A Radical Transformation of Life

Transcript

GR 1149
3-21-1999
A Radical Transformation of Life
Galatians 2:20, 21
Gil Rugh


Paul's letter to the Galatians chapter 2. Sometimes adjustments are made in the way Christianity is presented in order to make it more acceptable and more palatable to people. Success for us in our day is measured by the amount you sell, the popularity of what you're doing, the crowds that gather and there's constant pressure on the church of Jesus Christ to adjust and alter it's message so it will be more appealing and pleasing and attractive to people. And to do that we usually leave out the parts of the message that we find unattractive and unappealing. At least what we think others might find unpleasant. And yet there is no way to present biblical Christianity without making clear that biblical Christianity involves a radical and complete alteration and change of life. It involves a break with your old life and the entering into a new life that is drastically different than your old life. Jesus spoke to this issue during His time on earth.

Turn to the Gospel of Luke, if you would, and the 14th chapter. I was reading over some church growth literature a couple of weeks ago and was advertising seminar and inviting pastors to the seminar and what the seminar would help you would be to get crowds. I can't help when I see something like that to think of a passage like this in Luke 14 where Jesus had great crowds following Him. And what He does is immediately proceed to thin the crowd out. Verse 25 of Luke 14, "Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them." What He is going to do is make very clear set down before them in a very open way what are the demands and requirements of any who would commit themselves to following Him. "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciples. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." Look at verse 33, "So then none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possession." And verses 28 to 32 he's given a couple of examples to encourage them to count the cost. You don't start to build the building if you haven't given some consideration to whether you can see the project through to completion. You don't go to war unless you've given some consideration as to whether you have any chance of success in battle.

So don't commit yourself to Me, Jesus says, without opening your eyes and considering what is required. And basically what He says is if you come to follow Me, which I understand is a call to believe and trust in Him, you will have to be willing to let go of all your family members. You will have to be willing to take up your cross which involves being willing to be scorned and humiliated and rejected and despised. And furthermore, you must be willing to let go of all your own possessions. And what he is saying to be follower of mine requires your total devotion. Now Jesus obviously is not saying here that you can be saved by your works or what you do. That's the very subject we're considering in the book of Galatians. Why that is not possible. But what he is saying is a person who would trust in Him, a person who would desire to follow Him, must understand, you must let go of everyone and everything else to take hold of Me, to follow Me. There's going to be a radical and dramatic impact on your life if you become a follower of Jesus Christ. Consider the cost. Don't enter into it lightly. Jesus puts the issues out front very clearly.

A little different picture but the same point is made when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night in the Gospel of John chapter 3. And Jesus said to him, "Unless you are born again, you will never see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus, you need to be born again. A radical, drastic transformation of your life must take place or you will never see the kingdom of God.

Come over to Galatians chapter 2 again. There are many other passages we could look at. That gives you something of a broader context of what Paul is talking about in Galatians chapter 2. As we come to the conclusion of chapter 2 as we have it, Paul is dealing with this very issue, that true biblical salvation involves a radical, drastic transformation and change in a life. It is not a change brought about by your own efforts and works. But it is a dramatic and drastic change that God brings about in your heart and life when you place your faith in Jesus Christ.

What Paul is dealing with in the last part of Galatians chapter 2 is the inconsistency of Peter and others in dealing with the Mosaic Law. And Peter ended up by his behavior telling the Gentiles that it was not enough to believe in Christ for salvation but you must also keep the Law to be truly clean and pure and holy before God. In fact, until you do start keeping the Law, I can't eat with you because you would defile me. You are unclean.

