Back here in Hebrews chapter
9, I want to take as my text verses 24 and 26 and 28. It speaks of three great appearances
of Christ. Three appearances, great appearances
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me begin by reading a verse
from Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, between the
close of the Old Testament, when God spoke by the last prophet
there, and the New Testament, when Christ and the messenger
he spoke of appeared, 400 years had transpired. 400 years. And
during that 400 years, men just grew more and more and more
religious. Religion didn't stop. God didn't
speak for 400 years, but that didn't stop the growth, the spread
of religion to the point when Christ himself appeared on the
scene as the prophet in closing the Old Testament said he would.
They didn't even know he was. Didn't have a clue. That's pretty
much the state that we're in today. Malachi chapter 3, the Lord Jesus
Christ here is doing the talking. He said, Behold, I will send
my messenger. He's talking about John the Baptist.
And he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. And then 400 years after that
prophecy, John the Baptist appeared on the scene. I think there was
about six months in the ages of John the Baptist and the Lord
Jesus Christ. We read of his birth, the announcement
of it, in Luke's Gospel, Chapter 1. His father, Zacharias, was
a priest. His mother, Elizabeth, they were
well up in years and didn't have a son. until God came on the
scene. Luke chapter 1 verse 13, But
the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer
is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness,
and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great
in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor
strong drink, And he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even
from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him,
him, in the spirit and power of Elias, Elijah." And that's
exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ said concerning John, that, "...turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just." to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord. John the Baptist was the Lord's
messenger, the forerunner, but the one he preceded was the message
itself. Was he not? The one John said
would come after him was the Word incarnate. The Lord Jesus
Christ, not John, was himself the very expression of God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
wrapped in flesh and dwelt tabernacled among us. Now compare what the
angel said to Zacharias about his son John to what that angel
said to Mary about the son she should have. This is in Luke's
Gospel as well, verse 30, chapter 1. And the angel said unto her,
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son. There has been volumes and volumes
written about the incarnation of God Almighty, and we still
just don't understand how that could be. But we rejoice in it. Thou shalt bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto
him not John but unto him the throne of his father David and
he shall reign not John but Jesus he shall reign over the house
of Jacob his people forever and of his kingdom there shall be
no end and he's not talking about that place across the sea in
concerning Israel, but his kingdom, his heavenly kingdom, his everlasting
kingdom, his people that make up his kingdom, of that kingdom,
there shall be no end. He, Jesus, shall be great, not
like John was in the sight of the Lord, but he shall be great
because he is the Lord. He is the Lord. He is himself
God. John always, did you notice that?
And this is a good example, especially for preachers. John always deflected
any suspicion concerning himself that he was the Messiah. He did
that over and over again, didn't he? Especially we read of it
in John's Gospel, but he would always say if anyone suspected
or if there was a rumor, and there was, when John began his
ministry, and for a while he was a novelty, he was strange,
and he preached with power, God's Spirit was upon him, and people
began to whisper, could this be the Messiah? John, could he
be the one we're looking for? Could he be the one the Old Testament
spoke about? And John would always say, no,
you're wrong, you're wrong. I'm not the Messiah. I'm not
him. John 1, verse 27. This is John speaking. He it
is who coming after me He's coming after me. And he is preferred
before me, whose shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Beth-Avora,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptized. The next day, John
seeth Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God. The next
day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he.
This is what I've been telling you. It's not me. If you stop
by only seeing me, you'll miss the Lamb of God. You'll miss
salvation. John said, This is him. There
he is. That's the one I've been telling
you about. Of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is preferred
before me." John uses that expression again. For he was before me. Preferred before me. That means
what John was saying when he used that expression was this.
He, Jesus Christ, ranks higher than I. He ranks higher than
I. As a matter of fact, he is very
God of very God. He's equal with God. He is not
taking unto himself anything that he doesn't deserve. He's
not robbing God when he claims to be God. He's telling the truth.
Therefore, he ranks higher than I. You can't get any higher than
that, can you? Louis, you can't get any higher
than being God. You can't be any higher than
that God who is in the heavens doing whatsoever He has pleased.
