 Okay, so today we're going to be continuing with our lesson on the glory of God and the general epistles. The glory of God and the general epistles. And the general epistles in the Bible, when we speak of them, we're talking about the book of James, the book of 1 Peter, 2 Peter, and 1 through 3 John. A lot of people don't include Hebrews in that list for various reasons, but we're including Hebrews in that list as well. And today, like last week, we went through James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude, I'm sorry, I forgot Jude. Jude is one of the general epistles as well. So last week we went through James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude, and today we're going to be looking at Hebrews for the most of our time this morning, and we'll also be spending some time in 1 through 3 John. So if you would turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 1, and Hebrews has very many references to glory, and particularly the glory of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And the author of Hebrews, he is showing the recipients of this letter, the glory of Christ, particularly as our high priest, and he is giving them exhortation to continue in the faith, and giving them warning of what will happen if they do not continue in the faith. And all of this hinges on the greatness, the supremacy of the Son. All that is good wrapped up in him, and particularly him as the high priest. So let's read, starting in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, says, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature. And he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Amen. That's a very explicit, explicit reference to glory here. We have very clear picture of who the Son is. And this particular group of verses 1 through 4, it hinges on this statement in the middle. It hinges on the statement in the middle in verse 3. He is the radiance in some of your Bibles, and in New King James is the brightness. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. So in this particular text, let me ask you, what is the content of this glory? Whose glory is it? How is it expressed? What can we see in this particular text about glory? What is the content of this glory? Brother Lee. The content is, this is the glory of God. Yes. And this is, like I said, where New King James expressed image of his person is showing you God himself through Christ. Yes. Yes. Very good. Very good. This glory is referring specifically to the Father. Specifically to the Father. And yeah, we're going to get into that too, how he is the expressed image or the exact imprint of the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone else? What else can we see about glory in this text, Pastor Michael? So I'm just going to be repetitive and kind of make this same observation that I have tried to make and reemphasize, and I'm doing that for a reason, because we don't often see the association of the glory of God with Christ's humiliation and exaltation. So you see that in the text here though. He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, but you can't separate the person of Christ from the work of Christ, which is emphasized in verse three and verse four. And so his humiliation is seen in these words after making purification for sins. So that emphasizes his humiliation, that state of condescension and suffering, incarnation. And then after that, after he made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And that word of that figure of speech, like sitting down at the right hand, is Christ taking the place of power and authority, which really speaks to his exaltation. So the association, again, we see, like really seen throughout the Bible, is the association, speaking of the person of Christ, is the glory of God or glory associated with his humiliation and exaltation. Amen. Amen. Yeah. Thank you, brother. That purification, that humiliation, we see that in his role as high priest. And even what you mentioned about him sitting down, we're going to look at that, too, how there's a double meaning here. We see how sitting down, that understanding of sitting down is important in his understanding as having finished the work as a high priest and sitting down has meaning in the fact that he is king overall and he sits, he sits right now in session as king in heaven at the right hand, at the supreme seat of glory and honor. So he was humbled and exalted and that, yes, contributes to his glory. Anyone else? Anyone else? There's a lot in this text, Miss Pam. I know when I've been researching or studying more into Matthew and they talked about the Sermon of the Mountain, how Jesus went up and he sat to preach. That was a sign of, what's the word, respect. That's what the preachers did then where everybody else stood. Is that like the same thing when he sits at the right hand side? Is that the same thing? You're talking about when he sat to teach, like in the synagogue? I don't know. There could be some connection. If there is, I don't know of. I know that that was the pattern of, like, you know, right now, right? I'm the one standing and you guys are the one sitting. If we were in a synagogue and at the time that Jesus lived, the person teaching would be sitting and those listening, it would be a standing room only. If you guys want to do that now, that's fine, I would be happy to do that. But yeah, in this particular case, his sitting, it shows us who he is and