I want you to open your Bibles
to Matthew 27 that Brother Ron just read. And I also want you
to find Psalm 22, where I read from in the opening. Just hold
your finger, hold your place there at Psalm 22. The text this
morning is Matthew 27, verse 46, where it speaks of the ninth
hour. Matthew 27, 46, our Lord's crucifixion. It says, and about the ninth
hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice. The ninth hour would be
about three o'clock in the afternoon. And here's what he said. He quoted
from Psalm 22. It says, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. And that's speaking in a combination
of Hebrew and Aramaic. It says, that is to say, here's
the translation, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Amazing, isn't it? And the reason
he quoted it in the original language is back here in Psalm
22, verse 1. See how it opens up. This is David, a psalm of David.
Now David is speaking out of his own distress here. And so these things can be applied
personally to David as a sinner saved by grace. But David is
also speaking as a type. A type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's also speaking prophetically. Because these words were uttered
on the cross. And it begins in verse 1 of Psalm
22. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Now, literally speaking, God
had not forsaken David. But he felt that way, and many
times you'll see that in Scripture. We're going through the book
of Job in our evening services, and many times Job speaks that
way. God had not forsaken Job. But
he felt like he did and he spoke from his distress and from his
heart. But he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? And then this psalm goes on.
Read the whole psalm. I'll refer back to it here in
just a few minutes. Read the whole psalm. It's a
messianic psalm. It's called the psalm of the
cross. And it speaks prophetically and
typically of the suffering unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the substitute for his people. Now, as I said, and as it applies
to David here, God had not really forsaken David. God says to his
people, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Now, you may
go through times in your life where you felt like he's left
you and he's forsaken you, but he hasn't. We know that because
he said so, not because we feel differently. But over here in
Matthew 27, as this verse applies to the
Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute, when he said, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? I want to tell you something. The Lord God really did forsake
the Lord Jesus Christ. was really forsaken of the Father. And that's amazing, isn't it? I've entitled this message, Amazing
Substitution. Amazing Substitution. This Amazing
Substitution is like what we call Amazing Grace. Amazing. In the past few weeks,
I've brought several messages on the issue of what the Bible
teaches on substitution. Christ taking the place of His
people to do for His people what His people could not do for themselves. And that is be saved from sin. Save them from sin. Bring forth
everlasting righteousness. You can't do that. I can't do
that. Adam in the garden before the
fall could not bring forth everlasting righteousness. He was a creature.
But only one could bring forth everlasting righteousness. Only
one could truly and finally put away sin. And that's this person,
the God-man on the cross of Calvary. And that's what he's expressing
here. This is amazing. Now, the reason I decided to
do these messages on substitution is because, as I told you, the
doctrine, the truth, the glorious substitutionary work of Christ,
as it always has been, is just as much under attack today. And
this is the foundation, the heart of the gospel. I'm telling you
now, you cannot overemphasize the importance of knowing and
understanding what the Bible teaches by revelation here from
God. Substitution. You know what a
substitute is. Somebody, as I said, who takes
the place of another. Or others. Now here, in this
passage, where Brother Ron read, we see the suffering, we see
the humiliation. Go back and read the whole chapter.
You see the penalty of sin that the Lord Jesus Christ came under. Look back at verse 39 that he
read. He said, they that passed by
reviled him. It means they spoke wickedly
of him. They spoke in negative terms of this person, this man
on the cross. They wagged their heads and their
tongues. They made fun of him. They mocked
him. You see, this is all things that
he personally went through, went under, as a substitute. He's acting as a substitute.
