Well, if you would take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 1, we'll be unpacking more of this glorious section of Scripture. I trust that your hearts have been warmed over these past four or five weeks that we've been in Ephesians 1, considering verses 3 to 14. Today, the substance of our text will be just verses 9 and 10. Think with me of a home in the suburbs with a mother that has four preteens that are very, very active. And not only is there the four preteens that are there, but there's four friends that are over. And they're all sitting nicely in this nice sectional couch in the family room, watching a movie and all is well, but mom has to go to the store. Mom goes to the store. She's at the store, she gets delayed a little bit, and she comes home and there's chaos. Because the movie has ended, two kids decided they're going to come up with a cookie recipe, so there's flour all over the kitchen. Two or three kids are tossing football in the living room, knocking over lamps, and the rest of them are fighting. You would call that chaos and pandemonium, wouldn't you? Disorder. And what happens when the mom comes home? The mom quickly sets things in order, maybe the dad, maybe both, and makes those kids clean things up. You might also think of a town that's been overruled by mob rule, and there's just disorder. There's no authority whatsoever. And finally, when the Calvary comes in, as it were, things are set into order. And Paul is really painting a picture here of God's complete divine sovereignty in all things. To our human and limited minds, sometimes what we see is the chaos. And you look at our world, and there is a lot of chaos everywhere. It seems like there's disorder. It seems like, who's in charge? Certainly not a sovereign God, we could conclude in our puny brains. But Paul asserts that not only is God in charge, but he's going to bring about that ultimate order in that great day when he sets all things rightly in submission to Christ and bringing all things under His headship. He writes of the cosmic restoration of all things, the uniting and the summing up of all things in Christ. And that will take place in a few different ways. First is restoration of what has been broken. Restoration of what has been affected by the fall. You see that in Romans 8. A unity, a bringing together under one head under the headship of Christ. The Dutch theologian Bovink puts it clearly like this. Round about us we observe so many facts which seem unreasonable, so much undeserved suffering, so much unaccounted calamities, such an uneven and inexplicable distribution and destiny, and such an erroneous contrast between the extremes of joy and of sorrow. that anyone reflecting on these things is forced to choose between viewing the entire universe as though it was governed by the blind will of an unbenign deity, as done by pessimism, or upon the basis of Holy Scripture and by faith, to rest in the absolute and sovereign, yet however incomprehensible, wise and holy will of Him, who will one day cause the full light of heaven to dawn upon these mysteries that we have in life. Now that was quite a mouthful. I probably should have put that quote in the email so you could read it a few times, but Bavik is worth your time in reading and studying, especially for theological students. In the broader context of the Bible, Christ is set forth as what? He is the last Adam, 1 Corinthians 15, 45. He is the anti-type of Adam, Romans 5, 14. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offensive Adam, who is a type of him who is to come. Christ, Paul tells us later in this chapter, is the head of the church. Yay, he's the head of all things. He is the one that brings about the Father's good pleasure and redeems His people. Well, last time we saw in verses 7 and 8 that glorious redemption that is ours. Before that, we saw the Father choosing us before the foundation of the world, predestinating us to adoption as sons. The Son makes that effectual in time and space from the past eternity past to the present in time and space. He redeems us. He secures forgiveness by the shedding of his own blood. Those of us who were enslaved to the moral slavery, enslaved to sin, he sets free by the work on the cross. And then, of course, the blessing that the forgiveness of our sins, paid in full by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is encouraging. And so today, as we come to our text, we see these beautiful gemstones of God's mystery, which is being made more clear to us. It's being revealed divinely from God, as well as divine sovereignty, that the child of God can rest in no matter what conflict, no matter what is going on in our lives, that we can rest, that God is in control, and I am his child. Nothing will befall me except that which will bring Him glory and for my eternal good. We can truly rest in that. And divine sovereignty and human responsibility, there's been a tension all throughout history. You know, Charles Spurgeon puts it, they're like railroad tracks that remain parallel and we won't fully understand them until we get to heaven. Kuyper, another Dutch guy, I'm not Dutch, these guys are good, puts it like this, and trying to reconcile the two. I liken them to two ropes going through a hole in the ceiling and attached to a pulley. If you hold both at the same time, you're in a good place. But if you cling to divine sovereignty while ignoring human