Our Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are building Your Kingdom in spite of us and in spite of all opposition that might be. We thank You that we can witness this in our day even, and we bring before You this nation again and the whole West that seems to be declining at this juncture in history. Have mercy upon us and bring us the gospel. Bring it more and more into our own hearts and then to the land around us. And help us now as we seek to learn more about the effects of the fall, that we can appreciate more the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen. So we're back up now, even in the service. We read Shorter Catechism, question 19 again, so we are back in sync with what we're teaching here. So last week we looked at the nature of original sin, and we read and we studied question 18, wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate wherein to man fell. And the answer is, the sinfulness of that estate wherein two men fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin, the want of original righteousness and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it. And we learned that every faculty, every part of our nature, of our soul is affected by sin, although we know that we are not as bad as we possibly could be. every part, our will, our emotions, our intellect, all are affected by sin. And that is something that we, even as believers, struggle with until the end of our life on this earth, when we shall be glorified and perfected, even more so at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, when our bodies will be reunited with our souls in glory. So that was the original sin which we struggle with, and we also talked about that when we run into a Bible text that we have a hard time understanding, then that is also an effect of the fall. We call this the noetic effects of sin from Greek, from nous, the mind. The mind is fallen. Scripture is never unclear. We are. And we always have to keep that in mind. Scripture is perfectly clear and 100% didactically perfect. Is it our minds that are fallen and struggle with some truths more than others? And of course, because of original sin, the second kind of sin flows from it, and that's the actual transgressions. Because we, from conception on, are sinners, are affected by sin, therefore we commit sin in every one of our faculties. Are we sinning our mind? Are we sinning our words? Are we sinning our actions? And that is because we have been conceived and born with or in original sin. And now we are moving on to question 19, which asks, what are the ramifications of the fall. How do they actually play out? So what are the ramifications of the fall? And that's question 19. By the way, it's on page 969 in your Trinity Psalter hymnal. Question 19. because we have heard that we fell. In question 17, we heard that the fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. And then question 19, what is the misery of that estate wherein to man fell? And the answer is all mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and are so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever." So these are the ramifications of the fall itself. I have to put my books up here, otherwise this thing collapses again. So today we're dealing with the ramifications of the fall. Now first, the one we have to mention right away because that was visible and that was to be felt by Adam and Eve right away, and that was the lost communion with God. And if we turn to Genesis chapter three, verse eight. Genesis chapter three, verse eight. And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So it's not only that from God's side, this communion, this intimate communion between God and Adam and Eve was interrupted. It was now because of the ramifications of the sin also in the souls of fallen men that they seek to escape. to run away from God. And this is a principle that I would like you to remember because it is a principle that is not only visible in unregenerated people who are still under the full ramifications of the fall, but this is a principle also visible in true believers when they are backsliding or when they are turning away from the Lord even for a time, that one of the first thing you see when somebody falls, I don't like the term fall into sin, I'd rather say walk, because fall seems like we had nothing to do with it, we just fell. No, we walk into sin usually, but the first thing you see is suddenly they don't desire Christian fellowship that much anymore. suddenly it becomes harder for them to come to the house of the Lord or to prayer meetings or to even have fellowship with other Christians, especially with those who are walking strong at that time with the Lord. Why? Because their own sin weighs down on their conscience and every other believer, especially those who are walking strong with the Lord, are basically in their own hearts, whether these people want it or not, an indictment to them. And therefore, I'm always very mindful when people disappear for a time from worship. Now, this is not an ego trip, at least the best that I can examine my own heart. Of course, it hurts also personally when they suddenly disappear. I don't want to make qualms about that. But it is one of the first signs If somebody is spiritually not doing well, they try to withdraw from the presence of God. Did I say presence of God? Yes, I did. Why? Because when the people of God come together, their God is among them in a special way. And that's what they seem to avoid. And therefore, the wrong way to go about these things is to come with a stick and say, where have you been? You