All right, open your Bibles once
again to the gospel of John. John chapter 8. There will be a lot of talk. about liberty and freedom in
the coming week. They say we live in the land
of the free. We live in this sweet land of
liberty. And I would say first of all
that I am thankful to God for the liberty and the freedom
that we do enjoy in this country. I'm grateful for everyone who
served to protect it and defend it, but I know that, first of
all, we have it by the grace and mercy of God. It's not because
we're special in any way. It's not because of anything
we do or don't do to deserve it. But it's by His grace. And I would have at the same
time to confess also that this liberty and this freedom is daily
abused. in our land, and I'm afraid not used to glorify
God. And the truth really is this,
that we are not nearly so free and liberated as we think. We are much like the Jews that
we read about here in John 8. If you look down in John 8 with
me, beginning in verse 31, Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are
ye my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free.' They answered him, We
be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest
thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant
of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but
the son abideth forever. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed." You see, the truth is, even in
the natural sense, they were at that very moment in bondage
to Rome. And not only that, but they were
in even a greater bondage spiritually. Our Lord said, whoever it is
that you're the servant of, that's your master. Whosoever commits
sin, is the servant or the slave of it. And like us, they were not in
any way able to deliver themselves from this bondage or liberate
themselves from their captives. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He
knew that. But they didn't. Is that our case? I'm thankful that the Lord deals
with His people based on what He knows, not on what they know. And it's in this context that
He speaks the words that He speaks in verse 36. If the Son, therefore, shall
make you free, ye shall be free indeed." You know, there is so
much about the gospel that men find naturally offensive. In other words, if we preach
Christ as a Savior, that means somebody is a sinner. If he is the shepherd who must
find the sheep, that means somebody is lost. And if it says here
that the Son must make us free, then that means that somebody
is in bondage and slavery. I wonder, did you notice divine
sovereignty in that verse? If, if, it is not a given, it
is a gift of God's free and sovereign grace, if the Son make you free. And not only that, you can tell
immediately who the one Liberator is, the Son. And that's my message
this morning, Christ the Liberator. And all is bondage outside of
Him of whom it says, if the Son shall make you free, set you
free, then you will be free indeed. And you see, Christ as this liberator
is actually the theme of all this book, Old Testament and
New Testament. And it is shown again to us many
times even as Moses being a type of Christ. Listen to this. This Moses, whom they refused,
saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? The same did God
send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which
appeared to him in the bush. In other words, Moses, among
many other things, was a type of Christ, the one who would
deliver the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. That's
the great picture of our Lord. He's the liberator. As a matter
of fact, in that text that we read for our reading this morning,
There are some folks in that text that are described as prisoners. Two times there, they are called
prisoners. But they are not prisoners exclusively
in that they are prisoners of hope. That's what the Lord's elect
are. They were prisoners just like
every other one of Adam's race. But they, by God's grace, are
distinguished as this, prisoners of hope. And He tells them, turn
ye to the stronghold. Who's that? That's Christ. Turn
ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. And not only that, but
also in the Old Testament, there was the jubilee year. after all
the seven sevens of Sabbaths, in that last year, the jubilee
year, the jubilee trumpet was to be sounded. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet
of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement shalt
thou make the trumpet sound throughout all your land, And ye shall hallow
the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land,
unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you,
and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall
return every man unto his family." those that had sold themselves
into slavery, those that had sold or lost in some way their
inheritance. When that jubilee trumpet sounded,
it was a liberation. Everyone went back to his family,
left his slavery, regained his possession. And that trumpet
was nothing more than a ram's horn. which pictured the death
and the sacrifice and the suffering of the Liberator, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And not only that, we find that
in the Old Testament there is joined together in the New Testament
this same theme and message of Christ the Liberator. Let me read you a couple of verses
first in Isaiah. He says, I the Lord have called
thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep
thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people. That is God speaking
to His Messiah. He says, and for a light of the
Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from
the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison
house." And not only in that text, but
listen to this one. He says, the Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me. That's the Messiah. Because the
Lord hath anointed me." That's what that word means, Messiah,
and that's what the word Christ means in the New Testament, the
anointed of God. He hath anointed me to preach
good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives. and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound." And so all of this goes
in a theme and a string all throughout the whole Testament. And when
we come to the first occasion of the public ministry of the
Lord Jesus Christ, when He stands there in the synagogue of Nazareth
and opens to read the Scriptures, In Luke 4 it says that he stood
up to read, every eye fixed upon him. And he read concerning that
very thing that I just read there in the book of Isaiah, and he
said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and
recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised." And the Lord Jesus said to that
congregation, And to everyone who would ever read those words
from that day forward, he said, this day is this prophecy and
Scripture fulfilled. And he sat down. You see, all these things show
that man naturally is in bondage and slavery. If we must be set at liberty,
if we must be released from a prison, if we must be delivered as captives, then evidently we as men and
women do not have a so-called free will and neither are we
free agents. Do you know why I know that? Because if that were the case,
that would make what our Lord says here in that one verse absolutely
ridiculous. And that's exactly what the Jews,
the Pharisees especially, that is exactly what they thought.
