If you would like to turn to
Hebrews chapter 1. We have been looking at a series
of seven distinct truths on Sunday morning. This morning we have
the fourth of those distinct truths. These truths are what's
verse one to verse five is where all seven of them, but these
truths are the truth of God, the truths of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It's clearly set forth for you
and I for plainly declaring who he is and what he has done and
who he has done it for. I'm thankful that it tells us
clearly in verse number three, when he had by himself purged
our sin. We're not gonna look at that
this morning, but the whole purpose of this is to understand that
this was all by his doing, all by himself. all by himself. Let's
read our text here. Hebrews 1 verse 1 says, God who
at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds. Who being, and that's what I've
titled this message, who being the brightness of his glory and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. being made so
much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained
a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels
at any time, said he at any time, thou art my son, this day have
I begotten thee, and again I will be to him a father, and he shall
be to me a son. I've titled this Who Being. Who Being, the express, Who being
the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. This denotes to us who He already
is. Who He was, who He is, and who He's always going to be.
Who being. Who being the brightness of His
glory. Not that he would become the brightness of his glory,
not that he would become the express image of his person,
but who being he already was, he already was before the world
began. He was the brightness of the glory of God and the express
image of his person. The very incarnate God, God manifest
in the flesh. Remember every time that God
has revealed himself in the scripture physically to the eye of a man,
first time was Adam. Remember what the scripture says,
Adam and Eve had hid themselves because they had taken of the
forbidden fruit. They hid themselves and they heard the voice of God
walking in the cool of the evening. Well, who is the voice of God?
Well, it's the word of God, it's Jesus Christ. Every time the
Lord has manifested himself Every time he has revealed himself,
it has been the Lord Jesus Christ all the way through the Old Testament
and all into the new. Now, Jesus Christ assuming manhood
means that he became the visible image of God, understand something
that God is invisible. God is a spirit. The flesh cannot
see spiritual things. flesh cannot see spiritual things.
God is invisible. Jesus Christ being manifest in
the flesh, assuming manhood, assuming a body of flesh, He
became the visible manifestation of God. He became God in the
flesh. Now, we know these things to
be true, but can you explain the awesomeness, all full, it's
completely full of all, of God becoming a man. He was the brightness
of his glory. He was the express image of his
person. He is. Every character, every
character of God he has, every attribute of God, all of his
power, all of his offices, because he is God. He is God. John chapter 10, and I quote
that quite often, remember it says, my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. At the very end of that,
when he gets done speaking, he says, I and my father are one. I and my father are one. This is something that offended
the Pharisees more than anything else that Jesus Christ said.
They constantly became infuriated at him for literally declaring
himself as the son of God, as God himself. They took up stones
to stone him. He said, which good deed do you
take up stones to stone me? He says, we don't take up stones
for your good deeds. We take up stones for you being a man.
Make yourself God. Well, that's a false accusation,
isn't it? He didn't make himself God. He is God. He is God. The father declared him as such.
This is my beloved son. This is the one that has my blood
in whom I am well pleased. He is God. He's the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person. He is the
only one that is seen. He's the only one that is going
to be seen for the purpose of salvation. Nothing else is going
to be seen. The only sign that was given was the sign of his
resurrection. The father was well pleased. No other sign,
no other experience, no other nothing. Jesus Christ, he's the
one, he's the one who is salvation that must be seen. I and my father
are one, he said, in every way, not figuratively, but literally. Him and the father are one. If
someone is to know God, If you and I, we're not worried about
someone, what about me? What about you? If you and I
are to know God, we must know Jesus Christ. We must. Outside of him, there is no knowing
God. Someone's to know God, they must
know the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the brightness of his glory.
He's the express image of his person. There's no other image
given. There's no other glory shown forth, but Jesus Christ. He's the immutable, the unchangeable,
the incarnate God. He is the one we must have. He's
the one we must have. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Now explain that. Well, I can't. I can't. The language is indescribable
because the one who is being described is incomprehensible. We can't comprehend him. How
are you going to describe something that's incomprehensible? Faith
says truth, Lord, I believe. I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. Well, who made you believe that?
The Lord said, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father, which
is in heaven. What does the Father reveal? The Father reveals the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, that he is both Lord
over all, and he is the Savior of his people. Language is indescribable
because the one described is incomprehensible. When he became
a man, he veiled his glory in flesh. He veiled his glory in
flesh. No one knew that it was God unless
he caused them to know, and it's the same today. It's the exact
same today. No one can see Jesus Christ save
he reveals himself. It's not a decision we make.
