Please turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Luke chapter 17 and verses 20 to 37. This is God's Word. Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, the kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, look, here it is, or there. For behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And he said to his disciples, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, look, there, or look, here. Do not go out or follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation, just as it was in the days of Noah. So will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage. until the day when Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all. So will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down to take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken, and the other left. And they said to him, where, Lord? And he said to them, where the corpses, there the vultures will gather. So ends reading of God's word. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing. Lord, even as we sang a moment ago, we do ask that your spirit would help us to see and to learn and to be stirred and sobered and awaken to the truths of your word. We ask that, especially with a passage like this that has been misunderstood by many and twisted by others, that you would lead us into the way of truth. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. When will the kingdom of God come? When will Christ return to make all things right again? This is a question that resonates deep within the heart of every Christian, especially as we live in a world filled with disappointments and sin and trials and injustice. As we face pain and sorrow and as we look around us and it seems that evil is triumphing, we're left longing for something better. Our heart aches for a world where everything is made right, where no injustice goes unpunished, a place where justice will reign, where peace will flourish, and where joy abounds under the rule of a good and sovereign king. This longing is hardwired into us because we were made for a kingdom that is not of this world. And so we ask, when will this be? When will the kingdom finally come in all its glory? When will the conquering king return to make all things right? And we're not the first to ask this question. In our text this afternoon, both the Pharisees and even the disciples ask this question of when is the kingdom? Where is the kingdom? And Jesus responds to them, first revealing that, well, in a sense, the kingdom is already here. The kingdom is in your midst because the king is in your midst. And yet Jesus also points to something that's future about the kingdom. The kingdom will come in all its glory when Christ returns. As unmistakable as lightning flashing across the sky, so will be the day of Christ's return. But as he teaches us, that day of his return will also be a day of judgment, where he will discriminate between those who are his and those who are of the world. So how do we live in this tension between what is already and what is yet to come? How do we as believers resist the complacency and the pull of idols? How do we avoid and block our ears to the siren's call of this world that wants to lull us to sleep and spiritual death? Well, the answer is to fix our gaze on Christ's return. It is to set our hope, our desire, our longing for Christ and for his kingdom and for his soon return. You know, the return of Christ, I think for some, perhaps in ways because it has been misrepresented and abused, some perhaps mistakenly think that the return of Christ, the last days, all of that, is maybe for those who are obsessed with charts and graphs and those sorts of things. But actually, the return of Christ is central to our Christian faith. It's central to the gospel. It's something we declare in the Apostles' Creed when we say, he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And so understanding the return of Christ is something essential for every follower of Christ. And so today, as we explore this passage, we'll consider what the Lord teaches us about his kingdom. First, how the kingdom has already come in Christ. Second, how the kingdom will come in glory, and third, how the kingdom will bring judgment. So first, the kingdom has already come in Christ. Now you remember the broader context of where we are in the gospel of Luke. Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem. He is on his way, as he said, to accomplish his exodus, where he will accomplish our redemption. He has just healed 10 lepers of their skin conditions. He commanded all of them to go to the temple to be seen and inspected by priests and to offer sacrifices and go through the rituals. Nine left, one returned. And that man, a Samaritan, recognized what the others failed to see. He recognized that Jesus is the true temple. He is, in a sense, the place where the kingdom of God is found. He is the Christ, God in flesh. And he worshiped him as such. And now as this healed Samaritan is at Jesus' feet worshiping him, the Pharisees, who wherever Jesus goes seem to be buzzing around like flies, turned to him and they asked him in verse 20, so when is the kingdom going to come? Now boys and girls, when you hear the word kingdom, what do you think of? probably think of a mighty king for a start, a king who's at the