Four Pillars of Walking With God — Paul Washer

The Blessedness of Delighting in God's Law

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers. The wicked are not so, but they are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

It is a tremendous privilege for me to be here this morning. This is going to be kind of unusual. It's not going to be what you would consider probably a Sunday sermon. It's going to be more like discipleship.

We're going to look at some very, very simple, but very important and foundational truths that, well, my purpose is this. I want to see you with more joy. I want to see you more greatly encouraged. Now, this is not going to be a sermon that kind of stirs the emotions so that you walk out here with some kind of spiritual high.

But it's going to teach you a few things that if you will live by them, it will increase your joy. And increasing your joy, it will increase everything else good that the Lord has put in your life. I want you to be encouraged.

So often I look at God's people, and I'm talking about God's people. People who show the fruit of salvation in their life, and yet so often they seem so downcast, so tight in their heart, so trodden down.

I don't want that. That's not God's will for you. God's will for you is to recognize all that He is, all that He has done, all that He will do. For you to recognize that, grasp it, and walk in the power of it.

Turning Clichés Into Usable Biblical Truth

Now, I want to start off by saying something, that there are great biblical truths, great biblical truths that are absolutely necessary to live by, but oftentimes in the heart and mind of a believer, they become nothing more than clichés.

Because we can say them, we can even know that they're true to some degree, but we really can't articulate them. We really don't know what they mean. And if we use them often enough, they'll end up in bittering our heart, because we say things, and yet they seem to have no power to change us.

Let me give you an example. You're downcast and trodden, and someone comes up to you and says, you just need to trust in God. Yeah, but what do you mean? What does it really mean to trust in God? Or, you just need to look to Christ.

Where? Where do I look? What are you talking about? Or, you just need to contemplate and meditate upon the Gospel. Or, you just need to savor and relish the Gospel. Yes, but what does that mean? How do I do it?

What are you really talking about? Or, hey, don't be downcast, the joy of the Lord is our strength. Yeah, I know, I read that in Nehemiah 2, but what does it mean? How can it really impact my life? I was a brand new believer, well, probably about, I don't know, less than a year into the Christian faith, and I went to hear Leonard Ravenhill preach.

But before he preached, a younger preacher got up and preached, and he preached about an hour and a half on how we all needed to walk in the Spirit. It was powerful. I mean, he was yelling at us, he was rebuking us, he was admonishing us to walk in the Spirit.

After the sermon, I went up to him and I said, I really appreciate that sermon. It was really good. I really want to walk in the Spirit. I just have one problem. I don't have a clue what that means. What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?

He looked at me, got very serious, and then began to basically tell me off. But I was very fortunate. There was an older believer, a college student, but had many more years in the faith, they were a senior I think, and was standing behind me and put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me out of the way.

And he walked up to that preacher and said, Preacher, you didn't answer his question. You didn't tell him how to walk in the Spirit. You did not tell us how to do that in the sermon. You're not telling him how to do that now.

Do you even know what it means to walk in the Spirit? You want to ruin a lot of good sermons? Raise your hand and ask them what they're talking about. The question is, we hear all these just great truths, but sometimes they just spin around in our heads.

They spin around in our heads. You all know that there's a thing called systematic theology, right? Well, why is it called systematic theology? Because it's theology that's presented in a systematic way.

Now why is that necessary? Because you and I, in our mind, we use categories. We do. We can't get away from it. We think, you know, this is a reality, and this is a reality, therefore, this. Well, it's the same way sometimes when we study the Scriptures.

How can I take all these truths that are swirling around and really put them in a category so that I can actually do something with them? Okay? Now, I want to give you a statement that I wrote out in my mind at about three o 'clock on Thanksgiving morning because I couldn't sleep, and it's this.

The Four Pillars: Truth, Faith, Joy, and Obedience

I want to talk about the four pillars, just four simple pillars of, well, you can call it the Christian life. You can talk about four pillars of walking with God, four pillars of being encouraged, four pillars leading to obedience.

