Bend or Break?

Posture toward the Law

What is your posture toward the rules and commandments of the Lord?

I love board games. If you ever visit my office upstairs it’s where I house the majority of my collection. And we’ve had an outreach group that meets Friday evenings and recently we’ve been playing a lot of different games. But with each game comes a set of rules. Now, I know many young people who will avoid playing board games period. Why? Because it’s hard to sit down and learn more rules. Rules can become burdensome to follow. They can be hard to remember. They can be restricting. So, for a generation that is used to quick convenience, to having things their own way most of the time, why submit yourself to more rules on your life?

And if you think about it, you are probably the same way. How do you react when you learn there are more rules you are supposed to follow? I don’t think many of us would enjoy being told what to do in every aspect of our lives. And I think it has to do with how we as humans are prideful people according to our sin nature.

In my US History classes, there was this idea, a concept, that we learned of called rugged individualism. It was an idea that the American people could do things by themselves, on their own way, and forge a path without the aid or assistance of others. It was because of this idea that many Americans packed up everything they could into a wagon and faced the unknown territories heading West. Because of the American individualistic spirit, many of the first Americans worked multiple jobs, when they wanted and how they wanted. The lack of rules from an overhead figure formed the basis of American freedom. And yet, what is at the root of the idea of rugged individualism? Forging your own way. Making your own path. Being a rule unto yourself. Living under a less burdensome government and having fewer regulations to follow. I think that we as Americans have a problem with law and rules, having been engraved into our very culture.

There are those who have rejected Christianity and the Old Testament because when they read it they see a moral code, a bunch of rules to follow that restrict their own personal freedom, their own personal desires.

What they don’t realize is that they already follow a set of rules, a moral code of their own. But it’s not one that’s beneficial for them. Rather, it’s one that binds them in chains and leads them to a fate of eternal death and destruction. Romans 3:23.

Unlike most lists of laws and commands, the Lord’s moral code doesn’t add weight to one’s own life but removes it. His law, his way, leads to peace and freedom. (pause) Christ says the truth shall set you free. His burden is easy and his yoke is light. And not only that, but he gives us his Spirit, to convict us of sin and to guide us into following after him in righteousness.

So when we encounter the laws and the rules and the instructions from God, how does our heart within us react? Do we seek to follow after the Lord, or are we still flaming a heart of rebellion against the Lord and claiming our own individualism? Do we bend and bow our knee before the Lord and recognize that his way is best, or are we broken in the Lord’s conquest and our bodies cast to destruction?

Of course, it is not true that any one of us can attain salvation based on our obedience to the law. But let me remind you of the one human who did accomplish that for us and set a good example to follow when it comes to how we interact with God’s rules, his law: Jesus Christ.

In his famous sermon on the mount Jesus said that he came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Jesus valued God’s law and followed it to a T. While all of Israel failed to uphold it, and even the best of Israel’s leaders failed to uphold it perfectly, Jesus never failed. He never sinned against God. Jesus humbled himself, and though he was in the form of God he did not count equality with God a thing to be attained, but instead he took the form of a servant and was led to death on the cross in obedience to the Father. And because of that perfect obedience, because of his willingness to bow the knee to the Father rather than standing in pride in his own human flesh, he was able to be the perfect payment for our sins. But we who have life through him, though we are set free from the power of the law, are still called to follow after Christ who himself followed the Lord in the law.

So how is the Christian supposed to interact with God’s law, specifically the rules and instructions given in the Old Testament?

By learning to love it and to walk in the footsteps of Christ. Either you will enter into his humility, or you will fall down in your pride. Your posture towards God's unchanging law will determine your outcome. Either you will bend, or you will break.

Our passage this morning is a transition paragraph. Often in the Old Testament you have these verses that wrap up and summarize a previous section, but also that hint and foreshadow at what’s coming. And these verses this morning, Deuteronomy 4:44-49, do just that. They conclude our former section by recapping a bit of information that we’ve already covered, but they are also preparing us for the next section that is to come, which is the giving of the Lord’s law, namely his testimonies, statutes, and rules, to the people of Israel.

