All right, good morning, everyone. If you want to go and grab a seat, we're going to go and get started. All right, good morning, everybody. Can everybody hear me? Wow, that was loud. I can hear myself in my own head. Wow, that is loud. OK. Cool, all right, thanks. All right, good morning, everyone. It's good to see everyone this morning. I have bags under the eyes. I'm tired, I apologize. Presbyterian this weekend, so got back in late last night. We are going to pick back up in, where are we, question 28. We need to finish, we're gonna finish that question this morning. Before we do, let's go ahead and open with prayer. Gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for your Lord's Day. We thank you that Presbyterian was successful this weekend. Thank you that you delivered all your men there safely and back. I pray that you would be with us this morning as we conclude question 28 of the larger catechism, that we would know you better, that we would learn who we are in light of our sin and the work that you've accomplished in your great gospel through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Please be with us in our worship this morning. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so just by way of reminder, I'll go ahead and read question 28 and the answer again, so we have it fresh on our minds. What are the punishments of sin in this world? And you don't have a handout, by the way. There's some more up here in the front. The punishments of sin in this world are either inward, as blindness of mind, a reprobate sense, strong delusions, hardness of heart, horror of conscience, and vile affections, or outward, as the curse of God upon the creatures for our sakes, and all other evils that befall us in our bodies, names, estates, relations, and employments, together with death itself. Okay, so we spent time going over the first section of the answer. We haven't finished it yet. We left off on, well, we finished the reprobate sense, so we need to pick up on vile affections. One of the worst things that God can do for man is to leave him to his own devices, okay? In other words, just to simply give him what he wants, right? Listen to, we're gonna read Romans chapter one. You can turn with me there if you'd like. We're gonna look at verses 21 through 28. Romans chapter one, starting in verse 21. For although they knew God, They did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. And the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. So three times, three times in that section, right? We read that God gave them up. He gives them up in verse 24 to the lust of their heart and verse 26 to dishonorable passions, right? Verse 28 to a debased mind. At no point should any person in their sinful state desire for God to look at us as sinners and simply give us what we want. And for God to remove the restraint of His sustaining grace only plunges us further into destruction. Rather, we should desire what's in accord with God's perfect will. Look back at verse 25. I should have closed my Bible. Back at verse 25. Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature. The men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. Now, I realize we have young ears in this room, so I'm gonna speak cautiously here. The vile affections mankind is given over to, right, is the act of homosexuality. But not just the act, right? Even the passion is said to be dishonorable. Why? Why is it that Christians are always seeming to harp on this so much? Well, number one, because the sin is so rampant in our society. It's normalized. But number two, Paul links this to idolatry in verse 25, okay? He says, for this reason, okay, or reason, Paul, because they worship the creature rather than the creator, because they took the deep dive into their idolatry, okay? And God said, if that's what you really want, go ahead. You see, just as idolatry is unnatural to what God intended when he made man, so too is homosexuality contrary to nature. It does not represent what God intended when he made men and women with physical bodies that have a natural way of interacting with natural desires. And number three, and here's the other problem with this sin. It's a violation of the picture between Christ, the bridegroom, and the church, the bride. Christ has come to make his bride clean and present her in splendor, glory, and majesty. Homosexuality destroys that image. Sexuality, I'm sorry, guys, this sexual sin is rampant out there in so many forms. You don't need me to tell you that. But let this be a reminder, okay, that you can help bring people out of these vile affections that they have, okay? Now, this is the work of the spirit. This is nothing that you do, okay? They don't have to stay in this debased mind, this vile heart that they have, these vile affections, okay? As ugly as this is, we too once walked in darkness, right? And by God's grace, we began to feel the weight of our sin and guilt, which leads us to our last point, right? Horror of conscience. Every human being has the moral law of God written on their hearts, right? So, too, that when you break it, you know, right? When you do something wrong, you feel bad. That's called your conscience, right? And Paul proves this for us in Romans 2, verses 14 through 15. Now, we see a good example of this play down in Matthew 27 with Judas, okay? We read there, starting in verse three, he says, then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, I have sinned by betraying innocent blood. They said, what is that to us? See to it yourself. And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed and he went and hanged himself. So we know that Judas wasn't saved, right? But he was so stricken with his sin and guilt of what he had done that he decided he just can't