And I don't want to puff Colby up, but he's dead on. The chief end for God in everything is to glorify himself, to bring his own self-glory. If you were to look in the second chapter of the book of Philippians, hold your place there in Jude. The look into the second chapter of the book of Philippians And we'll begin reading in verse five. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. So Paul is telling us to see humility. And we heard this at the conference, that we're to have humility. If God himself can show humility, then surely his people can show humility. They took upon him the form of a servant. Remember, Brother Jerry had brought that up. Servitude. And was made in the likeness of men. And being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. It's important that we see his obedience there. If Christ, again, is obedient, then his children ought to be obedient. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him. The exaltation of Christ comes from who he is, right? Just like we've read in Jude 25 already that glory and majesty, dominion and power belong to him. Well, exaltation or lifted-up-edness belongs to him. And he's given a name which is above every name. That it's the name of Jesus. Every knee should bow. Doing what? We've read, and we'll read again most likely tonight in Romans chapter 9, that in the salvation of sinners, God receives glory, and in the judgment of sinners, God receives glory. He receives glory in everything, and if He is to love anybody, He loves us to glorify Himself. What's your memory verse? Right? Aren't we made the righteousness of God in Him to walk in so that He would receive glory? You young men studied in Ephesians chapter 2 a couple months ago now that in the ages to come we will see the riches of His glory. Didn't you see that? So everything points to the glory of God. So as a Baptist distinctive, the reason we meet here and not down the road is a lot of folks teach things that God can do for us, what he's done for us, but we are to have the mindset to give glory and honor to God. That's the end of it. And that distinguishes us as a group, whatever size we are, from everybody. It says that in the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in the earth and things under the earth. So without exception, everything will bow. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Glory. It's the chief end. It's the desire and it will happen. It's the purpose of God that he will receive glory in all things. He really will. If you look in the book of Jude, we're going to look at this last word. Let's read verse 25 here, to the only one, back up, let's read 24, it's a continuation here. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding or triumphant joy. To the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. And as you recall, those two verses, there's a tremendous wealth of information in those two verses. But I want to look just for a few minutes tonight at that last word, Amen. That's the name of the message tonight, Amen. We're going to have one more message in June, kind of as a summary, but I really wanted to look at this word, Amen, tonight. It's needful to understand what this word means. What does it mean? What should we understand from this word, young men? What should we understand from it? And what should be the application in our lives upon hearing and reading this word? Let's look at some definitions for this word, if you please. And they're simple. OK, so if we were going to learn a foreign language, and we had a word. Logan, pick a word. Thank you. If we wanted to say thank you in another language, it would have to be translated. So what's thank you in another language? Anybody know? Gracias. OK, that's gracias in Spanish. That's great. So you see how you have one word, and there's another word that means the same thing, but in a different language. Well, in the New Testament, the word amen is also spoken, and that's in the Greek, it's also spoken in the Hebrew, in the Old Testament, the same way. It's the same word that they spoke, and it's the same pronunciation and everything. It has the same meaning, from the Hebrew to the Greek. Okay? So this is a universal word, right? So what does this word mean? It's not just a statement, but it's a firm statement, and it means faithfulness. There's four definitions, and I'll give you all four of them. It means faithfulness. In other words, it means it's constant or steadfast. And it's true to fact or the original. Whatever the original is, it's true to that. So, whenever Jude says at the conclusion of this verse, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. He's saying faithfulness. Steadfast is true to the original. So if he means it in that way, what must be the original thing? Young man, what's the original? God. So he's saying everything about God that he just named in verse 25 is both faithful and steadfast and true to who God is. There is no change of who God is compared to what he just said. Now this is a word, and the reason I had Hallie sit up front too, is you folks are the next generation. Okay? You're the next generation. And the reason that I want you all particularly to be paying attention to this stuff is it seems like there's a great falling away. In the past two days, and I want to see all four of y'all's eyeballs, in the past two days, I have found out that in the past two months, a pastor my age has resigned from his church and joined up with another affiliation. And he was a pastor of a Sovereign Grace landmark missionary Baptist church, resigned, and now he's not one of us. Another pastor