The Seven Deadly Sins

Well, today we begin a series, a new series on the seven deadly sins. For generations, sin has been very much the forefront of discussion, not only in religious context, but in conversation generally. But today, at least in our society, sin seems to be an old-fashioned negative judgmental term, something which would be relegated to the past. And generally speaking, sin in our society has been defanged, domesticated, and in many cases even discarded. Sin has become a word of fun, a word we smirk about.

People talk about the sin of eating too much chocolate cake or too much ice cream. Many churches rarely mention sin. Some so-called pastors boast that they don't talk about sin. Sin is so negative, so passé, so judgmental, so much your grandfather's church. There's no place for it, we're told, in the contemporary church where everything has to be upbeat, has got to be jolly, has got to be loud, has got to be triumphal, where we're more concerned not about sin, who wants to talk about sin, but rather our own self-esteem, that we need to have more self-belief. And so there's a kind of preaching that is kind of motivational to get us to believe in ourselves and sin is relegated.

Also, even those who talk about sin, when we think about it, use, as you know, this user-friendly terminology. For example, we talk about people who hook up, who sleep together, who have affairs. Having an affair that, well, that sounds nice, might even be good in some circumstances, we're told.

It's very exciting. It's a very nice term. So-and-so has had an affair, the biblical terms of fornication and adultery and drunkenness. Well, they sound too harsh, don't they? Too ugly, too judgmental, too destructive, so let's get rid of sin. So we live in a therapeutic society. Instead of talking about sin and transgression and rebellion, we talk about disorders, dysfunctions, disease, dependencies. Years ago, Chuck Colson wrote, this myth that mankind is basically good deludes people into thinking that they're also victims, never villains, always deprived, never depraved. It diminishes responsibility as the teaching of a darker age.

It can excuse any crime because it can always blame something else, a sickness of our society or a sickness of the mind. But what do you think? Let me ask you this, whatever your belief is today, and perhaps you're not a follower of Christ, we're delighted that you're here, but let me ask you this. As you look around the world generally, not only in our own city, not only in our own nation but in the world, we watch world news.

We now realize with our technology that we can know what's happening around the world, not just around the corner. Doesn't there seem something out of whack in our world? If there is no sin, why is there so much hurt? Why so many tears?

Why so much frustration and anxiety? What about all of the violence and the wars and the prejudice and the conflict and the divorce and the abuse and the crime and the deceit and the manipulation of people and even the murder of people, the killing of people? Can it really be true that we as human beings are evolving, that we're getting better, that we are improving, or is there some fatal flaw within us? Today we're going to see in this series, not only does sin exist, it does, it's a huge problem for you and for me. It's a great problem, and a correct understanding of sin is essential for a true, for a mature understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, he that thinks lightly of sin thinks lightly of the Savior.

Think about that. If you have a weak view of sin, you've got a very weak view of the Savior and of grace and of forgiveness. No, the Scripture teaches us, as we're going to find out, that all sin, not just the so-called deadly sins, all sin leads to death. And so we must take sin seriously. You as an individual, whatever your belief system is, you must take sin seriously. And from a biblical perspective, we must individually acknowledge our personal sin, not just pointing the finger at others, but we must acknowledge our own personal sinfulness. And then we embrace, as we've been singing, the matchless grace and forgiveness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I invite you, first of all, to open your Bibles to Romans.

I'm going to read three very familiar verses, verses we teach our children at Wanna Sunday School that you may teach at home, and I trust that you have memorized them, and if not, may do so. In Romans, Paul is giving the exposition of the Gospel, and before he talks about the grace of God, he talks about our sinfulness, our basic dilemma is one of sin. Romans 3 then, verse 23, Paul is coming to a kind of climax in his argument in the book of Romans. He's dealt with religious people, Jewish people, moral people, pagans, and he's now sort of summarizing his view on sin.