live with it anymore. And he committed suicide, right? So this horror of conscience is a punishment toward unbelievers as a result of the fall. Now, I know what you're thinking, right? You're all avid Bible readers. You're wondering, okay, but what about 1 Timothy 2, or 4, verse 2, where it says that people can sear their conscience, right? Wouldn't that be the opposite of a more restricted conscience? I mean, like you don't have one anymore? I mean, people murder babies and don't care. Well, flip over to 1 Timothy 4. Let's look at that. Let's read that together. First Timothy chapter four, beginning in verse one. It says, now the spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared. So what we have here are ungodly, false teachers, right? Who in their hardness of heart have suppressed their guilt-ridden conscience. They started with a horror of conscience. That's where it began. But in their hardness of heart, they have been in their sin for so long that it doesn't matter to them anymore. It's like when you have a steak on the grill for so long that all you're left with is just this black, gristly rock. And some of you, by the way, like to eat your steaks like that. You should be ashamed of yourselves. But these are exactly the type of people that we just read about in Romans 1, where God gave them up to a debased mind. These people, it says in Romans 1, verse 32, though they know God's righteous decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die. They not only do them, but they give approval to them, practice them. They know better. They have a conscience, at least they did at one point, right? But it's become so charred by dabbling with their sin that they, there's practically nothing left. So much so that they become false teachers and encourage others to get into this miry bog along with them, right? And this is why it's so important for us as believers not to play with sin. Before you know it, you get so comfortable with it that the guilt has faded. Your conscience is searing. And it's a nasty, well-done state. Maybe it's just even a little thing. But before you know it, you're in over your head. Why do you think so many Christians secretly Admit to watching pornography. You want to talk about a sin that will sear your conscience? It's just one click away. But even the darkest of hearts, the most charbroiled consciences that you can imagine can be redeemed by the gospel. The spirit of God can take the hardest, blackest heart and turn it into a heart of flesh and make it whole again. There's no sin too great that cannot be overcome by the gospel. Okay, great, that covers all the inward punishments that are mentioned in the catechism that mankind faces as a result of the fall. Are there any questions before we move into the outward punishments? Awesome. So now, this section, the outward punishment, it really lists only two major punishments. We have the curse upon the creatures, and then what they list is all the other evils, or what I like to call the miscellaneous section. So let's jump right into the first one, the curse upon the creatures. Now, this is really nothing new. We've kind of explored this already in detail, really, I'd say, when we looked at the fall. The proof text for this comes in Genesis chapter three, verses 17 through 19. We have read that, we've looked at that just by way of reminder, right? The ground is cursed, God says. In pain, you will eat of it. It'll bring forth thorns and thistles. You'll work it by the sweat of your brow. And this applies not just to man, right, but to all of creation, right? The whole ground groans, to be redeemed, Romans chapter eight, right? The creatures that man uses to farm and ranch, right, are now under the effects of the fall as well. Animals get sick. They go rabid, they turn on their owner. Don't even get me started on how sad all the other ones. Everything in this world is subject to the decay of suffering, dying, and death. And why? Well, the divines tell us, for our sake. Now, don't be confused by that. Just think of this as meaning because of us. There's a curse upon the creatures and this world because of us. Because of the fall, because of Adam's sin that brought the fall upon mankind. It's a result of human sin. Very good. Again, this really shouldn't be anything new for us. We've covered this a lot already. But lastly here is our little miscellaneous section. All other evils. Now, if you're looking at this list and going, okay, did the divines just start listing a bunch of things that they could think of as a part of the fall and just kind of put it under the cover of everything else? Well, as much as it may seem that way, I assure you they are much smarter than that. And while I may joke about this being a miscellaneous section, it is anything but. The divines went to the very famous chapter of Deuteronomy 28 that details the blessings and the curses of the covenant and they read verse 15. Deuteronomy 28 verse 15 says, but if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Okay, so here we can understand that there are consequences, curses, punishments, right, for not keeping God's moral law. And the rest of Deuteronomy outlines how the fall affects mankind in this way. God says, when you do not keep my law, there are specific punishments you will experience in this life. And remember, these punishments, talked about this a lot before, right, punishments are for unbelievers. Yeah, but God is giving these curses to Israel right these are true but God makes it clear in verse 14 at the end of the blessings section who these purses are for right verse 14 says all at all these blessings are for you if and this is a big if You do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. Always comes back to that, right? Idolatry. Israel