So as we come to this text, I want us to assume the same posture that the tone of this passage communicates … yes, we have been learning good things from the first part of Deuteronomy and it has been challenging and convicting for our lives, but also that there is still more to learn and to be challenged by, and that our attitude toward the instructions of the Lord will shape how we view the rest of the teaching from this book.

So without further ado, let’s read our passage this morning, Deuteronomy 4:44-49:

Deuteronomy 4:44–49 ESV

This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion (that is, Hermon), together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

Let us pray.

This is the law

I’m not going to spend a lot of time covering the geographical or historical context again … we’ve covered it multiple times in our previous sermons. What I want to focus on this morning are the first two verses of our passage. I think they are key to setting the stage for the rest of what’s to come, which is the law.

Marcus and I have spent a few months reviewing the book of Deuteronomy, pouring over it, seeking to understand its structure, its meaning. And at first glance it might seem like a bunch of rules all tied together. Some that make sense, some that don’t. But we discovered, just as many faithful students of the text have studied before, that there is a structure and order to how God’s rules are given. They are framed under the ten commandments. God’s ten commandments act as a guide, a principle, by which the rest of the law is communicated.

Deuteronomy 4:44 ESV

This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel.

So when Moses says “This is the law,” here in verse 44, he is communicating the decrees from God by which his people, the nation of Israel, are to follow, as they seek to obey the ten commandments that had given them at Mount Sinai. And yet it’s not just the ten commandments, it’s the principles of these commandments applied to Israelite society, their facets of life and how they are to interact with one another. God not only gives them the ten commandments, but he interprets the commandments for Israel.

And remember who this audience is: This is Israel, who is as hard-headed and as stubborn as can be … these were the people who God himself brought out of Egypt, who God himself led through the wilderness, and yet they still rebelled against the Lord. So God, in the clearest terms that he possibly could, expanded the law for the people of Israel through Moses … why??? Not because the Lord likes to create rules and run a simulation with people here on earth, no, but because he saw that the people of Israel needed it. They needed these social and civil laws for their society as they entered the promised land and took up a new land of possession, as they established themselves with an identity as the people of the Lord. They couldn’t yet see the implications that the ten commandments had on every aspect of life. Israel was to be marked by righteousness and to display God’s glory to the nations so that the nations could come and worship the Lord, but how would they do that if their society were lawless and filled with vagabonds and idolaters? No, God’s image, would need to be protected and preserved so that many might see his glory and come to know him and Lord of the universe.

So he gave Israel the law. It was for their benefit, that they would be pleasing to the Lord and would prosper in the land and remember the covenant they had with the Lord. But it was also for God’s own glory, to uphold and protect his holy name. So I want to take a closer look at what the word law means.

Specifically in our passage the law is relayed as the testimonies, statutes, and rules. I had to really dig into the Hebrew language here in order to understand the difference between these three but I think I’ve got it figured out:

Testimonies- God’s solemn divine charge

Statutes- fixed things prescribed by God

Rules- authoritative order or decree

Each one of these communicates a different aspect to God’s law that we should pay attention to.

Firstly, testimonies, which are God’s solemn divine charge.

1. Testimonies

And there are a few ways you could read this. You could read the giving of God’s law as a him telling people who he is, as a revelation of God’s self to humans, that God is giving a presentation of who his nature is to the nation of Israel in and through the moral compass of the law. And the law does that, so I’m not entirely opposed to this reading of the word testimony. But I think there’s a better understanding of the word testimony here that is consistent with how this particular word is used in the rest of scripture and its grammatical format, that points to God’s divine testimony against humans … when we stand before him on judgment day. The Lord will have a testimony against us and how we sinned against the Lord. If you think about the setting of a court room and a person who is on trial, it takes the evidence of two or three witnesses to convict someone. They stand up before the judge and give testimony as to what occurred, so that the judge may make the final decision. And the measure that the judge uses is the law.

