Amen. If you would take with me in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 7, verses 1 through 3. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him. To him, Abraham appointed a tenth, part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, King of Righteousness, and then he is also King of Salem, that is, King of Peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he continues a priest forever. Porque este Melchizedek, rey de Salem, sacerdote de Dios Altísimo, que salió a recibir a Abram, que volvía de la derrota de los reyes, y le bendijo a quien asimismo dio a Abram los diezmos de todo, cuyo nombre significa permanentemente rey de justicia. And also King of Salem, this is a king of peace, without a father, without a mother, without genealogy, who neither has a beginning of days nor an end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest forever. Let's pray, let's pray. God, how true is it we just sang, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. I'm reminded of the great hymn, My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. That is our comfort this morning, Lord, that you have given us one to stand in our place, to give his life for ours, And as we'll see this morning, the greater has come to bless the inferior. God, we are a blessed people, because we have everything in you. God, help us to remember that this morning. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. You may be seated, put into Mar Asiento. I can't help is more that I dive into Melchizedek. No puedo ayudar o evitar mas que meto en el estudio de Melchizedek just to think what a weird situation. Solo pensar que es situación tan extraño. It is a great mystery in the scriptures. Es un gran misterio en los escrituras. You have this man that appears. In an odd time, simply Abraham returning to return all these goods to the kings that he rescued. And on his way back to return them of all the spoil that he took from these wicked kings. A man comes out and meets him. And gives him bread and wine. And blesses him. And in return, Abraham pays him a tithe. And then you never hear of him again. And David, writing this psalm, this messianic psalm in Psalm 110, prophesies. Jesus will be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Jesus will be a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. Why in the world does David write that? Why does David write that? And then the author of Hebrews, the author of Hebrews, says, brings this idea of Christ's priesthood. Brings this idea of priesthood of Christ. And I want you to see the setting. I want you to see the scenario. This is written to churches full of Hebrews. People who were steeped in ceremonial worship. And you have all of these New Testament writings dealing with the Judaizers. And sometimes we forget that Hebrews is doing the same thing. These Judaizers, maybe they're saying, do you not think you need a priest? Do you think the Levitical priesthood is really done away with? And Hebrews comes, Hebrews viene, says, let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. And they would ask the question, how is Jesus a high priest? They just ask the question, how is Jesus a high priest? How can you call him a priest? How can you call him a priest? Because there's this guy named Melchizedek that didn't have a mother and father. He didn't have a genealogy. We don't know when he was born or when he died. And he was a priest. Oh, and it's the one that David said, Christ is going to come and be a priest after him. But the more that I dive in here, it's just a weird example. One thing I don't want us to miss, una cosa que no queremos que fallamos. Types and shadows. Tipos y sombras. That is the book of Hebrews. Es el libro de Hebreos. Showing the type and then bringing forth the anti-type. Mostrando el tipo y sacando el anti-tipo. And I don't want you to miss the point. I love how our confession proclaims this. In chapter seven of God's covenant, paragraph three, it starts like this. This covenant, this is the covenant of redemption. The covenant of grace. This covenant is revealed in the Gospel, first of all to Adam in the promise of salvation by the seed of the woman, and afterwards by farther steps until the full discovery thereof was completed in the New Testament. Dice, este pacto, el pacto de gracia, se revela en el Evangelio. In the first place, Adam, in the promise of salvation through the seed of the woman, and then, through additional steps, to complete his full revelation in the New Testament. I believe these further steps are these types and shadows. Yo creo que estos pasos son los tipos y sombras. Every time we see a covenant made in the Old