We'll turn over now to Revelation chapter 14. I'll read verses 14 through 16, pray and we'll be seated, and then we'll read through the end of the chapter. Revelation 14, 14. And I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Father, we thank you for your word. Help us to apply it properly. Help us to understand it. Thank you for giving us this guidebook whereby we might know how to base all of our life and practice. Help me as I preach this morning that I would say those things that are true and consistent with the everlasting gospel, that philosophies of men and Misunderstandings might be swept away, and the Holy Spirit would speak to us from the Word this morning. For Christ's sake we ask it. Amen. Thank you for standing. You can be seated. Let me finish reading through the end of this chapter. We're only going to focus on 14-16 this morning, but I want you to see the full context here. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs." Let me give you an overview of Revelation chapter 14, what we've been discussing so far in this chapter, and hopefully we'll be able to see better the context of verses 14 through 16, and this one with his sharp sickle reaping his harvest on the earth. Remember verses 1-3 describes these 144,000 who we were first introduced to in chapter 7. These are those, I believe, who were spared from the destruction of Jerusalem. Those Jews who had converted to Christianity, had heeded the words of Jesus to flee out of the city, not looking over their shoulder. Historically, geographically, we know many of them fled to a city called Pella. And I believe that this is what we're looking at here in chapter 14 now. These 144,000 who have been spared. And God is going to use them as an incredible missionary wave to spread the gospel after the destruction on Jerusalem in 70 AD. So we see them there in verses 1 through 3. Their missionary work begins with their personal worship of Jesus Christ in the church on earth. This is where it begins. Missionary work begins with a right love for Jesus and a desire to see Him glorified in all of the earth. Verses 4 and 5 tell us of their moral character and their special calling. We see here that they're virgins, that they've not been defiled with women. And so it's because, as the Apostle Paul instructed those in his day for this present distress, he told them that this would be something that would be good for them, and that's who these folks are. That's the calling that these folks have taken upon their life as they're about to go out and many of them be martyred for the sake of the gospel. Verses 6 and 7 tell us that they're starting in Israel, but going to every nation of the earth and carrying with them to every nation the everlasting gospel to preach. Verses 8-11 tell the end result of those who reject their message. Eternal damnation in hell. This is what happens when the message of the gospel is rejected. Verses 12-13 tell us of the blessed end of those who believe the message. Eternal rest in heaven. So this is where we've come to through verse 13. And now we come to verse 14. Up through verse 13 we've been getting I don't want to say the abstract, but we've been being given the principles of this is what happens. This is what happens to those who believe. This is what happens to those who do not believe. But now in verse 14 we begin to see the actual application of this on earth. Now that the everlasting gospel has gone out by these faithful messengers and is being spread in Israel and into the uttermost parts of the earth, Jesus begins to do what he always does when the gospel is preached. And that is, save some, draw some to himself, convert them, and others are hardened unto damnation. This is what we see in verses 14-20. 14-16 tells us of the spiritual reaping of those who believe, and verses 17-20 tells us of the damnation on those who are hardened, the judgment and just condemnation that comes upon them. We'll look at verses 17-20, Lord willing, next week. This afternoon I want to focus particularly on verses 14-16. But in the whole picture of verses 14-20, that bird's eye view of what happens when the gospel is preached in the earth, I want you to see that the preaching of the gospel has a 100% success rate. For those of you who have your handouts, that's the fill in there. The preaching of the gospel has a 100% success rate. You say, everyone who hears the gospel is saved? No, I did not say that. But the Gospel has a 100% success rate. It does what God sends it out to do. Now that's a very famous verse that we quote often, and rightfully so, in Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 11, which is that God's Word never returns to him void. It accomplishes what He intends for it to accomplish. But the Apostle Paul in the New Testament spelled it out in even clearer language. If you'll turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, and look at verses 14 through 17, You'll see that the Apostle Paul speaks of the triumph of Christ in the message that the apostles and the disciples of Jesus Christ were bringing. That everywhere the gospel was preached, it was a sweet savor to God. But it had two different effects in that sweet savor. 2 Corinthians chapter 2 starting in verse 14. Now, thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish. When we bring the gospel, he said, we're a sweet saver for those who believe and those who do not believe. To the one we are the saver of death unto death. Those who hear the gospel and are hardened in their sins and reject it and turn away from it, God's holy justice is glorified in their condemnation. and the other, the saver of life unto life. Those who believe and are converted and have eternal life, God is glorified in His gracious saving of those who do not deserve His mercy. Paul recognized the hardness to receive this kind of doctrine, how hard it was. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ." So this is what Paul says, we bring the pure gospel, we bring the pure word of God, the uncorrupted word of God, we preach it to the world, some receive it, some gladly receive those things, some the ground is ready for the seed to be sown, and they bring forth fruit thirty, sixty, a hundredfold, and some of the ground is rocky. And some of the ground is choked with thorns. And some of the ground the birds of the air come and eat the seeds. And in all of them God is glorified. It's not that the gospel was successful in one place and not successful in the other place. Our desire, humanly, is to see all men everywhere saved. We want to see men repent and believe the gospel. We want to see God glorified through the beauty of Jesus Christ being accepted by every individual. But the scriptures tell us this is not what happens. We ought not expect that to be the case, that that is what is going to happen. And we need to have spiritual eyes that are able to see the glory of God in the believing and in the hardened. When we bring the gospel with this view, when we bring the gospel with the idea that by the gospel being purely preached, God will be glorified, it will be a sweet savor in His nose, we do not then see our job as needing to gather as many emotionally manipulated repeat-after-me prayers. That's not our goal in preaching the gospel. We don't have a tally sheet where we ask each other at the end of the week, well how many conversions did you get this week? Because the goal is not to get notches on your gun belt. The goal is to preach the gospel faithfully. The goal is for the scriptures to go out uncorrupted and clearly presented before the world. But by the same token, just as our job is not to gather as many emotionally manipulated repeat-after-me prayers as possible, nor is our job to be as inflammatory and obnoxious as possible. Some people seem to think that this is their goal in life, is to turn people away from Christ, almost, it seems like, in the way that they present the gospel. But no. Our job is merely to preach the Word. Our job is merely to speak the truths of the Gospel, to present the Word of God to the world, and let the Lord of the harvest do what He will with it. Let the one who prepares the soils have the seed grow and bear fruit where He will have it grow and bear fruit. We have no original message to preach. We have nothing new to say. We have what God wants us to say to the world delivered to us in His Word, and our job is to preach the whole counsel of God. To hold nothing back. To deliver it as it is given to us to those who have not yet heard it. We have no original message to preach, and we have no power over how that message is received. Our job is not to be salesmen. It's to be heralds. It's not to convince people. It's not to be so eloquent in our oratory that we're able to draw men by our power. We're merely heralds telling the King's message to the people to whom the King has sent us. So that's the big picture view here. These 144,000 are going out with an everlasting gospel and God brings about the result He wants on both sides from the preaching of that gospel. Let's look now at some detail at the verses before us, verses 14 through 16. Jesus is the one who is like unto the Son of Man. We're going to establish that here in just a moment. This is Jesus sitting on the white cloud with a crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. The fact that He is sitting on a cloud with a golden crown on His head is a symbol of His divinity. That this one is seated on a cloud tells you, oh, we're talking about God here. And the fact that a crown, a golden crown, is on his head tells us that he is the enthroned king. He's the one who's the victor over all things, as we saw in the beginning of this book. In Psalm chapter 104, and verses 1-3, the scriptures say, Bless the Lord, O my soul. O LORD my God, Thou art very great. Thou art clothed with honor and majesty, who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain. who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks upon the wings of the wind." So to be seated on a cloud, to those who would be regularly singing the Psalms, they would know, wait a second, that this one is seated on a cloud tells us that he's God. It's God who makes the clouds his chariot. It's God who's seated on the clouds, who walks on the wings of the wind. In a previous sermon, we looked at Isaiah chapter 19 and verse 1, where God is coming in judgment on Egypt. And it says, "...the burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it." So the Old Testament Psalms and Prophets spoke of God in this kind of language. The one who's riding on the clouds. The one who's seated on the cloud. But it's not merely His divinity as God, but it's His vindication and prophetic fulfillment as the Messiah. The God-Man. God who became flesh. We see this prophecy, I said it's prophetic fulfillment, in Daniel chapter 7 and verse 13. He says, I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven. So that's a description of the Son of God. "...and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him." So one like the Son of Man comes on the clouds. So what does our text say? I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man. So this is a fulfillment of Daniel chapter 7. One like unto the Son of Man