Well, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. We are cruising through the book of 2 Thessalonians as a pause to our study that we have been going through the book of Genesis. And so I've actually thought about, before resuming in Genesis, doing another small study. I think it'll be a three or four week study. going through the faith rest drill. I really would, I've always wanted to teach through that. And I think it's a very appropriate time to teach that because as we go through life, what do we do with God's word? How do we have God's word minister to us through our trials? And I think some of the points in the faith rest drill are designed to relay that information. And so that's the plan thus far. Of course, plans are made to change. And so just to give you a little bit of a heads up of what's ahead. So we are in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 13 through 17 this morning. And the title of this message is Eternal Hope for the Momentarily Afflicted. I forget which translation. I want to say it's the NASB. in 1 Corinthians uses that phrase, momentary light affliction. And I love how it's worded there because it's such a powerful reminder of what I always try to encourage myself and you is that when you're suffering, it's temporary, it's momentary, and it's light. Now, Paul, and I would agree, We don't say that to belittle your suffering by any means, but it's intended to shift your focus, your perspective on our hope of glory, which God has prepared for us and predestined us as believers to finish. He will finish what he started, and we saw that in Romans 8. With that, we look at Second Thessalonians. And as I prayed about, I would ask just for respect amongst those who maybe share. I want to say that there are two possible views, maybe three, maybe another one if someone highlights that. And so if someone disagrees with your particular point, be humble and be respectful of one another. and understand that it's okay to disagree because I think both have textual weightiness, I suppose, in its argument. So with that, I'm obviously gonna share my view. And if you disagree, that's wonderful. If you agree, that's also wonderful. So there's three parts to this passage. Number one, verses 13 through 14 looks at our eternal hope. Part number two deals with our present task, verse 15. And then verses 16 through 17 is our continual blessing, our continual blessing, all focused on eternal hope for the momentarily afflicted. Paul is writing to a group of believers that are suffering so much so that they believed the lies that were being taught, that they were in the tribulation or that they were in the day of the Lord. And Paul says, absolutely not. You're not in the day of the Lord. But here's some word of encouragement, first of all, pertaining to your hope. Second of all, pertaining to your current suffering. Here's a word of encouragement for those things. So starting in verse 13, I just want to read the two verses there. It says, But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel. for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, another short preface before we make some observations and interpretations in this text, whatever Paul is saying in verse 13 through 14 is intended to be an encouragement, okay? And that's something we have to be mindful of when we talk about some of these debated doctrines is that Paul didn't intend for it to start a war. He intended it for encouragement. We want to maintain that spirit as we discuss. We come across, we start with a contrast, the word but, and when you're studying the Bible, you wanna pay attention to words like therefore, or but, or now, or those types of words that set the passage off, and it's going to either develop a thought, draw a contrast, draw a comparison, draw a conclusion, draw a summary, something to that effect. And usually, the word but is a word that is setting up a contrast. So what I want to do a little bit of a short review of what is being contrasted. First of all, we looked at verses 2 and 3 in chapter 2 as the day, right? What is the day in chapter 2 verses 2 and 3? Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Now, we did talk about some alternate views there, but my interpretation of that is it's the day of the Lord. And that's the lie that was being taught to these believers, that they were in the day of the Lord. Yeah, John? Okay. And so the day is being talked about in up until verse 13, where we get the contrast. So that day is being the topic of discussion. Also notice verse nine, dealing with the coming of the lawless one. That's during the tribulation, the antichrist will be revealed after the rapture of the church and the lawless one will seek to establish his kingdom which will ultimately be destroyed. And we see that in verse 10, those who perish. Now, who are those who perish in the passage we looked at the last few weeks? Unbelievers and who? The man of lawlessness, right? Which yes, he's an unbeliever, but specifically it says God is going to destroy him and those who perish not receiving the love of the truth that they might be saved. So why do they perish? Because they didn't believe, right? They didn't receive the truth. They didn't believe the gospel. And then verse 12, that they all may be condemned. So what's the ultimate fate of those who