Brother Bruce Crabtree will come
in a few minutes and preach to you tonight. I want to simply
talk to you a little bit about some things that are on my heart,
have been for a while, and I trust God will make them profitable
to you as he has to me. Last week, Brother David Collier
buried his wife after watching her suffer for
a long time as the Lord dismantled that tabernacle of flesh in which
he walked on this earth. This morning I spoke to our friend,
Brother Tommy Robbins, God's faithful servant. The doctors
informed him today he has from a few days to a few weeks left
on this earth. He's in a lot of pain, a lot
of pain. Cancer is all over his body and affected his spine. He's in a great deal of pain.
They hope maybe they can alleviate the pain somewhat. I have a good
many friends who have just recently died, others who expect to die
very soon. So needless to say, I've had
my mind on the matter of death. But that's not unusual for me.
I like to think about death. I recommend that you do so. I
deliberately set my mind on the consideration that there is but
a breath between me and eternity, but a breath between me and everlasting
life or everlasting torment, and the same is true for you.
Death is a subject we ought to contemplate regularly. What blessed
thoughts I have. when I think of God delivering
us from this tabernacle of clay. What blessed, blessed thoughts.
Soon I must lay aside this body of flesh and sin, and it will
be a welcome relief. Nothing has caused me so much
trouble and so much difficulty as this fallen nature in which
I continually must reside as long as I live on this earth,
this body of flesh, not just the physical flesh, this body
of flesh, that old man that I am by nature. And soon that old
man must die. He must be gone forever. Thank God. When I die, my most
earnest prayers, my greatest concerns will be fully answered. The fact is I don't expect to
die. He that believeth on me, the
scripture says, shall never die, shall not die. This body is just
a tabernacle in which we reside. And even this body that must
go to the dust, that must return to the earth whence it came,
will rise again. This mortal will put on immortality. This corruptible put on incorruption. This natural body will be raised
a spiritual body. That's beyond comprehension.
That's just beyond comprehension. Somebody says, you can't have
a spiritual body. God said we will. Spiritual body,
a body, a soul, a heart, a mind conformed to Christ in his glory. Imagine that. Imagine that. The things that concern me when
I think about death, think about dying. Those things that give
me fear and apprehension. Those things that disturb you
when you think you may soon leave this world really shouldn't give
us any concern at all. They really shouldn't, not if
we're God's people, not if we're believers. That which disturbs
us is sin. Christ washed my sins away. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And the book says, in him is
no sin. He redeemed me from sin. In him
I have no sin. I am completely freed from sin,
unborn to sin. I am alive in Christ Jesus, free
in him. God says, likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. God does. God does. And if God reckons that to be
so, you know that's how it really is. That's how it really is. Dead to sin. He that believes
on the Son of God, being made alive by God's grace, is dead
to sin. God requires righteousness. Perfect,
perfect righteousness. both a record of righteousness
and a nature of righteousness. You can't get to glory without
both. You must have Christ's righteousness
imputed to you in free justification and imparted to you in the new
birth, in regeneration. You must be made a new creature
in Christ. Christ is Jehovah, our righteousness, the Lord,
our righteousness. He obeyed God's law in our room
instead. And in the new birth, he comes
by his spirit and his very nature is created in us so that we have
that holiness in him, without which no man shall see the Lord.
So that all that God requires of me, satisfaction, obedience,
righteousness, it's mine. I have it in him. No reason to
fear God Almighty frowning on me turning his back on me because
he turned his back on his son. No need to fear that he may punish
me for anything ever because he punished his son once in my
stead. And he who satisfied the justice
of God for me is my only hope before God. I have concerns also
for the Church of God, that it be safe, things be taken care
of. These folks here in Danville
are my family, and I want so very much the things continue
and improve when I'm gone. One of the members of the Church
of Sylacauga wrote to me last night and said, what will we
do without Tommy? I plan to answer the letter.
I plan to answer the letter. What will we do without our pastor?
He's gone. The chief shepherd takes care
of his sheep. And he will supply his church
with pastors according to his heart who will feed his church
with knowledge and with understanding. He always has. He will tomorrow. When I'm gone, No injury will
come to God's church. When I'm gone, no harm will be
done. God Almighty has given his church
pastors all these many years and he will not abandon his church
tomorrow. The church of God is safe all
as well. And then I have a concern for
this dear lady over here. But God Almighty, our Redeemer,
our Savior, is an infinitely better husband and an infinitely
better protector and an infinitely better provider than I can ever
be. So there's no reason for any
believer to fear death or look upon death with any kind of apprehension,
with any kind of uneasiness. We are in Christ. and one with Christ. We sang a little bit ago, as
he is, I am in him. That's what the book says. As
he is, so are we in this world. So that everything, everything
Mike Walker that can be said of the man, Christ Jesus, seated
in glory right now is said of you. Everything that's true of him
is true of me. Everything. Well, that's stretching
it too far. Everything that is true of the
God-man, our mediator, sitting in glory, is true of every one
of his own. As he is, so are we in this world. Oh, if you can get hold of that.
