Let's be diligent with our time together and let's pray. Father God, we praise you. We worship you. We thank you for this time to be together as God's people in your house. Let my words be from you an encouragement. To give you the glory, thank you for the gospel. Thank you for your son's life, his death, and his resurrection, and the scriptures. Amen. Well, I'm excited to be with you all this morning. Is this too close? Am I too loud? I'm going to start yelling here in a minute. I'm excited to be here with you all this morning. If you happened to miss last week, that's okay. Don't worry, because this has nothing to do with what Marshall spoke on last week. Marshall went over the first half of 2 John, And he was speaking on something about truth and love, right? This week we're discussing kicking heretics out and locking the door behind. The two are diametrically opposed, right? I'm obviously being sarcastic, of course. It's the next section. Of course, they go together. So if you did miss Marshall's teaching, please go back, give it a listen. I promise you'll be greatly encouraged. Marshall, we are so blessed by him, by his family, by his teaching. He's a great example of what it means to follow Christ and to be held captive by the Scriptures, held fast by the Scriptures. Amen. But if, however, if you, after this nine o'clock hour, if you need a new deadbolt installed, I'd be happy to help. Now when the elders assigned me this text, I read it almost immediately to Brittany, and her response was, yep, that's very Zach text. I'm still trying to figure out what she meant by that. But perhaps, by the sovereignty of God, That's a joke. Maybe knowledge of some of the elders by me being lovingly corrected by this passage almost a decade ago. God wanted me to really get it. So he asked me to teach it. So I'm very thankful for the opportunity. It's a great privilege. So with all that being said, by way of introduction, let's look at an Old Testament account in 1 Kings 18. I'm not going to read it verse by verse, but feel free to follow along. And we're going to see in 1 Kings 18, let's see what God has done in the past to liars, to deceivers, to false prophets in the past. An example of how God chooses to preserve his truth, that which he has established. So in 1 Kings chapter 18, I'm sure you're all familiar with the account. What it is, is you've got 450 of Baal's prophets, his false teachers. versus one faithful man of God, Elijah. It hasn't rained in years. I'm setting the scene for you. It hasn't rained in years. Food and water are scarce. They're precious. And you've got God's people following God with one foot and choosing to follow other gods with their other. They're teaching their generations that this is okay. Well, guess what? God's had enough. He will have his glory in this way, that his faithful man be obedient and show that there is one God, there is one way to worship. So, they begin to prepare their sacrifices. It's a contest, it's a test to see who is the real God, to see which God will cause it to rain fire on their sacrifices that they'll prepare. So what you have is you've got Baal's prophets, his teachers, you've got 450 men working on their sacrifice. They are cutting themselves. They are crying out as their customs would call for and Elijah mocking them. Nothing happens for hours. Then it's Yahweh's turn. There's Elijah's sacrifice prepared by him. You've got the wood, you've got the moat, Actually, it's so dry, I'm surprised it didn't spontaneously combust, as it was. Hasn't rained in years. Then Elijah calls for 12 pitchers of precious water to be poured out on the sacrifice. I can just picture the people mumbling, you want to do what? With my water? You're crazy. But they listened. They listened. And as we know the story goes, the fire fell. to show that this is Yahweh. Guys, this wasn't a normal fire. This was even consumed the stones and the dust. This isn't a normal fire. Then what happened? Well, verse 40, if you want to read along, verse 40 tells us, then Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal. Notice he didn't say the followers. but the prophets, the teachers, the deceivers, right? It says, do not let one of them escape. So they seized them. They were obedient to this. They seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kashan and slaughtered them there. Why did God do this? Because God will share his glory with none. He will be worshipped in truth and love, as Marshall spoke about last week. He loves his people perfectly, that's why. And he will preserve his truth, regardless of what we do. Please, I need to apologize. I won't be able to do this text justice. We don't have time in 45 minutes, nor would I even be able to, to address all that John is, what John and God have to offer us here in this text, but merely scratch the surface on a few important points. So let's turn together to 2 John, just a continuation of where we were last week. 2 John, Let me read 2 John 7-13. God says, Many deceivers have gone out into the world. Those who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. See to yourselves that you do not lose what we accomplished. Yours may say what you