his role right now. There's a lot of significance in that. But I'm not saying that there isn't, I just don't, I don't know in that case. Miss Betty. Okay, when it says he has appointed heir over all things in time past, he took on that role even though not yet. But he, God had appointed him to take on that role as savior. Yeah, it's neat that him being heir of all things, you can see that in two ways, right? So we see how he is heir of all things as the agent of creation. So Jesus is the eternal son of God. So he is God and he was involved in creation with the other persons of the Trinity. So in one sense, he owns everything, who he is and his nature as God. At the same time, he, as a man in his humanity, he has earned the position as king and heir of all things by his work. So yeah, there's, and later on in Hebrews 2, the author of Hebrews mentions that he's not only heir of things now, but he is the heir of all things to come, of the age to come. Right? Oh, Mike, yeah. I was thinking also about later in the chapter, you know, when he says, for if every word spoken through angels, proved steadfast, and then he says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, whom he's talking about in there in chapter one. So I was just thinking how if God had spoken to a people through lesser means and they should have obeyed, you know, like through angels and through Moses, how much more should they obey through Christ and what makes his word so important for us to listen to is because of the person whom he's spoken through. So that relationship from the greater to the lesser and then back to the greater reminds us to look to Christ, to see the glory of God because of his position in speaking to us. Amen, amen. Yeah. And the author of Hebrews makes that, like you mentioned angels and Moses, like he makes that argument a number of times in the book, doesn't he? He's saying, okay, if you listen to them, how much more should you listen to him? If the people died and the Israelites died in the wilderness because they refused to listen to Moses whom God has sent. What do you think will happen to you if you refuse to listen to the Son whom God has sent? It's a consider the glory of the Father in that and consider the glory of the Son. So we talked about a number of things there, haven't we? There's a lot wrapped up into these four verses. So we see, I'm going to run through a few things, some of it's going to be repeated, what we have talked about. We see that one, God is not silent, God the Father. He clearly reveals himself. He clearly reveals himself. This glory of the Father is the Father revealing himself to us. So this glory that we're speaking of is a glory of his self revealing. When you look in the Bible and you see different references to glory, you see different aspects taken out. Sometimes it's talking about the honor or the majesty doer person. Sometimes it is talking about ascribing, like when we talk about the verb to glorify, ascribing praise, ascribing honor. Sometimes we're talking about a bright light, like the active presence of God in a particular time or a particular place. And sometimes we're talking about the revealing of God, showing who he is. And sometimes there's a mix of those things. Even in this text there's a little bit of a mix of those things. So we see God is, God is in silent. We see that he's spoken. He's spoken by his son. And in times past he spoke through the prophets, but now all things they culminate in his son. This is the height of revelation, Jesus Christ. There's no better way for God the Father to speak to people. I would dare you to find a better way for the Father to reveal himself than to send someone who has the exact same substance as he does. So you think about, you think about how merciful that is for God to reveal himself in that way. And think about how foolish it is. Have you ever heard like atheists say things like, you know what? I believe in God if he'd show himself to me. I believe in God if he would do something amazing. And all you can respond is that a foolish generation would seek for a sign like that. How could God speak any clearer? God has spoken so clearly. It's not an issue of whether he has spoken clearly. The issue is whether the person who has received the revelation has eyes to see, right? It's whether you're blind or deaf, not whether God has been clear. It's our sin that keeps us from understanding who God is. We see like what Miss Betty mentioned, that Christ is the heir of all things. He mentioned, if you go back with me and keep your hand at Hebrews and go look at Psalm chapter two. It's a little echo from Psalm chapter two here. Speaking of the Son and look at verse seven. It says, I will tell of the decree. The Lord said to me, you are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. So Christ, Christ is the heir of all things. He is the heir of all things. He will receive all of the nations and in this particular place, that is the Father speaking to the Son and so Christ, He is the owner of everything. And we also see here that He is the agent of creation. He is the agent of creation. We see it says here at the end of verse two, through whom also He created the world. So there's multiple aspects that Christ is the heir. He has created everything. He is the owner by right already of all things. And at the same time, as a man in his incarnation, He has purchased all things by His work. He doubly owns us. He is doubly king