Well, thank you Mark again for leading us and thank you for filling in last week. I really appreciate that appreciated your encouraging message, so thank you for that. Good morning to everyone. A little frost on the pumpkin this morning. Hey, it's been a little chilly lately; I guess winter's coming.

We're getting back to Second Thessalonians this morning. We're gonna look at Second Thessalonians 1:5 to 12. Basically, we'll probably do another message in this text concentrating on 5 and 6 this morning. In our text, we see the temporal suffering of the believers in this world and we see the eternal judgment of the wicked, what Paul calls the righteous judgment of God.

One of the most common questions that I get in the course of talking about spiritual things, about truth and eternity, concerns the suffering that occurs in this cursed world. Perhaps the second most common question concerns the judgment of God: how could God send anyone to hell? There are a few characters that some might accept deserve hell—Hitler type people—but most everyone, if they believe in heaven at all, believe that they are going to heaven. Most people who do not believe have serious questions as to why God would allow the suffering that we see in our world.

These are important questions, or sometimes sincere questions, and it's important that we have answers—truth answers, biblical answers. And this really starts with understanding who God is and who man is. I believe this is at the core of a proper understanding of these hard doctrines and the evidence of what we will see, what we see all around us in this world.

The humanist philosophies that dominate our time and culture believe that man is basically good. At least in him there is some flicker, some flame, some light to kindle. If there is a God, he is a cruel God to allow all of this. If He's omnipotent, then why doesn't He do something about the suffering children, the starving people in the third world, or the abused and neglected who suffer so much?

If we do not understand who God is and who man is from a biblical perspective from beginning to end, then these questions will plague us. Reverence for God seems to have departed from much of the professing church today—a true grasp of the holiness of God, the greatness and righteousness of our God, the truth that He alone is wise, that He alone deserves worship, that He is the creator, the sustainer, the true and only God. And this coupled with an understanding of the sinfulness of man, the rebellion and wickedness of man, and the fact that every man born in Adam deserves the wrath of God in eternal punishment—these truths will bring us to an appreciation of the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ, the salvation that He provides, and to a point of worship and understanding of the righteous judgment of God.

Let's look at our text together. Let's begin in verse 3. Second Thessalonians 1:3. Paul says, "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other." 

"So that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. That you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

"These should be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes in that day to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed." 

"Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in Him according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."

I've given you four points on your outline. First, we're going to see the promise of persecution. Second, God's purpose in persecution. Third, rest and retribution. And fourth, righteous judgment.

Well, it seems today that in much of the professing church, particularly in the evangelical Christian churches, the focus is on man and not on God. The philosophies of secular humanism and psychology have so infiltrated the church that many houses of worship look more like self-help centers. Messages are centered on how Jesus can make your life better, how He can fix your marriage or your finances, or give you fulfillment in your life.

Men of God have moved from a word-centered, Christ-centered ministry of preaching and teaching and a focus on the purpose of Christ to save us from the wrath of God for our sins to facilitators of programs and 12-step methods where every small group is studying a book written by a man on how to have fulfillment in this life, and Sunday mornings are concerts and coffee with feel-good messages centered on man and his temporal woes rather than on exalting Jesus Christ.

The last thing you will hear in such a place is the promise of persecution that we see in the scriptures or God's high goal in working all things together for our good to conform us to the likeness of Christ, especially that through these sure sufferings that we will experience in our world.

Look with me at verse 4 of our text. Paul says, "We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure." This is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God.

Well, these are interesting words. We may want to jump to verse 6 and following and talk about the righteous judgment of God against the wicked, the unbelieving, which will come. But let's not miss what God is saying about the suffering of these precious saints and His purpose in that. In verse 5, first of all, we must see the clear message of the scriptures: that because of our identification with Christ in this cursed world full of wicked men, those who believe Jesus will suffer persecution.

John 15:18, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." Remember the word that I said to you: "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they also will persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake because they do not know Him who sent Me."

In John 8:42, we’ve been studying this passage, it says, "Jesus said to them, 'If God were your Father,' He's speaking to the religious leaders, the Jews, 'If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.' He was a murderer from the beginning. He does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell you the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear because you are not of God."

