Pastor Dana Kidder preaching from II Thessalonians 3:16-18 at Redemption Bible Church in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Redemption Bible Church
Genuine Peace and Grace, a Benediction
In my lifetime, there has been a resurgence of reformed theology and an interest in the writings of the reformers and their successors, those after them. We should credit a man known simply as the doctor, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, J.I. Packer, and Ian Murray of the Banner of Truth Trust for much of this resurgence, they've been the men largely responsible for bringing these important works to our attention. Additionally, many Christians today are turning back to people like the Puritans to walk in the old paths of God's word, so to speak, and to continue to proclaim the old, old story that glorifies Jesus Christ. There's no new theology. 20 years ago, as a young-ish pastor, just getting started in the ministry, I was searching for something. I didn't know what. Just something that would help to guide me as I ministered and also would hopefully add something of a cool factor that I saw in so many other cool pastors. First, I dabbled in something called the Emerging Church. That faded really quickly as most of the leaders of that movement turned to old-fashioned theological liberalism. So I ran from that toward the next big thing, which I found through this cool new media called "podcasts." First, it was the second generation of the seeker-sensitive movement, which is often called today the "attractional church." And I was serving in a church that modeled itself in exactly that way up in Illinois at the time. But within a couple of years, I saw firsthand that movement, that entire movement, was shallow, generally unhelpful to people. And looking back on it, at least to the church that I served up there, not glorifying to the Lord. But I was still listening to podcasts then, and led me into what is sometimes called the Young Restless and Reformed Movement, Y-R-R. And it was cool. I was still chasing the cool factor. Now, as a movement, it doesn't really exist anymore. Most of the leaders of that have either gone woke, as they say, or embraced the old paths, meaning that they have looked deeply into Reformation theology or the writings of the Puritans. And they've embraced an historic confession of the faith, so as to be tethered to the sound doctrine of the scriptures. That's the purpose of a confession of faith, to tether us to the sound doctrine of the scriptures. As a result, it has led to a reformation of worship. And here I'm talking about the formal gathered worship of the church, the assembly of the saints. We're seeing a reformation of worship in churches that are holding fast to God's word. Even while contemporary Christian music is still pretty thin, doctrinally speaking. And even while most worship music falls into that same category, we're seeing in some small realm, at least, new hymns being written that are doctrinally rich and biblically sound. That's a very good thing for the church. Now, some look at the way that we worship here. And usually, they mean sing when they say worship. But some would look at us, and they would say that we're old-fashioned and traditional, as opposed to contemporary, and certainly not cool. And to that, I would say with the Puritans, hogwash, speaking of being cool. Like some of you, I went through those so-called worship wars of the '90s and 2000s. And back then, I was actually on the contemporary side. I was advocating for plugging in all of the instruments and hitting things with sticks, because I thought it was cool. Don't get me wrong, it can be. But then something happened to me just before I came here, and really continuing, especially in the first few years of my ministry at this church. I started walking through the valley of the shadow of death with my own grandmothers first, who were faithful Christians, both of them. And then also with some senior citizens who were a part of this church. Saints like Dave and Winnita Nesser and Doris Shindowulf and Phyllis Morris. Saints that many of you don't know that are now in glory. Many of us walked together with Diana just over the past few years. But there are many others, some of which were a part of this church and others who were not. I have records in my office of the funerals that I've preached over the years. It's been sobering to look through them this past week and remember the people whose funerals I preached. Pastor Jeff Wiesner or Wiesner of Covenant Baptist Church of Denton, Texas really kind of sums up my thinking on all of this when he charges pastors and churches specifically to sing more hymns on Sundays that take sin and suffering seriously, that build hope in heaven, encourage perseverance, and help faithful saints die well. Sing the kind of hymns that you can sing in hospital rooms and in hospice care. From a distance, we had moved here when both of my grandmothers died back in New Hampshire. But from a distance, I watched my grandmother, one of them, descend deeply into dementia. She turned into a different person. Yet when she sat down at a piano, you know what happened. She could belt out those old southern gospel tunes that she learned decades before, like nobody's business. The suffering of faithful saints is what pushed me, more than anything else, into standing firm on a rich theological liturgy for the church. I realize some people don't care for the word liturgy. Like many of you, I wasn't brought up in a Christian tradition that used that word. And honestly, it sounds very Roman Catholic or maybe even Episcopalian. But it simply refers to the order of worship given in any given worship service. Well, the Reformers and then the English Puritans, in particular, of the following generations, they agreed that God alone determines the manner in which sinners are to approach Him in worship. And so this concept that governs this worship is known as the regulative principle. And so our liturgy, our order of service ought only contain those things in which the Bible specifies. We must approach God on His terms. So in 1582, here comes your history lesson. An English Puritan minister named Thomas Cartwright, he proposed a set liturgical