Lesson 20a
Romans 6:3-6 · JD McCulley · Sep 30, 2018
Romans (2018-21), No. 36
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261912155560

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We're in lesson 19 today. Hey guys. I think we got through the first question last week. I've started drawing some stuff. What did we say here? What did we talk about last week? You guys remember? Where do we leave off? So question one says, what does it mean to be set down or made as sinners? And we looked at Romans 5, 19. I'll read it for you. For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the disobedience, or I'm sorry, the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous.

And so on the one hand, we've got Adam, right? Yeah, here's Adam. On the other hand, we have, as Mike said last week, J.C., Lord Jesus Christ, and then there's me. I've drawn a line connecting J.D. to J.D. But what's happening here? On the one side, you have the federal guilt. That is who we are in Adam.

It's the life begets life, right? As Courtney mentioned last week. So, one committed the sin and for all it is passed on. And now we, as in Adam, we not only have the sin nature, but we produce the sins, correct? That's our identification, and we drew these up as kind of like an ID card. It's who we are in Adam. That's what Paul has been working through constantly, chapter 5. In fact, verse 19 ends up being a repetition of verse 18. It takes a slightly different perspective, but read verse 19 for us. We just looked at that, but read verse 18. Let's remind ourselves what we read in verse 18. Who's got verse 18?

Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men and the justification of life. And then in verse 19, it's a repetition of almost the same thing. Why the repetition? I mean, this is a principle, right? And Paul is moving quickly through this. In other words, repetition, in scripture, when we see repetition, what are we seeing? Importance, emphasis, the exclamation points.

So this concept, the federal guilt of all men through Adam and the passage that a believer takes through death in Christ to get, what, an entirely radically new identity in Christ that is not only dealing with the nature, but also the production of sin. I think so far in where we are, there hasn't been information given how do you get from one to the other. All he's laying out is that Here's this one man, and here's what's true of him. Now there's a new man, who's the Lord Jesus, and here's what's true of him. Now, because we've studied this before, we recognize that we're going to get over here later.

But at this point, I would think that for, how do I say this, nothing in the Old Testament, even in the Gospels up to this point, would define this doctrine that there's one man Adam and there are certain things about Adam that all men inherit and what they are and now there's a brand new man a new and kind in quality and there are certain characteristics about this man that have never been here before and so I think just that information alone would open up the eyes of a believer and say wow you know this is more than just trying to modify the behavior of the first man There's a new man now that is pleasing to God. His makeup and his characteristics are such that they are godly. He happens to be God. So I think that the era of trying to make Adam perform is now over.

And I think, to your point, this death through, I mean, it's mentioned here at the end of Chapter 5. We see the result, that's the end of Chapter 5. However, it's actually the next chapter where we start to look at this in-between portion and how we go from here to here. What's this process? And it's through what? Death.

All we know right now is that Adam is establishing the federal headship of both Adam and Christ. And what is found in each of those federal headships. And so, looking at question number two, verse 19 is a repeat, however, does it say that eventually all will be made righteous? What God is doing is producing Righteousness for all people. Is that what this verse is saying? Many will be made righteous. Many? What? Is that everyone?

Well, I think what it's saying is that every human being was born in Adam. So whatever is true of Adam is true of them. If you at some point find yourself in Christ, then you can assume that whatever is true of him is true of me also. Now it doesn't say that all men find their way to Christ, but those that are in Christ do share all that he is.

So we've got a history here. And then we get a new history. I think that the first time I heard this was in Holly Hills when, it was years ago now, but I think it was Vern explaining, in the Long Grace series, this concept of how we will see the death transition in chapter 6. is literally a passage from one history to an entirely new history. Now what is true, like you just said, what is true of Christ is true of me. And that concept is something that I never heard prior to really delving into the scripture here at Holly Hills. I think that recognizing this entire concept of my identification, who I truly was through the death in Christ, my death with Christ, I am now literally given an entirely new identification and a new history.

It is something that is, quite frankly, it doesn't make sense. You know? I mean, it's not something that in Christianity we think of very often, having an entirely new identification. How often do you think about that this week? You know, it's just not something that we think of very often.