resigned just a few days ago, who had been pastoring for 30 years or so. He had his reasons, but there's a falling away it seems like, gradual. And this is just the past few days. This is happening. But pray to God that you would be persistent in your study and that you would know what God's Word says to the point where at the end, or when someone gives glory to God and focusing on God, then you will say out loud with your mouths, and you have, Amen. Faithfulness. Now notice, I might be getting ahead of myself. When we amen, folks, we're not amening, folks. Okay? We're not amening, folks. When I hear amen, you're not saying, good job, Joey, pat on the back, Joey, amen. Amen means God is great and glorious, and he's worthy of all praise and honor and glory, and amen to that. Right? That's what that means. So what can happen, and it has happened in a lot of places, not here, but what can happen is that because folks don't prepare all week long to come to the house of the Lord to hear how glorious God is, They don't have an ear trained to hear how great and glorious God is. It ought to be on the tip of your tongue when you hear the glory of God to say, Amen! That's right! And this is something I need to work on too. I'm not preaching at you guys. This is something I need to work on too. I've got the bad habit of saying Amen but saying it under my breath. Does God deserve to be glorified under my breath? Absolutely not. No. Absolutely not. The second definition. If Amen is said at the beginning of a sentence, it's saying everything that's about to be said has both veracity and truthfulness. And veracity is another way of saying truth-telling. It's a truth-telling statement, and it has truthfulness in it. So if we say, amen, listen up, that means, hey, I might have been lying before, but everything I'm saying here is true. But there is no lie in God, right? So when Jesus would say, barely, or truly, or faithfully, he's saying, essentially, amen, here it is. So at the beginning, it's saying, here it is. At the end of a statement, it's also giving a word of assurance. But also, as custom, it was spoken by the hearers So it's by saying, that is true, amen, that's right. In the last couple hundred years I suppose they've inserted preach on brother and that type of thing. But the word amen means I would agree and I like what you're saying because it's glorifying God so much that I wish I would have said it. Right? It's so God honoring Not as man-pleasing, but as God-honoring, I desire that I would have said it, Amen. When we hear someone telling how great God is, it ought to be our joy with a smile to say, Yeah! Yeah, it is right! There's conditions, and we'll look at them in just a moment. But largely, the word Amen is an interjection. Who knows what an interjection is? What's an interjection? What's an interjection? Yes, but do you interject softly or do you interject loudly? If you want to interrupt somebody in their saying, if you want to say something, it's usually a call. It's a speak up kind of a thing. And it's a speak up firm word of trustworthiness, meaning so be it or so it is. So if we say God is the only wise God, and He's our Savior, and glory and majesty and dominion and power belong to Him, both now and ever, it ought to be a resounding Amen! Amen! That's trustworthy, and it is how it is, because God is who He is, and He is how He ought to be. Amen. Now, something that we do have to guard ourselves with with this word. Y'all ever heard someone speaking and they amen themselves? That can be a point of ego. So we're not going to be looking at that at all, at a point of ego. No, this whole operation, the reason God has saved us, the reason he has put us in his church, the reason we assemble here tonight is because we desire to declare the glory of God. Now God in his glory, he saves sinners. And that's great. But his chief ambition was to deface sinners from the sin. Even in working in our lives, child of God, he did that ultimately for his own glory. We just received benefit from it. So glory, that's why he has chosen us as vessels of honor, is to bring him glory. Breaking these statements down, we see that the word Amen is indeed a firm recognition of the truthfulness and faithfulness of a statement or action compared to the original, who is God, and testifies with interjection the rightness or truthfulness of that statement, compared to God, with submission." That word is important, submission. So what does that mean? Why is it important we say it with submission? Because if we only aim in things that make us feel comfortable, then our flesh won't let us aim in things or say that it's right if it's contrary to the flesh. Does that make sense? It's hard to agree with something that's kicking us in the knee. Right? You hear that? But if we agree with God, then that comes with repentance. So, young men, you have the Spirit of Truth in you. If you hear something that is God-honoring, but contradictory to the flesh, even though it stings a little, it ought to be our natural response to say, Amen, because guess what? God is always right. Because all power, glory, dominion, and majesty belong to Him. Every thought, regardless, source or whatever, so it is, so it shall be. The first part of our definition gives us quite a bit of direction here. Faithfulness to the facts of the original. That's God himself. Just before Jude offers the recognition of Amen, What did he say? Again, verse 25. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen. He's not amening himself. He's amening the greatness of God, the glory of God. He recognizes the Father, as he said in verse 1. to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called." He's recognizing the greatness of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the only wise God, our Savior, as being just that. Again, having glory, all glory, all majesty, all dominion, all power. Verse 2, "...that mercy and peace and love be multiplied according to the infinite multiplier of God himself." Yes, he is declaring the greatness of God. So then, primarily, he uses, Jude uses this word to give glory and honor to the Lord as he is truthful to the original, because he is the original. He is the only wise God. And again, Jude did not amen himself there. He gave amen to the Lord of hosts. The natural conclusion, then, is when Not if, but we are to amen. We are to amen. When we do that, when we say amen, it is the glory of God again. We are proclaiming the truthfulness of God as evidence in the word of God. When we speak, we do not speak to get amens. Young men, I really want you to be careful of this. In 1 Timothy, if you would please, and I'm going to give you, I'm not calling any of y'all to preach, but I do want to give you some caution because in your reading, it's very easy to get caught up in ego, okay? So look in 1 Timothy chapter 3. This is talking about the calling of a pastor, okay? The calling of a pastor. But I want you to look specifically at verse 6. He says that this man who is called as a pastor should not be a novice, or a beginner, or a rookie. Why? Less being lifted up with pride, he'd fall into the condemnation of the devil. You know, certain pats on the back can inflate our heads a little bit. Okay? So when you come up here and you do your devotional readings, and they're very good, and you do your studies, and they're very good, when you hear Amen, Don't take confidence in yourself. Take confidence that the Lord, he is good, that he is worthy of praise. And you're not receiving the praise of men and the honor of men. Please, please recognize that. 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6. We're giving rightly applause to the Lord God himself and saying amen. It bows in recognition to his supremacy and the factuality, the factness of God is revealed in his word. God tells us what he would have us know about himself in his word. And it's very humiliating to the flesh. It bows recognition and supremacy to the Lord. and it cries out with a firm trustworthiness of submission the word Amen does. Lord you're high and lift it up, Amen is the thought. So be it, so it is. I want to have you all consider a few passages so you can see throughout the entire Word of God it's the same theme used with this word. First of all I'd like you to turn to 1 Chronicles if you would. 1 Chronicles please. And this is a fairly lengthy passage, but there's a building to it. David, he's written a song here for the ark coming in and coming into the tent. 1 Chronicles 16. 1 Chronicles is right before 2 Chronicles, if that makes it easier to find. 2 Kings, then 1 Chronicles. Let's read it. So they brought the ark of God and set it in the midst of the tent. that David had pitched for it, and they offered sacrifices and peace offerings before God. Now we have to remember, this artifact that God had put in there, that He had made them to design, it was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Men had touched this thing, and just touching it out of order, they were stricken dead. It was a very sobering thing to approach this Ark of God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread and a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord and to record and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Asaph, the chief, and next to him Zechariah, Jael, and Jemariah, and Jehil, and Medithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-Edom, and Jael, and with psalteries, and with hearts. But Asaph made a sound with cymbals. Benaiah also, and Jeheziel, the priest, with trumpets, continually before the ark of the covenant of God. Then on that day, David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand of Asaph and his brethren. Look at the content of this psalm. Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Ask yourselves in this psalm, is this a desperate attempt to glorify the Lord? It seems like it is. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him. Talk ye of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in his name. Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his face continually. Remember his marvelous works that he hath done, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth. O ye seed of Israel, his servants, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones, He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. Be ye mindful always of his covenant, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac. You remember the Abrahamic covenant, right? Genesis chapter 12? Still true. And hath confirmed the saying to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance. When you were but few, even a few, and strangers in it, and when they went from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people, he suffered no man to do them wrong, yea, he reproved kings for their sakes. Saying, Touch not mine anointment, and do my prophets no harm. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Show forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen, his marvelous works among all nations. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Glory and honor are in His presence. Strength and gladness are in His place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindred of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory. Do His name. Bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Fear before him all the earth. The world also shall be stable, that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let men stay among the nations. The Lord reigneth. Let the sea roar, let the fullness thereof. Let the fields rejoice in all that is therein. Then shall the trees of the woods sing out at the presence of the Lord, because He cometh to judge the earth. O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. And say ye, save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name and glory in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. And all the people said, Amen. And praise the Lord. Didn't that just make you want to shout for glory and hop up into the heavens? How magnificent is God? So when the people heard this song, their natural praise, all of the people said, Amen, praise the Lord. That ought to be our conclusion when we hear such greatness of our God and our King. He is great. That's the conclusion. The whole nation. They didn't amen David. David was a sinful rascal, you know. He was a man. He had problems. But when they heard these things, they didn't hear the voice of these singers who were sinners. And they didn't think, you know what, that's good David, but I know something about you. No. They heard the glory of the Lord and they shouted amen and praised the Lord. That ought to be our hearts. To bring glory and honor to the name of the Lord. And when we hear glory and honor to the Lord being brought, to say Amen. Amen. Praise the Lord. That's the deal there. It was a God-honoring thing to cry out truthfulness and verily and so it be and so it is. God. That is Him. That is His name. He is the Lord of hosts. Consider the glory of God was displayed on that occasion. We must cry out, Amen. There are numerous occasions in the Bible when Amen was shouted for the glory of God. Let's read briefly some of these. Turn to Matthew, if you would, and the passages to come are not nearly as lengthy. I just wanted to read that one because, man, that was a powder keg of just the glory of God, wasn't it? Matthew chapter 6, please. We could be here for a good long, well that's what eternity is, isn't it? Bringing glory to the Lord. So we're just catching this in a 30 minute lesson here. Matthew chapter 6. We read about the Lord's prayer and the Lord himself, the sample prayer that is, and the Lord himself inserted Amen into the sample prayer. So when we say Amen and when you pray and people say Amen, it's not because you're so great, young men, it's because God is great. Look at chapter 6 verse 9, it says, After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And we studied this out. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Why? For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Lord, we're sinners. We're debtors. We struggle to forgive, Lord, but forgive us. But Lord, everything belongs to you and yours is all glory. It belongs to you. Truthfulness and trustworthiness belong to you, oh Lord. That ought to be how we pray. That ought to be how we function as a church. Look over, if you want to Matthew chapter 28. We ought to function shouting hallelujah and amen as a church. Matthew chapter 28 verse 18. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power, all authority, is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. That Amen isn't talking about how great we are as a church. That Amen is coming from how great God is that He has empowered His church, that He's given such a great duty to such sinful people. Right? All power was given to Him, and He gave us all power or authority to do what He told us to do. We ought to amen the Lord for allowing us to even assemble like this. He's called us from our sins and put us in an assembly where His power is evident. He is worthy of recognition for such glory. If you look in the book of Luke, please, chapter 24, He's the most glorious God. Matthew chapter 24. Please, if you would, and this is a longer passage here, but I think it's okay. Verse 34, please. Okay, so the people have just come from the road to Emmaus, and they just heard that Jesus had spoken with them, and they were just burning, and they were on fire. Verse 34, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them, and breaking of bread. And as they had thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen a spirit or a ghost. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Where's this doubt coming from, y'all? He says. But hold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me. And see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb. What's that mean? Ghosts can't eat, y'all. Right? There are spirits, and I would strongly discourage you from trying to call upon any spirits, but there are spirits out there, but a spirit can't have a fish sandwich like Jesus just had here. A spirit can't eat. A ghost won't hold him, but he takes it. And they gave him a piece and a honeycomb, verse 43, and he took it and did eat before them, before their very eyes. He's no ghost. And he said unto them, These are the words which I speak unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. What did he just say? He just declared himself the Amen of the prophets and the psalmists who wrote of him in the first place. Didn't he? He did. He just declared himself to Amen. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, which pointed to him, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all the nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send you a promise of the Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. That's in Acts chapter 1. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple Praising and blessing God. Amen. Amen isn't just saying that truly that's what they did. The Amen is there duly because they were praising and blessing God. And they were to be confirmed. And it was just truthfulness. They were praising and blessing God in truthfulness because God himself is truthfulness. A few more passages here. If you would, please look in Galatians. Galatians 1. Verse 3. Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver or save us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Boy, that's a truthful statement, isn't it? That's a wonderful statement. He's a wonderful God. You see where this word is applied. 1 Timothy chapter 1, please, in verse 17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. There's a few more passages here. Now, as we read these, we could spend much time on each, but what's the central theme? Young men, what's the central theme in these things? What is each one of these words, what's it bringing out? What's it showing us? The glory of God. That's right. 1 Peter 4, verse 11. I think I'm in the right place. Yes. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. 1 Peter 4, verse 11. 1 Peter 4, verse 11. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. It better be scriptural, y'all. That's what he's saying. It better be the Word of God. If any man minister, Let him do it as one of the ability which God give us. That God in all things may be glorified. Not that the man will be glorified. Not at all. That's not the business here. The business is the glory of God. Through Jesus Christ. To whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. A couple passages lastly here in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 1 verse 18. Amen is a God word, it's not a man word. It's a word directed toward God himself. It's a reiteration of the glory of God. Revelation chapter 1 verse 18. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus himself. Amen. Himself. Chapter 3, verse 14. And unto the angel of the church of Laodicea write, These things saith thee, Amen. Not saith and say Amen. It says, These things saith thee, Amen. The verily and true. And notice Amen is capitalized there. He calls himself that name. The faithful and true witness. Witness of what? The testimony, the things that were written about him in the first place. The beginning of the creation of God or from the beginning, before the beginning. He is God. He never changes. You could read the entirety of the 5th chapter that speaks of the overwhelming godness of God. We'll read verses 13 and 14. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and unto the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen! And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever." It's a worship thing. Again, it's toward God, it's not toward man. Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22, verses 20 and 21. He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Testifying of the goodness and the grace toward sinners in Jesus Christ. There are many other scriptures. It's a vast word and it would take an exhaustive study, again it would take eternity to even begin to find the depths of the glory of God. We'll be shouting Amen throughout all the ages. Many other scriptures could be read, but these will do. What is the central theme of Amen? Is it not the glory of God? It is. It's the glory of God. That's exactly why Jude uses this term in Jude 25, to underscore the glory of God. Jude is not to be recognized. God is to be recognized for glory, dominion, power, and majesty in all things. He is Amening to only wise God. What are the conditions? We'll look at some conditions of amen. This is important. Let's go ahead and hit these. What are the conditions? We must be in agreement. Right? Can two walk together unless they agree? No. It doesn't make sense to say amen to somebody if you don't agree with them. Right? So logically, saved people should say amen, minimally say, people should say amen when something is God-honoring or God-glorifying. Ladies, we don't want you shouting out. We're not going to lose control here. Don't shout out amen. Don't say it. But in your minds, you ought to be screaming amen when appropriate. When appropriate. When the glory of God, because, young ladies, Well, ladies of all ages, I sound like a carnival barker. Just like these young men ought to be coming in with a desire to hear words that glorify God, you ought to be coming in specifically to hear words that glorify God and be quick in the mind to say, Amen. Quick in the mind, because Like a snake, you know, if you're not looking for it, you can step right on it and not know it. But if you're looking for it, it'll pop out. If you're looking for it, God will show you His glory. It'll be revealed in the Word of God. So we ought to come into this place looking for the glory of God to be revealed. And I want to say something, and I'm not just saying this to say it, I mean it with all sincerity. If you all start coming in here, and whoever's speaking is not bringing glory and honor to God, then it's time for a conversation. One of y'all, Lex, Logan, Colby, Gary, one of y'all needs to have a conversation with us and say, no, something's missing here. Have a conversation with us. We ought to take it so seriously that we would risk an uncomfortable conversation that the glory of God would prevail out of this place. That's how important it is. So, We ought to