At the end of the day, what does the law do? Does it save you? No. Does it heal you? No. The law points out right from wrong, and specifically how many times we have deviated from doing what’s right.

So when we break the law it becomes God’s testimony against us. So the testimony here mentioned is God’s standard of judgment against his people. These are the rules by which the people of Israel will be judged on the last day. This is God’s solemn divine charge to the people of Israel to not break his law, lest there be consequences. Lest God’s holy name become corrupted in the sight of others and Israel be held responsible for the sin of profaning his incorruptible name.

This warning given in the law doesn’t apply to just Israel, but to all of us. We all shall stand before God on the judgment day. He will give testimony against us, according to the standard of his perfect law. And on that day we, if we are trusting in our own strength, will be found guilty before him and will be subject to just punishment.

But there is good news through the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is more to God’s testimony than just his law. There is testimony according to God’s Spirit:

Romans 8:16–17 ESV

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Through Christ there is now a new testimony that does not stand in condemnation against us. No, the righteous requirement of the law was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:2 ESV

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

On the day of judgment we will all be held according to God’s righteous standard. And only those who are found in Christ, and who are found to have suffered with him by putting their flesh to death thereby gaining life in the Spirit, will be led to life and peace. Paul lays out the entire thing for us in Romans 8, because he’s writing to Jews who have lived so long under the testimony of the law. They are struggling to understand the implications of Christ and how it relates to the rest of God’s revelation through Moses, and they are still living according to the law of Moses. They don’t see how it is fulfilled in Christ and how they are now made more fully aware of God’s plan thanks to the leading of the Spirit, the same Spirit who knows us inside and out and who will give an account for us on the day of judgment, whether we are genuine children of God or not. It’s the spirit who knows your heart and mind, Romans 8:26-27

Romans 8:26–27 ESV

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

So the Spirit knows what the desires of our hearts are, and the Spirit communicates those heart attitudes to the Lord. So on the day of judgment the Spirit will give testimony as to where our love lies, whether it’s with Christ and with the Lord, that we are seeking to live according to his righteousness on the earth, or whether we are living for ourselves and according to our own standard. And the Trinity will hold divine counsel and take in the accounts of testimony, that of the Spirit and that of Christ.

Either the testimony of the law will condemn us, or the testimony of the Spirit will save us. It’s the Lord’s testimony, his witness, upon your life. He is the fair and just judge who knows you inside and out, better than you know yourself.

So there’s a warning that we can take away from knowing this:

Don’t let the testimony be against you, but let it be for you.

If the Lord will give testimony over your life one day, be prepared. Be assured of your salvation through Christ by making sure to enter into his suffering. And that means putting to death the sin in your life and taking up your cross and following after him each and every day. That means being persecuted at times for the sake of the gospel. That means saying no to something that you might really really want to do. That means confessing your sin and turning away from it in order to pursue righteousness.

Confession of sin is not a pretty thing. And sometimes with confession of sin there are consequences to be paid. But it’s a necessary step towards forgiveness. And fortunately with God’s people and with the Lord there is grace, which is extended kindness and understanding.

1 John 1:9 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

It is better to suffer a little bit in this lifetime than to spend all of eternity in Hell.

Matthew 5:29–30 ESV

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Jesus is saying that it would be better for you to be a cripple and to be handicapped here and now than for you to perish in eternity. It’s better to live without pleasure in the moment than to suffer for eternity forever. It’s important that we understand this weight when it comes to the testimony of the Lord in our lives, whether it is for us or against us.

If there’s something that is causing you to sin that you are not entrusting it to the Lord so that you might receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ, then you are not applying the gospel to your life and the Spirit is not testifying in support of you. Jesus lays out the danger of allowing that sin to remain and fester, and the danger is for your own soul.

