The Application Of Suffering - Part 2

we're in first Peter. So I'm going to ask Roger, can you go ahead and read first Peter chapter four verses 12 through 19, please? Okay, 12 through 19. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeals among you which come upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.

But to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or a troublesome meddler, but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in the name, let him glorify God.

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us first, we will be, what will the outcome of those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right.

Okay, thank you very much, Roger. So this is the conclusion of chapter four of the first epistle of Peter. So, let's begin today with verse 17. Remember, 15 through 19 was entitled, The Application of Suffering. This is part two, and last week we addressed verses 15 and 16. I ask Roger to read the entire section because it deals with the fiery trials that were before the body of Christ to whom Peter was addressing.

So, verse 17, for the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? So, let's dissect this first. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. So, my question to the group, what time of judgment at the house of God was being addressed here?

So, I think that question you can ponder, you can answer that if you want, but let's first look at the Greek term kairos. time, which can mean one of the following, and let's see which one you think applies to this particular section of 1 Peter. It could be a fixed and definite time, the time when things are brought to a crisis, the decisive epoch waited for. It could be an opportune or a seasonable time. It could be the right time. It could be a limited period of time. And finally, it could be to what time brings the state of the times and the things and events of the time.

So in a sense, you know, these definitions overlap to some extent. So I think we also need to look at the verb tense here. Begin is aorist middle voice, which means that the body that Peter is addressing here, the body of Christ that he's addressing, is involved in this whole process.

What are we thinking here that time relates to? Is this a definite time, an opportune time, which to me means the right time, the third definition. Is this a limited time? Or is it, you know, ultimately, the state of the times, which again, I think overlaps with the other definition. Thoughts, please. I would say the first The first one looks right to me, a fixed and definite time for the judgment.

Okay, so that sense and interpretation, Andrew, would mean that this would not relate to us today, is that correct? Well, no. So maybe I'll change my answer. Well, no, that's not a wrong answer. I'm not sure what the right answer is. That's why I posed the question. Yeah. Well, gee.

Now I'm thinking I should change my answer to, just because I was thinking about judgment as far as the great white throne judgment and tribulation period, but if it starts at the house of God, then that doesn't start with us. So I like a limited period of time down, one, two, three, four, four down. All right, other thoughts on this? Margaret, your thoughts?

Well, I actually think that all of those apply. I think they all apply. I think it depends on, for the time of what Peter's talking about, it applies to those people at that time. But I think as time has gone on, it's really all of these things. All right, so this is... Alright, other thoughts here?

It started at the beginning of Israel all the way to the church today and it's false doctrine. We're talking here about the house of God now. This would leave Israel in the past, do you think, Mike? Well, there was the house of Israel. the temple uh temple and then uh the tent of meeting all the way down to the buildings we have today with the Catholics, the Methodists.

Okay. Remember, Peter is a Jew, and his ministry was mostly directed to the Jewish church, or Israel, who now are believers, but also apocryphal Gentiles. I mean, they were living in a time when Gentile powers were in place, and we keep in mind that the Jewish believer who was rooted in Judaism historically is looking for a different kind of future than those who, in fact, were not Jewish by birth and culture. So anyway, I think all these are possible. We need to think again about the question I posed to Andrew, and I'm going to come back to that in a second, as to whether this does apply to us today.

What kind of judgment is this? To further that, does this inquiry relate to immediate, continuous, and or ultimate judgment? remember the judgment, the time we've discussed and ultimately this kind of judgment. Is this a limited judgment or in fact, is this a continuing judgment? Is that word judgment discipline? Because isn't the church already being judged, I mean, at the cross? Mother Cross is a great source of judgment, is it not? Let's think about this a little further. Let's turn back to verse 16. Roger, could you read 16 again for us, please? Sure.

But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name, let him glorify God. Okay, how does that relate to this? talk about suffering here, and if we suffer on behalf of the Lord, are we being judged accordingly, meaning glory to God?