responsibility, you will fall down and vice versa. If you deny sovereignty and hold human responsibility, both truths are clearly taught in the Word of God. And so we need balance in these things. We know that God is sovereign, and yet man is responsible. Charles Spurgeon puts it like this in regards to the comfort that we receive from this attribute. There is no attribute more comforting to his children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances and the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought to more earnestly contend than the doctrine of their Master over all creation, the kingship of God over all the works of His hands, the throne of God, and His right to sit upon the throne, for it is God who is upon the throne, and it is Him with whom we trust. So we're gonna just consider this section of scripture just under two points, God's cosmic eternal plan and purpose revealed in the present, and then verse 10, his cosmic eternal plan revealed in the future. But let's go ahead and read just verses seven to 12 to get the broader context. Ephesians chapter one, beginning in verse seven. In him, We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He's lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight, He made known to us the mystery of His will according to the kind intention which He purposed in Him. With a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of the times, That is the summing up of all things, or the uniting of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be to the praise of His glory. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do rejoice in the comfort of knowing that you are sovereign in all things, the comfort that we receive to know that you will make every apparent wrong right, that you will bring about justice Lord, that you will care for your children in the midst of whatever adversity there may be. And Lord, we thank you that we can take comfort in these things. We ask, oh God, that you would help us to submit to your word, for it is life-giving. It is sharp, sharper than any two-edged sword. So Lord, we pray that your word would accomplish its will in our hearts and lives, even this day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So first of all, the first point here, God's cosmic eternal plan, a purpose revealed in the present. Now, grammatically, I've already said this is one sentence. And diagrammed in the Greek, there's modifiers and phrases and so forth. And verses 9 and 10 actually are modifying what we ended with last week. In verse 8, speaking of the riches of His grace, which He's lavished upon us. And then Paul just says, oh, and by the way, in all wisdom and insight, He's made known to us this mystery, and this mystery is related to this grace that has been lavished upon us. Now what this mystery is not is not some Nancy Drew mystery or an Alfred Hitchcock mystery. I couldn't think if there's any modern shows that are mysteries. I was asking my wife what's something a little more modern that maybe the young people might know. Come and tell me later. Perry Mason show, that's really going back even before my time. But that's not what Paul is talking about. Paul's not talking about some well-crafted suspense unfolding here. In the Bible, mystery describes something that has been previously hidden, but now is being revealed. That's the idea. And in fact, it describes that it is a truth that can only be known through God's special revelation. In other words, the great minds of the world in their ivory towers, apart from the Bible, will never understand what this mystery is. It's revealed in Scripture as part of His perfect revelation. that which was once hidden that is revealed the secret is now out in the open now the book of Ephesians uses this word more than any other epistle six times and I want you to turn to chapter 3 for a moment chapter 3 beginning in verse 3 that by the revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit to be specific that the gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in christ jesus through the gospel so in one sense the unfolding of this mystery is the mystery that the Jews being the elect nation, that now in the New Covenant, both Jew and Gentiles are members of His body. They are the children of God. They are the members of the Ekklesia, the called out one, the church, God's prized possession. That those who were formerly thought of as dogs, and those that are dirty, and those that are unclean, are now made clean by the same blood of Christ, and grafted in and brought in. And so there's that aspect, verses 8 and 9. To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities and heavenly places. So one aspect of it has to do with the bringing in of the Gentiles, but there's much more to it in our text here. In fact, here there's an important development in this opening eulogy, verses 3 to 14, as Peter O'Brien puts it. It's God's saving purposes planned from eternity, and they had their final goal in uniting all things in heaven earth in Christ. So included under that broader umbrella is the inclusion of the Gentiles, but don't mistake that in our text today that this mystery is simply that. There's more to it than that. Paul focuses on this in Romans 16, verse 25. Now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel in the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past. It cannot be understood through human wisdom, as I