You can't be any higher than that. No wonder John says, He
is preferred before me. Again, John chapter 3, verse
28. John speaking. John the Baptist. You yourselves bear me witness
that I said I am not to Christ, but that I am sent before Him.
He. Highlight He. that has the bride,
the church, his beloved, his betrothed, those the father committed
into his hand, he that has the bride, he's the bridegroom, not
me. Ah, but the friend, that's who
John was, but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and
heareth him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And John says, this my joy therefore
is fulfilled. That's enough for me. Just to
hear his voice. That's enough for me. I'm content. I'm satisfied. I can now say
with Simeon, let me die. I've seen God's salvation. I'm
content. I'm fulfilled. And then John
went on to say, He, Jesus Christ, He must increase, but I must
decrease. And these glorious words spoken
by the angel to Joseph was not concerning John the Baptist but
that son of Mary who was also the son of God. It was said of
him, I cannot think of greater words about anybody who ever
lived if you put them all together. He shall save his people from
their sins. Wow. Wow. What a mission. What a purpose. What an accomplishment. What
a work. What a mighty God and Savior
Jesus Christ must be. In Acts chapter 13, Paul was
preaching and he says, Be it known unto you therefore, men
and brethren, that through this man Jesus Christ, the God man. Nobody else. Nobody else. Through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And
by him, not by a Baptist, not by a Catholic, not by a Calvinist,
not by Arminian, but by him, all that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Now here in Hebrews chapter 9
in verses 24 through 28, it speaks of the three great appearances
of Christ. Let me illustrate it like this. If President Trump were to come
to Sylacauga, Alabama, we would, I think, rightly conclude he
must be coming on some important matter, John. I mean, he wouldn't
be coming here to play a game of checkers. I mean, if the president
pulled up in that big black limousine and all those secret servicemen
around him, we would think, my, so what's he coming here for?
I wonder what he's coming here for. Man, it must be some great
mission. And the appearance of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, which required him being made of a woman, it
must be important. Because God wouldn't send him
here otherwise, would he? He wouldn't send his son if somebody
else could do the job. Oh no, God must have sent him
on a great mission for a great purpose. Remember who he is? We referred to it earlier. Remember
who he is. Oh yes, that Jewish infant in
that stinking stable that night never ceased to be God Almighty. That one that is dependent upon
his mother is the same one who created everything that was created. My soul, what a marvel. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
That little baby? All things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that was made. Obviously,
no one else could do what He came to do. No one. Or God would have sent them instead
of His only begotten Son. And that eternal, everlasting
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Let me read you a couple of comments
by Mr. Spurgeon concerning the incarnation
and the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, O son of man,
I don't know which to admire most, your height of glory or
your depths of misery. Though he was rich, yet for your
sakes, child of God, he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. Spurgeon went on to say, God
in the carpenter's shop, the son of God driving nails, God
in the flesh handling a hammer, wondrous, wondrous work. No wonder,
Paul said, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received up into glory. Deity, again, Mr. Spurgeon said,
deity is not to be explained but to be adored, just to be
adored, like the shepherds adored the Savior. And the sonship of
Christ is to be accepted as a truth of revelation, to be apprehended
by faith. You can't apprehend it any other
way, though it cannot be comprehended by the understanding and the
very fact that God sent his Son as evidence that only the Son
could fulfill God's purpose. And that's exactly what we read.
Revelation chapter 5, you remember this. And I wept much, John said,
the Apostle John, because no man was found worthy to open
and to read the book, neither to look thereon, that book of
God's purposes and eternal decrees, who shall bring them to fulfillment. And one of the elders said unto
me, weep not. Behold, behold, child of God,
behold this now. Don't forget this. This is the
foundation of your comfort. This is the reason of your hope.