And so doing, Peter was teaching by his practice, that the hold life continues right on into the new life. In fact we should carry the old life over in continuity to the life we now have in Christ. Paul made clear in chapter 2 verse 19 that is an impossibility. "For through the Law I died to the Law." We saw the finality of that. I died to the Law. It's over. It's done. My relationship to the Mosaic Law is finished Paul says. It has no authority over me. I have no responsibility to it. I died to it. Remember Romans chapter 7 unfolds this analogy in much greater detail. The death to the Law was like death in marriage when all obligations to that former partner are over with death. So it is with the Law. And I died to the Law so that I might live to God. There is a remarkable transformation that takes place when a person places their faith in Christ as their Savior. They died and they are made alive. Paul said I died to the Law that I might live to God. There is the death of the old life. There is the bestowal of the new life. That's why you could say you must be born again. You need a new life. You need to become a new person. We are not talking about reforming or improving the old you. Biblical salvation involves the destruction, the death of the old you and there is no middle ground on this issue. There is no mixing, no compromise. You have to die.

Well, let's work out an agreement. I'm willing to partially die. Doesn't do it. You are either dead or you are not dead, right? I mean there is a big difference. If I come up and say so and so almost died this week. You say, well how are they doing now? Well, I think they are going to recover. And if I come up and say to you, I'm sorry to report so and so died this? You don't say well how was their recovery. No, you didn't hear me. I said they died. There is no recovery. Right?

All life up to that point broken off. That's what we are talking about. The picture ought to be clear. Now I'm stressing this because one of the major problems that Peter had was a failure to live in light of this truth. One of the major problems in the evangelical church today is a refusal to believe this truth. It shapes our life in every way.

When Paul says, "I died to the Law, that I might live to God," in verse 19, he will now proceed to elaborate on that in verse 20 to show how we died and how we come to have new life. In Galatians 2:20 we have one of the clearest statements of the issues involved in true salvation that we have anywhere in Scripture. That's why many of you have memorized Galatians 2:20. There is no verse that I know of in all the Bible that any more clearly and concisely presents the real issues of biblical salvation in such a concise way.

Let's look at verse 20. "I have been crucified with Christ." In verse 19 he said I died to the Law. How did you die, Paul? How could you die to the Law? I have been crucified with Christ. Obviously, not a physical crucifixion, but there has been a spiritual identification take place. So that God looked at Paul as having died when His Son died. He identified Paul with Christ in His crucifixion. That's why God could declare Paul righteous. Verse 16 that we have seen we have believed in Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ. At that moment of placing our faith in Christ we are spiritually identified with Christ by God. And so the wages of sin is death and I died because Jesus Christ was taking my place. He was my substitute and God has applied that death to my account.

You ought to note the verb we have translated "I have been crucified," in the Greek text it's one word. It's in the perfect tense. And the perfect tense denotes something that happened in the past but the results are ongoing. Now this is important that we have this well in our thinking. It's not just an act in the past that's over and done. A decision I made and I was viewed as having died with Christ. Now I get on with life. Life is never the same again. I have been crucified with Christ. Now the results of that crucifixion are ongoing and unending. I can never be what I was before. I am never to live as I lived before. I died. I mean, that is as radical, as drastic a change and break with your life in its former condition as you can have. It is complete. It is total.

When did that happen? That happened when Paul placed his faith in Christ. He made that clear up in verse 16. He was justified by faith. God could declare him righteous as His judge because the penalty was paid. The death of Christ was credited to Paul's account. But that's just not something over and done. Now I took care of that. I'm settled. Now I can be sure I'm going to heaven. Now I can go on and live my life without fearing what the future holds. No. I've been crucified with Christ. Everyday the results of that shape my life and control what I am and do. I will never be what I was before. I have been born again.

So you have the second part of this which will be, "It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. So there is not only a death there is a resurrection. There is a death and there is a rebirth. He is born again to a new life. He is resurrected again to a new life. Different pictures same point being made. The total break with the hold. The hold life, the hold me ends and a new me, a new life begins. And this new life is not my life. It's not just me living with some changes now because it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.

Again, I think we have so totally distorted true biblical salvation that it is almost unrecognizable today. The Bible presents it as a radical and complete change and transformation of a person from within. Dying and being raised to new life and now this new life is the life of God in me.

