Faith - Lesson 5 week 3, Start Lesson 6
JD McCulley · Mar 8, 2015
Faith, No. 09
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926457293190

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're studying faith, right? Right. Good to see you guys. Welcome back. Good to see you too. Welcome back. I've been listening to you. Good deal. Just hit the road running in here. The ground running. So, the four major aspects of faith. Number one is, and it's going to start getting a little bit confusing once Mike gets up here today, I think.

The reason is, in looking at Lesson 6, there's some tricky stuff going on there. The way that we're going to keep things straight, moving forward though, is to remember what we've learned so far and what we haven't learned, and to use that somewhat as a clue to help you figure out what we're talking about. The tricks that we're working through are not necessarily tricks that are designed to deceive you, they're designed to make you think hard.

Because a lot of Christianity builds a lot of their faith around a misunderstanding of where these different definitions apply in the scripture. And you can get quite hung up and quite confused about things regarding faith if you don't have a clear understanding of which aspect of faith are they talking about here.

I wondered how this class was going to really hit me the most, and I think that what it's done is it's challenged me in the same way that I now look at the word salvation, or I look at the word love, is to say, what is the context? We talk about basic Bible interpretation requires that you ask context, context, context. You've got to know the context of these words. We're going through this topical study.

It's really an exercise in biblical interpretation because we're looking at a lot of verses and we're bouncing around all over the place. And sometimes that's hard because you don't get the sense of an author's approach to telling something to you over a period of time, like a letter, like a Pauline epistle or whatnot. You don't have the opportunity to learn how he uses that word and see it repeated over and over. Since we're balancing around, we're looking at different authors and we're looking at different contexts and different times.

And in order to do a topical study, we have to keep in mind that context, context, context. And that's what we're trying to do here as we look at the various verses. But we are. We're looking at the four major aspects of faith. The first one is essence. reality. Right.

And when we talk about Hebrews 11.1, we talk about the things that are hoped for, the things of God. And we started on a several week journey into what are the things of God. And it was a survey. And it has been a survey. And we'll finish that up today. But we've been talking about the things of God.

And so we looked at His essence. We looked at His ways, His thoughts, His wisdom, His knowledge, His mind. what He's done, what He's doing, what He will do, and we've moved now into God's eternal purpose. And we talked last week about, or we looked at several passages and we established two different things about God's eternal purpose. The first one was to declare His glory. And do you remember what that verse was and how He communicates the declaration of His glory?

It was Psalm 19.1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day to day He utters speech, and night unto night He shows knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." So how exhaustive is that declaration of God's glory? A lot. Then we looked at the second aspect or the second point underneath God's eternal purpose and that was to reveal His glory. And what was the verse we looked at for that? Do you remember?

Romans 11.36 Are you on John 1.14?

Oh, John 1.14.

That's right, it was John 1.14.

And we also looked at John 1.1, didn't we?

And what did it tell us? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. That's right. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then we jump down to 14 and we complete that perspective. This is when the word was made flesh and it dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. How did we beheld his glory at that time? Presently with them? Yeah. His life, throughout the entire life of Christ, we beheld the glory. But when did that glory have a beginning? It never had a beginning. It never had a beginning.

We just had an opportunity to behold it physically as humans during the time that he walked on this earth. So we talked about how God reveals His glory. I'm sorry, that was still the declaration side of it. So we looked at, to declare His glory through creation and then through the person of Christ. And then we started on a path and we started asking a question that was tied to the second point.

And I used the word require. Remember it was the question that I said, did God require us, did God require the human believer in his eternal plan and eternal purpose? Were we required in that eternal plan or that eternal purpose? And no. Not required. Yeah, that was a yes and no question.

Because we were part of his plan. You remember this? This is where we left off last week. So I'll ramp back up to where we were. Didn't we say that was God's will that he include us? That he didn't have to? So I'm going to just throw this out to you guys. When we think about requiring, if you're required to do something, is that requirement outside of you? Yes. Yeah, somebody else tells you. That's right. There's a some source outside of you that has an authority over you and is giving you a requirement and you therefore need to fulfill a requirement.