Why did the accepted, revered religious leaders of Jesus’ day seek to kill Him? Because they were not of God but of their father the devil. They did not know God. Those who do not know God, who are of the devil, religious or otherwise, will hate and persecute the children of God.

God the Son came in flesh, and they murdered Him. What shall they do to those who love Him, who follow Him in this world? Persecution is a promise because of our identification with Christ. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:12, "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." 

It's so foreign to us; we have not experienced it in the West. The church may be coming to it, but it is the rule throughout history and around the world. First Peter 2:18, Peter says, "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh, for this is commendable if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called." 

Do you believe that statement? To what you were called as a believer in Jesus Christ? You were called to suffer because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps. Peter says that we are called to suffer, not to be healthy, wealthy, and trouble-free in this world. There’s no promise of this in Christ—not to have all of our domestic issues reconciled and happiness ruling our every day. Abiding peace and joy? Yes, if we abide in Christ. If we suffer with patience and endurance as the Thessalonians did. 

But suffering—persecution—this is a promise in this world for those who are faithful to Christ. But we also have a promise of endurance by the grace and power of God. That's really what these words mean: the righteous dealings with us from our Father. He is going to strengthen and nurse this endurance and patience through the severe tribulation that they were experiencing in this church, in this town. 

It was manifest evidence; it was proof; it was a token of God's righteous dealing with them—His strengthening of them, His empowering them to persevere in such trouble. We have a promise of endurance by the power and grace of God. He upholds us, conforms us to the likeness of Christ, and causes us to stand. And in the end is eternal life. The promise is so much greater of what is yet to come.

Turn over to First Peter 1 with me; let’s look at what Peter says in the first chapter of his first epistle at verse 3. First Peter 1:3: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials."

That's all Peter says. Verse 6: This is the diaspora—the dispersion. They were driven out into the Gentile communities; they were killed; they lost their homes; they lost family. And Peter says, "Though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials." 

Why? Verse 7: "That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

This is what it's about, my brothers and sisters. It's about the salvation of our souls. It's about the glory of God. Turn over to Romans 8:16 with me, please. Romans 8, at verse 16: "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." 

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. And not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. 

The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. This is the message of Paul to the Thessalonians in our text. They were suffering a great deal of persecution from their own countrymen, and Paul wants them to know that their patient endurance was a token, a manifest evidence of their salvation, of their surety of glorification, of the righteous judgment of God—that is, that He will uphold us, that He will keep us and cause us to stand by His grace and power as we trust in Him. 

He will make things right. He will reward the believers, counting them worthy of the kingdom of God, because of what Christ did—because of His death, burial, and resurrection and their faith alone in Him alone. And He will bring wrath and judgment on those who do not believe—the very ones who were troubling them in this time.

Their suffering was proof of their genuine salvation, and their faithful and patient endurance in suffering was going to end in an inheritance—a fulfillment of the grace promise of God of eternal life in heaven with Him. There's present encouragement here in the midst of great trials, and this is because of a future focus on glorification, which is sure to come, and the recompense of God to those who are His enemies, the sons of Satan. 

So we see the promise of persecution for those who are identified with Jesus by faith, and also we see God's purpose in persecution, verse 5, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. Here’s the purpose: that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer.

The words "that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God" brings to mind all the salient scriptures concerning God's work and purpose through persecution and suffering—that being to prepare the believer, to sanctify, and to conform us to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Jesus willingly suffered. He gave Himself to suffer, even to the point of death on the cross, because His sole purpose was to glorify God and accomplish the work that was given Him because of His great love with which He loved us.

And His focus was beyond the cross—to glorification, to return to perfect fellowship and exaltation at the right hand of God, having accomplished the work of salvation. We see this in Hebrews 12:1: "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

The joy that was set before Him was glorification, a return to glory which He had before the world began. It was accomplishing the work of salvation. In John 17, Jesus said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him, and this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth; I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was."

Jesus did not focus on the suffering but on the glory which would be revealed in Him. Likewise, we must understand that through sufferings, God is preparing, working, conforming us to the likeness of Christ. We will suffer because of our identification with Christ; this is a sure promise, but that suffering is not in vain. It is a means to an end in the plan of God and a proof of His sufficient grace in the lives of believers—help in time of need.

Turn over to Romans 5 with me, please. Romans 5 at verse 1. Paul says, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope." 

Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 2 says, "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." When the sons of God are revealed, Jesus is going to be glorified; God is going to be glorified. 

James 1:2, James says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience; but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." 

God is working through suffering, through persecution to draw us close to Him, to teach us to trust Him, to cause us to seek His kingdom, to long for, with anticipation, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our glorification together with Him. 

Philippians 1:19, Paul gives testimony. Turn over to that passage with me. Look at a couple passages in Philippians, chapter 1, verse 19. Now Paul’s in prison. He doesn’t know if he’s going to be released from prison. He’s facing martyrdom. In verse 19, he says, "For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

"But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit for my labor; yet what I shall choose, I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart to be with Christ, which is far better." 

"Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again."

"Certainly, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God. For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, look at this, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me."

To live is Christ, to die is gain. Paul says, "I’m hard pressed; I’d like to die. I’d like to die and go and be with Christ, but I’d also like to stay here and help you." Later in that epistle in chapter 3, Paul said, "For many walk, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait."

You hear that phrase over and over—eagerly wait, eagerly anticipate. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our salvation is reserved in heaven, kept by the power of God. We eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. 

We eagerly wait. We wait with perseverance. We continue in faith. Hebrews 10:39, after that great warning passage, the author of Hebrews says, "But we—those who believe Jesus—we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." 

There's the promise of persecution. There’s the purpose of God in persecution. We see also in our text that there's a coming rest for the believer and a coming retribution for those who trouble you—rest and retribution.

Paul says, "We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer." 

"Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"If you don’t believe the gospel, there’s fear, tribulation, and vengeance from a holy God. If you reject His Son, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The believers in this church had a firm grasp on the hope of His coming. 

And Paul reminds them that in that day, the righteous judgment of God will be manifest. He will give rest to those who believe—final rest, released from trouble and sorrow and even the very presence of sin— a glorified body. There will be reward; there will be rejoicing, and we shall be like Him for we shall see Him face to face. 

First John 3 says, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure."

We as believers in Jesus Christ long for the day of redemption. We are groaning now in these bodies, in this cursed world, in all the trials and troubles and the truth of sin and injustice. But there's coming a day, Paul says, when God will set things right. 

He's coming not in humiliation, not in condescension to save the world as He did in His first coming, but He's coming in power, in judgment, in flames, with His mighty angels. Turn to Revelation 19 with me; let’s look at that time at verse 11. Revelation 19:11: "Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on Him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war."

"His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations, and He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords." 

"Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, 'Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.' And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh."

My brothers and sisters, we have a God-given desire for justice. We see how wicked the world is, and especially in these last days we are troubled. We are greatly grieved in our spirit at the injustice and wickedness of our world. We live in a world that Paul describes in 2 Timothy 3, where men are lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal. They're brutal to one another, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.

We as a lot are vexed in our soul by the unrighteousness all around us—the great wickedness that plagues our world. As Asaph wrote in Psalm 73, he couldn't understand it. When he looked at the wicked, they seemed to be at ease; there was no suffering. He said, "My foot had almost slipped until I went into the house of the Lord. Then I saw their end."

Paul was commending the Thessalonian believers for their patient endurance through trial and tribulation. How is it that we can patiently endure, can suffer knowing that God has a purpose, is working all things together for our good to conform us to the likeness of Christ? How can we have a forward future focus to the glory which shall be revealed in us as God is preparing us that we might be counted worthy of the kingdom?

It's so easy to set our eyes on the world, on the injustice, on all that is wrong to be consumed with the prospering of the wicked and the lack of justice in this world and in this time. We can become so discouraged, so distracted, until we, like the psalmist, come into the house of the Lord, until we come to His word, His truth, His promise that the wicked will perish, but the righteous will endure unto eternal life.

Judgment is coming: a fearful expectation of fiery indignation and wrath for those who do not believe the gospel. The persecutors of the righteous—it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God—but for you and for me, my brother and sister, there is joy in the righteous judgment of God. He will set all things right. He will reward the righteous and bring to pass His promises. 

He will punish the wicked and repay those who have rejected His Son and persecuted His people. This is the right thing for Him to do. Sometimes we struggle with the righteous judgment of God. This is a question I often get, but this kind of question stems from a gross misunderstanding of who God is and who man is. 

