We'll be looking at that passage
that I just read in John chapter 12. The title of the message
is God's Glory and Satan's Demise, which is Satan's Destruction.
God's Glory and Satan's Demise. The Lord here, speaking of his
death on the cross, that's what he says. He first compares it,
uses an illustration of planting wheat, a seed of wheat. And he
says in verse 24, except a corn of wheat fall in the ground and
die, it abideth alone. But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Speaking of just regular farming
there, in order to have a crop, you have to plant the seed. And
of course what he's talking about here, he tells us later, John
by the Holy Spirit tells us later, is he's talking about his death
on the cross for his people. He's like, Christ himself is
like the seed of wheat who goes into the grain and it dies, he
dies. Christ came to this earth as
God the Son came to this earth, born of a virgin. As he was conceived
in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit and he was born
of a virgin, became incarnate. what the theologians say, and
that just means that he took on himself human flesh without
sin, had a human body and soul, and he lived on this earth, and
then he, of course, died on the cross, was put into the ground,
buried, but then he rose the third day, that's the fruit of
it, and what he's talking about, much fruit here, is the salvation
of his people. So he's showing here that his
death, again, I've been talking about this a lot because I've
been writing about it, but he's showing here that his death was
not just a mere possibility of salvation for people, or it didn't
just make people savable, but it's the assurance of the salvation
of his people, bring forth much fruit. And then he speaks of
that death. When he comes down here to verse
31, this is where my text really begins. Now, he'd been talking
about the glory of God. He said, Father, glorify thyself.
And the father responded to the son. He said, I have glorified
my name and I'll glorify it again. In other words, God's glory has
been infiltrating this whole time of salvation for his people
from creation and it'll continue on into the end of this world.
And God glorified himself in the everlasting covenant of grace
made before time. He glorified himself all through
the Old Testament in the salvation of his people. And in all the
types and the pictures, he glorified himself in the highest in the
coming of Christ into this world because it was all leading to
his death. And so he's speaking of his glory.
And Christ, when he set out on this illustration, He said back
in verse 23, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be
glorified. So whatever's happening here concerning Jesus Christ,
whatever he's going to go through, it's all for the glory of God. We talked about that last week,
how the glory of God is the honor, the majesty, the reputation of
God Himself that identifies Him and distinguishes Him. It's every
attribute of God here working consistently together in the
salvation of His people based upon the death of Christ, which
would accomplish the very righteousness of God. And in that, God would
be both a just God and a Savior. We'll talk about that more in
just a minute. But notice in verse 31, Christ says, now is
the judgment of this world. Now, what does that mean? Well,
again, he's speaking of his death on the cross. And Christ's death
on the cross is God's judgment upon this sinful, fallen world
as to the guilt and true nature of sinful mankind. That's the
judgment of this world. What he's saying here is that
the death of Christ on the cross is a testimony that the world
is in darkness and in sin, condemned under the law. And that no man,
no sinful man, no fallen sinful son or daughter of Adam could
be saved by their works. Because if man could be saved
by his efforts, then Christ would not have had to have come at
all. He would not have had to have died on the cross. He had
to die for what reason? To save his people from sin and
death. That's why Paul wrote in Galatians
chapter 2, he said, if righteousness, verse 21, if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. In other words, if men
could be righteous by their works under the law, then what Christ
did was for nothing. But his death wasn't for nothing.
His death was for everything that we have in salvation, but
His death is a testimony, a judgment, a display of the fact that this
world is fallen, this world is in sin, and this world and its
inhabitants cannot be saved by our works. Salvation must be
by grace. The truth is out about the world,
that's what he's saying. That the death of Christ, his
death on the cross, will bring the truth out about this world.
