I'm so glad to be here. I got
to travel most of the night to get here. I had people asking
me when I left that wedding yesterday, are you going home? And I said,
yes. And they said, why? I got a place
to be tomorrow, right here. So I'm glad to be with you. I'm
glad you're here. Remember those who couldn't be with us today.
And the book of Acts, chapter 7. Book of Acts, chapter 7. Now, I haven't counted, but we've
been here for a little while. for a few Sundays, and I thought
probably we would go on. But I just, there's, you remember,
some of us remember a preacher that came from Kentucky, and
one time he was there preaching for us, and the next time he
preached for us, he said, you know, I found out there's a little
more meat on that bone, so we're going to go over that verse again.
Well, I found out there's a little more meat on this bone. So let's
look at it here as Stephen is standing before the council and
he is really defending his life. He is brought before the council
for many types of heresy. And yet he is given this opportunity
to say a few words. And he said here in verse two,
and he said, men are brethren and fathers hearken. The God
of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia
before he dwelt in Shuran. I'd like to say a few more words
today about the God of Glory. There is no other real God but
the God of Glory. There is no other God, real God,
but the God of Glory. All others are fakes and imposters. There is no other God of the
Bible but the God of Glory. As we find here with what Stephen
had to say about who appeared unto Abraham, the God of glory
is the only God that is a Savior, this God of glory and all others. are fakes, shams, and false. And we find that through the
Scriptures, because God of glory makes it known unto His people,
these are fakes, these are shams, these are not worth listening
to. This God of glory has made Himself
known throughout history, and He has made Himself known through
the Word of God. He moved among countries to do
certain things, but we find in the scriptures that he reveals
himself truly as the God of glory. This glory is an attribute that
belongs only to the true God. Glory only is an attribute that
only belongs to the true God, the God of glory. It speaks of
his kingly majesty. which belongs to him as supreme
ruler, majesty in the sense of absolute perfection of deity. So this is the one that appeared
unto Abram or Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. This was no slip
shot God, this is the God of glory. Now I would like you to
turn to the first chapter of the Bible. Would you turn over
there with me to the first chapter of the Bible, chapter one. There
are some interesting things that we'd like to show you over here.
They were interesting to me. I trust they'll be interesting
to you, because here we find in the book of Genesis chapter
1, and it starts with verse 1. And this drops through all of
chapter 1, and the first three verses of chapter 2, we are introduced
to a name. And in our Bible, it is G-O-D
capitalized. Now this name that is mentioned
here, this word God, it is not always capitalized throughout
the scriptures, because this name can be applied to other
gods. This name can be applied to false
gods. This is the word Elohim. Here
in the book of Genesis chapter 1 and verse 3 verses of chapter
2 is the God that created the heavens and the earth. So He's
not just a slip shot God. He's just not a small God. He
is the God of heaven. He's the God of glory in reality.
But He appears to us in this name that is used so often in
other ways. Now, it tells us here in the
book of Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth. And
if we drop down there to verse. Oh. I'm looking, I'm looking. Oh,
verse 27. So God, Elohim, created man in
his own image. in the image of God created he
him, male and female created he them. What a wonderful statement
about the God of glory. This is what He has done. He's
created the heavens and the earth. He created our first parents.
And then if you would look with me at verse 4 of the 2nd chapter. Verse 4 of the second chapter.
This is the first time this particular word is used in the scripture,
but it gives us some understanding of how God did this. It's the
revelation of the Godhead. We find out that the God of glory
is the revelation of the Godhead. And by that we mean that it is
through Him that He reveals who God is. In the book of Genesis,
chapter 2, verse 4, did you notice that word in front of the name
God? It's L, capital L, capital O,
capital R, capital D. Now, in our translation, that
means Jehovah. That's how they let us know.
Now, I don't know why the translators just didn't put Jehovah and leave
it at that, but they put capitals here, and that's the word Jehovah. Now, Jehovah is the revelation
of God, and when we get down through this chapter 2 of the
book of Genesis, we find out that God made man of the dust
of the earth. This is how He did it. This is
the revelation of how He created man. Chapter 1, it was just a
statement. He made male and female. Here's
a statement. He created mankind. And then
in chapter 2, because we have Jehovah Elohim, the revelation
of the Godhead, we find out how he did it. Man was created of
the dust of the earth, and God breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life, and man became a living soul. What great things
were filled in for us between chapter 1 and chapter 2. The
revelation of the Godhead makes all the difference in the world. If God should speak to us and
not reveal the truth of it, what better are we? None. We need
that revelation. We need that God of glory. We
need that, as Mike brought out, that daysman that would stand
up for us. So here we have, through this
whole statement, the Elohim and then Jehovah Elohim, and this
continues on through the rest of the Old Testament. Jehovah
Elohim. Here's the revelation of God
Almighty. This is how He did His business.