reject the gospel? Condemnation. What's the promise for the believer in Romans 8.1? Salvation. Specifically what? There is therefore now no condemnation. Is there a little bit of condemnation? No condemnation for those who are in Christ. And so with that, that's the topic at hand. He's dealing with those who are going to be punished because of their rejection of the gospel during the tribulation. And then we get that contrasting word, but... But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So first observation, again, that word but is a transition and it's by contrast. He's transitioning into a new topic. And he's contrasting the believer's thankfulness and their salvation with the condemnation of those who are unbelievers and unsaved. And then we get the phrase, we are bound to give thanks to God always for you. So who's the we here referring to? Okay, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, right? They were mentioned back in the beginning in the introduction. In fact, I don't know. Yeah, they are referenced again in 2 Thessalonians, but also 1 Thessalonians. And so we, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, are literally, it says, are bound or literally obligated to give thanks. Why are they obligated to give thanks? Why do they owe God thanks? because they're not in that first category, right? They're not in that category that will perish. They're not in that category that is condemned. They're in the one that is saved. So they're obligated to give thanks in light of the previous teaching on condemnation of unbelievers. And then we get the phrase, brethren, beloved by the Lord. So the church at Thessalonica, are they believers? Is Paul in doubt as to whether they're saved or not? No, he calls them brethren, right? They're saved. We are bound to give thanks to you, brethren, beloved by the Lord. And then he gives us the reason, because, yeah. I was just going to say in the verse, we should always give thanks to God for you because God has chosen you. Yes, and so it's focusing on our deliverance. So he's getting now to the reason for our thankfulness, our owing God thanks, and it's for our having been chosen for salvation. Now we will look at this. So verse 13 and 14, verse 13 deals with the salvation of the Thessalonians. Verse 14 deals with the glorification of the Thessalonians. So first of all, we see God in verse 13, God, First of all, we always give God thanks, but because God from the beginning chose you for salvation. So I think this is focusing on two aspects. One, he's the creator. He has that right as creator to choose who is punished and condemned and who is delivered or saved. And I also thought of Matthew 10, 28, the one who can destroy the body and the soul, right? Jesus makes that charge. Don't be afraid of those who can harm the body, but the one who can harm the body and the soul, and that's the creator. So it's speaking to his right to judge sin. And then it says, God, from the beginning, and so in other words, God has always planned it this way. And so we have a couple options. I've only listed two, perhaps you have more. It could be the beginning of the relationship between Paul and Thessalonica. So in other words, from the beginning, in other words, when the call of the gospel was given to you, that's the beginning of our relationship. From the beginning, God has chosen you for this. And we'll look at this in a moment. Or it could be the beginning of the relationship between Thessalonica and God, which was the moment of faith, which is somewhat similar. Or alternatively, there is the beginning of creation, right? God, before creation, chose some to be saved and some not. I personally do not hold that view, but it is a view out there, and it's a view that I think can have scriptural defense to it. And then we get the phrase, chose you for salvation. And so again, this is my interpretation. And so feel free to disagree. So verse 13, again, just remembering the contrast here, but it's contrasting with the experience of the unbeliever and condemnation with the experience of the believer and salvation and deliverance. Now, whenever you come across the word salvation, you shouldn't just read into it a preconceived definition. In other words, the word sozo, the Greek word that translates often to salvation, isn't a technical word. Now, what do I mean by a technical word? It doesn't always mean the same thing. Just like any word, it may have senses of meaning, and that is clear based on context. I agree with you. It's a logical fallacy. definition of what it is, so you can try to impose a definition on a term without paying attention to context. Yep, and so with that, I would propose to you that the word sozo should just be translated as, excuse me, I'm thinking apostasia. Similar to apostasia, right? Simply translating it departure and then let the context determine. Let sozo be translated as delivered. And then we ask the question, okay, delivered from what? Is this from the penalty of sin, which is a legitimate option? Or is it physical deliverance? Sometimes the word is used to speak of someone who's physically ill and they're seeking deliverance from that illness. So there's a whole range of meaning to that word. How do we know which one to choose? Is it which one fits best with what we want it to say? That's so easy, right? It's