Yesterday after the services,
Brother Paul Mahan said that he told your pastor you may want
to just go ahead and end services today because tomorrow they may
mess it up. Speaking of me and Gabe. Now
I consider myself one of Paul's dearest friends. That's his son-in-law. But Gabe didn't mess it up. There wasn't one wasted word
in that sermon. And I pray that I don't mess
it up. But I don't think I will because
I have the same message. Not the message of man, but the
message of Christ. I want to say to you first off
this morning, I think very few people really understand this,
but God will not forgive sin by simply ignoring it. When it comes to the forgiveness
of sin, God will not casually look the other way. The omnipotent
One is too holy and He's too just to do so. The holy and strict
justice of God must deal with sin. God has declared in His
Word that the wages of sin is death. God has sworn by His own
name that the soul that sins, it shall die, as we discussed
yesterday. Our sin cannot be, as folks say,
swept under a rug. When I was a bachelor, I often
did that. I would sweep dirt under a rug
and hope nobody saw it. But sin cannot be swept under
a rug. Sin cannot simply be covered
and the sinner be saved. Sin must be put away. Put away. When Nathan came to
David, David the psalmist, David the shepherd, David the king,
And he confronted him about his sin of adultery and murder. The Holy Spirit convicted David
and he said, I have sinned against the Lord. Who was he sinning
against? The Lord. against thee and thee
only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight." And it was
then that Nathan spoke those words that every single repentant
sinner longs to hear. The Lord hath put away your sin
and thou shalt not die. You see, if our sin is put away,
we shall not die. If our sin is not put away, we
are going to die eternally, forever. The only hope of redemption that
any of us have is that the Lord Christ put away our sin. And in order to be reconciled
to a thrice holy God, our sin must be put away. My text this
morning will be found in Hebrews chapter 9. If you would turn
there with me. Hebrews chapter 9. While you're turning, let me
say this letter to the believing Hebrews was written to teach
them and to convince them that the New Covenant was better. You look at the whole letter
to the Hebrews, you'll find that word very often used. Better. Better. And it is, isn't it? Better. More excellent. And it's
the only way to life eternal. But these Hebrew believers just
couldn't let go of that old covenant of laws and ceremonies and sacrifices
and priesthood. So the apostle here in this letter
endeavors to show these believers that all those things, all those
Old Testament things, ceremonies, laws, priesthood, sacrifices,
they all pointed to Christ. All of them. They typified the new
covenant that was to come. That new covenant was better. Better. More excellent in every
way. In Hebrews chapter 6 verse 9,
the Apostle said, we hope better things for you. In other words, we're persuaded
and we're confident that you're trusting in the sacrifice and
the finished work of Christ. In Hebrews 7, verse 19, they
are told that the law of the old covenant made nothing perfect,
but that the new covenant brought in a better hope, by which we draw an eye to God.