God is holy and just and right—the eternal God of the universe, no beginning, no end, omniscient, omnipotent, just, and yet He is love. He is grace. He is mercy. He is grace. He is mercy. And we must understand the great lie of humanism is that man is basically good—that somehow there is good in us. 

The fact is that the scripture has confined all under sin. We are all born in Adam, sinners by nature, and we deserve the wrath of God for our sins. It is the grace of God that is so amazing, so profound, so hard to understand. 

The question should never be, "Why did God hate Esau?" but rather the question should be, "How could God love Jacob?" Understanding and longing for the righteous judgment of God begins with the right understanding of who God is, who man is, and His abounding—super abounding—grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And as believers, as those who are patient and enduring through trial and tribulation, this is a token of the genuine nature of our faith—manifest evidence of the righteous dealings of God with us. His faithful keeping of His promise to never leave us or forsake us; to keep us by His power; to provide grace upon grace.

We have a longing for this justice to come. We have a desire for righteousness and the exaltation of our great God and Savior for His glory and for the revealing of the sons of God. And yet at the same time, we have this great burden for those who are lost. And as long as God's grace persists in this time, we should be bringing this message of salvation and imploring men on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God.

Our earnest expectation, our fervent longing for which we eagerly wait and persevere is the righteous judgment of God. And there will be recompense for those who hate Jesus and hate His people. These are hard things, but they are true things. 

My dad died of cancer in 1995 when I was 24 years old. He was 62. I never heard the gospel—never heard the gospel—until I was 26. I grew up in a very religious family, went to parochial school, attended mass six days a week, served as an altar boy, did all the things. Never heard the gospel once in my life until I was 26.

When my dad was dying of cancer, he and my mother attended first Friday masses on the first Friday of the month. They did this because the church promised them special indulgences to limit his time in purgatory, where he would suffer for his sins because Jesus' sacrifice was not sufficient. My dad believed the lies of his religion. He trusted in his good works and the sacraments—the rituals—to get him to heaven.

After I was saved, I realized that he and many of my relatives who had died were not in heaven. It's a very difficult truth to deal with. But I want to read a verse that gave me comfort, even in this tragic truth concerning my lost loved ones. You may not understand, but I'll risk it. Psalm 58:10 says, "The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men will say, 'Surely there is a reward for the righteous. Surely He is God who judges in the earth.'"

The righteous shall wash their feet in the blood of the wicked. It doesn't sound very comforting, does it? But what it means is that God will do what is right because He is righteous. And when I see Him, when I am glorified together with Christ, I will understand even better the righteous judgment of God.

There's coming a day, my friends—a day of judgment and wrath. And the wicked, the unbelieving should fear, should be terrified, should flee into the arms of the Savior from the wrath to come. This is what our message is. It's not that He's going to make your life better; He's going to save you from eternal wrath. Offer that salvation to lost men. Tell them the truth so that they might flee from the wrath to come and be saved forever. 

The opportunity is here for every man to believe Jesus and to be saved. We carry that good news message to the world. But this is not a time of fear for the righteous. It's not a time to be afraid and terrified for those who have received the grace of God, the righteousness of Christ through faith because of His death, burial, and resurrection.

My friends, the time of Jesus' coming is a time of rejoicing, a time of reward, a time of fulfillment and consummation for all that we anticipate and long for and trust in Him who judges righteously. And trust yourself to Him who judges righteously. Trust all the questions you have to Him who judges righteously. Go to His Word. Come into the house of the Lord. See their end and be moved to go and tell them the good news about salvation from wrath from our sins in the person and work of Jesus Christ only through faith in Him. 

Let’s close in prayer. Father, we thank You for Your Word, Your truth, even the hard parts. Thank You for telling us the truth. Thank You for loving us so much that even when we were Your enemies, when we were against You, when we were lost sinners in Adam, You sent Your Son to die in our place. What unbelievable grace. 

Father, we're so thankful for Jesus. We're so thankful for salvation and promise and hope in Him. And we're thankful for the privilege of being Your ambassadors on this earth as long as You have us here. Help us to understand why we are here and help us to be faithful in the mission that You’ve given to us and be clear in the preaching and teaching of the Word of God in the gospel to the lost. In Jesus' name, we pray.