accomplished. but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting. For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds Though I have many things to write to you. I do not want to do so with paper and ink But I have to come but sorry, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face So that your joy may be made complete the children of your elect sister greet you So now this brings us to our first point, which is the denial of truth and love. As we read in verse seven, for many deceivers have gone out into the world. Those who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. So we deny truth and love. So the first word for, okay, kind of like we understand a therefore, It's a four. Well, we got to ask what's it there for, right? Well, we have to go back by way of reminder all the way back to verse six. All right, so let me read verse six. And this is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it. And the summation of that from Marshall last week was Walking in truth equals obedience. The result of this will be holiness. The result of this will be progressive sanctification. The result of this will be wisdom, growth in wisdom and discernment. That's the goal which we desperately need. Why do we desperately need those? Well, in verse 7 it tells us why. For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. The deceivers here is planos. It's a wanderer. It's one who has gone off. It's where we get the word planet from. Sorry if my Greek, I'm not a Greek scholar. So, Marshall, is that how you say? Cool. It's used many other times in Scripture. It's false brethren in 2 Corinthians 11, 26. Wolves in sheep's clothing, Matthew 7, 15. False Christ and false prophets with deceit and signs and wonders. So good it'd lead the elect astray if it were possible in Matthew 24, 24. He goes on to say, many deceivers have gone out into the world, so these are likely people who have participated in the church. These are likely people who have tasted the goodness of Scripture a bit. These are people who have felt the church's communion to a certain degree, and the grace of God, experienced the grace of God. I was one of these people before Christ myself. And then they threw it away. They went after their own lusts. They loved the world by their own choice. So John gets very specific on who these deceivers are. So when we talk about denying the truth and love, we do this primarily in three different ways. The first way is we deny the gospel. We see that. John gets, like I said, very specific in describing these deceivers here in verse seven. He says, those who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. What are they doing there? They're denying the gospel. First, before we deny the gospel, before they deny the gospel, we have to know what the gospel is. What is the gospel that they're denying? The gospel is the life. Was anything wrong with Christ, his position before he condescended to this earth, before he was obedient to the will of the Father? Was anything wrong with his position? No. No, he chose to be obedient to the Father's will, to come down here on the earth, to put on this nasty flesh and live amongst us. and to be born the lowest of the low in a manger. Now, a lot of people, they try to make a big deal out of the fact that he was born in a manger, and I don't at all want to reduce that, but I do want to make it clear. Considering where the maker of the universe came from, condescended from, and he was born anywhere here, He could have been born in a mansion. He could have been born in the White House. He could have been born at any position in time, any point in time. He could have been Caesar and it would have been far less than where he came from. Right? So they make a big deal out of this. It is a big deal. But then he chose to what's referred to as Christ's act of obedience, which is in the Torah there are roughly 613 laws to fulfill all righteousness. You and I, we thought, and many others think it's the top ten, right? Which we can't even be obedient to those. But every waking breath through Christ's whole life, he was obedient to every single T of the law. Every single point. Perfectly obedient. Never disobeyed. After that, or sorry, not after, he was obedient the whole time. Then he moves to the cross. Before the cross, he was delivered over to Romans, a whole battalion of Roman soldiers, and he was beaten beyond recognition. These are some of the baddest men on the face of the earth. I don't want to be put in a room with one of them, let alone a whole battalion, but Christ chose this. God chose this as his plan. Then he endured the cross. The cross The cross was one of the worst ways to die ever. Excruciating is literally from the cross. It is meant for torturous days. for your torture and agony to be prolonged. In history, it eventually got to where the point where people would suffocate. I'm not sure if you know this, but people would suffocate. That's how they died on the cross. And so what they would do is right under your rear end, they would hammer a little seat so it would, you couldn't, so people would sling down and they would just end it quicker. Well, they would lift themselves