It can't be condemnation type of judgment, it has to be a judgment for our approval. All right, but in context, don't you think that this is best interpreted as an infliction of punishment? I was going to say, I think it pertains a lot to consequences that happen. Because we, you know, if we're in sin, which that's not who we are, but there are going to be consequences. And some of that is going to be suffering. It could be harsher than just suffering. But I think, you know, I think that's what Peter's talking about, is that we should expect some type of consequence. Alright, back to verse 15. Roger, again, I'm going to be counting on you. You've got an open scripture before you. Go ahead.

But by no means let any of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or troublesome meddler. Okay, so there's an appeal of the epistle to be reaching people who suffer appropriately for, in fact, their behavior. So, these fall short of the glory that's really alluded to in verse 16 that implies, you know, suffering for righteous purposes or righteous reasons. All right, so in a sense, if we interpret it that this relates more to verse 15 than it does to 16, then let's go ahead.

Andrew, back to you. Does this judgment apply to us today? What do you think? Is the Lord still judging the sin nature when it's implemented by the church or the body or the individual believer? Well, no, as Mike pointed out, it ended at the cross as far as sin goes. That was a settled matter at the cross. But there is a, we do judge ourselves, right? self judgment, as far as our sins and things like that. self introspection, and self examination. Yeah. Okay.

And what's the penalty of that falling short of God's glory by murdering and evil doings? And, you know, if you will, meddling? We talked about that before, too. What's the outcome of that? loss of fellowship, loss of fellowship? Yeah. Okay. And what, what's another, uh, outcome of that behavior? I'm sorry. Pain. Okay. Failure. Failure. What else? Well, if it's a thief, it's a jail sentence, maybe. Okay. Roger. Yeah.

The consequences of that behavior. I mean, the fellowship is lost, but the consequences of our behavior really relate to that behavior that falls short of God's glory. Okay. So if it begins with them or us first, meaning the body, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Big question. So is this judgment to or in the body immediate, continuous, or ultimate? It should be continuous. Right?

I mean, we're going to speak, Mike's going to be covering, we start chapter five here next week about this man who was, you know, caught an adult, well an adult, you know, he was sleeping with his father's wife. And so the church should judge him. And Paul's real hard on the church because they apparently didn't do that. So he's harder on the church than he is on the guy that committed the sin because the church didn't, as a body, didn't address the issue in their midst. Okay, so the judgment, if it's applied in terms of behavior that falls short of God's glory, ultimately there is a consequence of it. but yet one's salvation is not impacted by it.

So you would have to believe that this judgment that was mentioned by Peter in his fourth chapter really relates to something that had immediate consequences and was immediately applied. But it's something that relates to the body today. I kind of like what Constable said here. He said this verse focuses on the time of these two experiences of suffering.

Our suffering is now, but theirs will be when they stand before God in judgment. So again, the second part of this verse, what will be the end to those who do not obey the gospel of God, ultimately relates to where they will stand before God in judgment. Our judgment by unbelievers now is lighter than their judgment by God will be later. Is somebody not muted, please? Okay, so back to Constable. Our judgment by unbelievers now is lighter than their judgment by God will be later. So that relates to the failure of the church, really.

But God's judgment will ultimately be later. Now, if they're saved, you know, we stand before him righteous and perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can get, that's kind of a rabbit trail here. But our sufferings are part of the opening scene in the last act of God's redemptive drama. More severe judgment will follow on the ungodly. It helps to see our sufferings in the context of God's end times plan. They are not an accident, but an assurance of his sovereign control. Any comments on Constable's interpretation?

So this relates to what was going on there, but also relates to us today, and the ultimate, you know, consequences of particularly the negative consequences for those who do not obey the gospel of God. But keep in mind, within the body, not obeying the gospel of God is related to the lack of fellowship and the consequences that exist for the church. Let's look at a couple examples. 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7 is, In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So what Peter is relating to in the first chapter is what he's going to get to in much more detail that we're covering today. What about judgment to those who do not obey the gospel of Christ? I think the next question is first, what is the gospel and what does it mean not to obey the gospel? What's the gospel?