Testament, cada vez que vemos un pacto hecho en el Antiguo Testamento, we see the sacrificial system given. Vemos el sistema sacrificial dado. We see more clear the gospel. Vemos más claro el Evangelio. You have the clothing of Adam and Eve with this animal. The promise of the gospel, our confession says. And then you have Abraham taking Isaac to Mount Moriah. Clearer. Then you have the Passover. So we cannot forget this, that the gospel is preached here. So all of the weirdness of Melchizedek, the point is this, we have a high priest that has gone for us. Before we continue to the description of Melchizedek this morning, there was a little bit of pushback from last week. I thought there probably would be. I know last week was quite the intellectual sermon. It kind of has to be. There's this historical man that we have to deal with. But I do want to address something that we will more fully cover next week. But I just want to introduce it here. I took a position last week on the descendants of where Melchizedek descended from. I want to give a reason. ideas or two possibilities of Melchizedek. First, some believe that Melchizedek is Christ in the Old Testament. They believe that because our text says he's without mother, father, genealogy, beginning of days or end of days. They believe this because our text says that he is without a mother, without a father, without genealogy, without beginning of days, nor end of days. However, I think it's a wrong position. However, I think it's a wrong position. Let me give a few reasons. Let me give a few reasons first. He had to be man. Tenia que ser hombre, because Hebrews 5.1 says, every priest is chosen by man, from men. Primero, que Hebreos 5 dice, todos los sacerdotes tienen que ser escogidos entre los hombres. And the point of that, el punto de esto, is that Christ was man. Es que Cristo era hombre. So, he's saying, because he's a priest, he had to be man. Entonces, está diciendo, porque era sacerdote, tenia que ser hombre. Any way you look at it, cualquier forma que lo mires, Melchizedek is a man. Melchizedek es un hombre. And he's a man who lived in the land of Canaan. Es un hombre que vivió en la tierra de Canaan. He was the king of that region. Era rey de esta región. So he didn't just come on the scene. No solamente apareció. He is a man established in the region. Es un hombre establecido en la región. Second, segundo. He offered sacrifices. Él ofreció sacrificios. How do we know that? ¿Cómo sabemos esto? Hebrews makes the point. The priest's responsibility is that he offers sacrifices. La responsabilidad del sacerdote es que él ofrece sacrificios. But Christ did not offer sacrifices. Cristo no ofreció sacrificios. Christ offered one sacrifice. Cristo ofreció un solo sacrificio, and that of himself, y es de sí mismo. And then verse 3 tells us, versículo 3 nos dice, he resembles, es semejante. It is not the same, but it's made to look like. No es el mismo, pero está hecho a mirar como. So verse 3, the Greek word there, versículo 3, palabra en griego ahí, is that, it's not the same, no es el mismo, but it is similar, es similar. So, first, that Christ would be a man, or that Melchizedek would be Christ. First, that Melchizedek was Christ, I do not see that. I don't see that second. Second, the other position we have, the only position we have, that he was a type of Christ. That he was a type of Christ. So therefore we can make some conclusions. Entonces podemos hacer unas conclusiones. First of all, primero, he's a man. Era un hombre. Well, if he's a man, he had father and mother. Si era un hombre, tenía padre y madre. He did not come from an immaculate conception. So our text says he had no father or mother. We'll deal with that more next week. But the point being made here is that he's a priest. which is a priest, and we can't look at the genealogy to say he's qualified to be a priest. We can't look at his genealogy to say he's qualified to be a priest. Many of you might have just read through the book of Nehemiah. Some have just read the book of Nehemiah. And in the book of Nehemiah, when they come back from exile, in the book of Nehemiah, when they return from exile, there's a problem. Who's the priest? Some of them are now disqualified from being priests because they don't have papers. They can't prove where they came from. So they're now disqualified. So the author of Hebrews, the author of Hebrews is saying, but he is a priest without genealogy. If you will, look at verse 16. The point of the author of Hebrews mentioning this is here. Who has become a priest, not on the basis of legal requirements concerning bodily descent, but on the power of the indestructible life. Because