There is only one representative of the Godhead on earth. I am only a reporter. I only report what the report
has. It is not up to me to create
anything. It is not up to me to come up
with some new ideas. It is my responsibility, and
every preacher of the gospel's responsibility, is to report
what the Bible has to say about the God of glory. We have no
right hand or the left hand on the subject. We are straightforward
on this subject. We cannot preach another gospel. We find out what Paul wrote to
the churches of Galatia, those who were doing that. It is not
a gospel. You're not preaching the God
of glory. You're not preaching the revelation of the God and
the grace of God to the people. We read in the Bible that the
great three one, We use the word Trinity, it's not found in the
Bible, but we find the principle of it, the Trinity, the Great
Three One. I'm not even gonna say, put an
N in there. He's the Great Three One. The
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in covenant mercy, determined to
save a people only because of grace and for no other reason
whatsoever. Only because of grace, not because
of our good works, because after the God of glory appeared unto
Abraham, and the God of glory appeared unto you, you found
out that you had no works of righteousness that ever made
one point with God Almighty. It is grace and grace alone. He determined to save a people
only because of grace. And in this great covenant of
grace, it was determined that one would be the only representative
for the Godhead. Moses was a spokesman. Joshua
was a spokesman. But they only gave the report. They didn't make up the report.
They gave the report. That's what good reporters do.
They only give the news. They don't create the news. We
need to be reporters. What does the Bible say? You
know, I was astonished. I had to tell a young man that
I was going to be at a wedding and I couldn't meet with him
yesterday. And he says, again, he said, should I read ahead? Can you imagine? I would have
never said that. Oh, good, I don't have to go
to study or whatever. But this young man asked me,
should I read chapter 20 of the book of John while we don't meet? Yes, do that. I'm going to write
to him, take some notes too. Anyway, the God of glory. Now,
this God of glory that appeared unto Abraham is absolutely marvelous. He's the God that Isaiah saw,
high and lifted up. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty, is the Lord of hosts, as He's declared there.
If we would turn to the book of 2 Corinthians for just a moment.
Would you turn there with me to the book of 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. As we read this wonderful passage
of scripture, 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 6. It tells us this about
the Lord Jesus Christ as declared as the God of glory. Now, He's
Jehovah, and we will find Jehovah appearing several times throughout
the Old Testament, and in fact, any time anybody is ever saved,
it is the God of glory that appears to them. You know what? The Holy
Spirit doesn't even ask for special honor. You know what Jesus said
about the Holy Spirit? When He has come, He will testify
of me. He doesn't ask for glory. He
didn't ask us to pray through the Holy Spirit. He didn't ask
us to go there and do all kinds of things in the name of the
Spirit. If you are going through Jesus Christ the Lord, you are
honoring the Holy Spirit. And if you're going through Jesus
Christ the Lord, you're honoring the Father. This is the only
representative in the world and on the world that God has authorized,
and it's the God of glory. And His name is Jesus Christ. Now, throughout the Old Testament,
He was known as the Messiah. In the New Testament, we have
the word Christ. One's Hebrew, one's Greek, same person. It's
Jesus Christ the Lord. Here in the book of 2 Corinthians
4 and verse 6, for God who commanded. Now, we can go back to the book
of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 and read about it. One states He
created the light. Who is the light? God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where? In the face of Jesus Christ. Where's the glory of God? In
the person Christ Jesus. That's who came down in Ur of
the Chaldees. Pre-incarnate, yes. Pre-birth,
yes. But he came down and appeared
unto Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. The God of glory appeared unto
him because he is the only representative for the Godhead that the Godhead
has authorized to be on the face of the earth. And everybody he
saves becomes ambassadors for him, but they have limited ability
of going to the right hand or to the left hand. In fact, if
you do, you're going to be hearing a letter from Paul in the book
of Galatians. Stop, cease, desist, or you're
not one that God, the God of glory has appeared to. It's that
simple. All right. In the book of John
chapter 11, John chapter 11. Here we read these wonderful
words again. John chapter 11 and verse 40. John chapter 11 and verse 40.