He's told us that God's wrath is against all sin in Romans 1, verse 18. And here he says here, Romans 3, 23, for all have sinned, that includes you and me, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The word sin is a missing of the mark. You've missed the target. You've come short.

It's not just that you have fallen short once. The point is, you've sinned and you continue to fall short of the glory of God that we've been singing about, and we open with the holiness of God, and you and I continually, time and time and time again, fall short of the glory of God. And then chapter 5, verse 12, Paul says here something very important, and we're going to learn more of this in a minute. Romans 5, verse 12, therefore, just as sin came into the world, Paul is clear that sin is in the world.

Don't deny it. You're deluding yourself if you don't think there's sin in the world. Just as sin came into the world through one man, we're going to learn who that is. And death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. Sin entered the world through one man. And then in chapter 6 of Romans, Romans 6, verse 23, a wonderful verse, which presents in one sense the gospel in a nutshell, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Sin is in the world.

Sin is in your heart and mine. Now, let's think of the so-called seven deadly sins. In Scripture, there are ten commandments, although the seven so-called seven deadly sins are individually listed in Scripture as we'll see during this series, they're not listed together as a group. It seems that somewhere about the fourth and fifth century, this term seven deadly sins arose and it has been codified by the medieval church. Dante, as some of you read his comedy, he wrote on the seven deadly sins at great length and the consequences of them. Thomas Aquinas called these seven deadly sins the cardinal sins. And so, we have in our language this expression the seven deadly sins. These sins are destructive and they are deadly. I want first of all to quickly go through the list.

In the following weeks, we're going to think of them one by one. First of all, pride. Augustine said, pride is the beginning of sin.

I think he's right. Pride is the beginning of sin. By that, Augustine meant that in a sense all sin flows from the sin of pride. It was this sin, the sin of pride, which brought down our enemy, Satan, remember, from the glory of heaven with the result that he will be in a lake of fire eternally.

What was his sin? Pride. Pride comes, doesn't it, in a thousand disguises.

Ten thousand disguises. It comes from the utter arrogance and hubris of individuals, a very obvious pride, but it manifests itself with all kinds of disguises, false modesty, and so on. In Proverbs 6, there are seven sins stated as things the Lord hates. Number one, haughty eyes. You and I probably wouldn't have put that at the top of the list, but the writer of Proverbs does. Things the Lord hates. The Lord hates haughty eyes. The Lord hates pride. Peter says in 1 Peter 5, verse 5, that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Do you want God to oppose you? Do you want God to be against you?

Surely not. But God is opposed to pride. It is a deadly sin.

It's a serious sin, but he gives grace to the humble. Pride. Secondly, envy. If you learned the Ten Commandments, you know the Tenth Commandment is, thou shalt not covet. Envy is a very malicious sin.

It begins by desiring something that belongs to someone else, but goes further and that leads to envy. When we're envious of someone, we're very resentful of them. We may slander them. We may scheme against them. We may dislike them.

We may even hate them. In envy, rather than focusing on the gifts and the blessings and the talents that God in His grace gives you, instead of being thankful for that, you focus on what you don't have and what someone else has, and that leads to envy. And envy secretly loves it when the person we envy fails. Isn't that true?

Have you ever felt that? You say, oh, not me. Yes, you. Envy.

The second deadly sin. The third one is anger. Aren't we an angry people here in the United States? We see anger in politics. Politicians can't speak to each other without being angry. We see anger in homes. We have road rage, where if someone cuts us off, if we're smart, we don't argue with them. My tendency, I was brought up, you flash your lights at the individual, but I've stopped doing that.

You never know, is this guy going to stop? I've been giving the finger here coming to church when someone didn't like the way I was driving. You think, why is someone so angry? A lot of anger, isn't there? Tremendous anger in social media. It's full of angry and vitriolic comments. And can they say, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, please, please, do not get involved in that kind of communication.

It doesn't achieve anything. No one's really interested in your opinion. Let's face it, they're interested in giving their opinion. The Apostle James says, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Men particularly, are angry. A lot of angry men. A lot of angry young men. Remember, Jesus taught that anyone who is angry with his brother has committed murder.

