Living Life in the Glory of God (Ezekiel 28:20-26)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:06.519 Our Lord God. If it were not for you, we would not know 2 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:11.320 the way of your statutes and we would constantly turn away from even the little 3 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:17.399 bit that we can see. We would not desire to obey with our hearts, 4 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:23.920 but instead, with our hearts wholly perverted, to fall after every wicked 5 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.719 thing, to cast our eyes on every worthless thing, to have our inclined, 6 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:34.960 to incline our hearts toward every evil. And so this is why we 7 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:42.320 are so desperately in need of the power of your grace, of your work 8 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:47.159 of love in our lives, to teach us and to help us to see, 9 00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:52.119 to give us delight in your paths and in your ways. Lord, 10 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:55.479 we ask that you would help us, even now, as we come to 11 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:59.679 the reading and preaching of your word and is equal, that you would help 12 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:04.680 us to have a better sense and knowledge of you, of who you are, 13 00:01:04.920 --> 00:01:11.040 of what you've done, to not think too smallly, of too small 14 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:15.400 of you. We asked, Lord, that you would, in your word, 15 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:21.120 confirm your promises to us, that you may be feared, give us 16 00:01:21.159 --> 00:01:29.120 life, O Lord, in Jesus Name. Amen. Let's turn remain standing, 17 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:32.439 if you're able, I please, and let's turn to Ezekiel, Chapter 18 00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:51.719 Twenty Eight, is Ekiel Twenty eight versus twenty through twenty six, so that's 19 00:01:51.760 --> 00:02:12.080 twenty through the end of the chapter. Give your attention to the word of 20 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:16.560 the Lord. Ezekiel, Chapter Twenty Eight, Verse Twenty. The word of 21 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:21.680 the Lord came to me, son of man. Set your face towards Sidon 22 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:27.560 and prophesy against her and say, thus says the Lord God. Behold, 23 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:30.639 I am against you, of Sidon, and I will manifest my glory in 24 00:02:30.680 --> 00:02:36.280 your midst, and they shall know that I am the Lord when I execute 25 00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:40.599 judgments in her and manifest my holiness in her, for I will send pestilence 26 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:46.080 into her and blood into her streets, and the slain shall fall in her 27 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.840 midst by the sword that is against her on every side. Then they will 28 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:54.360 know that I am the Lord, and before the House of Israel there shall 29 00:02:54.439 --> 00:03:00.479 no more be a briar to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all 30 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:06.400 their neighbors who they have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that 31 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:12.039 I am the Lord God. Thus says the Lord God, when I gather 32 00:03:12.199 --> 00:03:16.280 the House of Israel from the People's among whom they are scattered and manifest my 33 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:22.039 holiness in them, in the sight of the nation's then they shall dwell in 34 00:03:22.080 --> 00:03:25.080 their own land that I gave to my servant Jacob, and they shall dwell 35 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:30.120 securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall 36 00:03:30.199 --> 00:03:36.639 dwell securely when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with 37 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:42.159 contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord, their God. 38 00:03:43.120 --> 00:04:08.960 You may be seated. Oseekiel, in this passage comes to yet another place 39 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:16.439 where God calls upon him to prophesied judgment against one of Israel's neighbors. You 40 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:21.079 remember that for most of the book of Ezekiel, up until just the recent 41 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:28.120 few chapters, the word of the Lord was against his own people. is 42 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:31.199 against his own people, on for their sins, for their many sins, 43 00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:38.600 and he promised destruction of Jerusalem and there their country. He promised to scatter 44 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:45.040 them to all the places and that the blood that they shed would be shed 45 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:50.839 by them. Their own blood would be shed in for justice for the sins 46 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:58.879 they had committed. But as Jerusalem fell, Israel's neighbors saw it as an 47 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:06.839 opportunity to treat them with contempt and in various ways they saw an opportunity to 48 00:05:06.879 --> 00:05:10.680 make fun of them, to laugh at them, to steal from them, 49 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:16.319 to have pride in themselves instead of humility for their own sins, instead of 50 00:05:16.319 --> 00:05:21.160 submission to the God who was bringing this judgment. They thought they were above 51 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:27.040 the judgment themselves. And for that God is showing that he is righteous and 52 