in a sense. He's a ruler of all. In Hebrews chapter two, one page over, verse five, he even mentions him as being king over the world, having everything in the world to come. He says, for it was not to angels that God subjected the world, the world to come, the world to come. So Christ is the owner, not just of all things now, but all things in the future, all things in the future, even in the new heavens and a new earth, even in a new Jerusalem. So we also see that He is the radiance of the Father's glory. What would you think? I think of that phrase, the radiance of the Father's glory or the brightness of His glory. How would you try to explain that phrase? Any takers? How would you try to explain that phrase? Would it... I saw a hand there. Was that your hand? Nancy? No, that wasn't your hand. Scratching your nose? Don't scratch your nose while I'm up here. Was that... You're scratching your nose. Don't scratch your nose. So this particular word, the word in the Greek for radiance, it can be taken as active or passive. It can be looked at as reflection. So if I had a mirror right here and you shine the light, it hit the mirror and then light will bounce off of the mirror, reflection as passive. And it can also be taken as active so that Christ wouldn't just be reflecting the glory of God, but that Christ in Himself has glory as well, emanating glory from Himself. And most people when looking at this, most when understanding this text, even most translations when translating this text, understand that this to be an active, an active radiance, mainly because of the thrust of this text, what this text is saying about Christ, how He is exalted in every way. You see His active work in this text. And I think my personal view, I believe, would be that this is speaking... This is speaking clearly of Him radiating glory, not just a passive reflection of God's glory. God's glory is active. Think of what we've been learning and when we throw a non-greater study, thinking of God being a pure act, thinking of it in that way. So we also see here that He is the exact imprint of the nature of the Father. In the Son, you see the Father. That word here for imprint is the same word that they would use in Greek to speak of a coin being stamped, a coin being stamped with the face of the ruler. So if you were, you know, let's say, I don't know who the Caesar was at this time, but let's say it was Julius Caesar because that's the only one I could muster up in my mind at the moment. And you had a coin and you had Julius Caesar's face on it. Christ is the imprint of the Father, but not like a coin where it's kind of fake. He is the imprint of the Father in every way. In fact, you can't know the Father but through the Father's imprint. You can't know the Father but through Jesus Christ. Christ makes what is invisible in the Father visible to you. So he's identical in substance to the Father. All that the Father is in substance, Christ is. And he's perfectly positioned to reveal the Father, especially in his incarnation, especially in his incarnation. He's perfectly positioned because he's one with the Father. He's one with the Father. He's the second person of the Trinity sharing a substance with the Father. And then on top of that, he humbled himself to the earth becoming a man in the incarnation. So how better, how better could you show the Father to human beings? Then for the Father to reveal himself through the Lord Jesus Christ. How beautiful is that? And think of the love and care and goodness that you see from the Father in the Son. You know, in the Council of Nicaea, when you had Athanasius, you had Arius, and they were arguing over the deity of Christ, his position as the second person of the Trinity centuries ago. And there's this funny story about St. Nicholas, you know, the guy who we tend to think of as Santa Claus. He was at the Council of Nicaea, and Joseph Arius, the heretic who believed that Christ, who denied Christ deity, he was giving his arguments, and good old St. Nick walked up to Arius, and he punched Arius in the face. He was very angry. And you might think, why would, I'm not saying that you should punch heretics in the face, but you might ask, why would it make someone so angry to hear such a horrible, to hear that heresy? What do you lose when you lose the deity of Christ? You lose many things. You lose the gospel, of course. But one of the things that you lose that a lot of people don't think about is you lose the disposition of the Father to you. So if Christ isn't the same substance as the Father, if he's not the exact imprint of the nature of the Father, how can you say that the Father loves you? How can you say that the Father regards your helpless estate, or that the Father pities you? It's in Christ that we see that. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ that we see that in His words, and we see that demonstrated at the cross. It's only in Jesus Christ that you can really call God the Father your Father. You lose the disposition of the Father to you if he is not the exact imprint of the Father. We also see how Christ sustains and governs the universe by the word of His power. He's not like the God of the deist. A deist believes that God has created the world. He's kind of set it in order, and then he just lets it spin, and he walks away. But that's not the way that God really operates, that Christ really operates. He actively governs the world. He actively sustains the world, and he upholds it by His power. We see what Pastor Michael mentioned, this understanding of him making purification for sins. That is the work of the high priest to make purification for sins. And he did this in a tent, as it says in the book of Hebrews, not made with hands. This is the heavenly temple. He did this in a tent not made with hands. And then it says here that he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And one thing, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. The sitting and standing is important to grasp here. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 11 says, And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, we understand that that's in himself, right? He sat down, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemy should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. So you see the standing and sitting here, right? You see the Old Testament priests, they stood daily offering repeatedly the same sacrifices. They offered repeatedly a sacrifice because their sacrifice was ceremonial. It wasn't their sacrifice couldn't finally atone for sin. But Christ, he offered his sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself. He being the perfect, unblemished Lamb of God, and he sits down, he sits down because his work is finished. Those priests had to stand and they continued to stand. They stand up, they go home, they come back standing. Christ stands up, offers one sacrifice, sits down. He finished his work, he finished his work. And you see his glory here and his humility to offer himself. But you also see in his sitting, he is also exalted. He is also exalted because he doesn't just sit down on a regular chair and say that he's finished. He sits down on a throne at the right hand of the majesty on high. And he's become as much superior to angels at the time, excuse me, as much superior to angels. So he sits as king, he sits as king. And this throne is a special throne, it's a very special throne. Turn with me, on the other hand, and he was, I know we're flipping a lot, turn with me to Revelation chapter 3. And this is Christ who sits on the throne. He is speaking to the church in Laodicea, or to the angel of the church in Laodicea. And verse 20 says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. And look at this closely. The one who conquers, or I think in the King James says, overcomes, right? I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So look at that. So Christ sits at the right hand of God on the same throne as the Father. But where will those who overcome be? The same throne, Christ's throne, which is the Father's throne. What a blessed thing, amen? But consider, consider, it's a privilege. It's a privilege at all to go to heaven and have your sins forgiven. But how much more a privilege that you will be given a seat of honor in heaven, a seat where you never ever belonged. That's a privilege. If you're a Christian, you will sit and reign with Christ. He will share his throne with you as the Father shares his throne with him. So you see, you see here, notice what we mentioned in the beginning, right? That this is the Father's glory we're talking about. This specific reference to glory, excuse me, I'm messing something up here. In verse three is the radiance of the glory of the Father. But who have we been talking the most about as we've been talking about this glory of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ? You see how those two persons of the Trinity share glory? You see that? And you see how the glory is displayed. The glory of the Son is the glory of the Father. And the glory of the Father is shown in the Son. And we see that in multiple ways. We see that in the way that the Father reveals himself through the Son. He has spoken through his Son. We see that in the fact that he is the agent of creation. He's the heir of all things. We see that in his position and title as king. We see that in the fact that he is the, in his substance, who he is as deity. The exact imprint of the nature of the Father. We see that in his continual governance of the universe. Both now in this world and the world to come. We also see that in his position as high priest in his suffering. His suffering giving up himself and having not just suffered but finished the work. And we also see that in his exaltation. He rose again. He ascended and he is seated as king. And we receive a benefit being in him. So consider how should you, how, how you should respond to that glory. Like wouldn't, wouldn't that inform your worship to the Father and form your worship to the Son? Wouldn't that, isn't that enough truth to make you want to put away that sin that you have been indulging? That, that benefit of knowing that all those who overcome will sit on that same throne that Christ sits on. Which, how should that affect your Monday? Not just your Sunday but your Monday, your Tuesday, your Wednesday. The way you get up, go to work, what you say at work, how you act at work, what you say at home, how you act at home. This is an all-encompassing thing. This little, these four verses in Hebrews are setting the stage for the author of Hebrews argument to tell these Hebrews to continue in the faith. This is a type of truth that can make you endure suffering. That can make you say, you know what? I'm not going to quit. I'm not going to stop following Christ regardless of the persecution, regardless of the trial because look at