obliged? See, that is a very unpastoral thing to do. You know, you come with a stick and say, you're obliged to be here. That's more the way of the Pharisees. But the real way to approach these people is, how are you doing? Are you not doing well? Is something troubling you? That is a pastoral way. Now, it is not wrong, strictly speaking, to admonish a brother who doesn't attend, but if that's always our first reflex, we're approaching the Word of God like lawyers and not like pastoral pastors, elders, or brothers and sisters need to be pastoral with each other as well. because the other brother doesn't stop being a sheep just because I'm not a pastor. So sheep need to be pastored. They need to be shepherded. So therefore we go about a brother who is in problems or has walked into sin or has to withdraw from the communion of the saints because we know we're first concerned about his walk with Christ. And so we come and say, is something the matter? Is there anything we can help you with? If you come with the rod right away, what do you think is gonna happen? They harden themselves even more. They are already hurting. So you come with the stick. What good have you done? You know, there is a place for the stick. But most of the time, it's the open hand of embrace that they need. Laying the shoulders around a brother or a sister and saying, are you struggling? Can I help you with anything? And not in a self-righteous way. but in a humble and concerned way, knowing that we're no better. We all live and stand, we stand or follow our Master, and we all live by grace alone. That is so easily forgotten. It is so important to us sometimes to just be right, that we forget what our real duty is, to glorify God. So lost communion with God. In Ecclesiastes chapter three, Ecclesiastes is a marvelous book, which I've never preached through because I have so much respect before it. I don't want to mess it up, but it will come at some point, Lord willing. In Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse 11, it says, he has put eternity in their hearts. He has put eternity into every person's heart, which means a longing for the view, for the broad view of eternal communion with God. And even the worst unbeliever has this eternity at least in some remnant form in his own heart. So which means that he's laid out to have fellowship with the living and true God, intimate and warm fellowship. Now, of course, through the fall, this fellowship is lost. And now there is a void. There is an emptiness. And that explains to you this constant searching of this world to fill the void with something. This is not a superior world that looks down on us. That's just the arrogance of very insecure people. Insecure people become arrogant in order to downplay their insecurity. And sadly, we have bought into that. We look at this world and say, oh, they're superior, they're stronger than we are. No, they're actually very desperate. This world is a very desperate world. They live life in the constant search to fill that void that hurts them so much and to escape what Romans 1.18 teaches us, that they know that the wrath of God is prepared over all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man. They knew that. They have this longing to fill this desire for eternity, eternal presence with the Lord, and now they try to fill it. So life for the world is a quest to fill the void, a quest to escape judgment. That's what they're all about. And therefore, this pleasure hunting, therefore all this search for substitute satisfaction, drugs, even love, even real love in the sense of looking for a spouse not to be alone. Maybe a spouse can fill the void. And then they think they have found the right spouse and then, no. He or she doesn't feel devoid. It's still there. Disappointment, divorce, and all of that. So this is a world that is utterly desperate, looking for hope, not even sure where to find it. That's the loss of the eternal relationship with God. Eternity is in their heart. The longing is there. but it's not being filled. So life becomes a quest to escape judgment and to find this eternity, to find this one thing that can fill this void. That's how desperate this world is. I'm just telling you, I'm not defending the world. I'm just telling you this. I see a lot of shaking of our holy heads over this world. Okay, if you want to do that, it's not technically wrong, but I would rather see us longing to lead them to Christ. to give them this hope. I myself was one once of them until I was about 17 years of age and I know, I remember how it is. I knew there was a God. I knew that I was not right, I just didn't know how. And so I was looking here and there and everywhere to find what I had lost and it is so hard to find if you don't even know what you have lost. And that's why we have to be in the streets. That's why we have to be equipped with the gospel and bring it to the ends of the earth, even if they oppose us, sometimes strongly. You see, the stronger they oppose, the more of a sore spot you have hit. Think about this. I always think of what Jordan and Ken tell me about the pride parades and so forth. That's the most intense opposition that they ever receive, or the abortion clinic. Street preaching can be intense, but these places are especially intense. Why? because they know they're right. They're hitting a sore spot. There is this longing, and here they come face to face with who they have become in their quest to fill the void. And here are men who tell them who they really are, and they react so intensely, not because they think it's a ridiculous claim, but because they know