We are in the middle of a simple survey, really, of the Gospel of John, of some passages in the Gospel of John that clearly teach us that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. That he is deity, undiminished, uncreated, in the fullness of God. Jesus is God himself. When he walked on this earth, men saw God in human flesh. It's an astonishing thing to contemplate. if we'd step back from our familiarity with it and contemplate it for a while. Conducting this study to reinforce our understanding of that, to bring us again face to face with Christ. Because when we see Christ in all of his glory, we see him for who he really is, it has a transforming effect on us as well. We're able to worship more properly, more truly, when the deity of Christ is clearly in our minds. When we're truly mindful of his deity, when he speaks to us in the pages of scripture, The obligation to obey Him and to worship Him is clearer because we realize that He speaks with the full authority of being intrinsically God. This is important. And what we've seen so far, and I'm not going to review any scriptures with this. You can get the CDs from the last couple of weeks. We've seen four points so far, and I'm going to finish the last three today. But the first four points that we saw is the Bible calls Jesus God. Plainly, simply, without qualification, the Bible calls Jesus God in John 1.1. We're just limiting our little survey here to the Gospel of John. Of course, there are other places in the Scripture where we could go, but for the sake of convenience and time, we're sticking with the Gospel. The Bible calls Jesus God. Second point that we looked at last week is that Jesus does the works of God. He said, whatever the Father does, these things also the Son does in like manner. And so whatever God does is what Jesus does. The only person who can do the works of God is God himself. That's simple enough. This isn't complicated. Thirdly, we saw that Jesus has the name of God. In John 8, 58, he said, before Abraham was born, I am. He took the divine name from Exodus 3, 14 and applied it to himself. A staggering assertion of deity that that unique self-disclosure of God, that name by which he said he would be known, Jesus says, that name is mine. Last point that we saw last time is that Jesus has full unity with God. In John 10.30, he said, I and the Father are one. And we talked about the context of that and so forth, and that's what we've covered over the past two weeks. These things are clear, these things are compelling. And one of the things that I've said through the past couple of weeks is that it's very accurate to say the Gospel of John begins and ends with the deity of Christ. In a macro-cosmic sense, it opens up with John 1 saying that the Word was with God and the Word was God. Verse 14, the Word became flesh. A clear, unambiguous, unmistakable reference to Jesus Christ. And then at the end of the gospel, except for a little epilogue in chapter 21, it ends with Thomas's great confession that we're going to look at, my Lord and my God. And Jesus said, blessed are those who make that same confession without seeing me to be able to believe it. And so in a macro sense, in a transcendent sense, Jesus is God and the gospel of John is designed repeatedly through signs and the words of Jesus. to bring you to the point where you yourself would make that same confession. And take that macro transcendent confession and make it personal to you, my Lord and my God. And thus express in content what John means when he says, whoever believes in him will have eternal life. That's where we're at, that's why we're doing that, this is why it's so important. Now we're going to move into new material for today. And point number five in this series that I want you to write out, if you're taking notes, is in point number five, Jesus perfectly reveals God the Father. He perfectly reveals God the Father, stated differently. He shows us exactly what God is like. without diminishment, without remainder. Everything that you see in Jesus is what God is like. Jesus makes that very clear in John chapter 14. Turn there with me if you would. John chapter 14. This is a familiar passage, especially in the first six verses. Sometimes we don't go on and see what follows in the following four or five verses. Let me just read John 14, 1 to 3 to kind of set the passage in your mind, where Jesus, speaking to his disciples shortly before he would be betrayed and crucified, he says to them, chapter 14, verse 1, do not let your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And, verse three, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And so Jesus here on this very sober evening is telling his disciples that he will be leaving soon. and the weight of that bears upon the minds of his disciples. And knowing that he is about to go to the cross, Jesus neglects his own suffering that he is about to undergo, and he reaches out to comfort them and says, listen, I am going to my father's house, I'm going to prepare a place for you, and then when I come back, I will receive you to myself. You will be there with me. The loss that we're about to experience, a separation is only going to be temporary. And one day, which