What he's getting right here, what the Lord Jesus Christ is
getting right here, if you're one of his now, and this is for
those who come to believe in him, what he's getting right
here is what you deserve, and what I deserve. And in verse 40 it says, and
saying, now here's what they said when they wag their heads
and their tongues, it says, thou that destroyest the temple, remember
he told them, he's talking about, he used the temple as a symbol
of himself. And he said, destroy it and I'll
raise it up in three days. He was talking about himself,
his death, burial, and resurrection. They thought he was talking about
that earthly temple. And they said, thou that destroyest the
temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. Now I want
you to notice something here that's really important. What
this shows, what they're saying here to him, shows their ignorance
of the truth of substitution. It shows their ignorance of the
Messiah, who he is and what he would come to do. It shows their
ignorance of the gospel itself. It shows their ignorance of the
grace of God and the righteousness of God in Christ and what He
would establish. They said, Save thyself, if thou
be the Son of God, verse 40, come down from the cross. Now,
the Son of God is a term of the Messiah. The Old Testament taught
that the Messiah The Anointed One, the Savior, would be the
Son of God in human flesh. He would be God in human flesh.
So, in essence, they could say it this way. If you're the Messiah,
come down from the cross. Well, now, if they knew anything
about the Scriptures, if they knew anything about prophecy,
if they knew anything about what their own Scriptures taught,
if they knew anything about substitution and about the grace of God, about
the Gospel, and what it takes for God to save a sinner, they
would understand and know that if he really were the Son of
God, which he was, he couldn't come down from the cross. He
had to die. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. Now, he didn't sin, but he had
to die for sins. He was the Lamb of God. What'd
they do to a lamb back in the Old Testament? What'd they do
to a lamb? They put it on the altar and
they slew it. Because without the shedding of blood, no remission.
Look on verse 41. Likewise also the chief priest.
Now if anybody ought to know the truth of the Messiah, the
truth of substitution, the truth of what it takes for God to save
a sinner, it ought to be the chief priest, shouldn't it? But
they didn't. They mocked him. And they mocked
him with the scribes. Now the scribes were those who
studied and interpreted the scriptures, and the elders, the leaders,
probably some of the Pharisees. And here's what they said. Now,
look at verse 42. This is good. He says, "...he saved others,
himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel..."
Now, that's the Messiah. "...let him now come down from
the cross, and we will believe him." If he came down from the
cross and they believed him, they believe a lie. Because if
they knew Him to be the King of Israel, the Son of God, the
Messiah, they knew He could not come down from that cross. He
had to die. And they said this, underscore that, Himself He cannot
save. Now they spoke that out of ignorance
because they were questioning His power as the Son of God.
But they ignorantly in this sense, spoke the truth. They're right.
Himself, he cannot save. And you want to know why? He
cannot save himself. It's not because he's not able.
He's able to do anything that he wants to do in his nature
and wisdom and character. But he cannot save himself because
he's dying on that cross as a substitute for the sins of his people. And
if he saved himself from that, then he could not save his people. So here they're right. They didn't
speak it in speaking truth. Their question is, but himself
he cannot save. I've heard men say, well, he
had to save himself first and then save us. No, himself he
cannot save. If he saved himself, we'd be
all, listen, we'd be all eternally bound for hell. Verse 43 says, he trusted in
God, let him deliver him now. He will have him, for he said,
I am the son of God. They didn't know about the Messiah.
Verse 44, the thieves. There was a thief on his right
hand, a thief on his left hand, which were crucified with him,
cast the same in his teeth. Even those thieves who deserved
what they were getting, cast the same kind of mockery and
derision towards the Son of God. Now, we know from Luke's account
that one of the thieves later on in this historical scene came
to a saving knowledge of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And he finally, he said, we're getting what we deserve. But
this man, talking about Christ, has done nothing amiss. Verse
45, now from the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land
until the ninth hour. Now darkness, in the Old Testament,
many times symbolizes or is indicative of the wrath of God. And that's
what it says here. The wrath of God is falling down
from heaven, you might say it that way. Where is it landing? Where's the wrath of God? This,
let me tell you something. The full measure of the wrath
of God is being manifested right here on Calvary. Where, where
is it to be seen? Right here, verse 46. About the
ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's amazing. Amazing. Why the ninth hour? Well, as
I said, that was about three o'clock in the afternoon, their
time. And that was the time, about
the time of the slaying and offering of the daily sacrifice. They
had daily sacrifices. They slew animals. Slew animals,
speaking of the atonement. And that daily sacrifice was
a type and a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. That ninth hour
also, on the day of Passover, it was the time that the Passover
lamb was killed. And that was another type and
picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God, which beareth
away the sin of the world, was slain in the ninth hour. And
here he cried with a loud voice, it says. What does that mean? That means great distress and
agony under the wrath of God, bearing the sins of his sheep,
his church, his people, bearing our shame, bearing our punishment,
our pain, suffering in himself in ways that we cannot know or
describe. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Think about that. What's he doing on this cross?
