So we're going to consider the seventh commandment, and I'm just going to say at the outset two, three things. Number one, please have your Bibles and your catechisms out, because at some point I'm going to ask us to all recite the questions. So make sure that you have those. And more importantly, have your word out. Secondly, If you have a question, let's go ahead and wait till the end so that I can get through the material and parents can get back to their children and we can relieve the workers of their service. And then I'd be more than happy to engage any questions that you have. OK, so let's start with question 76. What is the seventh commandment? And we answer together. The seventh commandment is you shall not commit adultery. All right. So remember in Romans 7, Paul said that there was one commandment out of the 10 that got him. Does anybody remember what it was? He thought he was perfect. He thought he was flawless, but one commandment. Well, it's close. Covetousness, the 10th commandment. Covetousness is the one that got Paul. I think in our day and age, it would be the 7th commandment. I think it would be sexual sins. With the sexual revolution that has taken place, taken our country by storm, something very interesting has happened. Individual choice has become the untouchable holy right. Individual choice has become the untouchable holy right. It trumps everything else. So in yesteryear, what we would have seen as an infraction of the seventh commandment, be it adultery, be it sexual lusts and thoughts and sins, or just the whole panoply of sexual perversions that we see in things like homosexuality, bestiality, pedophilia, so on and so forth. What has trumped that is how I identify as an individual. And if I identify as somebody who delights in those things, then my individual choice has become the untouchable holy right that all of society must bow down to. And the disastrous effect that is left in its wake is the seventh commandment. It has not simply been forsaken. The seventh commandment is being smashed to pieces. I mean, when you hear secular songs, I mean, I think of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, where the sin of lust is something that's gloried in, not something to be shunned. Our culture scoffs at the idea that sexual acts outside the covenant of marriage is a sin, and at best, it is seen as inappropriate, but certainly not as a sin. Wearing jeans to a black and white dinner affair is inappropriate, but adultery is certainly a sin. So I'm certain that sexual sin has adversely affected just about every single person in this congregation, whether it was your own sexual sin or that of a loved one. It destroys trust. It blurs the lines of sexual orientation and it puts at the center of one's moral compass lust and passion rather than reason, worship, and devotion to one's creator. So illicit sexual activity is inescapable in our culture. Everywhere you go, whether you go to the supermarket, whether you're just driving along and you see a billboard and it has some scantily clad woman or even man, Or once you get on the internet, it is just a smorgasbord of illicit sexual images. Even if you're just trying to read the news, there's the banners on the side that are trying to push something explicitly sexual. So while the common grace of yesteryear provided some restraint in the public square of sexual indecency, today that common grace has been denigrated to an in-your-face sensuality that's almost impossible to escape. So why is it that sex is so prevalent in this society? Well, it's very simple, because sex what? It sells. Sex sells. I mean, I don't really watch the Super Bowl, but I know that many of the commercials that, you know, by the way, the commercials on the Super Bowl at Super Bowl time are the commercials that the greatest quantity of people in the nation watch. And it's amazing how something as simple as cereal is going to be pushed with some sexual innuendo or sexual appeal in some way, shape, or form. Cars, sexual appeal in some way, shape, or form. None of us are immune to the ravaging effects of this force. The mere presence of the internet, as I said, in the home gives a platform for all kinds of filth to assault our families. There are some disturbing statistics that some children view pornography as early as even six years old. These are disturbing statistics. In a 2000 Christianity Today study, 40% of clergy acknowledge visiting pornographic sites. And it's no different with those who are in the pew. In fact, there was a Christian convention at a popular convention site in San Antonio, Texas, and apparently, The hotels reported that with all the Christian presence there, the subscriptions to pay-per-view pornography were no different than any other time. It's very sad. An article in the New York Post shows a study that shows that pornography adversely affects the brain. Pornography is believed to be more addictive than some of the strongest drugs on the black market, even heroin. Exposure to sexually explicit material is correlated with social anxiety, depression, low motivation, man issues, concentration problems, and negative self-perceptions in terms of physical appearance and sexual functioning. So we're awash in all of this. But you know what? We don't need psychological studies and polls to tell us that it's wrong. We have a commandment. It's called the seventh commandment. It says, thou shalt not commit. adultery, so as helpful as