In our previous study of this passage, as we examined Paul's admonitions to those who didn't want to work, as you recall, we considered the idea that a misunderstanding about the return of Christ may have been one of the possible factors that contributed to this problem. And to be sure, Paul does move to a discussion of the second coming immediately following his correction of this problem of some people not wanting to work. And it's possible that this may have contributed to that problem in part. But I think as I hope that we saw in our previous study, this was a problem that existed even before Paul and his companions had arrived in Thessalonica. So while it is possible that an expectation of a soon return of Christ led some to think that they needn't bother to work, or maybe they mistakenly tried to reinforce a previous problem, and find an excuse for something that they had already been failing at. I personally think it's unlikely that this was the case, that this is what led to that problem. I think it was already there. But in addition to this fact, as we'll see, today and next week. The reason Paul had for addressing the second coming really has to do with correcting a misunderstanding about what happens to those who have died in Christ. So if his point in bringing this up had to do with correcting, well, you people aren't working because you think Jesus is going to come back any second, and that's why I have to say this, well, he never said that anywhere here. His whole point in bringing it up seems to be something other than that. It seems to be because of the resistance there was still in some of them to hold on to this idea of the resurrection as clearly as they needed to, and to understand the implications of that for those who've already died in Christ. And so, we see in the verse we're gonna look at this morning, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as those who have no hope. That introduces the next theme of discussion here and the reason for it. And we'll look at that more fully in a moment. First, let's pray and ask for God's help. Holy Father, we do recognize that we cannot understand spiritual things unless your Holy Spirit enables us to do so. We were reminded this morning that we came to believe in the gospel because your Holy Spirit enabled us to do so. As Jesus told Nicodemus, we cannot see or enter the kingdom unless we're born of the Spirit. Recognizing this, we recognize further that we can't continue to grow in understanding spiritual things aside from the indwelling presence and filling of your Spirit. So we ask that you would fill us anew with your Holy Spirit this morning and fill us with the fruit of the Spirit, that I might speak your word clearly and that we all, including myself, might take its message to heart as we should. Please work in us. Through your word, we pray. We ask it in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The 18th century poet Thomas Gray is probably best known for the following line. Where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise. It is a memorable line that has since been taken from its context and shortened into the modern proverbial saying, ignorance is bliss, which you've probably all heard at one time, at least, or many times in your life. Someone make that comment. What is meant by this saying is that you're often more happy or comfortable not knowing certain things. It is similar to the modern proverb, what you don't know can't hurt you. And people who say such things are usually thinking of bad experiences that cause pain to someone or bad news that brings discomfort or sorrow to the hearer. And so it isn't difficult to imagine why folks would say such things. Ignorance is bliss. What you don't know can't hurt you. This morning, however, I think we'll see that the Apostle Paul didn't necessarily agree with such an attitude. He thought ignorance could hurt you, and hurt you a lot, if it's ignorance of the things of God at least. He was ever of the mindset that knowledge was the key to joy and contentment, and even in the midst of great trials and sufferings, as the Thessalonians had been enduring. Remember in our previous study of this, they'd been going through some persecution and some affliction for their faith. And some had died. We don't know if there were martyrs yet, or if people just died naturally because they were old or from some illness or whatever, but some people had clearly died in their midst. And that this contributed further to their suffering and to their sorrow, as this verse this morning shows us. Paul's consistent approach, though, was to openly deal with pain and suffering and to combat it, not with ignorance, thinking that is bliss, but with a greater and deeper knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. As an example of this emphasis, I'd like you to consider briefly the following appeals from just one of Paul's major epistles, the Epistle to the Romans. In your notes, I've given you some other places there. Each of these instances are instances in which Paul uses the same Greek word that he uses here in 1 Thessalonians 4.13 when he says that he doesn't want them to be ignorant or not knowing. For example, in Romans 1.13, he says, I do not want you to be unaware. That's the same Greek word. I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. that I often planned to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles." So here he's combating ignorance of his true purposes. He didn't want him to think he didn't care, as God's apostles to the Gentiles, right? About the church in Rome. Later in chapter two, verse four, he says, do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing or being ignorant of the fact, right, that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Paul didn't want anybody to think that because God was being good to those people who hadn't yet repented, that it was because he didn't care about sin. No, he says, I don't want you to be ignorant of this fact, that God's giving you an opportunity to repent. because he cares so much about your sin that he wants you to repent, right? He's combating ignorance with knowledge. He does this all the time. Later in chapter six, I'll begin reading there