And what it says of us by nature, you know what we mean when we
say by nature, as we're born as fallen sons and daughters
of Adam, we're enemies of God. Now man doesn't know that. Man
thinks he's a friend of God, but he's concocted a God of his
own imagination who is like him and who exalts the flesh. But
the true and living God, by nature, we're enemies of God. The Bible
says that. You say, well, I didn't feel
like I was. Well, it has nothing to do with feeling. It's what
God's word says, Colossians chapter one. Alienated in our minds by
wicked works, even our religious works, that kept us from coming
to the true and living God and submitting to Christ and his
righteousness alone. Somebody said, well, I didn't
even know about it. Well, that's the ignorance of it. Not only
are we enemies, we're ignorant. And we're opposed to God's Son.
Judgment is brought against this world because we crucified the
Lord of Glory. Now somebody might say, well,
no, I wasn't there. Yeah, you were. You were there
represented by fallen humanity. I want you to turn over to the
book of Acts chapter 4. I want to show you something
here. Acts chapter 4, verse 26. By nature, we fight vigorously
and even sometimes violently against God's way of salvation. Now what that does, it identifies
us with the world. By nature, that's what we'll
do. If left to ourselves, if left
to our own way and our own wills, we will not come to the Lord
Jesus Christ for salvation. We'll come to a counterfeit Christ,
we'll come to an idol, but we will not come to Christ by submitting
to the grace of God, His righteousness alone. For all salvation, for
all forgiveness, in some way, somehow, in our flesh, we've
got to have some glory there. We've got to have some credit
that makes the difference between me, as I imagine myself as a
saved man, and the lost. And that's the problem. We won't
come to Christ. And that identifies us with the
fallen, sinful, unbelieving world who crucified the Lord of glory.
And listen, listen to what he says in verse 26. He says, the
kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ. for of a truth against
thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and
Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, Jew
and Gentile, were gathered together to do what? To crucify Him. Now
verse 28 tells us that what all was happening there was all by
the determined counsel and foreknowledge of Almighty God in His sovereignty. Yet As Peter said in Acts chapter
2, we did it, the fallen world that we're identified with, with
wicked hands. So we're held accountable, see.
Verse 28 says, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. So the death of Christ on the
cross was all according to the purpose of Almighty God from
the very beginning. It's no, and listen, it's no
afterthought, it's no accident. It's no plan B that God had to
revert to because plan A didn't work. No. It was always the way
of salvation. But he still holds the fallen
world accountable for the hatred and evil in our hearts by nature
that crucified the Lord of glory. You say, well, how can God do
that? Well, you take that up with him. Because you're not
dealing with me on that issue. Because my mind doesn't go that
far. It doesn't go that high and neither does yours. That's
one of those things we stand in awe of God. He knows what's
best. He does that which is right,
never does anything wrong. And He operates in a different
realm than what we do. We're in this human realm. We
have limitations. God is infinite. So you'll have
to deal with Him on that issue. But I just know this, when He
says, now is the judgment of this world, The death of Christ
on that cross brings an indictment on this whole fallen, sinful
human race, including us who were born 2,000 and some years
later. To be saved out of the world,
then, cannot and is not a matter of man's free will or decision. Because if left to our decision,
Acts chapter 4 verses 26 and 27 describes me, describes you. Can you rise above the world
in which you exist and are so much a part of, this fallen sinful
world? Can you rise above your nature
as a fallen sinful human being? Well, most people believe you
can. Because they believe salvation
is not based upon what Christ did at the cross, it's based
on your decision. In other words, you'd be like
that preacher up in Akron, Ohio, who made the statement one time
when he was describing the sufferings unto death of Christ, carrying
his cross, the crown of thorns, and he was real emotional about
it. And there's nothing wrong with getting emotional about
that. But here's what he said. He said, if I'd have been there,
I would have stopped it. Now let me tell you something.
Everybody in that audience just about said amen to him. But that
was one of the most self-righteous, proud statements that man has
ever made on God's green earth. In other words, he's saying,
I'm not like those in Acts chapter 4. the world. I'm going to rise above it because
I'm better than they are. I would have stopped it. Well,
first of all, obviously he didn't know what the redemptive work
of Christ was all about and what it was for. Stopped it? To stop
him from going to the cross is to stop our salvation. This was God's determinant. This
is God working. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. And it was for his honor and his glory. We're like Joseph's
brethren. Remember when Joseph said what
they did to him? He says, you meant it for evil.