In verse 22 of chapter 7, the apostle reassured them that Christ
was made a surety of a better testament. A better covenant. In chapter 8 verse 6, he wrote
that Christ had obtained a more excellent ministry. He's the
mediator of a better covenant established upon better promises. I like better. I like better. Now here in Hebrews 9, verse
22, we read, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood,
and without shedding of blood is no remission. That word means
no pardon, no forgiveness, no exoneration. Verse 23, it was
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. Speaking of the sacrifice of
animals, the sacrifice of bulls and goats. Verse 24, for Christ
is not entered into the holy place made with hands, which
are the figures, types, pictures of the true, but into heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God. And look at
those next two words, for us. For us, the elect of God. Verse
25, "...nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high
priest of old did. They entered into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world." Now what he's
saying here is this. If the sacrifice of Christ was
no different than the priest of the old covenant, then Christ
too himself would have need to suffer or shed his blood often. Our Lord Jesus Christ as the
high priest, though, is much different and much better than
the ones of old. He's much more excellent. But
look at the last part of verse 26 again, and this is my text. But now once in the end of the
world hath He, Christ, appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. Christ did not appear to conceal
or to cover our sin. Sin that is concealed and covered
is still there. That dirt that I used to sweep
under that bachelor rug of mine, it was still there. It was just
covered. Concealed. Christ did not come
to disguise or to camouflage sin. Such sin still exists. It's only covered. If you have
a rough finish on a wall in your home, you may wallpaper over
that wall. But it only covers, it only disguises,
it only conceals the imperfection. But Christ appeared to put away
sin. Now I like that, because I've
got great sin. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin." He appeared
to put away the filth of sin. He appeared to put away the guilt
of sin. He appeared to put away the penalty
of sin. Christ appeared to put away sin. And what our Lord meant to do
on Calvary's cross, He actually did. This man just stood here
and told us that so beautifully. He really did put away sin. He didn't leave any part of His
work undone. Our Sovereign Lord has never
left anything undone. And He never will. Genesis 2.2
says, but on the seventh day God created, or God ended, excuse
me, finished His work which He had made, and He rested on the
seventh day from all His work which He had made. John 4.34,
the Lord Jesus said, My meat, My food, is to do the will of
Him that sent Me and to finish His work. Of course, you are
very familiar with John 17, verse 4. He said, I have glorified
Thee on earth, Christ praying to His heavenly Father. He said,
I finished the work that Thou gavest Me to do. And He really
finished it. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, He said, It is finished. And He bowed His head and He
gave up the goat. I love what Paul wrote in Philippians
1.6, he said, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform, finish. He'll finish it until the day
of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews chapter 12, just a
couple pages over, looking unto Jesus, the author and the what? The finisher. of our faith, who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God." We talked about this the other night. Why did he sit
down? His work's finished. Finished. Let us never take for granted
that Christ really did put sin away. He finished the work. He
didn't merely try to finish it. That's the way some men preach
it, and it's with man. He didn't simply make salvation
possible. He made it certain. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, and everyone that He came to save, He saved. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And every one of them will. Every
single one. Out there on the farm where we're
staying, this morning I got up and the sun was coming up and
I thought, The Lord's still saving sinners. You know why? Because
that Son came up. Because when that last sinner is saved, He's
going to fold the four corners of this world together and it's
over. But as long as there's a sinner
to be saved, that Son is going to rise. My, my. I want to also give you five
things if I can, as quickly as I can, concerning the putting
away of sin First thing is, it's impossible for sinners to put
away their own sin. Can't do it. Cannot do it. All the Old Testament sacrifices
could not put one sin away. Look over, you may not even have
to turn, but there in chapter 10, verse 1. For the law, having
a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. And I'm so glad that he said
it that way because that's what God requires. Perfection. Nothing less than perfection
will suffice. It must be perfect to be accepted. Look at verse 2. For then would
they have not ceased to be offered, because that the worshipers once
purged should have no more conscience Conscience of sin. Now, if the
old covenant sacrifices could have put away sin, they would
have ceased to be offered. Well, what need would there be
to further sacrifice for sin if sin had been affectionately
removed? That's just common sense to some
degree, isn't it? Look at verse 4 there in chapter
10, for it's not possible It's impossible that the blood of
bulls and goats should take away sin. What can put our sin away? What
can wash my sin away? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ. Can repentance
put our sin away? No. Repentance itself cannot
purge a man from sin. Wherever God gives real repentance
of sin, sin is forgiven for repentance and remission, or repentance
and forgiveness always go together, but no man, no woman, no sinner
is pardoned because of any merit found in their repentance. Forgiveness
comes with repentance, but it's not the cause of it. What about
suffering? Can our suffering put sin away?