cannot forsake God and put their trust in salvation in false gods. Yet that's exactly what they do time and time again, right? When you're no longer trusting in the one true God for your salvation, you are now an unbeliever and the curse turns to punishment. But again, for believers, this looks different. God will allow us to experience the consequences of our sin, right? He will discipline us in his love, but we are not punished by God. Okay, let's stop that enough. The punishment for the sin of God's elect was paid for in full by Christ. Now, you don't... really even need to read the entirety of Deuteronomy 8 to see why the answer is divided into these remaining categories, right? We have body, name, estate, relations, and appointments. I'm gonna read just a small sampling here from Deuteronomy 8. You can turn to the, if you'd like. Deuteronomy 8, get there. Okay. And be listening for each of these as we read this. We're gonna look at verses, 25 through 32. All right. Deuteronomy chapter 28, beginning of verse 25. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one again. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. you shall be a whore to all the kingdoms of the earth and your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth and there shall be no one to frighten them away. The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and scabs and itch of which you cannot be healed. The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind and you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness and you shall not prosper in your ways. and you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you. You shall betroth a wife, but another man will ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but it shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you. Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people while your eyes look on and fall and fail. but long for them all day long, but you shall be helpless. So here again, we can understand, oh, I'm sorry. So in verse 27, God strikes with boils, tumors, and scabs. So we see bodily, bodily punishment, right? Verse 28, madness, blindness, confusion of the mind. Man's body is regularly ravaged mentally and physically with all manner of illness. I mean, our hospitals are full of some of the sickest people right now that we don't even have cures for, right? This is real. Well, what about man's name? How about verse 25? He's defeated by his enemy and a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Man's reputation is now at this point tarnished. You trust your abilities are broken. Today, people will slander a person's name for absolutely no good reason. A person is ill-accused of some of the most vile acts. whether it's true or not. And even if it's proven false, it's almost impossible to restore the status of the good name that you once held. What about your land and your estates? Well, this one and in relations, I think are probably the most sad when we look at these. Look again at verse 29. The wicked are like a blind man, it says. And not just a blind man, but a blind man groping in the darkness. I mean, it doesn't get any darker than that. His efforts lead to nothing, it says. And anything he does have, what happens to it? What does the text say, right? They are oppressed and robbed continually. But it gets worse. There's no one there to help him. Wow, that's sad. I mean, these are the people we should be taking pity on. And if you think that's bad, let's look at the next one. And to be honest, this one I think is probably the worst. Our relations. The beginning of verse 30 says, a man will take a wife, but another man will take her for his own. In some pretty horrible ways. I'm not gonna go into the details on this one, but as a man and a husband, this one kind of puts a lump in my throat. When I read this, this one is a gut punch. You wanna talk about putting a strain on a once beautiful relationship, that will do it. Verse 32 talks about another beautiful relationship destroyed as well, the children, right? Man's children are given over to a godless people while their parents look on helpless, right? Longing to save them, but ultimately failing to do so. How many times do our hearts ache because we hear another story of child infection? while the parents sit helpless with their stomach in knots. Sin can poison our relationships, even if it's not our fault. Now, lastly, the divines mentioned employment. If you recall from the end of verse 30, man plants his vineyard, but he doesn't enjoy the fruit of it. Verse 31 shows how all of his animals are either taken or killed and he reaps none of the benefits of that, he gets none of the meat. The labor of sinful man, the man who seeks his glory and not God's ultimately yields ruin and heartache. Now I just want to round out this section by mentioning two things. And don't read too much into this, but I don't think it's a coincidence that we're seeing the parallels with the curse from Genesis 3. The fall here is coming to fruition really okay in some pretty tangible ways It's not a coincidence for example that the punishment of sin we see in the relationships is focused on the relationships of the family right Now certainly the fall affects other relationships in our lives right but specifically here in Deuteronomy we just read how the fall affects relationships between husbands and wives and children and their parents If you recall from Genesis 3, God says that he's going to multiply Eve's pain in childbirth and make her desires contrary to her husband. The curse for Eve, as we talked about in detail before, is familial. The fall now puts strain on the relationship of her and her husband. The pain in childbirth now causes tension between her and her child, where only before there