Now, this is around the event of Lazarus's death, his burial,
the circumstances there. It's such an amazing account. The God of glory appeared in
such a glorious manner there. You know, the God of glory said,
I'm not gonna go over there and heal him. And the God of glory
says, I'm not gonna heal him from a distance. And the God
of glory says, I'm gonna let him die. That's what happened. He got word before Lazarus died,
and He could have healed him from a distance, or He could
have got right over there and healed him in the present, but
He chose the God of glory, chose to stay where He is until Lazarus
died and is buried and has been dead at least four days before
he arrives. This is the God of glory dealing
with and showing us how he saves his people from their sins. They're
dead in trespasses and sin. He doesn't get involved with
them until they were dead in trespasses and sin. No need. We all think we're okay. But
this God of glory came and he shares with the sisters of Lazarus. And here in the book of John
chapter 11 and verse 40 says, Jesus saith unto her, said I
not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, what would happen? Thou shouldest see the glory
of God. Now the glory of God is the God
of glory. And this God of glory is Jehovah God. This God of glory
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the only person on
the face of the earth that represents God authorized to represent His
personage, His person, and His purpose on the face of the earth.
Nowhere else will we find that anything else was called on to
represent. The law could not represent the
God of glory. It could only represent death.
The God of glory's holiness was declared in it, but it only brought
death. I was visiting with a young lady
yesterday. I just fell in love with her. She's from Samoa, and
you know most Samoans, if you've been around them, are Seventh-day
Adventists. And she says, what's the difference between what I
believe and what you believe? Well, that is an open question,
isn't it? And I just said, you know, there
was a man in the Old Testament that went out on the Sabbath
day, the seventh day, and picked up some sticks. And the law demanded
that that man be stoned to death. And guess what? He was. There
is no mercy in the law. There is no hope in the law. And besides that, we can't keep
the law. But the God of glory did. He
has righteousness because he kept all that the Godhead demanded
that we should do but can't do. We are commanded to come to Christ
and you know what? We can't do it. how glorious
it is when he gives us the ability to come. Well, Jesus saith unto
her, as it tells us there in verse 40, said I not unto thee
that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory
of God. What happens when God grants
belief to somebody, we get to see Christ. He makes all the
difference in the world. He becomes the only issue. I don't fuss over when the Lord's
coming back. I don't fuss over the translation
you may read from. There's no reason for it because
the issue is Christ. I don't discuss all this stuff
that's going on. I don't worry about wars and
rumors of wars. You know what I'm concerned about?
Representing the Christ of God appropriately. And that means
He is the issue. He is the only issue that we
have to deal with. So thou shouldest see the glory
of God. John chapter 1. Would you back up with me to
the book of John chapter 1? John chapter 1 verse 18. We read
this. John chapter 1 verse 18. It says,
No man has seen God at any time. As my brother would say, that
sounds theolious. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, the God
of glory, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. How do we get this information
about God? It has to come through the God
of glory. It must come through Jesus Christ. He has declared
Him. He has declared His holiness,
His righteousness, His purpose, His grace. He has declared Him
because He is the only representative that the Godhead has ever authorized
on the face of the earth. not some false god, not some
false preacher, not some false priest, not some false prophet,
nothing like that is ever ordained of God to represent Him on this
earth. The Word of God represents Him
We find that throughout it. This is a representation. When
the God of glory appeared in the Old Testament, it was just
and right and good that He should appear to people, because guess
what? They didn't have the written
Word as we do. Now, in our day and time, we don't need that,
because we have the completed Word of God. It is the Holy Bible. We have the Word that God determined
that we should know about Him, and it is all centered around
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man has seen
God at any time. Now, as we heard this morning,
Jesus Christ is on the Mount of Transfiguration. Have you
ever thought about being there? You don't know as I read it,
it is as if I'm granted permission to be there. Because it's by
faith I understand that that all happened. Just like it's
written. I don't have to question it.
I don't have to wonder about it. I don't have to say, I wonder
really did that happen? The commentators will mishmash
that all to pieces. But God's people say, it's right
and true because it's written in the Word. Now, when Jesus
Christ was on the Mount of Transfiguration, and we have a word there, metamorphosis. A Greek word, which means, we
know what happens to a butterfly. That's the word that was used
here. He went through metamorphosis in front of them. He took upon
himself the glory that he had with the Father before the world
was. And you know, Peter jumped up and he represents the church
because we always have better ideas than God does, don't we?