No. There's no form of suffering
done by the sinner that can put sin away. After Job had passed
through all the misery, all those great losses that brother Paul
read to us the other day in Job 1. After all those accounts of personal
suffering, did he stand up and say, I'm now clear of sin because
of all my suffering? No. He cried in great humility,
I have whore myself in dust and ashes. His hope looked to Christ, the
Redeemer. And not to the sufferings which
he had himself endured. Job proclaimed this, he said,
print these words in a book. engrave them with an iron pen
in the rock forever." You know, I've read that so many times,
I've even quoted it wrong. I've often said, engrave them
with an iron pen in a rock forever. That's not what it says. It says,
the rock. For I know that my Redeemer liveth
and that He shall stand at the latter day. You know, when we
look at that day in glory, when God's people look face-to-face
upon Christ, and they see those scars in His hands and in His
feet and in His side, will know that these words were engraved
in Christ, our Rock forever. Christ lives and He saves His
people from their sin. Disease, poverty, affliction,
suffering may afflict you, but none of it will be of any service
to you when it comes to divine forgiveness. What about self-denial? Will
self-denial put away sin? You know, I've seen these documentaries
on these monks that go into these monasteries. Never saved one. Self-denial will not put sin
away. Many imagine that they can deny
their bodies and their desires and can somehow make atonement
for sin. But it's not so. What about holy
living? Well, first of all, If I believed
in luck, I'd say good luck with that one. Will holy living put away sin?
No, it will not. Matter of fact, it'll make it
worse most of the time, because when men trust in their holy
living and their own righteousness, they'll wind up trusting in that
holiness and that righteousness instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I see it all the time. My, my. If we could from this day forth
live blamelessly before the law, how could it put away all our
past sin? Death. What about death? Does
death put away sin? No. Now death puts away a lot
of things, many things, but it doesn't put away sin. Earthly debts may die with a
man. But death never kills a single
sin. Not one. Sin is immortal until
the immortal Christ comes to deal with it and put it away. Hell itself cannot put away sin. If we're cast into hell for eternity,
there's not one particle of one sin that will be put away. Sin
cannot be put away until the penalty of sin is fulfilled and
dealt with, and that can never be accomplished by us. It's a
work that only God the Son can do. Again, our text says, once
in the end of the world hath He, Christ, appeared to put away
sin. You know, sin, that's a little
word, isn't it? But my, what an abyss of consequence
that comes with it. Sin is transgression against
God. Sin is rebellion against the
King of kings. Now, it's not so much this way
anymore, because most of the time, kings and queens are just
figureheads, you know, of countries. But in the days of our Lord,
what a king said was law. If he took that ring of his and
stamped his insignia on it, I'm telling you, you better do it. Sin is rebellion against the
king of kings. David, a king himself, said,
against thee, and thee only. Speaking of the king of kings.
Have I sinned and done this evil in his sight? Sin is the violation
of the law of righteousness. Christ came to put away sin.
Sin is loathsome. Sin is detestable to God. God
is so pure and God is so holy and so just that He cannot even
look upon iniquity. It's contrary to His divine nature. In sin, we are obnoxious to God. Obnoxious. Since sin is not only
what we do, sin is what we are. And wherever sin is found, there
must be the penalty of sin. The soul that sins, it shall
die. Where there is sin, there must
be punishment. Now the religion of our day doesn't
preach that. Yet every man's conscious knows
that there's a dreadful place called hell. There's a worm that
never diet. There's a fire that is never
quenched. Unless God vacates His throne
of justice, sin's got to be punished and banished from His presence.
If you and I are not pardoned, we must be separated from God
forever. That's what hell is. Separation
from God. Remembering. Remembering. Every time the Lord gave us witness
of Himself, My, can you imagine? Sin's got to be put away. And
that leads me to my second point. There's only one who can put
away sin. Once in the end of the world,
He hath appeared. Who is this He who came to remove
this mountain of guilt? You know who it is. Gabe told
you who it was. Who is this He that has appeared?
It was God who appeared to put away sin. God. As you say it, God. I remember
speaking of Cody Groover. He was telling me one time that
a young Mexican girl there in the Yucatan came to him about
being baptized. And Cody wisely asked the young
girl, why do you want to be baptized? You know, religion today puts
so much pressure upon kids, especially just to get them to walk down
an aisle and make a profession and get them in a Sunday school
class and hope that that'll cause their parents to start coming.