That's what he said. God meant it for good. Now figure
that one out. And that's the way it was with
the death of Christ on the cross. We meant it for evil. The fallen
world, as described in Acts chapter 4, of which you and I are a part
of by nature. God meant it for good. Now, we
can't do things like that and mean it for good. You know, somebody
says, well, if that's true, I'll just go out here and do this,
do that. No, you can't do things like that and mean it for good.
You know why? Because we're sinful human beings.
Only God can overrule sin. Only God can accomplish things
like that and mean it for good. He's God. I think I've told you
the story about the old man The old preacher who just got so
frustrated with people and with his religion and with his faith
and with the Bible, he just didn't know what it was all about. So
he told a young man, he said, I've come to this conclusion,
there's only two things I know. And he said, I know there is
a God and I know I ain't him. And that's the way it is with
some of them. Well, God's revealed himself
in his world. And this is what the Lord is
saying. Now is the judgment of this world. This world is sinful. There's no righteousness in this
world. There's none righteous. No, not one. That preacher up
in Akron, he said, oh yeah, there's one. Here I am. I would have
stopped it. No, God's Word already brought the indictment. God judges
according to truth. And here's what he says about
me and about you. By nature, we don't have righteousness. By works, we can't work one.
We can't create one, and by nature, we don't want it God's way. We're
like the kings of the earth, the Jews and the Gentiles and
Pontius Pilate and Herod. We may not be as immoral as Herod
was. He was an immoral king. But when
it comes to salvation, we're just like him. We want it our
way, not God's way. That's what he's saying. Now
is the judgment of this world. This world is in opposition to
salvation by grace, true grace. This world is in opposition to
righteousness, being saved, being justified before a holy God based
on the righteousness of another completely. Man's got to have
his part. He's got to have some glory.
Well, look at verse 31 of John 12. He says, Now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. Now, judgment's been brought
on the world. This world's sinful. But here's the prince of this
world. Well, you know what the scripture
teaches us. It teaches us that we fell in Adam. What did Adam
do in Genesis 3? He sinned against God. How did
he do it? Well, he took sides with Satan and his wife against
God. That's what Adam did. And Romans
chapter 5 and other passages talk about Adam as being the
representative of the whole human family. We all fell in Adam. He was the representative of
the whole human race. Most people don't like that.
I even heard one gentleman say, he said, well, I'll stand on
my own. I would have done better than Adam. Now again, that's
one of the most self-righteous, proud statements that a sinful
human being can make on this green earth. First of all, we
don't even know what it was like to be in the Garden of Eden before
the fall. You know, Adam was a perfect man in a perfect environment,
and he still fell. We've never been perfect men
and women, and we've never been in a perfect environment. For
me to make a statement like that is the height of pride and sinful
disobedience. It's a rejection of Christ. We fell on Adam. We took sides
with Satan against God, and the Lord calls him the prince of
this world because in that fall, and ultimately for the purpose
of God Almighty, that's what the scripture teaches us, Satan
has a usurped authority over this world. First John 5 and
verse 19, listen to this. John writes, we know we are of
God and the whole world lieth in wickedness or literally in
the wicked one. Satan has a hold. Now Satan's
hold over this fallen, depraved human family lies in two spheres
of existence. Number one, we can call the sphere
of condemnation. Now in that sphere of condemnation,
Satan's hold over the world lies in his power of accusation. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. You know, if you commit a crime
and there are eyewitnesses and they arrest you and they take
you to court and put you on trial, the first thing they want to
hear from is your accusers, eyewitnesses. They saw you do it. If there
are more than one or two or three eyewitnesses, you're guilty.
And what does the court say? You're guilty and you're condemned.
And that's Satan's hold over this world in the sphere of condemnation. He's the accuser of the brethren.