So does God require anything outside of himself? No. So we probably shouldn't use that word, should we? Couldn't we require something of ourselves? We could. You can require something of yourself, but It's going to be based on some authority outside of yourself. I mean, there's a lot of people that put an authority over them and require things of themselves that come from, let's say, science or Buddha. Or parents. Or parents. Yeah.

So, when we say, did God require us? I would say that God doesn't require anything outside of His character. Who He is. He's always 100% consistent in terms of His own character, who He is. Now, did He include us? Did He design us into His plan? I think so. And that's where we get the second aspect of God's eternal purpose, and that is to reveal His glory.

So 2 Corinthians 3.3, does someone have that one? The reason I'm having you look these up and not just reading them all to you is because these are the passages that are building this topic of the essence of faith. So I want you to be able to see them and even just mark it real quick if you want to in your Bible.

Do you want me to read it? I'm there. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, Not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. Is that it? Yep. Manifested, being manifested that you are a letter of Christ. What does that mean?

And then it goes on to say, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not on the tables of stone. Where do we see tables of stone? Commandment. So here we have a contrast. that Paul's making, and he says, but this message was written on the tablets of human hearts. What human hearts? Ours. My Bible, studied Bible, says Paul's heart. Hmm. Well, is he a human? Yeah. Alright. Yeah. Are these believers? Or unbelievers? Both? Believers of belief. I don't think you'd say it's written unless they're believers. Verse 2. What does verse 2 say? Thank you, Mike. You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men.

So who does this refer to? The Corinthian church. Believers, right? So that's why we wrote last week that God reveals himself through believers. Have you ever heard the term, you may be the only Bible that anyone ever reads? Well, this verse supports that.

Now, does that mean that you, being part of God's eternal purpose to reveal His glory, can say and communicate whatever you want on behalf of Him, and that that is a revelation from God? Because you could go there, couldn't you? A lot of people do. Yeah, I mean, if we are part of the way that God reveals His glory, and it's written on our heart, why can't we just say whatever we want to say, and have that be a revelation from God? Say that again. Does this question make sense? I might need to phrase it a little bit. Yeah, it's alright. It's alright?

So, if part of God's eternal purpose is to reveal His glory through believers, That's what we just read in that verse. If part of His eternal purpose is to reveal His glory through us, why can't we say whatever we want to say? I mean, we may be the only Bible anybody ever reads.

That's the thing. It's not through us. It's through the Word through us. Are you sure? If it's consistent with the Bible. It's the Holy Spirit through us. Through the Word. Do epistles talk? No. What is an epistle? It's a letter. A written letter. Which would be the Bible. I don't hear him. I read it. And so the believer, if he's an epistle, he's a letter. And it has to be verbally read and understood. You don't have to say anything.

That's the problem, I think, and what you're referring to is that sometimes we think, if I'm not running my mouth, nothing's getting done. Doesn't faith come by hearing? So let me ask you a question. If we're the only Bible that anybody may ever read, when you speak, and you are participating in this opportunity to reveal God's glory through yourself as a believer, What are the words that reveal His glory and what are the words that don't?

Your presentation. What if I just presented very, very motivation, like with a lot of motivation. I've got a delivery that just slays you. You guys walk out of here and you're all patting me on the back. You're saying, man, that guy really nailed it. So are you saying that your motivational speech is taken directly from the Bible? What if it isn't? Well, if it's not, then it doesn't matter, but what if it is, and it's motivational? Well, then you can pat me on the back. But it isn't effective. Because there isn't love, so you're a clanging symbol. Wow, you are on today. That's awesome.

I don't know where it talks about it, but in the Word it talks about people that are They're delivering their word, but their heart's not in the right place, but yet the word is still delivered. The gospel is still delivered to them. If I read from the Bible, it's still God's word that I'm reading. It's not me that's delivering it. It's God that's delivering it. It's His word. You're right. I think you're both right. the point about the Holy Spirit is right as well. So, if we're walking in the flesh, are we revealing God's glory? It depends on what you do. If it's in the flesh, you can't. They don't overlap. It's enmity, right? my big word for the day. It's good. It's fine. Yeah, you're at enmity with God in your heart, right?

So, the point I'm trying to make here, and I let that kind of dangle for a little bit, I think you guys nailed it right on the head, is that in order to reveal God's glory through believers, it is the Lord who does the revealing through us. It's the same thing. Beholding the Lord He does the living through us. That's how He reveals Himself through us.

