(4/26/23) BAPTISM: Elect unto obedience, Chosen to suffer, Partakers of His holiness

The speaker discusses the importance of obedience in the context of baptism and love for God. They emphasize that loving God without obeying Him is not possible and is considered hypocrisy. They caution against legalism, which is trying to have a relationship with God without genuine love for Him. They also mention that obedience is necessary for receiving the Holy Spirit as a witness. There's something that's happening in the church today, it's not just local, it's local too. It's not just local, it's global, especially in this nation, and it's not good. It is a work of the enemy, and I told Kimberly, I'm like a little boy to the Lord, I get so excited getting to go, it's like my boys, they want to go with Daddy, if they can, they can't always yet, but if they can, they want to go with Daddy, and they're so excited to go, and maybe we're on a job site, and we're going somewhere, and they walk, and then Daddy makes a turn, and they don't turn, they keep walking, and then they turn around, and then they come chase me that way, and that's how I feel to the Lord sometimes, I feel, like I get so excited, I'm doing something with Jesus, and I go, and then I go, oh, oh, oh, it's right, we're going this way, and that's how I felt this week, preparing, because I thought I knew what the Lord wanted me to talk about, and then he guided my heart very clearly that we're not finished about what we were talking about last week, and last week was, in fact, a set-up for what the Lord wants to teach us, and we're studying baptism, this is a broad context, and I was determined to talk to you today about the practical nature, the biblical evidence, and some interesting and wonderful things about that, and if the Lord wills and fares, we're going to get there, but we spoke last Wednesday about something that I couldn't get any release from until we covered, and then when preparing it seemed to have grown, opened up on this, and what it is that you are promising in baptism, what you are doing in faith, and that's what we're talking about right now, what it means, what does it mean to be baptized with Christ, and what does it mean for Jesus, we've talked about this, this isn't new to you guys, but what it meant for Jesus to be baptized, well, it meant that he would follow through and be faithful to the baptism that would succumb. After he goes down in the water, then he later refers to a baptism that he has yet to be baptized with, and did he need to be baptized by John the Baptist again? No. I was talking about his suffering and his death, that he was going to be obedient unto death, and that phrase, obedient unto death, this is what it means, and the Lord wants to bring our hearts to the place that Christ's heart was at, and duplicate that again. So last time we talked about some things, and maybe we'll review that here before I read that. If you love me, if you love me, what did Jesus say? If you love me, dot, dot, dot, keep my commandments. We talked about obedience, and we hear a lot of people say some spiritual-sounding things, like obedience isn't important, it's all about my heart. Obedience is legalism. I just want relationship, and these things have a form of goodness, but they are not sound. Scripture refers to sound doctrine, sound speech, sound faith. It means that there's no variableness or shadow of turning. James describes things that come from above. Every good gift and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of light, with whom there is no variableness or shadow of turning. Now, if we put that in modern language, there is no shiftiness or shadowiness to it. It's sound. Sound speech that cannot be condemned is what Paul recommended Timothy strive for. I want you to speak in a manner that cannot be condemned. Oh, somebody can run away and say, he was saying this, or I felt this way. That's not what we're talking about. I mean the words that you use are truth. We speak truth with our neighbors because we're members one of another. If the eye sees that the leg is badly injured and in shock, I haven't felt it yet, the eye doesn't go, I didn't see that. No. Even if it's bad news, the eye goes, you're in trouble. We better sit down or do something before we pass out. We tell each other the truth even when it's not nice, because we're members one of another. And that's what a body does. It tells each other the truth. We tell each other the truth. The ear doesn't hear something that's a little unfortunate and then just block it out and not let the rest of the body in on it. No. And so there's things that are said sincerely. I'm not criticizing the character of people. They're intense. None of those things. In fact, most of the time, in fact, most of the deception in the church comes from very sincere people. Because if you were the devil, who would you get to produce? Would you get evil people that have slits for eyes and are just the creepiest things you've ever seen? No, because we wouldn't listen to them. They would creep us out. And then we'd be like, I think that if they're not the devil, they're definitely a messenger of Satan. We don't listen to that person. But what happens is the sincere souls, simple souls, people the scripture describes, it says that we don't receive people into doubtful disputations. There's conversations that should be had among mature believers that should not be had in the presence of immature believers. So the scripture says it's not because the conversation is wrong. In fact, the conversation can be very necessary. But we don't receive people who are still learning some things into these big, difficult scenarios because it can be harmful. Sometimes simple folks are the biggest protagonists of error. And the fact that they are sincere does not make what they're saying true. Okay, very helpful to remember. We talked about the fact that what is not mutual is not relationship. Nobody's going to go to hell because God didn't love them, brothers and sisters. So if you love me, you keep my commandments. I'm not concerned. Somebody accused me of legalism. I'm not concerned that that God won't love me if I don't obey him. I'm concerned that I'm not loving him if I don't obey him. And if I don't love him, our relationship will be shallow. And I want a deep