Philippians 2:12 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling that it may go well for your soul. Don’t let the testimony be against you, but let it be for you. My prayer is that the Lord will find all of you to be good and faithful servants on the judgment day, when testimony about your life is brought forward. One day every deed, every evil sin that is tried to be kept in the dark and tried to be kept a secret will be brought forward to the light to be examined. Boldly come forward to the light, so that everything that you’ve done may be found to be forgiven through the gospel of Christ and that real fruit, real life transformation can be seen in you. That you may be seen as one who is alive in the Spirit and who is indeed a child of God thanks to the life-altering gift of Jesus Christ. Either you will bend the knee and find conformity to Christ, who is the fulfilment of the law, or you will stand in your pride and be doomed to destruction.

That’s testimonies.

2. Statutes

The next word here is statutes. Statutes are fixed things prescribed by God. They are cut in stone. They are permanent, solid fixtures. God gave a statute for the stars to be in place. God gave a statute for the seas to be contained within the boundary of land. A statute is very much like a statue, something that is solid, that is more permanent, that sits there as a reminder. But God’s not going to change it. The dust has settled and this still remains. Jesus said he did not come to abolish the law … well, these are the statutes, the permanent fixtures, that will remain for the people of God.

I think there’s some comfort to having a permanent fixed sort of structure. You don’t want the beams of your house to keep shifting around, you want firm walls. God is a God of order, not a God of chaos. So having statutes, instructions which are fixed which will not change and will not pass away, are important for life here on earth, especially in a world that is filled with chaos and a lack of order.

So reflecting upon rules and order and chaos, Have you ever noticed the correlation between sinfulness and lawlessness?

The more people prioritize themselves, the more rules and laws seem to be abandoned, and the more people are harmed.

If you need an example of this, just drive around Aberdeen for a bit. See how many people can’t obey basic traffic rules, like stopping at a stop sign or waiting their turn at an intersection or the pedestrians who jaywalk and wander in front of your car. Those are always fun. Driving in Aberdeen is chaotic. When there is a basic disregard for the rules it leads to disorder and more disaster. But why do people disobey the rules and frustrate everyone else on the road? Because those people view their way as above the law. Their standard is not fixed: it’s based on themselves.

Abandonment of laws and of virtues, which were designed to keep people safe, leads to disorder.

But God’s commands are statutes. They are pillars upon which you can build a society, a nation, and if the nation follows those righteous rules it will not fail.

Here in Deuteronomy, the Lord was building up the house of Israel. And Israel needed these permanent legal fixtures to guide their social life and political life in the promised land which they were to inherit.

And I think it’s a helpful reminder to us, that God’s law is not arbitrary. God’s law is not arbitrary.

It’s been given for a reason, to be a permanent fixture, a standard for righteousness. This standard never changes. It’s more solid than concrete. More secure than the stars in the sky. And it’s a standard that was given for our good, for our benefit.

God’s law, his statutes, are still here for all of us. As we travel through the rest of this book in the coming weeks, we will see how there are moral principles communicated in these statutes that are still permanent fixtures for us today. These moral principles set the precedent for how we are to live here and now. Things might look a bit different and may take an independent flavor in our day and age, but God’s statutes apply to all time. And they’re here for your good, so you can discern the path forward when there’s a conflicting life choice that you face.

Remember what the proverb says? “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. Understanding the boundaries and fixtures that the Lord has set in place for you as a human will give you a guideline for wisdom in this life. There are so many situations that I encounter where I don’t know the way forward. But I know God’s word has an answer for it, though I can’t see it yet. There’s wisdom within the Lord’s scripture as to what I am to value and to pursue. And if there’s not a specific answer to my struggle then it’s about my attitude during that struggle. God’s word instructs me on how I am to interact with that challenge or difficulty in order that I don’t sin against the Lord. Having a permanent source of wisdom that you can always lean on is invaluable. It’s beyond the wealth or riches of this world. Solomon was correct in his choice, that he desired wisdom from the Lord in how to rule his people. And he chose that wisdom over wealth and riches. The guidance that comes from the Lord’s hand through his commandments is more precious than gold. More valuable to us and our lives than any material gain. So God’s law is not arbitrary in that it is something to be dismissed or written off as something insignificant or worthless. On the contrary, it is everything.

