Wise as Serpents, Harmless as Doves

Thank you, Mr. Browning. I think you got the title mostly correct. It's Mr. Dr. Uncle-d'Uncle, at least according to some. So thank you for being here. It's a pleasure. I know we want to welcome as well the many guests. We have family members and friends of our graduates, others who are coming in for the continuing education program that starts on Monday.

And we're very glad to have you because it's kind of sad when the students graduate and they go away. As we say, they come in and we try to whip them into shape and teach them how to be students.

We fall in love with them and they leave us. But we don't bring them here to stay. There's other things to do. And that brings me to a quote that I'd like to begin with. It's a fairly well- known quote from a not so well-known U.S. Navy admiral, a fellow named John Shedd. About a year, a hundred years ago, he wrote this, ships in a harbor are safe, but that's not what ships are built for. Ships in a harbor are safe. That's not what ships are built for. It's simple, but I think it's profound. It can be interpreted in a number of ways. It speaks to the need to embrace challenges.

It speaks to the fact that accomplishing a purpose can take a person out of their comfort zone.

And I don't know if Admiral Shedd had Christianity in mind when he wrote it, but there's something in that for us as Christians. Now, we're not ships, but you could say we are built, or we're being built, to go out, to leave safe harbor, and to go accomplish a purpose.

Jesus Christ described that purpose in Matthew 28, verse 18. If you'll join me there, if you don't get a chance to turn there, you'll say, oh, I know this verse. I've heard it many times. Beginning in verse 18, after his crucifixion and his resurrection, Jesus met with his disciples. He says, Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, go, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you, always, even to the end of the age. I want to emphasize the I am with you part.

You know, in a harbor, ships are safe from storms. When they're out at sea, they face storms.

They're all types of adverse winds, icebergs, pirates, and other dangers. A wise captain knows the dangers and guides his ship to persevere and to survive.

A Christian must do similarly. We must be confident and without fear, and we can be because of what Christ said. He said, I'm with you. Now, he said it to some men who are right there in his physical presence. I think it applies to all of us. Through his spirit, he's with us in a way that's even more real. Let's read some further instruction he gave his disciples. A few pages back in Matthew 10. We'll begin in verse 16.

This is one of the times that Christ was sending a group of his disciples out to preach. I like to think of it as a training mission, and he gave them instruction that's useful for us as well.

In verse 16, it says, Behold, I send you out. I'll stop there and notice he says, I send you.

Charles, no, William Barkley, I made that mistake this morning. William Barkley, the Bible commentator, is the one that points out that the Greek can be interpreted to be saying, I'm the one sending you.

It's not just you're going out. I, the Christ, the Messiah, the Creator, send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore, be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

But beware of men, they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.

You'll be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

When they deliver you up, don't worry about how or what you should speak. It will be given to you in that hour what you'll speak. That's an element of us being able to preach the gospel that I'll return to. But one of the main things I want to talk about today is us being sent out. Sent out as sheep among wolves. So as we go to do that, we need to be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves.

In the Bible, we can find numerous examples that help us to see how to do that.

And I think the Apostle Paul might be one of the most outstanding of being wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. I'm going to talk about Paul and look at some of his examples in a moment.

First, we just read what we commonly call the Great Commission. Christ told those disciples, go. One of the most powerful two-letter words in the English language, go preach the gospel to all nations. That's definitely not staying home in safe harbor.

He said it even more succinctly at the end of Mark, which I'll just quote from in Mark 16, verse 15, he said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

A couple of verses later, it says what the disciples did. They went and preached the gospel to every creature. They did exactly what Christ wanted. The early part of the book of Acts describes the start of that work. Imagine those disciples, those apostles.

A lot of times we think of Renaissance paintings of old men with long beards, but that's not what they were, especially not at that time. They were young and energetic and idealistic. Some scholars think they might have still been in their teens when Christ told them to follow him. I lean towards early 20s, but they were still young. As I said, they had been with Jesus. They were men on fire about what they were going to do. They were going to go out and change the world. When Peter and John were threatened by the priest, we can see that described in Acts 4. If you'll turn there with me. Acts 4. I want to read from verse 20, but I think I'll pick up a couple verses leading into it. It might be finally time to use these.

Acts 4 and verse 18, it says, they called them. Now these are the priests that were upset about people preaching about Jesus. They called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things we've seen and heard.

In our vernacular, we might have had them say, we can't not teach this. We've got to do it.