relationship with Jesus. So if he loves me with great love, I want to love him with great love. And how do we do that? We obey our King. Yeah. Are you just so sure I asked last week that there is such a thing as loving God without obeying him? And then we looked at the scriptures and it turns out there is no such thing. It's not real. And then Jesus talks to the Pharisees and accused them of hypocrisy. And we discovered that all these pharisaical, a lot of words like this are cast around. It's like, he's a Pharisee. I just feel like that's hypocrisy. And we say a lot of things like that. And we're not using the words how Jesus used them. They're not in a biblical context because biblically speaking, hypocrisy is pretending to love God and not obeying him. So remember that next time you think about hypocrisy. If you're pretending to love God, you think, I love God, but no, I'm not interested in obedience. If your heart tells you you love God, but doesn't want to obey, it's lying to you. And with your mouth, you can honor him, but your heart can be far from him. When you go down into the water with Jesus, you are committing to him your obedience. And you need to know that. I'm going to tell you the truth. We noticed that when he rebuked the church for having lost their first love, what did he tell them to do about it? Oh, they were supposed to repent and go do the first works because that's how you love. So don't try to earn God's love because that's bad, really bad. Okay? But don't forget that if he loved you, what is not mutual is not relationship. Nobody will go to hell because God did not love them. They'll go to hell because they did not love God. They did not enter into relationship with him. Brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as loving Jesus without obeying him. It's not real. It's hypocrisy according to Jesus. Real legalism is trying, demonic legalism, the kind that's actually biblically defined, is trying to come into relationship with God without love to him. You actually kind of resent him. You don't like what he's doing in your life, but you're sort of getting along because you're kind of scared that he'll probably strike you dead if you don't. And so you're just trying to keep maintaining your distance. You don't love him, but you just don't want anything to progress worse, and you kind of hope he leaves you alone. You kind of want to do your plans. You want to have your life. You want to make your money and marry your wife, and you want to do all that stuff and have your kids, and everything's about you, and you're just hoping God kind of leaves you alone. And like, that's hypocrisy. Excuse me, that's legalism. That's trying to get by without love to God. But hypocrisy is pretending to love God and not obeying him. Mature love obeys. Mature legalism rebels. It may at first, love may be clumsy at first, but it will mature into obedience. Legalism may obey at first, but it will mature into rebellion and hypocrisy. Because a God that you don't love, his commandments seem very grievous to you, and you won't actually be able to make it very far. You might make it until you're 95 years old, but you'll be serving your own ability to do things, is what you'll be doing. You'll be serving your own pride that you've been good for that long. But most people, especially today, cannot make it that far anyway. You'll make it to your 30s, maybe, trying a relationship like that. It's not a relationship. And then you'll just rebel, and you'll do your own thing. Because the commandments of God seem really grievous without love. Okay, so that's the context, and that's what we were talking about. And then the disciples said, we ought to obey God rather than men. Why? Because the Holy Ghost is a witness, they said, whom God has given to them that obey him. So we ought to obey God rather than men, because we have a special witness given to us, the Holy Spirit. And that witness, according to the scriptures, is given to them that obey him. I am aware of another translation on that. It is mistaken, and if you want to come up to me afterward and talk about that, we'll do that. Like I said, the Lord has given me some prowess, some effectiveness in literary study. And so I'm confident in that, but I'm not going to belabor you with this right now. The word obey God rather than man is the exact same word as given to them that obey him. And so sometimes translators reinterpret words, and they mean well, but it's not. Then we can go look at that. It's just a regular old obey. It's in this heart that we will discover the truth on what it means to be baptized. So this is, and I told you what, so this is where my heart comes back to. The God who wrote to men about their wives, that they must be ravished with her love, be ravished with her love. The God that wrote through Song of Solomon, thou ravish my heart, how fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse. Your king is ravished with your love. Love him, obey him, and obey him from your heart. Okay, now I'm going to read to you something. I'm not going to read the whole thing, and I'm going to speak a little bit code, because there's some things here that are not good to read. But I need to shock you a little bit, because I need to get you to understand the heart and the danger. There's a danger, and Joshua, you might say, Joshua, you're so afraid everything's going to go sideways. Everybody's going to get deceived, cynical, doomsday. No, I like to be positive, but if you spend time with the Lord, and you spend time in his presence, he has concerns for his people, and the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. And if you fear the Lord, and you seek him, he's going to tell you his heart in some measure, some tiny little way, because he wants to do that with you. And the Lord has great joy over you, and he also has great concern for you. He loves you deeply. Inside of that is a deep concern that I have for a mode, an attitude, a mood that is enveloping. It has already enveloped a great part of Christianity for probably 60 years, easily, 80 years maybe. But now the devil is making his last final advances on those who would probably have held themselves under some title of fundamentalism or Bible believing. You know, the homosexual Lutheran pastor has abandoned this for a long time. But there's a last advance that the devil is doing his best to, and it will deceive even the elect if that is possible. And that's what we're concerned about this evening. The New York Post two days ago, April 24, 2023, has a article titled this. There's a Greek word I'm going to say so that I don't, nobody has to know something they didn't know before they got here. There's a Greek word pornea, it means uncleanness. Okay. And there are words that derive from that. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to say uncleanness. Okay. So you don't have to. I am a proud Christian uncleanness star. God put me on the earth to enjoy this career. That's the title. God's message has been abundantly clear. I am here to be an uncleanness star. This is my way of serving, she says. I'm skipping. She admits that she initially felt ashamed, but she slowly began to realize that her strict Christian upbringing was the cause of her guilt. I could feel the judgments that society and religion had instilled in me. She now believes God put her on earth to help liberate other women. And empowered by the joy, and that sounds so spiritual, almost warms your heart just hearing it. Empowered by the joy that she has brought to her new subscribers. This liberated mother, mom. He's just realizing, I'm kind of paraphrasing, that this is all part of God's plan. Now, don't you be judging her because she says God told her. And I'm speaking as a fool. But anyway, I now reject in this, I want you to listen very carefully. I now reject any teaching or institutions that depict God as an entity to be feared. Oh, that makes more sense now. And I work with hundreds of women all over America, Australia, Europe and everywhere. I'm helping these clients break through the shame and the guilt. Sounds like freedom, doesn't it? Sounds wonderful. It does mention here that she has also been making considerable amounts of cash that might have something to do with it. But here, what else can we say? I feel better than I ever have in my life, she says. Now, who are you to judge her? I've changed my life financially and changed the lives of other women. I am happy just doing it. I hope that without any further ado, you have the perspective that the Lord has been moving because the Lord is not happy about something that there are a lot of believers seeming to rejoice about. And I need to talk to you about that tonight. And it has to do with what it means to be baptized into Jesus. There's a, the passage that we will look at, that we will use for reference is, Let this mind be in you. There's a talk about religion today, you guys. Lots of people talk, use the word legalism, religion, all these things. If you would with me, turn your Bibles to James 1. James chapter 1. If I step on your toes tonight, I'll step on them as lovingly as I possibly can. I'm sorry about that. And I have no intention to hurt anybody's feelings. I don't know where you're all coming from. I'm just trying to relay to you the burden that the Lord has on me right now. James chapter 1 verse 26 through 27 says, If any man among you seem to be religious, any man among you seems to be religious and does not bridle his own tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. Now, you might hear the word religion a lot. And right now, religion has got a really bad rap. Everything that has anything to do with religion. In fact, I've heard many people say, I'm not about religion. I'm about relationship. And I want to, it's not sound, but I want to kind of say amen, sort of, except I'm not really sure what they're trying to say. But this is the problem, brothers and sisters. That idea started back when my dad was younger than me, and it was very popular. People were repeating that. By now, we do know what they're saying. You might have thought they meant, well, I don't want impure religion. I don't want vain religion. I don't want religion that is not true. And if that's what they meant, you say, well, yes, amen. I agree. I want a relationship with God. But there's a problem. And the church is moving God's people. I'm not talking about people that are even just professing the name of Christ by living in total sin. God's people are losing their perspective of the fear and holiness of God. And I, brothers and sisters, if you don't fear God, you don't know God. If you tell me that you do not fear God, you tell me you're not near God. Because, brothers and sisters, I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I love Him more than I ever have in my life, and I see His love more than I ever have in my life. And you wouldn't, you shouldn't surprise you that in, as I come into proximity with the God through whom and in whom are all things, and the God that whose hand, in whose hands my breath is, that there is a fear. I fear God more today than I ever had in my life. And so, there is a fear of God that grows as we come into proximity with God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. You cannot help but to fear God. And people look at that as though that is some kind of super spirituality. And I'll tell you what it is. It's super far away from God. Okay. The love of God does not cancel out the fear of God. It does cast out every other fear. So as we grow in maturity to the love of God, we obey God rather than man. We please God. We're not worried about pleasing him. They said that there were Pharisees that did not accept Jesus because they still love the praise of man more than the praise of God. So we have to make a shift and we have to fear him more than we fear them. We have to want him to be pleased more than we care that they are pleased. And I'm just showing you that a mature love is something that draws you near to a God who is a consuming fire and your fear of him will not diminish. That's important to what we are talking about here in relationship. 