formula that was based on John Calvin's Geneva model of worship. Cartwright had hoped that his liturgy would be established by parliament for the Church of England. However, it was not officially recognized until it was brought into the 1646-47 Westminster standards. The Westminster standards includes the Westminster confession, the larger and shorter catechisms, the directory of public worship, as well as a few other documents. Today, those documents are used by the Presbyterian churches, as well as a few other denominations. And just so that you know, the Westminster Confession is what the 1689 London Baptist Confession is largely based on with a few very important improvements. Amen. Well, one of the common denominators of the liturgies of the Reformation and Puritan era, whether you're looking at Westminster or John Knox's liturgy or that of John Calvin and Geneva, you'll find that they all end with a benediction, a blessing from God, the church services of this era and onward all end with a benediction, a blessing from God. This was new for the Reformation. And yet today is actually largely kind of fallen out of practice. Yet this is one of the things that we adopted a few years ago. We used to end our services with a prayer. And don't get me wrong, a prayer can be very appropriate. There's nothing at all wrong with ending a service with a prayer that's fine. But as you study, even as you study the epistles of scripture, you're going to find not only do they begin with an apostolic greeting, something akin to grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, but they also end with a benediction, with a blessing. And every one of them is a little bit different. Of course, it's picked up from the high priestly blessing of Numbers, chapter 6, where the Jewish priest was commanded to issue this blessing to the people of Israel. You may have heard this somewhere before. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So this morning, as we come to the end of our study of 2 Thessalonians-- really, we've been sitting both 1st and 2 Thessalonians-- it's fitting that this epistle also ends with a benediction, a statement of blessing that is designed to comfort us and to assure the saints of God's promises, and to bring hope and encouragement to God's people, whatever their future holds. So let's read this. Just the benediction, just the blessing, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3, verses 16, 17, and 18. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine. It is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Let's stop and pray here. Lord, I pray today that I would decrease and Christ would increase. I pray that you would feed us from your word, Lord. Give us what we need, our greatest need, is Jesus Christ. I pray that we would hear this blessing, and trust in these promises. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, the word benediction, it actually comes from two Latin words that mean to speak well of, or even more literal translation, is good words. So a benediction is good words. So the next time some old man comes up to you and says, what's the good word? Give him a benediction. Say to him, I've got a good word. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. That's the good word. Well, as I've said, these kind of statements of blessings like this, they have a long history. You can think of presidential speeches given over the years that have ended with something like, may God continue to bless America. That's essentially a form of a benediction, especially, or maybe only if it's spoken truthfully, and not just as a figure of speech. But as I said, nearly all of the apostolic epistles, nearly all of the letters written in the New Testament end with a benediction. And some, like, for example, Romans and even 2 Thessalonians that we looked at, they have some sort of blessing in the middle of the book, usually at the end of a specific section. So you can see it in chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, for example. But listen to the one that's in the middle of Romans. In Romans 11, verse 36, it says, "For from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever, amen." And then Paul picks up the thought after that. Or you can also hear Ephesians chapter 3, verses 20 and 21. He says, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations, forever and ever, amen." Now, technically speaking, those are actually both doxologies because they're directed specifically toward God and not necessarily a blessing that is directed from God to his people. But you can see how it would be appropriate to end a worship service by reciting one of those passages. But a benediction, it's a blessing of benediction is a prayer to the Lord, but it is also a promise from the Lord to help and hold his people. It's a promise from the Lord to help and hold his people. So consider that in an epistle, which are mostly written either to specific churches, such as Romans or Corinthians or Ephesians or even like Thessalonians, or groups of churches like Galatians or pastors like Timothy and Titus. In an epistle, the church has now heard from an apostle. They have been comforted and assured with the truth from Jesus Christ. They've been exhorted and often even rebuked. And since these are God's people, the apostles leave them with a good word of blessing, even if they've been rebuked. Likewise, when we assemble as a church, when we come together, we've heard the word of God. We've sung his praises and offered up prayers to him together. We've brought tithes and offerings. We've eaten a covenant renewal meal of the Lord's supper. How appropriate and assuring is it for us to hear as we depart something like this. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion. Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That's Psalm chapter 20, verses one and two in Isaiah 41, 10. But we will frequently hear blessings from New Testament passages as well. And I should add this, even if the sermon is off, even if it's just simply long and boring and misses the point, the blessing, the benediction does not. The blessing, the benediction is indeed the word of God and it is true for the people of God. So if you hear nothing else, hear the apostolic greeting of grace to you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ when we begin and hear the blessing of the benediction at the end. Fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. But also listen to the sermon. Sing the songs. Sinclair Ferguson, speaking of the elder, sort of pronouncing a benediction over the church that is under his oversight, he says this, he is not only praying for you, he is announcing to you all that is yours by faith in Christ. The benediction is God's good word that is conferred to believers through or via ministerial authority. In other words, the benediction is more of a pronouncement even than a prayer. Now clearly there is a prayerful element to benedictions. We are dependent upon God for all things after all, but we proclaim the blessing with complete confidence in its fulfillment. God is gonna do these things. We can know this for certain. Now before we get to these three blessings that are here in these verses, we need to point out the statement that Paul makes right in the middle of it in verse 17. Look at this again, verse 17. He says, I Paul write this greeting with my own hand. This is a sign of genuineness in every letter of mine. It is the way I write. Why do you think Paul says this? Verse 16 actually contains two different blessings. We'll look at them in a moment. Verse 18 contains a third blessing. Again, we'll get to that. But why does he say this right in the middle? Well, on the one hand this is, it was customary in the ancient Greco-Roman world to use a secretary to write this kind of formal correspondence like the letters of the New Testament. But then also not only to have somebody write it for you, but to close with a handwritten signature, a handwritten greeting at the end. But that's not all Paul is doing here. In fact, look up in chapter two, verse two. Remember their state of mind that he addresses. He asks them, brothers, in verse two, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. So evidently the church has received a forgery claiming to be from Paul. Paul, Silas or Sylvanas and Timothy. And that letter along with some other messages that they had received that were false had caused no small amount of distress and drama there in the church among the saints. And so we can sort of conclude or deduce from this that that letter, that forged letter probably had some kind of forged signature. It was also probable that they had never seen Paul's handwriting. And so he sends this as proof and remember, Timothy is the one who is actually delivering the letter and they knew Timothy so they would have known that this was from him. So they will be able to verify the genuineness of this letter. And Paul, where I wanna point this out, is Paul also had a very distinct handwriting. Listen when he tells the Galatians at the end of that letter. He says, see with what large letters I'm writing to you with my own hand. So his handwriting was big, at least they're in Galatians but this is probably because he had some kind of problem with his vision. Actually in Galatians chapter four, it says this. You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first. And though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me but received me as an angel of God as Christ Jesus. What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you, here it is. If possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. It seems that Paul had difficulty seeing. His handwriting was large and distinct. If you get another letter that claims to be from me, here's a copy of my own handwriting. If it doesn't look like this, it's not from me. But even more significant. So there's some practical reasons that he says this but even more significant than that is the fact that this signature is his stamp of authority. He is authenticating the genuineness of this letter over those previous forgeries. In fact, the only other epistles that Paul mentions his signature like this are those in which he's writing in opposition to false teachers who had been deceiving the saints. They were those who were coming in and saying that they were sent by the apostles. They were deceiving the saints. They were saying false things. And Paul says, look, I'm an apostle. I am sent by Jesus Christ himself. Here's my signature. He's giving authority by signing this letter to the letter. But he couches his authentication right in the middle of this series of kind of three blessings that make up this final benediction. So blessing number one, it's the first part of verse 16. He says, now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. Now think back to last week or the last passage right above this. Last week in the sermon, I addressed to church discipline. Keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and we talked about that. Overall, because of persecution, the false teachers and the foragers, because of the idleness of church members to say nothing of their fear and their shaken minds, things were slightly chaotic in the Thessalonian church. And as we've seen, measures that were to be taken against that disorder, specifically of the idleness of some of their members, measures that would be taken against that kind of disorder in the church will no doubt involve personal conflict, will involve confrontation. And that could temporarily at least, and you know this because many of you have experienced this, it could result in a lack of peace in the church. But the purpose of this instruction and really the purpose of this entire letter is to bring peace and order to the church of Thessalonica and thereby to us. Paul is praying and he is pronouncing that God will bring about peace through their obedience to the commands, particularly even these commands of verses 14 and 15. Look at this, right before this he said, if anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed, do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. If you just look at verses 14 and 15, it doesn't really look like or those verses don't make it sound like peace will come at all unless they obey. Yet that's exactly what will happen, he says, which is what this benediction is promising. Obedience in these matters will bring about peace in their church. And