All right, well, we're continuing our study on the 1689. We're in chapter 9 of the 1689 on the topic of free will. And I know for some it's surprising that you would have a Calvinistic confession that has an entire chapter devoted to free will. But in fact, Calvinists do believe in the doctrine of free will. Free will is not contrary to the doctrines of grace. It does not contradict. the fact that God is sovereign in our salvation, man freely does what he does in each of the four states in which he exists. And we began by talking last time of the state of innocence, whereas the Lord had created man in the garden, perfect, and he was made righteous. You remember the Lord created man and woman. He said, this is very good. Some people say, well, why did the Lord make man sinful? Well, in fact, he did not. He did not make man sinful. He made man righteous. But man fell into a state of sin. You may say, well, why did the Lord allow man to fall into a state of sin? Well, we talked about that a bit last time. And that's a question that you can ask, but the Lord so determined and so chose that man would fall into a state of sin. And that's the topic that we'll be talking about today. By the way, if you ever need to access the 1689, you can find it on our website, you can find it on the internet. Also, of course, it's always in the back of the blue Trinity hymnal. So we're in chapter nine of the 1689 of free will, and we're gonna walk through paragraphs three through five, beginning with paragraph three, the state of sin, and the confession states, Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. So as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto." And then you have the supporting verses. And when the confession, when the framers here say man, all right, they're talking here about fallen humanity. They're not just talking about Adam who sinned. They're talking about all who have come from the line of Adam are born in a state of sin. That's the consequences of the effect of the fall. upon all humanity. Jim Renahan makes this point in his commentary on the 1689. He says, The fall brought man to the loss of ability to will that which is good. That which is good is carefully defined. It is spiritual good accompanying salvation. Now we must understand that this becomes a little bit difficult. You know, so you're basically saying that man in a state of sin is as bad as he can possibly be? Absolutely not. The most evil people that have ever existed in the world could have been worse. And even within some of those evil people that you see, and it may be difficult to notice this, but If you're careful in studying history, you'll even see this. You can find some good in the lives of those who are even some of the most evil people. You'll find them caring for their spouses or their children or their loved ones or friends. You'll see them doing things that we would say from a human standpoint, well, that is good. That was a good thing. But what we're talking about here is that that perfect good, all right? That good that Jesus speaks of when he's asked, well, what's the greatest commandment? And he says, well, I'll give you two. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. And so when Jesus speaks of this, he's not just talking about an external action. He's talking about the heart from which that action flows. And so you're unable to do that which is good by doing, you know, what is in accordance with God's law from a heart that so desires to do it with the purpose of glorifying God. You can't do that. in your unconverted state. But, Ranahan points this out, he says, the Bible and Reformed theology never teach that man ceases to do all things that might be considered good and even noble in a humanitarian sense. And it doesn't mean that you're as bad as you can be. What we call this is total inability. You're unable to do that which is perfectly righteous and good. If you were, then Your need for Christ wouldn't be so significant. If you could have done this on your own, then why did Jesus come? it necessary for the Lord to clothe himself in flesh and dwell among us and take upon the wrath of God and keep the law on our behalf. The man's lost his ability to do what is pleasing to God. Now that will be regained in the next state that we will talk about, which is the state of grace. Renahan goes on to say this. He says, for this reason, a fallen man cannot convert himself or prepare himself for conversion. There are no seekers. Man, because of the fall, and left to himself can't do nothing to please God. People say, well, we need to be seeker-sensitive. Well, that's usually a code word for, let's just lighten up a bit on the theology. Or, and maybe there's some times to lighten up on certain aspects of theology at certain times, talking to certain people. You need to be wise in how you speak, certainly. Even a pastor may give a sermon to one congregation and to another one, he may preach that sermon quite differently. And that's understandable, that's wisdom, that's, That is reasonable. Oftentimes, seeker sensitive can even mean don't talk about sin. Don't say things that people don't like. Let's keep everything light and fluffy and happy. If you're really going to understand the good news, and the good news is not just that, do you want to go to heaven and not go to hell? There's a bit more to it than that. If you really want to understand the good news, you got to understand the bad news. You need to understand what's being communicated in this paragraph of the confession, which is man in a state of sin can do nothing good. It's really that bad. It's really that serious. He could be much worse, absolutely. You can look at many men that are quite moral, or quite good by worldly standards, and it's a good thing. that they are more good rather than less good, okay? The influence of the church on a culture has a curbing effect of sin, that's a good thing. It's not like, ah, it doesn't matter how they live, or even this, I want to say this as well, it also doesn't mean that, oh, you know what, they're just not Christians, that's just how they're gonna live. Would you expect anything different? Well, no, you can call people to walk in obedience to God's law. You can tell