It's not in a prayer we pray, not in a work we do. It's that
when he reveals himself by his choice, according to his will,
we then see him as he is being the express image of God, being
the brightness of his glory. Do you remember whenever Mary
came? Think about this. You had, we
use this example, a couple examples Wednesday night, and this is
one that I don't believe I used, but Mary, or maybe I did use
this one, doesn't matter, it's purposed. Mary saw the Lord as
soon as he was resurrected, right after. She saw the angel sitting
there and said, where have you laid him? And she turned and
she saw Jesus Christ. She saw God being after he was
resurrected. And she thought he was a gardener.
Think about that. Now, how much time has Mary spent
with Jesus? How much time she sat at his feet? How much she
saw the resurrection of Lazarus? I mean, how many, how much, how
many times has she heard his voice? How many times has she,
think about that. And she didn't know who he was.
She did not know who he was. until he spoke with the word
of his power. When he revealed himself, he
said, it is I. And she saw him. Why did she
see him? Because of the word of his power. Because of the word of his power.
Now I'm definitely getting ahead of myself because that's the
second hour, but you understand what I'm saying. It's up to him
to reveal the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person. It's hidden. It's a mystery. It's for Him
alone to reveal. unless he gives us sight to see. No one then could see him if
he walked into the room right now, and he wouldn't, because
it would be contrary to the scripture. He reveals himself one way through
the preaching of his gospel by his spirit. That's what he teaches
us. The only other time he's going to reveal himself is when
he comes back for his people. But if he was to come into this
room, we would not know who he was because of our sight, not
our physical sight, just as the disciples didn't know. They thought
he was a spirit walking on the sea. They thought he was a ghost
walking on the sea, didn't they? They didn't know it was God.
They didn't know it was the Lord until what happened? He spoke. He spoke. Unless he gives life first, we
can't see who he is. To know him. To know Him is to
know eternal life. To see Him is to see eternal
life, to have eternal life. If we want to know God, we must
know Christ. Turn with me to John 17. We're
gonna spend just a little bit of time there right now. We're
gonna go back to that in closing, but for right now, I wanna read
the first part. John 17. If I know not Jesus Christ, I
know not God. I know not God. John 17 one says
this. These words speak Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour is come glorify
thy son that thy son may also glorify thee. As thou has given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. And this is, get this, this is
life eternal, that they may know, they might know thee, the only
true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And now, oh Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. The glory that I had with thee
before the world was. If I know not Jesus Christ, he
says this is life eternal, that they may know the true God and
Jesus Christ. There is no separating it. You
can't know the true God and not know Jesus Christ, and you cannot
know Jesus Christ and not know the true God. It's one and the
same. Do we see that? One and the same. I've got to
know him. That's what Paul was talking about, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection. Not an understanding of biblical
facts, but to know him, to see him. If I don't know him, I have
not eternal life. The reason's simple, because
he alone is the brightness of his glory and the express image
of his person. If I don't know him, I don't
know, if I don't know Jesus Christ, I know not the brightness of
the glory of God. If I know not Jesus Christ, I know not the
expressed image of the person of God. He is both the message
and the messenger. He is who God speaks by and who
God speaks all about, the Lord Jesus Christ, from Genesis to
Revelation. As a matter of fact, what does
Revelation say at the beginning of it? The revelation of Jesus
Christ. This is simple. This is a simple message and
yet it's past finding out. And yet it's incomprehensible
for you and I to be able to comprehend. He has to reveal it. He has to
reveal himself or we can't see him. Now the glory that's mentioned
here, him being the brightness of his glory, this glory was
not bestowed upon the Lord Jesus Christ because of what he done. It was because of who he is,
him being the brightness of his glory. It's who he is. It's an
attribute. It's a characteristic. It's a
quality, if we can put it that way. He is the brightness. He
always has been the brightness of the glory of God. Answer that question is why is
he always been the brightness? Well, that's pretty simple because
he is God. Remember in religion, so many
people talk about. The Lord and. They have the father
up here and and you have the son that's down here and you
have the spirit that kind of is in between and they couldn't
really tell the truth about who God was. They never met the Lord. They don't know him. You and
I know the simple truth that Jesus Christ is God. In every
way, there is no attribute or quality or power or office or
authority that's limited to him. He is the 100%. He is the 100%
incarnate God. He had all power. How much power
did he have? Well, he tells us here, as thou
hast given him, verse two, as thou hast given him power over
all flesh. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him. He has the power, the only
one that has the power to give life, eternal life, to all of
those the father elected. He's the only one that had the
ability to redeem, because he was the only one that had the
right to redeem, being the son of God, being the only one with
perfect blood, being the only one that was the brightness of
his glory and the express image of him. Only one that the father
was pleased with, Let's go back to our text in Hebrews one. I probably just quote this for
you again, but I want to read it. Chapter one verse Hebrews one
verse three, who being not going to be, but is and always will
be who being the brightness of his glory and the express image
of his person, the expressed image of his person. Christ perfectly
reflects the majesty of God because he is God. Christ Jesus reflects
the majesty of God, not made to reflect it, but being so. He is. He is. He alone has righteous judgments. He alone has truth and grace
because he is righteous, because he is truth. He is where all
grace comes from. This is who he is. This is who
the Lord Jesus Christ is. On the cross of Calvary. The cross
of Calvary, the father judged his son. That's what was taking
place on the cross of Calvary. When his soul was made an offering
for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ was judged of the father. Now, if he had not been bearing
sin, if he had not been found guilty of that sin, then you
and I would have no hope because the father would not would not,
justice would not have needed to be satisfied or executed if
a man's not found guilty. The example I gave, I think Wednesday
night was, is somebody could take your place if you were guilty
of a crime and you were, had a death penalty upon your head,
somebody could step in and say, I'm going to die in your stead.