If you can get hold of that, that will sail your boat through
any storm. We're one with Christ. But what
will it be like to depart from this world and be with Christ,
to see him face to face? I can't begin to tell you how
much I enjoy thinking about the glory and the bliss that awaits
us on the other side of the grave. Let's read a few passages and
then I'll make a few comments. Revelation chapter 7. We'll begin
in Revelation chapter 7. John was given numerous visions
of heavenly glory as he was given this revelation of Jesus Christ. And here in chapter 7, he beholds
all the host of God's elect gathered around the throne. They're called
the 144,000. That is a disdefinite number
given for an indefinite number. The 144,000 representing all
the Israel of God, all God's elect. We begin in verse 9. After this, I beheld and lo,
a great multitude, which no man could number. He just caught
him 144,000 before. There is a multitude no man can
number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. God's
elect gathered from every corner of the globe, stood before the
throne and before the land, clothed with white robes, clothed in
perfect righteousness, with palms in their hands victorious over
everything. and cried with a loud voice saying,
Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the
land. And all the angels stood round
about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts and
fell before the throne on their faces and worshiped God saying,
Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might be unto our God forever and ever. Amen. Verse 13. And one of the elders
answered, saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in
white robes? And whence came they? And I said
unto him, sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, these are
they which came out of great tribulation. Come through this
world, you come out of great tribulation. We must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God. And these who come out of great
tribulation have washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the lamb. Well, I thought the Lord did
that. He did. Me too. Believing on him, we
wash ourselves in the fountain of blood drawn from Emmanuel's
veins. We plunge into that fountain,
open for sins, believing him. They washed their robes. They
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. We confess our sins.
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Therefore, since they've washed
their robes and made them white, therefore are they before the
throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And
he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They
shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. They shall hunger
no more for righteousness, and they'll thirst no more for his
presence. Neither shall the sunlight on
them, no more heat, no more trouble, nor any heat, for the lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them. and shall lead
them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes. Chapter 22, Revelation 22. And he showed me a pure river
of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. in the midst of the street of
it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life,
which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse. But the throne of God and of
the lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him and
they shall see his face. and his name shall be in their
foreheads. And there shall be no night there
and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord
God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me, these sayings
are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the Holy
Prophet sent his angel to show unto his servants the things
which must shortly be done. Won't be long now. This will
be accomplished. Back up one chapter, chapter
21. And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away. And there was no more sea. No more sea. I have a very dear
friend, an older man in Wolverhampton, England, who wrote to me quoting
this passage over a year or so ago. And he said, the sea is
what separates us. There'll be no more sea. Nothing
to separate God's people. Nothing to divide, no barrier,
nothing to separate. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying. Neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he
that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write, for
these words are true and faithful. Now let's focus our attention
on verse four. My subject tonight is no tears
in heaven. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away. Now did you notice in all
of these passages we've read of God's saints in heaven and
even the angels of God in heaven, the constant subject of every
song, the theme of every word of praise is God's salvation. Throughout the book, is that
what? Everywhere in heaven, you find a picture of God's saints
worshiping him around his throne. They speak and give him praise
for his great salvation. Salvation of our souls by Christ
Jesus the Lord. Salvation recalled in heaven
by the wonder of God's election. Salvation by the precious blood
of God's dear son, the Lamb. The Lamb, the Lamb, the Lamb's
everywhere. The Lamb's everywhere. A Lamb
as it had been slain. Salvation by the blood of the
Lamb. Salvation by God's wise, adorable, good providence. Oh, I think when we stand before
our God and look over life stories, and have some understanding in
his story, some understanding of history, and see things with
clarity, looking over the mountain ranges of time to behold the
wonders God has performed in the earth in the saving of his
people. That's what Providence is. It's God working in creation
and working in time bring his own to himself. And they speak
of salvation as that marvelous work of God's grace. Every saved
sinner, every saved sinner has learned by the effectual teaching
of God the Holy Spirit what Jonah learned in the whale's belly.