in verse one, he says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know, there it is again, that word, Or are you ignorant of the fact that as many of you as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we are buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God the Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life. This is another way of saying, if you think you can continue in sin that grace may abound, You're acting like you're ignorant of the fact that you were saved from sin in the first place, that that's the whole point, and that that's what your baptism means, even. Combating ignorance with the truth. Later in chapter 7, verse 1, he says, or do you not know, that's the same word again, are you unknowing or are you ignorant, brethren? For I speak to those who know the law, that the law is dominion over a man as long as he lives. And he's going to tell them what they need to know further, that they shouldn't be ignorant of. For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, You also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. He's saying, I don't want you to be ignorant now, right, of what your relationship to the law now is. You don't have to be under the law as you once were because Jesus has come, right? Later in chapter 10, just a couple more examples here, just from one epistle, mind you. Paul says, beginning in verse 1, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. There's a problem again. They're ignorant. Ignorance is a problem. It's damning these people. And then Paul says, for they being ignorant, not knowing, there's the word again, the same verb, of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, had not submitted to the righteousness of God. In this case, it's a willful ignorance. They refused to let this knowledge in. And then later in chapter 11, verse 25, he says, for I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. lest you should be wise in your own opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. He doesn't want the Gentiles to look down on the Jews because so many of them aren't believing, because God is doing something new. No, he wants us to be humble, understanding that this is so that the fullness of the Gentiles could come in, that God could save us. in his plan, always combating ignorance with knowledge. These are just a handful examples, again, taken from just one of Paul's writings, in which we see his constant emphasis on knowledge of the truth as absolutely central to our spiritual welfare. Ignorance is not bliss, not when we're talking about spiritual things. Ignorance is damnation. We need the truth. The passage before us this morning is just one more example of the same approach. Why did I spend all this time on this? Well, in part because that's why we teach the way we do here at Emanuel. And that's why we decry so much of the bad teaching around us out there. There are a lot of people out there, the last thing they want to talk about is doctrine. I've been to quote-unquote Bible studies in the past at churches that hardly ever talk about the Bible even. They act as though ignorance is bliss, when it's not. It can even lead to greater sorrow and suffering, unnecessary sorrow and suffering. And that's what Paul's combating here when he says, but I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. So in this case, Paul is conferring the ignorance of the fate of those who had already died in Christ. We don't know what all this entailed. We know there was a problem here. And reading this verse together with the following verses will help to clarify the problem for us. So I'm gonna read verse 13 through verse 18, because that's gonna help us to understand verse 13 better. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, which he's assuming they all do, he's gonna point out that there are things that come with that belief. Even so, God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. We'll talk about this more next week, what that means. He's gonna explain though, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord, so he's giving them God's word here, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself would descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with a trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. That's how they'll come with Jesus when we see them, right? They'll all be ready to be with him because they'll rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. So looking ahead to see how Paul treats this matter, We've seen that he began this discussion by seeking to dispel the ignorance that may cause believers to succumb to the temptation, right, to feel hopeless in their sorrows, particularly when they grieve for those who have died. And this is why he immediately went on to speak about what we believe concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus. That makes a difference. He had to die and rise from the dead so that when we die, we can be raised from the dead, right? But if he died and rose from the dead, we can be sure he'll do that for us if he's promised that. That's the whole point. What we believe, then, will change what we think about things and how we respond. It will change what we think about those who have died in Christ, what has happened, It'll change how we respond when that happens to them. So we see that knowledge of these things for Paul is the key to understanding these things correctly and to finding comfort even in the midst of sorrow. Of course, Paul then went on to share the word of the Lord with them in order to address the problem. As he says in verse 15, he calls it the word of the Lord I have to give to you. It is this teaching of the word of the Lord that he then admonished them to share with one another, to bring comfort to one another in their sorrows. So knowledge of God's word is the answer, isn't it? To our temptation to feel hopeless in our sorrows. And it's his word then that we must share with one another at such times. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself because we're going to get into that more next week. But before we examine the whole passage in more depth next week, I think it's good to spend some time today refreshing our memories concerning two important concepts in this verse. How Paul is using this language. It's very packed language that he's using. And there are two terms that are particularly packed. that I want us to understand. First, we need to understand the meaning of the reference to those who have fallen asleep. I think it's pretty clear in the context, but less we'd be like the disciples of Jesus when he once walked with them to raise Lazarus from the dead. I want to make sure where there are no misunderstandings here. When Paul speaks of sleep, he's clearly using the term metaphorically. as a euphemism for death. And we know this because he clearly refers to those who have fallen asleep later on in verse 16 as the dead in Christ. This usage of the terminology fits the way it's used at other times in the New Testament as well. And in the New Testament, so far as I can tell, this metaphorical language is used only of believers. Consider one example from the usage of Jesus, and we'll be coming back to John 11 later on. It's very informative here. In John 11, beginning of verse 11, we read that these things Jesus said after he had said to them, our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up. He's heard that Lazarus is ill, that he's dying. And he's telling his disciples he's already dead. He's already fallen asleep, but I'm going to wake him up. That's what he means. They misunderstand him. Then the disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get well. However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead. That's the meaning of the metaphor I've just used. Now, we can forgive them for maybe misunderstanding here. Maybe he's saying, these people told us he's dying, but it's not as bad as that. They may have taken it that way. And Jesus has to clarify, no, no, no, no. I mean that he died. But notice what he's doing. He's viewing death as something temporary from which we awake. In this case, just a few days. There can be no doubt as to how Jesus was using the metaphor. And I don't think there can be any doubt about the way the Apostle Paul was using the metaphor. He's using it in the same way to describe death from the perspective of what we can see, namely the body of the dead person, which the person may at first appear to be asleep, even though they're dead. DSV study Bible notes, I think, are correct when they assert Paul refers to Christians who have died as being asleep which reinforces his main point that they will awake from the grave at the second coming. People who are only sleeping, you see, wake up. That's part of the point of using this as a metaphor in the New Testament for believers. The metaphor, they write, is not intended to deny that the dead are in a conscious fellowship with God in the intermediate state. Paul doesn't get into that in this passage, but I agree with that statement. Referring to death with the metaphor of sleep is simply suggested by the physical condition of those who sleep. It gains appropriateness from the fact that all who have died in Christ will rise at his return. I agree with that assessment. The metaphor is thus used in the New Testament, I think, to indicate the temporary nature of death for the Christian. It is like sleep from which we will one day awake. People who are only sleeping wake up. And we will wake up, those of us who die in Christ before his return. We will wake up from that sleep. when he comes back and raises us from the dead. Wayne Grudem agrees when he succinctly states that when scripture represents death as sleep, it is simply a metaphorical expression used to indicate that death is only temporary for Christians, just as sleep is temporary. So that means that the New Testament usage of this metaphor is intended to offer hope to believers. That's the very reason that the metaphor is used. We view death as sleep from which we will awake. The very metaphor is to bring us hope. That's the reason for giving it, and that leads us to our next point, and that is that we must understand the meaning of the reference to hope, to the hope we have concerning those who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and that means the hope we have if we should die before Christ returns as well. The hope of which Paul speaks here is the hope that the Thessalonian believers had already begun to exhibit to a very large extent. It's not that they're completely hopeless people. It's that there's an aspect of hope they're failing to embrace because of this deficiency in their current thinking. I suspect Paul's already told them these things, but they've resisted taking it in, remember, If you, for example, think back to when Paul went to Athens and he preached there. It's actually after he went to Thessalonica that he goes later to Athens. And he goes to the Europagus. And one of the things many people take great offense at is that he talks about the resurrection because the Greeks don't like that. Some of them believed, or at least wanted to hear more and then believed, that there were some who rejected it once they heard that. This was a hard thing in that culture for them to embrace and to take in. And so apparently, it was easy for them to be confused about it. And so Paul's trying to dispel that. So it's not that they have no hope. It's that they don't have all the hope that is available to them because of this deficiency. That they clearly did have hope, we saw in the beginning of the letter back in 1 Thessalonians. Chapter one, beginning in verse two, Paul says, we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope. In our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God, And then later, beginning in verse eight, he writes, for from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned from God, or to God rather, from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven. So the hope they had was connected to the return of Christ. This patience of hope he's talking about. He says, to wait for a son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Now he's commending them for having hope in Jesus as they wait his return with an understanding that he will deliver us from the wrath to come. So they're not completely deficient in this knowledge of things. There's just a