:55.574 And what did he do? 387 00:30:55.612 --> 00:31:01.000 He laid down his life that ultimately he'd be exalted to the right hand of the Father, where he is right now. 388 00:31:03.290 --> 00:31:04.614 Why does he do that? 389 00:31:04.732 --> 00:31:14.822 So that ultimately, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess, both on the earth and under the earth, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. 390 00:31:14.886 --> 00:31:16.090 That's the purpose. 391 00:31:17.070 --> 00:31:28.090 Every human being that you've ever met, however you picture yourself, everybody is going to get on their knee and say, he's Lord. 392 00:31:28.170 --> 00:31:33.370 Everybody the most arrogant, prideful, idolatrous person you can think of. 393 00:31:33.460 --> 00:31:35.780 If you're anything like me, that might be me. 394 00:31:36.790 --> 00:31:38.690 I know how idolatrous I can be. 395 00:31:38.760 --> 00:31:41.890 I know how tempted I can be to wander away from the Lord. 396 00:31:43.990 --> 00:31:49.400 And the only hope I have is that God might be gracious to grant me hope in Him, and he has in Christ. 397 00:31:50.490 --> 00:31:51.750 He would do that for you. 398 00:31:51.820 --> 00:31:56.540 He would do that for anyone who will hope in Jesus and not themselves. 399 00:31:57.550 --> 00:32:01.450 But whether you do that or you don't do that, you will bow. 400 00:32:02.110 --> 00:32:02.860 Why? 401 00:32:03.310 --> 00:32:05.100 Because he really is God. 402 00:32:05.950 --> 00:32:13.040 He's not a fictional construct that we've made up to make this time legitimate and make us feel better about life, which is hard. 403 00:32:13.970 --> 00:32:17.040 He's reigning and ruling, and he always will. 404 00:32:17.410 --> 00:32:19.822 And he's not distant and he's not far off. 405 00:32:19.876 --> 00:32:22.290 And he does care deeply. 406 00:32:23.190 --> 00:32:24.930 He cares that you would actually know Him. 407 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:26.866 Not a caricature of him. 408 00:32:27.048 --> 00:32:28.322 You'd actually know him? 409 00:32:28.376 --> 00:32:35.270 Not a sentimental, concocted version of Him, but the one who actually loved in the shedding of the blood of his own son. 410 00:32:35.420 --> 00:32:41.800 So he'll love you forever, you love Him in return forever and ever and ever. 411 00:32:42.730 --> 00:32:45.382 And that, ultimately, is our hope. 412 00:32:45.516 --> 00:33:05.040 When you look at the new creation in Revelation, the last three chapters of Revelation, the people dwelling there with God in that new place that he's going to make, where he still declares, I'm their God and they're my people, it actually says the conclusion of Revelation 21. 413 00:33:06.130 --> 00:33:13.700 In that place, there's no need for the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light. 414 00:33:15.430 --> 00:33:21.860 Why has he made you and I to look at glory and be drawn to it? 415 00:33:22.470 --> 00:33:28.770 So when someone displays their greatness, somebody's great athletically, you got my attention. 416 00:33:28.930 --> 00:33:29.414 All right. 417 00:33:29.452 --> 00:33:34.294 I want to watch you play a game if you're not great athletically, I wish you were. 418 00:33:34.332 --> 00:33:35.062 I wish I was. 419 00:33:35.116 --> 00:33:35.366 All right. 420 00:33:35.388 --> 00:33:37.960 But I'm still going to watch the people that are really good at it. 421 00:33:38.890 --> 00:33:45.686 I'm going to watch someone and actually go into an art museum and see things that are rendered that actually look like a three year old didn't draw them. 422 00:33:45.708 --> 00:33:48.350 And there's a whole lot of stuff in art museums if you've been to one. 423 00:33:48.500 --> 00:33:51.566 I'm pretty sure my three year olds, when there were three, could draw better than that. 424 00:33:51.588 --> 00:33:51.902 All right. 