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:32.120 fair and all his ways, and he's bringing judgment on Israel's neighbors as well. 53 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:39.199 And tonight he comes against Sidon and he says, I will manifest my 54 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:45.079 glory in your myths. He says that they will know that I am the 55 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:48.720 Lord. Israel will know that he is the Lord. All the world will 56 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:54.040 know that he is the Lord because of about wow, about what he is 57 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:57.839 going to do. If you remember, this is a phrase that's come up 58 00:05:57.879 --> 00:06:02.399 over and over and over again throughout his seekul. God's desire is for us 59 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:06.600 to know him, and it is because of a rejection of him and not 60 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:13.519 listening to him, a disobedience against him, that he responds in this way. 61 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:17.279 He says he is going to make his glory known, and that is 62 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:23.959 what I want to focus on this evening. What does it mean to live 63 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:30.720 life the midst and in the glory of God. Well, there's not one 64 00:06:30.759 --> 00:06:34.639 answer to that. Really depends on how you relate to God, but I 65 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:41.199 want to think about that, think about God's glory in light of this passage. 66 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:50.199 Glory describes the magnificence of something, the splendor of something. It's a 67 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:59.240 it's an attribute of weightiness, of heaviness. It's an attribute that lends, 68 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:03.439 that lends, but leads to praise. Right, if you see something glorious, 69 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:11.720 whether it's a mountain or a machine, work of art, a system 70 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:16.319 the is built and human culture, it's the kind of thing that you say, 71 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:23.319 wow, that's amazing, that's awesome, that and you you be you 72 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:28.959 feel almost this natural expression of desire to praise that thing. That's what glory 73 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:32.720 does. It leads us to pray. Something that is glorious, something that 74 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:39.519 is magnificent, something that is splendor filled of splendor, is something that we 75 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:43.800 praise, we want to hold on to. It can also make us fear. 76 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:50.160 Right, glorious army when it's coming at you, may be glorious, 77 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:58.879 but it still might cause you to run the other direction. A glorious thunderstorm, 78 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:05.040 with all of its lightning strikes and and heavy winds might be glorious and 79 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:09.600 magnificent, but also terrifying in something that you want to get away from. 80 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:18.240 That thunderstorm image is something that God even expressed himself at. It expressed his 81 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:22.319 glory in that way when he gave the Ten Commandments. Remember when God, 82 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:28.040 I'm called Moses up to the mountain. He covered the mountain in thick smoke 83 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:35.799 and flashes of lightning. The earth was shaking and he commanded Israel not to 84 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.639 even touch the mountain lest they die, and they didn't want to either. 85 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:48.720 This glory of God is truly awesome. On light of that glory, there's 86 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:56.120 really upple ways to live. One way is described in Romans chapter one, 87 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:05.159 and I'll turn there, Romans Chapter One, versus twenty two and twenty three 88 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.679 in particular, but I'll pick up just a little bit before that. We're 89 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:15.519 going to start in verse eighteen. For the wrath of God is revealed from 90 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:22.360 Heaven Against All ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness, suppress 91 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.840 the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because 92 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.759 God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal 93 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.840 power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the 94 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:41.799 world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse, 95 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:46.200 for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give 96 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.200 thanks to him, but they became feutile in their thinking and their foolish hearts 97 00:09:50.200 --> 00:09:58.000 were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory 98 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:05.679 of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping 99 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:16.200 things. Paul picks up the language of creation. Let us make man in 100 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:20.320 our in our own image, after our own likeness. Let him have dominion 101 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:24.000 over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over 102 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.360 the live stock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps 103 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:33.320 on the earth. This this Lang which that God made everything and all that's 104 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:37.679 in crowned it with man made in his image, a reflection even of his 105 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:43.720 glory. Man then takes that creation and turns it all on its head. 106 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:48.840 Instead of giving glory to God, it treats it as God. This is 107 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:52.960 one way people live. In light of the glory of God, claiming to 108 00:10:54.000 --> 00:11:01.480 be wise, they are fools and they exchange God's glory for false glory. 