This is how we should do it. How many para-church organizations
are in the world right now, and they all admit, by what they're
doing, that the church can't get the job done? The church
gets the job done. Para-church organizations don't.
It is by the church to know the purpose of God. All right? And
it says, as they were on that mount, and those disciples saw
this man, Jesus of Nazareth transfigured before their eyes. Peter says,
it's so good we're here. Now, I think we ought to build
some monuments. You know, it doesn't take very much traveling
up and down this part of the world to find all kinds of monuments
to Lewis and Clark. Here, there, signs everywhere.
We've got monuments right here in the Dalles. We have a place
that supposedly is the place that they supposedly stopped.
And there's a monument there. You know, that's all Peter wanted
to do. We've been on this mountain, and we saw something that we
haven't seen before, and we really liked it, and let's build a monument
here so we can come back and report it again and again. You
know, the heavens opened, and God Almighty spoke about
His representative, the Son. And you know, do you remember
what He said? God Almighty said, my representative,
Hear ye Him. And that's all he had to say. And we don't need to go any further.
We don't need the monument. We have the Savior. We don't
need a place. We have the place hidden under
His wings in Christ Jesus. So the Holy Spirit did that.
Gospel preachers are only to preach Christ in Him crucified.
There will be many false Christs. Jesus said this. There will be
many false Christs come. Small c. Many false Christs will
come. And you know what? They will
tell you that they represent the God of Glory, and when they
tell you how to do it, you can identify immediately that they
are false. The first thing they're going
to tell you is that you have to do the work. We have a will,
and we have to fan it just a little bit, and we'll get out there
so God will be attracted by our work, and He'll come down and
do something for us. And that is a false Christ, because
the true representative of the true God of heaven said, I come
to do my father's will, and part of what he had to do was to lay
down his life a ransom for many, and it excluded all works. Well, this God of glory, we find
out throughout the scriptures that he has appeared numerous
times unto people. Throughout the Old Testament,
numerous times, we know of one, and that was when he appeared
unto Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. That's where Stephen went to.
But you know what? Stephen could have also went
to the book of Genesis, chapter three. You know who came down
in the cool of the evening every day? The God of glory. He came down in the cool of the
evening. This is the God of glory, the representative of the Godhead. The representative of the covenant
of grace came down and visited Adam and Eve in the cool of the
evening. Now, it was not by mistake that
they came down. It was on purpose that they came
down. And it was not by mistake that
they came down this day and they called, the God of glory called,
Adam, where art thou? Now, it wasn't because the God
of glory didn't know where He was. Adam didn't know where He
was. God of glory knew exactly where
He was. Now, this God of glory was a faithful God. If He was
the God that represents most people in the world today, He
would have simply said, I told you not to do that, and don't
you dare do it again. But you know what He told Adam?
He says, the day you eat, you shall surely die. And it is only
a God of glory that would honor His word in such capacity. And the moment Adam ate that
fruit, he died. God was faithful. We want a faithful
God. We want a God that keeps his
word. We want a God that says something and doesn't bring us
up again and say, well, I wish you hadn't have done that and
don't do it again. We want a God that is faithful to his word
and that's the God of glory. Now that God of glory did something
for Adam and Eve that they could not do themselves because they
hadn't even thought about it. The only thought that they had
was covering themselves with fig leaves. I don't know how
long fig leaves last before they start getting scratchy. What a foolish covering they
chose. And you know by nature, we choose
foolish coverings of all kinds. I was just reading in a catechism
in there earlier this morning, and I set it out to throw away.
Because you get to baptism and baptism is how you get into the
kingdom. And I said, you know, that's
a false God. That's not the God of glory.