Well, Daniel said it a thousand years before, or less. He said, in Daniel 9, 24, he
said that the Messiah's coming to finish the transgression.
That's what he's doing. He's finishing the transgression.
Whose transgression is he finishing? The transgressions of his people,
all whom he died for. All for whom He stood as substitute.
He's making an end of sins. Whose sins? The sins of His people. He's making reconciliation for
iniquity. Whose iniquity? His people. He's bringing in everlasting
righteousness. For who? For His people. He's
sealing up the vision and the prophecy. All the Old Testament
types and pictures and prophecies are sealed up right here on Calvary. He's the final culmination of
everything that was prophesied, everything that was pictured,
everything that was symbolized, everything that was typified
right there. That's amazing. And He anointed the Most Holy.
That's a picture of the priest going into the holiest of all
with the blood of the animal. Well, Christ went into the very
holy of holies, the very presence of God with his blood. That's
what's going on here. Now, I want you to listen to
this next statement. If you think you can't remember
it, write it down. I want you to think about this. Now, he says, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? That means he himself was cut
off, alienated from God. How can that be? Well, we can't
really explain it, but I know this, that's to be attributed
to his humanity. It was an act of his whole person.
You know, throughout his life there were things he did. Some
of those things could only be attributed to his deity. When
he performed the miracles, when he walked on water, when he Remember
when those soldiers came to get him in the Garden of Gethsemane,
he spoke, I am, and they fell backward. That can only be attributed
to his deity. Now it was an act of his entire
person. He didn't stop being man when he did that. He's still
God-man, but it can only be attributed to his deity. Some of the things
he did could only be attributed to his humanity. He thirsted. He hungered. He sorrowed. He
hurt. He's hurting here. This person
on this cross who is God's man is hurting. When they put that
crown of thorns on his head, that hurt. He wasn't faking it now. When
he said, I thirst, he really thirsted. All of that was real. But that can only be attributed
to his humanity. Now, he didn't stop being God.
And we can't explain that now, and we don't try. But now listen
to this statement. Now, he was actually forsaken
by God. The beginning of sin, here's
the statement, the beginning of sin is forsaking God. That's the
beginning of sin. You know what Adam did in the
garden? He forsook God. Didn't he? That's the beginning
of sin. When man forsakes God, Either
in a religious way or any other way. That's the beginning of
sin is man forsaking God. The end of sin is God forsaking
man. That's the end of it. That's
where sin's going to end up. If somebody don't step in and
take care of this matter of sin, the end of it is God forsaking
you or me. If I don't have a substitute,
I'm a sinner, see, I fell in Adam. When Adam forsook God,
I forsook God. That's what the Scripture teaches,
doesn't it? We fell in Adam. Now, if someone who is appointed
of God, who is able and who is qualified and who's willing doesn't
step in and take care of this matter of sin, the end of sin
is God forsaking me. You know what I believe is the
best definition of hell you'll find being forsaken of God. That's what Christ is going through
here on the cross. But let me tell you this. Now
listen to this. I said the beginning of sin is
man forsaking God. The end of sin is God forsaking
man. Listen to me. Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, this one, hanging on this cross, never, never,
never forsook God. He never forsook God. Never did. In any way, shape, form, or fashion,
he never forsook God. Yet, he cried, My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? How can that be? How can you
make sense of that? Is God being unfair here? Is
He being unjust here? He's forsaking one here who in
Himself never forsook Him. That just doesn't seem right,
does it? Somebody said, well, how do you
know Christ never forsook God? Well, the Bible says He never
knew sin. He was not a sinner. He was not
born in sin. He never sinned. He never had
an evil thought, motive. He never did an evil thing. He's
the perfect, sinless Son of God. In His humanity, He's like, listen,
in His humanity, He's like me and you in every way except for
that one thing, sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. He never forsook God. All through
His earthly life, He depended on his Father. He had faith in
his Father. He honored his Father. It was
his delight to do the will of God. We can say, as sinners saved
by grace, we want to do the will of God, but we cannot always
say it's our delight. And if you do, you're lying to
yourself. It's not always your delight
when that one strikes you on the right cheek to turn the other.