honestly, the elders here can testify, we've seen that happen here. Obedience to these matters will bring about peace in the church, we've seen it happen more than once. Well usually when Paul is talking about divine peace, he says something like, may the God of peace sanctify you completely. That's how he ends his first letter or near the end of 1 Thessalonians. So he starts his letters with that apostolic greeting of grace and peace, and as he often does, he finishes his letters with peace and grace as well. Because God is the source and giver of peace. Do you know the Hebrew word for peace is? You probably do, it's shalom. And the Lord of shalom isn't merely the Lord of no conflict. It's so much more than that, isn't it? Peace is not just the absence of war. Peace is not just the absence of conflict. See, shalom has a much richer and fuller meaning. It involves restoring the creative order to its former perfection and glory. And this even includes our own work as we saw last week. We are to work as Adam was commanded to work the garden and keep it. So this shalom, this peace is restoration and salvation. And it's accomplished only through redemption because it is the gospel that brings peace. In fact, we could even say that peace is the kingdom of God. Romans 14, verse 17 says it like this. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Peace, genuine peace, peace with God and therefore with God's people is a characteristic of the kingdom of God along with righteousness and joy. And the gospel, the gospel is Jesus. Jesus arrived in the incarnation and he announced the kingdom of God has come. Mark chapter one, verses 14 and 15. Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. What's the gospel? 1 Corinthians 15, 3 and 4 is a good summary. The Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and he was raised again on the third day according to the scriptures. The good news is that Christ paid for our sins. So Paul here is directly connecting Jesus as the giver of peace. Jesus Christ is the Lord of peace himself. Now, I probably pointed this out before but I wanna be sure that we see it and understand. As Paul refers to the Lord over and over in this letter, he's referring specifically to Jesus Christ. Now, for the apostle Paul, he was sometimes used the Lord more generally, actually could almost be interchanged between God and Jesus in some of his writings, almost interchangeably. That's appropriate because the father and son are one. But then there are other times like here where he's very clearly talking about Jesus Christ. Now, in the Old Testament, whenever you see the Lord, it's usually referring to God in general. There are triune God in general. Of course, here I'm referring mostly to the word adenai, not necessarily to that all caps L-O-R-D, tetrogramaton, the proper name Yahweh, although really both can be the case because Yahweh is our triune God. But in the New Testament, it's usually about Jesus specifically, sometimes it could be about the father, but usually when it's used, if it's specific, it's usually about Jesus. And in fact here, Paul is addressing how the church ought to live in light of the day of the Lord, in light of the return of Christ to judge the quick and the dead. And really, he's not simply addressing how they are to live with regard to this conflict in the church and the idol that are living there among them, or with the false teachers that have come in with false messages, but rather how they ought to live at all times and in every way, with no more fear, no more anxiety over the end times, no more conflict within the church, there to live with the peace of the Lord. May the Lord of peace give you peace, no matter what happens, no matter what happens in the church, no matter what happens in your family, no matter what happens at your work, no matter what happens on your way, no matter what happens, may the Lord of peace give you peace, and the Lord's peace is needed, not merely for the internal harmony of the church, but also it's a key ingredient that all saints must have in order to persevere through various trials and tribulations, through the sufferings that are even imposed on us, sometimes from outside the church, be it from people or circumstances, from laws that oppose the Lord and His people, to the common suffering of mankind who lives in a creation that is groaning in the pangs of childbirth, from the suffering of cancer or the suffering of floods, whatever it is, may the Lord of peace give you peace, no matter what happens, may the Lord of peace give you peace at all times and in every way, brings us to the second blessing, it's that last line of verse 16, the Lord be with you all, the Lord be with you all, this is actually a very common blessing throughout the Bible, even into modern day, God be with you, but there's a connection really to the previous verses here too. So again, last week, as we talked about those passages about confronting and not disciplining the idol as a church, I mentioned last week that Matthew chapter 18 is the go-to passage when talking about church discipline typically. And in that passage is a verse or a couple of verses that are frequently pulled out of context, they're easy to memorize and so they're in our minds often, but they're often pulled out of context and used on their own, not 'cause Jesus speaks them, they're not used sometimes how Jesus meant for them. So you need to turn over there briefly and let's look at this, Matthew chapter 18, I just wanna focus really on the last part of this, last couple of verses, it's verses 15 to 20 I'm gonna read and I want you to focus on the last couple of verses. So Matthew 18, 15, Jesus is giving this instruction and he says if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother, but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. Now, most people stop reading when they get to verse 17 because verse 18 is weird and verses 19 and 20 work very well independent of any of the verses around them. But this is a unit that all goes together. Jesus is giving real authority here. He's promising that the judgments of the faithful and godly church will reflect his judgments. So to bind is to forbid entry and to loose is to permit entry into his