You see, I've told you so many times, we do not know who we
are and what we are, or the state and condition that we're in by
what we feel, or by what men say that we are, we find that
out by what God says about us. And if the Son must make me free,
if the Son must make you free, then that means that there is
nothing about us that is free, and we are totally in the hands
of the mediator and the deliverer and liberator, absolutely in
His hands and dependent on Him for our deliverance. Somebody said, we're free to
be mean. That's exactly right. We're free
only in this sense that we can do and be what we are, which
is absolutely nothing but sin. We're confined to a fallen nature. We're confined to a sinful body. We're confined to a fallen and
depraved heart. And we can only do according
to what we are. And that's a sinner. And we need somebody to liberate
us. We have to have someone to set
us free. You see, liberation presupposes
captivity. And not only that, using the
Bible word most prominent, redemption presupposes bondage. You don't need to be redeemed
if you're not in bondage. You don't need to be redeemed.
And somebody said this. They said, happy is the one. I read this and I wanted to repeat
it to you because it says it so well. Happy is that person
who has had his or her eyes opened to see the need for a mightier
hand than their own, striking off the shackles of self-will,
self-love, and self-righteousness, which by nature bound and held
them fast." We sit and struggle in our shackles. We sit and struggle and go on
in life in our bondage, thinking ourselves free, being told that
we can do anything we want to if we want to, being told we
can believe on Christ, accept Him, do whatever it is that we
want to do with Him. And what we imagine to be this
liberty and freedom is really nothing but bondage. We must be legally before the
law and justice of God, and we must be spiritually in our own
experience and heart delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, if that's the case, and
I assure you it is, what must and has And does Christ liberate
and free His people from? What does He liberate us from?
What does He save us from and rescue us from? Well, the Bible
sets forth this deliverance and this liberation of His people
as a total and complete eternal deliverance. It says that He
obtained for us eternal redemption. And not only that, but He has
even delivered us from some things, though we have not experienced
that deliverance yet, yet we shall if we are His people. He has delivered us, and in His
deliverance He has wrought such a liberation and deliverance
that He yet shall deliver us. One day He'll deliver His people
from the very presence of sin. One day He will deliver them
from every temptation of Satan. And He will deliver them from
all the fiery darts of the wicked, and from the influence of this
body of sin, and from all fears, and all fits of unbelief, from
all chastisement and afflictions, from all suffering, and even
from physical death. He'll deliver us. but we shall
experience deliverance from or through all these things." I like a verse in Romans 8 where
it speaks of the creation and its association with the people
of God. Paul says, but the creature or
the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
In other words, the liberation of Christ is such that His people
will enjoy this glorious liberty, and not only that, but the creation
itself will be delivered. and they shall all enjoy it. But presently, right now, although
we have not yet seen these things, have not yet experienced deliverance
from all those things I just mentioned, who is born of God's Spirit and
taught of God and brought to believe the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, they enjoy a freedom and a liberty that is revealed
to them by the Spirit of God through what the Apostle calls
the perfect law of liberty. Now, what's that? That's the
gospel. The gospel. You see, the gospel
is the good news of the liberation of all of God's elect in and
through and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there's one thing
I want you to make sure you notice in this 8th chapter. If you look first of all in verse
32, listen to what it says. And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. All right? Look down again at verse 36.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now, what does that mean? I'll
tell you this, those two statements are not in the least bit contradictory. Number one, because the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself is called the truth. But also, It has to be that you
cannot disassociate or separate the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
from the truth of His gospel. And what we have here is what
we have everywhere in this book, wherever Christ has liberated
an individual through his suffering and death, they shall, by the
reception of the truth of that gospel, find it out, be brought to the
belief of it, and rest in it. He has liberated them through