said. And that's why the end of v. 8, I think, goes with v. 9. In all wisdom and insight, He has made known to us. He has given us the ability to understand these things. Colossians 1, Paul talks about that. That is, the mystery that has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to the saints. And so, in the book of Ephesians, the way this word is used, the broader umbrella or the thing that could describe it is the eschatological fulfillment of God's great plan. In other words, God's great plan and how it's coming to, and at the very end, and how it will be fulfilled, including the Gentiles being grafted in, but much more than that, that all things will be subject to Christ and united under Christ in this great reconciliation. Those who have been born again, those of you who are believers here today, are recipients of this because your eyes and your hearts have been opened to understand something of God's unfolding plan. That's really what He's been setting forth in eternity past. This is what has happened. This is what the Son has done. We'll see in a few weeks what the Spirit of God is doing in sealing us for that great day. Quoting Peter O'Brien again, Paul's making the gospel known to the Gentiles plays a key role in achieving this purpose and incorporating them into Christ and ultimately fulfilling the goal of the mystery itself. So we must not limit the mystery simply to the inclusion of the Gentiles. Now, what's the motivating purpose behind this? Look at verse 9b. So, He made known to us the mystery of His will, according. Here's the measuring. This is how it's measured. According to what? His kind intention, which is purpose in Christ. His kind intention means his good pleasure. The things in which causes God to receive pleasure. It's his kind intention and goodwill towards blessing the saints. God's sovereign activity and election and predestination and adoption are all part of this eternal plan. But when he says here, which he's made known according to the kind intention, which he's purposed, which refers to the kind intention. It is God's good pleasure. It's not the whim of a sovereign, but it represents that in the wisdom and love of God, that He would contribute most to the well-being to each one of these saints to whom He has predestined and elected. then this whole idea of he's purposed we'll see that again in verse 11 right that we've been predestined according to his purpose strong sovereignty language that he's building up in verses 9 10 11 and 12 sovereignty language to describe God but he says in verse 9 according to the kind intention which he's purposed in Him. Purposed is a compound word. It means to place before. In other words, what He has done beforehand. It's something that He has done beforehand. And it's a middle voice, which means that God has done this. He's the one that's doing the activity and the verb for Himself and for the benefit of Himself. But because it benefits Himself, it overflows and benefits all of the people of God that are united to Him. We see this a little bit in Isaiah 46.10 where it says, God declares the end from the beginning and in ancient times things which have not been done saying my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. You see how Paul's words that he's pulling from here, this kind intention and purpose is just pulled right out of the Old Testament of how it was described of God and the Father. far from being less loving than the Son, as some think. Well, the Father's, you know, He's the one that's wrathful, and He's the one that's, you know, that mean God of the Old Testament that destroyed all those people. But Jesus is the meek and lowly one. No, the Father, far from being less loving than the Son, takes delight and planning whatever must be done in order to bring about the elect's salvation and their perseverance unto the end. This is full and free. It's the overflow of God's benevolence. The benevolence that occurred in eternity past between the Spirit of God, the Son of God, and God the Father. That love and unconditional love towards one another has now been manifested towards the elect people of God. It's full, it's free to rescue a people that have been plunged into ruin, plunged into sin, with no hope in and of themselves. This is all part of the plan of God, that His grace might be magnified to us, that He might, as it said, as we saw last week, that He might lavish this grace upon us. This mystery now revealed, really, in some ways, you could say, is summed up from verses 4 to 14. It was God's eternal plan to send Jesus, to unite all things, or sum up all things, to reconcile all created things to Him, the creator of all things. Jesus will be the one to reverse all the consequences of human sin and rebellion. So that's something of the mystery in the present, or in time and space. And now verse 10, we see something of it in the future. And the ESV is much clearer on the reading of verse 10. where it says, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Him. And I have to unpack these words to help us with the understanding. The NAS reads, for with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ. So his plan and purpose are realized in the fullness of time. The fullness of time. His plan from all eternity is being carried out now in time and space, leading to that complete consummation that is yet to come. The fullness of time refers to the sequence of events and times