Turn with me to Philippians chapter
3. Philippians chapter 3 is where
we'll be this morning. This will give you a little history
on Philippians. The church at Philippi. In chapter
1, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints
in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, and the bishops and
deacons. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." That's Philippians
chapter 1 verse 1 and 2. Now, this time in Philippi, the Roman
emperor was Nero. And so I did a little reading
on Nero. Horrible. What a horrible emperor. He hated Christians. He was a
fanatical Roman dictator. He didn't even do his subjects
very well. He would put the Christians on display for mockery, make
fun of them, and then kill them one way or the other. So this
church at Philippi is under this Roman emperor's rule. So that's
obviously they got troubles without. Now we think we got troubles
in this country. We're at least allowed to assemble together
and meet together. I should say we used to be able
to do that. It's kind of scary. But we are
able to gather and it really hasn't affected this church,
I don't think. We're just going to keep right on going. as we
can. But this church here in Philippi,
the reason why I bring this up is because there's a lot of similarities.
A lot of similarities. So this church had trouble outside. Outside of themselves. The ruler
over this territory hated Christians. Hated Christians. And they had
troubles within. Because if you read through this
book, it seems like it's kind of similar to Galatians, though
not as perhaps is pointed, but they did have some teaching.
There were teachers had come in and they were anti-Paul. And
they said his gospel was not the true gospel because he didn't
preach law. So they would come in and try to mix the gospel,
which is no gospel at all. Once you mix works with this
gospel of grace, it's no gospel. Because, you know, he says in
another place, if it's of grace, then it's no more works. If it's
of works, it's no more grace. So they had troubles within,
and the struggles that they had within themselves personally,
but they had troubles within the church, and they had outward
troubles. And this is why I'm bringing
this up, because it's very appropriate for our day and our time for
us in this United States. We live in times of fear. Fear
mongers, both within and without. We live in violent times. If
you watch the news, I recommend just shutting the TV off, but
you see, if you saw the situation that happened in Minnesota, it's
terrible. And then it's kind of getting
different cities in the country. We live in times of fear, misinformation,
downright lies, propaganda, yellow journalism, all these different
things. They had an emperor that hated
the gospel, that hated Christianity. And then you've got these troublemakers
coming in this place They're coming in the church at Philippi
and trying to stir trouble. Now, years ago, when we first
got going, Bruce and I, as the elders, we were concerned. And our main concern, and correct
me if I'm wrong, was that we would compromise the truth or
somebody would come in because we were green horns. We were
green Behind the ear. We were scared. And we constantly got together
and prayed, petitioned that the Lord would not forsake us. The
truth would be continually sounded from this pulpit. Whether it's
me or whether it's Bruce or whoever comes in. We were scared that
somebody would come in and be too much for us and overpower
us. But the Lord, as it always turns out, He takes care of a
lot of stuff that we worry about. So as I'm listening to the news,
and I know that there's you out there that listen to the news, my mom, she can't stand the mainstream
media, but she's got to watch her news, CBS, NBC, and gets
aggravated. And I just said, why do you watch
it? Just turn it down and then turn it up when it's local. And I was upset with the situation
in Minnesota. I was upset this week. So I said,
what do I do as your pastor, as a preacher, in these unstable
times? And what can you do? When you
get together with your friends and your families, you can talk
about COVID-19, I'm so sick and tired of hearing that, sick and
tired of hearing social distancing. I'm sick and tired of it. I don't
want to hear it. I know we need to get a group
together, Sovereign Grace Group, and go to Washington and protest.
If that's what you feel like you need to do, I don't feel
like the believer needs to get involved. We don't live here.