his cross death And he will further into their experience bring that
liberation and freedom by bringing them to believe the truth as
it is in Christ Jesus. Turn over to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. If you look down in II Corinthians 3 and verse 17,
notice what it says. Now, the Lord is that Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. wherever the Spirit of God is. Number one, that's where the
gospel is. He's not talking about some kind
of a weird, strange feeling. Absolutely not. But he's saying
where the Spirit of the Lord is, the Spirit that through the
gospel takes the things of Christ and shows them to men, There is liberty. Why? Because men and women in this
gospel are made to know by the Spirit of God revealing the truth
to them that they have been liberated by the Lord Jesus Christ. And where there is no gospel
that sets forth Christ in this way, totally, clearly, and fully,
and eternally the Savior and Liberator of His people from
all their sins, there is no gospel. And the Holy Spirit is not there
bearing witness. And there is no freedom. No freedom. But where the Spirit of the Lord
is. You see, all who are in Christ
All His people, as they are described here, or His elect, or His children,
or whatever name that is given to them by the Spirit of God,
every one of them are liberated by His redeeming blood and by His power. Isn't that what took place in
Egypt? The picture of redemption and
deliverance that God gives of His church there in the nation
of Israel is this. That blood was shed and spread
on the lintels and doorposts of every house of every Hebrew. And when God passed over, they
were spared. They were redeemed by blood. They were liberated by blood. But not only that, at the same
time, as a result of that also, they were, by the very power
of God, actually delivered out of the bondage of Egypt. So they were delivered by blood,
and they were delivered by power. And the Lord Jesus Christ, as
our Liberator in His cross death, He did liberate His people, And
not only that, He in power, by the power of His Spirit, comes
to where they are in time and liberates them, sets them free. What did He liberate us from? Let me give you just a few. First
of all, he delivered and liberated his people from the curse and
bondage of the law and the justice it requires. Absolutely. How? Well, let me ask you this. How can you be justly liberated
from a debt? pay it. But you see, you and I didn't
have anything to pay with. You and I didn't have any ability
to deliver ourselves. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
His death, which is called a ransom and a redemption, He did liberate
us from the very debt of our sins before God's justice by
paying it in full. Did he? Did he pay it all? If he paid it all, it is absolutely
paid in full. And every one for whom he paid
it Every one of his sheep that he laid down his life for. Every one of this church which
he purchased with his own blood. Every one that he's hung there
in their place. They're liberated. And they're
redeemed. If you turn over to Galatians
chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3. You know,
all we have to do is listen to the words that the Spirit of
God spoke through this apostle. And yet, it's impossible for
us to do that apart from the Spirit working in us, to believe
simply what He says. Galatians 3 and verse 10. He says, for as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse. If this is the way that we would
be justified before God on the basis of something we are or
do ourselves, that's the law principle. He said, you're cursed. For it is written, Cursed is
every one that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." To do them. The Bible says that if we seek
to stand before God on the basis of the law principle, doing,
our doing, doing your best, living by the golden rule, whatever
it is. He says that law required that you not only do it, but
that if you offend in any point, you're guilty of violating the
whole. All these people walking around
saying, well, I just believe if I do the best I can, God will
accept it. He won't. And that's what he's
saying. When he gave that commandment
to Israel, it was to show us that nobody could ever be blessed
of God or accepted by God based on doing or their own personal
obedience because they don't even come close. Verse 11, "...but that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God. It is evident. For the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them." But look at this
13th verse. Christ hath redeemed us, liberated us through the paying
of the ransom price, of the price of redemption. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. That's what he's doing for his
people on that cross. He's being made a curse for them. "'For it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree.'" He redeemed us, liberated us,
set us free, paid our price. Look down in chapter 4. at verse
5 or verse 4. Galatians 4 and verse 4, But