The second sphere over which Satan rules this world is what
we call the sphere of darkness, ignorance. Satan is the deceiver. In fact, he's sometimes referred
to as the Prince of Darkness and the Father of Lies. And when
you hear that darkness and those lies and all of this, don't just
relegate that to the immoral perversions of society. That
refers to man's religion, too. Remember, Christ told the Pharisees
in John 8, 44, he says, you're of your father the devil. And
the works of your father you do. He was a murderer from the
beginning. How did he murder? Did Satan
actually kill anybody in the Garden of Eden? No. How was he
a murderer? Christ said it there, he abode
not in the truth. And he spoke that which was natural
to him. He told a lie. And it was a lie that leads to
death. God told Adam, he said in Genesis chapter 2, don't eat
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the day
that you eat thereof you shall surely die. Remember what Satan
said to Eve, deceiving her? You shall not surely die. God's
preachers today tell people, look, you have no hope of eternal
life, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The blood of Christ
is your only hope of forgiveness of sins. His righteousness is
the only hope of being right with God. His righteousness imputed
and received by faith. And if you don't know Him and
receive Him and submit to Him, you shall surely die. And false
preachers come along and say, oh, you shall not surely die.
You're all right. You've lived a good life. You've
tried to do your best. That ought to count for something,
huh? That's the way it is. They're preaching Satan's message.
Satan's hold is in those two spheres. But how is it with God's
people? How is it with Christ's sheep? Well, what Christ is saying here
when he says, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. What
he's talking about, Satan's hold over God's chosen people, the
church. His sheep is going to be totally,
totally defeated when God is glorified in Jesus Christ. And
how's that going to be accomplished? We'll look at verse 31 or 32. And I, if I be lifted up from
the earth. Now what's he talking about?
He's talking about being lifted up on the cross of Calvary for
the salvation of his people. That's when in time Satan's hold
through the redemption that is in Christ, is canceled. Think about the sphere of condemnation.
As I said, Satan's power in the sphere of condemnation only exists
where his accusations of sin against people hold true, so
as to set forth their guilt and condemnation to earn death. In
other words, if you are accused of a crime that you didn't commit
and you go into court and there are no eyewitnesses, nobody to
accuse you, you go free. The accusations don't stick.
There's no power to them. Turn to Hebrews chapter two with
me. Look at verse 14. Now again, Satan's power in this
fear of condemnation only exists where his accusations of sin
against people stick. But what if they don't stick?
What if they don't hold true? Well, look at Hebrews 2 and verse
14. It says, for as much then as the children, that's the children
of God, are partakers of flesh and blood, that's what we are,
flesh and blood, He, Jesus Christ, also himself likewise took part
of the same flesh and blood. He's God in human flesh. That's
his person. The Word made flesh dwelt among
us. Now the reason he did that, look verse 14, that through death,
his death, he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. The devil. Now how does Satan
have the power of death? Well, first of all, we know from
scriptural testimony that Satan has no power to give anybody
life or to kill anybody. He didn't have that power. He
had asked God permission to even mess with Job. He didn't have... What did Job himself say? He
said, God killeth, God maketh alive, blessed be the name of
the Lord. The power of life and death is
in the hands of Almighty God. Never in the hands of Satan.
So what is he talking about Satan's power of death? It's his power
of accusation. Again, if you commit a capital
crime and eyewitnesses come in and accuse you and those accusations
stick, what's going to happen to you according to the law of
the land? You're going to be condemned.
You're going to be put to death. Those citizens who accuse you
don't have any power to kill you. If they do, that's called
vigilantism. They go to jail themselves. Only
the state has the power, the authority to do that. The accusers,
they're just instruments. And that's the way it is with
Satan. Satan accuses. And if his accusations stick,
here's what happens. God has to condemn and punish
sinners where sin is imputed, where sin is charged. So the
issue here is not only does Satan accuse me, he's gonna accuse
everybody. Satan accuses everybody. He accused Job, you remember?
He said Job was a hypocrite. He said, God said, have you considered
my servant Job? And Satan said, well, the only
reason he's serving you because you've given him all this good
stuff here on this earth, that's a hypocrite. So Satan accused
Job. He's gonna accuse everybody.