is still true for all of us in here that know Christ, praise be to God, one day that separation, one day earthly sorrow is going to yield itself into being in his heavenly presence. That can cheer a heart, should cheer a heart, must cheer a Christian heart, at the bare mention of the words. What a wonderful Savior and what a wonderful plan of redemption God has established. One day we will be with Christ in the Father's house. That is marvelous. Now, at the time Jesus was saying this, however, some of the disciples were still confused. I'm going to make a bigger point of this in just a minute. But here's Thomas in verse five, he says, Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way? Thomas is confused, he doesn't quite get it. Pretty soon we're going to see that Philip was missing quite a few cogs in his machine also. And Jesus is going to work to clarify things for them. In verse 6, he says to Thomas in response to that question, he said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Salvation is exclusively in Christ. There is no other way to God except through him. Anyone who tries to go through a back door of another religion is going to find that that door simply drops off. They walk through that door and they drop into the pit of hell. It's a very sad thing to contemplate, a very heavy thing to contemplate. And yet, for those of us that know Christ, for those that would come under the sound of the gospel, here is an infallible assurance that if you come to Christ and put your faith in Him, trusting Him and His death and resurrection alone for the salvation of your soul and the forgiveness of your sins, There is a door to the Father. There is a door to heaven that can never be shut upon you. We come to the Father through Christ. Jesus makes it very clear in verse 6. But now look at verse 7 and coming back more closely to our theme about the deity of Christ. Look at what Jesus says in this passage. Again, in the context of a gospel that begins and ends with declarations about Jesus being God, the Word was God, the Word is God, my Lord and my God, in that context, what Jesus says here is just utterly compelling. There is no question about who he is when you look at these verses. Verse 7, he speaks to the disciples and he says, if you had known me, You would have known my Father also. From now on, you know Him and have seen Him. You know me, you know the Father. You see me, you see the Father. That could only be true if there was a one-to-one correspondence at every point of their being and existence. If there was any variation about who these persons are in their character, in their essence, in their being, What Jesus said there could not be true. He's claiming complete oneness with the Father. Now in verse eight, Philip, slipping another cog in the disciples' understanding here and showing that they didn't get it, said to him, verse eight, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. You get the sense that he's trying to be a little bit hyper-spiritual. If I could just see the Father, I would be satisfied. And Jesus said to him, Philip, have I been with you so long and yet you have not come to know me? He who has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father abiding in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves." Thomas and Philip had not yet really come to know Christ at this point. Because Jesus says, if you really knew who I was, if you really got it, You wouldn't be asking that kind of question. You wouldn't be asking to see the Father because you would understand that when you see me, you see the Father. You see exactly what the Father is like. In the passage that Phil read from Hebrews 1, the Son is the exact representation of God's nature. That can only be true if Jesus himself is God and has a character that is exactly like God's. His character, his words, and his works all perfectly reveal the character of God with no fuzziness on the edges. It is clear, it is distinct, and it is perfect. A.T. Robertson, the great Greek grammarian, said this, He said, the disciples had seen the Father because they had seen Jesus who is the Son of God, the image of God, and like God. Hence, God is like Jesus Christ. Robertson says, quote, it is a bold and daring claim to deity. And he's exactly right. I want you to think for a moment. Hear with me. Jesus, by his words and his works, during the course of his public ministry for three years, during which those apostles were with him day by day by day, Jesus had made that clear, and yet here is Philip, three years into it, with day-to-day personal interaction with Jesus, and he doesn't get it. Eventually, after the resurrection, he got it. But at this time, with that much exposure to Jesus, that much exposure to the truth, he did not get it. And now I want to, with that in mind, with that kind of extensive, in-depth exposure to the true and living God in the person of Jesus Christ, he didn't get something really fundamental. Who is this that I'm with? It's sobering. And I want to take that and apply it to you, personally to you. And speaking as a pastor, sometimes in our environment, both inside and outside of Grace Life, I don't know just how to say this except to just