That's the deadly sin of anger. Here's the fourth one, sloth. There's an actual animal called sloth. I'll probably show you a picture of it when we deal with sloth.

Not the most beautiful animal. And sloth manifests itself in many ways. When we think of sloth, we think particularly of just a lazy person, someone who doesn't do anything, just sits there. They may be 29, living in their parents' basement, playing video games, and they just don't want to do anything. And that's certainly sloth.

But there's more to it. There's procrastination. An individual who never deals with issues.

The person who is just apathetic, lethargic, and they allow things to spiral out of control in their lives. They are… they suffer from boredom. They feel there's no real point to life. They have a who cares attitude. Their favorite word is whatever.

How many of you use that? Whatever. Scripture warns against the sluggard. It's not a nice word, sluggard.

See the slug? It's a slothful, lazy, and sloth. Fifth one is gluttony.

You're looking forward to that one. I've never heard anyone preach on gluttony. And I think maybe that's because as a preacher, that's one sin you can get away with.

I don't know. They do say that the difference between a bishop and an archbishop is the arch. So when you see the… when you see the Anglicans, no bishops are archbishops in Scotland and Presbyterian, and we get… we kick them out.

But in England, there's a lot of bishops, and then there's the archbishop. But gluttony, actual fact, he's pretty thin, so he can hide what he does. Gluttony also includes drunkenness. You say, well, no one that comes to Calvary would have a problem with that.

Really? Addiction, drugs, overindulgence, eating and drinking too much. But this gluttony includes being obsessed with something, obsessed with it. The United States is meant to be the obesity capital of the world. Have you noticed today in our society how many people are obsessed with food? It seems that we're either eating too much or too little. We're either stuffing ourselves at the all-you-can-eat buffet or we're boring people with our latest diets or how many vitamins we take, as if anyone cares.

And there's nothing worse, is there? You're about to enjoy a meal and someone starts talking about their diet and, oh, I don't eat this and I don't eat that. You think, oh, this is a form of gluttony, isn't it? An obsession with food. God gives us food to enjoy, not to be obsessed over. I hear people saying, well, I went to such and such a restaurant and they served a pork chop and, oh, I could die for that pork chop.

You say, really? You could die for a pork chop? Gluttony.

Obsession with food. Well, let's do convicting. Let's move on. I mean, I realize as I began this series, I'm going to offend every single person here, right?

Some of you are already mad at me, but it gets worse. Here's the sixth one, greed. The immoderate desire for more and more things. There'd be a brave person this morning would stand up and say, oh, I've never been greedy. Paul writes, listen, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

No, the sin is not being rich. It's this inordinate desire to be rich. It's a greed.

You're never satisfied with what you have. You want more and more and more greed. Some of you remember Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street. He says this, the point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms. Greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward search of mankind. Greed is good, he's saying.

No, it's not. Greed is a deadly sin. Here's the last one, lust. Lust comes in all forms, doesn't it?

Primarily, we think of it in the sexual realm. Lust takes and takes and takes and takes. It's really the opposite of love, because love gives and gives and gives. Lust is selfish. Lust is demanding. Lust is urgent.

I must have this now. Lust doesn't care about the interests of the other person. Love does.

Love is always concerned with the other person. Lust is selfish, self-indulgent, self-gratifying. Peter writes, 1 Peter 2, 11, beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions, the lusts of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Cut it out.

Stop it. Abstain. Lust will destroy your very soul. Like all sins, it's deadly. This sin, lust, will kill you.

It's a deadly sin. Now, I've quickly summarized the seven deadly sins, but I want to say something much important than the seven, than the particulars of the seven deadly sins. I want us to think of the root of sin. We could say that these seven deadly sins are examples of the fruit of sin, but let's look at the root. I want to think of sin and its deadly consequences, and to that, we open our Bibles to the first book, Genesis, and to chapter 3.

