The glory of God is the central theme explored through the Corinthian epistles, demonstrating that true glory is found not in human wisdom, might, or riches, but in knowing and glorifying God. The sermon highlights that God chooses the seemingly foolish, weak, and despised things of the world to confound the wise and mighty, emphasizing that creation itself originates from nothing, thereby attributing all glory to God. It further explains that God's covenant and promises are based solely on His unchangeable character and word, and that believers are qualified for service not by their own abilities but by what Christ has become to them: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Ultimately, the message calls believers to cease glorying in themselves or worldly achievements and instead to glory in the Lord, recognizing that all things—present, future, life, and even death—are theirs in Christ, who is God.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.63 → restored 4.50
Well, it's good to be here with you in this state of Iowa and to see many old friends and to meet new friends. I appreciate the opportunity of being with these two brethren and the opportunity of ministering the Word of God with you today. I would like to think with you a little while this conference weekend about two great books in the New Testament. And we're just going to take one theme out of the books, if we might, and I'd like to look with you at the subject of the glory of God in the Corinthian epistles. Now, the epistles to the Corinthians are very often treated as perhaps the most practical books in the New Testament.
But when we think of the glory of God, very often we have the impression that it's not a wonderful topic but perhaps rather impractical for daily living but as we look at these two books we will discover that as Paul deals with these very important and very practical issues he always brings us back to this great theme and that is the glory of God there are two words that are used over and over again the one word which We translate most often the word glory is the word doxa, from which we get our word doxology. And it occurs twenty-five times in the two epistles, eleven times in First Corinthians and fourteen times in Second Corinthians.
And then a second word, which is sometimes translated to boast or to glory in. And while the first means to have glory, the second means glory. to give glory and sometimes it's used in a bad sense to glorify in oneself to glory in one's own abilities and so on and other times it's used in a good sense to give glory to God or to glorify God and the this word occurs twenty times in the two epistles and over these sessions I would like to look with you briefly obviously at ten passages that bring before us this subject of the glory of God.
And when we take a look at a subject like this, we must obviously feel like the great worthies of old when they were confronted with the majesty and glory of God, and they were conscious that it was holy ground. So let's begin our study, shall we, by looking at Jeremiah chapter nine. Now, Brother Paul Sat mentioned Jeremiah last evening and said that it was a rather frightening and dark book, and that's true it is. But every once in a while, against this dark background, there is a lovely little jewel. And I ask you to turn here, not out of some mad whim, but because this particular verse is quoted in First Corinthians chapter one.
Jeremiah chapter nine and verse twenty-three. By the way, is everyone hearing the whistle that I'm hearing when I speak here? Should I put this down a little lower or something? I tried to get my teeth in as tight as I could this morning, but sometimes you get that. Jeremiah chapter nine and verse twenty three, Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might. Let not the rich glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight saith the Lord. Now let's turn over, shall we, to First Corinthians chapter one. And we're going to read from verse twenty-six. I'm sure you're familiar with the previous verses. We would do well to read on down from perhaps verse seventeen or eighteen, but we'll, for the sake of time, read in at verse twenty-six.
You see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus? who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord.
We began our conference last evening by singing the words of that well-known hymn, To God be the glory, great things he hath done. Here we have brought before us God's glory and our calling. It seems rather a strange place perhaps for a preacher to begin with so much of the Word of God to preach from to begin by talking about nothing at all. But that's the beginning of our subject today. We notice here that God has chosen the things that are nothing to bring to nothing the things that are.
Now our brother Star has been reminding us about the creation and the apostle as he writes in Hebrews chapter eleven and verse three says, The things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. When God began in creation, he began with nothing, and he made the world out of nothing at all. so that the things that we see were not made of things which do appear. We live in a world of things, and a man's measure in our society is largely the number of things that he has acquired.
But our Lord Jesus said, A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. God would like us to know that the things that are are really made out of nothing. God spoke them into being. And the scientists tell us that this reading desk has the same proportion of nothing, if we may call it that, between its molecules, that the universe has between its stars, that it's mostly made of nothing. And man who is accumulating things to himself, thinking these are the measure of his life, that man is really accumulating to himself a bunch of nothing.