Furthermore, understanding that God’s law is not arbitrary also means that you can’t ignore it. You can’t ignore it.

You might be tempted to be that jaywalker who thinks crossing the street isn’t that big of a deal. But what you can’t see coming is that semi barreling down on you as soon as you step out into the road.

God’s laws and his statutes are in place for your good and for the order of life. To go against his order of creation, his order of life, is foolishness. It leads to chaos and the collapse of an ordered, structured society into a muddied puddle. The rebellion against God and against his created order in male and female is part of the reason why our own society isn’t doing well right now. That and the abandonment of love of and worship of God. When we exchange the truth of God for a lie, we deceive ourselves and God hands us over to destruction.

So pay attention. Don’t ignore the instructions of the Lord, because they are permanent fixtures that can help support you.

Thirdly,

3. Rules

A rule is a decree given by an authority. In the case of the use of the word here, these are judgments, different applications of the law of God, that stand as ordinances or rules by which Israel was to live.

These were the smaller matters that weren’t quite as permanent as statutes, but were specific applications for the Jewish people during their specific time.

Let me ask you, by show of hands, how many of you are wearing clothing that is only made with one specific material and isn’t mixed with anything else … so all cotton, or all silk, or all of one thing … how many of you aren’t wearing combined material clothing? Well, the Israelite people were instructed not to combine the types of materials they used in their clothing.

Why???

Because for them, God was using their clothing as an illustration to an important principle of the law, namely the holiness of God’s name and the fact that they shouldn’t defile it.

Now, for us, we don’t live under those rules. We are not the Israelite people and we don’t live during or before the time of Christ. And there’s an important point here that you need to understand: There are specific rules given in the book of Deuteronomy that were for Israel’s specific society that we do not follow. If your son disobeys you, you do not gather the rest of the city together and go out and stone him to death. If your neighbor practices witchcraft, you do not take up rocks to stone her to death in order to rid the earth of those who practice the mystical arts and who do not worship God. No, there are specific rules within God’s word that were specifically for the people of Israel and that were given to them for their time and place.

And it’s a challenge for us as people who live in the 21st century living in a time far removed from the language in which this was written and the culture in which it was understood. We have a hard time delineating what was more identifiable and clearly marked to the original audience. There’s been a lot of controversy over what is still applicable from the Old Testament and what is not. And some people will point and say that we are hypocrites because we eat bacon and don’t celebrate the Jewish holidays.

Let me tell you, their argument is shallow and does not take in the full scope of scripture.

God’s word here says there are rules, and these rules are judgments for a specific case. It’s how the law is interpreted to meet a specific need due to a contextual for a time and a purpose. You don’t take rules for a baseball game and apply it to football. They’re contextual depending on what type of field you’re playing on, the people that you have and the setting you’re in. In the same way, the rules, these rules, for God’s people are contextual for the nation of Israel. But they are not the same set of rules that God’s people follow. Rather, those rules have been fulfilled through Christ.

How do we see this fulfilled?

Well, take the food laws for instance.. Do you remember in the book of Acts when Peter was given a vision of a sheet descending from heaven filled with all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air? The Lord says, “Rise Peter; kill and eat.”

This particular vision is speaking directly to Peter’s Jewish upbringing. In Jewish culture, Peter was not supposed to eat anything unclean, according to the rules laid out in the book of Deuteronomy. In fact, Peter replies, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”

But God’s word is “What God has made clean, do not call common” meaning that the rules for uncleanness were given for a specific time and period. They were not statutes.

Pigs and animals and reptiles forbidden from being eaten in the law of Moses because they were unclean were not created unclean. In fact, God made them in creation to begin with, and God called his creation good. So how could something unclean be in creation and be called good? No, it wouldn’t make sense. The uncleanness had to be applied to the animals later, specifically for the Jewish people after the giving of the commandments and during the establishment of their nation. The uncleanness laws and purity laws were rules given by God for the Jewish people.

