As we come back to our study in the book of Romans, we remind ourselves that this book is very carefully laid out. There is first that universal need of the gospel, then the forgiving power of the gospel, and we're in that section of the transforming power of the gospel. there is this forgiving grace where our record in heaven is dealt with by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and where you and I as believers may have a 100% justification based on what Jesus has done. When it comes to sanctification, that's a different story. Sanctification takes place in our hearts. There is an initial change that comes at conversion. And then we settle into that long gradual process of the ups and downs of ongoing or progressive sanctification realizing that in this life we will never reach perfection or anything close to it. But instead, at the point of our death or when Christ returns, there is that dramatic uptick to when we are glorified and totally free from sin. As we're in this section of sanctification, I've highlighted over and over again this important truth that sanctification only takes place once we have been justified, and I underscore this because the human heart wants to get things twisted around and wants to think that we somehow win favor with God because of what we do in putting to death the deeds of the body. Our text this morning highlights that we are debtors or that we are under obligation, but not to the flesh, but to the Spirit. There are errors associated with the Christian life. You may find it interesting to notice that Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones spends one whole sermon on this text dealing with the first two errors that I have listed on the screen. Is Paul telling believers that sin can be eradicated in the life of the believer here and now? Can a believer reach perfection? Can a believer reach perfection by having the baptism of the Spirit? No. You're putting to death the deeds of the body. Is Paul telling believers that we can just give the matter of the Christian life over to Jesus and that he will take care of it for us? No. If you don't put to death the deeds of the body, you're not going to live for all eternity. It is very much something that is laid on you and me as believers. Is Paul telling, I think the tendency in our day is simply, ah, Christian life, let's not worry about it, it's not really that important. Is Paul telling believers to not really worry about a changed life? Well, no, not at all. Well, look at that. In the space of two minutes, we've covered what Dr. Lloyd-Jones took nearly an hour to cover. So then, brethren, We are under obligation not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. You don't owe the flesh anything, but you owe God, you owe God the Spirit for indwelling you. John Owen famously said, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. and we need to have that etched on our hearts, and if anything needs to be etched other than believe in Christ, trust in God, on the inside of your eyelids it's this, be killing sin or sin will be killing you. Well, with that, let's come to the text itself. Let's come to our handout sheet, if you choose to use it, Roman numeral one. The connection. The connection of the obligation. And here, we are looking to the fact that, first of all, A. Paul appeals to establish truth. So then, so then brethren, This is bringing together two words that speak of a transition that what I'm telling you about now is based on what I have already told you, so then. It's been used by Paul in 518 regarding the two Adams, the two representatives, so then as through one transgression. That's a carefully reasoned section of Romans. And we find in Romans 7, in verse 3, so then, speaking of our death to the law by our union with Christ, carefully reasoned error, and there's the so then. And then Romans 7, 25, after all of the struggle of Romans 7, 15 to 25, we have thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then, On the one hand, I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh, the law of sin. And if you want to understand this conflict of the believer on the one hand going after righteousness and yet the remnants of sin within the house devil that is arguing here for sin, it's a carefully reasoned argument. And when Paul comes to deal with the sovereignty of God, in Romans 9 and verse 16, he's going to say, so then it does not depend on the man who wills or on the man who runs. And then again in 9.18, so then he has mercy on whom he desires. Whenever you see the so then, It's a very plain reminder that you are in the carefully reasoned section of the book of Romans. The whole thing is carefully laid out for us. There was a logical connection. You can't just drop in to some verse Romans say, oh, I think this means such and such without paying attention to the rest of what Paul has been saying. So is Paul telling believers that sin can be eradicated in the life of the believer? No, not at all. And it's interesting. Lloyd-Jones says that those who argue this usually are coming at it from some parable or some passage in the Old Testament that really doesn't have anything to do directly with the Christian life being laid out. If those who propose such notions would come to this section and look at it, it would be hard for them to be confused. Is Paul telling believers that we can just give the matter of the Christian life over to Jesus and he will take care of it? Well, God, the Holy Spirit is in you so that in large measure you can take care of it. by the Spirit. It's Paul telling believers to not really worry about a changed life. Well, you go on one course of action and it's going to end up in eternal death, and you go on another course of action and you end up with eternal life. So those outcomes tell us that the Christian life is fairly important. And so I ask, what are the truths that Paul has been considering? When he says, so then, what are some of the high points of what he has already given us? Well, in Romans 5 and verse 1, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Then in Romans 6, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? And here's the change. No longer dealing with our legal standing in our record books there in heaven, but now in the arena of my own heart. Am I going to continue in sin? No. because I have been united with the