God said, I made the world, I know what it's made of. And I made the world out of nothing. Why? So that all the glory would be for God. But man fails to glorify God as we have been reminded. concerning this wonderful creation. And men will not believe, it is a choice of the will, they will not believe that God made the world and the things that are here on this planet. It doesn't change the fact, of course. And if we take the theory of evolution and minimize it, bring it down to its lowest common denominator, we could put it this way.
Evolution says nothing plus nobody equals everything. Well, God agrees with half of the statement. Nothing plus God equals everything. And what a wonderful thing it is just to rest in that. I tell you young people, far better to believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts than doubt your beliefs and believe your doubts. And when we are confronted with these things, our simple response is found in Hebrews chapter eleven. By faith, we understand. that the worlds were framed by the Word of God.
It is the great incontrovertible argument. If somebody says, well, what do you believe? And you say, well, I believe that God made it. And they say, you can't believe it. You say, what do you mean I can't believe it? I do believe it. And that's the fact. I believe it. God has declared in His Word that that's how He made it. And I'm going to rest in that. And I've discovered my undergraduate degree at university was in biology. And I've discovered that evolution is not simply a bag full of holes. It is an imaginary bag. It is a philosophy. It is not a science. And it is missing the foundation stones of any true science.
It is not even a theory, merely a hypothesis. And as I mentioned, it is an imaginary one at that. Then we read in Romans chapter four and verse seventeen concerning nothing and God's covenant. The God... who called the things that be not as though they were. When God was going to make a covenant with Abraham, he based it on nothing but his own character and his own word. Now the very same thing is true of the covenant that he made with you and with me. But we have this sure covenant.
Normally, says the apostle, when a man made a vow, when he made a promise, he promised it on something greater than himself. And so the practice in our society to place your hand upon a Bible in making your covenant, making your promise, your vow, that you will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God. And so that God by his character and God by his word is the double seal that we make, the promise that we make. But God could not swear by any greater than himself, for he is the greatest. And so he made his covenant on nothing more than the unchangeable nature of his character and the unchangeable nature of his word.
And we rest on that. But God's promises are not yea and nay, but in Christ, yea and amen. Yes, and that's for sure. You rest in the promises of God. and God's covenant is based on nothing but Himself. Now here again, in First Corinthians chapter one, we have nothing and God's choice. God has chosen the things which are not to bring to not the things that are. Let me remind you of those three things. You know, they say that when a Christian, when a person gets saved, they kiss their brains goodbye. I tell you, no one really thinks until they become a Christian.
You want to stretch your little pea brain You think about these things. The things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. The God who calls the things that be not as though they were. And God has chosen the things which are not to bring to not the things that are. What a God we have. And so the apostle concludes by saying, Take a look at yourselves. Why did God determine to use people like you? When it seems he passes by the rich and the clever and the eloquent and the famous, why does he take up poor ordinary folk like us?
Well, it's because we're so close to zero to start with. He has such a short distance to go, you see. Because God always has to bring us to zero before he can start. So that all the glory is for God. God had to bring Paul to zero, didn't he? until he not only counted all things as nothing, but he suffered the loss of all things in order to win Christ. The way up is still down, isn't it? Jeremiah had a nothing experience.
Isaiah, Gideon, Moses, Why, you can go through the list of all the great men, Solomon. I'm just like a little child. I can't even find the exit sign. I don't know how to come in and go out. And God said, I can use men like that. Because they're not depending on themselves. They'll depend on me. It's a great principle, and I'm afraid we're missing it in many places today. And I just ask you the question, I don't make it as a statement, but I ask you the question, is it possible that we may be disqualifying our children from being used by God because we want them to be something rather than nothing in the true sense of the word, that we aspire for them great places in the world And God says, that's not the kind of people I choose.