head of his army leading his troops to battle with unfurled banners and behind him a mighty castle and certainly an entire kingdom under his command and rule and reign. And that's very much the thing that the Pharisees had in mind when they asked Jesus, when is the kingdom going to come? Their question reveals a number of misconceptions that they had about the kingdom. Well, for starters, they assume that the kingdom is entirely future. They cannot fathom that the kingdom might already be here in this humble Galilean peasant standing before them. Secondly, their question of when will the kingdom come ignores the fact that Jesus has been continually performing miracles. Well, that's irrelevant, according to the Pharisees. And then third, they expect the kingdom to come with worldly pomp and splendor. They're looking for a kingdom much like Solomon's, a kingdom with armies and borders and banners, with political dominance. Well, notice how our Lord responds. First, he speaks to how the kingdom is not coming. He says the kingdom is not coming in ways that can be observed. Again, the Pharisees wanted a kingdom that could be seen, a kingdom you could look at and say, wow. And if anyone mocked your king, you could point to the king's soldiers. But that's not the kind of kingdom that is here presently on Earth, so Christ tells the Pharisees. Christ's kingdom doesn't work that way. The kingdom cannot be observed the way other kingdoms can be, the kingdoms of this world. There's a second way the kingdom does not come. In verse 21, Jesus says, nor will they say, look, here it is, or there. In other words, you cannot point to a specific geographic region and point out the borders and say, that's where the kingdom is. It's here, it's there. No, Jesus says, you cannot do this. You cannot point to it and say, there it is. So where is the kingdom, Jesus? Well, next Jesus tells us, for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. Jesus is saying to these Pharisees, you're asking me where the kingdom is? Open your eyes. It's right before you. It's here among you. And Luke's gospel has shown us again and again how the kingdom is present in the person and work of King Jesus. The kingdom is present in Jesus' preaching. From the very beginning of his ministry in Luke chapter four, he proclaimed the good news of the kingdom. The kingdom is present in his miracles. In fact, all of his miracles are simply signs that point to the inbreaking of the kingdom into this world. In Luke 11, when he cast out demons, he declared to them that the kingdom of God has come upon you. Every healing, every act of mercy, every proclamation of truth has all been evidence revealing the inbreaking of the kingdom into this world. Even the faith of the Samaritan who realized that he was going the wrong direction as he was heading to Jerusalem and he turns back and he falls at Jesus' feet and he worships the king. That itself is a sign of the kingdom. Now, it's important to recognize that the kingdom of God comes in two stages. First, in weakness, and then in glory. And this is what the Pharisees misunderstood. They expected the kingdom to come with all the pomp and glory that they saw, perhaps, in the Roman emperors and the Roman armies. They expected the kingdom to come and overthrow the Romans and remove their oppressors and restore Israel's glory. Many in the church today fall for the same trap as the Pharisees. Some look for the kingdom of Christ in politics. placing their hope in governments or leaders or in societal transformation. They believe that only if the right leaders or policies were in place, well then the kingdom would come. Others obsess over end times predictions, scouring headlines for signs, searching timetables that might reveal the when, the how and the where of God's kingdom. Still others are captivated by outward grandeur, They're drawn to the impressive grand cathedrals, the megachurches, or even the big conferences with famous speakers, mistaking size and spectacle for evidence of God's kingdom at work. And yet Jesus warns us that to look to those things for the kingdom is to miss where the kingdom really is. The kingdom of God is not advanced through political power or military might. It does not depend upon great and grand displays or even upon material wealth. Instead, Jesus teaches us that the kingdom is found in the ordinary ways that God works, through preaching and through the administration of the sacraments, through the Holy Spirit's work of transforming lives, Dear Christian, do you know where the kingdom is? Kingdom is here. The kingdom is in your midst. It's present wherever we gather in the name of Christ, where his word is preached, where the sacraments are observed, and where church discipline is rightly practiced. There is the kingdom of Christ. It's visible in the Spirit's work of sanctifying and growing sinners like us, making us more and more like Christ. So do not wait for some great work of God among the nations or in politics as though God was holding out upon us and we need to wait for those things. If you're tempted to think that way, instead, hear Jesus' words afresh. Behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. It's in the midst of you. Jesus is saying to each one of us, open your eyes and see that the king has come. He's at work. He's present