secular observations may be, we are going to look at the seventh commandment. So let's read now, let's jump to 77, question 77, and the catechist asks, what is required in the seventh commandment? And we answer, the seventh commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity in heart, speech, and behavior, okay? So let's go back very simply to the old covenant context as this command was given to us on Mount Sinai. And I just want to ask a very simple question. What was assumed in the commandment? You shall not commit adultery. The first thing that was assumed, and this is very, very important, is that marriage was a covenant arrangement between one man and one woman. Both parties were expected to show faithfulness to one another forever. It was not a temporal thing. And it's very significant that the way that the Bible speaks about marriage is that it was and is a covenant. How many times have you heard people say, I don't need a slip of paper with, you know, the justice of the pieces signature or some minister signature on it to show that I'm devoted to this man or this woman. Actually you do, because the Bible sees marriage as a covenantal and contractual arrangement. And every covenantal and contractual arrangement has to have what? Witnesses. It is a public event where you are not simply covenanting to one another. But when I've officiated marriages in the past, I always try to remind the people that are there, you are witnesses. If hopefully this doesn't happen, but if this marriage starts going down or going south. It is your obligation to step in and say, brother, sister, I was there when you gave your vows. You must keep these vows that you made to God and to the people. Most people don't do that, but that is what the people are there for. They're not just there to eat white cake and drink a lot of alcohol. OK, so the marriage in the Bible is a covenant. The man was to provide for his wife. The woman is to submit to her husband and both are to serve one another now. Some may object, especially the Mormons, and they say, now, wait a minute. The pattern of polygamy is all throughout the Old Testament, and it was meant to be a pattern for us. Well, does anybody know what's wrong with that argument? Anybody? Right. There's a lot of things in the Old Testament that are not necessarily imperatives. Right. I always want, you know, for the short year and a half that I was a youth pastor, I tried to tell kids, like, don't go to the Bible for dating, because all you're going to find is at the end of the book of Judges, the tribe of Benjamin that had completely been slaughtered were told to go to the fields of Shiloh and wait while the women came out and started dancing in the field and snatch them and take them for wives. That's the closest you're going to get to dating in the Bible. Don't do that. OK. So just because something's in the Bible doesn't mean that it's necessarily commended by God. And what you will find is that, yes, God did tend to tolerate polygamy in the Old Testament. But what happened in Genesis, one man and one woman, is what Jesus, our Lord, comes back to when the Pharisees try to trap him in the New Testament and say, can a man divorce his wife for any reason? What does he say? The way it was in the beginning was one man and one woman. That's how it's supposed to be. Not many women. Okay. So this is an insufficient argument. It says in Genesis 2, 24, the two shall become one flesh. So it was intended to be a covenantal arrangement. It was intended to be a man and a woman. It was intended to be permanent. And because it was between one man and one woman, It was not intended to be one man and another man or one woman and another woman. And I just got to make a plug here. I don't often do this, but Tim Keller has written a book, The Meaning of Marriage, and my wife and I are slowly working through it. But if you know anything about Tim Keller, Tim Keller is a very, very popular Christian speaker and author. He's a pastor of a very large church, Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City. And he is ministering to a lot of, let's just say, cutting edge people in New York. I mean, up and coming, you know. uh... people that are very successful and therefore he has to be very very careful what he says because he can very quickly turn off people that let's say politically have left leaning views politically but in that book the meaning of marriage he makes it very very clear that as he talks about marriage he sees marriage as between a man and a woman and I was very very proud of him to see that It takes a lot of guts with the type of audience that he has to say something like that. But he's holding the line down. Marriage is between a man and a woman. The last thing that we see that is assumed here is that sex outside of covenantal marriage is forbidden. Sex outside of covenantal marriage, what's it called? Fornication. And it's something that the Old Testament constantly prohibits. Now, therefore, with all of these things in place, what does the commandment prohibit? I'm sorry that I have to mention some of these things, but for sake of being extensive and making sure I cover all my grounds, I'm going to mention some of them, OK? Adultery within the context of marriage is obviously forbidden. Adultery within the context of engagement is forbidden. We actually see this in Deuteronomy chapter 22, 22 to 24. I won't read it, but it says that engagement is so close to the