109 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:07.480 The other way to live is described in first chronicles sixteen twenty four. In 110 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:13.799 this command declare his glory among the nation's, his marvelous works, among the 111 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:22.799 people. One exchange is the glory of God for created things. The other 112 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:28.320 attributes glory to him and to him alone. Now we might choose one of 113 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:35.039 these two paths, but in one sense it doesn't really matter, because in 114 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:41.399 this sense God is not changed by it either way. His glory and his 115 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:46.240 magnificence is his alone and it's not dependent on what we think of him. 116 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:52.159 Isaiah Forty two eight says this. I am the Lord, that is my 117 00:11:52.279 --> 00:11:56.759 name, my glory. I give to no others, nor my praise to 118 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:03.840 carved idols. So we might choose to glorify other creatures, we might choose 119 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:09.279 to go after idols of our own making, but this does not weaken God 120 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:16.559 in any way. This does not make God ineffective or make him lose his 121 00:12:16.600 --> 00:12:20.279 glory in some way. He's not threatened by it or undone by it in 122 00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:26.679 any way. No, he simply says I'll make my glory known, and 123 00:12:26.759 --> 00:12:33.360 we see an example from that right here in Sidon. Sidon did not glorify 124 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:39.519 the Lord Got Sidon, did not follow him and glorify him and behold his 125 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.480 marvelous works. That they had, if they had just seen the fall of 126 00:12:43.559 --> 00:12:50.559 Jerusalem, they would have repented, sackcloth and ash as Lord, save us 127 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:58.159 from your wrath, from your holiness, from Your glory. Instead, they 128 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:05.480 mocked Israel, they laughed and contempt they saw her. She saw herself as 129 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:11.240 above her sister city. And so God said, does hear what he promises 130 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:15.600 to do? And as Isaiah Forty Eight, I am the Lord, that 131 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:18.759 is my name, my glory. I give to no others, nor my 132 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:24.320 praise to carved idols. Is Ekiel, is Ekiel, twenty eight, twenty 133 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:28.480 one. Behold, I am against you, O side, and then I 134 00:13:28.519 --> 00:13:35.240 will manifest my glory in your midst. God will make himself known. And 135 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:39.559 how is he made known? Insidon, he's made known in his power, 136 00:13:39.039 --> 00:13:43.519 in his might, as he executes judgments and Sir, as he sends pestilence 137 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:48.399 and blood in her streets, as the slain are fallen, as the slain 138 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:56.720 fall in her midst, as the sword goes against her on every side. 139 00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:03.960 God, in his mighty power, take a moment and imagine the most powerful 140 00:14:03.960 --> 00:14:13.519 thing you can, the biggest machine you've ever seen, the strongest storm wave, 141 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:20.720 maybe a great wind that knocked over something you once saw, a big 142 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:26.799 tree or something like that. All of these things are just creations of God. 143 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:35.320 These things are are nothing to him. He, in his power, 144 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:41.360 can move any tree, any mountain, any nation, any king, any 145 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:54.279 heart. God in his power can move planets, can create planets. God 146 00:14:54.279 --> 00:15:01.919 in his power can become incarnate, rise from the dead. God in his 147 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:11.960 power is beyond anything that we can know, anything we can compare it to. 148 00:15:11.799 --> 00:15:18.240 His glory will be made known when he desires to make it known, 149 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.559 and it is made known here in his power. Side and will not be 150 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:28.080 able to say no side and will not be able to put up a defense 151 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:33.799 to hold God off a little bit longer. When God decides to do what 152 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:39.080 he wants to do, he simply does it. That is the glory of 153 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:46.559 God, the power of God. God's glory is also made manifest in