up so that they couldn't do that anymore. That's what the cross, the Persians invented it and the Romans perfected. They were great at producing agony to show there will be no sedition. The cross was reserved for the worst criminals. It wasn't even polite. It was looked down upon to discuss crucifixion amongst Roman dinner talk, right? It was inappropriate. It was actually illegal to crucify a Roman citizen. But this is what God chose. And again, I don't want to demean, I don't want to lower what the cross is. However, that's not the physical. People make the physical aspect a big deal. It is a big deal. I don't want to reduce that, but I want you to understand that it's excruciating. It is the worst way. I don't wish it on anyone. However, it pales in comparison. Why did Jesus sweat blood in the garden, drops of blood in the garden? It wasn't fully the cross. I think that was a really small part, if at all. It wasn't the cross. It was the fact that because of you and I, because of every believer in all of history who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we know that for the wages of sin is death, you and I deserve, and all sinners deserve death. And so there's a penalty to be paid. There's wrath. God is angry with the wicked. That anger must be fulfilled one way or the other with either you or there must be another way. And this was what made Christ sweat blood. in the garden was the thought of God's wrath being propitiated, being satisfied, being fully exhausted on the cross, on him, of all the weight of all the believers that would ever repent and believe for all of history. That's what the cross is about. That's what the life of Christ is about. Then you go from that, you go from the death. Nobody ever came off of the cross alive. If anyone came down off the cross alive, that whole detail of soldiers, they would have paid for it. Even if they breathed their last on the ground, the criminals breathed their last on the ground, those soldiers would have paid for it with their lives. It was a certifiable death. It had to be a certifiable death. Christ had to die. No excuses. Then we come to the resurrection. Three days later, Christ spent three days in the tomb. Then God rose him from the grave. Why? To conquer sin and death as victory. Amen. So what is the gospel? The gospel is the life of Christ. The gospel is the perfect virgin birth, The life of Christ is the fulfillment of all righteousness. The gospel is the death of Christ, the perfect certifiable death that paid the imputation, the R.C. Sproul, Dr. R.C. Sproul coined the term double imputation, meaning that he takes on our sin. And he gives us his righteousness. It's a free gift. He chooses to take on himself our sin, our worthlessness, our breaking of the law. And he takes on himself. And we take on his righteousness as a free gift, nothing earned on our end. And then the gospel is the resurrection. Because God would have been unjust to keep Christ in the grave. So to deny Christ coming in the flesh, what then happens to the gospel? If we remove that element of the gospel, mainly the flesh of Christ that John is dealing with here in the text, what happens to the gospel? Well, we have no remission of sin, right? If you have no flesh, you have no man. Man must pay for man's sin. Is that right? So we have to have, that is a crucial element of the gospel, that Christ came in the flesh. So I want to do a little exercise with you, a little back and forth. I hope you're awake. What are some hills to die on of the gospel? What are some elements, for example, imputation or substitution, substitutionary atonement, right? Why is that necessary and what does that do to the gospel if it's removed? it removes the need for the gospel, right? If there's no substitution, there's no need for the gospel. So what are some, throw out a couple things. What are some hills to die on? What are some fundamental essentials to the gospel? Grace alone? What if we remove that? What happens? What? Absolutely. Anything else? Divinity of Christ. Why is that important? Yeah, only God can survive the cross and come back, right? Anything else? Authority of Scripture. Absolutely. What happens when we remove the authority of Scripture? Chaos, yeah, that's absolutely. And then we have no authority. There is no authority if we can't rely on this book written by God. So we have no gospel. There's no gospel. So first, we deny truth and love by denying the gospel. Next, we deny truth and love by going too far. As we see in the text, verse 9, anyone who goes too far does not abide in the teaching of Christ. And anyone who does that does not have God. The one who abides in this teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. So going beyond the text, we deny truth and love by going beyond the text. Deuteronomy 29, I struggle saying that. Deuteronomy 29, 29, right? It says, the secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law. I don't need more revelation. Don't hear what I'm not saying. We all need to be in the word every day. Absolutely. As much as you can. It's not what I'm not, it's not what I'm saying is remove scripture. What I'm saying is all of it. That's all I need. I