He's going to attack the church. He's going to accuse you. Listen,
if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan's still going
to accuse you. But here's the issue. Does God,
the judge of all, does He accuse me? Does He impute sin to me? Does He charge me with sin? Now
there's no question that we've all sinned and come short of
the glory of God. The scripture says that. We're sinners. And
there's no question about what we deserve. I was reading a booklet
that a minister from old wrote, and he was talking about overhearing
a young man pray. And the young man prayed. He
said, oh, God, just give me what I deserve. And the minister just
touched him on the shoulder, and he said, son, don't ever
pray that again. The boy said, well, I've been
trying to be good all my life. The minister said, son, don't
ever pray that again. Oh Lord, no, don't give us, there's
no question what we deserve. If God were to judge me based
on my best, what would I deserve? Condemnation, death, right? So there's no question about
all that. So how in the world can Satan's accusations, when
he looks at Bill Parker and says, look God, there's a sinner, There's
one who deserves judgment in hell. How in the world can that
power of condemnation be canceled on my part? This is what Christ
is saying, and I, if I be lifted up through the death of a God-sent
substitute in surety, upon whom God charged with my debt, my
guilt, who died for my sin and paid the just penalty of all
my sins by his death. One who established a righteousness
that enables God to be both a just God and a Savior. Look back there
at Hebrews chapter 2. It says Christ became incarnate,
God in human flesh, to destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. Look at verse 15. Deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. You know why man is religious? By nature. Fears death. Why does he fear
death? Well, he may deny it, but God
has given us a conscience whereby we know that we're going to be
held accountable. There's a judgment. There's a life to live, a death
to die, a judgment to face, an eternity to spend. Man by nature
doesn't know the reality of it. He doesn't know how to get out
of it. He doesn't know how to cure it. But he thinks he does
and he gets religious. And all that is is fear of death,
which makes him subject to bondage. The bondage of legalism. The
bondage of works salvation. The bondage of human religion.
But look at verse 16, for verily, this is talking about Christ,
he took not on him the nature of angels. He didn't come to
save angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. That's who
he died for, the seed of Abraham. You say, well, that's talking
about Palestinians. No, that's talking about Jewish people.
No, it's talking about all who believe in Christ. That's the
seed of Abraham, they're children of promise. And verse 17, it
says, wherefore for this reason in all things it behooved him. He became obligated. And literally
that word behooved is the Greek word for debt. D-E-B-T. You know what it is to be in
debt, don't you? That's a bondage, isn't it? Don't
feel too free. So he became indebted. He became
obligated. to be made like unto his brethren.
He had to become God in human flesh. He had to become incarnate
because before the foundation of the world, all the debt, all
the guilt, all the liability of condemnation of his people,
the seed of Abraham, was imputed, charged, accounted to him. And he had to die. Remember,
he told them up there in John 12, he said, my soul is troubled. That's his humanity without sin. But he said, how should I pray?
Father, deliver me from this hour, from this death. He said,
this is the reason I came into the world, to die, to pay the
debt, to satisfy justice, to establish righteousness. And
so he had to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be
a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, that he might satisfy the law and justice of God, presenting
himself a sacrifice, payment for sin, to make reconciliation,
that's the word propitiation, that means satisfaction of the
debt, payment of the debt, satisfaction to justice for the sins of his
people. And what does that mean? That
means this, that when I'm accused before God by Satan, the accusations
don't stick. That sphere of condemnation doesn't
apply to me. Why? Because Christ paid my debt. Christ died the death that I
deserve and I earned. He satisfied justice. The charges
against me were accounted to Him. And His righteousness has
been imputed to me. That's why there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. That's why
nobody can lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen. Who can
condemn us? He says, I, if I be lifted up,
shall draw all unto me. That's the glory of it. When
God is glorified in the salvation of his people based on the death
of Christ, based on Christ's righteousness charged to them,
Satan has no power of accusation, no power of death, no power of
condemnation. Well, look on there, John 12,
32. He says, and I, if I be lifted up from there, will draw all
unto me. Now, who are the all there? Well, it's not all without exception,
because if it's all without exception, I can tell you right now, he's
a failure, because all without exception are not drawn to him.