We're going to be talking about that in the Second Service, too. Obviously, it's 1 Corinthians, as expressed in Scripture, it's Christ died for our sins, he was buried, and he rose on the third day. That's kind of the short version. Very, very much true. And the Gospel is implied that the Church has much more extensive detail into it in terms of what the obedience means. I'm just not getting it set up right. I can't seem to make it work today. So let's think about obedience to the gospel for the unsaved. It would clearly be falling short of accepting the Lord Jesus Christ based on the simple truth of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15, chapter 15.

But what about those who, in fact, are part of the body? What does it mean not to obey the gospel? Well, let's look at the Greek term apotheo, which means to refuse or withhold belief. I think that's really an important definition of obedience, to refuse or withhold a belief. This is not a set of laws that people are called to.

And I think it's perhaps best represented, you know, in terms of what follows to those who do not obey. Now, we're talking about those who, in fact, here have not obeyed the truth of what Christ Himself had revealed. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 11 and five verses that were included there. Then he, meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent.

Woe to you, Korazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."

Wow, that's not something the unsaved, first of all, can understand, they don't believe in, and ultimately will be put at God's judgment one day, the ultimate judgment, if you will. So, not obeying the gospel for the unbeliever has consequences that are substantial going Whoops. All right, let's turn to verse 18 then. Now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?

This is a direct passage from Proverbs 11 31. And I'm interested in getting your thoughts about, uh, How and why the Holy Spirit worked through Peter to include this verse? What are some thoughts about that? I can reflect a little bit about the fact that this is another example of how Old Testament scripture was brought into the New Testament church age, ultimately, to have an important consequence or meaning. Well, it sounds to me like he was speaking to the Jews. Okay. All right. This may have been more directed to the believer who was once raised in Jewish tradition. Yeah. Other thoughts?

Yeah, I would say that absolutely has to be true because they would be the ones who would recognize this passage coming from Proverbs. I mean, they would probably have read this, you know, or heard it many times being read to them from scrolls or whatever. But I think it's, you know, it's sort of like a warning. I think it's a pretty strong warning.

Okay. But for me today, it's understanding the principles of grace rather than obedience to a law. Okay. Good point, Mike. Clearly, we're in the era of grace, not law. Any other thoughts about this? But don't you find it comforting that the Old Testament continues to have impact on the age of grace in which we live? I mean, God is the ultimate judge of righteousness and ultimately, where will they be as a consequence of this lack of trust and salvation? All right. What's it mean to be righteous? It's perfect for the Old Testament, isn't it? Who are the righteous in the Old Testament? The law keepers.

Yes. Okay. Could anyone keep the law, Margaret? No, but they thought they could. And by the way, the Pharisees, they thought they were righteous. They thought they were keeping the law. Well, look at the passage from Matthew that I just cited in terms of how the Lord himself addressed those who were self-righteous, thinking that they were doing everything to bring glory to the Lord. Well, and we've been going through that in Corinthians, too. Righteous is going to be covering that perhaps. Yeah, they thought they were righteous and they were keeping the law. Yeah. Well, they were Christians who thought they were, I don't know, they were messed up. So for the believer, the behavior of righteousness relates to who we are.

But if you could think of one verse to really best state our righteousness, what verse would you pick? And I guess if you were looking at the handout, other than going through it like I am here with an animator presentation, you would say, well, gee, that verse makes sense. But let's look at it again. But for us, I think 2 Corinthians 521 is one of the greatest verses that particularly that I relate to. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Isn't that an incredible verse? Go ahead. Mike? Oh, I just said amen. Yeah. But before a guy can come to that, he's got to understand that there is none righteous, no but one.