Romans 1.18. that the wrath of God is prepared from heaven over all their ungodliness and unrighteousness. And they seek with all their might to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Because if you go, let's say you stand in front of Costco and you say, well, according to my beliefs, you should walk into Costco only barefoot. Try that. Everybody will have a good laugh. Some might even have a nice conversation just being jovial with you. Why? Because there's no point in their conscience where this can ever be true, that you should walk into Costco only barefoot. It's ridiculous. Now, they say our claim against abortion, our claim against sexual deviations, our claim to bow your knees before the Lord Jesus Christ, they say that's ridiculous, but that's not how they act. They act like somebody who is caught utterly red-handed. That should actually encourage us. Somebody who ignores you is far worse off, in my view, than somebody who interacts intensely. Because when they interact intensely, you know the conscience is still working. It is not seared yet. You should be encouraged. I just heard yesterday that in Arizona, a street preacher was shot in the head. This is how intense it can go. Do you think anyone who tells people to go barefoot into Costco would ever be shot? This man brought the gospel to a lost world that is utterly hostile to God. And that's the lost communion. That's a ramification of the fall, this emptiness. The whole book of Ecclesiastes actually talks about this emptiness. It is a sermon about this lost communion with God, how meaningless, how empty, how senseless a life without God is. So compassion would be the order of the day rather than hatred or shaking the head. We've all done it. I've done it. We look at this world, and we become this Pharisee, right? Thank you, God, that I'm not like these others. I do this and that. It's in us. It's just another plea and an encouragement and a reminder for us that compassion would be the order of the day to bring this gospel to a lost world. I often think of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. So if he has this compassion, are we more righteous than Christ that we could have the luxury of judgment? That's not our job. the ultimate judgment, speaking judgment over this world? No. Our job is to expand the kingdom, to bring the hope that we have received. The eternity, the quest for eternity, the longing for eternity in our hearts has been, at least begun to be filled in our regeneration. So we are beggars who have received something for free. Now we should run to the other beggars and say, look, I found food, and it's free, and it's the best food that you ever had. Come with me. Come with me. That's evangelism. That's evangelism. Not the end is near, you know. Really? Well, what end? I mean, how do you know that? You don't even have your eschatology right. It might be another 10,000 years for what we know. But the motive, the motive must be love. We have been saved by grace, and so often we forget that. And we see that in how we deal even with each other sometimes, right? We forget the grace, we come with a stick, with a pharisaical stick, and we beat each other down just for the heck of it. So people seek to fill this emptiness, and one of the ramifications is this emptiness. Now, the second one is the miseries in this life. There are miseries in this life, and I want to draw your attention to the book of Job. There's a lot of wisdom in the book of Job, I have to say. Chapter 5, verse 7. This is a verse we cannot avoid. It says, yet man is born to trouble. as the sparks fly upward." This is not a wrong saying. This is the truth. This is a true saying. Yet the man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. And this is God telling us life is hard. And I remember I was in seminary in Greenville, South Carolina, when a good preacher mentioned this in a sermon. I don't think I had ever heard anything like it in a sermon in my whole life. He said, the Reverend Bill Slattery of the Associate Reform Presbyterian Churches, Dr. J. Adams' son-in-law, a good brother, he said in newsflash, life is hard. Very simple saying, right? Life is hard, three words. But boy, I was already in seminary on my way to become a minister, and I was not aware, and it suddenly clicked, and I said, yes. Yes, so it's not only me. Something's not wrong with me. Life is hard. And he was talking to Christian. Life is filled with misery. And if you're a little bit focused on, you have a propensity to look on the negative, it seems like your life goes from crisis to crisis, right? Which is not entirely true, it's just the way you look at it, because you could also say it goes from blessing to blessing, because somehow you get out of these crises, right? And it's not because of you, no thanks to us, right? It is God. But life is hard, and that is a ramification of the fall. And sometimes we ask ourselves, okay, now I'm a believer. Why is it still hard? Imagine what would happen if your life would not be hard anymore. You would abandon God like this. That's who we are. Let's not kid ourselves. We are unfaithful servants. It's not an exaggeration. We are unfaithful servants, and therefore the hardship reminds us it is actually a picture for the ramification of the fall. It is a picture for the seriousness of sin that we do not forget that we need grace. And if you do a study through the whole of Scripture about hardship among God's true covenant people, You can see that the key to it are passages like Hebrews chapter 12 or Romans 8.28 that have only one explanation for hardship for us, to sanctify us, to