But yet, in verse 19, we see that through the one, disobedience, and through the obedience of the one, many will be made righteous. And that doesn't mean that all will have this new history. It means that it's possible. The provision was made, and it's a possibility for all. Right? It's a possibility for all. That new history is available in Christ to all. And that's what verse 19 is repeating and bringing to light. It's not saying that all will be made righteous, but yet the provision will be made for all.

Question number three, did God give the law to the first Adam, the last Adam, or to us in order to get life? Tricky. Do you have a definition of the law here? Mosaic. Then I think it's a trick question. No. You have missed the mark of who the law was given to. Okay, go on. Mosaic law was given to Moses for Israel, right?

So it wasn't given to the first Adam, which is Adam. garden, although he trespassed, he did not trespass mosaic law at the time. And the last Adam, Jesus Christ, fulfilled the law, but it was not given to him. And where is he now? The last Adam? Yeah. Well, he's seated at the right hand of the Father. Is he under law? No. No. No. He fulfilled the law, but he is not under the law. Good point. You're right. The law was given to Israel only.

It didn't have anything to do with revealing the condition of Adam as the first Adam or coming alongside Christ. It didn't. It came alongside... What did sin come alongside? Sorry, law come alongside. I just said it. You did. Sin. So the sin would abound. That's absolutely right. So the law was not given to the first or the last Adam. Because Christ is... He is the life. He is life, right? And He is not under the law.

And so the trick question that Mike has presented to us is quite simply to recognize that law came in alongside sin to reveal sin. So that it abounded. And it was to Israel. Not the first Adam, not the second Adam, right? So in verse 20, what does come in alongside mean? Let's read verse 20. Law came in so that the transgression would increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Law entered alongside. What is the point here? What is Paul communicating to us? It came in alongside to reveal man his sin, did it not? It did.

So we've talked a lot about trespass versus sin, right? Or kick, I mean they can be one and the same. But what's the difference between a trespass and sin? is a violation of the statute. Right. So when law came in alongside sin, so we have this concept, what does law do? It causes an increase according to the verse.

It seems to be a tutor, doesn't it? Yep. In fact, I think in... I think that's another word. Yep. Or an association with the law as a tutor. Yep. It comes in alongside and it reveals, right? We often I often refer to law as a mirror. Without the mirror of the law, I can't see the dirty sin that exists in my heart, in my life. It's a revealing concept. Just like a mirror reveals to you what you look like, so law reveals to man his sin. And it increases, like you just mentioned, it increases that trespassing.

So, from Adam, So this is the first Adam. Where does law exist in this timeline? So this is day one. Let me call it the middle. Is it in the middle like this? So there you're talking about law as a operating system. Law as an operating system imposed on certain people because Adam was given one law that he didn't say.

Yeah, mosaic. I would extend that line arguably to the second Adam, at least. To here? Yeah, because he fulfills the law, and then grace, I would move to the right of second Adam. Then he lived under. Yes, and that's why it's got to be to the right of second Adam, because he fulfills the law. And then you have grace here.

Yeah, that's one way to look at it. So you think that the crucifixion of Christ was the mosaic wall drawn from the nation of Israel? Was it? I don't know. Well, the curtain was torn so that that reveals something right there. That's a great word for it. Reveal something right there. So it's hard. It's hard to extend mosaic law beyond that. The death of Christ. The death of Christ for that very reason. He rents that curtain in hell. So the law for the Jews, let me say it this way, an entirely new operating system came into play, which was grace. And the Jewish nation was set aside. And so grace became the reigning principle.

But if you're not, I want to say this, If you don't enter into Christ, you must be the gospel. Are you under the principle of grace? If you're not a believer, are you under the principle of grace? I think you still are. It's interesting to think, I mean, the law is not, the mosaic law is not functioning. No. Whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, you're not under law anymore. You are under grace, even as an unbeliever.

Right? That's the reality that you live in. You don't know it, you don't understand it, you can't comprehend it, but it is the reality of the operating system of who, what exists today. I just was thinking, like, with Mike's neighbors, it seems like They are deeply embedded under a law, foolishly, that they really aren't under the law, but they think that's the answer. Sure.