The God of glory would never say anything like that. Salvation
is wholly and completely in the person Christ Jesus. And baptism
is only given to us to testify of what he's done for us. not
to gain something. So the God of glory did something
for Adam and Eve in the garden that they could not or would
not take care of for themselves. It wasn't out of their thought
processes. Isn't it wonderful that the God
of glory is wise and is able to take care of a problem that
we are in that we can't even think of how to get out of? He
said, this is the way out of the mess you're in. And he slew
some sheep and shed some blood and covered them with the coverings
of furs, those sheepskins, and he covered them. You know, I
can see the only thing they did, he said, raise your hands. Have
you ever done that with your kids? Raise your hands, I want
to put this shirt on you. They raised their hands, he slipped
that right over the top of them, and he says, now, you are acceptable
in my sight only because of the promise one coming. that's just
like this lamb, innocent, without flaw, without blemish, and blood
must be shed in order for it to be given. And so we have a
message about the God of glory coming and giving himself a ransom. This God of glory appeared unto
Noah. Would you turn with me to the book of Genesis chapter
six? The God of glory appeared unto
Noah, and he said, Noah, we have a problem. And he said unto Noah, the God
of glory said unto Noah, this is how he appears, is in the
God of glory. The end of all flesh has come
before me. For the earth is filled with
violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the
earth." You know, he promised he would
never do this again, sin such a destruction as this again. But if he had never promised
that, he'd be doing it a thousand times since Noah. Because every
generation is the generation just like the generation before
Noah was put into the ark. We are sinners by nature, we're
sinners by practice, and we're sinners by choice. And we find
out we haven't improved the species one iota in 6,000 years. But this God of glory says, I'll
not destroy the world like this again. But he did say, I'm going
to destroy it now. Now make thee an ark of gopher
wood, verse 14. And room shalt thou make in the
ark, and thou shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And he gives the fashion of it.
And then he says in verse 14, excuse me, verse 18, But with thee will
I establish my covenant, and thou shalt come into the ark,
thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee,
and every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shall
thou bring into the ark to keep them alive with thee, and they
shall be male and female. And they came in, the door was
shut, the rains came, the world was destroyed by a flood, and
those in the ark were preserved. And that ark is again a beautiful
picture of the God of glory preserving His people. We find that he appeared
unto Abraham there in Acts chapter 7 and verse 2. We've witnessed
that. But if you turn with me to the book of Genesis a little
further here into the book of Genesis chapter 21, there is
an interesting passage of scripture here that shares with us the
God of glory appearing again in a bodily form before the incarnation,
before He came, born of a virgin. Abraham was told he was going
to have someone to inherit his property. And Abraham says, I've
already got him. He's my servant. And God said,
Nope, sorry. Well, God didn't give him his
son. right away, and Abraham and Sarah
got to talking about it, and Sarah says, why don't you raise
up a son by my handmaid, my servant girl? And Abraham did. And then God blessed Abraham
and Sarah in their old age. She's 90 years old. He's 100
years old. Bless them in their old age with
a child, with a son. Now, this is the son of promise.
This is the son that was given that came miraculously. This
is the son that was given that came after they could have children. This is the son that was given
by God Almighty, the representative of the race of believers. Isaac is the seed of promise. This son. Now, we got another
son over here making fun of this son. And Sarah said, you need
to get rid of her. And Abraham bowed and said, okay,
I will. Now here in the book of Genesis
chapter 21, we find that she and her son, her name is Hagar. And you know, we get to the New
Testament, Hagar is a representative of the law. And yet, the God of glory appeared
unto her and her son in the book of Genesis. And notice this.
It tells us in verse 16, And she went and set her down over
against him a good way off, as if it were a bow shot. And she
said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she set over
against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard
the voice of the lad, and the angel of God, the God of glory,
called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth
thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God hath heard
the voice of the lad where he is. Now God doesn't have to ask
questions to know what's going on. He does that in the scriptures
for us to know what's going on. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold
him in thy hand, for I will make him a great nation." God of glory,
of providence. You know, this boy is going to
be the thorn in the side of Isaac, and his children are going to
be in the thorn of the side of Isaac's children. Why in the
world? God's providence over all things. Why does God allow things to
happen to His people in His providence? It's the God of glory. Now the God of glory does things
different than you and I would do it because He's the God of
glory and we're so simple about it. He just has his mind made
up before the foundation of the world, and he's going to carry
it out exactly as his mind is made up, and it will be fulfilled
in its appropriate time. And this is one of those times
we find the God of glory sharing with us, I'm in charge of this.