kind of blurt it out. People at Grace Community Church worry me. sometimes. They worry me when they start a conversation by telling me or telling them someone else how long they've been at the church. I've been at Grace Church for over 15 years. You know, I was here before Johnny came in 1969. I'm quoting, I'm not calling my boss Johnny, mind you. And it's not because that they call him Johnny that I get worried. People will tell you that there are some people who wear that as a badge of honor and actually try to wear it as a badge of spirituality. That's not good. That calendar, that chronology does not prove anything by itself. Now listen, because I know we have long-time members of Grace Church that are here, and I love you and I thank God for you. I thank God for people who have been here for decades, for people who love Christ and whose lives are consistent with that claim. Praise the Lord, you're an example to all of us. But beloved, just as with Philip, three years, over 1,000 days in the personal presence of Christ, and he didn't get the most basic thing about who he was, who Christ was, you have to understand, every single one of you, that chronology is not the same thing as spirituality. A calendar does not prove whether you know Christ, even if that calendar has been flipped year by year on the property of Grace Community Church. And a calendar does not prove whether you are a growing Christian or not. Sometimes I am certain that those dates are thrown out as a way of trying to put their spiritual lives beyond scrutiny and question by pastoral oversight, legitimate pastoral oversight. And that is not good. If Philip could be personally with Christ for three years and not get it, how much less should you put confidence into the fact that you've been at an institution for a number of years when that contact is more remote than what Philip had face-to-face? And listen, beloved, I'm saying this because I love you. I'm saying this because I have your eternal well-being at heart and the glory of God at heart in this. This is not abstract truth to me. This kills me as a pastor. Several years ago, I went to the deathbed of a longtime member of Grace Community Church. Lovely woman. I'd spent much time with her. And I had concerns along the way, but you know, sometimes you don't make an issue of it. I knelt down beside her deathbed, knowing that she had maybe two, three days to live. Told her who I was. She couldn't open her eyes, but she recognized my voice. She said, oh, bless you for coming. And I asked her, I said, are you ready to see Jesus? She said, I don't know. After thousands, literally thousands of sermons at Grace Community Church, this dear woman who was two days away from eternity didn't know if she was going to heaven or not. I wanted to put my head in my hands and weep. In fact, I still do. Beloved, time doesn't prove anything. Your physical presence at Grace Community Church does not prove anything about where you're truly at spiritually. Your spiritual growth is better assessed by questions like these. Is the knowledge of God in the person of Jesus Christ a living reality to you? Does your life express that reality? Are you growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Listen, hey, if so, praise the Lord. I'm not just taking a random indiscriminate pot shot at people who have been here longer than I have. That's not my point at all. So don't come up to me later and complain that it was. Chronology can be consistent with spirituality, and many times it is, but not by itself, beloved. That's the point, not by itself. For some of you, the more pertinent questions are these. Do you talk about the year you first came to Grace Church while at the same time your life is marked by a lack of real ministry in the church? bitterness in your family relationships, or the same vain regrets that you've been talking about for 10 and 15 and 20 years. If that is the case, beloved, let's just take how long you've been at Grace Church off the table and not make that part of the discussion, okay? Because it's irrelevant. If you can be here year after year and not change, year and year go by, and your spiritual life at best is stagnant, then let's stop talking about the calendar and get down to some real reality about spiritual life. These are completely different questions. These questions about Christ being a living reality, your life, the nature of your life and ministry, are you growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ? Those are the kinds of questions you must use to examine yourself. Listen, this is for your sake, beloved. I don't get anything out of this by saying these things to you. This is for your sake. Because one day you're going to be laying on your deathbed. And all of the accumulated opportunities that you've had are going to be gone. And at that point, it's probably going to be too late for you to do anything about it. When you are alive and when you are healthy and when your mind is still working, you had better take advantage of the grace of God given to you in that opportunity to get your spiritual life straight. Because when you are laying on that deathbed, that is the only thing that is going to matter. It's not too