And Mike's right. It's written on our heart. It's not our message. We don't add to it. It was written and provided to us in order to share by walking through faith as we are conformed into His image, we are part of the way that God reveals His glory. You're being conformed to the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ and He reveals His glory through you through that process. through no other process does He reveal His glory through you. Does that make sense? Because we've been transformed. Is that right? You're right. And when you operate out of that position of who you are, the Holy Spirit lives Christ's life through you, and you reveal His glory. And that's the second part of God's eternal purpose. Let's look at the third. So we have John 17, 20-12. Let's read it. It was 20 and 21. Oh, sorry, 20 and 21. Someone read it when they got it. 1720. Let's hear it.

I do not ask on behalf of these alone, for those who believe in me through their words, that they may be one, even as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. So I'm going to give you the word here. The third part, it's down here. I realize some of you can't see it. I'm running out of room here. But we said declare, reveal, and now we're going to talk about share. So the word is share.

How does God share His glory? Where did that first take place? Where was the first time in history I'm not talking about eternal past and eternal future, I'm talking about history. Where is the first time in history that we see God share his glory? In creation? What part of creation? What us? So who was that? In the Holy Spirit, you know, we're involved in creation. Okay, yeah, you're right. There was the triunity of God that was involved in that. Who did he share his glory with in the very first? Adam. Adam, right? As soon as he created him, that was... He shared his glory with him, didn't he? What does glory mean? We've talked about it a lot. Let's make sure we know what the word means. What does it mean? We've got a definition that works in Holly Hills pretty consistently, and that's what I'm looking for. The radiant essence of who God is. So when does he first share the radiant essence of who he is, that being his glory? He shares that with Adam. in the beginning, doesn't he?

What happened to Adam? He fell. He was seduced. He was seduced. But he made a conscious decision to trust the authority of Satan over the authority of God. And through that trust, in the wrong source, he traded the truth for a lie, he trusted the creation rather than the creator, and he fell.

Right? And you'd call that sin, right? He missed the mark? Absolutely. Okay. You said he trusted the creation rather than the Creator. Yeah. Could you expand on that a little? Sure. What you mean by the creation? That's right. So who did he trust? Satan. And what is Satan? The ruler of the world. What else is he? A created being. What? And that being is the category of? Creation. Angels. Are angels created? Are they the creator? No. Right. Creator-creature distinction. Remember? So he trusted the creature. The authority of a creature.

When the Israelites were coming from Egypt and the glory of the Lord shone in their mouth by day and the fire by night, would that be kind of a physical representation of his glory? What do you guys think? Shekinah glory? Talked about that? So yeah. But here, we're talking about the first time God shares His glory with His creation, and it is shared through Adam. It's not actually shared through any angelic being. Isn't that interesting? They're more powerful, they're more intelligent, but yet they don't share His glory like Adam did. Special. unique, different. Why? Why do you think that is? Why did he share his glory with a man instead of the angelic realm? Well, that was his plan. It was his plan, but why? Think. Why man?

Do you suppose it's because we have the choice of right or wrong? Well, the angels do too. Not in the same way? They had a one-time chance for right? That's true. So, why man? Would it be because we have a soul and they don't? We definitely have a different makeup.

Okay, but the angel fell from grace, so he's giving man a chance to see what he's going to do. So you think it's because the angels fell, and so God says, well, that didn't work out, so it's going to be man's turn. And since that didn't work out, It's going to be the hippopotamus' turn. No, but he gave man a chance. Was it because the angels fell though?

Why man? I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I'm going to say because he made us in his image, but did he make angels in his image? No. So, I guess I'll stick with that one. Okay, well that's the question I'm asking. Why did he make man in his image? Well, can you tell us? You want me to tell you? Yeah. How did Christ come to the earth? As a man. Human being.

That's how Christ, in eternity past, planned to reveal Himself, was through man. So, if man was not capable of sharing in God's glory, could Christ have shared His glory through man? It all ties back to how consistent and precise God's eternal plan is. So the answer is, because at one point in time, there's the first Adam, and then there's the So, when Adam fell, God couldn't recognize his glory through him anymore, could he? Are you sure? You can't see God's glory through a fallen Adam, so there had to be God's plan to fix the problem. He never redirected his purpose. He still wanted to share his glory with man. So how did he accomplish that?