425 00:33:51.956 --> 00:33:55.680 I'm not really sure how that's art, but it is in some people's estimation, I guess. 426 00:33:56.290 --> 00:34:01.982 I'm a listen to music, most of which is produced between 1967 and 1987. 427 00:34:02.036 --> 00:34:07.806 Those were the two decades where all good music was produced and recorded except for our band. 428 00:34:07.838 --> 00:34:08.274 They're good. 429 00:34:08.312 --> 00:34:08.914 They're really good. 430 00:34:08.952 --> 00:34:10.162 I just mean original music. 431 00:34:10.216 --> 00:34:10.482 Okay. 432 00:34:10.536 --> 00:34:11.940 I just mean original music. 433 00:34:12.310 --> 00:34:13.922 Yes, I showed my age a little bit. 434 00:34:13.976 --> 00:34:15.666 Like, did you start playing Almond Brothers Band? 435 00:34:15.698 --> 00:34:18.422 I will wander off the stage into the battle, like looking for it. 436 00:34:18.476 --> 00:34:18.726 All right. 437 00:34:18.748 --> 00:34:20.600 I'm very scattered in that way. 438 00:34:22.330 --> 00:34:31.260 The amazing thing is when God draws us in to behold his greatness and his glory, there are never any questions. 439 00:34:32.350 --> 00:34:33.900 Is he really that great? 440 00:34:34.910 --> 00:34:36.700 Is he really going to come through? 441 00:34:37.230 --> 00:34:41.870 Is it really all he says he is, or is this some kind of game we're playing? 442 00:34:43.410 --> 00:35:02.354 God is at great pains from COVID to cover in the Bible because it's his revelation of Himself to us and the revelation of His Son to us that we might believe in hope in Jesus so that we would actually give Him glory with our whole lives, the decisions we make, the things we think. 443 00:35:02.392 --> 00:35:12.998 But if we don't have a good notion of how passionate he is to be glorified so that we might know Him and know genuine love from Him, we will misread things. 444 00:35:13.164 --> 00:35:28.940 We will misunderstand life circumstances, and we'll fail to recognize how he's working in every single movement of our lives to uphold his name, his glory, so that we might praise Him. 445 00:35:29.950 --> 00:35:36.606 I like Bo, am really hopeful that the South Carolina Gamecocks will win the regional championship at Founders Park today. 446 00:35:36.708 --> 00:35:38.826 And Bo, I appreciate your sentiment about Clemson fans. 447 00:35:38.858 --> 00:35:40.346 I didn't know you could like a Clemson fan. 448 00:35:40.378 --> 00:35:43.534 So that's actually he's helping me in my spiritual walk is what I'm saying. 449 00:35:43.652 --> 00:35:44.154 I'm joking. 450 00:35:44.202 --> 00:35:45.178 Guys, calm down. 451 00:35:45.204 --> 00:35:46.126 The room got real cold. 452 00:35:46.158 --> 00:35:46.978 I'm sorry. 453 00:35:47.144 --> 00:35:49.810 I can mention the gospel all day long and we're good. 454 00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:52.334 I say Carolina, Clemson, we about to fight each other with knives. 455 00:35:52.382 --> 00:35:53.554 Like, I don't know why that just happened. 456 00:35:53.592 --> 00:35:53.986 I did that. 457 00:35:54.008 --> 00:35:54.574 I apologize. 458 00:35:54.622 --> 00:35:55.422 I apologize. 459 00:35:55.566 --> 00:35:58.466 I hope they win that and I hope they hoist the trophy. 460 00:35:58.498 --> 00:35:59.480 I really do. 461 00:36:00.570 --> 00:36:01.794 And I don't know if you have memories. 462 00:36:01.842 --> 00:36:06.518 Like, I'm getting older, so I got lots of memories now about sports events different events. 