1 Peter 1 verse 2. This is in case you didn't know, this is something very important to understand. Wherever you are in real life, in relationship to Jesus, in our study, let's say somebody was just only maturing at the exact rate of our study. You're getting very near a great inheritance. You are coming very close to a place where all of the promises of God are yes and amen to you. But I have to be faithful to tell you what lies between you and them. I have to tell you what lies between you and them. I won't lie to you. 1 Peter 1 verse 2 says something. Select. That's the word. Select. Oh boy. If you know anything about different doctrines and all kinds of things, that word can send chills down your spine or it could be the only verse you care about in the whole Bible, one or the other. But brothers and sisters, God is not schizophrenic and he doesn't contradict himself. And if you think he does, you're misunderstanding. Elect. I believe in election. I absolutely do. I believe in the way that the scripture says it, not the way that man has determined it to be. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. He's speaking to these believers. Elect. So there's a word according. We're kind of ADHD. And in America, with all these screens and movies and things flashing in our faces and everything, we're kind of like, unless you keep my attention, I don't pay attention, right? It's kind of like, oh, you're boring. Oh, you're kind of boring too. You're kind of boring. You ever been talking to somebody and they're looking at you and they just look away and you're still talking? Well, you were anyway. Then you kind of stop. And then they kind of look back at you like, you were supposed to keep talking. This is awkward now that you stopped talking. I was hoping to look It's bizarre. And this is what's happening to our culture. So you shouldn't be terribly surprised that by the end of a verse you forgot what the beginning of the verse started to say. They used to be a little smarter when they were writing this. So we're going to break this down a little bit for American minds. And the greatest proof against macroevolution is an American mind. It is getting exceedingly worse. And we know this from literary study because the way they wrote here used to be good communication. And now we read it and we're like... So we're going to break it down a little bit. It's not just you guys. It's me too and we'll... Yeah. Elect. Okay, here's the word. Elect according. Do you see the word according? Okay. That is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So first thing is, is we are elect. Elect. This is the stating fact. Elect. And then it's according to the foreknowledge of God. So there's doctrines about election. And most of them say that God knows because he elected you. But that's not what the passage says. It says that he elected you because he foreknew. If you get the cart before the horse, nothing works. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God. So it's according to the foreknowledge of God. Then we're going to repeat. Elect, if you're American, through sanctification. So it's elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Elect through sanctification. And elect unto obedience. So let's just think about election for just a second here. What do we know about election? What is normal in our language for election? We talk about elections. We talk about elections all the time. And they seem a bit disconnected from the biblical context. And they are because they're in man's realm. But the word election actually is still functioning in both cases perfectly normal. You see, the president is elected. Let's say even before he's inaugurated. What do they call him? President elect, right? The president elect is the president elect because theoretically we all voted and more of us wanted him than didn't want him. That's the idea. And because he is elected by the people. He's elected. Now what you may not have known is that you are elected by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And you are not in the kingdom of God except by special election. By God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They all say I. And in that election it's unanimous always. It doesn't happen at the same time always. But it is unanimous. They are agreed. So you are elected by God for a particular function. When we elect a president, we elect him to be president according to how we determine what a president ought to be. When God elects you, he elects you to be what he has determined you to be. So now let's read the verse again. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit and unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. You are elected unto obedience and the effective application of the blood of Christ. God wants to bring you and I into a place where we are not only able to minister the power of the blood in our own lives, but you are able to minister the power and authority of the blood of Jesus at Calvary in other people's lives. But you are able to demonstrate clearly and proficiently the authority of the blood of Jesus in the lives of the people in your world. You are elect unto obedience. This is why you are in the kingdom if you are. I'm not neglecting the context. It is according to his foreknowledge, it is through the sanctification of the Spirit, but it is unto obedience and the application of the blood of Christ. So there is no such thing as being elect, except being elect to obedience. Romans 1.5, Romans has bookends to it. If you were to skip the meat, I don't recommend it, but if you want to get a feel for what Romans is saying, you would reference the bookends of Romans. Romans 1.5 says this, by whom, he's speaking of himself and those that minister with him, by whom we have received special grace and apostleship. For, why did they receive the grace and the apostleship? For obedience to the faith among all nations. That's so strange, because I thought that being a Christian, loving Jesus was disconnected from obedience. I thought obedience was something that was just outdated and archaic and oppressive. But Paul seemed to think that he received grace and apostleship so that all nations would come to the obedience to the faith. And then, in Romans 16, as he's concluding the book, Romans 16, verse 26, he says, and now it's made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. It says the same phrase, we have the obedience to the faith and the obedience of faith. So what is God looking for in all nations? In case we're confused, it has to be obedience of faith, or obedience to faith, which I don't have time to talk about right now. There's a slight difference, but it's the same heart. What God is looking for in all nations is obedience, and that obedience of faith. Now, it might be clear, I'm