We don't live here. So again, I bring it back to
myself. As your pastor, what can I do? What can you do? Philippians
chapter 3, verse 1. The Lord gave me this about 2
o'clock in the morning, Thursday night, Thursday, Friday morning. I had thought about going some
other places, but this works. This works. Paul says to the
Philippians, in times of trouble without and times of trouble
within, and even personal trouble, if you have situations that I
don't even know about, what you're going through, here we go, right
here. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord, to write, to preach, or to declare the same things
to you, to me, the preacher, Indeed is not grievous. That
word is irksome or boring. It's not boring to me. If it
becomes boring to me, then I need to step down. But there's something
for you here too. But for you to hear the same
message, not the same text, But one preacher preached the
same text like six weeks in a row and one of the elders came up
and said, are you going to go to a different text? He said,
when you obey that text, I'll move on. But I hit myself before I hit
you. But for you, it is safe. Nathan, the men were back there
talking and somebody said, we don't want to hear the preacher,
we don't want to hear politics. But there is some things that
are relevant, like what's going on in Philippi, like what's going
on in this country. And you can allow yourself to be swept away
and be in conversations and inundated, inundated, inundated with yourself.
Well, like Joshua, as for me and my house, we're going to
serve the Lord. And I'm not saying it in a haughty way. I'm just
saying, there's other fish to fry. However you want to say
it. There's other things to talk about. Let the potters strive
with the potters of this world. We've got to live in this world.
We've got to pay taxes. We have to have neighbors. We
have to have friends. All that is true. But why don't we see
some neighbors here? Why are we always giving in to
what they want to talk about, what they want to say? And I
guarantee you this, we've got some neighbors we haven't seen
in a while. We've been seeing them, they've been walking up and down our
lane. And they don't care what you
got to say. All they got to say is what they
know, what the news has told them about this virus, what the
news has told them about these rioting, what the news has told
them about this country. That's all they talk about. And
if you try to get a word in edgeways, it's just an opinion. But I know
one opinion that is absolutely true. The scriptures. So, let's look at chapter 3 and
verse 1. So what are we to do? What am
I to do as your pastor? What have I taken on this solemn
responsibility to do? Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. I was going to skip over that.
I go, no, no, no. I can't skip over that. That may be the heart
of the thing. You can have inner peace and
joy knowing that God is the only one who controls everything by
the word of His sovereign power. Melinda and I were talking about
this week, if we only acted as if we truly believed God was
sovereign. I'm serious. If we only believed,
we wouldn't worry about what we were going to wear, tomorrow,
we wouldn't worry about what we were going to eat tomorrow,
we wouldn't worry about our kids like we do. Parents, I was a
parent, it's natural to worry, but they are God's gift. If He
wants to take them, we're only borrowing it. Everything is His.
He is totally on the throne. You may protect your kids by
doing this, this, and that. If God's going to take them,
He's going to take them. And I don't say that harshly
or meanly. Live your life, cast off this
fear that's got hold of you, hold of me, and live by faith. Live by faith. Turn to Psalms
47. Now, I did find this passage
that I was going to tell you the other time, and I couldn't
find it. I re-looked it up, corrected my notes from a couple weeks
ago, and it is Psalms 47. Psalms 47 and verse 7 and 8,
For God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding,
that's like rejoicing in the Lord. God reigneth, verse 8,
over the heathen. God sits upon the throne of His
holiness. Psalms 46, verses 1 and 2, God is king over the earth, therefore
God is our refuge to every elect, every believer who believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ, strength, and very present help in trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear. And I'll tell you what I've seen
it the last couple months, fear is ill, you can't reason with
fear, you can't outsmart fear, You can't out guess it and people
will stand by it and think they're doing God's service and they
are walking in fear and not in faith. That's just the truth
of the matter. Get on with your life. And you
may bump somebody's shoulder. You may end up being a little
closer than six feet. And Melinda read something the
other day. It's not six feet. 27 or something. So who's right?
Well, I watch this news, I'm right. No, we don't know. We
don't have a clue. We don't have a clue. And so times like these,
don't walk in fear. I say walk in faith. Therefore we will not fear, though
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea. Why? Because God is the King
of the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding.
God reigneth over the heathen. God sitteth upon the throne of
His holiness. Rejoice in the Lord, Jehovah
God. Stand still, was the charge of
Israel of old. And I say it to us as well. In
this place, stand still and know that God is God, that He is God.
