Which Side of the Cross - Finish Lesson 6

So last week we kind of did a detour, as you know, and we talked pretty much about... Phil was gracious to tell me that he was confused because of not really understanding what we were doing the week before because it was an issue of, what are you talking about, position or condition?

In any time you spend, you're in the Word. One of the questions that ought to go through your mind, am I looking at position here? Or am I looking at condition? And it's really important to do that. And I think the Spirit of God will trigger you to do that. Because sometimes if you're studying position and you think it's condition, it gets confusing and vice versa.

So position is really, really important. It's a principle I think that probably started, at least from my recollection, probably started with the Brethren when they would talk about standing in state. What kind of standing does a believer have before God and how did he get it? And so, position is important. The principle of position is important. So then, I think we got, we went back to Lesson 6. And I'm not sure where we were.

I know we talked about, question two, do you have the freedom to plead with God the power of a tendency to sin over which there's no control? Does anybody understand that question? In other words, can I go to God and say, oh Lord, won't you do A, B, and C, and he's already done A, B, and C? That's the flavor of the question. So I have a tendency to sin and I don't have any control over it. Am I going to ask God to give me the power over the tendency to sin? It's a trick question. Do we have the power? We don't have the power. I say, do we have it? No, we don't.

That's exactly right. We've looked at Romans 6, 1, 2, 3, and it isn't the coming of a child of God to live any longer in sin, right? That's what 6 says. So why is it not necessary to live any longer in sin? They've already been taken care of. Donna said we died. You said it's already taken care of. Is it both?

So can we plead the power of a tendency over sin, which there is no control? We still have a tendency, right? And it's more than we can control. God has provided the probability of deliverance from the power of sin. How did he provide it? What did he do about that thing that gives you the tendency? Well, he judged it. And he draws us all with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, and his job is to apply the judgment of the old man, of the sin nature, against him so that the tendency is there but I don't have to succumb to it.

You know, that puts us in one of these precarious positions that we don't like to be in. You know what the position is? We're dependent Oh no. I thought I could do everything myself. And so therefore the tendency to sin is broken. Do you see that? We don't have to. Before you were saved you didn't have a choice. You might have thought you had a choice but you didn't have a choice. You sinned. Whenever the tendency showed up you went for it. And there was nothing to stop you.

What that does is it allows us to be free to move and function in an entirely new plane altogether. So the argument in this passage is based on the believer's union with Christ by which we are organically united to Christ through baptism in his body. We are united to him. So what does the word baptism mean? Wow, it's not a hard question. He used to get wet. What does the word baptism mean?

To be placed into, never to be taken out of again. Maloy used to have this really great example. He would take a glass with a die in it. He'd take a white handkerchief and stick it in the die and pull it out. And he'd say, can you separate the die from the handkerchief? Answer, no, you can't. Because it's indelible.

So when you're baptized into Christ, it's a permanent situation. You cannot change that because the baptism that a believer undergoes is really identification with Christ at what point in Christ's existence. When do you get baptized into him? Put Christ's life on a timeline? Where do you go in? You go in at the point at which he died.

So, we were baptized unto his death. So, no confusion here with water baptism. We're talking about a spiritual union between a believer and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, baptism in no way has anything to do with being cleaned up, taking a shower, getting cleansed, or anything like that. It has everything to do with an identification with the Lord Jesus.

So let's talk about when it says that we were baptized into, what does this word in mean? What does an in mean when it refers to Christ? We are placed in Him. We are placed in Him. What's the in mean? The Greek word is en, it's a primary preposition denoting a fixed position and it's done in place and time or state in relationship to Christ. So we were placed into Christ by the Spirit of God at a certain point in time permanently there.

Now can you decide to leave any time? You sure? You guys are doing a great job answering. These guys are all asleep over here. So we were baptized into Christ, we were united to Him. Can you change your mind about that? Can you wake up tomorrow morning and say, you know what, I'm not going to be in Christ anymore.

This is ridiculous. I think I want to bail out here. Can I do that? No. Why can't you do it? We'd be greater than God if we could do that, wouldn't we? I think every one of us at some point would bail. I think every one of us at some point would probably choose to leave. Why can't you do it? Because you said we're permanently fixed. We're permanently fixed in Christ, so you can't leave. And here's the thing. If you're permanently fixing Christ, who did the permanent fixing?