In 1 John chapter 3. Maybe you should turn there. One of those passages that often we quote but perhaps you need to go there. All the way back almost to the book of Revelation, the book of 1 John, chapter 3. Look at verse 7, "Little children, make sure that no one deceives you. The one who practices righteous just as He [God] is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the Devil." So you see there are two fathers viewed here--the Devil and God. And you can tell who this child belongs to because you see the character and nature of the father in him.

Look at verse 9, "No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him." His, God's, seed abides in Him. You see we have been born into God's family. As 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4 says we have become partakers of the divine nature. We have not become God but the very life of God now resides in us. And so I cannot live. It is impossible for me to live as I formerly lived. Look at the last part of verse 9, "He cannot sin because he is born of God." Talking about the continual practice of sin. I can function inconsistently on occasion. But I cannot live the way I once did.

All of this foolishness that people are saved because they made a decision back here. They walked the aisle in a church service or they made a decision in a Sunday school class or whenever. And now I know I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven. You know they tell you write it down in the front of your Bible. Write this date down. Fine to write the date down. But what I want to know what has happened between that date and now. If you were born into God's family, your life will be different. If it is not different, you may have had a very moving experience. I mean you can read books and watch television and people are having moving experiences all the time.

I was watching a psychic program. Forgive me. And this poor deluded lost person was having all kind of experiences. But the salvation of God is a transforming power that works in our lives. I have been crucified and that is ongoing in its effect and impact in my life. Another way to look at it is I have been born again. Now the seed of God abides in me. I have become a partaker of His nature. I cannot be the old me anymore.

Back up to Colossians. You know where Galatians is. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. So just a few books past Galatians and you come to the book of Colossians. Chapter 3. Look at verse 1, "Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ." This is what we are talking about. New life in Christ. "Set your mind on the things above," verse 2. Verse 3, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Remarkable change and transformation. So verse 5, "Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity and so on." You see the same picture. Romans chapter 6 develops it in great detail. We will maybe look there later.

Come back to Galatians chapter 2. So I have been crucified with Christ. That means I have died to the Law Paul says. The Law was part of his former life. There are other passages of Scripture that make clear that death includes everything that's part of your former life as we just saw alluded to in Colossians 3:5. Immortality, impurity and so--the old me is dead. Romans chapter 6 verse 6 says that the old man was crucified, the old me if you will. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). Now I'd be interested to note in John chapter 14, Jesus' discourse on his last night with His disciples. He told them in John 14 verses 16 and 17 that the Holy Spirit would come and live within them. Then He told them in John chapter 14 verse 23 that the Father would come and live in them and that He also would come and live in them. So we are told that the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit will come and take up residence in the life of a believer. And here the focal point is on the second person of the Triune God, Jesus Christ and we're told that Christ lives in me. So it's not my life, it's Christ's life and His power and His nature that is being produced in my life.

"And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God." The life which I now live in the flesh. In the flesh here does not refer to "in sin" as the flesh sometimes does in some contexts. It's just my physical life, my now life in the flesh, in context to what I was before I died to Christ and was given in new life in Christ. Before I died I had a life, a physical life. Now that I have died with Christ and been raised up, I have a life in the physical realm. But the life I now have in the physical realm is different then the life had in the physical realm before. It may look the same, same physical body, some of the same problems, imperfections, physical difficulties perhaps, but a life that is totally different in the physical realm now as well.

"The life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." Now that foundational faith took place when Paul believed in Christ. Verse 16, "Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ." So Paul came to that point where he placed his faith in Christ Jesus. But that's not the end of it. That is foundational for a life of faith. We have sometimes have dealt with salvation as though it was a single act at a point in time that's over and done. But that can give you a distorted picture and understanding. You are saved completely and finally when you place your faith in Christ. But that is not an over and done act. You are identified in His crucifixion but the results of that go on. You place your faith in Him as Savior. But that's not the end of your faith in Him, is it? No, the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. It's founded that faith I had in Him and it's and ongoing trust in Him. We see this as we move through the book of Galatians.