463 00:36:06.694 --> 00:36:10.694 Lots of Oscars best picture goes to Gladiator. 464 00:36:10.742 --> 00:36:13.366 Elizabeth Taylor does that weird inebriated speech. 465 00:36:13.398 --> 00:36:17.500 That was really weird, where she just said gladiator exuberantly over and over again. 466 00:36:18.670 --> 00:36:27.150 You have NBA championships where the greatest of all time, jordan Hoist the trophy and had that emblematically seared in my mind. 467 00:36:27.220 --> 00:36:28.846 My favorite trophy ever. 468 00:36:28.948 --> 00:36:30.174 It's going to tell you a little bit about me. 469 00:36:30.212 --> 00:36:33.326 My favorite trophy is the Winston Cup. 470 00:36:33.518 --> 00:36:35.634 That's my favorite trophy itself. 471 00:36:35.832 --> 00:36:39.006 And my favorite driver all time, Dalenhardt Senior. 472 00:36:39.198 --> 00:36:40.930 He got to lift that thing seven times. 473 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:45.966 All right, so I'll see your Kyle bush and raise you a Dale lernhardt. 474 00:36:45.998 --> 00:36:46.226 All right? 475 00:36:46.248 --> 00:36:52.102 So the whole idea is when you see him raise that up, I always was like, how do you pick that up, man? 476 00:36:52.236 --> 00:36:54.294 Because this is seventy s and eighty s we're talking about. 477 00:36:54.332 --> 00:36:56.040 He won the first one in 80s. 478 00:36:56.490 --> 00:37:00.746 It looks like somebody saw a desk in half and just put, like, another trophy on top of it. 479 00:37:00.848 --> 00:37:02.922 He's holding it, trying to push it up like that. 480 00:37:02.976 --> 00:37:07.210 So I love that trophy because it's so weighty. 481 00:37:07.950 --> 00:37:08.922 But you know what? 482 00:37:08.976 --> 00:37:25.140 No matter what the trophy is, those more famous ones I just mentioned, or a trophy you've won at some point in time, athletics, academics, whatever it is, nobody ever holds a trophy they're about to give you and says, okay, once I hand this to you, you will actually have achieved this. 483 00:37:26.630 --> 00:37:28.306 That's weird that I even said that to you, right? 484 00:37:28.328 --> 00:37:30.660 You're like, what are you even talking about right now? 485 00:37:31.270 --> 00:37:35.590 We intuitively say, this is because you are the champion. 486 00:37:36.330 --> 00:37:38.280 This is because you have won. 487 00:37:39.050 --> 00:37:41.090 This is because you have excelled. 488 00:37:41.170 --> 00:37:43.030 This is because you are elite. 489 00:37:44.330 --> 00:37:50.566 When God calls on us with our very lives to put our faith and hope in Jesus and bring glory to Him, give Him glory. 490 00:37:50.678 --> 00:37:52.890 He doesn't have a puzzle piece missing. 491 00:37:53.390 --> 00:37:54.460 He's God. 492 00:37:54.990 --> 00:37:57.526 We're not giving Him something that he's needy. 493 00:37:57.558 --> 00:37:58.038 The Bible's. 494 00:37:58.054 --> 00:37:58.694 Very explicit. 495 00:37:58.742 --> 00:38:00.094 He's not served by human hands. 496 00:38:00.132 --> 00:38:09.946 If he needs anything because he doesn't, it pleases him to share his life with you and to give you life where you wouldn't have it otherwise. 497 00:38:10.138 --> 00:38:13.070 And giving glory is like giving that trophy. 498 00:38:13.230 --> 00:38:14.770 God, you are great. 499 00:38:14.920 --> 00:38:16.526 You are incredible. 500 00:38:16.718 --> 00:38:20.462 You are beyond what we can even understand or know fully. 501 00:38:20.526 --> 00:38:24.680 And yet you have called us your own by faith in Christ that we can know you. 502 00:38:25.450 --> 00:38:27.746 We give you glory. 