I'm going to die in your place. You're still guilty of that crime though,
even though you've been set free from the judgment or the consequence
or the penalty of that sin, that crime rather. The death penalty
is no longer belonging to you because somebody took your place.
That's not what happened on the cross. The Lord took our sin. The father in his righteous judgment
saw that sin and the Lord put that sin away. And at no point
in time did he stop being the brightness of his glory and the
express image of his person. He was the perfect sacrifice.
We know that the Lord in his wrath poured out every drop poured
out every drop of wrath, every bit of the torment of hell that
you and I deserve. And the Lord absorbed that on
the cross. The Lord Jesus Christ absorbed that being the brightness
of His glory in the express image of His person. There's nothing
else to be seen. This is salvation to see the
Lord Jesus Christ, to see what He has done for His chosen people.
That is salvation. He must reveal it. Because Christ
put away all the sin of the Lord's people Father glorified him. Father
resurrected him. That's what he's talking about
here. Father glorify thy son. He's speaking of Lord in your
righteous judgment, resurrect me. That's what this prayer is.
This is him calling upon the father. to uphold his end of
the covenant. Father, resurrect me because
I have glorified thee by keeping my word, by honoring you in all
things, by never sinning. This is the covenant of grace
that's happening here. Now glorify me as thou has promised.
And what happened? The Lord glorified him. The Lord
resurrected him. That's exactly what happened.
The scripture goes on farther and says he's exalted him. giving
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Why? Because
he is the brightness of his glory in the express image of his person. As the supreme ruler, his majesty,
His majesty in the sense of absolute perfection of the deity is found
in one place, the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to see the absolute
deity, absolute perfection of God, it's found in one place,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses wanted to see the Lord's
glory, didn't he? He said, Lord, show me your glory. Let's turn
there, Exodus chapter 33. I think I've used that analogy,
that allegory many times. I don't know that we've ever
turned there, so I want us to see what the Lord says here in Exodus
33. Exodus 33.19. After verse 18, Moses says these
words. Moses said, I beseech thee, show
me thy glory. And the Lord says, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And
he said, thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. And the Lord said, behold, there
is a place by me Thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come
to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a
cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass
by. And I will take away mine hand,
and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen.
There is a place beside me. There is a place nigh unto me,
nigh unto thee, and it is the cleft of the rock. This is the
only place, this is the only place where the Lord's glory
is revealed. The only place that the Lord's
glory is revealed in mercy. The only place that the Lord's
revealed in, the Lord's glory is revealed in grace. Otherwise
it would be in judgment. The Lord's going to get all the
glory. Don't misunderstand. Every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess. It's when he looks upon those who
are not found in Christ, who are in that cleft. He said, no
man can see me and live. That's in judgment. That's in
judgment. That's not in mercy. That's not
in grace, but that's in judgment. But he says, Moses, I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have grace upon whom I'll
have grace. He says, I'm going to put you in the cleft of the
rock. I'm going to put you in the express
image of my person. I'm going to put you in Christ.
That's what he's saying. And there I'm going to hide you
from my wrath because the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that
endured that wrath. He's the one that put away our
sins. So therefore there's no wrath any longer. And he says,
when I pass by you, you can't see my face. You can't, but I'll
let you see what I've done. I'll let you see my back parts.
I'll let you see goodness and mercy your entire life. I will
show you what Christ has done on the cross of Calvary, being
the brightness of my glory and the express image of my person.