I'm not saying don't take precautions. If you gotta go to a place, I'm
using this COVID-19 for some reason, if you gotta go to a
place and they say wear a mask, wear a mask. And then you get
done, take it off. It depends on who you read. The
mask isn't doing you any good. I'll just throw that in. God is unchangeable. God is all-powerful. God is all-wise. God is all-knowing. God is sovereign in providence.
God is over all He creates. God is the owner of all His dear
people. God is the doer of right and
good always. God is holy, pure, and unmovable. Back to our text. Finally, my
brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Not a Lord. Not some Lord. The
Lord. to write the same things to you. To write the same things. What
is he writing? Well, I don't want to do a cursory
perusal through chapters 1 and 2, but he keeps bringing them
back to Christ, to Christ, to Christ. These people coming in,
don't follow them. The Galatians, don't follow them.
Follow Christ. The message which you have heard,
believe that. to write the same thing. As your pastor, as a preacher
of His truth, I write, I preach the same thing to you. What things? Christ and Him crucified. Chapter
1 and chapter 2. The gospel of our salvation. The truth of God. The truth about
man. The truth about redemption. Or
simply put, Christ and His gospel. I write the same thing to you. Over and over and over again.
Well, that's not very deep. I'd say preaching Christ and
Him crucified is the deepest thing. We can't exhaust that.
We cannot exhaust that. Simply, I'm writing the same
things. I'm preaching the same thing to you that you've heard.
Simply put, Christ and His Gospel. Yes, but we need to hear the
whole Bible. Well, in Acts 20, Christ is not
Christ, the whole counsel of God. Also in 2 Corinthians 11, Are we not to be removed from
the simplicity of Christ? John 5, verses 39-47, did not
Christ Himself say that they, the Scriptures, are they which
testify of Him? And then again in Acts 10, verse
43, did not Christ tell us that Moses and Abraham and David and
all the Law and the Prophets pointed to Him? So if you want something deeper,
You're wanting something deeper than the free substitution. You're wanting something deeper
than Christ. You're wanting something more joyous to hear than Christ.
And I'm not standing up here saying, Christ, Christ, Christ.
I'm not just saying the name. There's doctrine attached with
it. There's morality attached with it. There's love attached
with it. There's emotions, there's feeling.
He's the whole counsel of God. And that's what the preacher's
responsibility is, is to find Christ in the text. Whether you
want to be a better husband, love your wife like Christ loved
the church. If you want to be a better wife, submit. Bruce
read that passage today. The son submits to the father.
How to raise your children. Is not God our Father? Look at
how He's raising us. I mean, you could go on and on.
And I've talked this to several pastors. There is no situation
known to man that this book does not cover. And it's not that
it used to be a trivia book. This book is about Him. Turn
with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Here's what I'm saying. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Finally, my brethren, to rejoice
in the Lord, the Lord, the Sovereign, the Omnipotent, to write or to
preach or to declare the same things to you, to me, is not
grievous, but for you it is safe. And so how do we get through
these difficult, troubling times, whether it's personally or whether
it's going outside our home? How do we deal with this? Listen
to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1-11, "'Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which you also received,
and wherein you stand.'" Now this word, declare, is interesting.
It's twofold. Listen to me closely. Yes, then,
as a person called to preach the gospel, if they say they
are, then this is what they declare. They declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which you also received, wherein you
stand." This word, declare, it has two meanings. It means to
speak to people as if they have never heard. And secondly, it
means to speak to people so as to remind them of what they believe. Doesn't that take in everything?