503 00:38:27.938 --> 00:38:30.166 We give it to you because you're deserving of it. 504 00:38:30.188 --> 00:38:33.160 We're recognizing how great you already are. 505 00:38:33.690 --> 00:38:42.170 The temptation in all of life, which will continue to be the temptation is we want to take that trophy and rip it out of his hands and give it to ourselves. 506 00:38:43.150 --> 00:38:44.390 This is mine. 507 00:38:44.550 --> 00:38:46.394 I'm going to do what I want to do. 508 00:38:46.592 --> 00:38:49.318 I'm going to self determine what's right and appropriate. 509 00:38:49.414 --> 00:38:51.614 I'm not going to submit myself to God. 510 00:38:51.812 --> 00:38:55.280 I'm not going to understand that he actually is who he says he is. 511 00:38:56.610 --> 00:39:03.380 As we journey through Scripture, my prayer is that we'll see that he really is who he says he is. 512 00:39:03.990 --> 00:39:11.490 And ultimately, he's determined to see glory come to Him, because he does love us. 513 00:39:11.640 --> 00:39:14.200 That's the basis of his love for us. 514 00:39:14.650 --> 00:39:16.658 And he secured that forever. 515 00:39:16.754 --> 00:39:18.054 Because he didn't spare his son. 516 00:39:18.092 --> 00:39:18.870 Jesus. 517 00:39:19.770 --> 00:39:24.360 He actually gave him so that all the punishment we deserve might go to Him. 518 00:39:24.970 --> 00:39:34.700 And all the belonging as sons and daughters might come to us, and we might be included with Him, not just for a few moments or for a day or for a season of life. 519 00:39:35.710 --> 00:39:37.210 For all eternity. 520 00:39:38.050 --> 00:39:39.280 Let's pray together. 521 00:39:43.250 --> 00:39:44.846 God, we want to praise you. 522 00:39:44.948 --> 00:39:52.350 Even in looking at this text and these texts of Scripture today, we want to recognize that you're a great and glorious. 523 00:39:54.370 --> 00:39:56.546 We utter words, we try to communicate that. 524 00:39:56.568 --> 00:39:59.860 We try to reflect that back to you because you revealed Yourself to us. 525 00:40:00.470 --> 00:40:01.586 Or we want to do that. 526 00:40:01.608 --> 00:40:02.722 We want to do that in words. 527 00:40:02.776 --> 00:40:03.774 We want to do that in actions. 528 00:40:03.822 --> 00:40:05.250 We want to do that in the way we live our lives. 529 00:40:05.320 --> 00:40:09.842 And God, we recognize that many times we can be self centered. 530 00:40:09.906 --> 00:40:13.046 I certainly can be self centered, God, far more than I want to be. 531 00:40:13.068 --> 00:40:30.230 And I thank you that in Your mercy, in Your compassion, you undo that self centeredness, that you actually give us the mind of Christ who humbled Himself and took on flesh and dwelled among us to rescue us and bring us to You, Father. 532 00:40:30.310 --> 00:40:49.330 And so I would pray for everybody in this room, everybody online, everybody we interact with in the balance of our lives, God, that we would plead for them to know your greatness and your glory in the gospel of jesus Christ that no one we know would not have opportunity to believe in Jesus. 533 00:40:50.070 --> 00:41:10.630 That you might let light shine out of darkness and that they might see the knowledge of the glory of Christ that you might be glorified in all of that and all that we do, we thank you, Lord, for Your faithfulness and Your mercy, even in giving us Your word and Your truth, giving us Your son. 534 00:41:10.700 --> 00:41:12.342 We pray these things in his name. 535 00:41:12.476 --> 00:41:13.430 Amen. 536 00:41:16.970 --> 00:41:17.694 You. 537 00:41:17.852 --> 00:41:22.282 Thanks again for listening, and be sure to check back next week for another episode. 538 00:41:22.426 --> 00:41:30.590 In the meantime, you can visit us@willeridgechurch.org or by searching for Willow Ridgechurch on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.