concept of marriage that even to commit adultery or to cheat on another one's spouse in that context is committing adultery. Fornication obviously is forbidden. This is very important for our young people to hear because they are assaulted on every side by people, their friends that think that it's okay. They often hear excuses like, well, how do I know if I want to spend the rest of my life with a person unless I have relations with them and know if I can, you know, stay the rest of my life with them? Well, I mean, we need to remember, first off, God has said this and it applies to everybody. Secondly, And if you ask any person who's been married for any amount of time, they will tell you this. Marriage is much more than just sex. Sex is very important. It has a very special place in the marriage. But it's not simply and exclusively about that. In fact, in the Jewish culture to this day, if you have sensitive ears, close your ears for just a moment, okay? I'm not gonna say anything offensive, but it is a little wow, okay? In the Jewish culture today, a man and a woman will get married, and then they will actually go consummate the marriage. Not in front of everybody, they'll do it behind closed doors. But then what they will do is they will bring the sheet out the the bed sheet out in front of the whole wedding party and they will put it up as evidence that the woman was a virgin. Because purity in engagement and purity in marriage was taken so seriously and in fact. They would do that back even in the Old Testament, and if there was not the expected discharge on the sheet, the woman would be stoned. They don't do that today. But again, fornication was taken to be such a sin that they needed evidence to the contrary. Bestiality is forbidden, homosexuality is forbidden, incest and pedophilia obviously are forbidden. So now let's come to the New Covenant context. As many of you know, Jesus ups the ante on the seventh commandment, doesn't he? You can turn to Matthew 5, verses 27 and 28. Matthew 5, verses 27 and 28. Jesus says, you have heard it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Now, remember what I've told you about understanding the context of the Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus says, You have heard it said, is He talking about Moses? No, He's not talking about Moses. He's talking about how the religious leaders of the day, the scribes and the Pharisees, interpreted Moses. That's why it's interesting that so often when a prophet would speak, whether in the Old Covenant or in the New Covenant, they'll say, thus saith the Lord. Notice that Jesus is not saying, you heard that the Lord said, but I'm going to say something different. That would have a whole set of different problems. But he says, you have heard it said. It has been taught to you. Your religious teachers have told you to have a particular understanding of the Seventh Commandment. You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, and now what he's going to do is he's going to counter the typical traditional, not wrong, but not complete understanding of the seventh commandment by taking it deeper to the heart. If you even look at a woman or a man with lustful intent and underline that, at least in your mind, we'll come back to it, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. Now let me just make a few comments on this before I come to some conclusions, okay? When we think about lust, when we think about this seventh commandment on the lips of Jesus Christ, the first thing we need to do is we need to distinguish between the thought and the action, but not so much so that we become Pharisees, okay? So what do I mean by that? The first thing you see here is that Jesus does make it clear that engaging in lustful thoughts or lustful glances is committing adultery. Now, I don't know that he is saying that they are equally heinous. In other words, it is obviously more sinful, yes, there are degrees, more sinful to actually go out and physically commit adultery with someone who is not your spouse than to just have those thoughts in your mind of doing so. But nonetheless, We need to make clear here that whether it is physical or mental, it is adultery, and we need to be very careful about so distinguishing these two that we have a pharisaical attitude toward others when they fall into adultery. This is the whole concept of, there go I, but for the grace of God. Have you guys ever heard that saying? There go I. but for the grace of God. You know where that came from? There was an old Puritan divine that was out in the public square one day and they heard all these trumpets and all these magistrates came through with a man shackled, arms and feet, and they took him to the gallows. And as this criminal was walking up the steps to the gallows to be hung, to have his life taken away from him, probably for murder, this Puritan divine looked at that man and he goes, there go I. but for the grace of God. In other words, if it were not for the grace of God, I would be in the exact same place that that man is in. And when we think about those who have physically fallen into the act of adultery, it's wrong, it's sinful, but we need to recognize as we go and seek to restore them that we have done the same thing, perhaps not physically, but mentally. So the fact of the matter is that the physical act is nothing more than the fleshing out of the heart attitude. And the heart attitude is where it begins, and