Well, and, I mean, whether we be, you know, functioning Jews of the modern day, or we simply are, it is, as a people, We swing from law to licentiousness. It's a pendulum. Without the Lord Jesus, without the answer, we're simply fulfilling in our own hearts the desire to either the extreme side of licentiousness or law. We're going to place ourselves under one of those two categories and sometimes we'll swing back and forth between them.

But that's what you see. I've placed myself, even as a believer, under laws. I think I've created those for myself. I recall just having this extreme need to memorize scripture as a young believer, and I would write stuff and keep it in my wallet and pull it out, and I was just like, This has to be in my mind, I have to have it memorized in order for myself to feel that I was walking with the Lord. It was kind of law-based perspectives.

I think even in the early days of how many times did I go down to the, or come up to to the altar, as we call it in the Baptist church, and kind of go through that whole confession of sin once again. You know, we've got the Catholic upbringing that you experience. It's quite simply, without the scripture, there is no concept of grace whatsoever. I mean, you can't produce it. It's not something that's natural whatsoever.

It doesn't fall. in line with anything on this side of identity, in this history? Well, I was thinking there back on question three, if the object is to get life, it's never going to happen under law. Why? Life only comes under grace. That's absolutely right. Law was not meant to give life. That's not the point. Law was meant to reveal sin. perfectly fulfilled and so it all it does is a tutor to point toward And I think maybe perhaps that's why he said it is finished on the cross. That finished the law section, in my mind.

It is finished. I think in the conversation, law doesn't apply anymore to the believer or the unbeliever. Christ completed that. It's finished work. Israel fell short. They were given the law to fulfill it in perfect righteousness, which was an impossible feat all to show that By oneself, under the federal head of Adam, there is no righteousness. No, not one.

So, you mentioned, I think even last week, that in this verse, there's actually two different words. So, we're looking at the word abounded and increased. What's the difference? And you mentioned the two different words, but how does that distinguish something for us in terms of grace? So the law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. You guys, in the NASB, there is two different words, increased and abounded.

For some of you and some, I think, translations, it's actually the word increased is used twice. I think that It's proper in the NASB to distinguish between those two translations because they're not the same word. The first word, increase, in the Greek means to grow or multiply. So you do have this increasing concept. But when you get to the bounded, you have this extreme excess. It's saying where the law increased So the law came in that transgression would increase, it's growing, it's multiplying.

But in contrast to grace, grace is abounding and overflowing. It's not just increasing, it's overflowing. And so I think Matt, you mentioned last week, you've got the river and you've got the flood and it floods the entire bounds of the river. oftentimes have the concept of setting water under a sink and it just continues to overflow the cup and it never stops overflowing, it's just constantly overflowing. But the same idea is there, that grace is literally overflowing. So we have the sins increasing, we'll just maybe put a plus, but over here, And it just keeps overflowing, right? It's just never stopping. So again, the contrast between what each man brings to the table, so to speak. One brings sin and the law, and sin increasing. The other brings grace that's super abounding. And look at verse 21.

So that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So over here, we've got sin reigning through death. On this side, what do we have? We have grace reigning through righteousness. Grace through? Plus R. Grace through righteousness.

So, what does reigning mean? What does reigning mean? If you're a reigning king, what are you doing? Ruling. You're ruling. Until you're dethroned? So these principles are reigning over one another. Without Christ, this is you. Right? Sin is reigning through death. That is your reality. And what do we mean by death?

Separation. Separation. From what? What am I separated from over here? Life. Okay. So we talk about death meaning separation. Again, on this side of it, am I going to be separated physically from my body? Over here? Yeah. What about here? Yeah. It's a consequence of sin, right? I mean, we still have a flesh that prevents us from being in the presence of the Lord. Isn't that accurate in the sense of where ultimately as a believer we are headed? But in terms of separation from a death side of things, it's not only separation from our body that Adam's law-breaking action of sin brought us, it's also what other aspect of separation is there besides the physical?

And it continues. The thing about a reigning principle is that whether you're physically alive on the planet or you've left, that principle still reigns. That's right. It does. So we say that there's the physical death, there's the spiritual, my relationship between my creator and myself, and then there's the eternal, the second death as it's referred to. Right? Yeah, my thought was, you know, in Adam, unless the Lord reveals this to you, From the fall, we think we're all independent.