going to relect unto obedience. That's why God chose you. Okay, now we're coming closer, we're getting warmer to what this has to do with baptism. Romans 6, verse 16. Help us piece this together, one puzzle piece at a time. There's really much, much, much, much, much more to this. It's everywhere, but I'm trying to not take all night. Romans 6, verse 16. No you not. So let me just pause. Why is God looking for obedience and the obedience of faith? Why? Well, let's find out. No you not, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are. Whether of sin unto death, or, someone say, obedience unto righteousness. I just want the righteousness without the obedience. I thought that was a version of righteousness that I didn't have to do the obeying part. Because the reason God is jealous is that there's only two kinds of people. There are servants to sin, and servants to righteousness. There are people who obey sin, and people who obey righteousness. And before you let the devil destroy you in some kind of condemnation, you can be a child of God, and yet be serving sin. Jesus wants, and he's jealous for you, to only serve him. And not be serving him sometimes and serving Satan other times. There's a jealousy there, so I'm not trying to lump everybody in one thing or the other. But there's only two kinds of existences. Obedience to sin, or obedience to righteousness. But God be thanked, verse 17 says, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart, we read last Wednesday, that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Oh, there's that bad word doctrine. Doctrine, that's all the problem. Only we could just free ourselves from doctrine. Well, doctrine, brothers and sisters, is just the relay of truth. So if you freed yourself from doctrine, you would also free yourself from the truth that would set you free. And I don't know what kind of freedom that is, to free yourself from freedom, I'm not sure, but it's like a snake eating its tail until it gets its own head, I'm not sure. It's really bizarre. Yeah. Yeah. So Jesus, Jesus came when John said, the book, so that sounds so cold, and you think, oh, the book. I just want to, I want to, I want a relationship with Jesus. I don't know about all that whole obeying the word stuff. When Jesus came into flesh, do you know what John, by the Holy Spirit, wrote him? No. He said the Logos became flesh in 12 months. You know what the Logos is? It is the written word of God. All Logos begins as Rhema. That's the word for the spoken word of God. But then when it gets written down, it's the Logos. And John dared to say that what God did is he turned Logos into flesh, and there was Jesus. When God made the Logos flesh, and it dwelt among us. When God made the word flesh, it dwelt among us. Jesus' spiritual namesake is Logos. So don't be deceived, brothers and sisters. It's very hip and popular to be anti-religion, anti-all these things. But now you know something, maybe you didn't know before tonight, and that is that it's not religion or no religion is the question. It's pure religion or defiled religion. But the behavior of the righteous and godly fear towards God is good religion, and I'll have it if all the world rejects it. Obedience. There's something about this obedience that we need to know, and that is that obedience, brothers and sisters, is learned. This is why the Lord continues to work in our lives. Obedience is learned. Okay, let me just illustrate something. If he wants a candy bar, and I tell him he can have the candy bar, do we describe that as obedience? Not normally. I mean, I suppose. Maybe it's his obedience. But obedience, if you think about it, is very often being told to, what does mommy say, like eat your food, eat all your food. Yeah. Not on the days where you happen to want to eat all your food. On the days you're not feeling like eating all your food. You get food? What? And you sometimes forget to be thankful for your food. Yeah. And so mommy has to tell you, you must eat your food. And then if you eat it, you eat it. And you're all thinking. See, the nature of obedience is not supposed to be like that, but it isn't what we always were already desiring, brothers and sisters. So what you might have thought is that obedience is just a state of mind. Obedience is only an attitude. Obedience is just a heart position. Obedience is, I don't know, I've heard all kinds of spiritual sounding bunk. But obedience is learned. And I told you you don't have to save my word for it. This is how we're going to know. Hebrews chapter five, verse seven. We're going to look at the very best example. There is not a better example of this. Hebrews chapter five. Beginning in verse seven. Who in the days of his flesh, whose flesh? Whose flesh? Jesus. Oh, Jesus. We're talking about Jesus who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears. If you saw what this verse means, it changed your life, brothers and sisters. With strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death and he was heard because he feared. This is not talking about Gethsemane necessarily. This is talking about his fear to sin and his fear of death. He was not heard and spared from physical death. He was spared from spiritual death. And the scripture says the reason he was spared was because he feared. See, the scripture says somewhere else, happy is the man that feareth always. Blessed is the man that always fears God. And he in the days of his flesh, you see his disciples saw him pray. And Jesus prayed quite powerfully. And Jesus prayed quite personally. And I wonder if you've seen the Savior begging God to keep him from sin. But you ought to. You ought to. And he was heard because he feared. Okay, that's the context. And though he was a son, yet learned he obedience by the things that he suffered and being made mature or being made perfect. He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. He learned obedience through the things that he suffered and being made mature. He, Jesus, was made the author of eternal salvation unto all them that say it, Church, obey him. Obey him. Though he was a son and the son of God, still he learned obedience through suffering. I have something very important to tell you. And that as you're going down into that water, you are promising to your makers, to your fathers, that suffering is