coming on a cloud. And Jesus, during His earthly ministry, had said that this would be His role in fulfilling that prophecy. In Mark chapter 14 and verse 61, Jesus is on trial. And they're asking Him if He's the Son of God. And verse 61 says, But He held His peace and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked Him and said unto Him, Art Thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am, and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes and said, What need we any further witness? Ye have heard the blasphemy, what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death." It was not merely that he said, I am, although that would have been enough to condemn them in their minds, but it was that he said, I am the Son of Man and you will see me coming in the clouds. This is who the Son of Man, this is who the Son of God is. He's God, and He's the Messiah. He's the Promised One. He's the Son of Man. He's the second person of the Trinity. And so in our text, it tells us that this One, like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle, this is Jesus. The One who is in charge of everything. And the sickle in his hand represents the gathering of his harvest. Now clearly that's what our text tells us he does. The harvest of the earth is ripe and so he thrusts his sickle on the earth and the earth is reaped. But turn with me over to Luke chapter 10. In Luke chapter 10, this is again during Jesus' earthly ministry. And He begins to send out His sickles, if you'll allow me the liberty of that representation here. Jesus begins to send out His disciples preaching the gospel. Luke chapter 10 and verse 1, After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before His face into every city and place whither He Himself would come. Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest. Go your ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves." So he's not only sending them into the harvest to reap the harvest which is ready to be reaped, but he tells them that part of this harvest is their persecutors. It's the ones who hate them. It's the ones who are speaking against them, who are seeking to kill them. He said, go out there and reap. Like lambs in the midst of wolves go into the harvest. carry neither purse nor script nor shoes, and salute no man by the way, and into whatsoever house ye enter, first say peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall turn to you again. and in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house, and into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you. Eat such things as are set before you, and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. So what is going to be the result to some of these disciples as they go forth preaching the gospel? In some places they're going to be received with joy. In some places, the people are going to hear. And he said, in those places, do the work. Heal the sick. Preach the gospel. But is that going to be the result in every place they go? No. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city which cleaves on us we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. So some are going to receive the preaching of the gospel with joy and believe, and some are going to reject it and be condemned. And in both places, God is doing His work. Jesus sends these laborers into the harvest, and He sends them to evangelize their persecutors with the express expectation that there would be a clear demarcation by their preaching. When they preach, you're going to see the water split. You're going to see a rift down the middle of these towns. You're going to see some receive it and some reject it. There's only two options when you hear that gospel. The believing unto life and peace and the obstinate unto judgment and condemnation. Now some have balked at the idea that this one on the cloud like under the Son of Man with a sickle is actually Jesus. And one of the reasons they balk at that is because an angel comes and tells him when to reap. And they say, well, an angel would never tell Jesus what to do, right? How is an angel going to be able to tell Jesus what to do? Well, at first reading, yes, we might think that. But notice, it is not the angel who is telling Jesus what to do. The angel is coming out of the temple, which we read in a future verse is the heavenly temple. He's coming out of the place where God sits. He's coming from the throne room of God. This angel, as angels are, is merely a messenger. He is not the one who has any authority to tell Jesus what to do. Jesus is higher than all the angels. But what did Jesus tell us when He was here on this earth? He only did that which the Father sent him to do. He and the Father were in perfect unity on the role that Jesus was going to have on this earth. In John chapter 6, we read it perhaps the clearest. Verses 37 through 40, Jesus said, All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and him that comes to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which sees the Son and believes on Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." There's no tension between God the Father and God the Son. You may have heard the phrase used before, I'm a four-point Calvinist. I believe in four of the five points. That limited atonement part, I just can't quite get on board with. But I'm certainly on board with the fact that God elects people without any regard to their state. So you believe that God elects some, but Jesus wants to save everyone? There's this tension now between God the Father and God the Son? God elects the elect to Himself, but Jesus tries to save everybody? No, there's