So don't be offended if I'm coming to you with the simplicity of
the gospel. Paul says don't be removed from
the simplicity in Christ. That these kids could understand
what I'm saying. We're not supposed to preach
the simplicity in Christ. It's a simple gospel. Not easy-believism. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying
that. A, B, C, D, and now you're saved. That's not true. That's
not it. Salvation is of the Lord, by the Holy Spirit, by the grace
of God, by the blood and righteousness of Christ. But we are to declare,
to speak to people as though they've never heard Because we
can't read their heart. And secondly, to speak to people
who have believed and remind them of what they believe or
who they believe. It's the gospel concerning Christ. Let's keep
on going. Verse 2, "...by which also you
are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scripture." There you go. Go anywhere in
the Scripture. And you can tell. Expound. Preach. According to the Scripture. What? How to pay your bills? No. No. How that Christ died
for our sins. And secondly, or next verse,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. There's the Gospel in a nutshell. There's the gospel in a nutshell.
Verse 5, that he was seen of Cephas, them of the twelve, and
after that he was seen of about five hundred brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James
and all the apostles. And last of all, he was seen
of me also as of one born out of due time. For I am the least. This is what the gospel produces.
You say, well, pastor, you're cocky. I don't mean to be. I just mean to be bold. I mean
to have backbone. And I'm sounding a warning. If
you have ears to hear, hear this. Obey this. But I know, and I know my shortcomings
and they're long, and as I tell Melinda, she says, I don't have
that much time to tell you how many. And I know it. But I don't know myself as I
ought to know. But the believer has a pretty good understanding
We ain't nothing. We're insignificant. Who's sufficient
for these things? Paul says, I'm the least of the
apostles and not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted
the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am. Yes, they could keep on bringing
up, Satan could keep on accusing him. Satan could keep on accusing
Paul. You killed Stephen. That would
be hard for me to live with. He murdered him. And all these
other things. We murdered Christ. Every time
we think about a brother or sister or even a person and are angry
with them, we hate them. We look at something. Well, I
like that. We covet it. All these things we do because
of what we are. But the believer says. I have an advocate, I've
confessed my sins, he's faithful and just to forgive me my sin,
Satan. The Lord rebuke you, but I am what I am by the grace of
God and his grace, which was bestowed upon me was not in vain.
but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but
the grace of God which is in me. Therefore, whether it were
I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed." That's how important,
and that's how important I take this when I stand up here. Now,
I'm not going to say it's always been this way. You know, it's
kind of like nobody else is going to do it, I've got to do it.
And then there's times I don't, you know, it's just like, what's
the use? Like Bruce said, you know, are we right? What's the
use? And then the Lord, He reveals
something like this, and then I remember that I got my hands
on a plow, and for my sake, but for your sake, woe is me if I
preach not the Gospel. It's about according to the Scriptures. We sing that song, tell me the
old, old story. Are we just going through the
motions or do we believe how amazing this salvation and redemption
is? So, this gospel is concerning
Christ. We preach it and leave it alone. I don't need to add any decision. I don't need to have you do this
or do that. We preach the gospel and leave it alone. Why do we
write or preach or declare the same thing? Let's keep going
in Philippians chapter 3. To me, it's not grievous. Now that word is irksome, literally,
or boring. You know, we get old. I look
at Bruce and I'm thinking, man, he's getting gray. But I'm not
getting any gray. I don't have anything to get
gray. I looked at my beard, I'm like, whoo, man, I need to get
some of that stuff. We get old. Our jobs get old
and boring. Our homes get old and worn out. Sometimes friends, families,
and neighbors get irksome, tiresome, old hat. But the gospel, aided
by the Holy Spirit of God, never gets boring. Tell me, sell to
me, encourage me to keep that pearl of great price. Let me
converse regarding the altogether lovely one. Don't tell me about
man's free will or decisionalism, salvation, or rededication, or
an easy-believism. No. I'm never satisfied with
these, and they're false anyway. Don't tell me how good and sweet
I am, or that I'm only a little sinner. No, lies set up by Satan
and his false teachers. We must hear and have Christ,
or we will eternally perish. That's why we declare, as though
you've never heard it, because we think we know everybody, but
I don't know your hearts. I don't know your hearts. We must have Christ or we perish. The last thing, why do we declare
the same message over and over again in different texts, in
different this and different that? It's all throughout the
Scriptures. He's that scarlet thread from Genesis to Revelations. To me, it's not grievous. And
like I say, if it becomes grievous, and I'm not telling you that
I've been up here just all, you know, it's one thing to say you
get up here and just give a hundred As the athletes would say, 110%.