And that's something we grow into as believers, isn't it? I mean, to be saved, the simple truth of the gospel is believing that your sins have been forgiven. But this truth for us who really look at how to live the Christian life and the basis for our righteousness, not only deals with our sins being forgiven, but it deals with the fact that he became sin for us.

You know, Paul said he was righteous. He obeyed the law. And he needed three years of education to change his mindset, right? Any other thoughts here? So, we are righteous and made righteous by him who became sin for us and So justification is, I think, believing that Christ paid the price for our sins, but the truth goes further, that He not only paid the price, but He became sin for us. Per Strong's, his, you know, definition of righteous can also be interpreted in two ways. First, in a wide sense, it's being upright, virtuous, and keeping the commands of God. Well, for the believer, what are the commands of God? the principle of grace. Would anyone else like to speak other than Mike? It comes to my I don't know if you can hear me. I'm having trouble with CNN here and in in both john and first john.

There are two commands believe on him whom he has sent right and also love one another as I have loved you, which is an upgraded of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. It's not as you love yourself anymore. It's as I have loved you. Right, Roy, and I often respond to that as how are we doing there? Well, We're not doing well if we're depending on our own righteousness or belief that we're working hard at it. It's his life lived through us. It's an unconditional love for everything that we are exposed to and everybody we're exposed to. So. All right.

So Christ's commandments go above what was stated in the Old Testament legal system. And Strong's says in a narrower sense, rendering to each his due and that in a judicial sense, passing just judgment on others, whether expressed in words or shown by the manner of dealing with them. So this is more of an applied righteous behavior. Your thoughts about that? Rendering to each his due in a judicial sense.

What does that mean? Is that an appropriate definition of righteous? Again, now, if the righteous one is scarcely saved, and we're going to come to what scarcely saved means in a second. Well, Bob, isn't the principle of righteousness the same in the Old Testament and the New Testament? Abraham believed God, credited to him his righteousness, and we do the same thing, right? Right. So Abraham was given credit for believing God, right? Yeah. All right. But isn't he talking about the practical sense of the church? Right. Mike, go ahead. I'm sorry. Yeah.

As to judge righteous judgment. The church is to judge righteous. In context, I think that's the application we're looking for here. And in a sense, that's what Strong's trying to get at with a narrower sense of interpretation. He doesn't give, you know, details in terms of what this judicial sense of judgment is all about, but I think it relates to the commands of God in a broader sense, and that ultimately that life of the Lord Jesus lives through us. We could go on about this in terms of how the behavior reflects our faith, but nevertheless, our faith is to judge righteously as God has ultimately judged us. So, is being scarcely saved means we're saved by a small margin or barely?

Wayne, what's your thoughts? Are you saved just by a small margin here? He's thinking about this, I can tell. Go ahead, Wayne, if you have something to say. Yeah, the thought is always trying to improve the old man. And that's not the case. We're saved and always saved. So it isn't as scarcely, as scarcely sounds like, well, you just barely made it. Well, there's no degrees of saved.

Either you are or you aren't. interpretation. Alright, good. and that that yeah, the definition of this word II have a definition for this word but I'll I'll let you do it. Okay. No, the best interpretation is is it's with scarcely means with difficulty and there's a couple of verses that reflect this interpretation and acts 1418 and with these sayings, they could scarcely restrain the this really relates to the application of scarcely. Scarcely means with difficulty restraining the multitudes from sacrificing to them. And in Romans 5, 7, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. So, you know, Christ's death was anything but minimal or marginal. It really relates to difficulty when applied to the circumstances that scripture relates. Yeah, Bob, I had a definition. I don't know where I got it from. But it related it to a painful experience, which I'm not sure exactly fits. But it says painfully could be a possible synonym. I don't know. I'm not sure it's right. But I have it.