The Holy Spirit did, right? So you don't have the power to undo what he's already done. I had this friend, one of the guys that led me to Christ, he used to say to people who would complain about how tough the Christian life was, he would say, well it's too late for you. I understand what he was saying. You already were baptized into Christ. It's too late for you. You're there. And you can't do anything to get out of that position. You can't do anything. You know, you think that that's not... How do I say this?

You think that that's probably not a really important point, but I think it really is, because lots of times you have to refer back to, well, what has God done? What has he done to me personally and positionally? He placed me into Christ and I'm there.

And I don't care. I have to come to the conclusion that I can't change that. I'm happy about that at that point. When God says this is a done deal, it's a done deal and you can't do anything to change it. So people who say, oh I tried Christianity and I went down the road away from Christianity. If they were baptized into Christ, they can think and change and talk all they want. It doesn't change a position at all. Not one inch. What does it change? If I decide I'm going to bail, what does it change?

Your ability to fellowship with the Lord Jesus and to rest in him. So why does Romans 6.1-10, 4 says, Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death. What does burial mean? Why would he go so far as to say Well, you were baptized into his death, but also you were buried. Why does he do the buried thing? What do you think? I mean, the Lord Jesus was taken down from the cross and stuck in a grave for a few days. Why go through the process? Yeah, it proves it's an act that consummates the breaking of the last tie between man and this earthly life. If Uncle Joe dies, what's the last thing we do with Uncle Joe?

We put his remains in the ground, or his ashes someplace. But it's the end of the road, you know? They're not coming back. It's over. And that's why burial is so important for us as believers to understand. Not only were we died with Christ, but we got buried with him too. It's like the Jews going through the Red Sea. It closed up after they got through. They couldn't go back. None of them were good enough swimmers.

It's kind of like in the Jewish economy, In their religion, on the Day of Atonement, there was the one goat that the sins of the people were passed from the rabbi, the high priest, under the head of the goat. They took him out in the desert and off he went. And he never came back again. That's what leaving sin is all about. We don't come back because we're now gone, we're through crisis. The one goat was slain and his blood was sprinkled for purification. The other one, with the transmitted sins, went out into the wilderness and we didn't see him anymore.

The next thing that happens, according to Romans 6.4, is that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should also walk in the newness of life. So the question is, was Christ raised?

We're going to celebrate that in a couple of weeks. We're also going to celebrate his death and burial in a couple of weeks. So he was raised. Is that a position for him? Would you say Christ's resurrection was a position for Christ? It's a condition. It did. It happened. He was crucified. He was buried and now he was resurrected.

So again, if I've been placed into Christ's death, then we start this process of whatever is going to be true of Christ going forward now is also going to be true of me. Can't you say that? Is that a correct statement? So now I'm going forward and now Christ is buried and so I get buried too.

And then he's raised, guess what? I get raised. Now my being raised in Christ, is that a positional truth or conditional truth? What do you say? Is it a position? Do I have a position in the resurrected Christ? Do you remember being resurrected? I was, that was kind of a cool day, wasn't it? Now it's a position, sure.

Now watch this other part. At the very end of that verse 4 it says, even so we should walk in newness of life. Now the walking in newness of life has to do with a new principle of life, something that's operational in me. A couple of things are true of this.

One, I have a new head who is Christ. I'm a partaker of everything that he is. I have every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. I've been justified forever and now I'm a citizen no longer of the earth but now of heaven. That's all true of me because I was resurrected with Christ.

I'm a member of this thing called the new creation. Let's talk about the new creation for a minute. Does it exist yet? Does the new creation exist yet? It says we are a new creation of Christ. A new creation of Christ. So it does exist, right? He is the new creation. We can say that Christ was the creator, the facilitator of the first creation. He made it. The new creation, He is it. See that? He is the new creation.

So I'm a member of this new creation through my identification, through my being placed in Christ and being there when he rose, because he rose to newness. This newness is the kainos verb. The kainos verb in Greek is a verb that says coming into an entirely new state of being.