Right. Get up here, I don't feel good.
Get up here, I'm aggravated at myself, aggravated at you. I'm
human. I don't think I communicate very
well. I truly believe that I'm a minor prophet. I'm not a major
prophet. However, I believe I know the truth. And however, to your
detriment, I guess, I could say this jokingly, He's brought you
here. But there's a point at which
we say, we're like, we have to carry on ourselves. We have the
truth. God is going to take care of
us. And if it's just a couple of families, we're going on. We're just going to move on.
And so be it. We desire sinners to be saved.
We've seen people come and go. up and down, and it affects me,
but then I look at this passage and I just say, you know what? I must do this. We may have to
sell this building, go back into a storefront. I don't want to
do that. We've worked so hard. It's not up to me. It's not up
to me. I am to prepare the meal, and
whether you come or not, I cannot make anybody eat. I can't make
my wife eat. She can't make me eat. We have
an individual faith. We don't have faith for somebody
else. And I'll prepare the meal and Bruce will prepare the meal. And I'm not being discouraging.
I'm not saying anything about anybody. I'm just saying, I know
I've been through this. I do not want to arm wrestle
you. I do not want arm wrestling.
If you don't want to be here for whatever reason, that's up to
you. I was talking to a pastor yesterday. And I told him what Tim James
said. He re-quoted that to me. Tim James said, God's preachers
are the most independent men on the top of God's green earth.
And I agree with that. But I told this pastor, I said,
but the church is a free society. That door is open. It swings
both ways. It's a free society. We don't
even have a church role. We don't even have a membership
because we're family. Now, how insulting would that
be if our daughter came back, well, who are you? Are you on
the list? The third reason why I continually
do this, it's for your safety. And you may think you're safe.
And I may think different, but I'm just going to keep preaching.
And maybe you'll hear, and maybe I'll hear, maybe I'll believe
what I'm saying, but we're going to look at this. We continue
to, as God gives us breath, preach, write, declare the same thing
because it's safe for you and for me also. You don't realize
how the Lord just rakes me over the coals when I'm getting the
message ready. I'm sitting there, oh yeah, this guy, this girl
needs this one. Boy, I'm, no. Maybe years ago,
and in the flesh, yeah, I think I'll add that. That right there
is going to take care of that. That's like sitting, you know,
you go to a conference and you're sitting and you're looking around, guy's
preaching, yeah, boy, he's getting him, boy, he's getting him. He
don't give enough. Nope. To say the same things,
to preach the same thing. It's not grievous to me, but
it's for your safety because we as his dear children, Danger
abounds everywhere. We need safety from, verse two,
beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of concision.
We need safety from false doctrine and false teachers. Verse three,
but we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. There's
the danger of, even if we're human and we're sinners, there's
dangers of putting too much confidence in the flesh. Too many things
we hear, maybe the media, getting you all worked up. Maybe your
bank account, I'm sitting good, one illness, it's gone. Maybe you put your confidence
in your children, they grow up and they go. That's a danger. There's many
of them. Our own self-worth, our own works,
our own idolatry, this world, putting confidence in our flesh.
But this is what I'm concerned about, with me, at times, and
you at times. I know we're human nature. Turn
to Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs 27. And verse 7, Proverbs 27, verse
7, apathy or coldness of heart. That's another danger that we
have. I still feel like coming. And boy, I've heard excuses.
How many excuses I've heard from believers of not wanting to gather together
or not wanting to do this or not wanting to do that. I often wonder how We'll go to
work on Monday. We'll do it. We'll go to work
on Monday. Or we'll go here, we'll go there. We can't make
it. This is a concern. And I'm human.
I'm just like you. We come out of the same stock. Verse 7, the fool so loatheth
a honeycomb. The soul who's not hungry, somebody
talked in the back there, a hunger and thirst after righteousness.