Well, Roger, in that interpretation of being scarcely saved, we're relating only to the cross then? Is that what it relates to? Well, this just says that difficulty, the word difficulty, could be rendered painfully, you know, if you read the verse with the word painfully in there, and it's with, I'm not sure you can read it with that in there, it's painful that the righteous are saved. In some ways, that actually throws a different light on the whole thing.

You know, there's pain in a Christian's life. Okay, so that reflects the three verb tenses of being saved, too, doesn't it? I was saved, I'm being saved, and that could be with difficulty, could it not? with pain. Yeah, with pain. And that certainly would fit in with the trials and the suffering he's talking about. So it's a the Christian life isn't a, you know, a rose garden, so to speak. It's obviously not. And it wasn't intended to be. So it painfully might. And that was an alternate word.

OK, good. Thanks, Roger. We would say the context in First Peter speaks of the persecutions which were allowed to come by God as a disciplinary judgment. the purpose of which was to purify their lives. And and unfortunately for that body, you know, the fiery trials that have been talked about before by by Roy and the scriptures that preceded this really relate to that, don't think. And also, how would this apply to the.

The Jewish nation as their. What they're going through. Present past and what will come. which will be great. The kingdom will come in, you know. And, you know, along that line, Mike, it's possible that these new believers who had the Jewish tradition built upon their history still had this kingdom age in view a little bit, right? I mean, even though they're now saved, they're no longer Jews or Gentiles, they were now Christians. Ultimately, that kingdom may have been something they hadn't totally forgotten about, about the promises that God made in the Old Testament and in the Synoptic Gospels. All right, let's go ahead.

Notice the contrast of the temporal sufferings we experience versus the eternal ones for the unsaved. And I think this verse really, I think, points to the differences of the temporal life we have in Christ versus the temporal life the unsaved has, and ultimately the result of being unsaved to follow.

Darby, the Jews were accustomed to the judgment of the living, for they were the center of God's government on the earth. The judgment of the dead, with which we are more familiar, had not been definitely revealed to them. They were liable, nevertheless, to this judgment. For it was with this object that the promises of God were presented to them while living." So that puts it into kind of the temporal consequences of their behavior as it relates to the ultimate judgment.

Psalms 1, 4, and 5, the ungodly are not so, but are like the shaft which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." A reminder to what God had revealed in the first psalm. And by the way, the first psalm is a beautiful psalm. Thank you, Lord. Yes, I agree. All right, let's turn then to the last verse in chapter four. Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good. as to a faithful creator. That verse relates to us. All right. Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God. So, what's the will of God? Is it to buy a white Chevy versus a black Ford? I mean, what's the will of God for our moment to moment, day to day, week to week and ongoing existence? Many different words we could say, right? Fellowship. Okay.

So the will of God is to being transformed and conformed. We could look at the scripture to support that, but the will of God does relate to every element of our life, but ultimately it's being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can turn to Romans 8 for that. and the first Thessalonians for being transformed into his image. So that's the will of God. So therefore, these sufferings that were presented to the new church and the new believers in the new church age that Peter describes are ultimately according to the will of God to transform and conform.

And this begins with separation from our heavenly home, doesn't it? I mean, in a sense, I think we think of the sufferings we begin to consider as believers. I think my my homes in heaven is yours is too. I mean, in a sense, this earthly experience I equated as a road game. We have no fans cheering for us here. Excuse me. Wouldn't it be also the witness of the church on earth? What do you mean by that, Mike? Well, how the world sees the church. And how's the world view the church?

Pretty rough. What's the foolishness? All right. That's the Gentile, right? Gentile believes what we stand for, what we represent, or who we are as foolishness. But that would be looking at from a Jewish perspective because they have the nation We have the church. We are the church. Other thoughts? As a corporate entity. I think the whole world views, doesn't matter who they are, views Christians and the church as foolishness. Anyone who, you know...