okay. If only you can learn obedience. Yes, I think that's just how to say it. Suffering is okay. As you are going to follow Jesus and you like him are going to learn obedience through suffering. You're elect unto obedience. How will you learn obedience? This is why he's called you unto obedience. Now how are you going to learn that obedience? You will not be different from Jesus. You will learn obedience through suffering. And that is the promise of baptism. That's what you're telling the Lord is that suffering is okay. We talked about the denial of rights and all the things in relation to that. But Jesus, if I only have you, it's okay. Now let's look at Philippians 2. In light of this, Philippians 2, chapter 5. See, I believe in a health and wealth gospel. I think that you should be healthy in Christ and wealthy in Christ, but you also need to know how to abound with nothing. And so I don't really say health and wealth gospel because I've been misunderstood. But you know it. Philippians 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you. Let this mind be in you. Maybe you think, and maybe when I just said learned obedience through the things that he suffered, you think, but Joshua, that was Jesus. And I hear that was Jesus all the time. Well, he told you to follow him. So I don't know at that point what the example should mean to you. But we hear things like that was Jesus. He had a special cause, a special this. He certainly did. I didn't take that stumble for you. We're reading Philippians 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God, not thinking it robbery to be equal with God. He made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of being found in fashion as a man. So when he was in the form of God, not at all. He wasn't robbing the title to be equal with God. No. He humbled himself and was made in the likeness of man. And then when he was found as a man. He he humbled himself again and became obedient unto death, even death to the of the cross. Let this mind be in you, obedience unto death, even death on a cross. Let this mind be in you, obedience unto death. Let this mind be in you. And then here's a wonderful, wonderful thing, because at this point you might think, oh, it feels heavy, Joshua. It feels heavy. Well, it doesn't if you know it, but I sympathize. I understand. Let's read another verse. Hebrews 2. Give you the right idea. Why does God hate you? That's what it is. He saves you, but he's kind of like, well, I'll save him. I'll make it hard. No, no, no. Why? Why? Why does he allow sufferings in our life? Yeah. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things. Hebrews 2, verse 10. Hebrews 2, verse 10. For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things. Who are we talking about? Jesus. In bringing many sons unto glory. Specifically, I should have said the father in delineation. In bringing many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through what? Through suffering. Mature through suffering. Mature through suffering. Now, why does that matter? For both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them his brethren. Brothers and sisters, there is a fellowship of his sufferings that is waiting for you if you will enter it. And God wants to bring you into a place where he is not ashamed to call you. Jesus Christ wants to call you his brethren. And the scripture says that the reason is because the ones that sanctifies and the ones that are sanctified are all the same together, matured in suffering. So as you go down into the water with Jesus, as you go down into death with Jesus, I just want you to know that you are telling Jesus that you are going to follow him. And just like a little brother following a big brother, if big brother suffered to be made mature, then little brother will suffer to be made mature. If that's your Jesus, whatever it takes, I want to be made like you. I want you to let that mind be in you. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And Philippians 1 verse 29 says, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his name. And he says to Paul, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but he says to Paul, excuse me, he says to Ananias, who is told to go pray for Paul. We talked about this the day that he goes out, Lord, he's the one that was persecuting. And he says, go your way. He's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentile, and I will show him how great things he will suffer for me. God needed a person to bear his name, and whoever bears Jesus' name clearest gets the most rocks thrown at them. That's how that works. So I will show him how great things he will suffer. This was not God trying to get even with Paul. God found somebody he could show great love so that that person would respond in great love and would brave all costs to love his Savior. And it's very radical, and it's very different from attempting to serve God without love. One more thing that is very helpful on this note. You're elect unto obedience, and you're chosen to suffer. Scripture says, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. How many that live godly in Christ Jesus? All. All. Why? Why is it so? Why is it so? Well, Philippians 3 verse 7, he's talking about this. Philippians 3 verse 7 says, all the things that were a gain to me, it's Paul recounting all the things that were his machismo in flesh. Those things I counted loss for Christ, yea, and without a doubt I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as done that I may win Christ. I look at all those trophies as poop that I may win Christ. And be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him. Oh look, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Brothers and sisters, that is one life. The life that knows him, and knows the power of his resurrection, is the life that knows the fellowship of his sufferings, and is made conformable unto his death. I have to tell you the truth, and that is that if you are indeed going to be buried with him in the likeness of his death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so even you also should walk in newness of life, that newness grows with the same depth and intensity as the suffering that we suffer with him. Don't go suffering off in a corner and trying to impress God. You do it together with him. The fellowship of his sufferings, and what you need to know is that learning obedience through suffering is a seal of sonship. Let's read it real quickly here. Somebody get me 2 Samuel 7.14. Would you do that Elijah? And Simeon, can you find Job 5.17-18? Brother Costner, Proverbs 3.11-12 if you will. And we got 1 Corinthians 11.30-32. And Ben, 2 Corinthians 6.4-10. Go ahead Elijah. 