men certainly... Sorry, verse 16, chapter 7. It says, not constituted according to the law of commandment concerning the offspring, but according to the power of an indestructible life. So the point is Christ is a priest, not on the genealogy. Like Melchizedek. But Christ is a priest because he can't die. So because he came from somewhere, I made the point that I would believe he came from Jephthah. Well, we only have three options. He either came from Shem, Ham, or Japheth. So I simply made a case for Jephthah. So we'll deal with this more in the weeks, in the second week, next week. Lo tratamos mas en la siguiente semana, as we look at these declarations of Melchizedek. Mientras miramos esas declaraciones de Melchizedek, that he is without father, mother, genealogy, nor beginning or end of days. Que es sin madre, padre, ni genealogia, ni principio, ni fin del dios. Let's continue in the description of Melchizedek. This is one of my favorites. So number four. He's a priest of a Most High God. El es el sacerdote de Dios Altisimo. This is the fourth description. Es la cuatro descripcion. And we now see the office of which the author of Hebrews is focusing on. Ahora vemos el oficio que el autor de Hebreos esta enfocando. That he is a priest. Que el es un sacerdote. And there's two things that I want us to notice here. Dos cosas que queremos que notar aqui. One, he is a priest in general. Uno, el es un sacerdote en general. He was the first priest. Él era el primer sacerdote. There was never a priest before him. Nunca había un sacerdote ante él. He was centuries before Aaron and the Levites. Él era centurias antes de Aarón y los Levitos. We have no record of anyone else being a priest. No tenemos un record de nadie más siendo sacerdote. He is the first. Él es el principio. I want you to see what He brings. Now, I don't want to make too much of this, but if you go back to Genesis 14, and you read this account, the way that it's worded, that He comes out to meet Abraham, and He brings bread and wine, And the reason is because he's a priest to the Most High God. He brings these things to Abraham because he's a priest. If you were in Sunday school, maybe your wheels are turning. And you say, ha! Bread and wine. The same thing that Christ says, I eat my flesh and drink my blood. I am the bread of life, Christ says. I think this is symbolic in Melchizedek. That he brings out to the church the bread and the wine. He was also the only priest of a special calling. Él también es el único sacerdote de una llamada especial, an extraordinary calling, un llamamiento extraordinario. He doesn't get a calling like Aaron and his descendants. Él no tiene un llamamiento como Aaron y sus descendencias, where they have a list of genealogy, donde ellos tienen una lista de genealogía. They say, well, he's now born a priest. Él es nacido sacerdote. No, no, no. God chose Melchizedek to be king. Dios escogió a Melchizedek a ser rey of Salem, de Salem, and he makes him a priest. Y lo hace un sacerdote. Because of an extraordinary calling. Por una llamada extraordinario. In the general sense of Melchizedek being a priest, in the general sense of Melchizedek being a priest, there are two things I want us to consider. Two things I want us to consider first, that he's man. He served as a priest, as a man. Once again, Hebrews 5. For every high priest chosen from among men is approved to act on behalf of men in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. This was the job and work of Melchizedek. We see that he was a man. And we see that Hebrews tells us that every high priest is chosen from among men. But we see that Christ did not offer sacrifices repeatedly. That's the point of the author of Hebrews in chapter seven. He's going to say that he only offers one. I want to note here that Melchizedek served in his region. He was the king of Salem. A real place. And there were people in his kingdom. And he was a priest over them. He offered sacrifices to the true God for their sins. You say, well, how do you know that? Well, he's a priest. He's a priest. And our text tells us here in Hebrews that the job of a priest is to offer sacrifice for sins to God. So he functioned as a priest. Second, segundo, he was not only a priest in the general sense, no solamente era sacerdote en el sentido general, but he was also a priest by extraordinary call. El era un sacerdote por llamamento extraordinario. Listen to Hebrews 5.4, escucha Hebreos 5.4, and no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So, just as Aaron received a call, Christ received a call. We looked at that in chapter 5. And Melchizedek received a call. How did this extraordinary call happen? We