We need to understand and grasp--and Paul will unfold it beginning in chapter 3 and following--God's salvation includes justification and sanctification. It includes me judicially being declared righteous by God. It also includes the transformation from the old life which is over because I died to the new life which I now have in Christ. Many today make a sharp distinction between justification and sanctification. And it's helpful theologically to see the distinction between the two. But you cannot separate them from one another and have biblical salvation. You cannot have justification without sanctification. You cannot die with Christ and be left in the grave. Paul said I died to the Law. So now I'm free to live as I please. That's not what he said in verse 19. He said I died to the Law so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. What does that mean? That means it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me.

We have some kind of distorted thinking in the evangelical church today that tells us you can preach death but you don't have to preach new life. Preach that people have to have to have the penalty for sin paid and you and you can have that paid and still be free to be on your own. There is no such teaching anywhere in the Scripture.

And it's not salvation by works because you enter into this salvation only by believing in Christ. And when you believe in Him you are identified with Christ in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection. When you are identified with Christ you become a partaker of the divine nature. God's seed now abides in you. You have been born again. And the life which you now live you live by faith in the son of God. And that on going faith in the Son of God is an evidence of the initial saving faith. We have poor deluded, lost, hell-bound people today paddling around confident I'm going to heaven. How many people have told me, "Oh, I know I'm a Christian. I know my life doesn't show it. But I did trust Christ back . . ." You know my response, "You're a liar. It's not true. Your life doesn't show it." "And by this the children of God and the children of the Devil are obvious." You do the works of your father the Devil. Jesus said to the religious people of His day in John 8, "You always do the works of your father the Devil." Yet I have people who want to tell me they always do the works of the Devil but their Father is God. I don't believe it. And the church of Jesus Christ ought to stop believing it because deluded people are on their way to hell. Jesus said, "Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, we did many mighty works in Your name.'" What did He say? "Depart from Me. I never knew you." He calls them workers of iniquity. God's character is seen in God's children. All of us grieve that it is not perfectly seen. But it ought to be seen. It must be seen. "The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Back up to Romans chapter 6. Chapter 6 verse 5, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." You see, you cannot separate justification and sanctification. You can make a distinction and there is between the two. You cannot separate the two.

Verse 8, "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." And all of chapter 6 is built around this subject. Death to the old self, the old man, sin. Living as the new person in Christ, no longer practicing sin but practicing righteousness.

Back in Galatians chapter 2. "I live by faith in the Son of God." Faith in the Son of God. You come to salvation when you recognize your sinfulness. You recognize that Jesus Christ the Son of God paid the penalty for your sin. So Paul elaborates on this. "I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me." I believe its Leon Morris, commentator on Galatians, who said this to Him is the most precious text in all the Scripture. And I think we could identify with that sentiment if you are truly a believer. The Son of God loved me and gave Himself up for me. You know Paul has become intensely personal here. It's true John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." And we can we can speak of the love of God for the world and the giving of His Son. But for it to become effective for you, it must become personal. "In order that whosoever believes in Him may have eternal life." Not perish but have eternal life. That's the contrast. The Son of God, Paul says, loved me, gave Himself up for me.

John Calvin, the great reformer, wrote hundreds of years ago on this page. "For me is very emphatic. It is not enough to regard Christ as having died for the salvation of the world. Each man must aim the effect and position of this grace for Himself personally." Is there anymore wonderful truth in all the Scripture than to be able to say the Son of God loved me? He died for me. All of a sudden everything gets narrowed down and it's just God and me at issue here.

Sometimes you hear invitations: "I want to ask every eye closed. Nobody looking around." Well sometimes they may be helping to try to focus our attention and put out distractions. But you know don't fear the embarrassment. When you come under the conviction of the Spirit of God and you come to grips with the reality of your lost condition, you come to grips with the reality that the Son of God paid the penalty for your Son, everything else is out of the picture. Who cares what people are thinking? Am I worried about being embarrassed? No one else matters. Really everyone else has left the picture if you will. Because I realize the Son of God loved me. He died for me. That's what God's salvation brings to my heart. He'd loved me. He gave Himself up for me.