I don't care what you call it, but here are four things that I want to give you. Knowledge of the truth. That's the first one. Knowledge of the truth. And we're going to go through these separately. But knowledge of the truth is the beginning.

You will know the truth about everything, about everything in the Scriptures, about every aspect of the Christian life. It is important to know the truth. You must know truth and be able to discern the difference between truth and a lie.

That's essential. And that's the first pillar, the first foundation. Knowledge of the truth. Apprehended by faith. It's not enough to know these things, but to actually believe them. So that although they are unseen, they are still greater.

They can become even greater realities than that which is seen. So it's knowledge of the truth. And then it is you believing that truth as opposed to believing a lie. Knowledge of the truth. Faith in what is true.

Believing what is true. And that, in the Christian life, will always lead to joy. The more you apprehend the truth about who God is, about what God has decreed, about what God has done, and what God will do, and with each one of those I could end it, for you, for you, for you, for you.

The more you grasp it and believe it, the greater your joy. Your joy. And I cannot, in any shape, form, or fashion, overemphasize the importance of joy. I think it is the thing that energizes the Christian.

Joy. And then the last pillar is obedience. Now I'm going to talk about this later, but I want you to realize something. Joy comes before obedience rather than after. And if you don't understand that, you will really be messed up all your days.

Joy is not the result of obedience. Joy is the result of what God has done. So now your joy is fixed on a fixed and stable source. When your joy is based on your performance, it's going to be up and down like the wind.

Up and down like the raging sea. Double-minded. Mutable, changing constantly. You see that? Now, we're going to look at each one of these now. Each one of these pillars. And there's four of them, again.

Knowledge of the truth. Faith in the truth. Leading to joy, which leads to obedience. Now, let's go. First of all, knowledge. Knowledge of what? And I want you to use this. You can use this as a pattern.

Knowing God Through Scripture

I do, for reading the Scriptures. When I read the Scriptures, what am I looking for primarily? Let me digress a little bit. This is what I'm looking for primarily when I read the Scriptures. Who is God?

Who is God? That's my number one question when I'm reading any passage of Scripture. What does it tell me about God? What does it tell me, not only about God, but about God for me? Yeah. And then, what does it tell me about what God has decreed for me?

What has He decreed? About me. About my life. What has God done? What has He done? In history, in the world, in the Gospel. What has He done for me? Also. And then finally, what will He do? But now let's just look.

Knowledge of who God is. That's the first thing I'm looking for when I'm studying the Scriptures. What does it tell me about God? Because if the Scriptures reveal to me this wonderful, wonderful, wonderful God, it has a way of increasing my joy when I know that this wonderful Being is in control of my life.

Jeremiah says this, Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on the earth.

For I delight in these things, declares the Lord. Now, saint, I've talked enough to enough of you to know that many times when you study the attributes of God, it is not an encouragement to you. Because you're studying the moral attributes of God without doing it in light of the Gospel.

So when you hear, God is holy, holy, holy, you kind of cringe. Because you look in the mirror and see your own life and you recognize, I'm not really that holy. And so, instead of it leading to hymns of praise, you write a song like this, You are holy and I am a worm.

Step on me and watch me squirm. You do things like that. So you see holiness is something to be afraid of. Why? Because you see the reality of your sin, but you're not looking at the Gospel. Holiness now, for you, is wonderful.

This God will never sin against me. He will never be common. He will never be profane. This God who is for me is holy. And then you hear about righteous. He doeth all things in a right manner. He is wrong in nothing.

Now if I see that apart from the Gospel, the only thing I can see is judgment. But if I see that in the Gospel, I say this, If God is for me, who can be against me? If God, not 25 for me, not 75 for me, not 99 for me, this holy, righteous God is 100 for me, and 100 of His holiness, and 100 of His righteousness, and 100 of His justice is for me.

It's on my side. Do you see that? It's no longer against me. And so if I look at who God is in light of the Gospel, then all these things that when I was a sinner were a terror to me, they're now a joy to me.