people that you're sinning by doing this. I mean, how many of you have noticed that even being around certain people, and they know you're a Christian, you're around certain people, they're aware you're a Christian, and they will suddenly modify their speech a bit. They will then catch themselves. They will then say, oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry I shouldn't have said those profane words. I shouldn't have talked with such vulgar speech. You know, and you say, well, you say, it's OK, or, you know, or whatever. You say, well, you know, really, you're thinking, really, your concern should be with the Lord. Well, in some ways, they're thinking of the Lord. They're thinking. They are remembering that there is a God. They're remembering that there will be a day of judgment, even if it's not fully conscious. I think there's an awareness that is there. And you, as a Christian, are reminding them of this. I remember working. and did a little children's camp in an area of town that was a rough area, and it was not a safe area. You know, there was drugs, prostitution, theft, lots of poverty in this area. But even amongst the people in this community, with all the theft that happened, nobody ever stole from the church. nobody ever messed with the church building. There was a general respect for, um, you know, God's existence and, and the work of the church, even in the community. And it was, there was almost a partition that was there. Is it inconsistent? Sure. It's inconsistent. But, but the fact is that there is, there is a way in which the Christianity has a way of, um, benefiting even just the kingdom of man. And I think you see that as well in cultures that so seek to rid themselves of Christianity and want to remove all of the churches, and they believe that they're going to really achieve a greater state of existence by removing the church. And in reality, they're cursing themselves. They're harming themselves. They don't realize it. By removing all light from their culture, they are causing great harm harm to themselves. And so there are things that it is better that men, even in a state of sin, do less sin. That's a good thing. And you can recognize that. And you can see someone that even makes some growth in there, you can recognize that. But we must categorically keep it different. We must partition it out, keep it categorically different in understanding what is required to exist eternally before the Lord, and that is sinless perfection. And that which is called righteous, truly righteous, must come from the heart with the right intention, with the right end, and be the right action. All those things must be there. So they can't do that in their state of sin. Man can't even take the smallest step toward God in his state of sin. He is altogether naturally contrary to that. I'm going to support this with some scriptures shortly. Nehemiah Cox makes this point, he says, existing in a state of sin, hath such a principle of enmity to God reigning in him that he cannot, until converted by effectual grace, choose that which is right in the sight of God, yet doth he freely put forth a positive act of his will in refusing mercy tendered on gospel terms. So then the question is not so much whether man left to themselves and the common helps afforded them may believe if they will, but whether any such will believe and not rather finally oppose God and refuse his grace tendered to them in the gospel. This is his point. His point is that man still has free will in the state of sin. All right, his ability Okay, his inclination to do that which is good and righteous, okay, is not the standard by which the will is determined. The will is a human action. It's a part of being human to have free will. And so he is freely choosing to do that which is sinful and that which is harmful. He's not a robot, he's not an automaton, okay? God hasn't made him in a state where he's just, I will only do sin. He's born in that state, choosing to do that which is sinful, only choosing to do that which is sinful. God didn't make him like that, that's how he is. God just isn't changing his position, he's not changing his state of being. But he has free will. That's why he will be judged. Because the gospel will be offered, the mercy of the gospel will be offered, he will freely and truly deny it. You see this even in hell. Men will still be at enmity with God. Men will still have hatred toward God. You read in the scriptures and it talks about wailing and gnashing of teeth. Okay, this is, This is an idea of an enmity toward God, a hatred toward God for all eternity. It's not as though into eternity that men will in hell desire Christ. They will still be at enmity with God. Now let's walk through a few. parts of this paragraph. It says, man by his fall into the state of sin has wholly lost his ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. Man originally was made, all right, and he was in a state of innocence and he had the ability to do that, which was good. Paul says in Romans 5, 6, for while we were still weak at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. We were unable to do what was necessary while we were still sinners. Christ died for us. Romans 8, 7, and 8. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Paul's speech there is very clear of what natural man can and can't do. He does not submit himself to God's law, not rightly. Not according to that which is the righteous way. It doesn't mean he's as bad as he can be. He can be worse. He can even get better in some ways in his life, but he cannot reach the standard that God requires within his law. He cannot please God. Does it please God when people repent and trust in Christ? Absolutely. There's a rejoicing in heaven when sinners are saved. It does please God. The man in his fallen state cannot please God. I don't know how Paul could be any more clear there in Romans 8. Man in his sinful state will not turn to God on his own. All right. So then it continues. So as a natural man, being altogether averse to that good and dead in sin, that's very much Pauline biblical language there, Ephesians 2, 1 through 5. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, Very important words. It's really bad news there going into verse three, but you get to verse four, but God. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. Do you see what Paul is saying there? You were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were hopeless, unable to do anything that is good. Children of wrath like the rest of mankind, that's how we're born. But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, look at that, it wasn't even in respond to us. It wasn't even as though he was like, oh, I feel so sorry for you, and he's responding to us. God's not responding. To us, God's not, God, the love that God has for us flows out from him. You're not the basis of the Lord's love for you. His love for you flows from within himself, from himself. It's grounded in himself. He's not responding to you. That's not how the Lord works. He's not responding. We were dead in our trespasses brought made us alive together in Christ, by grace you have been saved. Continuing, I say, this is further in paragraph three of chapter nine, is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto. Some people, they say this, prepare themselves. Because some people get into some, what we call preparationism. where they have to go through this series of religious activities to prepare themselves. It doesn't mean that the Lord does not in some way make preparation in someone's life, that there aren't people who have been praying for that person, that there aren't people who have spoken to that person, that maybe the gospel has been shared with that person many times over and that the Lord is using all of that to work in their lives. That's not, that's not, there's no question about that. But this is a preparationism where we have to, well, wait to prepare them a certain way before we share the gospel with them. You share the law with them, and I might understand if they're not understanding the law, if they're not understanding the bad news. You might not go into the good news yet. You can see that in scripture. I think you can see that with the rich young ruler, where Jesus kind of leaves them there to kind of reflect upon what they've discussed. Leaves him to think about the ways in which he has fallen short of the law. All of the, oh, all those commandments? All of these I've kept from my youth. Sure you have. Sure, you've kept all those, all the Ten Commandments from your youth. No, man is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself unto Titus 3 through 7. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and the loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope in eternal life. You know, you hear those that say, well, you need to be secret sensitive. Let's not focus on sin. Let's not focus on theology. You know, it doesn't seem that the apostles held to that particular view. You must absolutely understand the bad news if you're going to understand the good news. And then in seeing the seriousness of your state and even seeing the seriousness of the way you have to deal with and interact with sin as a Christian, it is a reminder of the grace that has been shown to you. It's a reminder of what the Lord has done for you. And then lastly, John 6, 44, Jesus is in the conversation with those that really just want to see him as just an earthly king. He has the great miracle of the loaves and the fish. And they're like, this is amazing. We need to make this guy king. This guy can just make bread. And he begins to interact with them with their real problem, showing that, no, you're You have a more serious problem here. It's not just hunger. You need true food. And in the conversation with them, he says this. He says, no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on that last day. Those whom the father draws. will come. Now the Father draws them through the work of the Holy Spirit. Conversion happens through the work of the Spirit and through the Word of God. Those are all other pieces that we see filled in other parts of Scripture. But there's the absolute requirement that the Lord would act, whereby one can become converted. One can be regenerate. One can be changed. It doesn't come from within the heart of sinful man. That's the seriousness of the state of sin. But praise be to God, he has not left us there, though he would not have been unjust in leaving us there. And you must remember that redemption is not deserved. Grace is not required. That's the whole concept of grace. If you begin to make grace something that the Lord absolutely must do, it's a duty on his part. And it's not grace. It's something that you are owed. It's not something that you are owed. The Lord clothed himself in flesh, dwelt among us. He kept the law perfectly. He took upon himself the consequences of sin. He took upon himself that human nature. He's fully human and fully God at this point. He did not do that for the angels. Now there are some that are erring in this respect and trying to make a claim that he took on an angelic nature. He did not do that. There's no evidence that he did that. Scriptures do not say that. There are no creeds in church history that say that. The angels that sinned and fell have no redemption. There's no redemptive plan for the angels. He's not required to redeem them. He's not required to save them. That's the concept of grace. The concept of grace that is undeserved favor. Paragraph four of chapter nine of the 1689 says, when God converts a sinner and translates him into a state of grace, he frees him from his natural bondage under sin and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good. Yet so as that by reason of his remaining corruptions, he does not perfectly nor only will that which is good, but does also will that which is evil. So we have him in a state of grace now where he has the ability to sin or the ability not to sin. He can freely choose that which he does. Again, he says, The argument here is that man has free will. Jim Ranahan says, he says, when God converts a sinner and translates him to a state of grace, he frees him from the natural bondage under sin. Jim didn't say that. That was me quoting the confession. I'm sorry. Here's the quote from Jim. He says, we read that God converts sinners. When the Lord acts, he does very specific things. He frees man from the natural bondage to which he has been subject, and he enables him really and truly to will and to do that which is spiritually Good. You see that? Really and truly he is freely doing this. He is choosing to doing this. This is coming from the heart. He is not a robot. So often times it's misunderstood, oh you're just, you're Calvinist, you just think men are all robots. That's not at all what it's saying. It's saying the very opposite of that. Men choose to do that which they do. So this is the line from the confession I put up there too early. When God converts a sinner, he translates him from a state of grace, he frees him from natural bondage to sin. They support it with the following, with this verse, Colossians 1, 13 and 14. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, forgiveness of sins. The Lord is doing the work here. Do you believe? Absolutely. Is it your faith? Yes, it is. You do believe. There's no question, but you have been regenerate such that you are able to believe and to be converted. Regeneration occurs because the Lord opens the eyes, changes the heart, gives you a new mind, gives you new eyes. In response to that, you have conversion. You have the work of the Word and the Spirit whereby the person is truly believing, truly trusting, and that is a true and actual faith. It's not a fake faith. It's not a manufactured faith. It's not one where you're forced to do it. You're choosing to do it, but you've been given the ability to choose to do it. That's what's happening there. Your eyes have then been opened. And I want you to think about this. Those of you that say, you know what, I don't like this idea. It makes me really uncomfortable that you say that the Lord is sovereignly choosing, the Lord is regenerating the person, the Lord is bringing them to life. And I want you to think, I never hear those who are Arminians speak this way. But when you speak of your conversion and you despise the doctrines of grace, you despise the sovereignty of God, do you say, well, you know, I am a Christian. I just, I'm smarter than these other people out there. I'm just more intelligent. I just, I just get it. I'm more humble than they are. I'm more willing to submit myself to God's law. I'm just a holier person. I'm just a right, more righteous person. I've never heard an Armenian make a statement. They will push back and they will fight at this idea that the Lord is sovereign in converting the sinner. But I never hear them wanna really take credit and brag on themselves. Maybe I'm just not been around the right Armenians. Maybe that's a thing that they do, but logically it would make sense. If you're gonna say, no, it wasn't the Lord, it was me, I did it. Okay, you did it. And then this, some others over here didn't. Let's take your credit. Go for it. I mean, let's go over all the ways that you're better than these other people. That's not what we see in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For by grace you've been saved. This is not what you're doing. It's a gift of God. You know, this is a gift of God by grace and through faith. Continuing there. I don't have that one up, but, and by his grace alone enables them freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good. John 8, 36. So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed. You're free from the bondage of sin. Now remember Paul's words there in Romans six, you were a slave to sin. All right, doulos is the word there. All right. Now you're a slave to righteousness. You will always be serving a master. You were a slave to sin, now you're a slave to righteousness. Philippians 2 and 13, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Again, you continually pointing to the work of the Lord in the life of the Christian. Continuing there, it says, yet so as by reason of remaining corruptions, he does not perfectly nor only will that which is good, but does also that which is evil. So the Christian, as we said, in the state of grace can do that which is good for the first time ever in his life. He can actually keep God's law, but he can also He can also violate God's law. He can also do that which is evil. One of the best passages to look at on that topic is Romans chapter 7, the whole chapter, but I'll just begin there in verse 15. It says, for I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin who dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand, for I delight in the law of God and my inner being, but I see my members, another law waging war against the law of my mind. and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." And what he's communicating here is this idea of the corruption that remains, the difficulty that the Christian still has with sin. The Lord will bless you in your Christian walk to come to an understanding of your sin, and the Lord will bless you to struggle with that sin. to have to grow and to repent and to turn from it. And there will be sins that he brings to your attention that you weren't even aware of earlier on in your Christian walk. And he does this because he loves you and because he cares for you. He wants what is best for you and he is sanctifying you. And part of sanctification is coming into an understanding of your sin and the ways in which you're breaking God's law and turning from it. Taking away these sinful actions and replacing them with that which is righteous. You see that in Pauline letters and Ephesians and Colossians many times. It's put off, put on, put off, put on. It's not just don't do this, don't do this, don't do this, don't do this. It needs to be replaced with something. It's not just going to be empty. There will be something there. Something will fill the void. You must fill that void with that which is righteous. So the Christian in the state of grace continues to struggle with sin. It's still a reality that is there. You won't be free from it until you get to the last state, the state of glory. Jim Renahan calls it the immutable will. There's a place in which here you will not be able to sin. Understand that, that you will not be able to sin in heaven. It's not going to happen again. The serpent's not going to invade Jerusalem as he invaded the garden. There weren't walls around the