Behold, the land of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,
has prevailed. How you like that, Billy? The
lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed to open the book and
to loose the seven seals thereof. He's prevailed to do God's will. I came down from heaven, he said,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
if you think that fulfilling the will of God Almighty is a
simple thing, you don't know God. That's just a fact. If you
think God Almighty will accept anything offered to Him by anyone,
you don't know God. You don't know God. God Almighty,
as I said recently, is very hard to please. You know why? He demands
perfection. He won't accept it unless it's
perfect. Now you stack up Whatever you
have, and Larry included, stack up all my preaching and all my
prayers and all my blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, next to that
what God Almighty demands and will accept nothing less than
perfection and see how it compares. Oh, but the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, he's prevailed. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O my And he
did it. He did it all. He lived a life
of perfect obedience to the yoke of that holy law of God in word,
in thought, in deed, always perfect, perfect. From the first breath
he drew, When he entered this world, to the last breath, when
he expired upon the cross, saying, Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit, every step between the two was a step of absolute
perfection. And you know what? You know what,
child of God? He puts us in those steps. He puts us in the steps of the
Lord Jesus Christ and gives us credit for what he did. Man,
how about that? How about that? And not only
that, he went to the cross, because not only was the law not kept,
and he did that in his life of perfect obedience to God, but
What about those sins? What about those sins? What about
that disobedience? They must be accounted for. God
must be satisfied. Somebody's got to pay that debt
and bless His glorious name. As we remember this day, He did
exactly that. He did exactly that. The lion
of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. And I beheld and lo, in the midst
of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders stood a lamb. as it has been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth. And he came." Oh, can you, by
faith, get a glimpse of that? And he came. Here am I, Father. Send me. He came. and took the book out of the
right hand of him, that is, God, that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of
them harps and golden vows full of odors, which are the prayers
of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,
for you were slain. and you redeemed us to God. You
didn't try to redeem us, make an effort to redeem us, half
redeem us. You redeemed us to God by your
own blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and tribe. Oh, behold Him again. When the
fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son. Look at Him. Look at Him from
any angle you want to. before, behind, to the side. Consider him as prophet, priest,
king. Consider every office, whatever,
however you view him. If you're a child of God, you'll
bow down before him and say, man, he's altogether lovely.
Lester, he's perfect. He's perfect. He's altogether
lovely. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem. To redeem. Them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. No one
else could redeem us. And then here, in Hebrews 10,
and then we'll come to the first appearance of Christ. Hebrews
10, verses 5 through 7. Again, by faith. Oh, can you
see Him? Can you hear him speak these
words? Wherefore, verse 5, when he cometh
into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. Three appearances of Jesus Christ. Verse 26, it speaks in the past
tense. Had he appeared. Verse 24, it
speaks in the present tense. He does now appear in the presence
of God for us. And then in verse 28, it speaks
in the future and the final tense. He shall appear. Now, these three appearances
are vitally connected. You can't separate them. It's
impossible to have one without the other. In fact, the first
one, verse 26, is the reason for the foundation of the second
one in verse 24. The reason he appears in the
presence of God for us is because he redeemed us. He was made sin
for you and I. And even though the three are
vitally connected, Yet each one has its own unique and peculiar
purpose in itself, like three beautiful flowers all growing
from the same plant. And here's the first flower,
the first appearing. Are you looking at it with me?
Verse 26, the first appearing in why? The past appearance of
Christ. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now Once, in the end of the
world, had he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. That's the reason for his first
appearance, to put away sin. And as Paul tells us in verse
25, if the blood of Christ accomplished no more than the sacrifices of
animals, then Christ, like those animals, would have to continue
to be offered as we read in verse 26, then must he often have suffered. But look what we read, verse
1 of chapter 10, for the law having a shadow of good things
to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, can
never, they never were intended to, if the sacrifices of God
Almighty, the one that he himself prescribed could never take away
sin, you can bet nothing you do is going to take away sin.
If they did what God himself said to be done, if that couldn't
take away sin, you can count on it. No religious work that
you or I can do can ever take away sin. The sacrifices were
never intended to do that. Can never with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto
perfect? For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? And the answer is yes. If they
made those who offered them perfect, then they wouldn't need to offer
them anymore. I mean, you can't do better than perfect, can you?