I'm not afraid of them. Not because I look in the mirror deluded and see some perfect person who's not there. No, but because I know the Gospel. Everything has changed. When Paul says his argument in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ, He's a new creation.

Old things pass away. What is he saying? He's actually talking about probably the last chapters in Isaiah when it talks about a new heaven and a new earth. You're the beginning. You don't realize that?

You are the beginning of a new heaven and a new earth. And Paul's saying, if you look at it in the context, he's basically saying this, I look at Christ now completely different. And in the light of Christ, I look at everything else completely different.

Who I am before God. My past, my present, my future. God's relationship with me. My relationship with God. It is completely changed. So see, now in light of the Gospel, I don't hide myself from the Bible.

I don't sit there and go, oh, don't tell me He's holy. It scares me. It doesn't scare me anymore. Not at all. It's wonderful. Tell me more. Tell me more. Tell me more. Please. Because this God who's holy and righteous and just and everything else is for me.

Do you see that? Okay, the people from Georgia say amen. He's for me. Do you see that? Now, what else? Not only who is God, what has God decreed? What has He decreed? I mean, before the foundation of the world, what did He write down with regard to what He's going to do with you?

It's amazing. Whenever you hear the word foreknowledge, realize that it also has within it God's sovereignty, but it also has this idea of His plan is not something He just threw together. If we can say such a thing, this has taken the full force of all His mental faculty.

He's thought about this. Not only did He choose you before the foundation of the world, but before the foundation of the world, He set forth a plan of what He's going to do with you. Just look for a minute at just creation.

Romans 8 .21. The creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the slavery of the glory of the children of God. Into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Think about that.

Everything in creation that moans and groans along with my bones. Everything in creation that gets old and tears down and breaks and is ruined and is dirty, it's all going to be set free. He decreed it.

Not only set free, but turned over to the children of God. That's enough to make me greatly happy. 2 Peter 3 .13. But according to His promise, we are looking for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells.

I do believe that back in the 70's there wasn't too much teaching. Most of you weren't born in the 70's. But there wasn't too much teaching on eschatology. There was just a bunch of wrong teaching on eschatology.

I want you to know that the study and what the Bible reveals about the last things absolutely wonderful and motivating. It lets me know that there are great things in store. In store for me. All the wonder and all the mystery.

The knowledge of God in the fullest way possible. The knowledge of His creation. The knowledge of everything. I always get mad at those patriarchs who live 900 years. They go, God, why can't I live 900 years?

After all, I really do want to know physics. I want to study this other thing too. There's so many things in life I want to know. I can't know. One day, all of this is going to be set free from corruption.

And I'm going to be basking in it. Searching out the glory of God under every perfect stone. He goes on. Not only what He's decreed for creation, but what He's decreed for God's people. For you. I know you look in the mirror of God's Word.

And sometimes you're even disgusted with yourself. At least I am. I have no hope. It brings no joy just looking in the mirror at myself. Listen to what He says. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord.

Plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Yes, I know that was stated to Israel through Jeremiah and it had to do with those in exile. But it applies to us. It applies to all of God's people.

Do you honestly think He gave His only begotten Son and did all these things so that the first time you see Him in Heaven, He will have a scowl on His face because of all your failure? Did He really do all that so He could do that later?

No. He's fixed it. He's fixed it all. He's made it all good. And that's why we have joy. And here's something else you need to see. It isn't like, okay, I'm going to do certain things in this life and then my eternity is fixed when I get there after judgment.

And who knows what's going to happen. I've done so bad. Did He really spill the blood of His Son so that you would live that way? Is that the great hope that He's given to even the weakest of His children?

Absolutely not. The whole thing about this glory that God gets out of our salvation is that there's only one hero and it's God. No one else is a hero. Everyone else just fails. There's only one covenant keeper.