We have no concept that we're under a reigning principle of sin and death. We don't know that. We think we're operating all on our own. We see it, but we don't understand that, right? And we try to control it. Yeah, we do. I would say too that as a believer, we are under the principle of grace And that's the whole point of spiritual growth, is to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus so we can see, understand, and believe this new principle that we're under. But most believers never get to there. I mean, we're growing in that, right? Still, to this day.

Even the thought of the reigning principles of two kingdoms. You have an ID based on the reigning principles of the land. This is where I live. This is where I reside. This is how I function. This is my history. This is my reigning principle. This is my kingdom. And I stand underneath it.

But there, thank the Lord, there is a process that God gave for man to enter into the kingdom of grace. And without recognizing the book of Romans as that, we would be stuck in a kingdom of death and have all the history that is true of Adam, the federal guilt that he brought like begets like. Because of our sin nature, we continue to produce sins. That's all that there would be. On this side though, you have the justification, that judicial term that grants us freedom from that guilt in Christ.

Chapter 5 is very repetitive, but very necessary in understanding these two opposing and contrasting kingdoms or reigning principles. I just wanted to read in verse 20 that law entered alongside, I like this, I think what Newell says, law entered alongside not, in this connection, to reveal sinfulness, but that the trespass of law, the act of law breaking might abound. The law being given to neither Adam came in alongside sin. After sin had been there 2,500 years, that vain, self-confident Israel, as a public example of us, a public example for all of us, might see God's standard for those in the first Adam, and promising to obey it, fail, and thus know sin, in order that grace might overflow, or abound. So that where sin had reigned, grace might reign as king, through the righteous work of Christ on the cross, unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So grace reigning as king. Is that reality today?

Have you thought of it that way? I don't think I recognize that often enough. So verse 21 draws this whole chapter to a conclusion. What's the conclusion? Grace should have a kingdom. Death had its kingdom. I just had a thought. I did a funeral a couple of weeks ago for a guy I went to school with.

When he died and left the planet, he became, without any interference, totally under the reign of grace. Totally. That's what he went to, to live totally under the reign of grace. And with no interference from the old kingdom, the old sin nature, he went. Because he was in Christ, he now is going to experience, moment by moment, what it's like to live under grace, full on. What is my relationship to all of this right now?

Prior to that... Positionally? Yeah. I don't have one. So, you're saying positionally, and what do we mean by position? How God views us. Okay. How God views us. Do we have any relationship to this? Positionally? No. Today? Well, we're dead front to it. Huh? We're dead to it. We're dead to it. Conditionally, do we have any relationship to this? You have to see the nature of the relationship, in a sense.

So this is not the point of Paul at this particular point in the book of Romans, but he is establishing an understanding that will be the foundational bedrock for the Christian life. If you don't recognize these things, your positional understanding of your relationship to this will never be clear in your mind. Not only that, but you won't recognize that the place this has is a deposed monarch. From a true believer's perspective, looking at all my history, all I was in Adam, and that sin nature, while still present, is not reigning.

It's a deposed monarch, is the way that Miles Stanford refers to it. It's like he's been chained in the gallows of the ship, and he's still yelling at us, and commanding us, and we're like, hey, you know, that sounds pretty familiar. I think I'll go that route. Even though he's locked in the bottom of the ship and has no control whatsoever over your life, that deposed monarch of a sin nature continues to bark, bark, bark, bark all day.

Without understanding this though, you're never going to get to a place of understanding how that Christian condition versus position works. We talked about it when we first started the book of Romans. This is Bible 101 for the believer, right? Romans. Without it, you're not getting very far in understanding any of his other epistles. Let's look at question number 7. It says, how did God clear us of all our sins and from our condemnation in Adam? How did God clear us of all our sins and from our condemnation in Adam? Through the cross work of Christ. Through the gospel of Adam. I think we've answered that one already. You're exactly right.

Well, let's look at number 8. What is the subject of the latter part of chapter 5? I would say that this actually sums up chapter 5, this illustration. And then what we're looking to get into is this whole process next, right? It seems like the latter part of five is a great contrast in condemnation versus justification. And the sharp contrast between one federal head and another federal head. I agree. Absolutely.