Lord Jesus Christ in his death and I have been united to him in his resurrection from the grave and that speaks of spiritual power coming to help me make changes under the blessing of God. Then you've got the definitive sanctification of Romans 6. Either you're a slave of sin or you're a slave of righteousness. Then the struggle against sin, wretched man that I am, with all of those things in the background, the personal fulfillment of the law where the individual Christian in Romans 8 and verse four, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. There's something that we can do that is pleasing in the eyes of our heavenly Father, if we are walking not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So here we have all of this that has gone on before, and then perhaps most relevant is the message of verses 9 through 11. And what do we have there? Well, we've got the great resurrection power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. If you're a believer, you've got the Holy Spirit in you. You don't have the Holy Spirit in you, then you do not belong to Jesus Christ. It is that plain. But this Holy Spirit that is indwelling us is life and is able to help us in righteousness. That's verse 10. And in verse 11, this omnipotent Holy Spirit, one day at the final day, the day of judgment, you and I as believers will be raised from the dead and we will be glorified and that's going to be an easy thing for the Spirit of God to do. That Spirit of God who's able to raise you bodily in the great and final day is in within you. And it's all the hint and all the background that there is power within you to put to death the deeds of the body. You see how Paul carefully reasons and builds his arguments. So that is why Paul says, so then there is a context. There is great power at our disposal. Secondly, B, under the connection of this obligation, Paul appeals to establish believers. He's not talking to anyone and everyone. He is not talking to unbelievers. See it there in verse 12. So then, brethren, so then, brothers and sisters, we We are under obligation. Paul is very plainly talking to true believers. He is talking to those who have the faith of Romans 5 and verse 1 that justifies them and gives them peace with God. But these who have believed and are justified now most necessarily need to be sanctified. If you're in union with Jesus Christ, then you're under obligation to him. You owe him a debt. It's a message of 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 20. For you have been bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body. And in this particular context, it is that the Spirit of God is in you. And if the Holy Spirit has come to live in the cesspool of your life, is that exaggeration? Then you owe it to him. to seek to be godly, to seek to walk according to his leading. Well, that's the connection, the connection to establish truth and to establish believers. Now, Roman numeral two, the negative side, the negative side of the obligation not living to the flesh. First of all, A, the essence of the prohibition for the true believer. So then, brethren, we are under obligation. We are debtors. not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. And so Paul moves in verse 12 to this thought of obligation. Debtors is perhaps the better translation, found in the New King James, found in the ESV. But it's not a matter of monetary debt. Someone has done something for you that is very, very kind and you owe them something because of it. Now here is a gross illustration, but I don't believe it's an exaggeration for the sense of owing. Imagine with me that you've got a problem in your septic system. All that crud that comes out of your house and goes into a special holding tank in your system, it requires that there be a pump in that system and it's got a pump up the hill and then it drains out and it's all underground. You don't ever have to worry about it. Except right now the pump is bad and it's down in this tank. And your neighbor says, that's all right. I'll go on in. Boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. Gets whatever needs to be done and brings it out. Do you owe that neighbor anything? Well, more than even the feed that he is charging you. You owe him a sense of gratitude for being willing to go into the muck to address your problem. This is what God, the Holy Spirit has done. God the Holy Spirit has come into your life that has got some significant septic issues. And there is sin and there is muck and there is stuff there and there are smells there that are odious to one who is absolutely perfect and absolutely holy so that we call him the Holy Spirit. If he's willing to come and take up a residence in you and in me, a residence that stinks because of sin, do you owe him anything? And he is then for the rest of your days going to help you deal with your plumbing problems. So this is what Paul is saying. If you've got a sense of what has gone on in your conversion, we are debtors, but not to the flesh. The flesh has contributed to all this muck, to all this stink. And you don't owe the flesh anything. But he's laying it down very firmly that you owe someone. You owe God. The flesh will addict you to a life of sin and the flesh will ultimately lead you to eternal damnation. You do not owe the flesh anything. So see with me here as we're dealing with the essence of the prohibition. It's not to the flesh. We're not to be debtors to the flesh. The flesh is not eradicated. It is an ever-present danger for the believer. It is a danger that the Christian will still be influenced by the flesh. It's what Paul has talked about, we've seen it in Romans 7, verse 18, for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh, for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. and God the Holy Spirit comes to empower us. That's A, the essence. Now B, the reasons for the prohibition for the true believer. Why are we not to view ourselves indebted to the flesh? Well, first of all, because the flesh opposes God. The flesh opposes God. See it there in verse six. For the mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life and peace. Verse seven, the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God and does not even subject itself to the law of God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. reasons why we do not owe the flesh