Not many. It doesn't say not any. And there are some of the great men of the world who thank God for the letter M. It doesn't say not any. But not many. God takes up the ordinary folk. He takes up the next to nothing people. That no flesh should glory in his presence. But he says, don't you forget this. This is the other side of the coin. Verse thirty. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Oh, don't forget this, he says. You're not just ordinary folk now.
Why, you're in Christ. And because you're in Christ, you have been set apart for the glory of God. You are the seed royal of heaven, the royal family. and you have all the resources of God available to you. Don't forget that now. You were just ordinary folk when he picked you out of the dung hill, but he has set you with princes so that a man or a woman is not qualified to serve God because of what they are. We are qualified because of what Christ is. and what he has been made to us.
He has made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And so we read that according as it is written, he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. This is our boast. It's God. He's the one that we boast in. It's Christ who has brought these things to us. One of my favorite quotes, you've probably heard it before, if you've heard me preach, comes from an unknown author, at least unknown to me, who said, Concerning the Lord Jesus, we may speak of him as much as we wish and praise him to the bound of our capacity without ever being reprimanded by heaven for exaggerating his excellencies.
You can never say too much about God. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Everyone else is saying so, with all their crackpot theories and notions, why they're ready to say so. Well, then let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed. You will notice in reading the early chapters of First Corinthians that we have three of these wonderful but God statements. And what a shaft of sunlight they bring to us. In verse twenty-seven of chapter one, and verse ten of chapter two, and verse seven of chapter three. In verse twenty-seven of chapter one, we see that as we look about ourselves, well, there aren't many of these wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.
We say, well, what on earth are we going to do? Well, the point is it has nothing to do with what's on earth at all. It has to do with what's in heaven. But God has chosen the not wise and the not mighty and the not noble to do his bidding on earth. God has determined to use folk like you and me. if we will let him have us. That's the issue, isn't it? It's not how much of God we have. Oh, He's given us everything He has. It's how much God has of us.
And this is the issue that stands before us, Christians. God still has the fire, if we'll be the fuel. And He could set Iowa ablaze again in Nebraska. and the areas from which you come. It is not God whose hand is shortened, nor is here heavy. It's that we have given ourselves to too many pursuits short of heaven. And God has called us once again to find all our glory in Him, and not to boast ourselves in the things that will not matter five minutes after we die.
not try to be great, but to be nothing, and let God be great through us. Say that's easy to preach, Nicholson. Say, well, I suppose. But is this not what the Scripture tells us here? That in seeking after greatness and earthly wisdom and the things that men seek after, the things after which the Gentiles seek, We are disqualifying ourselves from being used of God, thinking that we are in fact making ourselves more useful to Him.
We are putting ourselves on the shelf, and we need to have that nothing experience. We need to fight our way to the bottom when everyone else is fighting their way to the top. Lots of room down there. God says this is the secret, isn't it? The Lord Jesus said, you know how it is with the Gentiles, everybody has a boss and everybody's boss has a boss. Everybody looking for the top spot. So shall it not be among you. Whoever will be great among you, let him be a servant. The one whose greatest of all, speaking of himself, is the servant of all. A little statement that helped me a great deal in my ministry.
Someone said to me, you'll know you're a servant when people start treating you like one. You know if they say, sit down here in this good place? Oh, you haven't arrived yet. And if they say, have you got the things out yet? What's the matter? Haven't you straightened the chairs? Haven't you cleaned up the mess in the basement? Oh, you know you've arrived. You're a servant now. And that's how it is in the kingdom. But the night in which he was betrayed, when everyone else was wondering who the greatest was, he proved it. knowing that all power and authority, that all things had been delivered into his hand.
Into that hand he took a towel and got down and washed his disciples' feet. That's so contrary to the society in which we live. When we're all introduced to the right Reverend Doctor, this and that, and the applause of men, and here he is, isn't this terrific? The whole point is, isn't it? But the greatest one in the world, if we were conscious of Him here, we would be ashamed to glory in ourselves. It would look so pathetic, wouldn't it? Last week I was at the Louvre. Can you imagine me taking one of my little drawings and put it up there beside the Mona Lisa and say, well, yes, but what do you think about my art?