so easy, and I do this all the time. I'll have a preconceived notion and sometimes read that into the text, but we want to pull out of the text what it's saying. And with that, even after all your due diligence, you can still come to the same, or excuse me, a different conclusion than someone else aiming to do the same thing, right? And so that's why we have to have humility and respect when we deal with this question. So I would submit to you the contrast here is contrasting two things, and I think that's important. Also look at verses 10 through 12 of chapter two. And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, so the unbelievers, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now, also I would submit to you, go back to 1 Thessalonians. Now we didn't study 1 Thessalonians, but look at chapter five and verse nine. So after talking about the rapture in chapter four, and the issue in 1 Thessalonians is believers thought that they missed the coming of Christ. And so as a result, they were afraid that the believers who were dying missed it and they won't be resurrected. And Paul encourages them. In fact, I think if you're doing a believer's funeral, this is almost obligatory text to read. Because he's comforting them with the truth that those who are dead in Christ will rise first. God will raise them from the dead. They will see Christ. And we who are alive and remain will be caught up, harpazo, together with him in the air. And thus we will be always with the Lord. And so he talks about the rapture in chapter four. And what comes after chapter four? Chapter five. And what does he talk about in chapter five? the day of the Lord. And you need to pay attention to the pronouns in chapter five, verses one through eight, because he goes back and forth and he doesn't assign his audience, the believers at Thessalonica with those who will experience the day of the Lord. And I think that's important. And so he kind of draws a conclusion after talking about the day of the Lord. And he says in verse nine, For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I would just submit the question, how is salvation used in 5.9? Delivered from what? I think contextually it would be the day of the Lord, right? And again, if you disagree with that, that's fine. But I think the nearest antecedent or reference to what possibly could be delivered from would be the day of the Lord. And so Paul comforts them and says, God didn't appoint us to the day of the Lord. but rather to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So I think this is a theme that he's already taught. And so just to kind of reveal where I'm going with this in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 through 17, I think it's a similar theme. And so also the phrase back in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. So through the sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, or a very rough wooden literal translation is by Spirit sanctification and belief in the truth. This caused me to kind of wonder, because the word holy is not there, it doesn't automatically mean it's the Holy Spirit, right? Now I think that there's still textual, arguments that can be made that it is the Holy Spirit, but it's simply the word pneuma, spirit sanctification. So it could be simply that God has set that person apart. And then we ask the question, how did he do that? Well, through the Holy Spirit. So really both are true. It's just a matter of what is Paul specifically saying. But this, and there's a note there, this is the agency of our salvation. We were placed into the body of Christ when we believed. The Holy Spirit did that. So we were chosen by God for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. And so now we come to the question, what salvation? So number one, option number one, spiritual salvation from sin's penalty. Is this talking about we were chosen to be saved? And that would be from sin's penalty. That's a view that's out there. There's some textual arguments for it. Option number two, ultimate salvation is this kind of looking at a whole package deal where it's speaking of salvation from sin's penalty, power, and presence. Have you ever heard those three? Being saved from sin's penalty means that's us now, right? If we believed in Jesus Christ, there is now no condemnation. There's no penalty for us. Have we been free from the power of sin? Are we paying attention to Romans? We have been, right? But it still has an influence on us if we let it, if we submit to it. Have we been free from the presence of sin? No. And so for those in our Wednesday study, we've been talking about the kingdom, right? Where during the kingdom, we as believers will be free from the penalty of sin. The power of sin will be in glorified bodies, I believe, incapable of sin. But are we free from the presence of sin? Not necessarily, right? Because there's going to be physical inhabitants in the kingdom. They're going to have children who are in physical bodies and they will still have that ability to sin. So sin will still happen. And we know the great rebellion after the kingdom, right? Satan raises up a last last-ditch effort to thwart God and ultimately fails. And then in the new heavens and the new earth, we'll be free from all three, penalty, power, and presence. So it could be that. And