late, beloved, for that to happen for you. I think if this arrow from the Word of God is piercing your heart, I think, here's what I would do if I were you. And feeling the conviction of that right now and feeling the fear of God in that, hey, fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. That's a good thing. And if I were you, here's what I would do. I would take the fact that you are still sitting here, that you are breathing, that you can think and contemplate these things in light of the Word of God as a signal from God that His grace to you has not yet been exhausted. that he is still extending his grace and saying, after all of these years of hypocrisy, after all of these years of playing a game, there is still grace and time for you to come, and I'll restore the years that the locust has eaten. This is a moment of grace for you if you'll respond properly to it. But if you want that grace to be real to you, if you want to take advantage of it, you have got to stop using a calendar to justify yourself. Just cut it out. I don't want to hear that anymore. Because it's irrelevant. And I don't want to go to your deathbed and hear that same response. when the moment of truth comes, and the best that you can say is, well, I don't know. I'll say it one more time. I say these things because I love you, because I want God to be glorified in you. I don't want to see your soul in hell, and I don't want your deathbed to be a testimony to the bitter fruit of a life of hypocrisy and self-deception. Philip walked with Jesus for years, and at that point in his life, he didn't get point number one. Let every man examine himself. We study the deity of Christ here this morning, not as a theological construct, but because he is the living God. And as we look at the face of the living God, we hold up a spiritual mirror to ourselves so that we can examine ourselves. Do you know this Christ, this Jesus of the Bible is God? Can you stand with Thomas later in the gospel and say, my Lord and my God, oh, my heart, love is for you? That's the question. Jesus is full deity because he perfectly reveals to us God the Father. That was point number one for today, point number five in the series. Next point. Point number six is this. Jesus has God's glory. Jesus has God's glory. Turn to John chapter 17 with me. John chapter 17. Jesus is praying to the Father. He's finished his discussions with the disciples. The cross looms ever closer in his mind, and he prays a high and holy prayer. In chapter 17, verse 1, God the Son now speaks to God the Father, and the Apostle John records the prayer in this way. He said, Jesus spoke these things, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you. Even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was." Jesus opens his prayer by saying, Father, the hour has come. The appointed hour for his death and resurrection had arrived. Jesus lived in a consciousness that that hour was coming throughout. Often in the Gospels you will hear him saying, my time has not yet come, my time has not yet come. Now as he prays to the Father, the hour has come. God the Father had established the timetable. Jesus knew that timetable and now he was praying in anticipation of his crucifixion when he would take the sins of everyone who would ever believe in him upon his shoulders and absorb the wrath of God itself. God had appointed this hour and it was certain of fulfillment. Notice something interesting here, just as a side point. It's instructive to realize Jesus knew exactly what the Father's sovereign purposes were. He knew what was about to come, and yet that didn't mean that he stopped praying and said, well, you know, whatever's gonna be is gonna be, so shrug your shoulders. No, knowing God's sovereign purposes moved Jesus to deep and profound prayer. It didn't move him to a resigned fatalism that said, well, whatever will be will be. Jesus, knowing the timetable, prayed. And that, beloved, is a model for you as you contemplate the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God does not diminish your passion in prayer. It doesn't make prayer irrelevant. The sovereignty of God should drive you to prayer as you align yourself with the purposes of God in deep intimacy with Him, knowing what His plan is here for Jesus, knowing the hour He prayed. And look at what He prays there in chapter 17, verse 1. He says, glorify your Son. that the Son may glorify you." He's saying, God, Father, accomplish your purposes. Fulfill your plan. Show me to be the Savior. His glorification would ultimately be completed when He returned to heaven and shared again the glory of God with His Father. But here he prays, Father, glorify me that the Son may glorify you. Jesus wasn't seeking glory for his own sake, but to the end that the Father would be glorified. And get this, God the Father is glorified when Jesus is glorified. The mutuality of this is striking. And as Jesus prays in these verses that I've read, He expresses profound thoughts about His relationship with the Father. Words that you and I could never speak truthfully in prayer to God. Look at what He says. Look at how the prayer of Jesus elevates our understanding of how transcendent He is. In verse 2, God gave