I will show you Jesus Christ. That is what God always shows
to his people. That is the only revelation that
God has ever shown or will show is the Lord Jesus Christ. For
seeing the Lord is seeing salvation. Everywhere God appeared, he veiled
his glory. He had to veil his glory. It
would kill a man. It would kill any man that would see his glory
in its fullness in the flesh. But we see Jesus. We see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory
and honor. You remember on the Mount of
Transfiguration what took place. The Lord was up there with his
disciples, Peter, James and John, and they saw the Lord the veil
of his flesh go away, and he was transfigured. And the brightness
was so bright, they fell on their face on the ground, they couldn't
look upon him. They couldn't look upon him. And they saw the
Lord speaking to Moses and Elijah, that's the law and the prophets,
and Peter didn't know what to do with himself, so he just did
the thing you and I do, he just opened up his mouth and started
talking, it's the worst thing we can do, but that's what we do, isn't
it? That's what I'd have done. And he said, Lord, let's make
three temples, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.
And aren't you glad of the Lord's gracious words? He didn't say,
I rebuke you, Peter. He just, he didn't say a word
to him, did he? Regarding his statement, regarding
his foolishness. No, no, the words that were spoken
prior, this is my beloved son, hear ye him, hear ye him. That's what the Lord said about
his son. He's the only place, he's the only one that the Lord
reveals. You remember whenever, every
time the Lord came, he veiled his glory. No man can look upon
him. When he appeared unto Moses, I'm sorry, when he appeared unto
Abraham, the man appeared unto Abraham, that was the Lord incarnate,
that was the Lord Jesus Christ that appeared to him, said, Abraham,
you're gonna have a son. It was the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham
didn't know that it was him until the Lord made it known. You see,
Moses, when he went up on the mountain in order to receive
the law, the scripture says that a cloud came, smoke filled Mount
Sinai. He couldn't look upon the Lord.
But even in that smoke, when he came, Moses came down off
the mountain, his face shone so bright that the children of
Israel couldn't look upon Moses. They had to veil his face. You
and I can't even look on the law of God and live. Think about
that. How much more the blessed son
of God? How much more God himself incarnate? We can't look upon
him and examine ourself and deem ourself righteous yet by grace
he causes you and I to see his glory by faith alone. We see
the fullness of the Lord in the Lord Jesus Christ and you and
I see his glory and rejoice in it. We rejoice in it. Where was
that glory seen? Where is that glory revealed
at the cross of Calvary? What he did for his people on
the cross. Every time the Lord had been
seen, he veils himself. One of these days, he's not gonna
veil his glory anymore. We're looking through a glass
darkly, is what Paul said. We see his glory now through
a dim glass. We can't really, and that doesn't
mean a dirty glass. If you realize whenever this
was written, it's referring to, I know Matt could back me up
on this if he was here, but some of y'all may know about antiques
a little bit. Those really old mirrors that they have. They're
not like the mirrors we have today, are they? Some of them,
they're more darker. They have dark spots on them,
dark plate. And you look through and you're
trying to look at yourself and you kind of can see yourself.
You kind of can't because now we have better mirrors and we
can really see good, you know, everything you want. They even have magnifying
mirrors now, you know. That's what Paul's talking about.
We're looking through a glass darkly. We can't see the reflection
perfectly of the Lord Jesus Christ, but what he does reveal, What
He does reveal is always His glory of the cross of Calvary.
One day, what Scripture says, the half's not been told, that's
what the Queen of Sheba said, the half's not been told me.
I knew that He was the brightness of His glory, I knew that in
the heart by faith, but my eyes have seen the King. And when
we see Him, the most glorious news to a sinner is, is we'll
be made just like Him. It's the only way that we can
see Him as He is, to be made just like Him. That's what he
did on the cross of Calvary for his people. He so much justified
his people. He so much, so well sanctified
his people. He put away sin in so much that
you and I were made the very righteousness of God in him.
So the same glory, the same glory that he has, he has now given
to his people freely by grace. Look in John chapter 17. We'll
read that together. While you're turning there, yesterday
I was outside and I was talking to Rob there for a minute and
the sun was right behind him. And I could not, for the life
of me, look at Rob. The sun's up high and Rob's down
low, but I still could not look at him for the brightness of
the sun. And the Lord purposed that because of this message
that we're looking at this morning. I was looking at Rob and I kept
trying to move. I couldn't see Rob. My eyes kept
burning. They kept watering. I couldn't
see Rob. And I thought, man, the ball
of fire that's in the sky pales in comparison to the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of righteousness. When Paul heard
the voice of God and he saw the man, it struck him blind. And
if it wasn't for grace, God would have killed him right there.