When Lazarus was raised from the dead by the Lord Jesus Christ, that was not Kainos. He came back to the same holy existence, right? I feel sorry for Lazarus, because he comes out of the grave and he's got to be thinking, I've got to do this again? I've got to die twice? This is ridiculous.

So when we're raised with Christ, we're raised to newness. Brand new creations. This newness is a positional truth. And this walk, we're to walk around and live and function in it. It's not just something that's a theory or a principle. It's life, newness of life, and we're to have our very existence and being in this newness of life. If you don't know anything about this, how can you walk in it? How can you live in it? How can you possibly hope to learn what the principles of this new life is? And that's why the name of the cross, this new life is over here. The old life is here.

So when we're baptized into Christ's death and we're buried with Him, we're resurrected, it isn't coming back to the same old existence with a new set of principles, unlike the reformed guys who would say, well, you're enthralled by the Holy Spirit so you can keep the law that was back here. There's no law over here. This newness does not have a set of statutes that we have to keep in order to be blessed. This is an already blessed position that we occupy. The newness of this life is totally new. There's nothing from here that shows up over here. So as we go on through this class and we talk about grace and we talk about faith, the faith is always going to be focused on what this newness is all about. What we're focused on now are the mechanics of how God got us out of here and into here.

That's why it's so critical. That's why the first ten verses are all positioned and they represent the most important thing for a believer to believe as a growing believer. You've got to get this part in order to live over here. Make sense? So now we're resurrected and now we are over here positionally. So now, you know, it's like starting out as a brand new baby. I've got to learn life all over again. Don't I? Because if I learn that there's nothing here that I can say, oh yeah, I've got four or five principles over here that are really good ones, I'll bring them over here and live with them. No, you can't.

This is all new. And I don't mean new in renovation, I mean absolutely, totally brand new existence. Never been that kind of existence before, ever. All brand new. Newness of life. The noun there is newness, it's not life, it's newness. So in this new life, you can make all kinds of statements about what this new life is really cool about now.

He says in the next verse, for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, we certainly also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. So if you did die with him, guess what? The resurrection is yours. You can't change that. Baptism is the cause and the effects of our baptism into Christ. What are the effects?

I'm down to question seven. Actually, I'm going to back up to question six. I said, is this a new principle that God has just instituted? This new principle of identity, dead, buried and resurrected, is that a brand new principle that God just now implemented?

It must be because it happened at the cross. How about before the cross? Way back when? They were in Christ. Think about it. The principle I'm after is that whatever is true of Christ is true of me. Is that a new principle? Remember back in Genesis when creation was being formed. Remember the light begets light principle? What's the like-beget-like principle all about? What's it about?

If you're a bird, then you're going to produce birds. If you're a dog, you're going to produce dogs. If you're a plant, you're going to produce plants. If you're a sinner, you're going to produce sins. You come from Adam. You function and reproduce what our position is. So, can I apply that principle to this newness of life? Can I? Sure I can. The principle didn't change. As a matter of fact, he used exactly the same principle by recreating us and uniting us in Christ. We don't sin because of the principle, like begets like.

So what does the like beget? What does the Lord Jesus beget in you? What does he do? What is the spirit of God indwelling you to accomplish? What's he going to produce? He's going to produce the resurrected life of Christ. Life begets life. Is that okay? Did you follow me through that little? Yeah. Could the principle of life out of death also be true in that? Absolutely. I'm glad you brought that up. When Adam sinned, what was the consequence? God said, the day you sin, you will surely do 40 years of hard labor, pay a $15 fine. No, what was the consequence? You would die.

So, the whole old creation lives until it dies. Right? Isn't that how it works? You look around, everything is heading towards the grave. This beautiful new car you just bought, It's going to die someday. What's the difference in the new life? It's death first, then life. I die, I'm buried, I'm resurrected to newness of life. So it's death first, then life. The old creation is life and die. So everything is different in this new creation. Everything is different.

We asked, JD and I asked the kids downstairs, you know, that when John 17, he's pregnant, we have eternal life. Well, what's eternal mean? And of course, you know, we got the answer, well, you live forever. I said, well, you're living forever anyway now. So what's the big deal? You know, I'm going to, I may not live at all here. I'm going to go someplace else, but I'm not going to cease to be in existence. So eternal life has got to be something greater than just living forever. which opens up a whole discussion about, well what is eternal life? And the Lord Jesus very simply says, eternal life is to know me and the one who sent me.