under God's sovereign direction. It's eschatological language. The Gospel of Mark, the first words that's declared about Jesus. What does it say? Of Jesus, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Paul in Galatians 4.4, but when the fullness of time has come, God sent forth His Son. First Timothy 6.15 regards the coming of Christ, which He will display at the proper time. All of these are eschatological events leading to that great end times of the consummation of all things. These are all steps in redemptive history. The Lord Jesus Christ being born of a virgin, the Lord Jesus Christ beginning His earthly ministry, and when He will come again. These are major eschatological events. the word that's translated in the NAS with a view to the administration. It's a word that's nine times in the New Testament. It has the idea of management, or we see it in, for example, Luke 16, of a steward being placed over the household, being put in charge and organizing all of the accounts and the balances and being in charge of all of those things. It's an order or a plan, and so here it is God's unique plan, his private plan, his plan of salvation, where all the arrangements for redeeming the elect humans are being implemented. And architects' plans for a building that is to be erected is submitted far in advance. And so too, God has revealed His perfect plan in Christ and has taken purposeful steps unto bringing that about. Though God has done so much, we still await the consummation. And so this idea of a steward and managing a house and accountable to the owner, for example, Paul uses this word actually in reference to his apostolic office. He says in Colossians 1.25, of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship of God. This administration, this stewardship, being put in charge of this, bestowed, he goes on to say, for your benefit. And so in the present context, this word has the idea of an administration or a management of God implementing His eternal plan. It's something that He is doing, leading to Him gathering everything to Himself and summing it all up under Christ. The wonderful news is that God's plan involved the sinning of Jesus to die for sinners, as we saw last week in detail. Isaac Watts, in his great hymn, says this, Would He devout that sacred head for such a worm as I? Alas, and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? The God-man himself died on the cross. And would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? And apart from His mercy, apart from His grace, we are unworthy worms that have nothing whatsoever to offer to God. But now we know from the New Testament clearly that we are the privileged sons of God. William Barclay, commenting on this verse, says this, Jesus came into the world to wipe out the divisions and the chaos. It was God's purpose that all the many different strands of all the warring elements of this world should be gathered into one in Jesus Christ. Here we have another tremendous thought. Paul says that all of history has been working out, is the working out of this process. And he says that through all the ages, there have been an arranging and the administrating of all of these things. See, that's divine sovereignty thinking that God is in control. So often we hear of the chaos and the persecution of Christians and just the hard things of this world. The tsunami that wipes out hundreds of thousands of people. And we can begin to think in our minds that, well, maybe God didn't quite ordain that. Maybe he wasn't paying attention or something along those lines. And that's dangerous thinking. We know that He's accomplishing His ends, and they're far superior to what might be in your mind. We need to remind ourselves of that. Secondly, under this head, the summing up of all things in Christ. The view to the administration suitable to the fullness of time. So, the arranging of all of these things which is suitable according to the fullness of times, eschatological language, now Paul amplifies, and by the way, this is exactly what it is, the summing up of all things in Christ. This word here, very simply translated, summing up, is a very complex word. It means to bring to a head, there's other nuances, to bring to a conclusion, to recapitulate, but in our text, The context suggests that there is a definitive, comprehensive, recapitulatory summation of the totality of all things. The only other place that's used in the New Testament is a simple verse, I think, Romans 13.9. He lists, you have heard, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, and so forth. And then he says, if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So what does Paul do there? He takes the second table of the law of God, affecting the horizontal relationships, and he says, you can sum all of those up in the second greatest commandment, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The mystery refers to the summing up and the bringing together of everything that has been fragmented, everything that has been alienated, everything that has been divided in the universe and bringing them and summing them up under Christ. Now the root word does occur in some other places, and we'll see it in Hebrews chapter eight in verse one. Paul, I don't think Paul wrote Hebrews. The writer of the Hebrews is building the case of Christ as our great high priest. After setting forth several arguments, he begins chapter eight, right