The more educated you are, the more foolish. That's right. The more educated, the more you think we're foolishness. was because the world is so focused primarily on self as the as God. Well, that's right, Roy. And the other thing I can just reflect my time before being saved and I got saved at 30 was I looked at the behavior of people who went to the mainline church I grew up in and said, gee, they aren't living good lives, many of them. Also, is the world seeing the church or is it seeing Christendom?

There you go. Right. And the Christ life is a life that should look different by our faith, not by our self-righteous behavior. Let's go on now. Or Bob? Yes. The view that you put on here on your slide It begins with separation from our heavenly home, doesn't it? Yes.

When I read that, I got a little confused, I guess. We're in our heavenly home from God's perspective, but in our perspective, we're not there yet. Right. I'm wrestling with the reality that God paints in the scripture from his perspective. we sort of like, we don't live from his, in the environment of his view, we don't think. What we do is we think in the earthly environment, right?

Is that what you're saying there? Right, I changed it and put physical separation. I'm impressed, Bob. That's that's cool. Okay, so in your hand, I put physical separation. All right, let's let's go. We don't have too much time left. And then there's more. But but then then there's more. But remember, in Christ, there's no shame.

In fact, that that takes takes us back to verse, I think, I believe 16. And also, this no shame is that in 1 Peter 3, 17, we got to be, you know, convinced that it's better if it's the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. I mean, that's the principle that was read again by Roger a few minutes ago. And for this is the will of God that by doing good, you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So, Mike, back to your comment. Yes, and Margaret, foolishness is the way the world would look at us. And the second part of the verse, commit their souls to him in doing good as to a faithful creator.

So let's drill down there a little bit. I think this is best translated as commit the keeping to doing good. And why is this in the passive tense? We're turning to waste again, the Greek word commit is a banking term. meaning to give and charge as a deposit. That's interesting, isn't it?

Peter exhorts believers who are undergoing persecutions that in view of the fact that these are allowed to come by God and are designed to purify their lives, they have every reason to trust him to take care of them through all their sufferings. So, if you will, this is a deposit, a bank deposit. In God, we put our trust. And it's interesting that we turn to the creator in that sense. One thing that has helped me in looking at these verses, Bob, is that Christ is sharing right along with us this suffering. Right. Well, he is, and that's our life, right? And as we live our life in Christ, we reflect on who we are in him. And his leading the throne physically was in effect what I meant in that phrase I put in before, Roy.

But in addition, going through the sufferings that are really, if you will, unjust that we go through really are those that were experienced by him day in and day out. When we look at the world today, it is filled with not just ignorance of God, but actually rebellion against him. How he must be suffering compared to our little suffering. It's the magnitude of God's endurance and patience as man.

Yeah, amen, Roy. Yeah, it is amazing. We're probably gonna have to say, close it down here soon. We will, Roger. There's plenty of time. The Lord's in control. I was interested in the term creator by use here. It's the only time in the New Testament that that's actually being used. Yeah, that's a unique word.

So, let's sum up 1 Peter 4 as suggested by Weiss. First, Peter brought together four reasons for suffering in this section. First, that God allows us to suffer to demonstrate our character, which again is a life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, those who identify themselves with Christ will share in the sufferings of our Savior, verse 13, and also in Philippians 3.10. Third, our sufferings will be an occasion of God's blessing to us or in us. Again, I listed that directly from them. Verse 14, and fourth, our suffering will glorify God, verse 16.

Peter then redirected our perspective on suffering by reminding us of the time and intensity of our sufferings. compared to unbelievers, verses 17 and 18. And finally, he concluded with the exhortation to trust God and do right by faith. That's neat, Bob. That's good. All right. Roger, want to close us in prayer, please? Sure.

Your heavenly Father, we thank you for our time today, Lord. We thank you for the marvelous truths that are in your word, Father. We pray that we would hide them in our hearts, Lord, in our minds, and we will believe them and trust you for all that we see unfolding in our world today. And we praise you for the life we have in our Savior. We ask in his name, amen.