And you know in any context where you disassociate the love of God from the wretched, sinful, vileness of man, you have removed any content from God's love. You know we want to talk about the love of God as though it's some kind of sentimental feeling that God has. You know like our world people fall in love and out of love, in love and out of love. You know you can't help but laugh even though it's pathetic. You'll watch a movie star or someone being interviewed and they are going to get married for the fourth time. I'm in love like I've never been before. And like I won't be until I meet the next person. What they are saying is I have great feelings about this person. And you know it can go on and on and on. And why? It's just a feeling that comes and goes. No, God's love is anchored. It's something concrete and real. That we are wretched and vile and filthy and unclean and deserving of hell. Yet He loved us and died for us. Romans chapter 5 verse 8 says, "God demonstrates His love toward us. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

You know, if I tell my wife I love her, but I don't come home at night, I'm running around with other women, I'm spending my income on things that don't help support the family and care for the home, but I say oh I just want you to know I love you. You say that's hollow, isn't it. It's meaningless. It's empty. They are just words. That's what people want to do with God's love. Oh God is a God a love. I don't want to go God to church and hear about sin. I hate hearing about hell. I don't want to be told about judgment. What you are really saying is you don't want to know anything about the love of God. Because that's what puts the love of God in its proper context. It's not just words that God is saying. It's not just a feeling God has. It's an action God has done. He loved me and gave Himself up for me. That's how I know His love is real. He demonstrated in the death of His Son.

Paul says the foundation of the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:3 is Christ died for our sins and if you talk about the love of God apart from talking about the sin of man, you are distorting and emptying the love of God of any significance. The Son of God, He's the one who loved me. How do you know He loved you, Gil? He gave Himself up for me. And that's what Paul says. And that says it all.

Isn't that a beautiful statement of what the Gospel is and does? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. What a paradox! I died but I'm alive. Praise God I died. The old me is dead and done and gone. And all associated with that--the Law, sin, the domination by Satan, ruled by self and all. I died. Praise God! And now I'm alive in Christ. That's what we're talking about with God's salvation. And it's a life that God Himself is living in me. It's a life which I am living in total dependence upon Him. Because He loved me and gave Himself up for me.

So verse 21 Paul is ready to summarize what he has been saying in this whole discussion in verses 11 down to verse 21 really. And this will prepare the way to address the doctrinal issues facing the Galatians beginning in chapter 3.

Verse 21, "I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." Sometimes people say Indian Hills is too black and white. Everything is either right or wrong. Aren't you glad you are either dead or you're not dead. Some of you look half dead but I know you're not dead dead. There's a big difference between half dead and being dead dead. It's a contrast between death and life. It's not my problem. It's not my fault that we're black and white, that it's that clear. I see a dramatic, striking, complete contrast between death and life. So I do not nullify the grace of God. The grace of God refers here to what he has been talking about--the provision of God's righteousness in Christ for all who believe. I do not nullify the grace of God, what God has provided for me in Christ.

"For if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." There's no middle ground here, Peter, for you to try to reach back into you old life and bring the Mosaic Law over into your new life. In effect is to try to nullify what Christ has done and say His death was not necessary. Now Paul's talking about the Mosaic Law here. But you ought to understand. The Mosaic Law is the highest standard you could have for human works. God Himself gave these 613 commandments on Mount Sinai to Moses directly. And yet you cannot attain righteousness by your works in trying to obey that Law. If you can't do it by keeping the Mosaic Law, there's no hope on any other level with human works. That ought to be clear. And you'll note it is a fixed line. You cannot bring human works into it in any way. Whereas Paul wrote to the Romans grace would no longer be grace. You either have grace or you have works and there is no mixing the two. What was Peter's error? Oh yes, you have to believe in Christ but no I'm not sure the Gentiles are completely clean until they keep at least some of the Mosaic Law. Then Peter you are saying you would cancel the grace of God. And you would say that Christ did not need to die.