when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And Paul says in Romans 10 that
Christ is the end of the law. He says, for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, because
the law worketh wrath. Look down further in Galatians
4 and verse 22. Here's the picture of it, the
allegory that we are given in the Old Testament concerning
this very thing in Galatians 4 in verse 22. For it is written
that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other
by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh, But he of the free woman was born
by promise, which things are an allegory." That means these
two women, these two sons were a picture of a spiritual truth. which things are an allegory,
for these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai,
which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar." Man's efforts by himself, man's
dependence on his flesh, on his own doing, on his own person,
on his own righteousness. For this Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth, he says, to the Jerusalem which
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which
is above is free. These that are represented By
this Jerusalem that is below, Agar and Ishmael, he says, these
are in bondage. But those who are represented
by that other covenant, by that Jerusalem which is above, a spiritual
people in the Lord Jesus Christ, is free, which is the mother
of us all. For it is written, Rejoice thou
barren that bearest not, break forth and cry thou that travailest
not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which
hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then, He that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son
of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not
children of the bondwoman. but of the free. And you see in the original that
goes on without stopping and says, Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now in that context,
Why did the Spirit of God have the Apostle Paul to write this
letter to the churches in Galatia? He says it is because there had
come those there into those churches who were preaching a mixture
of law and grace, of works and Christ, who were preaching the
law of Moses, in one way or another, either to establish righteousness
or to improve it or something?" And he said, don't get in that
bondage, because Christ hath made us free. Paul says, there is therefore
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. He said it's not the law for
our obedience. It's not the law as a rule of
life. It's not the law for our sanctification. It's all Christ. Or we're in bondage. Paul says,
but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He hath delivered us from the
curse of the law. And this liberty that we enjoy
as a result of what Christ has done for us, it is not a liberty
that the Lord's redeemed people use as a license to sin, but
rather is the motivation to obey Him and follow Him and
glorify Him. The liberty in Christ set forth
by the gospel keeps the liberated ones from the bondage of legalism
and from the disgrace of lawlessness. Peter says, as free. and not using your liberty for
a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. They are liberated to love God
and to worship God and to serve Christ our Liberator. All right? Not only that, He
has delivered us from the dominion of sin. Turn over to Romans 6, and let
me say without a doubt, that does not mean that we don't sin. We know that if we are half honest,
and God has told us that by the Apostle John and others. If we
say we have no sin, if we say we don't sin, we lie. But Christ,
as our liberator, has delivered us and rescued us from the dominion
of sin. What does that mean? From the
total rule of sin over us as we live here in this world. Look
down here in Romans 6 and verse 14. He says, ìFor sin shall not have
dominion over you.î Now, what will he give as the reason for
this? ìFor you are not under the law.î
You see, every one, Paul says, who is under the law, sin has
dominion over them because all the law does with us in our natural
state is stir up that rebel in us, that nature of sin, that
defiance. But he says, for you are not
under the law but under grace. What then, shall we sin because
we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. And God deal with that person
who would ever say that the grace of God leads men to sin. Know ye not that to whom ye yield
yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom
you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness? But listen to this. But God bethanked
that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being
then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness." Oh, we sin, but it has no dominion
over us. no dominion over us. I speak after the manner of men
because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded
your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, even so now
yield your members servants to righteousness and to holiness.