Will you do that with me? This is such an important section of Scripture, one of the most important chapters in the Bible, and this, what I'm going to say, is very, very important. Genesis 3, verse 1, now the serpent was more crafty. Notice that. He's crafty.

You need to understand that. The serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. But the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked, and they sowed fig trees together and made themselves loincloths. The crafty temptation of sin. Now, every single one of us here is tempted to sin.

We're not all tempted the same way, but whoever you are, you are tempted to sin. So it's very, very important that we understand the anatomy of temptation, and how it comes, and how crafty our enemy is. Paul says in the New Testament that we're not to be ignorant of his strategies, of his devices. He's a very intelligent enemy, and remember he's an enemy, and he's out to destroy you.

Now, what does he do here? First of all, Satan questions God's Word. Did you notice that? He said to the woman, did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? That's one of his favorite questions, isn't it? Did God say, is that really in the Bible? Is that true?

Can you really believe that? This was a very skillful question as the devil comes, and what's he doing? He's creating a doubt in the mind of Eve, and he's trying and succeeding to draw Eve into a dialogue. Now, if you've got an enemy who's out to kill you, to wreck your life, you don't enter in the conversation with the person, do you? You got away from the person. Don't enter into a dialogue with the devil. He's crafty. He is to be resisted, the Scripture says.

You flee from him. And temptation to sin, as it is illustrated here in Genesis 3, often comes at the point of restraint or limitation. I mean, did God actually say you can't taste of that tree? And Eve begins to think, why can't we take the fruit of that tree?

Let me think about that. Think of the lavish generosity and grace of God to Adam and Eve living in a perfect garden. Look back at chapter 2, Genesis 2, verse 8, the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Verse 9, very important, out of the ground the Lord made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Let me ask you, how many trees were in the garden of Eden?

Do you think? Ten? A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand?

We don't know. But the Lord made every tree to spring up, and every tree, the Bible says, was pleasant to the sight and good for food. Some of you like me have been to botanical gardens, you've seen many, many trees. You see the gorgeous flowers in the tree, you see the fruit, some of them produce herbs or spices, and magnificent isn't it even in our fallen world, thinking of all of the trees. But notice what the devil does. The devil wants Eve to focus on the one thing that God commands them not to do. You've got ten thousand trees. Why are you concerned with that one?

God said don't touch that one. Supposing, and this is pure fantasy on my part, but supposing there's a billionaire here, and you think, I know John likes fast cars, and I've got a thousand, I own a thousand of the best cars in the world. Ferrari, Lamborghini, Austin Martin, Porsche, you name it, they're here. They're the best cars. And he's got them in the showroom, and he says to me, John, I just love you.

This is fantasy, of course. John, you're such a great pastor, and I know you like to drive different cars. Every single week you can drive a different car.

Just let me know, I'll put them all on that app. You just text and say which one you want, and I'll have it delivered to your door, it'll be full of gas, it'll be insured, you don't need to wash it, you just drive it for a week, put it back, and then take another one. That is a fantastic idea. But he says, you know, I've got this car, I don't want you to drive that one. So I go, I enjoy the cars. And then one of you, perhaps with a little envy or jealousy, not one of the pastors, they're above that, but someone else comes and says, John, he doesn't allow you to drive that car. I say, yeah, you're right enough. What kind of miserable person is he?

I mean, pretty selfish, isn't he? What's going on? The seed is planted.

Isn't this what happens? Listen, think of how God has blessed you. Just think of it. Think of the blessings that God has given you if you're married and on your family. I know you don't live in a perfect world, I know there's disappointment, there's hardship to all of us, but think of the way that God has blessed you. And notice how the temptation comes. The devil, instead of wanting you to be thankful and to praise God for all that in the grace He's given you, he comes and tempts you, the very point of limitation and restraint, and says, now why don't you do that?