So we have in chapter five, it's really the doctrine of the two men, right? And those two men being the first Adam, the last. We talked about the relationship of law in terms of those two men. We've attached identification truths and federal roles of each. And so as we look to kind of summarize chapter five, we see the doctrine of the two men.

And then moving into chapter six, we're going to start looking at, what's that? the fact that we died with Christ. Not the fact that Christ died, but our relationship to that as well. So how we died with Christ. And that's going to be a totally new concept that had not been revealed prior to Paul working and communicating in chapter 6 of Romans. So it's quite different.

Question number 9. What makes the question in chapter 6 verse 1 so dangerous to uninstructed believers and non-believers? Let's read chapter 6 verse 1. What's the danger here? What shall we say then? Shall we continue in the sin that grace may abound? I like how you said the sin.

Are you reading Greek? Well, I just noticed a definite article. That's not in the American Standard, but that's very observant. That's great. So, what do you say? How do you answer that? Why? Let's not read verse 2 yet. What should we say then? Are we to continue to sin so that grace may increase? What we're saying is should we continue to do this So that this keeps abounding. So, Mike used the term, why are dangers to uninstructed believers? So what's an uninstructed believer? How do you define that, Mike? You don't understand Chapter 5. Okay.

I think the believer that doesn't understand it just would get sober now, like, and frustrated. Because, I mean, maybe it doesn't answer your question, but you're just trying to do it on your own, and you fail, and you try harder, and you fail. People don't understand the death. Or you could say yes to that. Maybe another good word would be naïve. That's a very naïve view.

And that naïveté comes from not understanding who you are and your position and your sonship and all those things that come with justification and this idea of sanctification that I think we're going to walk through in Chapter 6, right? That you're naïve to think Chapter 6, verse 1. I think you're right. I think, just to kind of summarize what you guys were saying, is that as you walk through life not having an understanding of Chapter 5 and then moving on into Chapter 6, You're busy. You're constantly at work.

Just like you said, you can never outrun the sin nature. You don't recognize its place. You don't understand the difference between who you are in Christ and who you are in Adam. And if you're a naive believer, you don't understand the kingdom of grace of which you are now operating within. And without that understanding, you're just going to be busy.

Right? It's just a busy body. We often use the term rest. Christian life is a life of rest. It doesn't mean that it's roses. He didn't promise that. But in terms of of just the experience that we have underneath just quite simply grace, that is a contrasted perspective to a Christian who doesn't understand that. Again, it's tiring. There's no rest in that walk of the believer not knowing. Without recognition of grace, what do we have? We see these two contrasting principles, right? But if I'm not choosing to understand and operate under the principle of grace, what am I operating in?

What? Law. Some kind of law. Just give me some rules to live. Tell me how to do it and I'll just check off the boxes, right? I mean, there's so much for myself just to continue to learn in terms of this reigning principle of grace. It just comes so natural to say, okay, how many times have you read your Bible this week? How many times have you prayed? I mean, those are simple concepts. How many of us have actually thought those things at one point in time? How strong is my quiet time game right now? Do I have a quiet time?

These are good questions, but without a recognition of who we are in this new kingdom of grace, we simply reject the grace plan. It's just not something that we would come up with on our own at all. It's so vastly different than our nature would have us go.

So in chapter 6 verse 1, We're talking about, for the uninstructed believer and non-believers, what's the danger there? You know, this idea of sin abounding and grace overflowing. Why? Why is it so critical? Because without abounding grace, we're simply increasing in law. That's all we're going to do is put ourselves under the additional rules of living so we can just get along. Let's just get some rules. I mean, how many? the judicial system has been kind of put out in the open this week with all that's going on, and just to think about the fact that, you know, it's such a flawed system, isn't it?

We do, we have such a flawed judicial system, and I think that the Book of Romans is such a judicial book, and I'm just so thankful that we have a faith that is not based on the kind of corruption that we see in our own judicial system. This is not human in terms of how it is applied or understood. It is of God. And it's just such a stark contrast. And I'm so thankful for that because if we were trying to decide of our federal guilt based on the laws of our land, man, we'd be in trouble, right? So, what is the answer to the question in verse 1, chapter 6? What's the answer? May it never be. May it never be.