For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those
things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death. But now being made free from
sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness
and the end everlasting life." And he's freed us from the captivity
of Satan. Paul, writing to Timothy, gives
us some amazing light as to what our
natural state is. He says to this young preacher,
And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto
all men, apt to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God, peradventure, will give them
repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may
recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken
captive by him at his will." So much for free will, huh? They
are taken captive by him at his will. What's their hope? A deliverer. A liberator. And that's none but the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul, he says in Acts 26 that
he was sent to preach this liberating gospel. He said to open their
eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God. that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me." And this liberator, he liberates
his people from the fear and the control of man, especially
religious men. those in false religion such
as these Pharisees were in this text. They were the know-it-alls of religion. They were the ones
who spoke for God. They were the ones who told men
what they were to do. And you know what the Scripture
says? Our Lord said they bound burdens on men and women so heavy
that they themselves couldn't carry them. They had people in
their day, just like false religionists do every day, they had people
walking around in a kind of a spiritual shackle with a ball and chain,
miserable, trying, failing, and not believe in God. You know,
the Scripture says the fear of man brings a snare. What's that? That's a trap. That's
something that holds us. But the Lord Jesus Christ, as
the Liberator, it says, "...and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free." You see, men and women, can tell
you anything, and do tell you anything and everything, and
by that keep you in the bondage until you know the truth. You ever think about that? You can be told by preachers
and religionists, and the world is absolutely full of them, you
can be told all these things by them, And they put you in
fear and in this bondage, and you'll remain there until you
know the truth. The truth is like a key. It unlocks that prison cell. And you know, it's amazing just
how much liberation takes place when we sit down for ourselves
and actually read the Bible. That's what I want everyone that
hears me to do. I want you to open your Bibles
and to see if what I say is true, and if it's not the truth, don't
you dare believe it. And the way you can know, and
the only way you can know, is open this book and look for yourself. I tell you, it's an amazing thing
how God can deliver His people from superstitions, from all kinds of idolatry, from
the power of family and friends and all the things that bind
us and hold us. That's why I say we're not nearly
so free as we think. Well, I would do this, but they
wouldn't like it. But the Lord Jesus Christ, because he has liberated us from our sins in that cross,
he comes and makes application of that work by his Spirit. And
where the Spirit of the Lord comes, revealing Christ in our
hearts, there is liberty. I would be a hard fellow to be
bound up by a bunch of man-made rules and such. And then he liberates us from
the fear of death. You know, we're all going to
die. We're all going to die. Some
are going to die by this means, some are going to die by that
means, but, you know, its final analysis is dying brings death. The Apostle says, For as much
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage." Every man and woman lives in
this world in fear of death. And the ones I think that fear
it the most are those who keep going around telling everybody
how they're not afraid to die. But the Bible says, it is appointed
unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. It doesn't really matter how
you die, if you die fast, if you die slow, if you die of cancer,
if you die of a gunshot. It doesn't really matter. It's
that, and after this, the judgment that brings the fear. But the Lord Jesus, He liberated
His people from that fear. And He did it by being partaker
of their very nature without sin and dying the death of the
cross. which is the consequence of sin.
And if I don't have any judgment to face, and if death itself
will be just a door whereby I enter into God's presence, then I'm free. I'm free. You're free if you
believe on Christ. And the true gospel is this perfection
of liberty and is free from even the slightest hint of bondage. Because only free men and women can love and worship and serve
the God of all grace. Free. Free to loving, which I wasn't
before. Free to serving. Free to worshiping. Turn one more passage in Exodus
21. Paul referred to himself and
all of God's people, every believer, as bondservants. What kind of servant is the Lord's
child? Is he a person in bondage and
slavery? No. The picture of him is here
in Exodus 21, And it's a part of this law that God gave to
Moses and that people to picture this for us. But look in verse
2. It says, If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve,
and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came
in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he were married,
then his wife shall go out with him. If his master hath given
him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daughters, the wife
and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out
by himself. And if the servant shall plainly
say, I love my master, I love my wife and my children, I will
not go out free. I won't go out by myself. Then
his master shall bring him unto the judges, he shall also bring
him to the door, or unto the doorpost, and his master shall
bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever." And everybody that passes him
on the street and sees him in the service of his master, they'll
see where his ear has been bored. And they'll know that he serves
his master out of love. He serves his master freely. He serves his master lovingly
as a free man. That's the picture of the Lord's
people. They are free in Christ, and they are free to love him
and serve him and worship him. Don't preach a gospel of law
and bondage, because God's grace in Christ and the gospel that
declares it will keep his people from the bonds of legalism and
from the disgrace of lawlessness. Father, we thank you this day
for your great salvation and deliverance and rescue and liberation
of all your people in Jesus Christ. What he said is so unchangeably
true, that if the Son make us free, we are free indeed. We pray, Lord, that you'd bless
your Word to the honor and glory of your name and to the salvation and comfort
and encouragement of your people. Give us grace whereby we might
stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ has made us free. Thank you so much for your goodness
to us. Help us and strengthen us. Increase
our faith. Watch over us. Provide for us
and protect us. And Lord, we'll thank You and
praise You and honor You, both now and forever, as we pray in Christ's name.
Amen.