Is that your delight to do that? You know you should do it, don't
you? I know I should. I have to fight to do it. I'd fight myself to do it. But it was always His delight
to do the will of His Father. And yet we see Him on the cross
here saying, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? I've heard preachers say, about
christ now and and really this goes back to get sim you know
when he was in the garden of gethsemane and he struggled in
his humanity that's what was going on there and i've heard
preachers from there in the garden of gethsemane and even up here
on the cross they'll say now here's how he thought or here
here's how he could not think i heard a preacher say last week
he said now he couldn't think in himself you know what i say
when i hear things like that I say, how in the world do you
think you know how he could think or how he couldn't think? I'm
going to tell you what we know. The only thing we know about
him on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane is what this book
says. And that's it. I know what was going on in the
Garden of Gethsemane. I know this about the Garden of Gethsemane. That
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was struggling under the burden
of the sins of his people that he was suffering and in
his humanity he was he was warring in this in his mind and I know
this he never at one time in that garden committed a sin because
the Bible says and the only thing I know about him on this cross
other than what the Bible describes about what he was thinking now.
I know what the Bible describes and what was going on in his
body, his physical body when they plaited the crown of thorns,
the whips, and the nails in the hands and the feet and the spear
in the side, all of that. The only thing I know about what
he said is what he said. You know, they have seven sayings
on the cross. Listen to them. The first one
that's recorded is this. Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." That's amazing to me. You know
what that is? That's perfect love for his people. The ones for whom he's dying.
That's who he's talking about. The second thing recorded is
when he spoke to the thief on the right hand whom the Lord
brought to repentance. Here's what he said. Today you
will be with me in paradise. That's perfect faith. Now he's
hanging on this cross. Now think about this. He's hanging
on the cross. He knows he's going to die. He
cries, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But he told
the thief today, you'll be with me in paradise. That's perfect
faith. Was he doubting? No. The third saying is this. He
looked at John and his earthly mother Mary, and he said, Mary,
behold your son, talking about John, and he told John, John,
behold your mother. You know what he was saying there? He's saying, John, take care
of your mother. Perfect love again. And then, he said, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The next saying, I thirst. He's perfect man. He was all
man. He was not some kind of a superhuman
in the sense of his humanity. He got thirsty just like you
get thirsty and just like I get thirsty. And when he was tempted
on the hill, on the mountain, he was hungry, just as hungry
after having not eaten 40 days and 40 nights as you would be
hungry. Here's the next saying. It is finished. Don't you love
that? It's done. What? Sins put away. Transgressions are now gone.
Iniquity, reconciliation is made. Righteousness is brought in now.
And then you know the last one? Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit. Total, total, perfect dependence
upon God. See, in the first recorded saying,
he said, Father, forgive them. In the last recorded saying,
he said, Father, into your hands. Here he doesn't say Father. Look
at verse 46. What does he say? He didn't say,
My Father, My Father. He says, My God, My God. You
know what's happening here? And he's not asking a question
for information here. He's not asking information for
himself. He knew exactly why the Father
had forsaken him. He knew exactly why God had forsaken
him. Because he said it all the way up through his earthly man.