anything. Number two, because the omnipotent Holy Spirit dwells in you. If you're a true believer, the Spirit is in you. If you don't have the Spirit of God, then you do not belong to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is life, in verse 10, to produce righteousness. and that omnipotent Holy Spirit that's going to raise you bodily from the grave. That Holy Spirit that's gonna take the bits of you that are in the grave that have dissolved and just apparently gone away, it's all gonna be gathered up and it's all gonna be glorified by spiritual power. Do you think that God can help you deal with your sin? Thirdly, because a life dominated by the flesh leads to eternal death. If you are living according to the flesh, you must, better it is, you will, you will die. the death referred to must be understood in its broadest scope and does not stop short of death in its ultimate manifestation, eternal separation from God. Now Paul is not teaching here that an individual believer can lose their salvation. What he is teaching is If someone lives according to the flesh, characteristic, the outworking of their whole lives, then that individual has never been converted. Because the true believer in Christ has the Holy Spirit dwelling in, and where the omnipotent Holy Spirit is dwelling, you cannot hide that. If the omnipotent Spirit is in you, it will break out in something of a transformed life. The only way of avoiding the issue of death is to be delivered from the life of the flesh. And this is to be a true believer. Let's notice and remind ourselves of the three legs of the milking stool. The milking stool of the well-grounded assurance of salvation. What are those legs? First leg is a firm belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second leg is the evidence of the Holy Spirit working within life. And we see that in these verses. If the Spirit of God has come into your life where there is a stink, where there is sin, He is going to exert His influence and there will be changes. There will not be perfection in this life, but there will be evidence of the Holy Spirit being there. John puts it a different way. The one who says, I have come to know him, I'm a professing Christian, of course I'm a believer, and does not habitually keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Don't you have to take somebody at their word? Well John says, I don't. Someone says that they are a believer, but they are habitually dominated by sin and not by righteousness. John says they're not telling the truth. First John 3 and verse 9. No one who is born of God habitually practices sin because God's seed abides in him. And he cannot habitually sin because he is born of God. By this, the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness habitually is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. firm belief in the promises of God, some evidence that God's Holy Spirit is working in you. Are there any of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in you? And then the final leg is the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit, witnessing to our spirits that we are children of God. We don't have to go very far for that, do we? Verse 15, we've received the Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father. 16, the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. Now, professing Christian, if you're missing any one of the three legs, you're missing some comfort in your Christian life. If there is something that is missing in one part of one of those legs, so that it's three inches shorter than what it should be, then you're missing comfort in your Christian life. We need to be comfortable, we need to be confident that we are in a state of grace that we may then work for the glory of God. Roman numeral three, the positive side. the positive side of the obligation living by the Holy Spirit. We've first of all seen the connection of the obligation, we've seen the negative side of the obligation not according to the flesh, and now the positive. First of all, Our expectation, our expectation of the requirement for the true believer, there's been all of this contrast in Romans 8 beginning at verse 5, that which is done according to the flesh, that which is done according to the Spirit, setting your mind on the things of the flesh, setting your mind on the things, there's this plain contrast. So that when we come to Romans 8, we are debtors, we are under obligation, not to the flesh. We are expecting Paul to give the opposite of that by saying, but to the Spirit. Not to live according to the flesh, we're expecting something like, but to live according to the Spirit. But instead, Paul wants us, under inspiration, to know what we're looking for. Well, I thought he was going to say, but according to the Spirit. But he doesn't say that. But he does say it. He doesn't say those words, but he gives what the ministry of the Spirit is, what it means to live by the Spirit. And what does it mean to live by the Spirit? It is given to us in very specific language that we are to put to death the deeds of the body. Do you see that? God wants us to complete Paul's thought in our minds. Here's all this contrast from verse 5, the flesh, the spirit, the flesh, the spirit, the flesh, according to the flesh, according to the, no, it's not there in those exact words, but it is that we would put to death the deeds of the body by the spirit. Now, What Paul is doing here is showing us that a very central part of our Christian lives as believers is something that is negative. Putting something to death is negative. And if you had to put your sins to death as a sniper, it's still rather negative. You get all lined up and you're a mile away from your sin, and you take the shot, and you stay in your scope for a little, and you see something explode. Do you think that's how sanctification takes place? We don't have the pleasure of being that far away. We don't even have the pleasure of having a mafia execution. Walk up, sins right here, boom, he's gone. Dead, never gonna see him again. I'm struggling how to illustrate this. You know, our dealing with sin is more up close and personal. This passage is not like Ephesians 4, Ephesians 4 where you put off and you put on. You just take off the dirty garment and then you throw it over there and put on something that's clean and fresh and smells