we should be fearful of even our thoughts wandering into adulterous activity. I hope that when you, whether you're walking through the shopping or the supermarket or going for a jog or whatever the case may be, when you see that man or you see that woman in the scantily clad apparel and your mind starts to drift, that you try to cut it off as quickly as you can, that you not play with fire. There's a proverb that says, can a man take fire to his bosom and not be what? Be burned. And the whole idea is don't play with fire. Don't play with something that can destroy your reputation, destroy your family, destroy your marriage, and destroy even possibly your faith. The hard attitude is where it begins. And if you are not fighting against the mental acts, you will fall prey to the physical act. It's simply a matter of time. Now here's the second thing I want to note, and we may have questions about this, but just hold off, okay? And listen very carefully so there's no misunderstanding. We need to make a clear distinction between a lustful temptation and the actual mental assent to that temptation. Let me say that again. We need to make a clear distinction between a lustful temptation and the actual mental assent to that temptation, okay? Coming back to Matthew 5, 27 and 28, notice that Jesus says, he who looks at a woman with lustful intent, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Lustful intent is important here. In the Greek, it's literally beholding a woman with the purpose of desiring her. That's basically what it's getting at. That a man would desire a woman, generally speaking, is not wrong. Sex is good, and it is pure within the context of marriage. Martin Luther actually believed that sex was sinful in every single context, and it's just some dirty thing that we had to involve ourselves in in order to procreate. Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Luther, but we love our sex just fine, okay? Christians rejoice in sex. It is not simply for procreation. It is for pleasure between a man and a woman. And what a wonderful, lawful release for a man and a woman when they are tempted with sexual sin. They have a fount, a source, a fountain that they can go to and engage in lawfully because the Lord has made it so. So sex is good, but now if a man sees a woman who is not his wife and he is tempted to lust after her, but fights it and does not lust after her, he has not sinned. So I'll just say that we need to keep this in mind when we think about those, and listen to me very carefully, who are struggling with homosexual temptation. I have had numerous conversations with people who are, on the one hand, who struggle with homosexual tendencies or proclivities, but on the other hand, claim to be Christians, love the Lord, hate that they struggle with these things, recognize that to engage in them, either on the physical level or the mental level, is a sin, and are committed not to do so, but they still struggle with it. And by struggle, I mean they still fight to keep their mind pure. They still fight to not succumb to temptation. Now, I want you to do an experiment for me. You're a pastor, okay? And this is just a general exercise. I know there's females in here, but just for the sake of argument, you're a pastor, okay? You're a pastor, and somebody who struggles with homosexual tendencies, whether it's a man or a woman, they come to you. And they say, Pastor, so-and-so, I, this last week, I was tempted to lust after the same sex. And I prayed to the Lord and I was able to overcome it. I did not actually engage in the mental act of lusting after that person. Here's my question for you. Have I sinned? Okay. Keiko says no. Pastor Keiko, just kidding. Okay. All right. I think Keiko's right. I think Keiko's right. And let me just remind you of Jesus. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Satan came to him and said, bow down to me, and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Now, was that temptation sinful? Well, let me put it another way. Was it a sinful thing to bow down to Satan and worship him? Well, of course it was. Of course it was. Did Jesus, in being tempted with that sin, sin? And the answer is, of course, no. And if we add to that Hebrews chapter four, he was tempted in every way such as we are, yet what? Without sin. Jesus Christ was tempted in every respect that we were tempted in, yet without sin. And so I think it's very important that as these types of people come to us, and they share their struggles with us, that we do make this distinction between the temptation itself and falling into the temptation, whether at the mental level or the physical level. Now here's where I think, and this is what theologians do, we can make a distinction that is proper. On the one hand, there is the pollution that sin has, the effect of the pollution of sin in my body that causes me to be confronted in my mind and my heart with temptations that are sinful. In other words, when that person who struggles with homosexual tendencies gets to heaven, they will never struggle with the temptation to lust toward the same sex ever again. And that's because their nature will have been made new. Right now, I would say the reason they struggle with the temptation, just like a man, a heterosexual man, struggles with the temptation to lust after a woman who is not his wife, is because of the pollution of sin. But the pollution of sin, as much as I'm responsible for it, is not