There's only one servant of Yahweh. So when the Jehovah Witnesses come and visit my house and they say, we're Jehovah Witnesses. I say, no you're not. He's only had one witness and you're not it. It's His Son.

It's His Son. It's like I point out sometimes whenever I'm in a discussion about literature and I point out that the difference between Tolkien and C .S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia and the Lord of the Rings and all that is this.

In the Lord of the Rings, there's all kinds of heroes. In the Chronicles of Narnia, everyone fails every time and everything's a mess and then Aslan shows up. That's Christianity. It's what He's decreed.

You see, the whole idea of Him getting glory is He takes something like you were, something like I was, rejected, reprobate, wrong in absolutely everything and He takes that and by Himself He makes it glorious.

You're a recipient. If there is one thing that will be written on our foreheads throughout all eternity, it will be recipients of grace. Of grace. So we look at what He is, who He is. We look at what He's decreed.

God's Work in History and the Gospel

We look at what He's done. Why do we read the Old Testament? To see what He's done in history. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 15, 4. For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Many people read the Scriptures only walking away thinking they're a failure. They should walk away thinking, yeah, but God's a bigger Savior. He proved it every time, every time, every time, every time.

He never failed. And therefore, even when my sin is pointed out, though sadness may be for a morn, for an evening, the sun rises because I know who He is. I know who He is. You can, unless you are a self-righteous, pharisaical legalist, you can never have joy by looking at your own reflection in the mirror.

Unless you're deluded. You have joy looking in the Scriptures to find God. Find out how wonderful He is throughout history. See the great sinners that He has saved throughout history. Martin Lloyd-Jones, after reading the two-volume biography by Ian Murray, which I recommend to every believer.

They're really big books, but for once in your life, you've got to read at least one or two big books. At the end, Martin Lloyd-Jones, everybody who visited him, he only had one thing to say. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.

I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior. Now, if you're a lost carnal church member, you'll latch onto that and use it as an excuse for sin. But if you're truly converted, you'll go, this is wonderful, I want to be more holy.

But now out of joy instead of fear. What God has done in history. What God has done in the Gospel. Listen to this, Romans 8 .32. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

He spared not His Son for you. He spared not His Son for you. Why would He make such a deposit? Why would He give such an expense? Why would He do it? So that He could withhold favor from you? So that He could keep you looking at how bad you are?

So that He could get you all in heaven and make you feel bad because all you've got is a little cabin over in a swamp somewhere? Is that why He did it? He did it in order to lavish grace upon His people.

To take the smallest, tiniest, most awkward saint and set them above seraphs. Do you see that? And this is where joy comes from. Who He is. What He's decreed. And what He has done. In history, in the Gospel, but also in you.

In you. Sometimes, believers, we really, really mess up because we look at other believers and we can see they really have fruit and they really are believers, and we do not recognize how radical God has changed them.

What a masterpiece they truly are compared to what they were. Listen, Romans 5 -1 should be enough to make us dance. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Temporary peace? Peace dependent upon some performance? No. Peace. Peace. God's peace. Eternal peace. Immutable peace. Covenantal peace. He who does not lie has promised you peace. Peace forever. Peace always.

Peace now. You are justified. You have been legally declared right with Him. You have a perfect right standing before Him. Even in your glorified body in heaven, you will not be more right with Him than you are now.

And you've got to walk in that. Walk in what's unseen. Walk in the Word. Do you see that? 2 Corinthians 5 -21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The righteousness of God. I believe it was Brother Jeff Chauver that said today that not even the angels are holy in His sight. Somebody prayed that. It doesn't mean that when it says that heaven is not even clean, it doesn't mean that heaven is dirty and it doesn't mean that angels are sinful.

What it means is that in comparison to God's holiness and also God's holiness is inherent while all other holiness is derived. It flows from Him. But you have been given here in Christ the righteousness of God.

1 John 3 -1. See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the children of God and such we are. I can use Jesus' sermon on the mount here when we get to the point of if you being evil...