Scripture doesn't tell us as much about the work by the original 12 disciples, apostles, as I wish. I wish it did more, but it talks about the start, and then it focuses in on the apostle Paul. And so will we, briefly. If we go to Acts chapter 9, you're probably familiar with the road to Damascus story. Paul had gone to the priest to get letters of authority to go to Damascus, and if he found any of those Nazarenes teaching the way, going to imprison them, tie them up, bring them back to Jerusalem. And then he was knocked down.

He saw a bright light. He was blinded, and of course, Jesus talked to him directly, and told him, go in the city and wait. He waited. He was fasting. He was praying.

And in the meantime, Christ talked to a disciple that was there, Ananias, and told him, I need you to go and see this fellow named Saul who's praying. And I'm just paraphrasing here, but Ananias says to Saul? Now, Jesus, you've got the wrong Saul, I'm sure. Do you know this guy?

Nobody's chuckling at this, but thank you. And I'm pretty sure Jesus knew who he was talking about.

And let's see his response in verse 15. The Lord said to Ananias, Go! He is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.

So Paul's not going to get to stay in that safe harbor. He's got to go. And in verse 16, it says, I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Now, Paul was to suffer because, like a ship leaving harbor, Paul had to go out. He had to carry the message, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the kingdom of God. Over in 1 Corinthians, Paul addressed that. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 17. If you remember, the congregation at Corinth had a problem or two that Paul had to deal with. And 1 was this divisiveness. And I'm of Apollos, and I'm of Peter, and I'm of Paul. Paul wanted to say, No, you're not of me. You're all of Christ. And he said, I'm glad I didn't baptize any of you. In verse 17, he says, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach. To preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. He had a particular mission. That's not to say Paul didn't baptize anybody, but he had a particular job. Go. Bear the message. A couple chapters later, a few chapters in verse 9, let's see how Paul described it. 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and verse 16. Paul wrote, For if I preach the gospel, I've got nothing to boast of. My necessity is laid on me. Yes, woe is me if I don't preach the gospel. That reminds me of what we just read from Peter and John when they said, we cannot but speak the things we've seen and heard.

Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that stirring? Not necessarily that you've got to start proclaiming and preaching, but God wants me for something special. I hope, and I hope you all don't mind if I have this in mind, especially for our graduates who are going out like ships.

We are a lot like Paul and the apostles. I think Christ gave the commission not just to those men in front of him at that time, but to the church of God. We are to preach the gospel. We are sent out as sheep among wolves. We have a necessity. We can't not do this work, and it will be fraught with difficulties. I just thought, fraud is one of my favorite vocabulary words that no one uses.

Those difficulties require us to be wise as serpents, while we still have to be harmless as doves.

I'm going to quote from 2 Timothy 4 too, when Paul was writing to his young protege, Timothy, and he said, preach the Word! Be ready! Preach, be ready, in season, out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long suffering and teaching.

Does that mean you are to preach? Are you to convince and rebuke? Are you to exhort and teach?

Well, yes! At least in some ways. You're like a ship that's not built to stay in harbor, but to go out and accomplish a mission. Now, I want to circle back to wise as serpents and harmless as doves momentarily, but first, it's worth spending some time on the how we do that.

How do you as an individual carry on the Great Commission?

We live in a world that's different than it was when the disciples went out. Not many of us can walk into a town square and start proclaiming, or walk into the back of a synagogue and have the rabbi say, oh, those guys look like they know something. Would you like to have a word? You know, Paul and Barnabas took advantage of that one. But one very powerful way that we can preach the gospel is exactly what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5 verse 16.

I don't usually get there this fast, but I'm going to go because you know this scripture.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. We hear this in sermons pretty regularly. I know I've used it. Is it really such a big deal?

Let your light shine? Sounds like an old cliché. And it is. It is, but that's because cliches are usually based on at least an element of truth, maybe a lot of truth. There's truth in this.

And that's why I want to encourage us not to doubt how much we are proclaiming the gospel message when our light shines. Because if Jesus said, let your light shine, He said people will see that.

They'll see your good works and they'll glorify the Father. I'd better believe it. I'd better do it.

Backing up a couple of verses, in verse 14, He said, you Christians, you ambassador graduates, you are the light of the world. Notice He didn't say you're the light of the church, not the light inside this room. This is a cool room to spend time in. I get to do it a lot.

But the light of the world. Ships aren't meant to stay in a harbor. They're meant to go out.

You're the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, and they don't lie to lamp to put it under a basket, but on a lampstand. It gives light to all who are in the house.

Notable thing about light is that it's silent. It doesn't make noise, but it's extremely powerful.

There's a quote that I'd like to share with you. It's from the founder of the scouting movement.