Through Christ. The last Adam. You said it just a minute ago, right? So now, through the last... Yep, question in the back. What about how he shared his glory with Moses? What about it? So we talk about the incarnate Christ, right? So that's the incarnate Christ. Does that make sense to everybody?

I think there's a difference between Moses and, say, a believer. Moses was put in the cleft of the rock and God passed by him. And the effect of God's glory on him was external. His face glowed. Believers have the very essence of the resurrected, glorified life of the Lord Jesus in them, and it manifests that way. So when Christ came and restored the opportunity for man to participate in God's revelation of his glory through the gospel. God allowed man to start that participation again. Now, through the second Adam, he can reveal his glory again through man. Right? Because he solved the problem in history. Does that make sense?

Is there an aspect of God sharing his glory with man because man has nothing to bring to the table? I mean, well the angels had power and they have, His glory is manifested through them, but they're not body, soul, spirit, right? Angels are where we are? I don't know. I think all creatures can say I have what I have and what I am because God gave it to me. But it's designed to manifest God's glory, not the creature's glory.

And the other thing that's interesting about the two men, if you look in Genesis, it says that God gave Adam dominion over the first creation. And when he sinned, Satan took over the dominion. But God's purpose never was to have an angel in charge of it, but always to have a man in charge of the creation. That's what Christ is. He's got it back now in the way that God originally set it up.

Christ now has dominion over the creation and there will be a new creation. So if Christ satisfied the need for God to reveal His glory, where do we fit in that? Believers. Where do believers fit in that? What's the first thing God does when you believe? places us in Christ. Bingo.

He puts us in union with Christ himself. He puts us in union with the Lord. What does that union include? What are the five identification truths that we talked about. Death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. You, through faith, are instantly placed in union with Christ in His death. His death was your death. You're placed in union with His burial. His burial was your burial. Etc, etc, etc. So why did He put you in union with Christ? I think that Christ was the first born among the many brethren.

Okay, and then you came along at some point in time. You're number 700,006. Yeah, whatever. I mean, that to me makes our relationship with Christ unique. It does. I guess everything that we're talking about here is kind of exciting to me because all the way from the beginning until even, you know, infinity to infinity, To me, all of these things that God has done is to show us how much He loves us. Definitely. You know, and that's, you know, Christ came because He said Christ is because of His love for us. He loved Adam, you know, just from the beginning. Thank you, Ray.

Let's talk about glory, though. Why did He put us in union with Christ? The next two verses, after all we just read in John 17, I think might say it best. Can you read that? Sure. The glory which you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them, and you in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that you sent me, and love them even as you love me. Okay, so it says it. Now you tell me.

Why did he put us in union with Christ? And this is part of sharing his glory. So confine yourself to the answer of the question on what we just read and what we're studying here. Why did he put you in union with Christ? Because he loves us. He does. But why did he put you in union with Christ in terms of sharing his glory?

So that we can have a relationship with him. so we can reveal His glory. Bingo! Yay! We did it! He put you, as a believer, in union with Christ, the identification truths, those five specific things, He put you in union with Christ so that He could share His glory with others.

That verse says it, so that we may be one the glory that He has is now given to us, and it's shared. So that's the third part. We've got declared, we've got revealed, and now He shares it through us. Through our union with Christ, who is the glory of God, we can now reveal Christ's life through our living testimony in a way that could not be done by the first Adam, but can be done by union with the second Adam.

So you are placed in Christ to share God's glory. Think about that. Personalize that in your brain. It's interesting how Adam, when he fell and sinned, there was no need to teach us how to be sinners. Why? Because when we separate it from God, that's our nature. That's right. We call it the... Sin nature. We were born with a sin nature. We were born with a sin nature. We inherited it, didn't we?

It's not like something you teach. No. Or share. This is how you be a real nasty person. That's right. Right. It's our nature. Right. So if we're going to solve for that nature, not us, but if God's going to solve for that nature, you need a new nature, don't you? And through union with Christ you receive a new nature and that in part is to share His glory. Is that about you? No, it's not about you. We're talking about the essence of faith still. Let's talk about the fourth thing.