how supreme the Son is. So you see his glory but you have a responsibility to act on his glory much like Ryan said before. Let's look a little bit further in the book of Hebrews. Let's look at Hebrews, I'm going to skip to Hebrews chapter three. He says here in chapter three, starting at verse one, Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him, who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son and we are his house. If indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope. So this glory, can someone tell me what is this glory here referring to? There's a little comparison here that's going on, isn't there? What is this glory in this passage referring to, any takers? Or who is this glory referring to? So we see that this glory, there's glory mentioned for both Christ and Moses. And the glory of Christ specifically is being compared with the glory of Moses. Christ's glory is being compared to Moses's glory. So unlike the last text where we're specifically talking about the glory of the Father revealed in Jesus Christ, now we're talking about the glory of the Son specifically. We're honing in on the second person of the Trinity. And we're also seeing that this glory that we're looking at is speaking more heavier on the side of the honor and the honor do his name, the honor do his person. And we can see that because he's also mentioning when Moses is glory. And we understand that Moses doesn't have glory in himself. So we're speaking here of more of honor, honor given and honor do. So considering this glory, this honor do, there's a few things I want you to consider. Look at what the titles that are given to Jesus Christ in this text. Look in verse one, he says, therefore, Holy Brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession. So Jesus is being called an apostle. Anyone know what an apostle means? Brother Lee. One who is sent. Yeah, one who is sent. So who sends Jesus? The father. The father sends Jesus. Jesus here, you see his glory in his title as apostle. We also see another title here as high priest. He is the high priest. He is the one sent from the father. And he is also the one who has provided purification for our sins. And the high priest, he offers sacrifice for the purification of the people. And this is a special high priest because unlike all other high priests, this high priest offers himself. He offers himself. And unlike all other high priests like we talked about before, this one actually finished the work. He doesn't have to keep doing it anymore. We have the benefits of a high priest who finished. So I also want you to notice, he says, he says here, consider Jesus, consider Jesus. Now, this is only the second time I believe that this word Jesus is referred to in the book of Hebrews. He also mentions it in chapter two, really referencing the same thing I want to bring out here. Why would it be significant that he would use the name Jesus here instead of the son like he mentioned in Hebrews one or Christ? Why would it be significant that he says Jesus? Either one. Oh, sorry about that. I'm just thinking since the audience is a Jewish audience primarily who are defecting in certain ways towards Judaism. Yeah. So what they need to be reminded of as believers in Christ is that their Messiah, the Messiah of the Jews is Jesus. So to turn back to Judaism at this point, which is denying their own Messiah is foolishness. Yeah. So it's reminding them to turn back to Christ just by identifying their Messiah again as the person Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you, brother. So he's been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. So there's a contrast that's going on in between Jesus and Moses, particularly as mediators, mediators of two different covenants, right? Men. Yeah. Mediators who are men of two different covenants in respect to those who were in covenant. And so I think the significance of him referring to Jesus is to set him in that context properly as to even the appointment. He was faithful. Jesus, who was faithful to him, who appointed him, that appointment has to do with the covenant of redemption. Jesus Christ being appointed as mediator to redeem a people. Those who would be in covenant with him, really the mediator of the new covenant as opposed to or contrasted with the old covenant. Yeah. Yeah. And both are right. Amen. Like his position as a mediator of the covenant, him as a Jew, him as a man. Jesus brings all of that out. It's him using even his name, the emotional effect of that. Understand it becomes personal at that point. Think through to how, lost my thought for a second. Yeah. So he as a man is, he is being shown to us Jesus, Jesus. But yeah, think through to how he says to consider Jesus to that word, consider. Usually when we use the word consider in English, we mean something a little different. Right. So if I said, hey, Tom, Tom Rogers, you know, would you consider giving me your car? And Tom will be thinking, yeah, I'll consider it. No. Right. We think consideration is something quick. It's something it's more shallow when we use that word. But what is being communicated here in the original language is a contemplation, a meditation, a deep thinking upon consider Jesus. Have you thought about Jesus? Think on Jesus, his person, his work and look at how he compares with Moses. Look at Jesus's glory and consider how you must act. Consider Jesus, contemplate, meditate, think deeply upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see here also that there's these comparisons made between Moses and Jesus. Right. We see how Moses in this text, he mentioned that Moses was faithful in all God's house. He's faithful in all God's house. Now that phrase, faithful in all his house, that comes from Numbers chapter 12. Numbers chapter 12, if you remember in Numbers, there was a point in time when Aaron and Merriam, Moses's brother and sister, they became angry with Moses because of his authority, because of the authority that he had over everyone. They became jealous. They said, this Moses, he married a Kushite woman and then God, he calls all three to himself. Then he explained to Merriam and Aaron that Moses is faithful in all of his house. He told Merriam and Aaron that this is the one who might speak to mouth to mouth. This is the one I've chosen. This is the one I have sent. So usually when we think of, well, if I were to compare Jesus and Moses, I'm going to compare the fact that Moses is a sinner and Jesus is not a sinner. You know, Jesus is God, Moses is a man. Right. And those are true comparisons. But what the author isn't really bringing out that particular argument here. He's showing, he's actually showing how Moses was a good example. He's not denigrating Moses here. He's saying that Moses was faithful in all God's house. He was a faithful servant. And in fact, and that word servant is important. He was a servant in God's house. And in numbers 12, when God says that Moses is faithful in all his house, he wasn't referring to the tabernacle at the time. He was referring to the people of Israel, his people, his house. So Moses was faithful in all God's house. Moses was faithful as a servant. And the house was God's people, the Israelites. Now, but now the author tells us of Jesus too. Jesus, he says, he doesn't say faithful in God all God's house. Look here of what he says. He is faithful. I'm looking for the verse. Lost my place. Six. Thank you, brother. He was faithful over God's house. Moses is faithful in all God's house in verse two. Jesus is faithful over God's house in verse six. And Moses was faithful as a servant. Jesus is faithful as a son. Completely different positions, completely different positions. Moses was faithful in the house. And this text says that Jesus instead is the builder of the house. And the builder of the house has more glory than the house itself. And who is this house? Who is this house that Jesus is faithful over? We are that house. If, if we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope, all those who continue, all those who continue, all those who overcome, all those who the Father preserves, those are God's house. Those are God's people. You see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in that, in the way he compares him with Moses. You see his position as head of the church. In this, in this, you even see all of his offices. You see how he's the sent one as the prophet. You see his title given as the priest. You see him, his, his position as the king being over God's house. He is prophet, priest and king and all contributing to his glory. All contributing to his glory. Praise the son. Praise the son. Let's, let's move on here. And I promise you that we're going to spend most of our time in Hebrews. And, but we're going to look at 1st John too. So let's look at 1st John real quick. And 1st through 3rd John, you know how many direct references to glory that they have? Zero, zero direct references to glory. There is no word glory in any of these books. No word glory. So does that mean that there's no glory in these books? Of course not. We're going to be all right. Right? There's glory in these books. So, because the sun is revealed. And we see that. Let's look at 1st John chapter one starting at verse one. It says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, is seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. The life was made manifest and we have seen it and testified to it and proclaimed to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you. So that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed, our fellowship is with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. So think, think about, oh, I'm sorry. I meant to read the next two verses to listen to this in verse five. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you. That God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. So there's a few things I want to bring out. There's a lot in this text too. There's a few things I want to bring out. One, consider how he is pointing to who. Jesus Christ, right? And he is proclaiming the message we see in verse five that comes from him. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you. He sang in verses one through four. We've seen him with our eyes. We've touched him with our hands. John specifically has seen more than most have seen too. John was at the Mount when Jesus was transfigured. He not only saw the glory of Christ in Christ's words and in his righteous life that was demonstrated to all. John saw a special vision of the active presence of the glory of God in the transfiguration. And John even himself, he doesn't use the word glory in first to third John, but he has no problem using the word glory in his gospel, especially in chapter one when he tells us of the word that became flesh. So John is referring to the glorious one. And in first to third John, we may not see the word glory, but we sure do see what it looks like to understand the glory of God. And we see what it looks like to live as someone who understands the glory of God. So in first to third John, you see the outworking of glory. You see the outworking of glory. Glory demands something from you. Glory demands something from you. It would be foolish right for us to do the study on the glory of God and not understand our, the requirement to live for him, to speak for him, to act according to his words, to what John likes to say, and especially in second and third John, walk in truth. In fact, what is truth, what is truth, but what God has revealed in the sun? That's how we know this echoes to write from what we, we looked at in Hebrews chapter one. How has God the Father spoken? He has spoken to us in his son. So, and so the question is here, how does someone who has seen the sun, how does someone who has seen the sun and understood the message in the sun, particularly the gospel? How does that person now live? How does that person now live? And let's take a look at chapter two verses one through six. He says, my little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected. By this, we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. If you understand the glorious one, you will walk and live like the glorious one. Look here at, let's flip the page to chapter four, starting at verse seven. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. You see, those who understand the glorious one love not just the glorious one, but they love the glorious one's people. They love the glorious one's people. They walk in truth and they love the glorious one's people. Turn with me to second John. Yes, bro. Yeah, yeah, please do. Please do. It's all good, bro. It's all good. I just wanted to make a comment because I wasn't going to because you left first John chapter one. But in thinking of the glory of God and our study of the glory of God, a couple of things always come to my mind concerning the glory of God. And that is manifestation, right? The glory of God is God's self-revelation or a manifestation of his own character. It's also characterized by a bright shining light. So in first John chapter one verses one to six, the life was made manifest, right? And then he refers to God being one who is light. And in him there is no darkness at all. The reason why I bring that up is because here in chapter four, where you were reading is that the love of God has been made manifest, you know? So you have now, speaking of like glory in first John, the word glory is not there, right? Docs is not there. But it's filled with glory. Amen. Yeah, his self-revelation. Praise God. Thank you, brother. That's very helpful. And let's so yeah, consider that, right? So God has been made manifest. He has revealed himself and we have a responsibility to live according to it. We have a responsibility to live according to it. Now let's look at second John verse one to the elder, I mean the elder to the elect lady. That elect lady that could be referring to the actual, an actual church, speaking of the church as a, in the same way we would speak of a car in the feminine. The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth and not only, not only I, but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God, the father and from Jesus Christ, the father's son in truth and love. I rejoice greatly to find some of your children and look at this walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the father, walking in the truth. That's how those who understand glory live. They walk in truth. Turn with me to third John, third John, same thing. And verse four, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. So God has revealed his truth to you in the sun. God, the father like Pastor Michael was saying was made manifest in the sun. He has glorified himself in the sun. You have seen glory in the sun. And how must we respond to that vision of glory, particularly that we see in the word, the truth? We're to walk in that truth, amen. We're to practice that truth. And when we fail to do so, we must repent. We must repent. We must turn from our sins and continue following him in the truth. Let's not be lukewarm. Let's not be lukewarm. Let's not have to receive the warning that Christ gave to the church in Laodicea who were neither cold nor hot. Instead, let's be faithful and let's look forward to being with our Lord. And we too will see him in glory and we'll sit with him in glory one day, all who overcome. So let's pray. Father in heaven, may you be glorified. May we, may we see our Lord Jesus Christ in your word. May we see in the sun how you have made yourself clear, how you have manifested yourself. Father, open our eyes to see for all whose eyes are open, open our eyes wider that we may see better. Help us to consider, contemplate, meditate upon Jesus. Help us to praise him and to love him as your apostle, as our high priest. Help us to see his glory and his suffering and in his exultation, his current position as king of this world and the world to come. May your name be blessed, Father. And may the name of your son be blessed. And may our blessing from our lips be true with our actions, with our words, with our preaching of the gospel, with our faithfulness to you and our homes. When our worship together corporately as a church, may you be honored in it and glorified in it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.