Why don't you take this new experience? Instead of loving God, instead of thanking God, then we begin to wonder, why would a loving God limit me? Why would a loving God restrict me?

See, the devil has set a strategy. Doubt is created in Eve's mind. He questions God's word.

Secondly, he contradicts God's word. Verse 4, the serpent said to the woman, you shall not surely die. Chapter 2, verse 17, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Literally, dying, you shall die. Make no mistake about it, Adam and Eve, if you partake of that tree, you shall surely die.

No, says the devil, if you take that tree, you shall not surely die. He begins by planting a doubt in Eve's mind, and now comes an attack on the Word of God. Can I remind you, my dear brothers and sisters, that the devil is the father of lies. He always lies. He's a deceiver. He's the accuser.

So when he comes to you, you're tempted, remember that. This is lies. This is false. This is not the way to go. He is the outright liar. You shall not surely die.

That common lie is surely one of the most deceptive and blackest of all lies. Go ahead and sin. You'll escape its consequences. You're different. You know, the rules don't really apply to you. You deserve it.

In fact, you can get away with it. No one will actually know about this. You shall not surely die.

Throw off all of your strengths and be free. How many lives have been wrecked? How many homes have been destroyed? How many tears have been shed? How many souls are in hell because that lie has been believed?

Go ahead and it'll be all right. Can I say the obvious? Never, ever listen to the devil. He's the father of lies. He questions God's Word. Secondly, he contradicts God's Word. Thirdly, he questions God's character. I want you to get this.

This is so important. He is questioning the very character of God. Verse 5, notice what the devil says, for God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil.

You know, it's the old lie, isn't it? You know, if God really loved you, He wouldn't restrict you. If God really loved you, He wouldn't limit you.

It's an old lie, isn't it, that we are over and over and over again. You'll be like God. You can do anything you want to do. You can be anything you want to be. Nothing or no one should limit you.

You, as you set out to be the best version of you, don't have any restraints. Just go ahead, follow your heart. Satan is causing Eve to question the goodness of God. Do you ever question the goodness of God?

We hear this lie from our adversary, don't we? If God really loves me, if God really is good, He wouldn't let this happen to me, or He will let me do what I want to do. After all, He will lead me like this.

He'd understand. After all, if God loves me, He wants the very best for me. He wants me to be happy. This is the lie, isn't it, of our society, that nothing else really matters in my life apart from my personal happiness. Isn't that it?

Haven't some of us bought into that lie? What matters in life is your personal happiness. And so if it makes you happy, you go ahead. But notice what Satan has done.

This is key. He has separated the commands of God from the character of God. Does God love you? Yes. Is God some kind of cosmic killjoy, trying to destroy your happiness?

Absolutely not. God is 100% good. And for those of us who are following Jesus Christ, we know that all things work together for good.

Why? Because God is good, God is sovereign, God always, always has the best interests of you at heart. But Satan doesn't want you to believe that. And don't believe the lie that because you want to do something, and because it feels good, and because it feels so wonderful, that it must be right.

Absolutely not. Look at verse 6. Notice what it says about Eve, recorded here. So when the woman saw that the tree was good, of course it was good.

There's nothing wrong with the tree. It was made by God. It was good for food. And it was a delight to the eyes.

Nothing wrong with that. It was made for that Eve. And that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate.

But look back again at chapter 2 verse 9. Out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. Every tree looked good. The fruit on every tree is good.

And so here you are, of course it looks good. See the deadly sin is not believing God, not believing in the goodness of God and the love of God. That's why all sin is against God. Do you think God is there to make your life miserable? Do you think God's commandments are given to make life difficult for you? Absolutely not.

Quite the reverse. If you follow God's will in your life, it's a life of blessing. Think now of the deadly consequences of sin. See Adam and Eve are created. Obviously as human beings they have the capacity for choice and she chooses evil.