I'm in charge to protect this young man and he's going to be
the thorn in the side of Isaac's children. In fact, we're going
to get down to the book of Galatians and find out that this is all
has been going on. There's been a thorn in the side
of every believer. all through all ages, because
they believe the God of glory, and have not given over to the
God of this world. The God of glory appeared unto
Hagar and to her son Ishmael. And now we find them used as
a type in the New Testament of the law of wickedness. How God does his business is
how God does his business. There we find that God of glory
appeared unto Abraham. Abraham was told Can you imagine
the God of glory telling you or me to take our oldest son
up on a mountain and offer him up as a sacrifice? What benefit
is that? Just listen to me. And the God
of glory ordered Abraham to take Isaac up onto a mountain. But
Abraham had already told those guys that are with him, don't
worry about it, we'll be back. And the book of Hebrews says
that Abraham believed that if he had to take his son's life,
he would be raised up. He understood this isn't the
end. This is just God's glory. The God of glory appeared unto
him. God of glory told him, go up on that mountain, go up there
and offer your son as a sacrifice. And just as he is ready to plunge
the knife into his son, the God of glory appears unto him and
stops it. And then what does he show Abraham? A ram caught in the thicket by
his horns. You know, in many respects, we
find that the God of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, was caught
in that thicket by his horns, and there was no way that he
could not go to the cross. He must go to the cross. So we
have that ram becomes the substitute for Isaac, and what a blessed
account that is, to have a substitute for us instead of us going through
the problem. The God of glory appeared to
Abraham about Sodom and Gomorrah. Boy, what a wicked place that
must have been because he sent down the God of glory and two
with him. And Abraham entertained the God
of glory, but those two went over there to Sodom. Now, I'd like to look here Genesis 19, verses 15 and 16.
God of glory is not here. He is represented
well. God of glory is visiting with
Abraham, and Abraham has said, well, for 40 would you not destroy? Forgive me, Lord, for bringing
it up again, but for 30 and down to 10. And God of glory told
Abraham, if there are 10 righteous in that city, I will spare that
city. Well, here we have in the book of Genesis chapter 19 verse
15. And when the morning arose, then
the angels hastened lots saying, arise, take thy wife and thy
two daughters, which are here, lest they be consumed in the
iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, Isn't that our nature? To just
linger. Is this real? And then it says,
The men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife,
and upon the hand of his two daughters, and the Lord being
merciful unto him, and they brought him forth and set him without
the city. I just thought, ìWhoa! Isnít
that exactly what He does for us? He takes a hold of us and
lifts us out of the place weíre in, and the God of glory was
in complete agreement with what these angels did to Lot.î We
get over to the New Testament and all the history of Lot and
all the problems that he had in himself and about himself.
And over there it says, he was a justified man. He was God's
man there in Sodom and Gomorrah. And how he exemplified that,
the mercy that he extended to him and did not destroy him in
that city. Well, it goes on and on throughout
the scriptures that God of glory appeared unto Moses out of a
burning bush. The messenger of the covenant
appeared unto Moses out of a burning bush and said, you're gonna go
down to Egypt and you're gonna set my people free. The God of
glory appeared unto Joshua. Joshua looked at this man as
he's surveying Jericho and he says, are you for us or are you
against us? And the God of glory spoke and
it says that Joshua bowed down to this God of glory. throughout
the Scriptures. The last one I'd like to look
at is found in the book of Acts, chapter 26. Acts, chapter 26. In the book of Acts, chapter
26, we have Paul recounting in front of those that have been
placed in authority, recounting what the God of glory did for
him. Same God that appeared unto Abraham
appeared unto Saul of Tarsus on the way to Damascus. It says,
Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission
from the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light
from heaven. above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me, and
when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking
unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against
the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. The God of glory appeared unto
this very wicked man on his way to Damascus to arrest more believers,
more Christians, and take them back to Jerusalem, and there
eventually have them executed. But God on the way of Saul's
travels appeared unto him, the God of glory, appeared unto Saul
of Tarsus, and Saul of Tarsus was never the same again. Instantly, Christ became the
issue, and immediately he began preaching Christ and Him crucified.
He was made fun of by the church, but there was one in that church
that said, he's one of us, and introduced him to the rest of
those in the church, and here we have Saul of Tarsus. Paul
is given the great task of writing the majority of the New Testament,
and writing about the way he used to be and that it would
not get anybody anywhere. It is only by the grace of God. Saul of Tarsus got to rewrite
by inspiration. Holy Spirit gave it to him. For
by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. that we won't boast. It is a
gift of God. Brother Mike, if you'll come.