He told the disciples this. He said, I've got to go and die
to bring redemption. This is a rhetorical question.
He's making a point here to those who are sitting there watching
him. And he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken?
Why does he say my God instead of my Father? Because he's noting
here to the people that in this substitution, God is dealing
with him as the judge, judging his sin. You know, at the beginning of
his earthly ministry, the Father said, this is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. Here at the end of it, he says,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now why was he forsaken
by God? Why was he forsaken? I'll tell
you exactly why. Because that is what it takes
to satisfy the justice of God for the penalty of all the sins
of all his people charged to him. That's why. Somebody said, but he had no
sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin. That's right.
But he took upon himself all the sins of all his people of
every generation, even the future, even you who believe in him today. Your sins, the penalty of your
sins was charged to him. Now that's the glorious doctrine,
truth of imputation. That's what that is. You say,
well, I don't understand imputation. Yes, you do. You just don't want
to admit it. I'm not trying to be funny, but you know the reason
I say that is this. If there's any generation on
the face of God's green earth that ought to understand the
doctrine of imputation, it's our generation. And I'll give
you two words to prove that. Charge it. charge it. That's all right,
isn't it? When you go into a store, and
you get some items, and you bring a piece of plastic out, and as
we say, pay for that item with the plastic, you really don't
pay for it. You just promise to pay for it. Don't you? Unless
you're pouring out cash, you're not paying for it. You're just
making a promise to pay for it. And the moment they run that
through the machine and it passes, what happens? Something is charged
to your account. Whatever it cost, that's charged
to your account. That's imputation. That amount,
$100, let's say, is imputed to your account under your name. And then you've got to pay it.
Now, if you take out a loan, and you're going for a home or
for a car or whatever, And somebody co-signs with you. Because you
may not have any credit. Some of you young people, you're
trying to establish credit. You know what you're trying to
do? You're trying to establish imputation when you do that. You may say,
well, check your credit rating. You could say it this way, check
your imputation rating. Same thing. I mean, we all understand
that. And here's the thing. If you
young people are trying to establish your credit, and somebody co-signs
with you, you know what they become to you? They become a
surety. A surety. In essence, it's kind
of like a work of substitution. And here's what they say. They
say, now, if you don't pay that amount, I will. Well, before
the foundation of the world, Christ was set up as the surety
of his people. But here's the difference, though.
It was always known that his people could not pay the debt. His surety ship doesn't run like
this. It doesn't run, well, Father, I'll be their surety. If they
can't pay it, I will. That's not the way his surety
ship works. His surety ship worked like this. Father, they can't
pay it. I'll pay it. That's it. Charge it to me. That's what
he said. Impute it to me. But here's another
thing. He gives them something in return.
In other words, you see, if somebody would come along and just pay
your debt, you'd be at zero, wouldn't you? They'd pay all
your debt. But that's not what Christ did in his substitutionary
work. He didn't just pay our debt and
leave us at zero. He paid our debt and he gave
us something infinitely more valuable Righteousness. And you know what? God the Father
charged it to them. Now, there's a bunch of folks
today who run around saying, well, that's just legal, or that's
not real, or something. That's fake. Let me tell you
something. If somebody ever comes by and pays your debt, don't
tell me you won't think it's real. You'll know it's real,
and boy, it'll lift your heart, won't it? What's Christ doing? in being forsaken of God. The
charge has been laid to him. He became fully responsible and
accountable for the debt of sin that his people owed. And he
came under the justice of God to make a full payment for all
the sins of all his people. Now what is the full payment
of all those sins? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? You know what that is? That's
hell. The debt that we run up in our
sins, he paid it in full. That's separation from God. Just like that scapegoat who
was led out into the wilderness, the place of being cut off and
alienated from, that's where Christ, our scapegoat, is going
right here. into the land of nowhere, where
he's alienated from God. Amazing. That's amazing. We are
sinners who deserve to die. But Christ said unto the Father,
the debt of law that they owe, put it on my account. Charge
it to me. He was made sin. That's what
that means. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He was forsaken of God. for our sins. And as a result,
we will never be forsaken of God. I'll never leave you nor
forsake you. He was numbered with the transgressors. That's charging. That's accounting.