Remember how many times Jesus said that? If you being evil can do this for your children. Even in my child's, any one of them, their worst moment of disobedience, and I can say this with a good conscience, in their worst moment of disobedience I would die for them a torturous death.

And if I being evil can say that, how much more does God love me? Does God love you? Pastor Anthony is constantly correcting us on low views of God. Low views of God. And you know what? Here's a problem.

A lot of you when you hear low views of God you're only thinking what he's telling me is that God is big and God is holy and God is just. No, low views of God's love also. Do you realize that? You talk about all the superficial Christians and superficial churches and how they have a low view of God's holiness and a low view of God's justice.

Let me ask you a question. Do you have a low view of God's love? Because if you're walking in condemnation as a believer, if your life is based on your performance and your joy is based on what you do, guess what?

You have a low view of God. You have a low view of God. It's not just with regard to holiness or righteousness. It's with regard to his love. Don't. You see, if you've entered into the kingdom you have finally walked through a door into a world that is hard to believe.

His love is so great and so unconditional that at times you want to correct him. You want to even rebuke him. Lord, this is wrong. You shouldn't love me this way. At that poem Michael Card wrote many years ago about Gomer, I can't...

Let's see. The kindness of a father. Something of something else. The gentleness of a loving friend. An understanding smile. All of this and so much more you lavished on a faithless whore. I've never seen love like this before.

Hosea, you're a fool. That his love is so great. You're just like that. I'm just like that. No, Lord. You don't know what I am. Yes, I do. Before the foundation of the world. Problem is, Paul, you don't know what I paid.

You don't know who I am. So don't run around here just because you understand something of holiness and think you've got a high view of God. Do you have a high view of God's love? So high that people would almost think that your gospel is antinomianism?

Because if your gospel is not accused of antinomianism ever, then you're probably preaching legalism because Paul's gospel was accused of antinomianism in Romans, the last part of 5, in the beginning of chapter 6.

Now again, the regenerate heart hears these things and wants to follow God's law. The unregenerate religious person hears these things and wants to run from God's law because they hate it. Now, let's go on.

Future Grace and God's Plan for His People

Not only who God is, what God has decreed, what God has done in history, in the gospel and in you, but what God will do. This is something that I, as a Christian of many, many years, over 30 years, if there's any truth that I have to remind myself of, it's this one more than any other truth.

You know, people will say, this is the only life you get. You can't hit replay. You can't hit replay. This is the only life you get. That's true. But this is not as good as it gets. What is waiting for us?

Future grace. 1 Corinthians 2 .9. Things which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. And don't you, don't you dare, because I will come down there and I will whip you.

Don't you say, ah, there's the key for those who love Him, and I don't love Him perfectly. Will you just stop it? Stop it. Stop doing that. He doesn't love you because your love's perfect. The tauntology that we have in Deuteronomy chapter 7, where basically it's set before Israel.

Israel, why do I love you? Okay, I'll give you the answer. Israel, I love you because I love you. And what he's saying, it came from me. It was my decision. I elected it. I decided it. I set my love on you.

There it is. My love did not begin with you. It doesn't stand with you. It won't end with you. It began with me. It stands with me. It ends with me. I love you. But I don't deserve it. Would you shut up?

See, Jamie, you don't have to be cultured or intelligent to preach here. I'm evidence. Quit it. There's a counselor. Well, it's a funny thing on YouTube. My wife showed me the other day and she loves it because the person comes into this counselor and they tell all the problems and the counselor says, well, I can answer this in two words.

Stop it. Stop it. Ephesians 2, 6 and 7. And raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come. What? So that in the ages to come you can have a little cabin on a hillside somewhere.

No. So that on the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. God has saved you in order to demonstrate to all creation including principalities, powers, mights and dominions how good He is.

That's why He saved you. And that's why He chose you. Not many noble. Not many wise. Not the big ones. Not the smart ones. Why did Paul say? Why did he choose the base ones? The weak ones. The ones that are not.