I was listening to or reading the notes from one of my mentors back in 2011. This is his view. He's teaching through it now. And I took the course at Chafer with him and he doesn't hold that view anymore. So that tells me it's a legitimate view, right? We can't just belittle these views. If someone has gone through the process of exegesis and comes to a conclusion and then maybe changes their mind, it just shows that it's a valid view. Or the third option, physical deliverance from the day of the Lord. And that would be my view. I think he's speaking of God has chosen or appointed us for deliverance from the day of the Lord. And that's all contrasted with the word, but contrasting those who are not going to be delivered from that time. And then he goes on, he says, to which he called you by our gospel. So the gospel is the call. When the gospel is pronounced, that is the call to the person hearing to believe, to answer that call. And answering that call, is it a work? Is receiving a gift work? No, it's a gift, right? And you simply receive it by faith. And then he adds, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So again, this is, I think, completing the contrast where we have the contrast of the unbeliever being condemned and ultimately will perish. And then we have the contrast of the believer who is saved and will ultimately be glorified. And so this is reminiscent of predestination in Romans 8, right? We looked at predestination in Romans 8, which simply means, it doesn't necessarily mean that we are before salvation predestined to be in Christ, although that is a view that's out there. But I think what Romans 8 is highlighting is that those who are in Christ will be glorified. As Dave put it, no one's lost along the way at any point. Did you know that as a believer? You cannot be lost. But what if you go through a rough patch? What if you don't respond biblically to your suffering? What if you turn away from the Lord? What if you never turn back? you're not lost, right? That's the whole point of Romans eight. And if you think through the helpful cycles of Romans, right? We've got everyone lost the universal need for salvation or justification. The only means of justification is faith alone in Christ. And then we have the benefits of justification where we have peace with God. We stand in grace and we have hope. And then I think he elaborates on that hope in chapter eight with the fourth cycle dealing with our, the ramifications. What does it mean to have hope? Is it hope, as I often use the illustration? I hope the Broncos win today? That's not hope, right? That's foolish thinking to think that they can win a game. And I say that from the bottom of my heart as a Broncos fan, by the way, which I just realized, James, we're gonna have to discuss after class. But that's not hope, right? Biblical hope is confidence, expectation. It's a firm thing. Why is it firm? Because it doesn't depend on us, right? If it depended on us, could we use the word hope in the biblical sense? No, we would, I wish, I desire, I aim, I hope. but has anyone shot a gun and you're aiming for the bullseye, right? Do you always hit it a hundred percent of the time? No. And that's literally the, the base definition of sin, by the way, it's missing the mark. And that's why we need a savior, right? Because God is perfectly righteous and we could aim for perfect righteousness, but we miss every time, every time. And so we miss the mark, we need a savior. Praise be to God, we have one, right? And through faith alone, we receive the free gift of eternal life. And then it's almost like Paul says in cycle three and four, but wait, there's more. Not only are you saved, you have hope. You have peace with God. You stand in the grace of God. And the mention of grace, by the way, launches into the narrative of, well, what about the law? He says, you're not under the law. You're dead to the law. you're under grace. And then being under grace, that's why, by the way, he's talking about liberty. The last several weeks, we've been talking about liberty upstairs, you know, that's because we're under grace, right? We are free. We are at liberty to do those things that scripture is silent on, that scripture doesn't forbid. And so Paul needs to provide some guidelines for apparently, I think the Roman church was maybe judging their brother or maybe causing their other brothers to stumble. And Paul says that is not living in love. That's not living under love. So we're under grace and we're under love. Yeah. I had a couple of quick questions about verse 13. I would suggest that it should be translated deliverance and then we can decide based on the context and the textual arguments and those things, whether it's talking about salvation in the spiritual sense. the ultimate sense or physical sense. Right. Because you're saying it could mean the rapture. Is that what you're saying? Well, sorry. I compared it back to chapter 2, verse 3 with apostasia. I think that should have been translated departure. So similar to that, salvation should just be translated deliver. And then we can determine what deliverance it's speaking of. One option could be the rapture. Am I right on that? Yeah, I suppose that could be an option. I didn't I didn't mention it. But now that you mentioned it, I'm sorry. No, you're good. I didn't mention