He was wounded for our transgressions. Somebody said, well, there's
more than just imputation going on in the cross. You bet there
is. But because of our sins being imputed to Him, charged to Him,
He had to suffer. He had to bleed. He had to die. And that death includes, My God,
My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? That's the penalty. Think about it. All the sins
of all the people in the history of the world who will be saved. Paid for right there. I was listening
to a message on this by Brother Shepherd. And when he recalled
a sermon that he heard several, several years before he was converted
by a famous preacher, and it was called Payday Someday. And
he said he went back and listened to it, and he said there was
a lot of good stories and a lot of good illustrations, but there
was no gospel in it. And then it occurred to him as
he was thinking about this verse, That it's not, for God's people,
it's not payday someday. It's payday that day. The day
of the cross. And my friends, if you're in
Christ, if you believe in Him, if life has come to you through
His death, then that's the payday for you right there on the cross.
Wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, He was forsaken because of the
sins that he bore in his own body on the tree. And because
his people deserved to be forsaken, he as our substitute was forsaken. That's death. Our sins became
his by the imputation, the charging of sin to him. And the result
of that is the complete salvation of his people. And that was real.
You see, what Christ is going through here, that's no type. That's the fulfillment of all
the types. That's no example. That's no symbol. It's no token.
He actually bore our sins right here in His body on that tree. It's no legal fiction. He personally,
in His own body, bore our sins, and all of it's real. He suffered,
he died, the just for the unjust. He paid the price, and it was
a particular redemption. It results in the eternal salvation
of all for whom he died. The blood of bulls and goats
couldn't take it away, couldn't take away sin, but Christ did.
And we can honestly say, if we're in Him now, when He died, we
died. How? As our substitute and as
our surety, having our sins charged to Him. And when He was buried,
we were buried. And when He arose again, we arose
again. Because He's our substitute.
He's our surety. And His righteousness is charged
to us. He died for sins that he had
no part in producing. He died for sins that did not
contaminate his mind, his heart, his soul. But he died. He became guilty because our
sins, our guilt was charged to him. And we have a righteousness
that we have no part in producing. It's the righteousness of God,
the Scripture says, not the righteousness of man. It didn't come by our
works. It doesn't come by our cooperation. It comes by Him when He died
on this cross and said, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me? You see, imputation is real.
It's not a fake. I know people believe it is,
but it's not. How do you know? My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me? It's no as if. It's no fake. It's a satisfaction. Because
Christ was really forsaken by God. We will never be forsaken. Turn to 1 John 2 and I'll quit.
Well, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 8. I'm sorry. Romans chapter
8. Now here's how real it is. This is amazing substitution. Verse 31, What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not his own sum, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Now how is all
that possible? Because he hanged on that cross
and said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? You know what that
is? That's imputation. Who can charge it to me? You
know, if you do run up a debt and somebody comes by and pays
it, pays that debt in full, you know what? Nobody else can charge
it to you. Because it was charged to somebody
else and they paid it. You're free and clear. And if
somebody comes along who paid that debt, gives you a million
dollars to your account to the good, nobody can take it away
from you. It's charged to you. You have
it. And that's what happened on that
cross. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? We
cannot be condemned. It's Christ that died. How far
did his death go? My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's how far. That's the equivalent
of hell, the equivalent of eternal separation from God. Yea, rather,
he is risen again. Remember he told the thief today,
you'll be with me in paradise. Who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Now as long as Christ
paid that debt, that was charged to him, our debt that was charged
to him. And as long as his righteousness is charged to us, let me tell
you something, as long as he who died lives, and he does, no sin can ever be charged to
us, and the righteousness that is charged to us can never be
taken away. Therefore, we can say with joy
in our hearts, there is therefore now no condemnation to them. which are in Christ. Amen.