don't know. The text doesn't say how he came to be a priest, just that God called him to be a priest. So we can confirm some negatives about him. He didn't come to his office by secession. He didn't come from someone that would make him a priest. In the same way Christ is our priest. He's from the tribe of Judah, not from Levi. So Christ was appointed by an extraordinary call, Cristo tambien fue apuntado por una llamada extraordinario, to his office of high priest, en su oficio de sumo sacerdote, in the same way that Melchizedek was, en la misma forma como Melchizedek. Second, segundo. He was not called to set apart or set apart by a ceremony. El no fue llamado o apartado por un ceremonio. Why? How do we know this? There was no law or ceremonial law to show it. And so it was with Christ. Christ was anointed to the office by God, not by way of ceremonial law. The ceremony of the anointing of a priest, the ceremonio de ungir de un sacerdote, the blessing of the Aaronico priest, the bendicion del sacerdote Aaronico, they were given to a carnal representation. Erendados a un representacion carnal. That means that they would see that there is a priesthood. That they were dressed a certain way. To set them apart. They could go into a certain place. What about all this with Melchizedek? Somehow he is offering sacrifice to God for people. Why? God called him to be a priest. Christ is called extraordinary by God. This extraordinary call of Melchizedek did two things for his ministry. First, it gave him a sufficient authority. How is it that Melchizedek can come and bless Abraham? By what authority can he take God's name and proclaim it to Abraham? He was a priest in the middle of nowhere. Land of Canaan. Who's going to listen to him? However, sin embargo, he comes out to meet with Abraham. El sale a juntar con Abraham, the most righteous man in the world at the time, el hombre mas justo en el mundo, the one that God chose, el que Dios escogio, that by him all the nations would be blessed, que por el todas las naciones seran benditos. And here comes Melchizedek, aqui viene Melchizedek, and Abraham honors him. Y Abraham lo honra a el. Second, segundo. that all who feared God would see that he was called. We see this once again in Abraham. Why would Abraham give him a tenth? Because he saw the calling of God. So, let the church be encouraged by two things here, by these two things. One, that we are set apart by the blood of Christ. Somos apartados por la sangre de Cristo, that we're called to be priests. Estamos llamados a ser sacerdotes. How can I be a priest? I don't have the genealogy. ¿Cómo puedo ser sacerdote? No tengo genealogía. My dad's here, my mom's here, you can see them. Mi papá y mi mamá están aquí, puedes verlo. How then can I be a priest? ¿Cómo puedo ser sacerdote? How can I be a priest to my God? ¿Cómo puedo ser sacerdote a mi Dios? That Christ poured out his blood for us. Que Cristo derramo su sangre por nosotros. That he covered us with his righteousness. Que el cubrió nosotros con su justicia. It's enough to set apart a people to be priests. Es suficiente apartar un pueblo a ser sacerdotes. It's this office that Paul is concerned with here. And as I said last week, Melchizedek is a king. But Paul is dealing with his priesthood. The first instituted type of Christ is Melchizedek. A primera tipo de Cristo instituido, tipo de Cristo, is Melchizedek. Yes, in the Old Testament, there's types of the work of Christ. In Antiguo Testamento, hay tipos de la obra de Cristo. So you can look at Abraham taking Isaac up. Puedes ver Abraham llevando Isaac, and there's a type of the sacrifice. Hay un tipo de sacrificio. You can look at the sacrifice that That Abel made. You can see the promise of the seed. You even see moral types. Noah and Adam, Adon and Noah. However, the first instituted type of Christ in their person, a primary tipo de Cristo instituido en su persona, is Melchizedek. It's Melchizedek. And this of a priest, Iese de Sacerdote. Second, not only is he a priest generally, but the text says he's priest to the most high God. That's the first time in scripture that this title is given to God in Genesis 14. It sets a standard, that God is above all gods. And that Melchizedek is a worshipper of that God. Paul limits his office. So I want you to hear this. Here's Melchizedek living in the land of Canaan with the Gentiles and some future Jews. He's a priest. To the Most High God, Adios Altissimo. So the limits of his priesthood are not to foreign gods. Those limitas de sus sacerdocia no son dioses foreanos. No, he's a priest to the Most High God. Es un sacerdote adios altissimo. He was set apart for God. So in this way, he is also a type of Christ. He came to service to God on our behalf. He came in service to Abraham. God also made us priests to himself. We should, in our service, be obedient to him. Nosotros, en nuestro servicio, debemos ser obedientes a él. So he is the priest to the most high God. Él es el sacerdote a Dios Altísimo. Number five, número cinco. He is described here by his work as a priest. Él es describido aquí como su obra de sacerdote. He blessed Abraham. Él bendijo a Abraham. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchizedek is described and mentioned for the circumstances that we find him in. Melchized Abraham and the men with him go and conquer five wicked kings. Abraham and the men with him go and kill five wicked kings. We don't read of the great might of Abraham necessarily. We don't read of the great power of Abraham necessarily. You read the story and it's because Abraham is righteous. You read the story and it's because Abraham is righteous. We read more about the righteousness of Abraham than we do about his glory. He's a very, very wealthy man at this point. He's got lots of power. But it was because he was righteous. So here he comes in return. from this battle. And he's got all of this spoil. And he's coming to bring it back to the kings. He doesn't want it. What does Melchizedek do? He comes and blesses Abraham. And we see this in the act of Christ in the church. that upon the church conquering, sobre la iglesia conquistando, when the gospel has gone out, con la iglesia, evangelio extendido, upon the victory of the church, sobre la victoria de la iglesia, he comes and blesses her. Vino a bendecirle. We saw this morning, he's gonna give her a stone with a name on it. Va a entregar una piedra con un nombre to the one who conquers. A el que conquiste. It's not their bank accounts that we're after. It's not the business or the wealth of the world. But it's the hearts of the world. It's a conquering of the hearts. I want you to note here, Melchizedek. Under the office of priest, he blesses Abraham. So we can see three things in the blessing of Melchizedek to Abraham. Let me read you the blessing. And this comes from Genesis 14, 19-20. And he blessed him and said, And be blessed, God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. Bendito sea Abraham del Dios Altísimo, creador del cielo y de la tierra. Y bendito sea el Dios Altísimo, quien entregó a tus enemigos en tu mano. First, we see in the nature of this, it's a blessing. How is it a blessing? Well, first, there's a prayer offered. And second, there's thanksgiving. He's thankful that God gave the enemies to Abraham. Es agradecido que Dios dio a los enemigos a Abraham. And he's blessed by the Most High God. Bendecido por Dios Altísimo. Second, not only was it by nature a blessing, no solamente por naturaleza una bendición, it was authoritative and sacerdotal. Era autorativo y sacerdotal. He was a priest of the most high God. And he comes and he blesses Abraham. His office as priest required that he bless. In the name of God. Because he's a servant of this God, he must bless in his name. This is the work of a priest. He comes, who is this Melchizedek? He's the king of Salem. He's the one ruling in this region. He's also a priest of the king, of the king of kings. And he comes and in his authority says, Abraham, you're a blessing. Third, Tresera, his blessing was prophetical. Su bendición era profetico. Under divine inspiration, abajo de inspiración divino, he confirmed the blessing of Abraham. El confirmó la bendición de Abraham. The blessing is, Abraham and you, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. The blessing is, en ti, Abram, todos los naciones del mundo serán bendito. That's what Melchizedek was referring to here. It's what Melchizedek refers to here. Blessed be. He blessed him and said, blessed be Abram by God most high. He said, blessed be Abram by God most high. Why? Porque? Because he's going to be a blessing to the whole world. Porque el va a ser bendicion a todo mundo. That's where the gospel is preached to Abraham. Ahí es donde el evangelio es predicado a Abraham. In saying, in you all the nations will be blessed is the preaching of the gospel. Diciendo a el, todas las naciones en ti serán bendito, is a predicación del evangelio. It's in this blessing all believers are also blessed in Jesus Christ. También en esta bendición todos los creyentes son bendito en Jesucristo. We are a nation that is blessed through Abraham. Somos una nación que somos bendito por Abraham. That's the reason we sing Father Abraham had many sons and I am one of them. Por eso dicen nuestro padre Abraham tuvo muchos hijos. Uno soy yo. Six, sexto. He's