His 154 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:52.080 Holiness. In some ways they're very similar ideas and we see them parallel here. 155 00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:56.440 He says they shall know that I'm the Lord when I execute judgments in 156 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:07.000 her and manifest my holiness in her. Holiness is perfection. Holiness is perfect 157 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:15.240 purity, ultimate morality, perfect in every way, spotless. We see the 158 00:16:15.279 --> 00:16:18.840 holiness in the glory of God. Together in another passage, like Isaiah, 159 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:23.960 six, three and one called to another, that is, angels in the 160 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:29.480 Heavens and said Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts. 161 00:16:29.480 --> 00:16:37.480 The whole Earth is full of his glory. The glory of God is manifested 162 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:44.879 in His Holiness and His Holiness is manifested in his glory and in every single 163 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:52.879 other aspect of God's character. We see God's holiness is perfection in his wisdom, 164 00:16:52.919 --> 00:16:56.919 in his works, in his justice, in his benefits and his promise. 165 00:16:57.240 --> 00:17:03.200 There's nothing that God does that isn't holy. Men, when we try 166 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.279 to do things all the time, are are even the best of our deeds 167 00:17:07.319 --> 00:17:12.880 are tainted. Our wisdom is not perfect, our works are not perfect, 168 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:18.759 are justice is not perfect. They promises that we make are not perfect. 169 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:22.680 But God, in His Holiness, always is, and this is how he 170 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:30.200 will manifest himself in these and even in these darker works of pestilence, of 171 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:38.319 blood, of people dying in the street, of armies and swords. It 172 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:45.039 can be hard for us to imagine sometimes that this justice is an aspect of 173 00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:51.000 God's glory and of God's character. How could God do these kinds of things? 174 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:56.240 How could God kill people? But that sense of justice that we have, 175 00:17:56.680 --> 00:18:00.480 or sorry, the sense of justice that God to place here. We 176 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:06.839 can see the his holiness in it in a couple of ways. One way 177 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:11.240 we see it is in as he UN vindicates himself for these things. God, 178 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:17.759 when he acts, never acts with just cruelty or spitefulness. He doesn't 179 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:23.359 act ever in any way except because of perfect fairness and justice. We have 180 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:29.640 a hard time imagining God acting that way because we don't, because we don't 181 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:33.400 act that way. We don't act in perfect holiness when it comes to justice. 182 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:37.799 But we long for it, don't we, when justice isn't done, 183 00:18:37.880 --> 00:18:44.519 when things are unfair and all, you know, topsy turvy on their heads 184 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:48.759 and we cry out with longing hot who's going to make this right? This 185 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:55.039 is not fair, and those moments we sense that justice can be good, 186 00:18:55.079 --> 00:19:00.759 that justice is right, and justice sometimes needs to be very, very strong, 187 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:07.200 partly because justice sometimes, maybe all the time, not only upholds a 188 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:15.559 standard for justice, but it also protects people. Justice protects those who would 189 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:22.519 be harmed otherwise, if someone steals from you, for example, someone goes, 190 00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:26.519 let's say, over to your house, steals your car and takes it 191 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:33.799 away on let's say that person is is caught and prosecuted and and and the 192 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:38.880 car is impounded and gotten back and all of that. That's done for the 193 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:42.880 sake of justice. Right with that? It's right for up that person to 194 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:48.200 be punished, but it's also done to get you your car back, and 195 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.079 that's maybe what we want most of the time anyway. We want a sense 196 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:56.240 of fairness, but we also want to be protected from evil things. We 197 00:19:56.279 --> 00:20:02.640 want to be protected from unfair things, from unrighteous things, from evil things, 198 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:06.480 and God, in his great king be kingly power, in his great 199 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:11.599 glory, executes that Justice. And we see him doing that here for his 200 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:21.960 people. He will condemned, condemns Sidon and tire and these other places. 