Let's look at Romans 11.36. 11.36.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. The final part of God's eternal purpose in terms of glory is to be glorified. That's the end result. He declares it, He reveals it, He shares it, and ultimately He is glorified. So that's what I've written down here, number four, to be glorified. So, it's out from Him, and it's through Him. Okay? To be glorified. So, from eternity past, God's eternal purpose was to declare His glory, to reveal His glory, to share His glory, and ultimately He would be glorified for eternity.

It all is summed up in God's glory. So, one quick synopsis of what we've studied so far, and then I'll pass it over to Mike. Four major aspects of faith. We're studying the essence of faith. Faith is reality. That reality includes the hope of things. We said, what are the things? Those are things of God.

We used Hebrews 11.1 to establish that.

We looked at this big picture took a survey through it, and I would take these four points, 1, 2, 3, 4, and I'd put them all in here as well, if I could, and that sums up what we've talked about in terms of the essence of faith. Is that different than the faith? About to find out how different it is, because it is. Is that different than personal faith? It is. And what about faith as a principle? It's different.

So now you have in your mind a category for the essence of faith. When you read that word in the scripture, you have to ask yourself the question, is this the essence of faith? And you should know now what that is. You may not know these other three, but you at this point know the essence of faith. Why do we start with the essence of faith?

Because it's the hardest one to get. We'll see. You know, part of this whole thing, which is miraculous to me, is that we were chosen in Him before the creation of the world to end up being able to glorify Him. We were chosen in Him before the creation of the world. You know what's exciting to me? Is that you guys are excited. You're getting it. Right?

You're starting to see how this whole faith thing impacts a very big picture. You might say it impacts the biggest picture. And we start with the essence of faith because it's the foundation for all the other aspects. We have to get the essence down first before we can understand these other three.

Okay? So everybody got Lesson 6? We're going to have it? Lesson six. If you don't have it, they're in the back. And also, lesson seven is back there, too. So you think I'm kidding about the test? You see question one? I love filling the blanks. I like multiple choice. You've got a 25 percent chance of being right. So, everybody ready? So when we talk about faith, what kind of faith? Get your pencils out because you've got to fill it in. What kind of faith? Probably the essence. No. The. The. The. No. What kind of faith are we talking about here?

The essence. What word goes right in here? How about the word Biblical? So, when we talk about Biblical faith, in its essence, we are talking about? God. Reality? Reality. Woo! 50%! Two for three, I like that. If you're two for three in baseball, you can make millions. So we are talking about reality. We are talking about those things of God which are an absolute fact. Fact is pretty good. Truth. Truth. Truth. Pretty good.

I put in certainty. Some of you guys are a little slow. I remember the test you would say, okay pens down. Hey, we lost an hour or so. We're catching up. All of this so far is of man. I have not. That's not so bad. It's not of man. It's independent of man.

I know that's probably the hardest thing to get in our brains so far. What we've talked about so far has nothing to do with man. It has everything to do with God. And it's really hard for us because we always think about faith from a personal standpoint. So when somebody stands up and starts talking about the essence of faith, it's hard to get it out of your mind that we're not talking about me. We're not talking about my faith or personal faith or anybody's faith. We're talking about the essence of it. What is it?

So far, independent of man. Next one. I just gave you the answer. Same word. Independent of our faith. Two independents in a row. Tough, isn't it? Tricky. So, we're separating out the of faith. Essence. Again? This is the first time we've had it as number one. So we're separating out the essence of faith from our personal faith. Now what I want you to do is to take this down to Office Depot, have it printed up and stick it on your retriever.

A summation is the essence of biblical faith is the totality of God's revelation to man. The essence of biblical faith, the things of God, is the totality of what God has revealed to man. It is objective truth, not subjective. Objective. It's the facts. It's reality. It is the very reality of who and what God is and what He's done.

It's independent of us, independent of man, whether we believe it or not. You know, that's another thing. We all think we're so important that if we believe it or not believe it, it makes it real or not real. It has nothing to do with whether you believe it or not. It's real. The problem is that we don't get in on it unless we believe it.