2 Samuel 7.14. I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men. But my lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took away from Saul, whom I removed from Sephoria. I will be his father. I want to show you this biblical principle, this biblical theme. Job 5.17-18. We will be less than the one whom God reproved. Therefore, despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up. He shatters, but his hands heal. Proverbs 3.11-12 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, or be wary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father, the son whom he delights. 1 Corinthians 11.30-32 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. It's almost like we have a special privilege to get a spanking from our Heavenly Daddy. 2 Corinthians 6.4-10 But in all things approving ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in strife, in imprisonment, in tumult, in labors, in watching and fasting, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love untamed, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil reports and good reports, as deceivers and yet truth, as unknown and yet well-known, as dying and behold we live, as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. Hallelujah! How about that for a list? By honor and dishonor, brothers and sisters, when you go down into the water with Jesus, I want you to make sure that in your heart this mind is in you. Jesus, I'm going to serve you in strife and imprisonment, in tumult and in labors, in watching and in fasting, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, and by love that is not fake. By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness, by honor and even in dishonor, by evil report and in good report, as if they call me a deceiver and even when I am true, as unknown and yet well-known, as dying and behold I live, as chastened and never killed, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, even having nothing but possessing all things. I cannot separate the call on your life, your elect unto obedience, your chosen for suffering. I need you to know that. This is why I want you to be armed with the love of God, because I told you there is no way you'll make it to the top of Calvary if you do not see his love for you. I know what that still looks like. I am not pretending to have attained, but I can tell you there is no way to make it through what God has in store for you. There's a little bit left to discover as to why. But why does he take us through the fellowship of his sufferings? Why does he want us to, if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him? Why? Why? As chastened and not killed. This is the theme of God's Father. I told you it was a seal of sonship. In conclusion of that truth, Hebrews 12 speaks it very clearly. Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight in the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, and you were in that camp, and so was I. And consider him who endured such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest you be weary and faint in your mind, because you have not yet, and we can say this in boldness to us too, I don't know anybody here, and I've shed blood, but not directly yet for Jesus' sake. And he says here, you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, but you have forgotten, he says, the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. Yes, you want to be a child of God, and you want to know that you're a child of God. Listen to the exhortation that is speaking to you as children. If ye whom the Father chasteneth not, and if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. If your experience in this life is that everything has been easy, you are not a child of God. That's what that says. Because legitimate children of God endure suffering for the sake of Jesus. We come into a place where we must let go of all of our rights, all of the things that everybody else gets to keep for the sake of Jesus, and we do it in love to him, because he let go of everything for me. Furthermore, we have had fathers that corrected us, verse 9 says, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits than live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, and this is so important, that we might be made partakers of his holiness. Okay, God wants you to be holy. This is controversial today, it ought not to be, and it shouldn't be in your heart. But he chastens you to make you a partaker of holiness. So like I say, when you go down into the water, I want you to accept the adoption as a son. And what that means is God, so these little boys are a good illustration. If dad is going to be a father to them, he will have to at times spank them. He will have to do that. It is up to them to determine if they will receive that, and we've talked about the fact that there's two adoptions. There's when your heavenly father adopts you, and there's when oftentimes you adopt him as your father. And I want you to adopt him as your father. These little boys will one day know that my father loved me even when he spanked me, even though for the moment it was not joyous. No chastening is joyous, but grievous. So don't worry about that. It's grievous, there's a sense of grievousness. But when you go down into death with Jesus, you are giving him permission to weed from your life, via suffering, everything that does not glorify him. You need to know that. And why does he do that? Because he wants you to be a partaker of his holiness. He wants you to be part together with him, not ashamed to call you his brother, his sister. This is because of a very little verse that no one reads anymore. It's Hebrews 12, 14. It says that we need to follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man will see the Lord. How many people will see the Lord without holiness? So now I'm going to step backwards here, you guys. If nobody sees the Lord without holiness, no man will see the Lord. Now he wants