no such tension there. Those whom God the Father elected, God the Son atoned for. And when God the Father says, reap your harvest, Jesus reaps His harvest. He's glorified in that. He's in perfect unity with the Father in this. Jesus saves who, when, where, and how the Father delivers to Him. And He is perfectly content with that. They are in perfect unity on that. When the Father sends the message by an angel telling Jesus to reap His harvest, Jesus reaps His harvest. And it's not as though He misses some. Or it's not as though some sneak in who weren't supposed to be there. But the sickle that Jesus reaches into His harvest and reaps this first harvest that is mentioned here, the harvest of those who have believed unto life, of all of those whom the Father has given to Jesus, Jesus is collecting them. These are mine. Now there's going to be another harvest, and this first harvest seems to picture a wheat field ripe unto harvest. The second harvest is pictured of grapes which are going to be crushed. But this first harvest is that harvest of those who belong to Jesus. His sickle goes into the harvest and reaps and collects all of those who are His. Which brings us to the fifth point. Jesus is the sovereign Lord of the universe. When Jesus thrusts His sickle into the earth, He reaps the harvest He intends to reap. It is not a haphazard reaping. It's not like those grab bags of toys when you were a kid where you reached and rummaged around and saw what it was that you pulled out after you had pulled it out. No, the verse tells us, he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. Jesus did what he intended to do. There were no stalks of wheat that dodged his sickle. No one that was supposed to be harvested did he miss. There were none who were reaped before they were ripe. Once the harvest was ripe, the time was ripe, and Jesus harvested them. When we go about evangelism with the idea that we're looking for that decision at that moment, we don't know the ripeness of the fruit. We don't know when it's ripe for it to be harvested. We're not Jesus. We don't have the sickle. We merely have the seeds. And so we sow the seeds. There are no tares that accidentally make it in with the wheat. There's another parable that clearly tells us they're divided. You remember the story in Daniel chapter 4, when Nebuchadnezzar raised himself up in the place of God, and God humbled him to show his power to him, and made him eat grass like an ox, and his hair and nails grew out, and the dew fell on his back. And then after a time, God restored him back to his sanity and his kingdom. What happened after that? At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, And he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? This is the conclusion of the most powerful man in the world, who's been reduced to the most humble man in the world, who's then been restored back to his position again, and his recognition of God at that point is, no one can stop his hand when his hand reaches down, and no one can question his motives either. What are you doing? Why are you doing it that way? Don't you think it might be better if... We know the argument that Paul argues in Romans chapter 9. That the vessel has no right to question the potter's wisdom. To say unto him, why are you doing what you're doing? Why are you making some vessels to honor and some unto dishonor? This is the conclusion of a man who has come in some small sense to fully grasp the eternal power, sovereignty, and authority of God. He recognizes not only can God do whatever He wants to do, whenever He wants to do it, however He wants to do it, but we don't even have the right to question Him on that. Turn over to Romans chapter 9. I started to panic. I said, this isn't Romans 9 because it's 1 Corinthians 9. Romans chapter 9, verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on him whom I will have compassion. Now remember the trajectory of Moses. He was raised in the king's house. He was raised as a prince of Egypt. And forsaking that, for the faith of what was not seen, he became humbled to a shepherd in the desert. And then God brought him back and made him the savior of his people. And what is God's message to Moses there? I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. For the Scripture says unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up. So Moses was humbled that he might be a deliverer of God's people. Pharaoh was raised up and humbled. For what reason? That I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens. Thou wilt say unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will? So Paul says, this is the normal reaction of people who start to come to grips with this kind of a sovereign God. What do we do? We question. God, why would you do that? That doesn't seem fair. You couldn't do it like that, could you? And Paul's answer is so striking to me who loves debate and logic and answering a question with the correct answer. Paul leaves the question completely aside. And his answer is, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom He has called, not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. As He says in Osi, I will call them My people, which were not My people, and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold, I lay and sigh on a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed." So the Old Testament and the New Testament are in perfect unity on this point. The Lord of Heaven has a hand that can reap when and where and how He wants to reap, and no one can stop Him from reaping, and no one even has the right to ask Him why He thinks