Now God wants us to believe it. God wants us to enter into what he has revealed, enter into this wonderful truth that he has revealed about him and about his son and about us. But it's independent of us. So what is the source of the essence of faith?

Trick question. The trick is in the word what. Not who. It should be who, shouldn't it? Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 says, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin which easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is before us. How do you do that? Next verse. How do you do that?

Fixing your eyes on Jesus. Fixing your eyes on Jesus who is the author and perfecter of faith. Are you looking at your Bibles? The author and perfecter of faith. Is that the way they all translate? Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So question three is Hebrews 12.2 that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith and our is italicized. in the translation. So it's been added by the interpreter. The problem with the interpreter is he hasn't been to this class.

So can I go back, number two is Jesus? Say that again? Number two, the answer, is Jesus? What is the source and essence of faith? Who is the source? Did we already answer this? It's the Lord Jesus. Okay. But it was supposed to say who? No, we were supposed to say what, but it was true. The pronoun are isn't there, but there is a definite article. Now we're moving into another aspect of faith. Definite article in front of the word, the faith. That Jesus is the author and finisher of the faith, What does the faith mean?

It's only one. The gospel? Okay, that's pretty good. It's only one. It's pointing to something specific. I just put the gospel. It's more than just the gospel. So like what you said, all the truths of God? Yeah. The faith, it makes it specific. The example that can be given is I could say, so if I say there's a house, it could be any house. But if I say the house, what am I talking about? A specific house.

The faith can refer to the essence of faith, couldn't it? Which could be the totality of God's revelation to man, we could say that's the faith, couldn't we? Or we could talk of, go ahead. Well doesn't faith have to have an object and that's Jesus Christ? That's included, right? Is information included?

It's the revelation from God about himself. Yeah, it's a person, but there's a lot of aspects to this person, the Lord Jesus, right? So I can't just say, well, yeah, I could say all-encompassing, that's Jesus himself, but who is he? What are the aspects? Or definition of glory, it's a sum total of God's intrinsic attributes, how many does he have? See, is it important for me to know a lot of them? Yeah, sure is. They're all the Lord Jesus, but there are aspects to him. He's love, and Courtney went through some of the aspects of who God is. Could we also be talking about a portion of the essence of faith?

Not the whole thing, but just a part of it? No. You don't think so? Knowing that all the other portion is all there, we just don't, at this particular moment, maybe know it all. So if it's independent of us, even a portion of it can be in it. Alright, let me give you an example. Is the Gospel the entire revelation from God to us, or is it just a part of it? Just a part of it. So can I say the Gospel is the faith? Sure I could.

It's the part that gets you saved. See? Does that make sense? Yeah. You alright with that? Okay. I don't want to tax your brains too much. You know what I'm thinking? I don't know if this is right. I'm kind of imagining it as like, okay, like you said, a house.

It's a specific house that's filled with everything, not that you can contain God, but filled with all the truths of God. And as believers, we get to recognize that that exists. As non-believers, you don't even know it's there and you think it's stupid. But as believers, we get to know it exists. And gradually, through the Holy Spirit, you get to have all the stuff that's in there revealed to you over time, our time. But it's all there.

How much time? Eternity. I don't know if this makes sense, but the scripture that comes to my mind is John, where it says, you know, the word was God, and the word was with God, and the word became flesh. Would that describe, be faith, the word? It can be. That's the Lord Jesus. Yeah. Sure.

Once you see the definite article, if you go through the scriptures, especially Paul's epistles, and you see the word the, faith, The next bit of information you're going to get isn't the totality of the revelation of God in that one aspect. That's why I said it could be the gospel, it could be that Christ became a man, he died on the cross for your sins, he was buried and resurrected, ascended and now seated in the heavenlies. Is that it? Is that all I ever need to know? It's all I ever need to know to be saved. But that's not the totality. But I can say that's the faith. I just had you going. We'll pick up with question three next week. We have an eternity. Let's close.

Dear Father, how do we thank you? The fact that you would share your glory with us, manifest your glory through us, That we would even be participants is so beyond our grasp of how glorious and how the degree to which you love us, Father. But we are growing. We are growing in the knowledge and grace of your Son, the Lord Jesus. We thank you. We pray in his precious name. Amen.