Why? So that he could show how good he is. Lavishing the greatest blessings. Turning over the inheritance of his own son to the worst humanity has to offer. Imagine if someone was getting bad press. A billionaire was getting bad press that he wasn't charitable.

And so he just picks you and says I'm going to be, I'm going to use you for a special purpose. I'm going to lavish all my wealth upon you so that every time someone looks at you they understand how charitable, how good, how loving and kind I am.

How many of you would sign up for that? That's what God has done. Let me put it this way. That when you walk in to glory it will be an object lesson for all creation. Even creation that we don't even know or understand.

And they will look at what you were. What you are. What God has done. The grace He has poured out on you. And they will worship God in a way they could have never worshipped Him before if He had not done this good thing for you.

But then it doesn't stop there. If we could say that there is chronology or day after day in Heaven. If we could say such a thing so that our mind could comprehend it every day God would increase the grace.

Lavish more and more upon you each day so that each day all of creation will look at you and have a greater vision of how God is and worship Him to a greater degree. Folks, that's a great future. This is absolutely wonderful.

It's wonderful. Sometimes when I'm working on a book on the Gospel and I'll come in the office and they'll say, what did you study yesterday? He's wonderful. He's wonderful. It doesn't matter what language I know.

There's no word. It makes me so mad. What's waiting you is so wonderful. The One waiting you. His name is wonderful. Now, what must you do? You see, here's what you do. First of all, why do we study Scripture?

We study Scripture to know His will, but that's another sermon. But I'm talking about you and your joy and your encouragement. Why do we study Scripture? To know who He is. And the more we know about who He is, the greater our joy if we see Him in light of the Gospel or our relationship with Him in the light of the Gospel.

What He's decreed for you. This is amazing. Tell me more. I want to know. What is it? I know some of you people are so spiritual that that really doesn't matter, but to me it really matters. I'm excited like a kid at Christmas.

I want to know what's coming. This is so good. What has He decreed? What has He done? I'm free. I really am free. I don't have to move a quarter of an inch to the left or the right to be any more loved of God.

I don't have to do anything, do anything less, do anything more. I am loved of God. And He has decreed all these things for me. He's done all these things for me. He will do so much more for me and for you that I cannot even grasp it.

Mind cannot comprehend it. Do you see that? Now what must we do? We must have faith. We must read the Word and believe it. Believe what God says, not what you think. I'm so tired of your false humility getting in the way.

It's not about what you think about yourself. It's what you think about God. And stop believing lies that rob you and kill your joy. Believe what God has said about Himself. Now what is faith? Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

Now how is that kind of statement any different from me jumping off this roof because I think I'm Peter Pan? How can you actually have assurance for something you hope for? You just hope for it. How can you have assurance that it's really going to happen?

How can you have convictions that something you've never seen actually exists? How? Because God has said it. Because God has said it in His Word. And you see, this is why faith is impossible apart from God's Word.

And that is why faith is strengthened by God's Word. Now see, I just can't tell you you need to get into God's Word because you'll get into God's Word and come out miserable because you're not understanding things properly.

You've got to get into God's Word in light of what God's done in the Gospel for you. Then you get in there. And it's wonderful! It's wonderful! And you start searching out all these things and you believe them.

Faith in God's Promises

The greatest illustration of faith other than Gethsemane and our Lord in Gethsemane, the greatest illustration of faith is Abraham in Romans 4. It says, Without becoming weak in faith, he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

He contemplated it. And it says,. Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God. How do we give glory to God? By believing Him. You want to start a fight?

Call somebody a liar. You want to honor somebody? Believe them. Believe them. And moping around with all your humility and self-affliction, beating yourself and everything else, that doesn't glorify anybody.

It doesn't. It really doesn't. Maybe yourself. But grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. It's believing in the faithfulness of God.

How do you have faith? You have faith because you believe God is faithful, and God is powerful, able to do everything He promised. He's never failed. I don't know if you've realized that or not. Never.