He can do it this way. The grain does not have the right to demand an answer of the Lord of the harvest, just as the vessel does not have a right to demand an answer of the potter. What's our conclusion of these things then in Revelation chapter 14? just as Jesus had a harvest to reap in that first century. Paul, the 70 were sent out to reap a harvest. Paul, the apostles are sent out after Jesus' ascension to reap a harvest. After 70 AD, Jesus continues sending out missionaries to reap a harvest. And as Nebuchadnezzar said in Daniel chapter four, his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. So the Lord of the harvest still has a harvest to be reaped. He continues to save men and women. He continues to bring sons to glory. And He continues to do it the same way He's done it since the first century. By a clear, pure preaching of a clear, pure gospel. We have an incredible promise. That when we share this everlasting gospel, even to those who seem too far gone, even to those who hate us and persecute us, God will work supernaturally through that gospel. And He will receive glory in saving some, and He will receive glory in hardening some. Think of the Apostle Paul. The greatest persecutor of the church. The one who was dragging men and women and children to jail. Remember when God saved him. And he was brought to the church and no one at the church wanted to have an audience with him. Oh, we know this guy. And Barnabas, like a sickle in the Lord Jesus' hand, says, no, the Lord will have His harvest. And he's set this one up to bring the gospel to nations and to kings. How arrogant and haughty of us to imagine that there's some that aren't worth sharing the gospel with. They wouldn't understand. They wouldn't get it. They've heard it before. No, he said, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Go give the gospel to those wolves. Paul and Silas shared the gospel with their jailer. Remember that? Earthquake and he's about to kill himself. Paul says, don't do any harm. We're all here. What must I do to be saved? And he and his house are converted. A little over 200 years later, there was a man named Valentinus, who tradition says that he continued to perform Christian marriages, even though the emperor's decree was that all marriage ceremonies should cease. And he was arrested and brought into prison. And the jailer heard him praying to Jesus, the light of the world. And the jailer said to him, you say your Jesus is the light of the world, then why is my daughter blind from birth? Valentina said, I'll pray that the light of the world would give your daughter open eyes. And the jailer came back the next day and said, my daughter can see. Tell me of this Jesus, the light of the world, and his family was saved. In recent days, we've heard stories of men like Richard Wurmbrand, who was tortured and persecuted for his faith. Missionaries to places like North Korea who are regularly tortured and persecuted for their faith. And the breathtaking aspect of these stories is that they share the gospel with their persecutors. The ones beating them. The ones jailing them. They continue to share the gospel with them to tell them of the love of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sinners. How that ought to put every one of us to shame, that we're afraid of a sneer or a cold shoulder from someone who we might share the gospel with. Jesus has a harvest. The seeds that are sown are growing where He wants them to grow and are bringing forth fruit the way He wants them to bring forth fruit. Will you be faithful to tell the truth that God has placed to those whom God has placed in your life? As I said earlier, you don't have to be a salesman, just a herald. To those who are here this morning who are tares among the wheat, maybe you're sitting here in church, you're sitting here among the saved, among the believers, and you know you've not repented of your sins and turned to Christ in faith. You're here to put on a good face, to appease someone perhaps. Maybe you came out of curiosity, maybe you came because it's just what you've always done. Let me one more time be an ambassador for Christ, as though God did beseech you by me. I pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled unto God. Repent of your unbelief, and put your full faith and trust in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and Him alone for the forgiveness of sins. Let's stand to our feet, and we'll be dismissed with a word of prayer and a song. Father, we thank you for your unestimable mercy and grace. Not merely when we were without strength, but while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Help us to be faithful heralds of that gospel. Help us to have an unshakable faith in your sovereignty your power, your holiness, your goodness, that you have, by your wisdom, decreed that you would reap your harvest by the preaching of the gospel. Help us to be faithful to it. For Christ's sake. Amen. Praise to our precious dear people. Praise to our departed peoples. Praise, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we'll thank y'all for being here today. We've got lunch right across the way. Hope you can stay for that and come back this afternoon for our 1.30 service today. And don't forget, there's a sign-up list back there for our event that's coming Saturday. At the Springers, please check that out. You have to sign up to bring something and put your name on the list that you're coming. It's going to be a crowd this year, as usual. And I'm going to ask Brother Brad Sledge, if he would dismiss us in a word of prayer and thank the Lord for the food.