But that never happened. Those sacrifices, as Paul tells
us, was never intended to take away sin. So without sin's removal,
if sin's not removed, the penalty's not removed, and the guilt's
not removed. And we suffer until we're made
to know the forgiveness of our sins. We suffer under that guilty
conscience. Guilty conscience. My soul, dark
days I remember when I first saw my sin. When God got me lost,
John, my soul, I wanted to sleep. I tried to sleep, but I couldn't
sleep. Couldn't sleep. Laid there just staring at the
darkness. I'm lost, I'm lost, I'm lost. And people said, you
need to do this. Get you a Bible and read it.
And I did it. God said, you lost, you lost,
you lost. Go to church and trot up to the altar You're lost,
you're lost, you're lost. Say the sinner's prayer and they
said, you're saved, you're saved, you're saved. Good for you, you
did God a favor and God said, you're lost, you're lost, you're
lost. Yes. Remember those dark days. Oh, a guilty conscience. But
look what it says, but now once. The first appearing of Christ
now once. Christ offered himself once to
God. He trod the winepress alone one
time. God made him to be sin one time. And in so doing, he put away
all the sins of all of his people forever. He put away all the
sins of all of his people forever. That's why he came, to put away
sin. And he didn't fail. He didn't
fail. He put away the sins of his people. He accomplished in that one offering
of himself everything all the animal sacrifices only pictured,
only typified were a shadow of. Again, chapter 10, verse 7, wherefore,
when he, he cometh into the world, things are going to be different
now. The results are going to be different now. When He cometh
into the world, look at verses 5 through 7. Wherefore, when He cometh into
the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not,
but a body hast Thou prepared me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. This is the son speaking to his
father. Then said I, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me to do thy will, O God. Look down at verse 11
in the same chapter. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sin. Never. But this man, after he
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right
hand of God. Oh, child of God, read that and
rejoice. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Now when you read that verse,
do you see any loophole there for the possibility of failure? I mean, do you see any hint of
failure in those words? Not at all. Jesus Christ said,
I come to do thy will, O God, and even God himself. Concerning
this time, when he would send forth his righteous servant,
said concerning him, hundreds of years before, behold my servant,
whom I uphold, my elect, and whom my soul delights, I have
put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not fail. He was made
sin that I might be made righteousness of God in Him. He shall not fail. He bore the sins of all His people
away forever, and He shall not fail, nor be discouraged until
He has set judgment in the earth, and the owl shall wait for His
law. Chapter 1 of Hebrews, God, who
at sunry times and in divers manners spake in times past to
the fathers by the prophets, having these last days spoken
unto us by His Son, by whom he had appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, he sat down. The job was done. And he sat
down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Peter wrote
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit." I like what Isaac Watts wrote.
Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give
the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain, but Christ,
the heavenly Lamb, takes all our sins away, a sacrifice of
nobler name and richer blood than they. Let me ask you this. Does not the precious blood of
Christ, His atonement, the price of our redemption, does it not
demand the salvation of all those for whom He died? Does it not
demand that? Is not God in the light of the
sacrifice of His Son faithful but also just, it would be wrong
if He didn't forgive us. It would be wrong if He didn't
forgive us of all trespasses. It would be wrong if He didn't
accept us in His Son. It would be unjust if He doesn't
bring us all the glory to live and be with Him forever. It would
be unjust if God Almighty wouldn't do that. When we were yet enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Child of
God, may we have grace not to do what we are prone to do, measure
our assurance of our acceptance by God on what I feel. instead
of what he himself declares. God says of every redeemed sinner,
deliver his soul from going down to the pit. Why? Because I found
a ransom. Jesus Christ said, I came not
to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my life
a ransom for many. Well then, what should I do?
Oh, if that be the case, Let me come boldly to the throne
of grace with a song in my heart, something like this. Arise, my
soul, arise. Shake off your guilty fears.
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. Before the throne
my surety stands. My name is written on his hand.