would have been bliss. Right? We see the same pattern of strained relationship played out here in Deuteronomy as a result of the fall and breaking God's commandments. I think it's safe to say that God is bringing the punishment of the fall and sin here to fruition. And we see the same thing with the rest of these punishments in Adam's curses, right? God says that the ground is cursed. It will bring forth thorns and thistles, right? And now Adam has to work the ground and toil by the sweat of his brow. Hopefully it should be easy to see how the fall correlates to the rest of these punishments, right? Even today, man's employment often causes him stress, struggle, right? A work that is never done. In our states, we have to set up security systems in our homes, right? Hoping to ward off potential thieves and robbers. We have guns set up around our house just in case. The body, our bodies are ravaged with terrible diseases. I could go on, but I think it's clear. It's almost like the curse from Genesis 3 is the forest, and we're getting a peek here behind the curtain at trees. Now, here's the last thing I want to mention, because this always seems to come up when this topic is addressed. If everything we've said up to this point is true, why do the wicked prosper? That's the question, right? Why can some of the most ungodly people in this world go through life and seem to experience none of these things? In fact, quite the opposite, right? They seem to receive nothing but blessing. Christians often grapple with this question, right? Jeremiah did, Job did. Both were very godly men who trusted in the Lord implicitly, yet they struggle with this concept. So you're in good company if you have these questions too. So let's talk about this. There's a couple things we need to say here. And we've mentioned this before, but we'll say it again here. God uses the wicked to execute his will. God uses the wicked to execute his will, right? For example, Boston example, he raises up the Babylonians, right? A ruthless and terrible people, but for a purpose. It destroyed Jerusalem in 587. If they had not prospered, but rather experienced all of these terrible curses and punishments, right? They would have not have been able to execute God's will. His intended will. Sometimes God sovereignly decrees the wicked to prosper in order that they fulfill His command. And keep in mind as well that their prospering is but for a short while. They will only see temporary blessing in this life, but receive eternal punishment and damnation in the world to come. And that brings me to the next point of common grace. We read in Matthew 5, verse 45, He makes the rain. and the sun rise and fall on evil and good in his reign, he sends on the just and the unjust. So at the end of the day, we have to remember, we always gotta keep in the back of our mind, right? This principle of common grace. What is grace, right? It's God's unmerited favor, right? In this case, we're speaking of the unmerited favor that God expresses to all of man, simply by virtue that they are made in his image. So at some point, we have to recognize that some of the prosperity, not all of it, but some that we see unbelievers experiencing falls in this category. Without common grace, no one would be able to feed, clothe, or find shelter for themselves or their families, no matter how extravagant some of those items may be, right? Without common grace, it's impossible. Now, these next couple that we're gonna talk about are important, so be ready. Number three, be careful what you ask for when we get to this question. Be careful what you ask for. It's natural for us to think that there should be consequences for bad behavior, and to some extent, that's true. We look at unbelievers and we think, wow, these are some wicked people. They should not be getting blessings. They should be getting wrath. Where's the wrath? But praise God that that was not God's attitude in dealing with us, okay, in our sin. When we deserved that wrath and punishment, we received mercy. Would we rather instead God treat all bad behavior that way? All sins rightly deserve that, okay? We do not want God to treat it that way. No, we plead Christ and him crucified, okay? Yes, call out evil where you see it, and by all means, don't be afraid to do it. But at the same time, we love our enemies, we pray for them, and in that way, we heap hot coals on their heads. Perhaps they, like you, will one day receive mercy and not justice, so be careful what you ask for. Number four, do not envy the wicked. Do not envy the wicked. Make sure this question of why do the wicked prosper comes from a humble heart. OK, and this is probably the biggest thing. Listen to Psalm 73. It's the first three verses. Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. To those who faithfully serve and love the Lord, God is good. You need to always hear and believe that, okay? God is always good to his people, even in the moments when it doesn't feel like it. And pay careful attention to what the psalmist just said there, okay? Why did he almost stumble? Because he took his eyes off of God and started looking at the unbeliever, the godless of this world. He turned a worshipful, devoted heart into a jealous coveting heart. Suddenly God wasn't enough anymore and he started looking at the worldly possession of others. Dare I say that we're tempted to do the same. Our circumstances change and we start to doubt God's promises, his presence, maybe even his love for us. And so our hearts start to wander. We start getting jealous of others, even believers. Do not fall into the same trap of a psalmist with this question of why do the wicked prosper? God is so good to his people, and he is more than enough. And lastly, and this is another important one, be