Well that changes the entire equation. So here we are resurrected, newness of life, we're in Christ Jesus, we're on this side of the cross now, we live by new principles, We had a whole class on the principle of position so we could learn what some of the tenets are of this new creation. We're going to spend three or four months on the basic tenet of this new creation, which is grace. That's the operating principle. What I do as a believer to live in this new creation under grace is I live by faith. That's how it works. It doesn't work by empirical evidence, sense and reason. It doesn't work that way. It works by faith alone. So baptism is the cause. What are the effects of our baptism into Christ? What are the effects?

Never be taken out. That's one. Give me another one. Eternal life. Give me another one. The basic flow we're talking about. But also we could say we've been co-crucified, we co-died with Christ, we were buried and we were resurrected. Oh, one last part. We're positionally seated in Christ in the heavens right now. Right now. And so, think about this. If this is true, and let's just for argument's sake say it is.

And I'm identified with Christ in this death, prayer, resurrection, and seating in heaven. So when it comes time for me to check out of the planet, am I going to die? No, I already did. I already did, didn't I? According to this verse, I already did.

So what happens? Why does Paul refer to believers of going to sleep? Because this already happened to him. All that happens is I change addresses. I just go to be where my home is. I go home. I don't die. I just move. Is that cool or what? And that's why believers don't have fear of death. What are you fearing something that you already went through? You already did. So now you're seated with Christ in the heavenlies. What is going to happen? Is it going to go into the full reality of what's already true of me? Already true! See? So from an identification standpoint, does baptism or water have any spiritual effect on a person? Other than they might smell better. I have these great photographs in my cell phone. of Laban and J.D. baptizing their kids.

It's the coolest thing. I'm like John the Apostle listening over the Lord's shoulder when he's praying in John 17. I'm looking over their shoulder taking pictures of all of this. It's the coolest thing because it's everything to do with what we're talking about. So now this little guy, all this is through him or her too. Isn't that cool? It's really cool.

So, does baptismal water have any spiritual effect at all. It's just an outward expression of what already happened. What already happened. That's exactly right. But I think the Lord would have us do the baptismal for whoever comes to Christ, specifically for their education, their spiritual education. What does this really mean?

Now so many denominations, especially the one that I came from, Their whole concept of baptism was totally different than the biblical one. It had to do with taking a spiritual shower to wipe away the stain of original sin on your soul. I always thought that was kind of foolish because I was going to sin again anyway. I wasn't going to get baptized again.

Okay, nine. Is the following statement true? If I did not die with Christ on the cross, I can't be living in Him, risen from the dead, but I'm still back in the old Adam in which I was born. Is that a true statement? I think it is. Next part of that question is why is it? Because you didn't die with Christ on the cross. That's exactly right. So that's the identification. That's exactly right. Do you think there's a, part of my answer to that is, there's no more difficult task, no task requiring such constant, visual attention is assigned by God to the believer.

And the assignment is, is that I did die with him. I really did. And I really was separated in all the death, all that death, what it means. I really did do that. That really did happen. It's a stupendous thing, this matter of taking note of and keeping in mind what goes completely against your consciousness that your old man was crucified. Did I die or didn't I?

You know, for years people would laugh when I would say this, but this was an expression of the reality that was going on in my life. If I'm dead, Then when the music starts playing, why are my feet moving? You know, the music being the temptation to sin. Why every time the music starts, I'm joining in right away? It's because I didn't believe this. I didn't believe this. But the Spirit of God, I think, has to work this into us. I really do. These words are addressed to faith and faith alone. Christ died once, once and for all into sin. He is not dying continually. It's an overdeal. So, who's the old man? Everything we've heard now. Good answer. Anybody else? Courtney's kids are pointing at him. I don't want to look back. I'm going back actually, pontificating on all these things.

When you say there's nothing, when we die, nothing has changed because we've already died. But there is, there is one great thing, is we get rid of this physical body and sinful flesh. So there is a separation of death. We shouldn't fear death, but there is something that transpires when we die physically here. We're physically then separated from the sinful flesh and the man. But didn't that happen positionally? Yeah, physically it happens, because I still have two natures in me. I know, I know. Thank you. I'll give you a beer. I don't need it. Thank you. But, you know, so I mean, we say nothing. Yeah, we're positionally we are.