before he begins to unpack the mystery of the new covenant, and he says this, now the main point in what has been said is this, We have such a high priest who has taken a seat at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens. Now that phrase, main point, to sum up what I've been saying by way of review of what I've laid out for five chapters, right? To sum it up, this is essentially what I'm saying. I've unpacked it in different dynamics and Melchizedek and all of that, but to sum it up, Christ is the one that we will see who is not only will the church, that he's the head of the church, but all things, whether in heaven or on earth, are placed under him. In ancient Ephesus today, there's the remnants of a statue that was there of the Roman emperor Trajan. Maybe you've seen it. It's his foot upon a globe. Well, the only thing that remains is his foot. I actually looked up an image of that. It's just nothing but a foot missing a couple toes. In other words, this Roman emperor never did have the globe and the world under his control. There's nothing left. Foot. Christ rule, however, reaches every corner of the world. Just let your eyes fall to the end of the chapter, down in verse 20, and follow along with me. I'll begin at verse 19. What is the surpassing greatness of His power towards us who believe these are in accordance with the working of His strength and His might, which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand? in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, every name that is to be named, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. And he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. We're told in the epistle to Philippi there that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. So do we believe that? Is Christ really reigning? Is he really in control? Yes and amen. John Calvin says this, the proper condition of creatures to keep close to God, such a gathering together, the idea of summing all this up, as might bring us to a regular order. The apostle tells us that this has been made in Christ. Formed into one body, we are united to God, closely connected with each other. Without Christ, on the other hand, the whole world is a shapeless chaos and a frightful confusion. We are brought into actual unity only by Christ. So it's Christ is the only one that could even make this effectual under the unfolding of the plan of the Father. The summing up of all things in Christ means the unifying of all the cosmos in the direction to the common goal, bringing glory to God, bringing glory to Christ who reconciles all things to Himself. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones is helpful, I think this is a final quote, but it's helpful in understanding the perfect harmony that will be restored will be harmony in man between men and harmony on earth and in the brute creation, harmony in heaven and all under this blessed Lord Jesus Christ who is the head of all. Everything will again be united to Him. And wonder of wonders, marvelous, beyond compare. When all of this happens, nothing will ever be undone again. All will be reunited to Him to all eternity. That is the message. That is God's plan. That is the mystery that has been revealed to us. And listen to what He says. These things are so marvelous that you will never hear anything greater, either in this world or in the world to come. That blessed reconciliation, that blessed reuniting everything, the restoration of all things that have been affected by the fall. And notice what Lloyd-Jones says, never to be undone again, for all eternity restored properly and rightly. for the eternal realm. Well, he ends in verse 10 here, the summing up of all things in Christ, or uniting all things in Christ, in the heavens and the things on the earth. The parallel statement in the heavens and the earth, we see here, it's a clever use of words. God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1.1. But these two concurrent things we see again and again throughout Ephesians. There's a reference to the heavenlies. We saw that back in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The heavenlies are referred to at least six times in this epistle, but also clearly referenced in our text today and in four other places, the things of the earth. And so you have these, as it were, two spheres, these two realities that are parallel and existing at the same time. But this summing up will bring those things together under one head, under Christ. Brethren, we will be with the angels since we will be united to King Jesus. We will share in His glory. We will reign with Him in some way. And so the inhabitants of heaven and earth will have their dominions united and will be one dominion. That should warm your heart. It warms mine. Think of that great day. Now I know, again, we look out, we turn on Fox News, or worse yet, CNN, although everything's ending if you turn on, you know, but, you know, you just look at what's going on in the world and everything is fragmented. There's so much disorder, there's so much chaos. How can anybody bring order to even one particular town that's in chaos and in disarray, much less the entire world and the heavenly realm and the earthly realm? Well, that's a divine, sovereign God who has planned all of these things from eternity past. It is only by Him, His power, His sovereignty. It is by the work of Christ that He unites Jews and Gentiles