Do you know what happens? Into this perfect world. It's the garden of Eden that's perfect. Into this perfect garden where God is King, there enters now another kingdom, a kingdom of evil, a kingdom of darkness, a kingdom of Satan, a kingdom of death. And as we read the Bible from Genesis through Revelation, this is the story that there are two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God, there's the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, there's the kingdom of light, there's the kingdom of eternal life, and there's a kingdom of darkness, a kingdom of death, a kingdom of sin, and a kingdom of ultimate eternal destruction. Look at Genesis 3 verse 15. Here it is, a conflict.

Jerusalem and Babylon. It's worked out in different ways throughout Scripture. I will put verse 15 of Genesis 6, the Word of God to the devil.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head. The Messiah is going to bruise the head of the serpent, and you shall bruise his heel. This is the first indication, as it were, of the Gospel.

What is the remedy? Is God going to leave the garden in darkness and sin and death? No. There is coming a Messiah. Adam and Eve are going to be expelled from the garden, expelled from the perfect environment, because when we sin, we are alienated from God. Sin dehumanizes us. Here we are created in the image of God to find our fulfillment in God and in one another, but as we pursue these sins, lust and greed and envy and pride, we are waging war against our own soul.

We're destroying ourselves, and we have to ask ourselves where do these sins lead? Separation from God. Deceit. Cover up.

You know that. You sin. You want to cover it up. You want to deny it. You want to blame someone else.

Cover up. Destroys your home, your life, perhaps your business. Think of lust, for example, focusing so much on self, so much on self-gratification that relationships of love and intimacy are sometimes never experienced.

Think of envy. It leads to alienation, bitterness, anger, anger, fracturing relationships, because you envy that person and you can't stand that person. See, if you pursue these deadly sins, you'll end up isolated, struggling to have healthy relationships, overwhelmed with guilt and shame. And, of course, all of these sins lead ultimately to death. Proverbs says there's a way that seems right to a man, but the ender off is the way of death. The day you eat of it, you'll surely die. Don't think you can commit sin and it doesn't have any impact on you. You're waging war against your soul. The sins promise pleasure, joy, satisfaction. You eat that fruit and initially it tastes quite good, and you want another bite, and you want another drink, another drug, another fear, and so it goes on. But the fruit may be good to begin with, but it soon becomes bitter and it ends in death. Paul got it right. Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death. Here's the gospel.

But the gift of God, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Left to ourselves, and we sang about this, we could never save ourselves. You can't rescue yourself. Yes, you may modify your behavior. You may clean up your act. You may try religion. You may do good things.

That's true. But the only way for your heart to be cleansed, and the only way for a greater power to be in you than the power of sin and the devil is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because into this dark world of sin and darkness, God in His grace sends the Messiah, the one who's going to come and to bruise the head of the devil.

John says in 1 John 3 that the Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. And as you have the living Christ in you with His power, you have that power to resist the enemy, to live a life to the glory of God. You're here with your sin? You say, what am I going to do? You say, I've committed most if not all of these deadly sins.

I've really messed up. Is there any hope? Yes, there is hope.

Of course there's hope. John says the blood of Jesus, His Son cleanses us from all sin. You want your sin to be cleansed? Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Because our Lord Jesus Christ comes and takes these nasty, deadly sins on His own body, on the tree. He pays the price, goes into death, conquers our enemy, rises from the dead triumphantly and says, now I'm offering you a free gift, a gracious gift, the gift of salvation. If you turn from your sin and trust in me, you'll be saved.

You'll be victorious. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. I'm going to pray and ask even as I pray that you'll be getting right with God. You may have never trusted Christ.

Will you do that? You may be a true believer, but these nasty sins have come in. Will you repent of them? Our Father, this is a tough message for us as we're confronted with our own personal sin and it's so easy for us to point to other people, but we ask that your Spirit will convict each of us of sin and that we'll turn from it and embrace the Savior. There's here, there's some here who have never yet come to Christ. Thank you that they're here under the sound of the Gospel. May they trust the Savior now, we pray, and guide us and bless us in Christ's name. Amen.