But then at physical death, there is a separation, finally, of this sinful flesh that we'll get rid of. dragging me down when the music plays and all that. There is a wonderful thing that happens at death. We get separated from the sinful flesh that drags us into no fellowship with the Lord and those things. So there is something that really does happen when we die.

You shouldn't fear it because that's a wonderful day. We say it's the second best day of the believer's life when we go home. But I think one of the wonderful parts of that is we get rid of this sinful flesh. That's a wonderful thing. Yeah, the very presence of sin is gone. Yeah, it's gone. I don't have to worry about that anymore.

So, anybody else want to elaborate on who the old man is? Would you say the old man is everything we wear and have? Including sin nature, including... Is the old man the body you have? I think so. The very presence of the sin nature, what the Bible calls the flesh, the whole entire, does the old man include being under a law system?

Does it include being separated from the world? Yeah, it does. Because I'm positionally separated from the world. So in Romans 6, 6, did I do 5 yet? No, no. Hey Mike, I was just going to add one other thing about the old man that we talked about three weeks ago, the federal headship. I like the way Newell refers to, because we have the federal head, Adam in the old and Christ in the new, there are revealed federal facts that apply to you based on that friendship. And we call them positional truths. I just liked that twist on the term revealed federal facts that are true of you when you are in Adam and then new federal revealed facts that are true of you when you are in Christ. It aligns position with that federal headship. That's where all of those brutal facts fall out from.

I think the tragedy, as you're talking and thinking about the tragedy of contemporary Christianity, they never give us the federal facts. They never tell us. What the whole thing is, is that you never got through this. You're still back here, but now you've got a new set of rules. That's really where they are. They don't talk about this. There's no freedom on this side. What is marvelous to me, if I were Satan, Courtney kind of thinks I am sometimes, where would I attack the church? How would I go at them? If I wanted to render them ineffective, what would I try to keep from them? Exactly what JV is talking about.

I don't want them to know anything about beer, It's okay if they learn about their sins being forgiven. But if they don't ever learn anything more, I still have them. Because they've got sin natures and I don't even have to mess with them. Those sin natures work 24-7 on my side. That sin nature works for me. And if I don't know anything over here, I can be pious and whatever you want to be, but I'm ineffective. I'm totally ineffective.

I think it's important to note that believers can be on that side of the cross, not living. And still believers. They're believers. They're not non-believers over there. They're believers. They just don't, as we've said many times without knowing this identification, there's little or no growth because they're still trying to fix up the old man. And they may be a type A with all kinds of activity over here and still.

We're doing Hebrews on Wednesday night and we're talking about entering into God's rest. Using this example, which side is God's rest in? This side, right? So here's the thing, God says to the Jews, if you don't believe me, you're never going to enter into my rest. My rest.

So what do they do? They all came out of Egypt, they all went through the Red Sea, and now the Red Sea closes and they're somewhere between the Red Sea and Cadiz, Barnea. Are they all saved? Absolutely, every single one of them is. But they haven't gotten to God's rest yet. And because they don't believe, they go out in the desert for 40 years until they all die. Then they come back with a new group of guys, with Joshua and Caleb, and what do they do? They go into God's rest. They cross the Jordan. The same with us. If we don't know this, if we don't by faith cross the Jordan so to speak, we don't ever get into God's rest. Never. They had to go across by faith, we have to go across by faith. And so the principles that we learn by, how did Newell say it?

Federal facts. New federal facts. What were the facts with the Jews? I'm giving you this land, it's full of milk and honey and I will bless you. And they were actually baptized into Moses. They sure were. So everything, you know, the law as a governing principle and that was the federal facts for Israel was 613 Mosaic laws that were governing. Yeah, and God was so gracious to the Jews.

And so what do they do? Just like what we do. We come up to the cross and we think, I can't go there. What does it mean? I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me. I don't believe this. It must be for some of them pious guys. Some of those theologian guys that went to seminary. You go through this. When he says in 6, knowing this, here comes some of those new principles, right?