But it was in mercy, the Lord revealed himself. And every time
the Lord reveals himself in truth, it blinds us. We see, that's
what the Lord told him. He said, because your sin remaineth,
because you say you see your sin remaineth, but those that
are blind, they see. What did he mean? When you see
the son of righteousness, you see the glory, the brightness
of his glory, it blinds you to self. You no longer look at self-righteousness. You no longer look at self-worth
in and of yourself. You see his righteousness. You're
blinded to yourself. And Paul would have said, I see
so much better since you've struck me blind. That's what Paul's
confession would have been. I've seen the Lord. I've seen
the King. I see that everything, I've counted it all but done
now that I may win Christ. I didn't know who he was. I thought
I was serving God and I was serving myself, serving Satan, serving
the world. But whenever the Lord revealed
himself in his glory, Oh, he blinded me to self and shut me
up to Christ. And now I see the brightness
of his glory. Now I see the express image of
his person. Now I see salvation. One of these days we'll be able to
look. Be able to look with the eyes the Lord gives us on the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ being glorified and I look here
and in John 17 what the Lord says. John 1720. The Lord's still praying to his
father here. He says, neither pray I for these alone, talking
about his disciples, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou,
father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the
glory, the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. And the glory which thou gavest
me, I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. And that the world may know that
thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. The glory which the Lord had
given unto the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave unto his people. In the
Old Testament, in the book of Deuteronomy, the Lord tells the
children of Israel, tells Moses specifically, but Moses conveys
it. The Lord said, my glory is going
to fill the tabernacle. And when my glory fills the tabernacle,
it will sanctify the tabernacle. It will sanctify the tabernacle.
What does that mean? That means the presence of God
sanctifies whatever it is in. That's why you and I cannot look
upon the Lord and live. For us to be sanctified, to be
made holy, means it's going to destroy our flesh completely,
because there's nothing holy about us. We would die. He said,
when I come to the tabernacle, I'm going to sanctify it by my
glory. What the Lord did on the cross of Calvary, he didn't make
a way of salvation. He became sin for his people
who knew no sin that we would be made the righteousness of
God in him. He made it so that now we have
a new nature. Now we are made new creatures
altogether. Now we have been sanctified.
Why? His glory that he has given unto
us. It's already in us. According
to His Word, it's already in us. And one of these days, He's
going to reveal it. When this incorruptible, when
this corruptible puts on incorruption and this mortal puts on immortality,
everything will be revealed that Jesus Christ is in His people
right now as their sanctification before God. Jesus Christ in His
glory being in His people are their righteousness right now.
All that He All that He purposed, He accomplished on the cross
of Calvary so that you and I, you and I could be, could have
salvation, to be one with Him and one with His Father, literally
be in Him. I and my Father are one. He just
said right here in verse 23, I in them and thou in me. I in
them and thou in me. We're united with him because
of his glory. We're united with him because
of the blood that he shed on the cross of Calvary. We're united
with him because of his finished work. This is what he done. The good news of the gospel is
all that the father gave the son will come to the son. All
that the father gave the son will be brought to the knowledge
of the truth. And what that truth is, that
Jesus Christ is the brightness of the glory of God and the express
image of His person. The Lord doesn't express Himself
in any other way but the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time God
calls and elects sinners out of darkness, He's calling them
into His glorious light. Every time. There's never a call
that goes forth from the Lord's Spirit. in vain. If he calls,
we're going to answer. And we're going to see the Lord
Jesus Christ as he is, as he is by faith right now. One day,
faith will end in sight. We'll see him as he is then,
won't we? Being made like him. In closing, I want to tell you
three things. Our salvation is dependent upon three things.
And I'll probably write an article about this, but The best articles
are preached first, I suppose, or maybe vice versa. Our salvation
is dependent upon three things. The Father electing a people. Jesus Christ redeeming those
people by his own blood. and his spirit regenerating them
people, bringing them out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's the three things dependent
upon salvation. That's the only way you and I
are ever gonna see that he is, that he is the glory, the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person. Father elect
the people before time. Lord Jesus Christ and the covenant
of grace took the Lamb's book of life before time. He became
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the reason all
things were created, so that He could redeem His people, and
He did on the cross of Calvary in time. And then in the fullness
of time, the Holy Spirit calls each one of those for whom the
Father elected and the Son redeemed. That's what salvation is dependent
upon. That's where the glory of God is revealed, His gospel. That's where the glory of God
is revealed, no other place. Christ Jesus, who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. He's the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person. Let's pray. Father, cause us
to understand these impossible truths. Give us faith to believe. In Christ's name, amen. Let's
take a break.