But you see you cannot have it as a mixture of any kind. It is Christ alone or nothing. That's why everyone who is teaching and preaching that it is faith in Christ plus works is opposed to Christ, is in effect declaring that Christ died have to die. What a thing to say to God. Your Son didn't have to die. I'm keeping the Ten Commandments. Oh really. Your Son didn't have to die. I've joined the church, been baptized and confirmed. Oh really. The wages of sin is death. I know we need the death of Christ but that won't be enough. If it's not enough, it's not any good at all. It's just that distinct.

Let me summarize what we've said in these two verses. Number one, believers have died with Christ. Believers have died with Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. This sets them free from the power of sin, of Satan, of self, of the Law. It indicates a radical break and change from the old life. That life is done. I died to it. I have been crucified with Christ.

Number two, believers have new life in Christ. The old life is done. I have new life. I have Christ's life. Christ lives in me. First Peter chapter 1 verse 3 says God has caused us to be born again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And in 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4 God says we have become partakers of the divine nature. Christ Himself, God Himself, is the new life. We are now free to live for Him. I died to the Law so that I might live to God. I died to the old man that I might live to God. There is no other salvation offered or provided in the Scripture but such a life-transforming, life-changing gospel.

Number three, believers now life in the flesh is lived on the bases of faith in Christ. Faith is not just something I had at a point of time in the past. It's something that by God's grace I was given at a time in the past and I continue to have in Christ. My life of faith began the moment I trusted in Him as my Savior and it has been a life of faith ever since and will be through all eternity. Our now life in the flesh is lived on the basis of faith in Christ.

Number four, the death of Christ is the display of His infinite love for unworthy sinners. And it is intensely personal. The Son of God loved me and gave Himself up for me. Is it that personal to you? Have you come to the point where it has gripped your heart and mind so completely. Do you realize if there was no one else in the world, He died for me. He gave Himself up for me. He displayed His love for me. That act of universal love has become intensely personally as I have appropriated it by faith. And can declare that He loved me and died for me.

Number five, any mixture of works and grace denies the necessity of Christ's death. There's nothing to talk about here. There's no area of give and take. There needs to be no ongoing discussions. The line has been drawn. Either you cross that line by faith leaving behind your trust in yourself and your church in the Mosaic Law or you don't come across the line. You cannot be partially born again. You cannot partially die. You cannot be partially resurrected. It is all or nothing. Praise God. What do I want to say? I got one foot in the grave but I'm working on it. I'm almost born again, folks. Well, I'm halfway. I half died. None of that makes any sense, does it? Could have God used any simpler, clearer illustrations for us to portray this reality. How can the Church of Christ be muddling all over the place today? How can we be scratching our head not sure if this is right or wrong, not wanting to be too harsh or judgmental? I don't want to be any more harsh and judgmental than God is, but I don't want to be one bit less. I don't want to hold back any of the love of God but in its fullness it must be sin. And you appropriate that by faith. And you can only have that faith when by God's grace you come to the point you are willing to let go of every one and everything else.

Some of you have been trusting the combination. Well, I go to Indian Hills. Maybe you were baptized there. Maybe you were raised here and that's your confidence. It won't get there. It won't get you there. And you can't bring your old life over into the new. There's no other way but God's way. Salvation is offered on His terms. The terms are: let go of everything and take old of Christ and you will be born again. You will die and be raised to new life. Let's pray together.

Thank you, Father, that You are a gracious God, a God of infinite love and kindness and mercy. And all of this without sacrificing Your righteousness, Your justice, Your wrath, Your holiness. This all comes together in dealing with our sin in the Person of Jesus Christ. Father, we give You praise for a salvation that is completely free because it has been paid for totally by You. We thank You for a salvation that is totally of grace because that is our only hope. And above all, we thank You for a Savior who is the Son of God that we can declare He loved me and gave Himself up for me. And we pray in His name, amen.