in the world. He's in the midst of the church. And although it may not be impressive to the eyes of the world, he is at work, changing lives, saving sinners, proclaiming his word. And so our response, like the Samaritan leper, is to recognize that the king is here, he's in our midst, so let us fall at his feet, let us worship him, let us obey him. So the kingdom of God has already come in part at the time of Jesus' first coming. But that, of course, is not the end of the story or the passage. Secondly, the kingdom will come in all its glory at Christ's return. So for now, we live in between this tension between what is called the already and the not yet. With the Pharisees, Jesus emphasized the already, what has already come. Because remember, they're denying that Jesus is the king. So Jesus is emphasizing what is already. Well now, he turns to his disciples, and he emphasizes the not yet, or what is to come. And Jesus begins by speaking to his disciples about the days that they are living in. Notice how throughout this section, he speaks of two things. He speaks of days, plural, and ade, singular. This is important. For example, in verse 22, he speaks of the days that are coming when they will desire to see one of the days. So this distinction is key. What does it mean? Well, the days, plural, represent the days that we are living in now. This is the time between Christ's first coming and second coming. These are what we might call the days of the church age, where we experience his kingdom presently but partially, not yet in its fullness. Throughout this section, the reference to day singular refers to the specific day of judgment, the day of Christ's return, when his kingdom will be fully revealed in all its glory. So keep that distinction in mind. So Jesus tells his disciples in verse 22, the days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. So in other words, The days that we live in now as Christians, Jesus says, will be marked by desire, by longing. As we live in these days before his second coming, we will long for his second coming. We will long to see that day, but we will not see it. We will have to endure with patience and eagerness his coming. In this time of waiting, Jesus warns his disciples of the danger of false teachers, as he says next, and they will say to you, look there or look here. But he warns, do not go out or follow them. So our longing for the return of Christ as we live in these days makes us perhaps somewhat vulnerable to false teachers and false prophets who will tell us, look, here is Christ, or I know the day of his return. But Jesus says you must not believe them. And as we look throughout history, many false teachers, many false prophets have come, claiming to know the where and the when and the how of Christ's return. from the Millerites in the 1800s to Harold Camping in several times in the last few decades. False teachers have tried to predict the end of the world and the return of Christ. The cult of the Jehovah's Witnesses have claimed that Christ has already come in 1914, I think to Brooklyn of all places. False prophets prey on that desire that we have for certainty. It's good that we long for Christ's return. And there's a right desire in wanting that to come and wanting that certainty in a sense. But Jesus warns us not to be speculative and not to fall for really something that is nothing other than modern day pagan divination. Because God has not revealed to man when Christ will return. Well, another reason to never believe anyone who tells you that Jesus has returned is because when he returns, you won't need anybody to point it out to you. As Jesus says, for as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to another, so will the Son of Man be in his day. You didn't need anyone to tell you that it was snowing last week. The evidence was before your eyes. And likewise, lightning in the sky is not a private kind of revelation or epiphany. When you're outside and it lights up the sky, everyone sees it. And so it will be when the Son of Man returns. It won't be something that you'll miss or you'll sleep through because you forgot to set your alarm. No, when the Son of Man returns in all his glory, everyone, living and dead, will behold his return. Well, this stands in contrast to the teachings of dispensationalism, which claims that Jesus will return secretly to rapture believers. But here and other texts would indicate that Christ's return is not a private affair. It couldn't be more public. And it will inspire awe for those who trust in him and terror for those who don't. However, there is something that must come before this flash of lightning in the sky, this return of Christ. Jesus tells his disciples in verse 25, but first, he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. Jesus, of course, is referring to his own suffering. He's referring to his own death that will accomplish our salvation. You see, for Christ, the suffering of the cross precedes the glory of his second coming. For Jesus, there is no crown without the cross. And this pattern of suffering followed by glory is not only true for Christ, but it's also true for those who follow as his disciples. The days that we live in now are marked by desire and longing. They're marked by trial and suffering. Remember what James says, are you really