under one roof, united together, being the children of God in the same family. God's grand purpose in these verses is that all will be summed up in Christ in the heavenlies. Well, let's draw a couple points of conclusion as we begin to wrap up. Paul's mind could stay engaged in all of this heavenly realm. I mean, just picture, Paul's in his, not his last imprisonment, so it's a house arrest, but he's handcuffed to a Roman prisoner. He's got the reminder that he's shackled to a Roman guard. He could lose his life, really, at any time. And he's not just thinking about me, myself, and I, and how do I get out of this? How do I better my circumstances? Or maybe limiting himself just to the here and now, and maybe witnessing to these soldiers. It'll be fascinating to see how many of these Roman soldiers were converted being shackled to Paul over those couple of years. But that's another thing to think about. But His mind is engaged in this eschatological hope. These last days hopes. Despite all of those particular distractions as they would be for us, His heart and mind is inhabited in eternity. Considering what God has done in eternity past in electing us, and what the Son has done, and what He will yet do. Yet for us, oftentimes our vision is short-sighted. We don't allow ourselves to really meditate and contemplate heaven and the eternal realm and scriptures like this that you really have to work hard to get some type of understanding. We're all too often preoccupied with the smaller trivial things, which don't get me wrong. God is concerned with every smallest thing in our lives. But can we be so consumed about those things that we miss the grand picture of what He's doing in this world and will yet do? William Hughes says, Paul's mind lived in the past, the present, and the future. His heart inhabited eternity. We need to look up. That's doctrine. We need to sing. That's doxology. And we need to fight. That's duty. So let us be those that reflect on this great day, to reflect on eternity, realizing that this life is passing by so quickly, it's but a vapor, and to make sure to be those that are counted ready and worthy in that day. Don't compartmentalize your life with church, school, home, work, and all of that. All of life is worship and serving God. Paul put it like this, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. And to realize that no matter how it appears out there, God owns every square inch of this earth. And we should be eager to bring a Christian worldview to those that we can, to even the arts and the government, education system, science and all of society, to shed light from the Holy Scriptures that we've been given wisdom and insight and understanding that we are a light unto others to seek to bring about some influence. Secondly, as we consider this glorious scene of reconciliation that will come about in that day, I think we have a duty to be those in response to two things. One is to rest in God's sovereignty, to know that He is sovereign. But secondly, to be instruments of reconciliation, instruments of restoration. We should be active in reconciliation. And so that means dealing with various conflicts, whether in the church, whether in the home, whether in the workplace, dealing with those in a biblical way. But then also what it may mean is overlooking petty offenses. Love covers a multitude of sin. It's a man's glory to overlook a transgression. And so you have both of these things, and some things must be dealt with. Other things should be overlooked for the sake of harmony and peace. We are called to be peacemakers. And maybe someone's here that is not reconciled to God. And you're hearing about this great, it's a day of terror if you're outside of Christ. When the end comes, the Lord will be revealed from heaven. And you who are outside of Christ, it will be a grievous, grievous time. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 1. Sorry, 2 Thessalonians 1. Very powerful section of Scripture here for those that will not repent, these that want to cling to their sin, these that think lightly of the redemption that Christ has brought about. Verse 7, to give relief to those of you who are afflicted. to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. These are very strong words. That day when the Lord Jesus comes back, he's coming back to deal out something. He's coming to rescue his people, but also to deal out retribution. And it's very clear here who Who will those be that will receive that retribution and that judgment? Those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You've heard about Christ. You've heard about God's plan of salvation. Don't delay. Forsake your sin and come to Him. Let's pray. Oh Father, how we thank you for this opportunity to look at these very complex verses set before us. Lord, may we be those as your children who rest in what you are doing in this world, to rest in what you're doing in our lives, in our families, in our church, in our missions, in our evangelism. Lord, we thank you that we don't have to toil to the point of exhaustion, that we don't have to run on the treadmill of good works to earn your favor, but Lord, that you have already secured that in Christ. O Lord, receive our adoration, receive our thanks. And Lord, may we be those who desire to live our lives in honoring you in all of these things. Thank you so much for this time. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.