It's all just Bedlam, really. But when Cody asked this young
girl, why do you want to be baptized? And she said, Brother Cody, she
said, I have seen that Jesus Christ is God. Cody said, fill up the water
trough, you know, just get her down to the pond or the lake. God has revealed himself to her. Oh, there's only one who can
put away sin. So our case is not hopeless.
Had anyone else other than God undertaken the task of putting
away sin, it would have never ever been accomplished. Never. But it is accomplished. Because
He who appeareth is the one with whom nothing is impossible. With
man, impossible. With God, possible. Not only
possible, but certain. He's the chosen mediator, ordained
of God for this tremendous task. There's just one mediator, as
we've already discussed, between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. The mediator is the God-man.
Holy justice required that a man should suffer, but only God could
fulfill His own law and satisfy His own justice. Isn't that something? God Himself came and put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. God in the person of His Son
appeared and made Himself of no reputation. Boy, that's impossible
for us to do, isn't it? He made himself of no reputation.
He took upon himself the form of a servant. and was made in
the likeness of men and being found in the fashion as a man,
he humbled himself even further. How can one humble himself even
further than God becoming a man? Well, he humbled himself and
came obedient unto death. God died in the body of a man,
even the death of the cross, the scripture says. Damn, damn,
damn God. Not only died, but he died the
death of a shameful cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow at things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord, capital
L-O-R-D, small case, to the glory of God the Father. That's what
you preached, isn't it? Thirdly, God has to appear and
come in the flesh in order to put sin away. Once in the end
of the world hath He appeared. Our Lord and Savior... Now I
want to be very respectful here. I don't want anyone to misunderstand
me on this. But our Lord and Savior could
not just simply sit in heaven and do this great work. I don't
want to insinuate that God can't do something. But there are some
things God can't do because it would be at the expense of His
own justice. With all reverence to our Savior,
we can truly say that Christ could not have come and saved
us if He'd remained on His throne. But here, the Apostle tells us
that He has appeared. Oh, that he should leave his
place on high and come for sinful man to die. You counted strains. So once did I before I knew my
savior. God came in the flesh. God appeared
first as a babe at Bethlehem, swaddled like any other child. This babe is the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. And He appeared
on earth in human form. I can't wrap my head around that,
but I believe it with all my heart. Made in fashion as a man,
He had taken upon Himself our nature yet without sin. The Infinite
One became an infant. The Eternal One of whom all the
world hangs, appeared to hang upon a woman's breast. He must do so in order to put
away sin. He who made the waters and separated
them from the dry ground descended into the waters of Jordan. to
be baptized of John and to fulfill all righteousness, the Scripture
says. And God proclaims him to be His Son in whom He's well
pleased. In the end of the world, He appeared. His manifestation began at Bethlehem. And 30 years later, it continued
at Jordan. Three more years pass, years
of toil and suffering, and now the great debt of sin is to be
paid. Our Lord Jesus meets that bill
head on. We find our Lord among the winepress
of those olives in Gethsemane, surrendering Himself, paying
the debt of His people's sins. And he sweats, as it were, great
drops of blood falling to the ground. In that lonely garden
at Gethsemane, Christ told those soldiers, He said, I am. That word he there, I am he,
is italicized. He said, I am. Let these go their
way. Isn't that what the Gospel is? I am came in the room instead
of sinners. And He says, I'll die for them. I'll pay the debt. You let them
go their way." You know, after all, it was in
a garden where man's first sin was committed, and it's in a
garden where man's substitute was arrested for that sin. And
now comes the darkest hour of all. Christ appeared upon Calvary's
mountain. putting away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. And the Son hides its face, unable to look upon such a horrific
scene of sorrow. God the Father thunders in His
wrath against sin, and behold the darkness and behold the lightnings
of God's anger against all iniquity. God the Father thunders forth,
David foretold of this day in Psalm 77, verse 18, the voice
of thy thunder was in the heaven, the lightnings lightened the
world, the earth trembled and shook. That's what happened that
day on Calvary. Who is to bear this awful sin
that must be put away? Upon whose soul is made an offering
for sin? None other than God Himself.