Oh, well, I couldn't get it off the wall fast enough, could I? And if we were conscious of the glory of God, all glorying in man would just run away, wouldn't it? Why we couldn't get it off the walls fast enough, because we wouldn't want our glory there at all. And so the Apostle concludes this first section with these words, that according as it is written, Oh, do glory. Glory, brother. Glory, sister. But glory in the Lord.
Not in how big your assembly is. Not in how many degrees you have. Not in how much money you have. And I'm introduced to more and more Christians that way. You see that fellow over there? He's the vice president of this and that company. Instead of, you see that sister, she's a real prayer warrior. She's probably the reason the assembly is still going on today. Not many people know that, but she prays all day for this assembly. Whether she's working at the sink or driving in the car, she's interceding. And she's giving God the glory for everything that's done. And I dare say, brother and sister, one of the reasons God is not working mightily among us is that if something happened, As our brother said last night, we'd take the glory to ourselves.
There's so much emphasis on methodology today. I probably have thirty books that we might call revival literature or something like that. The great awakenings of God and not in one of them. Is there any mention of methods at all? Would you say, well, the secret was that Wesley and Whitfield went out and found a farmer's field somewhere and they preached in the field. That's the secret, is it? Well, the fact was that they were banished from the platforms and they had to go somewhere and they just couldn't help it. And they began to preach outside. And God blessed anyway, in spite of the bad acoustics, in spite of the lack of advertising, in spite of things. God blesses in spite of us, doesn't he? That's the point of this chapter, not because of us.
So things aren't working at your assembly. A lot of things not working these days. And we think it's something wrong with the thing that's not working. And so we look around to see where somebody else has something working. We say, well, it's working for them, so maybe it will work for us. Brothers and sisters, it doesn't work. God works. When we give God the glory, oh, be careful. For his glory he will not share with another. If God doesn't get all the glory, well, he'll just leave it to us. And when we're left to ourselves, you see what happens. Let's turn to First Corinthians chapter three.
I'll leave these other two but God statements to you. They're wonderful statements. The first one having to do with the manifestation of God's wisdom. And the second, the revelation of God's purpose. And the third one, the germination of God's word, bringing forth fruit for His glory. Verse nineteen of First Corinthians three, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, He taketh the wise and their own craftiness.
And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. let no man glory in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Peter or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours and ye are Christ and Christ is God. Now the Apostle Paul has just been speaking about ministry that we are laborers together with God. We are God's field, and we are God's building.
This old world is a wilderness. When God looks down from heaven, all he sees is a desert. And may I say again, perhaps address the young people, this world is a desert, and if you put your roots down here, it will suck you dry. It will leave you nothing but regrets. You don't have to ask me. You can ask anyone who's tried it. It will suck you dry. The picture of the Christian is the picture of a tree growing upside down with our roots in heaven, drinking freely of God's provision and bearing fruit down here. That's what God wants for us.
We can have all sorts of messages on the Lordship of Christ, you know. and all sorts of wonderful talks about the glory of God. The fact is that if you don't get up in the morning a few minutes early and open your Bible and read it and get down on your knees and pray and confess your sin and get your spirit right with God and spend a little time looking into his face, you'll step out the door and fall flat on your spiritual face and all the theories and all the preaching and all the doctrines won't mean a hill of beans. We've got to get back to the very practical issue that it just means getting your hand on that sheet and pull it off and get your feet on the cold floor in the morning and get out and read your Bible.
This is not a luxury. This is basic Christian living. And if you don't have your roots in heaven, if you're not reading the Word of God and praying and confessing your sin and getting your spirit right with God, you can talk it, you can sing it, you can preach it. But it won't mean that much in Christian living. These are basics, aren't they? But that's what Christian living is. The Bible was written for ordinary folk, because that's the kind of people God was going to use. We need to get back to just simply reading and obeying the Word of God. So he says, you're God's field.