What does grace produce? If we're motivated by grace, what's happening? It produces righteousness. It does produce righteousness. Can grace be a motivation at all? Or don't you need some kind of rule? If I'm sitting there telling you, as a new believer, grace is your motivation, what does that mean? Wait, no, my motivation should be to please God. No, grace is your motivation. What does that mean? Does it mean Christ living his life through you? It does mean that. Is grace a motivator? What's that?

It should be. I think it's easily abused. I do it a lot. Grace is abounding. And I think, oh, it's fine. Because grace is abounding. And that's the thing. I can't believe you said that. Does anybody else feel that way? Does anybody else ever felt that way? I mean, it's embarrassing to say that, but sure. We all recognize that.

What's interesting is that Paul is not saying that we should sin so that grace abounds, but he's saying that grace does abound, right? And it overflows and it continues. Even as we sin, we recognize that grace has provided a whole new perspective in terms of how God views us. And so, as a motivation though, does grace motivate you to sin more so that grace abounds more? It doesn't. How is grace a motivator? That's my real question right now. We can comprehend the love and mercy and goodness of God which somehow Holy Spirit put in through us. This empowers us to live a new life. And we love him for his mercy and goodness. I think it's a motivator because it allows us to rest.

Yeah. What do you mean? Well, I mean, trying to uphold the law, you got to stay busy. And it's all about you. And it's, you know, experiencing that rest and growing in grace. That's where the Lord wants us to be. You know, another thought is grace is unmerited. It's from someone else. It's acted upon you. So now, do we change and say that it's incumbent upon you?

Or is it still the agency who extends grace to produce those fruits that we simply respond to? Does that make sense? If the word is motivation, what is the source of motivation and grace? It's from the agency which is Jesus Christ our Lord. I guess I'm saying, maybe it's almost a trick question. Anytime you put it on yourself, even in response, I think he makes the mark of this idea of grace. Where it comes from, the source of grace and the response to that. Do you start to put together a definition that we recall? Grace is the undeserved, unlimited, unmerited... Blessing. How does it go from there? Based on...

I think it's the totally adequate work of Christ on the cross. Let me ask you a question. I as a believer, is it necessary that I'm going to sin? Is it necessary? Do I have to? If you don't believe, if you're not settled in grace, then I think you have to come to the conclusion, well I'm necessarily going to sin once in a while. I have to do it. Oh, is it necessary that I do sin?

Answer, under grace it isn't. Because God has made every provision to free me totally from the whole concept of sin. And that's what makes it so gracious is that God has taken every impediment away from me. And I can just, from a sinning standpoint, I don't have to anymore.

From a technical point of view, you're dead to it. That's right. That's why it makes no sense. The question makes no sense. You're dead to it. And again, because another agency is living through you. That's why every time you ask about your role in things, it gets very tricky. Because you start missing the mark of what we've been talking about the whole time. Who we are in Christ. How do you articulate it?

How am I, as a believer, who am yet to sin but am no longer in it? But I do. I think we refer to it as spiritual insanity. I think in some ways, though, our condition forces us to rely on Christ. If we didn't have sin and didn't struggle with it, it would be good to go, in a sense. Maybe not sin, but the trial, right? If we didn't have the circumstances, the needs as we talk about them. We have those choices that we make, but maybe it's someone else's sin. It could be our own, but more importantly, I wouldn't want to say God uses sin in the same way that he uses circumstances and trials to cause a greater need for him, right?

That's definitely one of the the cases that we see. He promises not only that there will be those, but that He is present in them. And so, cool, fun class. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank You for just the rain principle of grace and who we are in Christ.

And while we don't recognize it and And so many times, in all honesty, Lord, we just, we do, we take advantage of the very grace that you've given. It's not used as a motivation or understood as a motivation for thankfulness, but Lord, we do, we as believers sometimes just take it for granted. And so Lord, we just pause to recognize that not only ourselves, but our families and all of us as believers are in this new reigning kingdom of grace. And we thank you that it's unmerited, it's undeserved. And that, Lord, it's based solely on the work of what you did on the cross, and without that we would not recognize or have access to any of what we're talking about today in terms of who we are in you. So we thank you for that truth, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.