described by Abraham acknowledging his office as priest. El es describido por el reconocimiento de Abraham de su oficio como sacerdote. The text says, the text would say, and Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. Dice, Abraham le entregó el décimo de todos los despojos. This is the second sacerdotal act by Melchizedek. The first is blessing of Abraham. And now he's receiving a tithe. Our text says that Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. This everything is reduced to the spoils of the war. Look at verse 4. We see how great this man was whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils. Considerar, pues, cuan grande era ésta, a quien aún Abraham el partrica dio diezimo del botín. That is what he had gained from the battle. Lo que él ganó del batalla. Now this is interesting. It's algo interesante. There is no law, because there's no ceremonial law at this point. And Abraham says, a tenth of what I gained from war I'm going to give to you. We can't even say that this is necessarily the standard tithe. No podemos decir necesariamente que el décimo es standard, because under the ceremonial law, or the judicial law, bajo ley judicial, they didn't have to give a tenth of the spoils of war. No tiene que dar un décimo de la botín de la guerra. So this is very interesting, muy interesante. Abraham gives him a tenth. Abraham da un décimo. Here's what we can see. Our tithe is to God. Abraham was being obedient to God. He gave this to God and not necessarily to Melchizedek. Second, segundo, the things that we give in offering, los cosas que nosotros damos en ofrenda, we give as a sacrifice, damos como sacrificio of the good things we give, de las buenas cosas damos. What did Melchizedek do with them? ¿Qué hizo Melchizedek con ellos? We do not know. No sabemos. Maybe he took the animals and sacrificed them and offered a meal. Tal vez él tomó los animales, los sacrificó, ofreció como un comida. Maybe he distributed them. Tal vez él distribuyó. We do not know. No sabemos. But this tenth was given to him as priest. Este décimo fue dado a él como sacerdote, en third, tercera. After this event when the law was written, this offering was given to the priest. We see a type in a shadow. What should be our response to the blessing of Christ? Or to sacrifice and give. We should offer of what we have to God. To bless him. I want to conclude with this. We see this morning types and shadows in Melchizedek. And those from the Old Testament. Now, if you don't understand the Old Testament here, Paul's saying, how are you gonna understand the priesthood of Christ? So this should encourage us. Let's go to the scriptures. Let's learn from them. That we can understand the scriptures. should push us to read, spiritualize. And we should search the scriptures. So many times we're reading through a list of names. And we just say, I'm just gonna read through this quickly. We should be careful. Here's a man vaguely mentioned once. And a whole basis of the priesthood of Christ is pulled out in Hebrews. From a type and a shadow. we should carefully read God's word. Debemos con cuidado leer la palabra de Dios. We should think through God's word. Debemos pensar a través de la palabra de Dios. We should pray God's word. Debemos orar la palabra de Dios. We should plead with the Holy Spirit. Debemos rogar al Espíritu Santo. Bear these truths on my life. Carga esas verdades en mi vida. One last thing, una cosa más. Melchizedek, by an extraordinary calling, is priest to the Most High God. He's a man just like us. Es un hombre como nosotros. With an extraordinary call like us. Con una llamada extraordinario como nosotros. Who are we to come before God? Quien somos nosotros a venir ante Dios? And Paul says, y Pablo dice, you come with confidence to the throne of grace. Tu vienes con confianza al trono de gracia. Confidence in the blood of Jesus. Confianza en el sangre de Cristo. He says, el dice, Cast your anchor there. Your anchor has gone past the veil. Our anchor is in the heavens. The climax of this argument is he's going to say, he's a better priest, because it's a better covenant, because it's a better sacrifice, because what he bought was better, look at the evidence, now you church, having received an unshakable kingdom. Worship him. Let us follow the example of Abraham. Let us bring to God what is due him. Let's pray. Gracias por el tiempo como iglesia juntos, que podemos contemplar tu grandeza, tu bendición. Gracias por Abraham, evangelio que tú lo disto a él, que en él todos somos benditos. Dios, haz tu iglesia reconocer lo que ella ha recibido. Causa ella a levantar adoración a ti. En nombre de Cristo, susurramos, amen.