surprised that trials are coming upon you? In this life we will have sorrow, we will suffer as we await his return. Why? Because we walk that same path of suffering that he walked, trusting in a glory that lies ahead. And so Jesus prepares us for this by telling us that these days won't be easy. As he plainly said, you will desire to see one of these days, one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Living in these days before Christ's return means experiencing a world upside down, a world that is not as it should be, a world full of sin and suffering and death. It is to know the sting of betrayal, It is to feel the pain of sorrow over the death of loved ones. And it will leave us longing for his return. Dear believer, do you feel that longing in your soul for his return? Perhaps it grips you as you watch the news and your heart breaks over the hardness and the callousness and the perversion and the brokenness of society. Or maybe it comes in the quiet moments when you feel the sting of loneliness because of personal loss. Or maybe it comes as you feel the weight of the guilt of your own sin. Perhaps it's as you face persecution, as others separate from you in the workplace because of your faith. All of these are reminders that the world is not as it should be. and that this world is not our final home. What do you do in that longing? In those times of longing, it's tempting to perhaps despair, losing hope in the promises of God, losing hope in the truth that Christ has promised to return. Others try to numb their pain by turning to idols. getting lost in entertainment, getting lost in material possessions, maybe even getting lost in one's work. Still others turn to false theology, searching for Christ in ways he has not promised to be found, whether it is searching for an unmediated voice from God, or through mystical experiences, or even through man-made images of Christ. But Jesus calls us to a different response. First, he assures us that when you feel that desire and that longing, that it is a good thing. It is the longing and it is the desire of faith. Because faith recognizes, as Hebrews tells us, that this world is not our home. And we are yearning for a home where righteousness dwells. So this longing is a sign of faith. And it is a cry of the heart that knows it was made for something eternal. Paul puts it so beautifully in Romans 8, verse 23, when he says, we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. The consistent cry of the saints throughout the Psalms and even in the book of Revelation, those martyrs around the throne is, how long, O Lord? come quickly. This is the cry of faith. This is the hope of the Christian that does not despair or lose faith or hope in the face of persecution or trial in this life, but instead aches and looks forward for the return of Christ, when He will come and with His finger wipe away every tear. where he will bring justice to injustice, where he will bring peace, where there is strife, and he will make all things new. And so, dear Christian, while you wait, do not lose hope. Do not lose heart. Fix your hope on Christ and upon his sure return. What you experience now is not the full glory of the kingdom. but that full glory will be revealed soon. Until that day, let your longing for his return drive you closer to him. And as we wait, let us pray together with the church throughout all the ages and the martyrs around the throne. Come, Lord Jesus. Well, Jesus has shown us the kingdom's present reality, its future glory, And now third, he turns to a sobering truth, how the kingdom will come in judgment. And to illustrate this, he goes to two, you might say, classic judgment texts from the Old Testament. So he references the days of Noah and the days of Lot. In verse 26 and verse 28, he says that our days now, remember days plural, as we await Christ's return are like the days of Noah and they're like the days of Lot. Well, what were those days like? Well, Noah's days were days of eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage. The people in Lot's days were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. Now, what's striking about all of these activities? What stands out to you? Well, nothing. That's stuff that we do every day. And that's the point. These are the ordinary activities of everyday life. It's business as usual. In other words, the days that precede judgment are rather unremarkable. But this ordinary succession of days comes crashing to a halt with the coming of a single day. For Noah's generation, it was the day he entered the ark and the flood swept everyone else away. For Lot's generation, it was the day he fled Sodom and fire and sulfur rained down from head of heaven and consumed the city. For no one expected the flood, no one could see the fire and brimstone on the horizon, but it came nonetheless and consumed both generations. And Jesus warns, so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. So Jesus warns that his return will be just as sudden. The normalcy of life, the routines we take for granted, our habits will come to a screeching halt. The time preceding his return will be ordinary. It will be like any other day. People will grind their coffee beans in the morning and wait for it to percolate and sip it on the way to work. Lawns will be mowed. Couples will