He's the only one who could. Our Lord hides not His face from
shame and spitting." Again, you want to see something of man's
free will? God comes in the flesh, and they spit in His face. He runs not from the suffering
and the shame. He hides not Himself from divine
desertion. He cries aloud for all to hear,
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And the Lord Jesus gave up the
ghost, but He gave it up voluntarily. No one took His life from Him.
He intentionally laid down His life. He laid it down on purpose. He deliberately gave His life.
He gave His life, the just for the unjust. Why? That He might
bring them to God. that He might make the unjust
just, and that He might make the unholy holy, and bring every
one of them to His heavenly Father." Have you ever heard such wondrous
news? Fourthly, I'd have you to consider
the special sacrifice that He offered. He who appeared put
away sin by a sacrifice, and that sacrifice was Himself. Once in the end of the world,
He hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
There was never another way of putting away sin, except by sacrifice. God began it there in the garden
when Adam sinned. He killed that lamb that you
told us about the other night, and He covered them. God's Word declares no other
way. A sacrifice must be made and God offered Himself as that
sacrifice. He offered His whole self. How glorious the gospel of substitution! Christ's one sacrifice for sin
accomplished the salvation of all God's elect throughout all
time. Christ being raised from the
dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him, for
in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth,
he liveth unto God." And beloved, we live in him. The sinner for whom Christ died
has had their sin put away and God receives full satisfaction that divine justice required. Our Lord didn't merely give a
part of Himself, did He? No. Paul said, He loved me and
gave Himself for me. I'm reminded of a story of a
great orator, a great speaker. He was often invited to the banquets
of queens and noblemen to speak. And oftentimes, his custom was
to stand and read Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. But this man himself attended
a banquet of some sort one day, and he noticed an old gray-haired
preacher sitting at the podium. And the time came for the benediction
or whatever to take place, and that old gray-haired man stood
up and he read Psalm 23. And there wasn't a dry eye in
the place, including the great orator himself, tears dripping
down his cheeks. And the friend that was with
him said, you know, I've heard you read that psalm many a time,
but dear friend, never did you read it like that. And the orator
said with tears in his eyes, I know the psalm, he knows the
shepherd. That's the difference. He knows
the Shepherd. Do you know the Shepherd? Do
you know the great Shepherd that laid down His life for the sheep?
Oh, I pray that if you don't, that today will be the day of
salvation for you. Our Lord, His blood, His hands,
His feet, His side, His head, His body, His soul, He gave His
whole self He offered Himself as the sacrifice for sin. Peter said it this way, "...who
His own self bear our sins, and His own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness, by whose
stripes we are healed." If I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, I am perfect
and whole, totally healed of my disease of sin You know, thousands
of bullocks, multitudes of sheep and goats, enough to cover all
the fields and all the pastures on earth, could never ever put
away sin. But Emmanuel, God with us, offers
Himself. And what a condescension, what
love, what marvelous, infinite, matchless grace! that God should
sacrifice the very one that He loved more than anything else
for His enemies. My, my. Those who had broken
His holy law. Those who had shook their hands
at His face and said, I will not have you to rule over me. Christ offered Himself and He
did so alone. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. No one else is involved in that. How blasphemous is it for us
to say we had a part in our salvation? He put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He poured out His soul unto death.
That's what He said, this is My blood of the New Testament
which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Christ dying
in the room and the place and the stead of guilty men and women
has put sin away. He really has. Sin is put away. And it's done so by the sacrifice
of Himself. Christ says, I'll take the punishment
of sin, and He takes it and He bears it on the cross. And that's
where you can rest your soul this morning. Christ did not
do this for the world. He did it for His people. He
did this for believing sinners. You know, those who use John
3.16 as a verse to try to convince somebody that God loves the whole
world is the very verse of Scripture that proves them wrong. For God
so loved the world, meaning His people in the world, that He
gave the free gift of His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." You might ask, preacher, how
do I know if I'm one of God's elect? Well, hear me on this.