sanctify us. And we need that because of the fall. Now for the unbeliever, there is hardship for no reason. And I say no reason in a salvific or in a redemptive way. If an unbeliever comes to you and asks you, well, why do you think, like this ridiculous female soccer player, she now knows that there is no God because she's sprained her ankle or something like that. You know, this is the peak of entitlement, right? So they ask, oh, where is God? I sprained my ankle. Well, you have not repented and he's reminding you that this is a fallen world, so repent. This is actually an act of grace, which you again ignore and turn it against God. So if you don't repent, it has no meaning other than adding to your judgment that God gave you another sign for you to understand that you need a Savior. No, she says, there is no God because I've sprained my ankle. And this is the generation we live in. And that's her generation more than even ours. I am the center of the universe. Everything has to serve me, even God. And that's, sadly, increasingly the gospel that is being preached, or the gospel, under quotation marks, the gospel that is being preached in sermons. God is only there to serve us, and yet it's the other way around. We are there to serve and to glorify Him, and God is so gracious to even bless us in this endeavor and to help us. And that's why I said, I emphasize in this sermon, yes, God cares how you feel. Why did I emphasize that? Because I often say that everything in churches has become more and more about our feeling and well-being. I'm trying to create a balance. We live for the glory of God. It's all directed towards glory, and yet he loves us. And he does care how we are. He does care how we feel, but that's not the center of it all. That's just an expression of God's mercy that will never end. So the miseries in this life, and they are reality for all men, that's what unites us with even the reprobate. But the issue is for the reprobate, it's just an impending judgment. For us, it's a reminder that the world is still fallen and we should go thank God we have Jesus Christ even in suffering. The third one, the universal dominion of death, in Hebrews 9, verse 27, it says, it is appointed to man once to die and then judgment, right? That is the universal dominion of death, which also applies both to the believer and the unbeliever, to the elect and to the reprobates. But for us, death is the last enemy to be destroyed, as 1 Corinthians 15 teaches us. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Now, if you read 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and you see, it shows us the events that lead up to the resurrection of the dead. And you say the last enemy that is being defeated is death, which means that when death ends its reign on earth, all the other enemies will be defeated already. That's where we draw our optimism eschatologically. The last enemy, that's not a poetical language. Death is the last enemy that will be defeated. All other enemies will be defeated by that time. And therefore, 1 Corinthians 15 is a very encouraging text. that actually shows you the expansion of the kingdom of God will be completed at his coming and with the resurrection of the dead, and then death will be defeated as the reprobates will be removed into everlasting condemnation and the righteous in Christ to everlasting life. There will be no death for us there anymore while we are still facing biological death until, unless, Christ comes back before we die. then we don't have to die. But personally, I doubt that. There's too many things that have to happen yet. But hey, Christians, pastors have erred before on these issues. These are difficult issues, eschatology. So we don't want to act as if we had them in our pocket. And you know how I know that? Because you see the apostles, how they misinterpreted eschatology of the Old Testament completely. You know, when they thought about the kingdom of Christ, they thought it will be manifested in Israel. They thought the Romans will be kicked out when the Messiah comes, because they were so earthly-minded. They had the wrong eschatology, and those were the apostles. So how could we not be wrong on eschatological matters? But some things we know. We know that history will have an ending point. We know then comes the judgment for the lost and the resurrection of the saints for everlasting life. That's the most important thing. Every detail that leads up to it is good to know, and we should deal with it. We are blessed are those who read the books. Even in Revelation it says it, right? Blessed are those who read and keep. But let's major in the majors. I think that is the important thing. But death will rule until the end of time. and death is caused by sin, and it is part of our misery that has been mentioned in question 17. Now, the next one is everlasting punishment. Matthew chapter 25, Matthew 25, 41. Then he will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink." Please note one thing here. The devil will not run hell. The devil will not run hell. God runs hell. The devil is an inmate. It's prepared for the devil and his angels. Sometimes people think that the devil will be the boss of hell. He's not going to be the boss of anything. He's going to be a fellow inmate. Guess how much fun that would be, not even being in hell, but being in hell with the evil one and all of his demons. So that is a fact of life, that there is everlasting punishment. And Christ warned about it actually more than the prophets, more than any prophet, and more than any apostle. Christ spoke more about hell than anybody else. And when you think in the Bible, the Bible talks three times more about condemnation than about heaven. I think we got our balance a little bit wrong, because when we say balance, we think physics. We always think the middle way. Everything has to be equal, the golden middle, not a biblical principle. Balance is when we warn people more about hell than we encourage others about heaven. That's how the Bible teaches it. That is balance. It's just not physical balance or natural balance, but it's biblical balance. Biblical balance never means the middle way. It always means put the same emphasis on things as the Bible does. So just a few other examples about the Lord Jesus Christ talking about hell, Matthew 8, verse 12. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. They will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I can begin verse 11. I say to you that many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. They will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It talks about those who were originally or ethnically considered sons of the kingdom. And he talks about there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There are some theologians, some even well-known theologians, especially in the UK, who will say, yeah, well, they're orthodox as far as the gospel goes and everything else, but they will deny the existence of hell. They will either say soul sleep or annihilationism. They say that the soul just ends. Jehovah's Witnesses teach that, for example. You see, the thought is too hard to bear. If you ever meditate on hell, which I don't recommend too much if you're more on a feeble constitution when it comes to your assurance, but if you meditate on hell, what it actually means, and if you try to think about it, how hopeless hell is, hopelessly painful and painfully hopeless. You suffer a trillion years and you're not one inch closer to the end. If you think about that, it's actually a thought that is very hard to bear. And there's another balance you have to have because otherwise you come to the conclusion that God is too harsh. You have to balance this with the holiness of God. If somebody says God is too harsh or God's law is too harsh or God's judgment is too harsh, you can always say that here's somebody who has not a balanced view of the holiness of God. You only see the judgments. You only see the harshness of God. If you saw his holiness and how we besmirch or seek to besmirch his holiness, you actually would think his judgment are rather mild. But since we don't know His holiness and we deal so little with His holiness, we tend to think that sometimes God is too harsh. Why did he judge the Canaanites in this way, and this and that, or the Philistines, or whatever? Why does he exercise the ban on these peoples and the promised land? Well, because for centuries they had attacked God's holiness, rebelled against his law, and besmirched his name, and also killed and sacrificed their own children. who were created in the image and likeness of the God against whom they rebelled. So here another example of balance. Now, how do the saved differ in these miseries from the unsaved or from the reprobates? We are all brought into this state of misery because the Westminster Shorter Catechism doesn't make a distinction between believer and unbeliever. It just says that it's the miseries of this life, and it refers to both of us. But we are still in a different position. We are now, for example, redeemed from God's wrath. God's wrath is not over us, and His curse is taken away so we don't have to face eternal condemnation, for example. That is something eschatologically, you know, and that is one of the great benefits of our salvation, that we can live and we can die knowing at the end of the day, what's the worst thing that's going to happen to me or that can happen to me? I can die and be with Jesus, if I may say that naively. That's how I go through life. I have, in a few occasions, had brushes with death that were very close. And, you know, for me, those were alarm signs to make sure that I'm walking closely with Christ. But now, if we hear that some of our own, and the time will come that some of our own will pass away, we will dearly miss them, and we will cry, we will weep as Jesus wept over Lazarus' grave. But we will also rejoice that another one made it home safely, that the reprobate has no hope. His family has no hope for an unbeliever. A funeral is the worst thing that can ever happen because there he is reminded once again that there is a judgment day. Romans 1 18 becomes very very alive in him. His conscience wakes up because now this guy that I have known, he's gone. Where is he gone? Because where he's gone, I might have to go too. He's not speaking anymore. He's not calling me anymore. The chair is empty. I'm looking for him, but he's gone. That's how it becomes a life. When we go to a funeral, we're still sad, but we're sad for our sakes. Please never think that you can't be sad or that's a sign of a weak faith. I weep a lot when loved ones die. That's normal. Jesus did it too. But I weep for myself. They're not here anymore. I miss them. That's the perfectly normal thing to do. But at the same time, I'm comforted with the fact they are with Jesus. They don't mind. They don't even worry whether I'm crying or not. There is no suffering or no worrying or no pain for them anymore. And we can say where he or where she is, I will be soon too. And that is a wonderful thing. That must be the last word in a Christian funeral. So we are freed from this condemnation, from this eternal condemnation, God's curse and