Remember over in John 6 that I read, he said, no man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him. It's the
same word. It's the word that the Lord used
in the parable of the dragnet when he cast the net in and came
up with the fishes. He said, if I die on the cross,
if I wash away their sins by my blood, if I establish righteousness
for them, I'm going to draw them unto me. It's almost like saying
literally drag them. That doesn't mean he brings them
against their will. He changes our will. He gives
us a new heart, a new spirit, new life. He said, I'll draw them unto
me. He said in John 6, 37, all that the father giveth me shall
what? Come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. This he said signifying what
death he should die. This is deliverance from the
sphere of darkness. Satan's power in the sphere of
darkness only exists where he's able to keep sinners ignorant
of the gospel of God's glory in Christ. That's what the scripture
says. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
4 with me. Look over there and I'll hurry
here. 2 Corinthians 4. Look at verse 3. He said, but if our gospel be
hid, it is hid to them that are lost. 2 Corinthians 4, 3. In whom the God of this world,
the prince of this world, hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them. And Paul says,
We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, that's creation, hath shined in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. That's what happens when Christ
draws his people by the power of the Spirit in the new birth
to himself. That's when Satan's power of
deception and darkness and ignorance is overcome. You see by nature
we're spiritually dead. That means we lack the ability
spiritually to hear and believe the gospel of God's glory. It's
foolishness to us by nature. That's part of the depravity.
By nature, we love darkness and our own self-righteousness and
self-love and religious pride. And Satan operates in that sphere
of darkness to keep the gospel of God's glory hidden from us.
His goal is to keep us lost, to keep us deceived by false
religion and the things of this world, having no regard for God's
glory. Satan's power over us in that
sphere. is deception, lies, ignorance,
even in a religious way. But Satan's power over us in
the sphere of darkness can only be broken by the power of God
in Christ as he sends his spirit to give us life, spiritual life,
to impart spiritual life and knowledge, to bring us to conviction
of sin. To show us that without Christ
we are nothing but sin and can do nothing but sin in the sight
of God. To show us that the only hope of our salvation is in the
Son of God incarnate and based upon what he accomplishes when
he's lifted up on that cross to establish a righteousness
that enables God to be just to justify the ungodly. And I want
you to turn to one more scripture and then I'll conclude with this.
Turn to Revelation 12. This passage here is describing
how during the last days, and the last days are the days between
Christ's first coming and his second coming. It's the New Testament
age that we're living in now. It began back at Pentecost and
it'll continue until Christ comes again. And what he's saying here
is that Satan has been loosed to attack the church. The church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to attack. He's
going to accuse, as I said. Now, it's important to remember,
Satan will not win. He will be defeated. Christ said
the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. But he still will attack. And
he does. And how does he do it? Well,
look at verse 9 of Revelation 12. It says, the great dragon
was cast out We've talked about that in John 12. That old serpent
called the devil, that's who the great dragon is, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world, that's his sphere of darkness,
the sphere of deception. He was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him, and I heard a loud
voice saying in heaven, now has come salvation. Now this is all
referring to the death of Christ, the Lamb. Now has come salvation
and strength, that's power, and the kingdom of our God, that's
his church, and the power of his Christ, that's how the church
is formed, the power of Christ, not the power of men. For the
accuser of our brethren, that's the fear of condemnation, his
accusation, is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. He wouldn't stop. Now look at
verse 11. And they overcame him, this deceiver,
this accuser, they overcame him, how? By calling in some guy with
a funny collar and quoting Latin and throwing water over everybody?
No. They overcame him, how? By the blood of the Lamb. You
see that? That's how we overcome Satan.
That's how we overcome his power of accusation. That's how we've
overcome his power. We plead the blood of the Lamb.
We plead Christ our whole lives. We plead his righteousness imputed
and received by faith. And by the word of their testimony,
that's the new birth. That's Christ drawing them to
him. And they love not their lives
unto the death. May the Lord bless his word to
our hearts. Winston, you come and lead us
in a closing hymn.