And we know that Peter’s vision is representative of his circumstance … here he was in Joppa, then messengers from Cornelius arrive. Cornelius is a centurion of the Italian cohort, a Gentile, whom he was not supposed to share fellowship with as a Jewish person. Cornelius had not made the pledges to become a Jew. Yet Peter says that the Lord is telling him he should not call any person common or unclean, contrary to what the Jewish rules said. Rather, the gospel of Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility that existed between Jews and Gentiles. And so Peter preached the gospel to them and the Holy Spirit fell on all who preached the word. And they were baptized into the faith.

Here are people who are not clean, according to Jewish laws. Yet they share in the Spirit. They share in Christ.

We no longer live according to the rules and customs of Jewish society. We live under a larger law, the law of Christ.

So when we move forward through the rest of Deuteronomy, know that there are rules in this book which you do not need to follow. But it doesn’t mean that you dismiss them and it doesn’t mean that they weren’t written for you. Each and every word in the Lord’s scripture is important. There’s still instruction and insight that you can determine by asking the question why?. Why did God give the Israelites these rules to begin with and what was his purpose in doing so?

There are two parts to any law: There’s the letter of the law, which is the physical format in which a law is conveyed, and then there’s the spirit of the law, which is the reason why the law was created. Sometimes, in order to follow the spirit of the law, the letter of the law needs to be broken. There are circumstances where the speed limit does not need to be observed. Why? Because speed limit was meant to protect safety of drivers and other people on the road. But ambulances don’t follow the rules of the road all the time. They can go through red intersections or cross over the double yellow lines or drive faster than the speed limit. Why? Because they’re on a mission to preserve human life. The letter of the law, the speed limit, is surpassed in order to protect the mission that law was created to uphold and protect, the value of human life.

Don’t ignore the Spirit of God’s law.

Just because the letter of the law does not apply to us does not mean we get to ignore the spirit of God’s law.

We know that God’s word is a double-edged sword why? Because it is breathed out by God … it is spirated by God. The Spirit inspires the word of God and gives it shape and power to speak into our lives. The Spirit brought the rules given to the Jewish people to us for a reason. Don’t harden your hearts and block your ears simply because these rules were given to a people long ago. Understand and know that there’s an underlying principle that still has direction and impact for your life today.

Hopefully Marcus and I will be faithful in our studies to unpack that for you and make it a bit easier to digest. But I would encourage you to dig in and do some of the wrestling over the word of God for yourself. You’d be surprised how much there is you still don’t know. The Spirit of God’s law is at work. So don’t ignore it.

Conclusion

As we think about where we are in our series, concluding all that we’ve covered so far with a recap of Israel’s history and a brief dive into the fundamentals, then looking ahead to the Lord’s law which is to come, I want to ask you the question that was posed at the start of the sermon: What is your posture toward God’s law?

Either you see it fulfilled through Christ and you are living according to the Spirit as he brings light to God’s word and provides instruction for your life and you will bend toward his will or

You will still stand in your pride, living in rebellion to God and stand convicted under his statutes, destined to be broken on the day of judgment.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Either you are living for the Lord or you aren’t. And the Lord knows the heart, whether you are here to be changed by God’s word and allow him to shape you, or whether destruction lies in wait around the corner. Either you will break before judgment or he will break you during it. What will it be?

(pray)

To those who are in the faith but who are stubborn in their sin, he will break before the judgment so that you will be sanctified. But don’t let sin get to that point in your life where you have to suffer severe consequences. If you need to confess sin and make yourself right with the Lord, there is no time like the present to do it. I’m here after the service, other folks from our congregation are here. But do whatever it takes to be right with Him. We’d like to encourage you toward the great hope there is over sin and over death, found in Jesus, and we are here to welcome you to him. And for all of us,

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 ESV

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

We are dismissed.