be very much aware of what the glory of God is proclaimed from this place. The speaker must point to the faithfulness of the original who is God himself. That means that I can't come over here and you young men can't come in and just tell people what we think or politics and all that. There's no time for all that. There's no time for stories. were to proclaim the greatness of God. You read the Psalms and tell me if David, if he spent his time talking about the greatness of God. That's what this Bible is about, is the greatness of God, the glory of God, from beginning to end. So, to amen, you must agree. Number two, you must be agreeing that God in his faithfulness is being proclaimed in glory and reiterating God must be glorified. Who gives God glory? Well, technically, in the book of Romans, we see that saved people give God glory, lost people give God glory, everything gives God glory, but specifically, specifically God receives glory in his church. Okay, this is important here. What you got going over there, Logan? Alright, you need help? The speaker must be pointing to the faithfulness of God. So he must be in agreement, he must be pointing to the faithfulness of God, and also giving God glory. Those are two different things. So, while all creation proclaims the glory of God, specifically, The Lord receives glory in his church. Look in Ephesians, if you would, please, in chapter 3 and verse 2. I wrote down, let's see. That's the wrong verse. Is it verse 12? No. Is it chapter 2, verse 2? No. The verse itself says, unto him be glory in the church. Where are you? You're in Ephesians. What? 321, brother. 321. I left off the one. Thank you. Unto him be... See? He takes sinful men who sometimes can't write things down right. Thank you, brother Adam. Unto him be glory where? In the church. Now, he receives glory everywhere, but specifically his true church that he started is to give him glory by Christ Jesus throughout all ages. Well, that tells us that while Christ is throughout all ages, that the church would also be throughout all ages, doesn't it? That's just logical. That's chapter 3, verse 21. You're welcome. He says throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. So yes, we do see that the church will roll on, as the song says, but it's because Jesus Christ will have it do so. Now, in Christ having it do so, that also tells us that if God receives glory in His church, that it differentiates that He doesn't receive glory in a false gospel in something that's not His church. Does that make sense? Yeah? Does that make sense? So, if he specifically receives glory in his church, and that's where we hear the glory of God, that's where believers ought to be. And on the other side of that coin, we would be wrong to participate in false churches, and we would be wrong to have fellowship in a church capacity with false churches. We would be wrong to go gather for some church gathering to get the community together. That would be wrong under the church premises. It would be wrong for me to invite a Presbyterian who believes in the sovereignty of God. It would be wrong for me to invite him into this church and speak. It would be wrong for me to amen one of these fellows. Did you catch that? Why? What's our definition? Go back to the definition. Was it one of the cardinal things in our definition? That it must be faithful to the original? Well, if the Lord Jesus Christ received glory in the church and minimally someone is not faithful in a church capacity that gives him glory, how can we say that they're faithful to the original? We can't. Now there are good men that say good things, but they are not to be amen. That might sound like such a small thing, but if we say amen, then in our minds it becomes difficult for us to differentiate the two, doesn't it? Wouldn't it? It would. Does God receive... How do I want to say this? Would a husband receive glory for someone calling his wife names? No. Would a husband receive glory if he had wives that were not behaving like wives? No. These other institutions cannot be the bride of Christ. So if someone's not part of the Bride of Christ, Brother Gary, in the Word of God, what do they call these other churches? What do they call? The Whore of Harlot Daughters? Yeah. In Revelation. In Revelation. That's exactly what they are. So if we're amening, Logan, what in the world are you doing, man? If we were to amen or agree with certain of these churches, then we're actually bringing dishonor and stripping glory from Christ. Wouldn't we be? Yes. That's how serious these things are. That's how serious these things are. Men specifically in the churches are to call Amen, and the women are to keep silent. You can look in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 for that. Chapter 14, verses 34 and 35. Let your women keep silent in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them seek their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. So it's awful hard to say something and be quiet at the same time. That's why I mentioned earlier that you ladies in your mind be, when appropriate, be saying Amen. And I think you probably are. But consciously do that. Consciously come in straining to hear the grace of God, the glory of God. If these conditions are not met, then folks are not to say Amen to them. We went to Brother, and this is shameful, we went to Brother We went to a funeral and there were some Armenian Baptists that were speaking. Do you all know what the word Armenian means? Do you know what that word means? A-R-M-I-N-I-A-N. Okay, so write that word down. Armenian. A-R-M-I-N-I-A-N. A-R... A-R-M-I-N-I-A-N, Arminian. So we say that we hold the doctrine of grace. Who knows what the doctrine of grace is? There are five points. Anybody know what the five points are? There's a total of two of them, that's right. So write them down here briefly. It's an acronym. The T stands for total depravity, meaning men are all the way sinful. Total depravity. For T. Total depravity. T-U-L-I-T. This is grace. The doctrine of grace. Total depravity. I guess I know what we're learning next Tuesday. It's okay. This isn't stuff you're just born with. So total depravity. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Limited Atonement. Limited Atonement. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election. Irresistible grace. Irresistible grace. And the P, there's two P's. Perseverance and preservation of the saints. And I'm going to go over this stuff next Tuesday then. So when you're done writing, I'd like for you to put your pens down and just listen for a few minutes, OK? I've never heard of that. Put your pens down. I want you to just listen for the next few minutes, you guys, OK? I want this to make sense, OK? When you're ready. So what all that stuff means, total depravity, is that when Adam fell, he fell all the way. He was dead in sin. You read in Ephesians chapter 2 that we were dead in sin. Can a dead man do anything? Can a dead man do anything? No. Okay, so totally depraved, completely without any power. Unconditional election would mean that God, as you read in Ephesians chapter 1, before time, selected a people for His purpose. And there was no condition on it, meaning there wasn't anything that I had done, it was completely based on His will. A limited atonement means that Christ specifically died for the people that the Father gave Him. So when we say preserved in Jesus Christ, we're talking about Jesus dying only for those people that the Father gave Him. And you all saw that in John 3 that the Spirit called the people that Jesus died for who the Father gave Him. Irresistible grace means that everybody that Jesus died for Remember John chapter 6, no man can come unto me except the Father draw him. Well that drawing, you can try to catch a fish and be drawn in it, it'll unhook itself and take off. Well a child of God will not unhook itself, it will be drawn in. Right? Irresistible. He will get his catch. And because he will get his catch, we will be preserved. Right? Maintained. Kept. Throughout all eternity. So, what an Armenian believes is that man has a part in all that stuff. Okay? So specifically, at this funeral, these Armenians were saying that this person had died and they were a believer, and it sounded almost good. But these preachers said that they went to John chapter 3 and said that God loves everybody, and wants to save everybody, if you would only believe him, he'll save you. And there were sovereign grace Baptist men who were amening that stuff because it sounded so subtle. I would caution you, be careful who you listen to, and have your ears tuned to be hearing the glory of God, and don't be deceived. Because it's easy. I've been deceived before. It's easy to be deceived. Don't be deceived. If someone is not of light faith, meaning if they couldn't stand here with authority and speak to you, don't amen them. Even if it sounds good, don't amen them. Because they're ultimately operating outside of the Lord's church. Acting outside of God's design. God designed that he would have glory in the church in this age. So operating outside of that is God's dishonoring. Isn't that the opposite of honor? Dishonor is God's false prophets. They're false prophets. That's exactly right. And they may have sound intentions. But they're wrong. They're dead wrong. Be careful. Be very careful. The truth is so important. We're not to amen reformers or even those that would preach their own agendas or selves. There are there are sovereign grace Baptist men that preach short stories and agendas and pet peeves. And we are not to amen that stuff. We might like it, we might identify with it, it might sound good, but we are not to amen that stuff. We are to amen and shout the glory of God, that He holds all power, dominion, glory, and majesty, both now and ever. The Lord is certainly worthy. And again, we're not, I know it's late, I know we're getting tired, we're not amening and we're not preaching ourselves, we're preaching the glory of God. Now sinners, I want you to hear this, because this is very important also. The Amen. The true and faithful witness. He will have his way. That's why he's called the Amen. Everything that he has declared about himself, he will verify it according to himself. He will. He says he'll judge sinners. He will. He says that He's going to bring many sons to glory. He will. He says He's going to have glory in the church throughout the age. He will. He says He's bringing tribulation upon this earth. He will. He says He's going to reestablish Israel to Himself in the kingdom. He will. Why? All of the above for His glory. All of the above, we should say Amen. Because all through the Bible, the word Amen is written concerning God and these things and His beauty. Sinner, he is the Amen. I would encourage you to see him as the Amen. Repent of your sin. Beg him for mercy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And then shout Amen. And then shout Amen. Brother Gary, would you please come and lead us in a hymn of invitation. If the Lord has revealed himself unto you, please make it known in the church. Church. Glorify the Lord in all that we say and do and shout Amen and Hallelujah. Praise ye the Lord.