He ever lives above for me to intercede. His all-redeeming
love, his precious blood to plead. His blood atoned for all his
race. and sprinkles now the throne
of grace. And that brings us to the second
appearing in verse 24. The second flower on this blessed
vine. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Those Christ redeemed by his
blood, that same glorious Redeemer now reigns in heaven to save
those for whom he died by the power of his grace. And this
is the certain outcome of his first appearance. He put away
their sins. Now you think of that. The very
fact that Jesus Christ is appearing right now. Did you read that? Right now. He appears in the
presence of God for us. Right now. Well, Larry, I don't
feel like it don't have anything to do with it. Right now. Oh, but Larry, you don't know
what I thought this morning. Right now. You don't know what I'm
thinking right now. Right now, He appears in the
presence of God for us. He represents everyone the Father
gave Him and for whom He died. How do you think He's done? I'll
tell you this, he is as successful as a mediator as he was in dying. His intercession is as effectual
as his sacrifices. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again who is even at the right hand of the majesty
on high. just as there was only one ark.
We all know that, don't we? There was only one ark when the
flood came and everybody perished outside the ark. Only those who
were in the ark escaped the wrath of God. It fell on the ark, not
upon them. And just as there was only one
Passover lamb accepted by God because it was provided by God,
even so there is only one mediator between God and man the man Christ
Jesus. And Jesus Christ is my ark. He's
my refuge. I'm in Him. That's why there's
no condemnation for this sinner because he was condemned in my
place. He's my Passover lamb. He's my
mediator appearing right now in the presence of God on my
behalf. This is what Paul had an eye
to in Ephesians 4 when he wrote And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you." That's not working. For Christ's sake. What a glorious good hope that
gives a believing sinner. what acceptance they have before
God, what assurance they will never perish, what solid grounds
for knowing God will give them grace and glory because he'll
do so for Christ's sake. Oh, this was the very basis of
the Lord Jesus' prayer when he said these words. Father, I will
that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am
that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world." He has a right
to that. He's earned that. That's his
reward. That's the fruit of his sufferings,
and he'll have everything he has coming. Sinners redeemed
with wonder tell, Christ Jesus has done all things well. By
his great sin-atoning blood, believing, we have peace with
God. Let me wrap this up. Briefly,
verse 28. It speaks of the third flower
on this blessed vine of grace. The future and final appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him.
Are you looking for him? And unto them that look for him
shall he appear. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout. There's no if in that verse either,
is there? There's no doubt about his final
and future appearing. This is just as certain as the
other two. Unto them that look for him shall
he appear. Don puts it this way, Don Fortner. Let us be always standing on
the tiptoe of faith, looking for that glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is." As me and Robin were
driving either to West Virginia or back from it, I listened to
John's message that you preached here on June the 17th. I love that illustration, John.
I think you also quoted the verse, or read the verse I just did
from 1 John 3 and 2. And you used watching your son
in a parade one time. And then also the first time
you saw K. I'm going to borrow you that.
But I'm going to apply it to somebody else. But you said,
it just took your breath away. I loved how you applied that
to Jesus Christ. When we shall see him as he is,
he is going to take our breath away. Oh, unto them that look
for him shall he appear. I mentioned earlier, and then
I'm done. When mom was brought into that room, it was at a country
club, and they had a big room upstairs. When I was a kid, I
caddied at that place as a caddy, and it was a private club. John,
that was the first time I'd ever been in that room. They wouldn't
let me in when I was a caddy. My sisters had arranged all that. And as I told you, mom seemed
like, or thought she was just coming to lunch there. And everybody
saw her pull up, you know, looking out with my sister, rather, and
waited for her to get up those steps. It took a while. But then she came in. And all
nine of her children were in the front of the crowd. And everybody
said surprise and started singing happy birthday to you. But even
before that, before we could get the words out, mom saw what
was happening and she just did like it and started crying. She saw all nine of her children
standing there. And it was all she could do to
keep her composure, just stood there weeping. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
one day, he's going to bring all of his children and stand
them before the Father's throne and say, Father, I and all the
children you gave me, they're here. They're present and accounted
for. I lost none. and it's going to take our breath
away. The king, there in his beauty, without a veil is seen. It were a well-spent journey,
those seven deaths laid between. The land with his fair army on
Zion's mountain stands, and glory, glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's
land. The bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but
on my king of grace. Not on the crown he giveth, but
on his pierced hand. The lamb is all the glory of
Emmanuel's land. God bless you. Thank you for
your attention.