Every sinner who has experienced God's omnipotent saving operations
of grace gladly and joyfully confesses from his heart's experience
salvation is of the Lord. Every saved sinner. Folks who
don't know that have not experienced God's saving grace. For believing
men and women That blessed fact of grace, that universal declaration
of Holy Scripture can't be stated too fully, too frequently, or
too emphatically. Salvation is in its entirety
the work of God's free sovereign grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. That means that your will, your
works, and your worth have nothing to do with it. Nothing. Not in
the beginning, not in the experience, not in the process, not in the
end. Salvation is altogether of the
Lord. It's by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone. Nothing's attributed to man.
Nothing. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now what's confusing about that? Well, what part does man play
in it? Well, let's try that again. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. By
grace are you saved through faith. And that grace and that saving
and that faith is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. God hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Salvation's of the Lord. And
God's people rejoice to know that it's so. Be sure you understand
this. Salvation involves all that is
required to bring a sinner from the ruins of the fall into the
gates of heavenly glory. Everything. God's election is
called the election of grace. Predestination is that which
God did from eternity to the praise of the glory of His grace.
Our redemption by the blood of Christ, His precious blood, is
the redemption by which He purchased and secured for us the forgiveness
of all our sins, effectually accomplishing for us everlasting
life. eternal life obtained by Him
according to the riches of His grace. We're justified freely
by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. We're
born again by the power of God's grace. Our faith in Christ is
the gift of grace, and we're sanctified by that same grace.
If we persevere, if we persevere to the end, it will be by that
grace of God that keeps us to the end. And in the last day,
He will raise us up in everlasting glory when at last when at last
we stand before God we shall possess all the glory of our
heavenly inheritance as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ by free grace by free grace that
means Everybody has the same thing In all its fullness So
that all that Christ possesses as the reward of his obedience
Under God as our Savior and mediator the father put all things in
his hand and put all things under his feet and made him to be head
over all things to the church and Everything he possesses God's
elect shall enjoy forever in him. Even the glory that he possesses. He said, the glory that thou
hast given me, I've given to thee. That they may be one as
we fathers are one. We possess everything that Christ,
how can that be? By grace, by free grace. When our great God and Savior
says time shall be no more and makes all things new, when He
presents us before the presence of His glory with exceeding great
joy, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable, without any trace of sin upon
us, when He, He who made all things for Himself, brings forth
the headstone and puts it in the most conspicuous place of
everlasting preeminence. We will shout what's irrevocable,
not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord,
crying grace, grace unto it. Because this great glorious thing
we call salvation is altogether by grace. We are assured that
it shall be equally Fully, completely, perfectly possessed by all the
airs of salvation. There will be absolutely no regrets,
no sorrows, no remorse, no wish it had been otherwise,
no tears of any kind. as we bow before God's throne
in everlasting praise. No regrets, no sorrows, no remorse,
no wishing something had been different, no tears. Look at our text again. And God
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be
no more death. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed
away." Hold your hands here and turn back to that text that Brother
Curtis read to us earlier in Isaiah chapter 25. Won't you make a comparison?
He's talking about the same subject. Isaiah 25, verse 8. He will swallow
up death in victory. And the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces and the rebuke of his people. Shall
he take away from off all the earth for the Lord has spoken. Now, after asserting that the
Lord Jesus and his second advent will swallow up death in victory,
the prophet Isaiah gives us this great glorious promise. The Lord
God will wipe away all wipe away tears from off all faces and
the rebuke of his people shall it take away from off all the
earth, everything that shamed us, everything that caused us
to blush, everything for which we now weep, he takes it away. Now, look at Revelation 21, four
again. Here, the Spirit of God tells
us, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Very slight,
but very significant difference in the way these two texts are
speaking. Isaiah tells us that God will wipe away tears from
off all faces. Everybody who sits with Christ
in glory. All the redeemed, God will wipe
away tears from off all faces. Won't be any weeping in heaven.
No weeping. But then John is inspired to
tell us God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. He's going to, Brother Gene,
not just wipe away tears from everybody's eyes, he's going
to wipe away all tears from everybody's eyes with his son in glory. Oh,
don't cry. No crying for any reason. By
divine inspiration, he added this word of grace and tells
us God's not only going to wipe away tears from the eyes of his
people, but wipe away every tear from the eyes of all his people.
You put the two texts together and this is what we're told.