decent. But the way you put something to death, you put a sin to death, it's more like you've got your hands around its neck. It's pretty up close and personal. And you're squeezing the life out of that thing. And then before you know it, one of your other sins is coming up over here and you've got to go squeeze the life out of that one. And it's never done. And there's a chance that they get to be revived. Now, you may think that I'm making it a little too gory, but did you catch the words of Galatians 5, the words in the illustration of Galatians 5 that came and found me this morning? The words in the text, I'm sure it's always been there, but they didn't knock on my head and say, hello, until this morning. And it's the message there, just, okay, here are the deeds of the flesh. Then you got all the wonderful positive of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, the kindness, the gentleness, the self-control, all those good and positive things. And what's the next verse? For you have crucified the flesh. and its desires and its passions. So then my illustration of choking out the life is actually a little too kind. It's too docile. It's too tame. But the way that we are to envision putting sin to death is having a heavy hammer and some big nails. and we bring that sin in, the deed of the flesh, and we tell it to quit squirming as we hold it, and we hammer in the nails, and then lo and behold, they pop off, and there's blood on us, and it's a gory situation, and you gotta do it again. But what we have in Ephesians 4 is very plain. There is the negative, there is the positive. He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need. And there will be radical, radical changes that come to our whole lives as a result of God saving us, forgiving us, and then transforming us. Letting all the bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander and malice. Somebody that's got all that hate and all that evil speech well-developed in them. And then God the Holy Spirit says, you've got to get rid of that. And in place, you are kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. So there's our expectation. We were expecting to hear according to the flesh, according to the spirit, but God descends to the particulars. Secondly, B, the essence. The essence. of the requirement for the true believer, put to death, and I already anticipated this a little bit, but here's the latter part of verse 13, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. The first thing I want to say here is that in putting to death, the putting to death, it's plainly our duty. It's what we must do. How often do you do it? Present tense. It's something that you do, and you do, and you do, and you do it over and over again, really for the whole time of our pilgrimage here in this world. We have been crucified with Christ. We have been put to death with Christ in union with him on the cross. And now we have this union with his spiritual resurrection. There is a life so that we can put sin to death. and it's not a sniper, it's not with a knife, it's not with lethal injection, it's a choke hold, and even more than that, it is a hammer and big nails crucifying the flesh. The deeds of the body. The deeds of the body. It's the physical entity that we call the body. We sin with this body. So it takes in all the sins that we do with our hands and our arms and our back and our legs and our feet, any sin that we walk into, sins that we do with our hands, but it's more than that, because this body has got a brain. and that the brain is used to think these thoughts, these huge enormous thoughts of how important I am, that's called pride, or whether there are evil thoughts of I'm going to get even with someone, or there's the lust that Jesus speaks of, those are all deeds of the body. eyes, ears, nose, mouth, brain. Paul is getting very specific, very concrete, and very practical for us. It's found in his writing to the Colossian church as well. Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. But then there are all these things that need to be flushed out. Put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice. Which one is yours? Which three or four most pertain to you? Don't you find it? That just about the time you feel like, well, maybe I got that one kind of choked out and then there's another one or another two. But God is testing us. Are we committed to put these things aside? And are we willing to put on the new by the Spirit? By the Spirit, isn't that encouraging? Might be confusing to you, but it ought to be encouraging. The work of mortifying is done with the help of the Holy Spirit. You and I must do it, but the Spirit helps us. The personal believer or the individual believer does not have an individual reservoir of strength that you can just go do this. You need fresh supplies of God, the Holy Spirit. It is always by the help of the Holy Spirit that we are choking out some sin. Listen to Philippians chapter two. So then my beloved, verse 12, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, but the willing to work for his good pleasure. Who does the work? I do. Who does the work? I do, by the help of God's Holy Spirit. Let's think of one fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is my self-control. Well, who's controlling me? I am. I have to decide when I'm going to get up every morning. I have to decide how much I'm going to eat for breakfast, how much I'm going to eat for lunch, and how much I'm going to eat for dinner, and how much I'm going to eat in between. Is that how it works for you? That if you're going to have self-control that you're going to be involved in it? Well, how is it that it is the fruit of the Spirit? Well, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, with real earnestness, knowing for it is God who is at work in you. Oh, good. I'm going to take the steps to do it, but I hope that God, the Holy Spirit, is going to bear me along. By self-control, I decide what to read and not read in my Bible reading, and I decide whether or not there's going to be any prayer that goes along with my devotional reading. Self-control. I decide how I'm going to manage my computer time and my phone time. Self-control. But here is the encouraging thing. As I work out my salvation, God the Holy Spirit is at work in me. We've got to see this. It's not either or, it's both of