201 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:23.359 And why? And one of the reasons he does it, he says in 202 00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:27.119 Verse Twenty Four, is so that in it so that for the House of 203 00:20:27.200 --> 00:20:32.440 Israel there shall know me more be a briar or a prick or thorn to 204 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:37.440 hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. They will 205 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:42.359 know that I and the Lord, and so we see at the end of 206 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:47.920 this passage is something that we see a lot in scripture, is that judgment 207 00:20:48.400 --> 00:20:55.480 is salvation, that judgment is salvation, that when God comes and judges a 208 00:20:55.680 --> 00:21:02.359 sin, when God comes and Judges Evil, God come conquers his enemies. 209 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:07.960 It is salvation for all those who belong to God. When God saves us 210 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.359 from our sin, he is a conquering God. When God saves us from 211 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:18.599 this from Satan, he is a conquering God. In order for us to 212 00:21:18.599 --> 00:21:23.759 be saved from evil, God must defeat evil, and that's what we see 213 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:30.440 in a passage like this. I'll close with this. The place where we 214 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:33.720 see this the best and the place where we see this the most is, 215 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:38.599 of course, the Cross, where judgment and salvation come perfectly together in one 216 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:45.000 person, where the judgment of God is poured out even on himself, so 217 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:52.480 that he can save us from our sins. Imagine if God had spared judgment 218 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:59.200 on the cross. Where would we all be? If God had decided not 219 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:03.920 to pour out his wrath for sin, if God had not decided decided to 220 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:08.920 with whole justice, where would all of us be? We would not have 221 00:22:08.960 --> 00:22:12.960 a sacrifice for sins, we would still be our sins, we would still 222 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:19.680 be in slavery to our sins and to death. But because God was just, 223 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:26.400 because God brought his judgment, we know that we are saved. But 224 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:32.079 he also gaves US grace, because he didn't pour the judgment out directly on 225 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:38.480 us. He poured it out on himself, on the Sun. When we 226 00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:44.200 live in the glory of God, we do right to keep these things in 227 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:49.000 mind. To Live for the glory of God and in the glory of God 228 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:53.920 is to keep in mind who he is in all of his magnificence, in 229 00:22:53.960 --> 00:23:00.039 his wisdom and his power, in his works. We consider the splendor and 230 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:03.200 the magnificence of all that he is, how praise is due to him in 231 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:08.160 every way. We consider his strength and his justice and His Holiness, his 232 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:14.000 might. And as we consider these things and as we look to the Cross 233 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:18.519 of Christ, we see our salvation. there. We see that when he 234 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:25.759 comes again into the world to judge the living and the dead, we will 235 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:30.519 have no need to fear because judgment is already passed for us. The Salvation 236 00:23:30.680 --> 00:23:36.799 is all ours. And then when we see the glory of God, as 237 00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:42.160 Paul Rights in the face of Jesus Christ, our Savior. We put our 238 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:48.000 faith in him and we follow him and live in him and by his every 239 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:53.279 word. So let that be your prayer tonight. As we come to greater 240 00:23:53.359 --> 00:23:57.720 understanding of who God is in his glory, and as we come to greater 241 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:03.519 desires to live for him, let's look to the Lord Jesus, so that 242 00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:07.200 we might find salvation from our sins and not find ourselves on the side of 243 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:14.000 Sidon, but instead on the side of Israel, through God's own son, 244 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:18.440 and Israel provided for us. Let's pray our heavenly father, we thank you 245 00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:22.799 for your word to us and we thank you for Your Majesty and Your Glory. 246 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:26.920 Indeed, there is no god like you. All of the idols that 247 00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:30.759 we would worship in this world pale and comparison. They don't even, we 248 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:36.440 can't even compare them to who you are and to all that you are capable 249 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:41.119 of doing. Lord, we ask that, as we come to see your 250 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:45.680 glory in the Cross of Christ, that you would help us to live in 251 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:51.079 light of it. Let us always look to Jesus as as the author and 252 00:24:51.160 --> 00:24:56.240 perfector of our faith and live only in and through him, giving him all 253 00:24:56.279 --> 00:25:02.880 glory and honor and power and praise. Lord, we ask that you would 254 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.240 teach us these things and help us, help us to rest in them, 255 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:11.920 knowing that you, in the glories of your grace, are for us and 256 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:15.759 not against us. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.