don't need more. I struggled daily with being obedient to what I do know. How about you? How about this? Men, how about to love your wife as Christ loved the church? How's that for your standard? You do that well? I don't. How about this one? Proverbs 13, 24 says, This verse is more than just spanking your child. I'm confident that that's a part of it, absolutely. The part that gets me is the diligent part. It requires me to learn them, to study my children constantly, to love them, and to encourage them. It's much work to be done. I don't need more, let alone all the B attitudes. You guys do that well? All the B attitudes? Or how about this? Keep my mouth shut to seem wise. How about this one? Love your God with all your mind. You guys ever do that? Not me. So to deny truth and love is to deny the gospel. We do that by denying the gospel. We do that by going beyond the text, what it doesn't say. And then by the third way we do it is cutting the text short. Cutting the text short in verse 7 we read, So it says they do not confess. What does that mean? They deny. These are people who have heard of Christ in the flesh. They have heard the gospel. They have heard what this man has done for us. They obviously don't care about what Mary's perspective is on Christ's fleshly birth, right? The mother of Jesus. So they cut the text short. If we love Christ, John 15 tells us that we will abide in him, abide in his word. We will then know his word. So wrapping up denying truth and love, these deceivers, they were teachers of what's referred to as the philosophy of Gnosticism. It's an idea that all material things are evil and spirit is good. What the issue with this is resulting in that is a careless, the result of it is a careless way of living, a form of antinomianism, or without law, a lawless way of living. live like, she said, chaos, chaotic life. A result came, different forms are hedonism, epicureanism, doicism, all these are forms of Gnosticism that John was dealing with in the first century. Good thing that these are all dead and they don't belong here on earth right now, right? If only that were true. These are, I assure you, alive and well today. So a common theme today amongst our false teachers is the idea of love and not truth, but love and tolerance. A different T word. Because Satan, the world, and the flesh have been doing their job since human origin to remove that other T word that we use, truth, since human origin. Only what they mean by love intolerance is neither loving nor tolerant. But rather what they mean to say is I want to push my opinion, which is founded out of thin air. There's no truth in it. And when you try to bring in truth, to the table. They seek to move past the argument and what they want to do is attack the messenger and attack the character of the messenger primarily. We must be familiar with lies and heresies today, which by the way, it's nothing new. It's just wrapped in a new bow. A few different ways we can do this, well really just mainly one healthy way to do this, to be familiar, is to know the truth so well that if you sense any stray from the truth, because you know it so well, you rehearsed it, you're memorizing scripture, you are listening to solid teaching, things like that, that as soon as you hear anything that contradicts it, your antenna goes up immediately. That's a phenomenal way. So this is the denial of truth and love. This is how we do it. This is the denial of the gospel. This is to go beyond the text and to cut the text short. So the next point of truth and love is the practice of truth and love. Back to the text we read in verse 8. See to yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished But that you may receive a full reward So John says here see to yourselves. This is a drastic warning for us It's the same goal in mind Paul or sorry John has the same goal in mind as Paul in Philippians 3 14 when he says I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus 1st Corinthians 2 2 says, for I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. First Corinthians 1558 says, therefore my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Ephesians 4 14 says So that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried out by every word or sorry by every wind of doctrine By the trickery of men by craftiness and deceitful scheming but speaking truth speaking the truth in love We are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head that is Christ Jesus We must watch ourselves as Christ holds us fast I hear it all the time. As a matter of fact, I just heard it recently the other day. This theology, this theory of who am I? I don't know Greek. I'm not a doctor. If the past two years has taught us anything about doctors, I'm just saying. You're in charge. You are responsible for your choices. We must remember that the Bible was written to the church. It's for God's people to transform their lives. You're responsible for the truth that you take in. We're not to rely solely on doctors and solely on the quote-unquote educated, although, hear what I'm saying, we are grateful for their diligent study and we have benefited greatly, all of us, by their hard work. But