the action of sin. And so we make a distinction between the pollution of sin and the actual action of engaging in that temptation. And I think if we do that, number one, which is the most important thing, we keep Jesus from sinning, because if temptation is sin, Jesus sinned. And on the other hand, especially as we're trying to reach out and be a light to those who, yes, do struggle. Some people do struggle with homosexual tendencies. It is incredibly pastoral and comforting to tell them you have not sinned if the temptation came to you and you were able to overcome it. Just like I would tell a college student who is heterosexual and was tempted with lusting after a woman in a gym as he was working out and instead he got in his car and he ran away like Joseph did. That's wonderful you haven't sinned. And it is a moment for rejoicing and adoration and worship to God rather than a moment of defeat. So does that make sense? Do you see the distinction between pollution versus the action? I think it's a very, very helpful and important distinction that we should have. So let's conclude here now with question 78. Question 78. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment? Let's answer together. The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions. So I actually read these reverse. I wanted to end with 77, but there it is. Let me just end with a few conclusions. Number one, if you are single, Whether you're single or married, you are married to Christ. Romans chapter 7 says that we have died to the law and we have been married to Christ. And so we honor the Lord with our body and our soul. For the married person, your marriage is a picture of the gospel. Husbands serve their wife as Christ loved the church and wives submit to husbands as the church submits to Christ. When Paul quotes this in Ephesians 5, he actually cites Genesis 2.24. And pointing back to the original marriage between Adam and Eve, he says that that original marriage had a mysterious element about it that was hidden for all these ages. And now in the time of Christ, that mystery is revealed, and here's what it is. A marriage arrangement is a type or a symbol or a pointer of how Christ loves the church. Now I've got to admit to you, I often have struggled with that concept because it's hard for me to wrap my mind around how non-believers sharing in a covenant of marriage can in some sense point to the love that Christ has for the church, and I'm still trying to work that out. I don't think that they actually do, because I don't think that they have a regenerate heart and they can't do all those things, but the institution itself, the idea that a man would leave and cleave to a woman, and that a woman would leave and cleave and cleave to a man and submit to him and that he would be the head, this institution, generically speaking, points to the love that Christ had for the church. So it is a cultural lie and a perversion of the marriage covenant to say, and this is so important, that the main purpose in marriage is to be happy. That is a lie. I hope that we're all happy in our marriages. But I have actually been in counseling sessions, either listening to a counseling session or actually engaging in one, where people have felt justification for leaving their spouse because they had fallen out of love with them. I've actually heard of situations where a man left his wife because she contracted Alzheimer's and lost her mind, and he concluded that that's not the woman that I married, therefore I'm divorcing her. I have a question for you. What is the most important thing about a wedding? Somebody tell me. The vows. The most important thing about a wedding is not cutting the cake. It's not even the consummation as far as I'm concerned. The most important thing in a wedding ceremony is the vows for better or for worse. It's one thing if a person leaves you. The scriptures actually tell us that this is one of the only two exceptions for divorce, and that's a whole other issue. It's another thing if in the case of Alzheimer's or dementia, somebody involuntarily loses their mind. That's part of the worst that you've covenanted to be faithful to no matter what. So it is a lie to say that the main purpose in marriage is to be happy. I would say the main purpose in marriage is to image the love that Christ has for the church and show faithfulness. That is the main purpose of marriage. So let me just end with eight concluding thoughts. Very quick and very simple, okay? Here they are. Number one. For singles, the Lord is good to those who wait. Let me just read Lamentations 3, 25 to 27. 325 to 27. Jeremiah says this. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Now, this is obviously not talking about single people waiting for their spouse, but it does tell us something about God. And it tells us that it's good for the believer to wait on the Lord and wait for the provision of the Lord. And I know they can oftentimes be difficult. I didn't get married until I was, how old was I, Christina? 27? And all my friends had been married, and I was the only single person. It was very difficult. But I waited, and I'm glad that I did, because the Lord gave me a wonderful spouse. Number two, married folk, you have delight at your lawful disposal. Proverbs chapter five, Proverbs chapter five, verses 18 and 19. Proverbs 5, verses 18 and 19. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight. Be intoxicated always in her love. I've already mentioned this, but it is a wonderful thing that the Lord has given us sex. It is a gift. And you know, when if when and if we are tempted to look outside the confines of the marriage, it's going to happen. We can know that we could run to our spouses and we can we can have our desires filled, and that's one of the many reasons that we are given to one another. Okay, moving on to number three. You will never overcome sin unless you decide to take radical measures against it, not half measures. What does Jesus say if you're going to fight against sin and have success? Cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, whatever it takes to enter heaven, even if you are lame, not that you literally will, but cut off sin at the root. I've struggled with this in the past myself. I've also counseled men who have struggled with pornography, struggled with lust and these types of things. And here's the bottom line. There is no room for half measures. Half measures will only cause you to stumble back into the sin over and over and over again. You have to have a clear plan. You have to be radical. Even if that means not having a smartphone. I know people who have gone back to the flip phone because they just can't handle a smartphone. I know people that will not be on a computer alone. I know people that have gotten programs like Covenant Eyes where they have partners who are monitoring their internet activity because they don't trust themselves. These are wonderful things. It's the culture that tells you you can handle it. No, that's what got you into the trouble in the first place. We need radical measures to keep us from sin. I don't care if it's pornography, lust, whatever the case, we need radical measures. And that leads us to number four, your sanctification is a group effort. Not only do we need radical measures, we need radical people in our lives that are going to help us stay accountable to achieving and accomplishing those radical measures. Listen, please, and I hope you heard this this morning as well, please guard your heart from being a hypocrite in terms of not letting people know what's going on in your life. I'm not saying you have to tell every single person in this congregation what's going on. But if you're not bearing your burden with other people, how can you expect to lift it up off your shoulders by yourself? We need other people to confess our sins to. We need other people to encourage us as long as it is called today. We need other people to point us to the eschaton. We need other people to ask us those questions. And yes, they seem like nagging questions. How you doing this week? Have you fallen back into sin? But those are the types of questions that if I know seven days from now we're gonna be asked from me, I can actually use that as a motivation not to fall into that sin. Number five, sexual sin has repercussions far beyond the temporal. You can't say, I'll indulge a little now and then quit later without it coming to bite you back in the rear. What does Paul say? Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. I know men who have so engaged in internet pornography that when they get married, their marriage is a complete disaster because they don't even know how to go about the whole process of intercourse. They don't understand it. They don't have a realistic view of what it really is. They have unrealistic views of what a woman is and what is to be done in that activity. And it causes immense grief, not only for the spouse or for the wife, but also for the husband. And so the kinds of repercussions that can come, not only from pornography, but also from adultery, are staggering. And if you actually engage in the act, there's the whole thing of sexually transmitted diseases as well. Number six, be who you are. Behold, the old things have passed, new things have come. You do not have to succumb to this temptation. You are a new creation in Christ, and so I just encourage you to be who you are. Number seven, the power of God that created the world and conquered death, hell, and the grave is the power that is at your disposal to overcome temptation. Now, if you think of it in those terms, you have amazing ability to overcome the strongest temptation that Satan can throw at you because you have the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead. And finally, and most importantly, where sin increases, grace abounds all the more. If you have been If you have succumbed to these sins, even maybe this week, maybe even today, the Lord stands ready to forgive. You need only to confess your sins, repent, and trust in Him, and He will forgive you. So let's corporately pray as we close out this evening and ask Him to do just that. Father God, we do confess to you that the seventh commandment is one that slays many of us, not everyone. But it does slay many of us, Father. And we are awash in a culture that glorifies it. And we pray that instead of glorifying it, we would glorify you. We pray, Father, that you would give us wisdom. We pray that you would give us maturity. We pray that you would give us balance. And that you would forgive us of our sins, Father, as we have fallen into the temptation of committing adultery with our hearts, our minds, and perhaps even for some of us, with our bodies. Give us strength to overcome. We ask all these things in your son's name. Amen. All right. You are dismissed. And if anybody has questions, I'm happy to take any questions. Yeah.