garden. What do you notice when you read in the book of Revelation about the New Jerusalem? A couple things. This is symbolic language. The purpose of the language isn't for you to get the exact measurements and dimensions of these walls and gates and and try to figure out how many people that you can fit in there. And, well, I guess maybe in heaven we're going to be really small so we can all fit in the New Jerusalem. Totally contrary to what you're supposed to do with that type of writing. And I'm not going to go over it now, but within the context of the geometry that is contained there is this idea that this is a perfect wall. Okay, you can't permeate this wall. No one's going to invade this wall because it has perfect protection. It's unlike the garden where someone could just come right in, there's a giant wall there that would protect you. Also, by the way, not only is there this really great wall here that you cannot permeate, there's also no enemies because Satan and all of his followers have been thrown into hell. So no longer is there anyone even to tempt you. Evil has been removed. Sin no longer exists. Christ is reigning as your king. He will reign perfectly. So the gates are all open in the New Jerusalem. That's another thing. Why are the gates open? There's no fear of anyone invading. No one will get in because there's no one to invade. The enemies have all been defeated. So in the state of glory, you're unable to sin and you have free will. You have free will. You're unable to sin and you have free will. You are freely choosing that which is good and righteous. That's probably hard, dear friends, for you to even, you know, fathom at this point in your existence, such that we are struggling and dealing with sin on a daily basis. I'm going to quickly move through this, but the will of man is made perfectly and immutably free, too good alone in the state of glory only. William Jenkin makes this point. By the way, I didn't go into as great a detail on the ninth chapter here because we just covered it in our in our last Semper Reformanda conference, and I didn't see the need for us to go over multiple sessions that I thought we covered in two, but William Jenkins makes this point. He says, and the truth is this efficacious determination of the will by grace is a most happy adjuratory to the will's liberty, taking away nothing but only the pravity rebellion of it, the Holy Ghost tempering its working to the disposition of the will, that it may act in such liberty as becomes its own nature, and by grace never be destroyed but perfected, the Spirit of God not taking away the natural liberty of the will, which is by creation, but only the depravity, basically, the sinfulness, right? thereof that comes into it by man's corruption. Grace is not slaying, but sanctifying, and not abolishing, but elevating it to a more supernatural good. So he's saying that your free will is in a better position here in the state of glory than it was in the previous states, because it is solidified to be in its most perfect position in acting, which So the point there was the will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to go alone in the state of glory only. Let's make a quick reference to Ephesians 4, 13 through 16, where Paul references this, I believe, until we all attain that unity of faith and of knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather speaking in truth, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, with each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself in love. There's going to be an ultimate state of perfection that the church exists within. And in that state of perfection, There will be no sin. Sin will be removed. That's kind of the point there at the end of the book of Revelation. Sin and death have been removed. One last quote. It's a long quote from Jim Renahan, but it's a nice summary. He says, this doctrine of man's will in its four states is critical. In the first state, man is able to do good and able not to sin, but his will is mutable. In the second, Man still has free will, but only acts according to what man is, since his nature is sinful. He is not able not to sin. And the third renewed man, by grace, both does good and sins, and in the fourth, again by grace, glorified man, does only what pleases God. He's not able to sin. Notice that there is a symmetry, a mirror image, between the second and the fourth states of humanity. In the state of sin, the will is confirmed in unrighteousness so that we cannot rescue ourselves from our spiritual plight and return to God. Only an act of grace is able to grant salvation. And the fourth, the state of glory, man's will is confirmed in righteousness so that we cannot sin. In both cases, the will is free and acts according to the state of human nature. Now some wanna push back on that second state and say, this is not fair. How dare you say that man is accountable for what he does when he can do nothing else. But man is freely doing what he is doing. Man desires to do what he is doing. As I said before, redemption is not required. God's not a debtor to anyone unless he is so indebted himself. And he is not so indebted himself that he is required to redeem and to save all who sin or are born into sin or are affected by sin. It's not required. He doesn't have to do that. Any more than Jesus had to walk around and heal every single person everywhere. He didn't and he doesn't do that, that even now. But you must see this, that there's a great inconsistency here. If you're going to say that I don't agree with the second state where you say man is unable to convert himself and save himself. When you look at the fourth state, the state of glory, man is unable to corrupt himself. That's the reality was there. The Lord has so perfected man at that time and it's so protected him in the state of glory. that he will only do what God wills. He will only do what is good. He will only do what is righteous. And that is great news. There will be no fall again a million years into the future. Man will exist in that perfected state. There will be no fear that it will ever happen again. The work of Christ perfectly established man in his position such that he is able to please God for all eternity.