When our great glorious God is finished with all things, He
will have so thoroughly and so completely saved all his elect
from all sin and from all the evil consequences of sin and
save them forever that there will never be a tear in our eyes
again. All tears. All tears. We will see then and see clearly
what we cannot imagine seeing now. And that is that truly all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
that are called according to his purpose. Even our fall in
our father Adam and our many falls Throughout the days of
our sojourn on this earth and our rebellions and ungodliness,
everything shall be down to the praise and honor and glory of
our Savior and the everlasting happiness of our souls. Who can
grasp the fullness of that promise? It's too great, too broad, too
incomprehensible for our puny mortal brains to get hold of.
And yet it's gloriously true. When God's finished, there will
be no evil consequence of sin left in God's creation. The very
slime of the serpent erased from the earth and erased from our
experience forever. Gone. Our great God in heavenly glory removes from us every consequence
of evil, every cause of pain, every cause of sorrow, every
reason for regret, every reason for tears, and he will bring
us into the everlasting perfection of complete salvation. Now let
me make three statements and I'll wrap this up. Obvious it
is that our text implies that there's much weeping in the way
to heaven. I went to bed about 1230 this
morning and woke up about 230. and did some weeping and some
praying. And I've done that a lot in my
life. You too. You too. In the way between our
entrance into the kingdom of God in the experience of grace
and our entrance into the kingdom of God in heavenly glory, there's
much weeping. There are many things which believers
suffer in this world, just like other men suffer. Because this
world is a world of sin, and we are sinners in it. This world
is a world of sorrow, and we have much sorrow in it. Our dear
brother Scott Richardson, for you who haven't seen it, Brother
Marvin sent me the last thing Brother Scott read and addressed
the congregation to in Fairmont. just a few days before God took
him home. It'll be in Sunday's bulletin here. But Brother Scott,
I remember once we were preaching together down in Rocky Mountain,
Virginia, and he said, life in this world ain't much. It begins
with a slap on the bottom, and it ends with a shovel full of
dirt in your face, and there's nothing in between but bumps
and bruises along the way. And that's just reality. That's
just reality. If all you've got is what you
got here. I pity you because you got nothing. You got nothing. We suffer physical
pain, sickness, and sorrow. You read the 11th chapter of
John, a beloved family there had difficulties and heartache. Lazarus died. Martha and Mary
were disturbed, they sent word to the Lord Jesus saying, he
whom thou lovest is sick, spread their case before him. The master
waited until Lazarus was dead and he came to them and they're
weeping and sorrowful and full of perplexity. God's people in
this world often experience such. We're like the disciples often. Master, carest thou not that
we perish? God's people, true believers,
true believers sometimes have lives that are just flat messed
up. I mean just messed up. Had domestic
trouble. That never happened to one of
God's elect. Talk to David about that. Talk to David about that. It's time you get off your high
self-righteous horse and think things that other folks go through
you won't go through. True believers have trouble.
True faithful men have wives that despise them and despise
God. And faithful women have husbands that despise them and
despise God. And they have trouble with it.
True believers get sick. And they go through something
worse than dying. They watch folks they love die. There are other things that we
experience that cause us to weep. while we live in this world,
that the world knows nothing about. We're beginning to learn a little
bit about what we are, aren't we? And what you are is sin. And if you know anything about
what I'm talking about, that troubles you. That troubles you. inward corruption
that just gets worse every day. Never diminishes. Never. Never. The older you get,
that's one thing about you that gets stronger. Inward corruption. Oh, wretched man that I am. We struggle with unbelief. We struggle with the coldness
of heart. When you have a real trial, real
trial, real heartache, believers despise themselves. for lack
of resignation to God's will. Oh, God, teach me to bow. God,
teach me to bow. And Clay, he will teach you to
bow, but it's going to be painful. It's going to be painful. Rebels don't bow without pain.
Doesn't happen. Doesn't happen. Believers experience
times of spiritual darkness, desertion. emptiness, barrenness,
with which we struggle constantly, for which we weep bitterly. And then there are some tears
that are really precious tears, tears of repentance. What a bittersweet thing. What
a bittersweet thing. to be able to repent before God
what you are. What a bittersweet thing. What
a bittersweet thing it is to weep in sympathy with one you
love. I often have said I thoroughly
enjoy everything about pastoring. I ought to clarify that. I thoroughly
enjoy everything about pastoring here. I had nine years of pastoring
that wanted me to murder people. But I thoroughly enjoy everything
about it here. Everything. Even carrying folks' burdens. Weep over folks when they weep.
Oh, what a blessing. What a blessing to have your
heart knit with someone so that you really do rejoice when they
rejoice and weep when they weep. Tears longing for Christ's presence. Oh, those are delightful things.