Whosoever believes in Christ is the elect of God. Let's don't
get the cart before the horse. People worry about, well, am
I one of God's elect? Am I one of God's elect? Do you
believe? Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Yes, I do. Then you're one of
God's elect. What think ye of Christ? Our
Lord asked that question. Whose Son is He? God reveals
that to you. He's revealed to you the Gospel. He's revealed to you salvation.
Those who believe on Him, those who trust in Him alone, see that
God purposed it before the foundation of the world. We see that before
we were born, before we had done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. It's not of Him
that willed it, it's not of Him that called it, but it's of God
that showeth mercy. Abraham believed God. And it
was accounted, it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now
listen, Abraham didn't just simply believe in a God. Abraham didn't simply believe
there was a God. That's not what it says. It says
Abraham believed God. Do you? Do I? Do you believe that Christ put
away sin? How can a man or a woman die
when their sin has been put away by God Himself in the Person
of Christ, our all-sufficient Savior? And that brings me to
my fifth and last point. The work of salvation is finished.
You've already heard that. I believe that's the message,
don't you? The finished work. It's finished.
You know, every time folks in the Scriptures in the time of
our Lord were confronted with the Gospel, they say, what must
I do to be saved? Well, you can't do anything. You can't do something that's
already been done. It's finished. The work's finished.
You have to believe it. You have to trust in Him who
finished the work. God appeared to put away sin,
and He put it away by the sacrifice of Himself. God is infinitely
merciful, but He's also infinitely just. And eternal ruin was ours
had Christ not come. But He came. He came into the
world to save sinners. Paul said, of who I am chief.
Sin is put away as to its very existence. Now, if you don't
get anything else, fumbling lips have said this morning, get this,
you know, being justified doesn't mean just as if I'd never sinned. Justified means that Christ put
away my sin so that it never existed. Where has sin gone when a sinner
believes in Christ? Well, Micah said, Thou wilt cast
all their sins into the depths of the sea, and they can't ever
be fished up again. That's a fish you're not going
to catch. God has cast the sins of believers into the depths
of the sea. Where have they gone? Scripture says, as far as the
east is from the west, He hath removed our transgressions from
us. Now, you think about that. You
know on earth, It's a globe, and you can go
east, and then pretty soon you're going west again, and then pretty
soon you're going east again. But when you look at the Earth
from outer space, or from the heavens, you go as far east and
as far west as you can, the two never meet. Vastness of God's universe. That's how far away God has put
our sins from us. Isn't that something? Never to
meet again. Where have our sins gone? Scripture
says, thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. You know, I
got to thinking about that and I just got happy. I got happy. Where is that? Where is God's
back? Is there any place behind His back? God's always ever-present. God's not bound by time. He's
everywhere right now. I am, He said. I'm everywhere right now. Behind
God's back, there's nothing. Our sins are thrown into nowhere
and nothing. There's no sin in the place of
nowhere or nothing. In those days, and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none. None. And the sins of Judah, and they
shall not be found. Sins put away. Sin is put away. And salvation is accomplished
by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. May God reveal that to you who
are yet without Christ. There is One who can put away
sin. And He did so by the sacrifice
of Himself. Believe on Him. Trust in Him. And He'll give you rest. Real
rest. Real rest. Okay, thank you. I'm telling you, it's been such
an honor and a privilege. I ditto everything Gabe said. To be able to sit and listen
to the Gospel proclaimed like that, that's something we don't
get to do very often, isn't it, John? Listen to a man standing. I'm so thankful for all that
I heard this weekend from that man. And I love you folks dearly. This is like being home away
from home. So comfortable here. No preacher
is more comfortable than he is when he's at home. But boy, this
is pretty close. I thank you and I love you. May
God bless you for Christ's sake.