But in the midst of all this desert, here and there, God sees a little garden. It's a Christian. who's out there cultivating it. And you know, a good gardener doesn't just have to love flowers, he has to hate weeds. You got to get the weeds out and cultivate those flowers and those fruits for God and for his glory. As the song of Solomon says, My heart is like a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. And every once in a while, I open the door and I let him come in to enjoy his pleasant fruits. Now you can pretend otherwise. But the fact is that if a man thinks, so is he.
And if you spend your life thinking about money, you will become materialistic. Count on it. If you think, and I say this, I'm sorry, but I have to say it, if you think about sex, you will become perverted in your thinking and in your life. And be sure your sin will find you out. Don't think that these things with Jimmy Swaggered and Jimmy Baker happened overnight, my friend. They sneak up on us with a little cat's feet. Watch out for what we consider to be the little sins, because sooner or later, they will get you.
You give a little room in your mind to those things, and soon they'll take over your life. There is only one passion. that is big enough for a man or a woman. And that is the passion of Christ. Fill your mind with that. They say, I don't know who they are, I'd like to get my hands on them, but they say that some men are so heavenly-minded, they're no earthly good. But I say the only people who are any earthly good are the heavenly-minded people. I don't find these people too often, mind you. Most of us are so earthly-minded. We're no heavenly good. The Bible tells us we're all supposed to be absent-minded people and set our minds on things above where Christ is.
It makes a difference, I'll tell you. Great peace, great joy come to those who set their mind on Christ. What does the scripture say? concerning those whose minds are stayed on Him. That's where our confidence is. And I don't say that we're always thinking about the Lord. We have to think about our business. We have to think about our family. We have to think about our assembly responsibilities. The question is, where is your mind pinned? Like a piece of elastic. You can stretch it around, but when you let it go, where does it come back to?
Where is your mind pinned when you have two minutes at the stoplight or waiting for the elevator or waiting for a phone call? Where does your mind go? If it goes to Christ, then you will have peace in your heart and confidence and joy in the Lord Jesus. Well, he says, God's glory is not only associated with our calling, it's associated with our inheritance. This is what you have in the Lord Jesus. Here's what you are in the world. Well, you're ordinary folk in the world. I don't know. I don't recognize any of your faces from the front page of Time magazine here or any of the women's magazines.
I don't think any of us have made it there, have we? As unknown, says the Bible, and yet well known. Who's he's down here, but who's who's in heaven. That's what we ought to be. Known of God. And this passage tells us what has been given to us in Christ. Therefore let no man glory in men. I have the latest Fortune magazine with the world's billionaires. It's quite a study to read it. One man just went over to Hawaii for a little vacation.
while in Honolulu he picked up a house for forty million dollars. Nice little place to come to for the weekend now and again. But oh, says Paul, don't glory in men. You know what you have? Well, you have the world at your disposal. You say, well, what do you mean by that? Everything you need to do the will of God, God will give it to you. All the resources you need. You can rest in that. If God wants you to do something, he'll give it to you. You know, there was a fresh breeze that blew.
As I read an old account of a conference that was held in Niagara-on-the-lake, just about seven miles from our home. There was an offering taken there and given to the man that we heard about last night. the great man who opened China to the gospel in many ways. He wrote a letter back to the folks who had given it to him, given this money, and he said, I wish you wouldn't have done that. He said, if you had... introduce me to some young men and women that were going to go to China and serve the Lord. I would have been very pleased with that because God, whenever he calls a man, he always gives him what he needs to provide for his ministry.
But he said, when you give me money without men, I don't know what to do with this. And I wish you wouldn't do that. It really puts me in a difficult position. What a thing to recognize that the world is yours. Is there a ministry that God has called you to and you're being held back because you say, well, I don't know how I'd finance it. God didn't ask you to finance it. He's given you an expense account and whatever he calls you to do, he'll provide for it. Now, the question is, has he called you to do it? I think sometimes we go and dig a big hole and jump and say, Lord, catch me before I hit the bottom. And the debt has nothing to do with God's will at all.