wrath. And we are also different in another way. The communion with God that we have lost in the fall is momentarily restored in regeneration. And this is the place where we got to be very careful that we don't forget about it. Communion with God was lost in the fall. It has been restored. We have communion with God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. So don't minimize that because sometimes we reformed live as if the communion with God was only an intellectually knowable fact. You know what I mean, right? In many churches around us, it is just, yeah, they would check the box that they are reconciled with God and they now can have communion with God, but that's where the speak ends. Communion with God is experiential. which means you can experience, and you do experience it, whether you're aware of it or not. God lives in you, in a way, through the Holy Spirit. Now, and here's the thing where we have to be careful, because a timid soul might sit here and say, uh-oh, I don't feel anything. Maybe I'm not converted. Well, first of all, you don't have to feel anything. You might. Some people live very much in the awareness that they live in the presence of God. Usually it's people who live in the Word and have an intact prayer life. It is possible, but it's not a litmus test for your salvation, whether you feel something. God lives in you. It might have become so normal for you that you cannot point to it. We also must not slide into mysticism. But God is with you, Emmanuel, and he's always with you, and he's especially with us on the Lord's Day when we worship. He's with us at communion in a special way when we take the Lord's Supper. So these are things that, who do you think upholds you in difficult times? Who steers your life? Who gives you a desire to obey Him or a brokenness when you disobey Him? That's God in you through His Holy Spirit. So the fellowship, the communion with God is restored in regeneration, and you have means to increase it, the means of grace. You know, the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, prayer, also Christian fellowship. Dr. Beeky reminded me of that once. We always talk about three major means of grace, preaching of the Word, prayer, sacraments, fellowship. Calvin knew it. Fellowship of the saints is a means of grace. That's the one Calvin reminded me of. Beaky reminded me of a fifth one, suffering. Suffering, I didn't want to hear that. Suffering is a means of grace. We touched on that before. So make use of these means of grace. Even suffering, when it comes, embrace it as coming from God, not asking why me, why now, but what is God up to? What do I have to learn? How can I respond to this suffering in a God-honoring way, even if you don't feel like it? because usually we don't, right? When suffering comes, we usually don't feel like now responding in the God-honoring way. No, we do it by faith, even if it's hard, even if we don't feel a thing. There will still be chastisement in the Christian life for the believer, but as I said before, your suffering has a reason. It's a means of grace. Romans chapter 12, if you are in hard times, has always been a go-to text that I give to people and I use in my own life. In Hebrews chapter 9, it talks about the hard times. And it talks about the suffering and that God knows that it's hard. That meant the world to me when I read that every time. God knows it's hard. But then it explains, it goes back to Proverbs. Have you forgotten the admonition? You know, that God will chastise every son, every daughter whom he receives, and those who is never, the one who is never chastised is but a bastard. That's how Luther translated it, was a bastard. It has become a curse word in this country, but it's actually a word with a meaning. It's a child without a father. If you're never chastised, if there's never dark times, never hardship, you have no father. But when the Heavenly Father receives you, His loving chastisement will begin. So don't ever think, oh, man, I'm going from hard time through hard time. I don't think I'm a believer. I would be more concerned if you tell me, well, my life is just easy gliding. I just can't wait what comes next. And I will just glide into the heavenly gate. That's not the Christian life. And that's what the pastor meant years ago when he said, the Christian life is hard. Life is hard. And that's something we have to understand. So what happens in regeneration, the effects of the fall are being reversed in their trend, in their direction. And they will be in our sanctification as I walk with God more and more removed, and that will be initially finalized at our death when we will be perfected. but ultimately finalized and realized at the end of time, when body and soul will be reunited and eternity starts in the presence of God. Not in an ethereal state, you know, where we float around like ghosts, but in a The best I know is three-dimensional society in which we work and worship and speak and have fellowship with each other. We're not gnostics, you know, that we just float around, you know, and ooh, you know, and one floats by the other. That's not heaven. Heaven is a real place. It's the restoration of the garden. In the garden, they labored. In the garden, they worked. In the garden, they spoke with each other. They had open fellowship with God. They adored nature and praised God for it. It will be a wonderful place, actually, most likely, in a refurbished earth that will be refurbished with fire, will be perfected. We are back in the garden just better and with Jesus Christ. I think that's a good note to end. Any questions or comments?