him authority over all mankind. Verse 2, even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. In verse 3, they are equal possessors and givers of eternal life. Verse 2 and verse 3. And notice what he says in verse 5. He says, now Father, glorify me together with yourself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. He's saying, Father, he's appealing back to that time before the world was created. The intimacy of this is just so resoundingly holy. There's a sense in which I don't enjoy speaking about it because I feel like I'm stepping into places where I shouldn't be. Jesus is saying, God, I remember when, before the world was began, we shared the glory of the essence of God together. And Father, what I'm asking is that you would glorify me with that same kind of glory, that glory that I shared with you. Listen, beloved, only someone who is fully equal with God could say these things truthfully. Jesus has the power and the life and the glory of God and he shares it equally with the Father. He had that glory before the world was, before any believer ever existed, before the world existed. Only God has the glory of God in this sense. And Jesus says, I shared it all with you before the world began. Jesus has the glory of God. Jesus is God himself in human flesh. That's point number six. Final point for this series is this, is that Jesus receives divine worship. Jesus receives divine worship. That's our final point. Now the Bible has a highly defined concept of the exclusivity of worshiping God alone. You find it even in the Ten Commandments. In Exodus chapter 20, God declared, you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not worship them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. Only God receives worship. by divine command, by divine right, by divine prerogative. And when you have that principle in your mind, you can understand some passages in the New Testament where, follow me here, misdirected worship is immediately and soundly rebuked. I want to show you a couple of places here. Turn to the book of Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10. We're taking a little detour, but we're going to come back to Christ in just a moment. Not that we're departing from him here, but in Acts chapter 10, verse 25, Peter goes into the house of a man named Cornelius. Cornelius had seen a vision and was expecting a visitor with divine authority. And look at what happens in verse 25, when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet and worshiped him. What's Peter's response? I'd like for Catholics to hear this when they think about how they kiss on Mary and want to kiss on the Pope's ring and all of that stuff. Actually, what I wish, really, is Pope Benedict was right here, is what would be nice, to see how a true man of God responds When people misdirect their worship, verse 26, Peter raised him up saying, stand up, I too am just a man. The misdirected worship, Peter quickly rebuked and said, that's not appropriate, that's not what we do. There's a couple of other passages, but I'll just turn you to one more at the end of your Bible in Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22. It's odd that this comes from the same apostle that wrote the gospel, but after the magnificent series of visions that he had seen, we can understand why he might get a little bit disoriented. In Revelation 22, verse 8, he says, I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. But he said to me, do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren, the prophets, and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God. So the angel corrected the apostle John when John tried to worship him. Now, with that little bit of background in mind, we should ask ourselves this question. What happens when worship is directed to Jesus? What happens then? Because the Bible makes clear that men of God, even in Revelation, the angel of God, when they see misdirected worship, they correct it and rebuke it immediately. That's what you do. What happens when Jesus is worshiped? Well, he accepts it and the Bible affirms it. In Matthew 28, we'll get back to the Gospel of John. No need to panic. Matthew 28, verses 16 and 17. Matthew 28, verses 16 and 17, after the resurrection, the 11 disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him. but some were doubtful. And there in verse 18, Jesus came up and spoke to them and said, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. No rebuke of what would be false worship if Jesus wasn't God. No rebuke, no stop that. The Bible just records it as part of the proper response to the resurrected Christ. Turn to the end of the gospel of Luke in Luke 24. Luke 24, in verse 50, Luke 24, verse 50, Jesus led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And while He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they, verse 52, after worshiping Him, return to Jerusalem with great joy and we're continually in the temple praising God. With all of that background in mind, turn again to the passage I've alluded to repeatedly in this series, John chapter 20. John chapter 20, this will be our concluding time as we behold the glory of God in the face of Christ. John tells us a little bit more