Before there was Boy Scouts of America, there were simply Boy Scouts, because it started in Britain, by a man who was knighted. Sir Robert Baden-Powell once wrote or said, there is no teaching to compare with example. No teaching to compare with example. That's embedded in my memory because it was actually on a plaque over the fireplace at Camp Heritage, where we had our summer camps for several years. And it's funny, I didn't know it was Baden-Powell, because it just had the initials BP. And BP is where I think the scouts got their motto, be prepared, but it's actually from Baden-Powell, his initials. Not the petroleum company, that's different.

Much can be said about the properties of light and how much our example is a way of preaching the gospel, but I've about expended all that I want to say on that, and I want to move on.

Again, another way we'll preach. As I said, most of us won't walk into a synagogue or set up in a town square. Most of us will never preach on TV and radio, which nobody does that anymore. Nowadays, you get a YouTube channel. One of $48 trillion on the planet. No, there's not that many, but there's a lot. As individuals, it's not practical for us to all do that. As a church, we do. As a church, we do that pretty powerfully. But there are some things we do do as individuals. We set an example, we let our light shine, and that might just catch someone's attention. Someone might even ask you, why do you behave the way you do? And that leads us to another scripture that might be cliche, but we need to give it attention. 1 Peter 3, verse 15. 1 Peter 3 and verse 15.

Okay, I put on my glasses and discovered I was in 2 Peter. 1 Peter 3, 15. Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense, to give an answer, an apologia, to everyone who asks you a reason of the hope that's in you with meekness and fear.

Could be saying, be ready to explain yourself. And we shouldn't undervalue that method of preaching the gospel. That's been the means by which God has called quite a few people into his church and begun their conversion. It's funny, when you have conversations and passing with people, I wish sometimes I took notes so I could put in my footnotes because I was reviewing this and I was reminded that not that long ago I was talking to someone who was telling me, yeah, I used to work in this company and during the days of Unleavened Bread, I'm packing my lunch. And if you've ever had to pack your lunch during the days of Unleavened Bread, you know, that doesn't look like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You pull out the matzohs. He said, a co-worker asked me, what's up with those weird crackers? And eventually that co-worker decided to come to church, became a baptized member, all because of a question. What's up with those crackers?

But just think, if you're at work, you might have colleagues who notice you don't use the same foul language that many others do. They could ask you, why? Your neighbors. You know, Sue and I moved into the neighborhood, a neighborhood, and we met the neighbors, had kids about our age, and they said, oh yeah, Halloween's coming up. And the people that owned this house before always set up a big fire pit, and all of us gathered around, and gave out candy, and are you gonna do that? No. Okay, and we hopefully gracefully explained why, but people might notice, how come you never have lights up in December? And you could explain why. Members of your family, especially your extended family, might notice you don't get worked up about politics. You have a positive attitude, even though they're pretty sure you're aware of wars, and crime, and corruption. You keep up with the news, but somehow you're happy. You're looking ahead to good things. What's the reason of this hope that you have? Of course, Paul addressed that a number of times. He's called it the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, the hope of the resurrection of the dead. Let me read from Colossians 1 verse 23. Colossians 1 and verse 23, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded in steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you've heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I Paul became a minister. Powerful stuff, this hope.

People notice. People will ask. Part of the light that shines is that you've got to hope.

Now, I'd be remiss if I didn't add here that giving an answer is often not easy. You know, how do you let your light shine in order to preach the gospel? How do you give an answer?

That can take some wisdom, especially if you want to give an answer that's good, that's wise, but also harmless. Harmless is a dove. As a matter of fact, if you'll join me in Proverbs 26, I want to point out some of the challenge that we can have. We know Solomon had a lot of wisdom. He wrote much of what we call the wisdom literature in the Bible. In Proverbs 26, beginning in verse 4, he tells us, Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him.

But the very next verse he says, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Huh. Okay. Answer. Don't answer. How do I know which to do when, what time?

Especially in light of Peter telling us we should always be ready to give an answer.

No? Part of determining that is being wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.

I'm going to go further, but I want to note that we should not do the opposite.

Jesus doesn't want us to be as wise as doves. My understanding is doves aren't very bright, you know. You've heard the term birdbrain. We're also not to be harmless as serpents.

Serpents aren't harmless. They're harmful. They inspire fear. They can cause harm.

I think it's amusing even the ones that aren't venomous, because you're trying so hard to get away from them. You trip and fall or you, you know. Christians should not inspire fear, nor should we cause harm. Christians don't launch preemptive attacks. We're not aggressive, physically or verbally. We're not supposed to be sneaky, manipulative, aggressive.

We are to turn the other cheek. We are told to go the extra mile. We should repay evil with good.