be planning vacations. And then in an instant, the Son of Man will be revealed and all of human history will be interrupted by this singular glorious day of judgment. As with Sodom and as with the flood, all will undergo this judgment. Only those who are prepared, like Noah and like Lot, will escape. Well, how are we to live now that we know judgment is coming, but we don't know when? How are we to prepare for this day that is coming soon? How can we be saved like Lot and Noah? Well, that's what Jesus speaks to next in verse 31. He says, on that day, let the one who is on the housetop with his goods in the house not come down and take them away. And likewise, let the one who is in the field not turn back. So when Christ returns, this is how you are to react. If you're out mowing the lawn, cutting the grass, don't go back into your house. Go to your safe and gather up your belongings. If you're out shopping at Walmart when he returns, don't go back home and fill up your minivan with all the precious stuff of your house. Why in the world would you even do that? Exactly, that's the point. Why would you do that? Jesus is setting up a kind of a ridiculous series of events here. He's making the point that if you are thinking about your possessions on the day of judgment, you have a serious, serious spiritual problem. In other words, the day of Christ's return will reveal where your true treasure lies. Jesus drives home the point in verses 32 and 33. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. What do you remember about Lot's wife? Well, she was part of a group who were told to flee Sodom. They were warned not to go back to Sodom and not even to look back at Sodom because of its coming destruction. And yet she did look back, and she came under judgment. Now, I remember as a child thinking, well, that's terribly unfair because I'm sure I'd want to take a peek back and see the fireworks and everything going on. Well, that's not exactly what her looking back meant. It wasn't just that she was curious about the fire in Brimstone. Her looking back was a looking back of longing. In the same way that Jesus says that we will desire and long for the coming of Christ, Lot's wife longed for and desired that city of destruction. She looked back and she longed for its comforts. She longed for the social life it gave her. Her gaze betrayed her heart's true allegiance. In other words, she was one who left the rooftop to gather her possessions, or came in from the field to gather her things. She valued the comforts of a city destined for destruction more than the safety and joy of God's salvation. Her heart was still in Sodom, and in the words of Jesus, it cost her her life. What is your Sodom? What are the things that you could not imagine leaving behind? If you knew somehow, obviously you can't, if you knew somehow that Christ was coming this week, would you be disappointed because you have something planned next weekend? Are there things more important to you than being with Christ and seeing him? Are there private sins that you enjoy too much that the thought of heaven rips you from those things, and it causes you consternation, disappointment, perhaps. Have you grown so comfortable with sin or the pleasures of this life? Well, the things we cling to on this earth, whether it's wealth or it's status or it's comfort, they are fleeting, and thank God, sin is also fleeting. None of those things will survive the day of judgment. If our hope is tied to what we can lose, We will be lost with those things. That's why Jesus warns us with these chilling words, remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife is a chilling and sobering reminder that judgment is coming. And thus the way we prepare for Christ's return is by loosening our grip on the things of this life. And when we loosen our grip, then our hands are free to embrace Christ and the life to come. We prepare now for the coming of Christ, not by clinging to earthly possessions, to status, to the things that are fading, and certainly not to sin. We prepare for Christ's coming by longing for his return and by looking and investing in the world to come. And as we do that, we're more and more enabled to hold the things of this life with a loose grip. Well, next, Jesus speaks of the discriminating justice of God on that day. In verses 34 and 35, he says, I tell you, in that night, there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, and the other left. There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken, and the other left. Now, the point here isn't that if you've ever seen I can't even think of it now, but the dispensational series where one person is whisked away and the other person is just kind of left, that's not the image here. Jesus isn't even clear which person is being judged and being taken or not being taken. And in other places in scripture, angels come and they gather both. But the point here is that there will be a sudden and discriminating justice between two people. Two people will share one bed, one house. They'll be married. One will be taken to life. The other will be taken to judgment. Two people will be working side by side in the workplace. One will be saved. The other will be judged. The point is that there won't be time to prepare. You won't get a letter in the mail saying that