that. But I think that's a perfectly legitimate option as well. So would you mind just reiterating what your personal view on that was, because I think I misunderstood. Yeah, so I would, but now that you mentioned rapture, I find that fitting perfectly with what I'm seeking to convey. Well, just to say this, my question is if it was the rapture, and you said pay attention to the pronouns, and Paul says you here to these believers, would they then be you in terms of representative of those believers that will be alive at this time in history? I think that, and that's where it gets interesting because I think a lot of times we see glimpses of Paul's view of imminency. He speaks as if it could happen in his lifetime. And that's really important for us, right? He didn't know that it was going to be 2,000 years. He thought it could be today. And so, and there's some, by the way, some things that keep me up at night, for example, is, well, what do we do with the prophecy of Peter, right? God, Christ told Peter that he will live till he's old. So does that destroy immanency? Not necessarily, but it is something that kind of racks the brain a little bit. But to your point, I think that's a valid interpretation as well, that salvation, deliverance, namely through the rapture, because that's how we're delivered, right? If you take the physical deliverance view, you're delivered from the day of the Lord, how? Through the rapture. Now again, if you don't see it that way, that's fine. You're welcome here. Yeah. So mine says, chose you as first fruit. Is that ESV or NASB? Okay. It is different, and it's different namely in that the translation is just seeking to draw out that, in my estimation, interpretation, whereas I, while it is a legitimate view, I think it's similar to translating apostasia as apostasy or spiritual following away. I think it's just adding things that aren't explicitly stated. And so I would side away from that, unless that's your view. And if that's your view and that's your translation, then you're in agreement with the translations and happy. Well, I think predestination specifically in eight is talking about the believers. Those in Christ are predetermined to be glorified. They'll all be glorified. Yeah, I personally and I don't hold that view, but it is an option, yeah. Yeah. would be saved, delivered from the wrath, would be all of those things saved, justified. Sure. But it's a decision he made from the beginning. Sure. And that's, we get into really thick water, right, when we're trying to talk about all the possible views there. Go ahead. I read that, I read, you know, what 2 Thessalonians 13, And what came to my mind right away was this verse in Ephesians. He says, it was started in war. Just as He chose us and Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy, blameless before Him, in love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. And that's where I... In the Romans 8 sense. So when we're predestined for adoption, we have to understand adoption in the first century context. It's not like we go down to the foster care home or the adoption agency and we're adopting, we're selecting a child to take home with us. Adoption deals with inheritance. You are putting an inheritance in the account of someone. and it's essentially guaranteed. And so that's the point I think Paul is making, is that you're in Christ and you are predestined for adoption as sons and to receive your inheritance. And so I think he's saying the same thing, but in a much more summary fashion in Ephesians. And then chosen in Christ, I think being in Christ is what makes us choice or chosen. Again, I know we disagree and that's fine, but that's... It says before the foundation of the world, That's a sticking point for me. Well, how can you say that? Well, I would say we were decidedly righteous in that position and predestined for adoption. God made that decision before the foundation of the earth. So that's my explanation. I know we wouldn't agree. I wanted to say by way of encouragement to you and to everybody. One thing I really appreciate about this church, and I've only been coming for a few weeks, is that we do try to walk through, as you said, thick water. I actually really appreciate it. Secondly, just a minor thing, actually that first fruits thing, I guess it's a manuscript problem. That's why Harger says some manuscripts read the first fruits, just a little clarification. And it's not the New American Standard that has that, so it must be, I don't know, it's the NIME or whatever. I would assume it would probably be in the critical text. But that just shows the difficulty of the issue, right? It's not a slam dunk on either side, and that's why we have to maintain humility and respect, even if we disagree. Because at the end of the day, this issue by itself isn't jeopardizing our ability to have fellowship, I don't think. Some may think that, and that would be unfortunate. Yeah, and as Dan said, it's not jeopardizing our salvation either, right? We could all agree that we're saved by faith. It's just a matter of did God decide that or did he give us faith? And those are legitimate views. And then there's some that don't hold it to that particularly. Yeah. You just can't get up and walk out because you have a different view of something. Right. Absolutely, I agree and and