And that tells me it's not easy to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

Jesus was that wise and that harmless. He preached the gospel. He let his light shine.

If you'll turn with me to Matthew 21, there is an example that's maybe not a situation we'll ever encounter that's just like this, but it's a good example of him discerning how to answer a fool or not answer. Matthew 21 verse 23. Now, he's in the midst of teaching. It says, He came to the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted him as he was teaching and said, By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?

Jesus answered and said to them, I'll also ask you one thing, which if you tell me, likewise I'll tell you by what authority I do these things. And apparently they agreed to that.

He says the baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned among themselves. Well, if we say from heaven, he'll say, why didn't you believe him? But if we say, oh, it came from men, well, we fear the multitude because they all believe John's a prophet. So they answered and said, we don't know. Jesus said, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Sometimes answering a question with a question is the wise thing to do.

Hopefully it won't be from a fool, but people might ask him, say, well, what is it you want to know?

Or why are you asking? Or there's any number of ways. Hopefully, in any case, we can be wise as serpents. If you'll turn with me to Acts chapter 8, I'd like to consider another disciple, Philip, one of the first deacons ordained. He was sent along the road south from Jerusalem in a wilderness area, and he came across a chariot parked by a roadside stop rest. Did they have those? Or maybe it was a Bucky's. Okay, got to get the humor I get. But there's a chariot, and there's a fellow sitting in there reading out loud from the book of Isaiah. To be more specific, it was a man that we know now as the Ethiopian eunuch, and he's reading from Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah 53 is a detailed prophecy of Christ's suffering, you know, before his crucifixion. And it has a lot of specifics. And Philip, perhaps rashly, asked the question. Acts chapter 8 verse 31. Well, verse 30, Philip heard him reading and said, Do you understand what you're reading? The Ethiopian eunuch says, How can I unless someone guides me? Philip was ready to answer that question, and he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. And here's where we see what he was reading. He was reading, he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, as a lamb before its shearers, as silent he opened not his mouth.

And further in Isaiah 53, the eunuch here asked the question, not a foolish question.

I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or some other man?

Philip opened his mouth and beginning at that scripture preached Jesus to him.

That was wise of Philip and harmless. What an opportunity it gave him to preach the gospel message by being ready to give an answer. While we're still in the book of Acts, if you turn ahead to chapter 17, there's another example from Paul's ministry. And Paul encountered various different types of groups, and he answered differently according to the group. In this case, he was in Athens and had been in the marketplace preaching the gospel. In verse 19, it says, they took him and brought him up to the Areopagus. Sometimes I think it's like being a minor league pitcher who gets called up to the big leagues. Leave the marketplace, come up here, and they said, may we know what this new doctrine is which you speak? Let's drop down to verse 22.

Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you're very religious. I don't think Paul was being condescending. He was addressing them where they are.

He was being wise. He said, as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found one with this inscription, to the unknown God. Therefore, the one whom you worship without really knowing him, I proclaim to you, God who made the world and everything in it, since he's the Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't dwell in temples made with hands nor made with men's hands. And I'm going to leave that behind because Paul goes on to say more than I need to hear.

I think it's worthwhile to note that Paul, he didn't castigate them for their paganism or try to humiliate them because of their idolatry. Yet he did speak the truth. He was wise and harmless. Whenever I read this, it reminds me of some of the incidents when I was rather young. I remember when Herbert Armstrong was traveling and meeting leaders around the world, and sometimes he'd proclaim to them that the world is not going to end in nuclear war.

We're not going to destroy ourselves. There will be peace. He talked about a strong hand from someplace intervening. I know I'm not quoting perfectly. And some thought that was too weak of him. I don't know. I think he was being wise because we know there were times he could be very strong. Well, I say we know those who remember that.

Yeah, there's times to be powerful and direct and times to work with people where they are. You and I might have opportunities sometime to explain to someone the reason of the hope that lies within us. We believe in a benevolent God, a God who gives direction in how to live, a God who will bring peace to this earth, happiness.

Let's turn ahead in chapter 23 to chapter 3 in Acts. Paul had another time where he exercised some wisdom understanding the situation. He was grabbed by some who were offended. Some even thought he brought Gentiles into the temple, which he later said he didn't. And they were about to tear him apart. In verse 6 it says, when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I'm a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I'm being judged. When he'd said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, no angel or spirit. The Pharisees confess both. Then arose a loud outcry, the scribes and the Pharisees party arose and said, we find no evil in this man. If a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let's not fight against God. And of course, the dissension became so great that the Roman authorities had to come in and intervene. And my point here is that Paul was using wisdom. He didn't try to fight to free himself.