the 95% of the text is black and white. This who am I attitude, this theology of who am I, I'm nobody, is simply a lazy attitude. And it doesn't belong anywhere in the church towards his scripture. He gave us this scripture to treasure more than gold refined seven times over. We go to our pastors and our elders for wisdom, for good, reasonable teaching. This is why in verse 8, See to yourselves that you do not lose what we accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. You can read either a you or a we and both are right. How many here have had Pastor Kevin labor diligently in your life in one way or the other? It's a we. It's a we. Our elders, other believers, lay, whatever the case may be, we labor together to find out what this book says. It's a group effort. However, it's also a you because you're doing it and you're responsible. Then in verse 8 we continue. We come to what we have accomplished. This is simply to say for us to continue in making choices that please the Lord, decisions that lead to a holy lifestyle. It is the building of a godly testimony. That is our accomplishment. Moving on to verse 10. It says, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, Do not receive him into your house. Do not give him a greeting. I'll go ahead and read 11. For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. This is why I read Elijah's account earlier, so that our job doesn't seem so hard. God's not commanded us to take anybody out. Praise God. But John here is referring to the teachers. We must not separate the anyone in the verse from the this teaching. So these are anyone teaching essentially. I like Dr. Mohler's, he calls it the triage of theology. These are matters in theology of first importance, such as the gospel and the personal work of Christ would fall under that category. Secondary issues, third or tertiary issues, essentially eschatology, things that we can discuss, but I can still call you a brother if we disagree. Because if you separate those two things, the anybody and this teaching, what you'd come to is indicating that I would have to kick Dr. Vodie Bauckham out of my house for simply being wrong about the rapture, about the thousand years, and about the things surrounding the kingdom. I have greatly benefited from his teaching. Absolutely, and I one day maybe he'll come over. We'll see So the this teaching in the verse is referring to how the teachers are twisting the things of the first importance mainly in this verse the Christ coming in the flesh so all their lies are being pushed They were doing this in the homes primarily They were taking advantage of the hospitality that was well known of the church. It was well known that the church in their homes were taking in missionaries, foreign missionaries, foreign teachers into their homes. And the false teachers were invading the church in this way. Because these were vulnerable homes and John is trying to eliminate the amount of vulnerable homes. Because not all the homes, we need to understand, not all the homes had elders. The elders would have fought these lies. They would have been grown enough in the scriptures to indicate these lies. That's why we thoroughly appreciate our elders to guard against these lies. Now here's, the home is only vulnerable to false teachers if you have this lazy disposition towards scripture of the who am I theology and the word. Our homes become less vulnerable As we become obedient to using our minds in the Scriptures, just as Scripture tells us, commands us to countless times, time after time after time, how much does it tell us to renew our minds? by the scriptures, by the mercies of God. Practically speaking, let's move on. Practically speaking, what are some ways in which we allow quote-unquote this teaching from the text in verse 10 into our homes today? Well, we've got radio, we've got TV, we've got YouTube, we've got books, we've got Jehovah's Witnesses knocking at my door, Mormons knocking at my door, heretics, Think about it. My neighbor who I have labored over for years sees a heretic or somebody of a different faith knocking on my door and I offer them a greeting and I allow them into my home. This verse would say that I'm condoning that theology, that teaching. If I've got Joyce Meyer on the TV, Or I've got T.D. Jake's book out and about and my son or my daughter or a baby believer hears or sees them, let alone guarding my own heart, my own mind. Think about it. That's one of the most unloving things I can do. I don't care about a modern day opinion, quote unquote, a loving opinion that's wrapped up in how you or they feel. What does God's word say? He's sovereign, I'm not. Verses 10 and 11 say, I'm a willing participant in evil. That's worse than condoning. That's active, that's participation. It doesn't say, bring them in, bring them in, hear what they have to say, discern, take in the good, leave the bad out. Hey, just read the book, listen to it, see what it has to say, just go through it, see what the good things are, leave out the bad. No, it says, nope, don't even give them a greeting. Don't let them in. So that is a practical way not the whole way, but a practical way we can practice truth and love. So point number one was to deny truth and love, and we do that primarily by denying the gospel, by going beyond the text, what scripture has to say. And we also do that by cutting the text short. Point number two is practicing truth and love. Point number three is, as my way of conclusion, as a result of truth and love. So if you practice these things faithfully, here's what may happen, what will happen. Reading verse eight through 13, it says, see to yourselves that you do not lose what we accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward. Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the father and the son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him a greeting. For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Though I have many things to write to you, I do not want to do so with paper and ink, but I hope to come to you and speak face to face. The Greek there is literally mouth to mouth, so we'll just stick with face to face. So that your joy may be made complete, the children of your elect sister greet you. We see here John's pastoral heart. He's always got an encouragement at the ready. And what is more encouraging, or sorry, what is more, what is greater, let me say this properly. What is greater, what is better than encouragement to and from face to face with another believer? So if you practice the result, if you practice truth and love, the result is in verse eight, a full reward we see. It's found in verse 12 that your joy may be made complete. You'll see that unfold in just a moment. But let me ask you, where is the safest place to be other than standing in the truth found in the scriptures? What is more comforting? What is more comforting than standing firm in a conscience held captive by the truth of God's Word? Nothing is. Nothing is more comforting than those things. To hold fast, to stand with the creator of this truth, the creator of all the universe, by the way, no big deal. We must know the truth. or we're standing on sinking sand trying to hold living water in a broken cistern. Satan doesn't live, Satan doesn't operate in the black and the white, but rather the gray areas. Hath God said? Nah, that can't be right. If you don't know what the word says, if you're not grounded in the truth, you will certainly be swept away. That's guaranteed. You will be as worthless salt that has lost its saltiness, tossed out in the streets to be trampled on because it's worthless, due to its lack of purity it once had. Too much world mixed in. Now it's worthless. It can't do its job without its saltiness. You want to know your reward when truth and love is practiced well? Let's read. I'll read to you. You guys can follow along. Revelation 21. Revelation 21, 1 through 5. When we practice well, this is what we will see. This is a guarantee. Know this. So God said, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, And there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things passed away. And he who sits on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. And he said, write these words, right? For these words are faithful and true. Amen. That is our full reward in verse 8 that John talks about. The great inheritance, the great reward we long to possess is not centered in stuff. It's not centered in things, but it is found in the communion with God. To dwell in perfect fellowship with the Lord uninhibited. I just want to encourage you guys in closing, by way of conclusion in closing, with what our goal is. What is our prize? Matthew 25, feel free to turn there if you'd like. Matthew 25, you can feel free to read verse 23 or verse 21. They should both be exactly the same. I heard pages stop, so we must be there. Jesus is describing the coming kingdom. What will God say when you enter? He begins by saying, this is a parable, however, he's comparing it to the kingdom of God. He begins, he says, his master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. Let us hear the well done and good, well done, good and faithful slave. I promise you soon could be five minutes, could be 50 years, Who knows, he could be taken up by the rapture. We'll see. Maranatha, right? But soon you will be face to face with Christ himself. We will bow before him. And you will give an account. What excuse will you offer? What's your excuse? I didn't know. I had no time. Will time be your excuse? Or will you just simply receive, well done, Well done, good and faithful slave. Will you, with the choices you are directly responsible for, cause the creator of all this universe at your final examination to call you good and faithful and well done? Simply because of how Christ chose to use you. I pray it will. I pray it will be. Let that be our testimony. Amen. Let me pray for us. Father God, you are holy, you are good, and you are faithful. We thank you so much for the gospel. We thank you for Christ, his righteous life, his death, and the resurrection. We thank you for that. We thank you for the scriptures. Let us be encouraged by the next hour as we hear from you again. And we praise you for that opportunity and let us give you all the glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.