you to be a partaker of his holiness. Why? Because he loves you. How will he do that? Through suffering. Learning obedience through the things that you suffer. You will learn obedience. You will learn how to follow your God. See, I might obey till today, but there's something tomorrow that I haven't yet obeyed. And I don't have the grace tonight for what I'll need the grace for tomorrow night. I'll learn obedience then, for that. And this is the progression that God brings us through. But when we go down into death with Jesus, we're promising to him that we will accept. Say, Jesus, I accept, Heavenly Father, I accept your chastening in my life, and I'm going to love you in return. I'm not going to hate you for giving me his penitence. I won't be mad at you. In fact, I've read and I've heard that to be chastened by my Father means you're calling me your son, and that makes me happy. And so when I get a spanking from Jesus, brothers and sisters, very practically in my heart, when I know the Lord is chastening me, I feel more love than almost any other time. I can do great things for the Lord. Maybe you could heal somebody for Jesus. Maybe you could cast out a demon. But I never feel his love quite like when he goes out of his way to correct something that isn't right in my heart and to teach me obedience. Because as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. That's what he says to us. And all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer. And it's given unto you, Philippians 1 verse 29 says, not only to believe, but also to suffer. Why? Why could that possibly be good news? Well, because you could be a partaker of his holiness. Holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Oh, that puts the teeth in it. Yeah. You see, so I read this to you because I need you to see what pretended Christianity is headed towards. But God's not playing along. And no one will see God without holiness. No one. So we must become a disciple. Elect unto obedience. Discipleship starts when we've surrendered everything. Everything. That's where it starts. Till you've let go of everything, you're not a disciple. But we must be a disciple because it is in discipleship that he brings us into sonship. And he treats us like he treats his sons and he makes us partakers of his holiness. You're elect unto obedience and you're chosen to suffer. Just telling you the truth. One who chastens you is your father. He chastens you to bring you to obedience. Do not reject chastening lest you reject sonship. Oh, listen, Christian. Do not reject chastening lest you reject your adoption. Christ learned obedience as a son. You will learn obedience as a son. When you kick against the pain, you're kicking against your adoption. Don't do that. Tell the Lord. Lord, you're permitted to take anything away from me that hinders my relationship to you. Yes. You tell the Lord. You're permitted to take anything away from me that hinders my relationship to you. I'm adopting you as the father of my spirit. Treat me like one of your own and keep me close to you whatever it costs. Jesus, I'm counting everything as loss just for the excellency of knowing you. And you can have everything else. I just want to know you. This is discipleship. This is elect unto obedience. This is a partaker of his holiness. This is the fellowship of his suffering made conformable unto his death that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, you also should walk in newness of life. And those promises that we read of earlier, it's be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers is the context for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion has light with darkness and what concord has Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with the unbeliever and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for you are the temple of the living God. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father unto you and you will be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty, having therefore these promises. What promises? I will be a father unto you. I will receive you. God said you will be my sons and my daughters having therefore these promises dearly beloved. Let us cleanse ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. Having these precious promises let us cleanse ourselves from all the filthiness of the flesh perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. That is what you are telling God when you go down into death with him that you are going to follow Jesus. He learned obedience to the things that he suffered. Jesus I will learn obedience to the things that I suffer with you and suffering is okay as long as I have you. Do I have love to my Savior? Can I see his love to me? Then it is okay. I will bear the loss of all things and I will count them as done that I may win Christ. Thank you for your attention and patience. Thank you Lord for these dear people. Lord it is a heavy word on our hearts but I pray that we sink our shoulders and watch your shoulders hold the weight. You are not calling us to something that you are not walking with us in. We go with you. We are just with you. We thank you for the things that we have learned. Thank you for the truth that you lay on our hearts. We thank you Lord Jesus that we can be partakers of your holiness. I do pray that you would bring a fear in our hearts. Not a fear uncoupled from love but a fear of God. A Godly sincere fear that we understand our election is to obedience. Our election is to please you with Christ manifesting in us and through us. We are not trying to impress you so that you will receive us. We come running into your arms to serve you and to please you. Walk in faith. Walk in the Spirit. Lift up the hands that are weak I pray. Strengthen the knees Lord that are not feeling strong and help us to bear infirmities together. As a body when one suffers we are all to suffer together with it. I pray as you lead us into these dark times that we are going to come into as a body of Christ across this world that you would deepen our love one for another so that we would be efficient at bearing each other's burden and so fulfilling. I pray that we would not shy away from suffering. We would not shy away from holiness. We would embrace you and love you from the bottom of our hearts. In Jesus name. Amen.