That's what I pray for you. That's what you should pray for
me. A hunger and thirst for righteousness. Not to come here just out of
habit, same old, same old. Because the full soul who's not
empty loatheth honeycomb. But to the hungry soul, Every
bitter thing is sweet. You remember in several places
in the Old Testament We're talking about a roll to scroll up and
he ate it and it was bitter You mean you you sit here and I preach
the gospel and the flesh gets mad that's bitter You mean to
tell me that I can't do anything at all that without Christ I
can do nothing well that that irritates my flesh it's bitter
I But even the rebukes, even the afflictions that Bruce was
talking about this morning, even the afflictions, even all these
things to the hungry soul is sweet. Oh, turn with me to Revelations chapter
3. This is scary. This is frightening. And I will say this, every time
that we've seen somebody that's been here for a couple of years
and then they walk away, my heart pities them and my heart goes
out to them, but I examine myself. I get scared. I'm not like, well,
there goes me, save with the grace of God. But it's just like,
am I next? It scares me when I see folks
who seem to be so genuine and then they walk away. Revelation
3, verses 1, and unto the angel of the church of Sardis, write,
write the same things. Write this, these things saith
he that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I
know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, and
yet you're dead. Be watchful and strengthen the
things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not
found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou
hast received and heard and held fast and repent." Heard, received,
the gospel. If therefore thou shalt not watch,
I will come on thee as a thief. Thou shalt not know what hour
I will come upon thee. Same chapter in Revelations verses
14 through 19. And under the church of Laodiceans
write these things, saith the Amen, The faithful and true witness,
the beginning of the creation of God, I know thy works, that
thou art neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or
hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold or
hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest,
I'm rich and increased with goods. Ah, riches are great. Maybe,
maybe not. You say, I'm rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. Thou knowest not that thou art
wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich, and white raiment, and thou mayest be clothed, and
that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear, and anoint thine
eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love,
I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. What a horrible state to be in.
Cold, formal, I can come or I cannot come. God give us grace to cling
to Christ. So what's a preacher, a pastor
to do? What's a saved weak sinner to
do? Keep hearing. Keep attending. Keep praying. Keep the faith
of God's elect, which is all of grace. For this is our, or
I should say Christ is our safety. But for you it is safe, Christ
is our safety. In a world that has gone mad,
particularly this United States, in a world that will do anything
but hear the word of truth spoken by some poor despised preacher,
Which incidentally, Scott Richardson said, a preacher is a nobody
that tells everybody about somebody that can save anybody. That's
what we're doing. Don't we want all the folks that
we know to be eternally safe under His covenant, under His
promises, under the blood? Yes, we do. Therefore, you and
I, from this place, May we rejoice in the Lord. May we speak and declare the
same things over and over again because it's not grievous to
you and it's safe for those who hear it and believe it. I think
about that illustration Spurgeon gave. He
got a guitar. He's got one string and he's
just plucking it. Plucking it. Well that is so
boring. Now hold it. I am a little bit wiser today
than I was yesterday. I found a guy on the internet with one finger you can learn
72 chords. And I'm like, there ain't no
way. Sure enough, it's true. 12, 12, I'm going. And by the time you got done,
72 chords with one finger. Now we're only talking one string.
But you move up, you move up, you move up, you move up, you
move up, you move up, you move up. You bend it. Up, up, up,
up, up. There's 24. You bend it down. There's a 36 with one string. So, Spurgeon illustration is
true. We've got one string, and to
be honest with you, we may only have one moment to talk about
it. Our cross may pass with that friend or neighbor or whoever
one time. And you can say this and say that, and then your actions
just tear it all apart. You say, come here, this is where
the Gospel is preached. Ah, I'm not going to go. I've
got something else to do. But I'm thankful God is sovereign.
So He even takes how we mess up, and He'll still get glory. And I'm thankful for that, because
if that were the case, I'd be talking to myself. And I don't
even know if I'd believe it. But to God be the glory. Nathan,
would you close us?