Christ is going to come next week. Be ready. Make sure you repent by that time. No, this is the letter that Christ is coming. And now is the time to repent. Now is the time to prepare, because there will be no opportunity when that lightning flashes in the sky and Christ returns. Judgment will come like a thief in the night, not because it will be secretive, but because it will come when you do not expect it. And it will divide humanity into two groups, those who belong to Christ, those whose hearts are set in Sodom, and those whose hearts are longing for Christ's return. Now remarkably, after all of this teaching, the disciples, in a very disciple-like fashion, respond to Jesus with the terrible question, where, Lord? The Pharisees asked when, Jesus says don't ask when or where, but the disciples nonetheless ask where. They want to know where will this be instead of wrestling with the significance of everything he's just said. So Jesus kind of answers a kind of a stupid question with sort of a non-answer that again reinforces the theme of judgment. He responds where? Well, where are the corpses? There the vultures will gather. This image of vultures circling a corpse is meant to shock us. It's a very unpleasant image when you're driving on the highway and you see a deer that's been mangled to pieces from being hit and vultures picking at it. That's the imagery here. It's a picture of death and decay and judgment. Just as vultures naturally gather where death is present, so judgment will come wherever sin and rebellion persist. And so Jesus' words here, his final words, really press home just the reality of judgment, that it's universal, it's unavoidable. And so the question that we must ask ourselves, again, is not when will this be, or where will this be, or how will this be, because Jesus has told us how. The question we must ask ourselves is, am I ready? Am I ready for his return? because his return is certain. The day of judgment is coming, and it will come when we least expect it. Think of the people of Noah's day, busy planning weddings and enjoying meals. Think of the residents of Sodom, preoccupied with buying and selling, unaware that a firestorm of fury is on the horizon, ready to consume them. They lived as if judgment was a myth, that God was a Santa Claus figure. that the place called hell, perhaps, was a story told to scare children. And then they were consumed and destroyed by judgment. Friend, are you living with that same sense of false security? Are you so caught up in the routines of life, career, family ambitions, that you've lost sight of eternity? Jesus' words are a warning. and a wake-up call to wake from slumber to the realities of a judgment that is coming and to repent while there's still time. And that's the good news. There is still time. As long as time ticks on, there is still hope because the floodwaters of judgment have not yet come and the fire and brimstone has not yet fallen. We're still living in a day of patience and grace, a day of salvation. If you are not trusting in Christ, the warning is urgent to repent and to believe the gospel, because there is a judgment that's coming. But there is also an ark of salvation, and his name is Jesus Christ. So run to him while there's still time. Do not delay. Repent today. Turn from your sins. Place your trust in Christ, for the door of the ark is still open. but it will not remain open forever. It will close when judgment comes. Now these may not be the most comfortable passages of scripture to think about, but these passages of scripture are not designed to make us feel comfortable. They're supposed to wake us up from our spiritual slumber and sleep of death. They're to wake us up from spiritual drowsiness and to drive us to Christ. Are you ready for that day? Are you now awake? Well, if you are in Christ, this day of Christ's return is not a day that you need to fear. For you, it is a day of joy and hope. It is a day when your King and Savior will return, for you have the confidence that His righteousness has been credited to you, that if you are trusting in Christ, that day of judgment, in a sense, has already happened. You have already been declared justified before God's courts. This day will merely be the public proclamation of your justification. And so for those trusting in Christ, may this spur us to greater urgency and faithfulness in daily living. Let us live as those whose hope is not tied to the possessions and the glory that is fading of this age, but instead let us live as those whose hope is fixed on the Savior and the life to come. Let us live longing for his return. For the day is coming when the ordinary will give way to the extraordinary. The temporary will give way to the eternal. And on that day, may we be those found in him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for your love for us that you do not leave us asleep in our sin in that sleep of death but through your word you awaken you announce to us you alert us to the truth of the coming judgment but also of the most glorious truth, that salvation is found in the ark of salvation that is Christ. And we do pray that all of us would look to Christ, that we would trust in him, and that on that day we might be found trusting in Christ and in the world to come. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.