very careful of how you inquire of God. And this is a warning, not just to this question of the wicked prospering, but really on any topic, just kind of in general. It all kind of falls in line with what we've been, this last question of what we've been talking about, but make sure that your heart is in the right place with your inquiries. This idea of having a humble heart. My favorite example of this comes from Job. All throughout the book of Job, Job believes in God. He maintains a right view of God's character. He doesn't listen to his friends. Job was a righteous man. We learn that in the very first verse of the book. So that's not the issue. So then what's the problem here? Well, it's twofold. Job asks the very same question that we just did. Listen to chapter 21, verses seven through nine here. Why do the wicked live, reach old age and grow mighty in power? Their offspring are established in their presence and their descendants before their eyes. Their households are safe from fear and no rod of God is upon them. So not only does he notice the wicked receiving all these blessings, right? But he also says in verse nine, like it seems like their lives are unhindered by any forms of judgment, right? There's no rod of God upon them, he says. In other words, they don't receive any punishment for their sin. Why not, God? So that's number one. Here's number two. It comes in chapter 13 of Job, where he believes that God owes him an answer for his suffering. He's making all these claims in arrogance. Listen to some of the statements that he makes throughout this chapter, chapter 23. But I would speak to the almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. Behold, I have prepared my case. I know that I shall be in the right. How bold of the clay to say to the potter. Or maybe this verse. Most people know this verse. Everyone knows this one. Though he slay me, I will hope in him. Okay, that's good, nothing wrong with that. It's a good one for everyone to remember, but nobody knows the second half of this verse. Yet I will argue my ways to his face. It's a bold strategy, let's see how that plays out. God gives Job, okay, his quote, day in court in the last five chapters of the book, okay, chapters 38 to 42, and it doesn't go well for Job. Now, remember, here, God is going to respond to Job's question, okay? Why do the wicked prosper while I suffer? And that's, I think, what believers often find themselves asking. That's the question that we have before us, right? Why do the wicked prosper? Why do they get blessing? Job says, God, I wanna know, because I'm a good, I think I've been, verse one, I'm a righteous man. I think I have a good argument, and I think you're wrong. And this is, this is, let's get there. I'm gonna do a hopping around, a little bit of hopping around real quick. So I'm gonna start in chapter 38. Read the first five verses, you can follow me if you'd like. Job 38. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man. I will question you and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? Now, God goes on like this until the end of chapter 38, asking Job all these rhetorical questions about creation. He makes claims of his sovereignty, his providence, and God finishes in verse 40. It goes all the way to the end of chapter 39 and beginning of verse 40. And the Lord said to Job, shall a fault finder contend with the almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. And Job in his arrogance, okay? very humbly responds to God's question. He says, go ahead, make your answer. Then Job answers the Lord. Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once and I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. And God says, oh no, no, no, we're not done yet. Okay, God keeps going. He says, the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, dress for action like a man. I will question you and you will make it known to me. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? Have you an arm like God and can you thunder with a voice like his? Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity. Clothe yourself with glory and splendor. And the Lord goes on until the end of chapter 41 asking about, or yeah, I'm sorry, asking more rhetorical questions, asking about his power in relation to himself with the other creatures. And here Job responds at the end of verse 42. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be forged. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand. things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Here, and I will speak, I will question you and you make it known to me. I heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." So, Job very humbly, and feeling about this big, repents and confesses that he spoke of things way beyond his knowledge. or understanding. He recognizes God's power, His sovereignty. He recognizes that it was wrong to arrogantly question the hidden knowledge and purposes of God. And that's what I want us to see, okay? I want us to learn from Job. Is it wrong to ask God the difficult questions? No, no, not necessarily. Books like Lamentations, the Psalms, they're filled with the saints who cry out to God asking hard and difficult questions, but we need to do it with a humble heart that fears the Lord. Job gets cocky, and Jeremiah does it in other portions too. He, Job, he still loves God, and he fears God, but he actually thought at points he might have been smarter than God, okay? That he could actually defend his case when it came to this subject. We can never think ourselves so bold as to be wiser than the Lord. For God to try to explain his wisdom to us would be like trying to explain advanced physics to an ant. It's just not gonna work. It's impossible. I've actually heard people say, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask God why he did things like this, this, and this, because I'd have done it like this. The Job-like arrogance. Repent in dust and ashes. Be careful how you inquire of God. Do it in humility. It's usually best just to use the words of scripture. OK, pray the Psalms back to God. Or in this case, scriptures already asked and answered the question for us. OK, God knows that we could prosper sometimes. And he's very aware of this and is in his divine wisdom and goodness. He says, that's OK. It's in accordance with my will. So take comfort. OK, and don't don't look over there. Look at me. OK. And if you do have a question. Just remember who you're talking to. OK. the Lord God Almighty, Yahweh. Okay, very good. Now, real quick, to finish off this question, the answer says, the last and ultimate penalty for sin in this world is death. Hopefully this one's pretty straightforward and obvious by this point in our study. We're almost done, I promise. Paul says in Romans 6, verse 23, the wages of sin is death, and it's likely he has in view here both spiritual and physical death. And since everyone is conceived and born in original sin, everyone dies. It really is quite as simple as that. Sin brings death and destruction into everyone's life. There is only one other thing I wanted to mention regarding this topic. I've heard people ask, well, wait, in regards to the fall, didn't God say, if you eat of the fruit, you will surely die? Yes, okay, but God didn't kill Adam and Eve right away, so what's going on there? Okay, well, two things to say to that. When God makes this statement, he is speaking both of their physical and spiritual death. No, Adam doesn't die right away. True. But he does eventually die. He lives to a nice ripe old age of nine hundred and thirty. And yes, I am one of those weird, crazy people who takes that number literally. But Adam and Eve are now cut off from the source of life, the tree of life, and they're now in the realm of the dead, outside of the garden. But it's also a spiritual death, because Adam and Eve are no longer in the garden sanctuary. They're not in God's presence anymore. They can no longer worship God as he intended, and they become slaves to evil. Their expulsion from the garden is every bit spiritual as it is physical. And number two, God's mercy is put on display. The fact that God doesn't kill Adam and Eve right away on the spot is a pure act of mercy. We've got to have been perfectly just to end it all right there. Yes, absolutely. But in his love and mercy for mankind, we don't get justice. We get the gospel. In Genesis 315, we get God's promise to send his son. Clearly, we can't save ourselves. We can't do it on our own. So God does it for us. You know, it's funny, I've shared the gospel multiple times with an atheist co-worker of mine, and we have run mid-gamut on theological topics and conversations, to include death. And she shared with me one time how more often than not, she'll dwell on this idea of dying, and she fears it. And I have run out of ways to tell her that she doesn't need to be scared. Sometimes I, you know, you talk to these people, you just wanna shake sense into them, right? But I know that's not how anyone comes to faith, you know? I know that's not how you find peace with death. Death is the last great enemy of mankind, and the battle has already been won, right? Christ has conquered death for us. To anyone who would repent and put their faith in Christ, your life is secure in Him. You don't have to be afraid of what comes next. In fact, for those of us in Christ, we don't live in fear, we live in anticipation with great hope. We know there's a place for us at his table in his kingdom. Okay, that rounds out the end of question 28. Does anybody have any questions? Sir? Yeah. When you're talking about Deuteronomy 28, there's so many times just in this modern state and just other ways of thinking about scripture. I feel like if I were to bring this up as a punishment for sin, people would instantly say, well that's the old covenant, that doesn't apply anymore. And how would you respond to that type of question, and what do you think is the justification for applying that, or the divine for applying that in this question? So when Moses is writing there, he is talking about the moral law, and the moral law is applicable for all time. It's not just Old Covenant language. Yeah, and the punishment he's in is for unbelievers, but God doesn't punish his people. He disciplines us, he corrects us, but that language is not just applicable to Old Covenant. because it's it's it's for the moral of God. So we see that play out throughout history. It's applicable still now. Yeah. Great question. Any more questions? Excellent. All right. Let me pray for us and then we'll have a little time fellowship and we'll get ready for worship. Our gracious heavenly father, we thank you. that you have called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. We thank you that we do not suffer the punishments of sin, and we see now how terrible they are, and we see your law before us, that it is indeed good and wonderful. We pray that you would continue to help us in our sanctification, that you would continue to form us into the image and likeness of your son. We pray that we would be a beacon of light to those who are still living as your enemies, dying in this world, slaves to sin. We love you, Lord. We thank you for your love for us that we've been adopted into your family. I pray that you would be with us all in our worship of you this morning. that it would be pleasing in your sight. Please be with Pastor Miller as he brings your word to us, that it would be done by proclamation of your spirit. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.