problem at one point, apparently. And of course, this can happen to any of us. I know that some people resist wanting to talk about the finer points of doctrine. Why do you have to be so picky about every little point of doctrine? Well, it can make a big difference. That's why. In this case, it didn't make a difference between whether or not these people are going to heaven or hell. They clearly were going to heaven and knew it. It didn't necessarily shake their assurance of salvation as they went out and spread the gospel. But they had sorrow that was deeper than it had to be. They struggled more than they needed to. Things were worse for them in all their afflictions than they had to be, or should have been, because this one point of doctrine was a little off. Doctrine matters. Precision in doctrine matters. Ignorance of doctrine, even a little bit, can make a big difference. Not always, but often. So they had had much patience, even in the midst of trials, and they derived this from the hope that they had in Jesus, who had saved them from their sins and assured them that they wouldn't experience this wrath to come, as we've seen. And so what's this mean? It means that Jesus himself is the source of our hope, doesn't it? This is why Paul could open his first epistle to Timothy this way. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope. Jesus Christ is our hope. Why? Because it's all that he has done. It's who he is and what he has done that gives us hope. Christ is at the center of everything. Without Jesus, there is no hope. And Jesus is our hope. Also, since our Lord Jesus is the ultimate source of our hope, This hope is not merely wishful thinking. That's the way we use the word hope often in modern culture, such as when a person says, I hope that the Cubs will win the World Series this year, or I hope I can get a million dollars. That's basically saying I wish these things would happen. I wish I had a million dollars. I wish the Cubs would win. That's not the way this word is used here. The word hope here means an assurance or confidence in the future. Our future salvation is certain because it depends upon Jesus, and Jesus will never let us down. He is our hope, and therefore our hope is sure. It is not simply wishful thinking. No wonder then that the Thessalonians had been motivated to be so faithful in their proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that from them, as Paul had said in chapter one, verse eight, the word of the Lord had sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. That's what hope in Christ will do for you. It'll give you confidence in following him and in declaring the truth about him. Think of this, think about a lot of believers who don't witness very often and connected to this idea. How sure are they of what Jesus has done for them and what will happen in the future if there's no motivation to proclaim the truth about him? There might be a problem there. That's a whole other message. The point is that the hope that we have in Jesus should motivate us to faithful living for him. This is a point that Paul also made in his epistle to Titus, in Titus 2, 11 through 13, where he says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. The hope that we have in Jesus as we await his return should impact the way we live. It should motivate us to live righteously. It should motivate us to proclaim the truth about him to a lost and dying world, just as it motivated the Thessalonians. But there's another way in which this hope that we have in Jesus should impact our lives. And this is that it should give us great comfort as we grieve for those who have died in Christ. Should our pact our lives that way, Paul is saying here. He's talked about the way hope in Christ has impacted them in chapter one. Now he's talking about a way it isn't impacting them where it should. Because of this glitch in their thinking. This is why Paul didn't want the Thessalonian believers to be ignorant of the truth concerning those who have died in Christ, lest, he says, you sorrow as others who have no hope. Isn't it a terrible thing to have hope in Jesus and yet sorrow when someone in Christ dies as though you have no hope at all? What a terrible plight, all because of misunderstanding. This is why, as we've seen this morning, And as we'll consider more fully next week, Paul wanted them to know that the hope we have in Christ includes our future resurrection from the dead, should we die before his return. And that had apparently already happened to some of the Thessalonian believers. Notice, however, that Paul does not say that our hope in Christ will remove our sorrow concerning those who have already died in him. He doesn't say it'll take it away. He simply says that if we're ignorant of the hope that we have in Christ, we're gonna sorrow the wrong way. We're gonna sorrow as those who have no hope. Our sorrow, if we have hope in Christ though, will be real enough. It just won't be hopeless. You will have hope mixed in with your sorrow. And that's pretty obvious what he means by that, isn't it? If you've lost a loved one in Christ, and you're sure that they're a believer, you still grieve for that loved one. It's a terrible thing for someone to have to die. Death is a result of sin. That's something to be sorrowful for. Plus, you're going to miss them for the rest of your days on this earth. The loss of that person is something to be sorry for. and to feel grief about. Paul's not denying any of that. But when you know that you will see them again and that they will be with Christ forever and eternity with you, well that changes the nature of that sorrow pretty dramatically. There's hope we can have and even joy because of that hope in the midst of that kind of sorrow. Paul doesn't want them to miss out on that. Actually, the example of Jesus himself is, again, very instructive in this regard from the same passage back in John 11. So turn with me once more to the Gospel of John, John 11. Further on in the context, beginning in verse 32, we read that, then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. She was right to believe that Jesus could have healed him and prevented his death, right? Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And he said, where have you laid him? And they said to him, Lord, come and see. And then we have Jesus wept. He wept with him over the death of Lazarus, whom he loved. And then the Jews said, see how he loved him. He wept for him because he loved him, that's true. But remember what Jesus had told the disciples before when he said earlier in chapter 11, or verse 11 rather of chapter 11 that we read earlier, our friend Lazarus sleep, but I go that I may wake him up. And then when he said he's dead, what was he telling them? If I'm gonna wake him up from the sleep of death, he's telling them in advance I'm gonna raise him from the dead. His disciples knew this, Mary apparently hadn't heard this yet. But here's the point, Jesus knew all along that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, yet he still grieved for him. He sorrowed, but not as one, clearly not as one who had no hope. Jesus grieved as one who had hope, in fact, as one who knew he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead and reverse this whole thing, at least for the time being. For all we know, Lazarus did die again. That's our assumption. So this is true of all of us. When we know someone who is a believer in Jesus who's died, We shouldn't think that being spiritual means we don't grieve at all. In that case, Jesus wasn't very spiritual. We know that can't be true. Of course we grieve. Something to grieve about. Something to be sorrowful over. We should allow ourselves to grieve. But our grief isn't gonna be the same as those who have no hope in Christ, because we do. We have hope for them. And we have hope that we'll see them again. But what about those who've died apart from Christ? What do we do then? Do we grieve as those who have no hope then? Because he's not talking about that here. He's talking about those who've died in Christ. We don't have such hope for them, do we? So we cannot find the kind of comfort he's talking about here for ourselves, and we can't offer it to others in the same way. To those we know who've experienced the death of lost friends or loved ones. We can, however, still find solace in knowing that God is in control, that he's working all things together for his own glory, and that his future plan includes the removal even of that sorrow. There's sorrow I have that has hope. And then there's sorrow in my life which I don't have the same hope for some people I know that have died. My grief for them is different. But is it completely hopeless? No. because I know that God has a purpose in this beyond what I can understand right now. Look with me briefly ahead to what Revelation says. I'm gonna argue that even that sorrow is gonna be gone one day, completely. Revelation 21, one through four says this, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There should be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. As hard as it may be for us to grasp now, there will come a time when all sorrow will be gone, and gone forever. This point calls to mind something Paul once wrote to the Corinthian believers, reminding them that now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, looking forward to the return of Christ. Now Paul says, I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And I would argue that such knowledge will erase even our sorrow for those who have died apart from Christ, as hard as that is to imagine. It'll have to if there's not gonna be any more sorrow, at all, or crying at all. God will remove that sorrow. And knowing that helps me to bear it now. Knowing that in God's plan, even that has an answer, helps me to bear it better now. So I would argue that there is hope even there. Maybe not hope for that loved one who's died apart from Christ, but at least hope that my pain will be relieved and relieved forever. And I won't have to experience it anymore. Right now in my life, that's pretty meaningful. For now, we just have enough knowledge to sorrow with hope for those who have died in Christ, and we have enough knowledge to know that when we see things as God sees them in the new heavens and the new earth, we won't sorrow at all anymore, not for anyone and not for any reason. As I pointed out at the beginning of this teaching, I don't think Paul would agree with the notion that ignorance is bliss. In his view, ignorance of Jesus Christ our Lord and of what he has done and what he will do to assure our final salvation, ignorance of that separates us from the only hope we could ever have. Ignorance of his second coming and of the resurrection that will take place at that time separates us also from the comfort that such hope provides as we grieve for our fellow believers who have died Not surprisingly, as I finish here, Jesus once again provides the best example of comforting believers with the knowledge of this hope. And again, it's recorded in the Gospel of John, in John 14, verses one through three, as Jesus talks to the disciples about his own impending death. He says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. May we find comfort in such words, not only as we grieve for those who've died in Christ, but also as we face the specter of death ourselves, should our Lord tarry. Let's pray. Holy Father, it was my goal this morning to highlight some ideas in this passage that we'll deal with more fully next week, because they're important ideas. how we think of death of believers and what comes in the future makes a great deal of difference to us. And I pray that this morning has been an encouragement, not only to myself, but the others here, that we don't have to be afraid of death if we know Jesus. We don't have to be afraid of death for those that we love in Christ or for ourselves. because we have a sure hope in Christ, who is our hope. Thank you for this. Thank you that he died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, that we could have such hope. And for those who have not yet come to know him as Lord and Savior, it's my pray that you would today do for them what you've done for us. Open their eyes that they may see the truth as it is in Jesus and trust in him. by grace alone, through faith alone as their Lord and Savior. I ask these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.