I commend you guys thus far we're doing great Handling this and and also you have to understand it's not fair right because I am sharing my side of things how I see it and I'm using my arguments and I have as the book says the conch right and so I have the right to Megaphone my thoughts and ideas and so understand that it's not a slam-dunk. It's open and And if you would want considerations, if I may put you on the spot, not necessarily now, but feel free to talk to Dave to just see a different way of handling the text. And again, I don't think it's drastically. It's not like we're at odds. The scripture says don't give the pastor heartaches. Yes. Amen. Amen to that. Yeah. Hi, I'm Steven. I think we'd all agree, regardless of our view, it's so hard to, we can't fully understand God's outside of kindness. So like on ground level, we believe, but also outside of time, God chose and that's, None of us can fully really understand. We can just timeline in a line that he is outside of. So no one can fully ever grasp what exactly that's like. We can only just take scripture. Right. That's where it's hard to wrap our heads around. Absolutely. And that's why humility is key, right? Because let us not ever presume to know the mind of the Lord. We can know what he reveals to us, but sometimes it's not as clear as we'd like it to be. And with those cases, we have to be humble. Now, if it's an issue of how someone is saved and someone is differing in our interpretation that it's faith alone, in Christ alone, that's a fellowship-breaking thing, right? That's a major thing. But this isn't that. And so we can agree to disagree. And even as John is kind of alluding to, iron sharpening iron, and we weigh these views. And what I always like to do is I try to hold a view that I disagree with and then try to find holes. And then I hold the view that I take and I try to find the holes. And when it's all said and done, I pour water in it mentally and see which one drains. the slowest. And sometimes that's where I'm at. I'm less than satisfied with my view, but where I sit, I think this holds the most water for the time being. All right. Yeah, go ahead. Amen. Absolutely. Yeah. You don't have to understand these things to be saved. And we praise the Lord for that, right? Because who then could be saved? So the gospel is the call, and again, the predestination concept. Now, just getting in a little bit, we'll probably pick up next time with this, but the future glorification of the Thessalonians, verse 14, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how do you get the glory? You have to answer the call. How do you answer the call? Faith in Christ. If you answer the call by faith in Christ, you are, in my view, predestined for that glory. Obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you hearing the gospel and believing was God's call to you. Your life is now Christ. Compare that with one of my favorite verses, Galatians 2.20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. That's true of all believers. Romans 6, the concepts that Pastor Dave and I have been trying to emphasize and highlight for you as far as the believer's position. We are dead to sin. We are alive to Christ. We are spiritual, not merely physical. Yes, we're in physical bodies, but we are born again. We are new, made new in Christ. And that's our base of operation. That's why we're called to abide in Christ, right? And that's why we're called to walk by the Spirit. And I personally take the view, thinking of 1 John 3, there's another controversy there. He who has been born of God does not sin. Uh-oh. Has anyone sinned? We won't say today, but just period. Has anyone sinned? We all do, right? So are we not born of God? That's pretty discouraging. No, I think he's saying what has been born of God cannot sin or does not sin. In other words, that new nature that was born of God is incapable of sin. I think it shares the same impeccability of Christ. So how can a believer still sin? Well, at some moment they stopped abiding in Christ, they stopped walking in the spirit, they fulfilled the lust of the flesh, sin happened. And in the fellowship concept, they're now in darkness, right? What do we do when we're in darkness? Does God push us out and say, you're on probation, go to your room? If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, we're back in the light, right? Back in fellowship. It could be instantaneous. And by the way, even if you don't feel cleansed of all unrighteousness, are you cleansed if you confess your sins? That's what it seems to be saying, right? And that's how I think we maintain the Christian life, is we keep short accounts with God. When we sin, don't run away, run to him. Father, I messed up. Father, I sinned against you. I confess that. I agree. I say the same thing about my sin that you would. And what happens? What's God's response? Forgiveness and cleansing of all unrighteousness. That's a good place to stop. Well, let me summarize. We'll at least finish point number one. Believers are delivered from the wrath of God and are destined for glory because they answered the call of the gospel by believing the truth of the gospel presented by Paul, Silas, and Timothy. And I said Silas, that's his Hebrew name. I apologize, it's Silvanus. That's his Greek name. So any comments or questions?