us. My self-control is the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit does not work in developing my self-control, then it will not be the fruit of the Holy Spirit and it will not happen either. However, if I do not work in the act of development of my self-control, then it will not happen and it will not be my self-control. Pastor Martin used to say something very close to this. I am never more truly at work than when God the Holy Spirit is at work in me. It's not either or. It's both working. When God the Holy Spirit is at work in me, then the evidence that God the Holy Spirit is at work in me is that I am at work as well. We don't cancel out the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, when he isn't working, doesn't cancel us out. But the Holy Spirit engages us and uses us. What we expected, the essence, and now thirdly, see motivations for the requirement in the true believer. Why should I put to death the deeds of the body? because you will live. But I'll reach further, beyond our text first. Because Jesus has died for you. The one who has joined himself to the Lord is one spirit with him. 1 Corinthians 6 and now verse 20, for you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body. Well, I had to do this because I wanna live for the glory of Him who died for me. Because God, the Holy Spirit, indwells you. This is reason or motivation number two. We've already covered this, but I wanna highlight it again. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, His omnipotence is going to be in you, and it's going to influence you. The Holy Spirit has come into the septic tank of your life. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? God owns you. And the third, motivation. Because your personal mortification of your sin is an evidence of spiritual life. If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And this living is eternal life that is for believers, for the holy ones of God. My hearers, it is critically important that you have the right kind of Christianity. If your view, if your version of Christianity is allergic to God telling you what you need to do to put the deeds of the body to death, then there's something defective with that view of Christianity. There is a wrong and defective kind of Christianity. It's the kind of Christianity that is experienced by those who say in the day of judgment, Lord, Lord. But Jesus says to those individuals, yeah, I know there will be many. with a defective view of Christianity. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Your life was not changed. You got a kind of Christianity where you claim to know me, but your life is not transformed by God the Holy Spirit. So it's not a genuine kind of Christianity. James knows of this. James 2 in verse 14, what use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith, can that kind of faith save him? Verse 17, even so faith if it has no works is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, you have faith and I have works, show me your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one, you do well, the demons also believe and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? I claim to know Jesus Christ, but I do not habitually give myself to walking in the ways of Jesus Christ, then I am perilously in danger of being like the Matthew 7 guy. who does not practice the law of God, does not obey God. In the right kind of Christianity, You must repent of your sins. We've seen that in Romans, haven't we? There is none righteous, no not one. There is none that seek after God. They are away from God and wanting to go away from God. And you and I need to repent of that and we need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to have our record declared righteous. but you in a biblical balanced Christianity must experience a radical inner transformation of your life. And if you are a member of hell's motorcycle gang, you're gonna quit murdering people. And you're gonna quit being abusive in this way. And it's gonna be very, very obvious But even if you have grown up in the church, you will see a radical inner transformation where your motives get changed and get purified. Notice the ifs in Romans 8. If the Spirit of God dwells in you, Paul under inspiration is envisioning situation where somebody may claim to have the things of God, but they don't really have the Holy Spirit in them. And Paul doesn't want them to take an assurance to themselves that is light and fluffing and meaningless. And if you sit here this morning, either as a believer, as a professing believer, or you're not a believer at all and you say, either I don't have the Spirit of God or I'm not sure I have the Spirit of God, then what you need to do is to plead with God to come. Oh, Spirit of God, come, regenerate me. Help me to know this work of you within me. change my heart so that I desire the things of your kingdom and give me the grace to take the hammer and the big nail and when I see the deeds of my flesh that I'm gonna hold it down with my foot or my knee and I'm gonna hammer in to crucify the flesh and the passions and the desires of it. Oh may God grant that you and I would be earnest in having a biblical and right Christianity. One where we own our sin, yes. One where we believe on Jesus Christ to the justifying of our record, but it doesn't stop there. It goes on to have us transformed and sanctified by the help of God, the Holy Spirit. Let's pray. O Holy Spirit, we thank you for being willing to come to each of us who are now believers. You came to us in our sin, and you regenerated us. You gave us eyes to see our sin. You gave us eyes to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you led us to him. But you, Spirit of God, have also taken up residence within us to transform us, to give us the will, the desire, the energy that we would find out the deeds of the body and that we would put them to death and we would continue to put them to death for all the days of our existence here on earth. Father, we are well aware that there are times when we may be choking out a sin, and there are other times when that sin is about to choke us off. And we pray that your grace would prevail for your glory, that it would be evident to those who know us best that your grace has come to forgive us and to transform us. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.