And here's the second thing. Even now, while we're in this
veil of tears, the believer's life is not a morbid, sorrow-filled
existence. But even now, our God comforts
his own and dries our tears. We do have our sorrows, but the
Lord God speaks comfort to us. I read in Brother Dottie Bell's
bulletin a few weeks ago. I haven't traced it out yet for
myself. It's someone who observed that there were 365 fear nots
in God's word. Did y'all see that? 365 fear nots, that's one for every
day of the year. If I find it for myself, you're
going to have some articles on that. One for every day of the
year, fear not, fear not. Listen to this. Now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I bought you. I've called you by your name. I've called you. Thou art mine. And then he says, I will be with
thee. I will be wherever you are, whatever you experience,
I'll be with you. I'll never leave you nor forsake
you. Never, never. He comforts us all, giving us
a measure of acceptance to his providence, causing us to fall
back in His arms and trust His providence, reminding of His
purpose of grace, refreshing our hearts with His promises,
all the promises of God, yea and amen, in Christ Jesus. He
blesses us with a sense of His presence, floods us with the
knowledge of His love. Someone said, I know that Jesus
loves me, and that's enough for me. And when I can know it, that's
enough for me. That's enough for me. All is
well. I've redeemed you. I've called
you. You're mine. I'll be with you. Fear not." And the Lord reminds
us that when he does chasten his son whom he loves with the
rod of correction, it's because of his love, not his anger. He chastens those whom he loves. Trials make the promise sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to his feet,
lay me low, and keep me there. And John Carpenter, whatever
it is that brings you and me to his feet, and lay us low at
his feet and keep us there. Thank God for that, whatever
it is. The Lord God graciously then
causes our hearts to be fixed on things above. For our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at
the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary. But the things
which are not seen, they're eternal, for we know, we know, we know
that if our earthly house and this tabernacle were dissolved,
we have right now a building of God, not made with hands,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And yet,
here's the last thing. In heaven's glory, God will wipe
out all tears from our eyes. There's a time coming when we
will weep no more because we will have no reason to weep. No cause for sorrow. Not one. Not one. Heaven is a place of
joy without sorrow. Laughter without weeping. pleasantness
without pain. In heaven, there are no regrets,
no remorseful tears, no second thoughts, no lost causes, no
sorrows of any kind, no curse forever. If God didn't wipe away
all tears from our eyes, there would be much weeping in heaven.
We would spend much time weeping over our past sins. I recall
years ago, listening to a fellow preach and claim to believe free
grace. He was trying to beat folks over
the head a little bit. And I don't know what reason
was, but he liked to beat folks over the head. He said, in heaven,
you're going to regret every minute you didn't serve God faithfully
on this earth. And I wanted to say, no tears! Oh, no. Oh, no. If he didn't
wipe away all tears from our eyes, we'd weep over you, unconverted, lost, who should be damned forever. Yeah, we would. We sure would. But you won't cause any pain
in heaven. Not the dearest child, not the
dearest husband, not the dearest wife, not the dearest mother,
not the dearest father. You die and rebellion to God.
We weep now. Oh, I think often about folks
I've buried and could hardly get through preaching the funeral.
My heart breaking for them. But that's over when this thing
called time is over. You won't cause any pain to God's
elect in glory. Then we will understand things
clearly as they are according to God's eternal purpose and
strict holiness. We would weep over wasted opportunities
and wasted time. Weep over all of our acts of
unkindness and lack of love for our brethren. We'd weep over
the terrible price of our redemption. Isn't it amazing? We do now. I can't think of Christ bleeding
for me without my heart breaking. Sometimes I do. God forgive me.
But in heaven's glory, every time His sufferings are spoken
of, saints break out and praise. Every time the price is spoken
of, praise is lifted up. No more weeping. God will wipe
away all tears from our eyes. He says there'll be no more death. And no more sorrow. No more sickness. No more pain. And that means
there'll be no more crying. No more crying. Listen to this
now. For the former things are passed
away. Former things are passed away. Former things of what we are. Former things of all that we've
done. Passed away. Gone. Gone. Former things of the earth caused
us so much pain and difficulty. Former things of this world. Former things of our own souls. All passed away. Passed away. Our great God in heaven's glory
shall remove all sin from us and remove us from all sin and
from all the consequences of sin, from every cause of grief,
and bring us at last into the perfection of complete salvation. We will be like Christ and with Christ. We'll see him
as he is and love him perfectly. Serve him unceasingly. Worship
him without seeing. Rest in him completely. Enjoy
him fully. And have him entirely. I'm going to heaven. I sure would
like to see you there. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and this eternal bliss is yours forever. God help you to believe. Amen.