kingdom. And so Jesus is commanding his disciples there to bind the impenitent, the unrepentant and tell them that they cannot expect to enter the kingdom of heaven if they deliberately persist in clear, unrepentant sin despite all of those warnings from the verses above. Instead, they must petition God for his grace and his mercy. They must listen to their elders, to the admonishment of fellow church members. But if they do not, then verse 19 says that the judgment of two praying and the implication is the elders, the judgment of two who pray will be affirmed by the father. In other words, when it comes to these matters, the church is given real authority. That's what it is saying. That's what Jesus is saying. And then finally, really what I wanna point out here is the connection between Jesus' promise in Matthew 1820 connected to all of that and the blessing in Thessalonians. So Matthew 1820, for where two or three, these are the witnesses are gathered in my name, there I am among them. The blessing of Thessalonians is the Lord Jesus be with you all. That leads really to the second way that we see this. Jesus promises that when two or three witnesses gather to pursue a sinning individual, a sinning church member to call them to repentance, to call them to restoration, that he is with them. The Lord is on your side, he's saying. He's with you with authority. Yet there's also a double meaning here. This isn't just simply about the authority of the elders in those difficult situations. So put this all together because this is a benediction, not just of chapter three, but of the entire book of 2 Thessalonians, consider what we've seen as we've studied through this book. In the face of outside opposition, chapter one, eschatological confusion, chapter two, confusion about the return of Christ. In the face of internal conflict, chapter three, Paul blesses them with peace from Jesus Christ himself. And promises that Jesus is with you. No matter what circumstances the church is walking through, Jesus is with you. You are not alone. In fact, we can expand that and say Yahweh himself is with you. Matthew Henry said this. He said we need nothing more to make us safe and happy, nor can we desire anything better for ourselves and for our friends than to have God's gracious presence with them. This will be a guide and guard in many, in every way we may go and our comfort in every condition we may be in. It is the presence of God that makes heaven to be heaven and this will make this earth to be like heaven if God is with us. If Jesus is with us. In fact, I think this blessing is one of the most important blessings of the entire new covenant. Consider the end of the book of Revelation. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more for the former things have passed away. That's the blessing of the Lord be with you all. This is the blessing of that for all who have trusted in Jesus Christ, that's true and that's our hope. That Christ will wipe away our tears. That we will see God face to face. That we will spend an eternity with him. This is exactly what we long for. And my prayers that we all long for this. We long for the pain and the suffering and all of that from this world to be taken away. The mourning, the crying, the pain, the former things. That brings us to the third blessing, which is verse 18. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. So Paul concludes the second letter to the Thessalonians in this way and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all and it's through the grace of Christ that we have hope and peace with God and enjoy the presence of the Lord. The readers of this in order to faithfully obey all that he has said have been promised his grace, grace to help in time of need. That's us. We need the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to be with us all. Grace is God's loving favor to those who deserve only judgment and wrath. Therefore when Paul signs off with a blessing of God's grace like this, he's pointing out and acknowledging that the peace that we need can never be earned, can never be won by any efforts of our own. Since without Christ we would have been condemned in our own sin and separated from the love of God. And yet, and yet by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not as a result of work so that no one may boast. And so when Paul concludes when he finishes this, this epistle, this letter with this blessing of grace, he is intending for the saints, the saints of Thessalonica and therefore the saints of Bel fountain. He is intending for the saints to be united together in the bond of peace, to be united together in true spiritual unity and peace. Peace can only come by and through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. More than anything else in this world, we need his genuine grace and peace. More than anything else in this world, we need his genuine grace and peace. And what does Paul say here? Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. This is a blessing and promise from God for all who believe, pray with me. Father, we can only say thank you and yet it seems so, not nearly enough. That we have been the recipients of your grace. That through your grace, we also experience genuine peace, unity, joy, righteousness. That you have promised to never leave us nor forsake us, that Jesus Christ is with us. Father, we pray that we would continue to hold fast, as you have continued to hold fast to us. Because of your promises, that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. Father, I pray for redemption Bible church that we of all people would not only be a people of hope, but a people of peace. A people who sleep well at night, no matter our outward circumstances, not just because we sleep well, but because we have trusted in Jesus Christ, because we are sure, because we have a sure and steady anchor for our souls. So, Father, as we come to the table, as we come to eat and drink and so proclaim Jesus's death until he returns, we come with hearts of thanksgiving and joy. Father, we come thankful for the body and blood of Christ. Thankful for the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That is a promise. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.