about Thomas. Thomas in verse 24 was one of the 12, called Didymus, which means the twin. Thomas was not with them when Jesus came. When the other disciples had seen the resurrected Christ, for some reason Thomas wasn't with them. And so they come and they tell him the good news in verse 25. The other disciples were saying to him, we have seen the Lord. But he said somewhat pessimistically to them, unless I see in his hands the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. And in the original language, his statement, I will not believe, is emphatic. He's pounding the table. I am not going to believe this. What happens? You know the story. Verse 26. Bless the name of Jesus. He comes and meets this dear disciple at his point of weakness. After eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, Peace be with you. Then he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands, and reach here your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing. So Jesus commands Thomas to believe, get this, in a gospel designed to bring you to true faith in Christ, John tells the story, recounts the historical time and space event. Jesus says, Thomas, do this and believe. Look at Thomas' response. Thomas answered and said to him, said to Jesus, quote, my Lord and my God, You can almost hear the oxygen having been sucked out of the room as Thomas recognizes the reality of the resurrection. As finally all of those years of walking with Jesus coalesced in a divine moment in his mind and he finally got it. And he said, my Lord and my God, The one to whom I give all submission, all worship, all adoration. I bow, prostrate before you and acknowledge you as sovereign over everything about me. It's a personal confession of faith. My Lord and my God. He called this Jesus, God, and worshiped him. What did Jesus say in response? Did he do what Peter said? Don't do that. Did he do what the angel said? Don't do that. No. Jesus affirms it. Jesus said to him, because you have seen me, have you believed? He's acknowledging that Thomas' belief was true. And he goes further and says, Thomas, there will be some after you who won't see me, and yet they will believe those will be blessed. Those who make the same kind of affirmation that Thomas did, without seeing my hands and without seeing my side, those are blessed. He doesn't correct the worship at all. He doesn't correct the designation of himself as God at all. Beloved, he would have if Thomas was wrong. But you know what? Thomas was right. And that's why Jesus accepted it and did not correct him. How can he do that? How can Jesus rightly receive worship? How can Jesus rightly stand in front of a man who calls him Lord and God? How can he do that? I'll tell you how he can do that. Because it's right. Because that's who he is. This isn't unclear. This is plain as day. He is Lord and God, and Thomas was right. And that is the climax of this gospel. Look at verse 30. John says, connecting what he's about to say with the confession that Thomas just made, and the affirmation that Jesus laid upon it, because this is what Thomas said and Jesus affirmed it, and because of all that I've written in these prior 20 chapters, therefore, understand this, my reader, many other signs Jesus performed, which are not written in this book, But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. He brings it to this climax and says, and focuses your attention on this great confession of Thomas. And then he says, therefore, this is how you also are to believe. This is the whole reason I wrote it was so that you would believe just like Thomas. This is what true faith looks like, the faith that leads to eternal life. Beloved, when you see Jesus Christ in the pages of scripture, is that your heart response to him? Romans 10 9 says, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Implicit in that is that you believe in him for who he really is. Do you believe this? Have you trusted Him for eternal life? Let's pray. Our Father, we thank You for the clarity of Your Word. We thank You, Father, that You have spoken to us in these last days in Your Son. We thank You for His blessed person, for His works, for His glory, for His name. and for his death on the cross on our behalf. Oh God, to contemplate the eternal ruin that would be ours if Christ had not come. If you had not sent Christ to die in our place. Oh, the awfulness of what would be our lot. Oh God. Thank you. What can we say, Father? Thank you. and express to you our heart commitment to love this Christ who is God and to glorify him. Father, take all of these things and transform us as we have beheld the glory of Christ in your word. Now take the impact of that and by your spirit transform us into greater likeness to your dear son. We love you. We honor you. And yes Lord Jesus we worship you. In your blessed name we pray. Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this message from our pastor. We have a variety of sermon resources to help you grow in the knowledge of God's Word. If you would like to enroll in our sermon library or simply learn more about Grace Life, visit us online at www.swordandtrowel.org. That's www.swordandtrowel.org. Again, the web address is www.swordandtrowel.org.