He perceived the situation and he acted wisely. Who knows when we might have an opportunity like this? We in the Western world, we live where there is freedom of religion, many different religions and guarantees that might protect our ability or we might want to be aware of the situation. I'll give a small example from my life that certainly I wasn't about to be pulled apart and had to be delivered by Roman soldiers, but in a previous employment, I was hired by a non-profit organization at the Ohio Humanities Council here in Ohio that gives grants for educational programs.

And this was a really good job. And my first real job after going to college for a long time. And so I'm happy I'm going to be working in this office, but after I'd been there a few weeks, we start talking about the upcoming board meeting. Quarterly board meetings, the staff has to participate, and they're on Friday and Saturday. My heart sank. What? I thought this was a Monday through Friday nine-to-five job.

Now I'm going to lose this job as soon as I get it. And especially when I didn't tell you, most of the staff and the board members were rather liberal politically and socially in their views, and they didn't always think highly of what they would call fundamentalist Christians.

Me, in their view. Well, I went to my boss, the executive director, and I prayed about it quite a bit. And I think God might have given me much more wisdom than I had on my own, but I very carefully and respectfully explained my beliefs, and that I didn't mean offense, but I have to live this way. And I was amazed when he said, we should respect your minority beliefs as much as we respect anybody else's minority beliefs. And it was fine, you know. Actually, within a year, they stopped having any of their meetings on Saturday. I'd like to say they started keeping the Sabbath.

It didn't go that far. But I think God gave me some wisdom I might not have had on my own to answer wisely. And I'll say again, my executive director, who had very different lifestyle and, you know, standards than I did, taught me a lot. And we developed a very good working relationship.

So as I'm sharing this, just as an example that I know, I'm sure in this audience we could probably find several similar ones, maybe better ones. We all want to be wise as serpents, harmless as doves, We want to act wisely, but how do we become wise? Where does wisdom come from?

I'm hoping many of our students and graduates are already thinking of James chapter 1 verse 5.

Actually, it's so simple I'll quote it. James 1.5 says, if any of you lacks wisdom, ask God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it'll be given.

God can give wisdom. He gives it through the Holy Spirit. He gives it through experience.

You know, years should bring wisdom, I believe Elihu said to Job. But we shouldn't expect that God will just inject it right into our brains. We should also understand that a lot of wisdom comes from God's Word. We should be diligent in that. Proverbs 1 verse 7, another memory scripture, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom.

Is there a difference between knowledge and wisdom? I'm sure there is. I've often, well, I've heard said, and I've repeated it so much I tend to think I've invented it, but I'm sure I didn't. You know, that knowledge is having information. Wisdom is using that knowledge well. Using knowledge properly, there's wisdom in that. I could be very smart, but not necessarily wise. I need to be wise. Wise as serpents, harmless as doves.

I want to turn to Jeremiah chapter 8. I only have a couple more scriptures left, and the clock is telling me that's about right. Jeremiah 8 verse 9, Jeremiah was often dismayed by what he saw in his country around him. It says, the wise men are ashamed. They're dismayed and taken. Behold, they've rejected the word of the eternal. So what wisdom do they have?

They had been wise men, but once they rejected God's word, the question is, well, now what wisdom do they have? I think the answer is not much. Our wisdom comes from God, relationship with God, the word of God. To be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove, we need to know God's word. We need to know what it says, and I hope all my students are thinking they know what I would say next. Also need to know what it doesn't say. Know it very well, because brethren, because brethren, like ships that were not built to remain safe and harbor, we Christians go out into the world. We have a mission. We must preach the gospel.

We preach it by our example. We preach it by our words. We preach it by our whole lives.

And we're not promised comfort and safety. Rather, Christ said in the world, you will be persecuted. But we're to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But we can do it.

We can do it because Jesus Christ promised He would be with us. I almost closed my Bible. I have one more scripture I want to read, one that's inspiring to me. It's in the book of Joshua.

Joshua chapter 1 verse 5 will see something that God told Moses, and then He told Joshua. And I believe He's telling each one of us.

Joshua chapter 1 and verse 5, No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be strong and of good courage. For this people, to this people, you will divide an inheritance of the land which I swore to their fathers. God promised Joshua He would be with him, always. So He said, Be strong and of good courage. I think that applies to us, too.

God inspired it to be written, and He describes us. I believe with several very positive adjectives.

I'm a big fan of adjectives. Strong, courageous, wise, harmless.

We can be what Christ said, and we can do what He commissioned us to do. You can do that.

You can go out of safe harbor, and you can preach the gospel, because Jesus Christ promised to be with you, even to the end.