We're doing it again for the glory of man and not for the glory of God. And he says, life is yours. How long are you going to live? Well, as long as God wants you to live. And so you get the job done, assuming you get to work. You'll give you enough time to get it done. You'll live just long enough if you get the job done. In fact, there's a carving in the catacombs under the city of Rome. A young man who had died at twenty-six years of age. And underneath His name, it says, in Jesus, He lived long enough.
You know, if you get to work and do the will of God, you'll live long enough. If you don't do the will of God, if you live ten thousand years, it wouldn't be long enough. What is? Life is yours with all that you need. Now, we hear Christians over and over again, I don't have enough time. I don't have enough money. Those are the two great complaints I hear all over the country. We've never had more available time and more available money than we do today. What's the problem? We're all garbage collectors. We're all gathering to ourselves things that rob us of that time and that money. Read the book of Habakkuk. See what happened in those days. Haggai, as he writes to the people. And they call on the people to realize that the problem is not that they don't have enough.
of the thing of this life. It's that God doesn't have enough of them. And if God had all of me, then I'd have all that God wanted me to have. And I would find that life was mine. And death, he says, is yours too. How is death mine? Sometimes when you're traveling through a big city, you see those brownstones or those fancy apartments that cost the exorbitant amounts. And out in front will be a door man. And he's just waiting there. until the limousine rolls up and he goes and he opens the door of the limousine and some wealthy dowager steps out whose husband killed himself making the money and she comes out with her little poodle and she walks up to the door and then he goes over and he opens the door for her and she steps in you see well I have a doorman too and his name is death he's not a friend but he is now at least a servant he's no longer an enemy and all that death can do to the Christian is open the door to heaven and let us in I love the story of the old Scotsman who was dying, and the family was gathered round listening for his last breath, when suddenly he sat bolt upright in the bed, and he shouted, the river is dry, and he
fell back asleep in Jesus. The river's dry. Why, we always sing these hymns about Jordan rolling its waters at our feet and all. God says, no, I've opened up the river for you. The river's dry. You'll step through on dry ground into the promised land. And death, oh, dying's not very nice. But death itself can only open the door for us and introduce us into the presence of God. And every time a Christian dies, and I attend the funeral... I think of those words of the Lord Jesus, one of very few times in the Bible where he ever mentioned his own will. And he said, Father, I will.
That they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am. And every time a Christian dies, it's another answer to that prayer, isn't it, that we might be with him where he is. And then he says, things present are yours. And things to come are yours. You'll notice he doesn't say the things in the past. I'm afraid many of us walk through life backwards, don't we? Keep looking at the thing, if only this, and if I had just done that, and I wish I'd done that, and... But those things don't belong to you. Forget those things which are behind. Don't live in the past. Everything in the present is yours, and everything in the future.
It has often been said that the future is as bright as the promises of God. And these are yours. All are yours. And ye are Christ. And Christ is God. That's what you have. May the Lord encourage us not to glory in the things that men have, but to glory in the things that we have in Christ. Rhodes, the man who controlled the diamond and gold mines of South Africa, ended up in a train carriage one day with General William Booth of the Salvation Army.
And Booth asked him, Cecil Rhodes, are you a happy man? And Rhodes answered, Happy? I don't know the meaning of the word. It's not the things we have in this world. It's all that we have in Christ. And oh, we're rich. And we can live like that. And not glory in men, but let him that glory glory in the Lord. Now shall we pray. O gracious God and our Father, We thank thee for the words from the lips of Stephen just before he saw the glory of God.
And he said, The God of glory appeared to our Father Abraham. We thank thee that we have been invited not only to see something of the glory of God, as Moses longed to see, but we have been brought into fellowship with the God of glory. And we have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Oh, Father, help us to live in the light of it. We who have been called and have been sanctified, justified, and have been sanctified, we have been glorified.
Help us to live in the glory of it. and to glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are the Lord's, we ask in His precious name. Amen.