Here it is, that our old man was crucified with him. Purpose, that the body of sin might be, I'm going to use the term put out of business, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. I'll read you a transliteration so I can find it here. I the old Adamic man was crucified with him. that the body of sin, sin in total, all of it, might be destroyed, condemned in death, not forgiven. I, the sinful one, was condemned in the death of the cross in order that I might be recreated in a risen life of the last Adam.

Romans 6.6 is true of every believer.

If you don't know it, you can't believe it, and you certainly can't live in it. If God hadn't told the Jews to go across the Jordan River into the land that I'm giving you, they would have never known. But they did know. And because they didn't believe him, they never entered into God's rest, the ones that didn't believe. Because he says, I swear that they won't enter into my rest.

Well, I think that same principle holds true here. It's one thing to know it, it's another thing to believe it, just to rest by faith in what God has provided. Seven, for those who have died, for he who has died has been freed from, oh yeah, that's the sin word, the sin. So here's a pronouncement from God in seven, for those who died have been freed from sin. Is that true? Would you not sometimes say to God, how can that be true because look what I'm doing? You ever said that to God? How could that be true because look what I'm doing? And what does God say back to you? Trust me? Believe me? Or don't you?

It comes down to that. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we shall also live with him. So if you don't die, you don't live. No way. Does that live with him in the by and by or now? Now, I think it's now. Knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more, death no longer has dominion over him. Did death have dominion over the Lord at one point? Absolutely it did. When he's made sin for us, what's the result? What's the consequence? You die. Well, the Lord Jesus has made sin for us, so what happens? He dies. So, the last two questions.

What's crucified mean? What is crucifixion? I don't know, maybe I'm the only one that asks questions like this. Why would God choose? to crucify Christ, why didn't he just wait a few hundred years and have him shot in the forehead? Or put a stone around his leg and throw him in the river. Why did he choose crucifixion? Well, I guess I'm the only one that ever thought about that question. Why? Couldn't wear a pistol around your neck. It wouldn't be politically correct. Or a stone. Or a silver bullet.

Why crucifixion? You know why crucifixion? What I think it is, I think it's because crucifixion is a lingering death. How long does it take somebody to die who's been crucified? Jesus died in six hours. But those two guys that were crucified with him, I bet they were up there for a few days. You die slowly. So when a person is first put on a cross, they don't die quickly.

But the outcome is certain. I think it parallels with my being crucified with Christ. Positionally, it happened. Conditionally, it's lingering. It takes a while. I have to grow into it. That's why I think of it. It may take a while for you to come into the fullness of your identity in Christ's death. It's just because I told you it doesn't mean, oh we're walking out of here and everybody's walking in newness of life from now on. No. No. It takes a while.

They broke those credited criminals' legs so they'd sink down and suffocate. So last question, in verse 6, what does it mean that the body of sin might be destroyed or annulled. Catergeho. It means that it's made ineffective or evident or put out of business.

The reason I'm finished with that question, because it's really important, and I know I've repeated this a lot of times, to recognize my sin nature didn't die. It's still active, and it's as active as it's ever been, probably more so because it's trying to prove to me that what I've learned in Romans 6 is not true. So death means separation, right? So who got separated at the cross? Who died? Christ died. Who else died? We did. We got separated from it. It's still alive and well and living in Arizona. It's still active. It still desires to express itself through us. Every given moment of every day it wants to be the activating center of what we do.

But the reason that Christ was crucified and I was crucified with him was so that it would be put out of business. It would not... Malloy, because he was an electrical engineer, used to say, it's taken off line, that it's not a controlling factor in my life. It's still there, but it doesn't affect me. And I know that because I was positionally separated from it by being crucified with Christ.

So starting next week we'll find out, now that we have all these 10 verses that tell us about this wonderful physician, what do you do about it? What do you do about these 10 verses? you know, the new list of principles that are from a federal head being in Christ. Well, what do I do about those? So next week we'll launch into 6.10. Was both buzzers go off? I only heard one. 30 seconds. Oh my goodness, we're going to close early. Let's do it.

Father Harvey, thank you. how thorough you were in dealing with sin, not only to your satisfaction, but to we as members of the body of your Son. You thoroughly took care of that issue with us, too, that we may continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that all that's true of Him is also true of us, and we pray in His precious name. Amen.