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When Truth Is Hard to Swallow

Sometimes I wish the Bible wasn't true. Sometimes I just wish that what we find in there wasn't real.

Now, if you don't get the context of what I'm about to say, you may have a misimpression of what I'm about to tell you. I have studied this book deeply over the last 30 plus years, deeper than most, I would say, and I can testify that this word is true. Word for word, cover to cover. And therefore, it's God's way to speak to us.

Either the Bible is in fact the word of God, or it is the most offensive, deceptive book ever written. Over 1500 times in the scriptures, it tells us that it's the word of God.

And there are many times I wish it wasn't that way.

I wish it wasn't true that Christians suffer. I wish it wasn't true that our Savior had to come and our King had to die on an execution instrument of the most horrible fashion. I wish it wasn't true when the Bible lays out how sinful I really am.

The Feel-Good Movement

I've heard many times, one way, shape, or form, the following: "I'm so sick and tired of being told how bad people are. Can we talk about how good people can be? I don't want to hear the bad news. I want to be encouraged, for crying out loud."

You know, if you're struggling with your weight, to be told how fat you are over and over and over again doesn't help after a while. "Hey, look, I know how bad it is and I know how bad I got it, but when I come to church, I want to hear something positive."

That's how the argument goes.

And there is some truth in that reality. I mean, no one wants to be browbeat about how bad they are and how bad they have it over and over and over again. And what this has led to is the unfortunate rise of what I call the feel-good movement, which was and is a movement to take conviction out of the heart of people.

So what is needed is a balance. A balance of truth and love.

With no bad news, the good news is easily disregarded if it's only considered from "can this improve my life?" versus "can this save me from the condemnation I deserve? Can it rescue me?"

The Zutilitis Analogy

Let me explain with an analogy.

I walk up to you and I say, "I have sacrificed everything I have to get you the antidote for zutilitis disease. Zutilitis disease is really bad and it's going to kill you and I've got something that'll save your life. There are three tablets in this little bottle and you need to take them and you'll be cured immediately. But it costs more than you can imagine. I sold everything. I mortgaged everything and sacrificed greatly to obtain these for you because I love you. So here's a bottle with three tablets. Take these and live."

You'll look at me as if I'm crazy. You have no symptoms and no clue what zutilitis is.

Now what if I told you this?

"Hey, it's obvious you have zutilitis disease and zutilitis disease is always fatal. Always. So, let me ask you a few questions. Do you have symptom number one?"

And you think and you say, "Oh, oh yeah, I have symptom number one every day in my life."

Next, I say, "I think you have symptom number two as well." And I explain the symptom to you. And you think for a second, you say, "Wow, that is so correct. I have symptom number two all the time in my life."

"Well," I say, "if you do have zutilitis disease, this last one, symptom number three, will confirm it. And it means you're going to die and die real soon."

You hear about and think about symptom number three and now you know in your heart, yes, you have full-blown zutilitis disease and you are going to for sure die.

Then I say, "I knew you had zutilitis disease. So I have sacrificed everything I have to get you the antidote for the zutilitis disease which will save your life. There are three tablets and it costs more than you can imagine." So I sold everything. I mortgaged everything and sacrificed greatly to obtain these for you because I love you. Here's the bottle with three tablets inside. Take them and live.

Now you grab the bottle with everything in you and your gratitude skyrockets, doesn't it?

What we are doing as a culture is saying you are no longer allowed to talk about the symptoms because that is too negative. "That is not the positive message I want to hear. Bringing up symptoms is like a real buzzkill, dude."

Fair warning. We're going to be talking about the symptoms. And when you see the solution, it will be totally good news.

The Scripture: No One Is Righteous

Romans 3:9-20:

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one. No one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Person in the Mirror

Most of us have an image of ourselves that is somewhat different from reality.

We may feel we are fatter or we are thinner than we really are. Others may believe they're smarter and still others may think that they're dumber than what they really are.

It's the same deceptive self-image that slips into our view of our spiritual selves as well. Most if not all of us believe that we are basically good people. We want to think that we're in good shape spiritually.

This isn't just a situation that is true among members of the church, but nearly every person around us that exists has an idea that all is well within his or her heart.

That's a deceptive, sinful default. But that is not the truth, is it?

These verses tell us about a person that we know very well. These verses tell us about the person we see in the mirror every day. We look at that person in the mirror who is nothing like we think they are.

This passage reveals the truth that we are nothing more than sinners in the eyes of the Lord. Yay us.

You see, Paul has just told his readers that the immoral as well as the moral pagan are condemned before the Lord. Then he tells them that the moral and the immoral Jew stand condemned as well. In other words, your religious effort ain't going to amount to much.

He is telling them that every person, no matter who they are, is a sinner in the sight of God.

What an affront statement in modern 2025 culture. That is a hard pill for people to swallow. Yet, understanding that truth is the first step in coming to God for salvation.

A Hockey Game Wake-Up Call

I remember back in 2019, we went to a Birmingham Bulls hockey game. They had just redone their arena. They put the big screens up over the center ice. This is a minor league hockey game. It seats 3,000 people. And they had this new seven camera setup. So chances of you getting on the screen are pretty good.

And so they would do the between period stuff and you know they did the chicken dance and my granddaughters were at the game with me and they're on the big screen and we're all cheering them on. And somewhere between the second and third period they showed a picture of a guy that kind of looked like me only he was pretty heavy, you know.

And then I looked a little closer and I saw he's got the same hat I got.

It was me.

And they say the camera adds 370 pounds.

Now, I had gained a little weight. Haha. But I did not realize that I was that big of a load. And I had to come to grips with that—that I no longer looked like the vision I had in my head. And that's when I started my first journey in losing a lot of weight. And I lost like 45 pounds that trip. Put most of it back on, but I still haven't gotten back to that level of deception.

The Daily Battle

Anyway, the same is true in our spiritual walk. We can get to a point where we don't know what we are.

And so, the Bible says daily, in keeping with repentance, we come back before the Lord. Why? Because we're default sinners. And so, we're saved by grace. Now, we're called saints. So, we're on this sanctification walk with the Lord.

And what happens if you don't stay in communication with the Lord? If you don't have fellowship with other believers, if you're not in the word of God on a regular basis, just like a person who doesn't eat, you start to shrivel up in spiritual starvation and you become back to your wicked ways.

Everybody goes through this. That's why it's a constant churn. It's a constant battle. Every day the enemy's coming for you. And every day we're saying, "No, not today. I'm going to be in the word of God. I'm going to be with my Savior. My Savior lives. I'm going to make his name great. It's not me, Lord. It's you."

So, by the same token, we who are saved need to be reminded that we have no place from which to brag or boast about ourselves. We always brag and boast about the Lord. I use the phrase, "Let's make his name great."

See, we are what we are by the grace of God.

So, let's look in the mirror today. Mirror, mirror on my wall.

Point One: Sin Is a Universal Problem

It Touches Every Race

Verse 9 tells us it touches every race and religion.

Paul tells us that sin is a problem that affects both the Jew and the Gentile. Regardless of the color of your skin, your ethnic background, you are still a sinner. No one is exempt from the stain of sin.

The white man, the black man, the brown man, the red man, the yellow man are all sinners in the sight of the Lord. It is a universal problem. It is such an equal opportunity condition and salvation is offered so across the board.

It has always baffled me why faith in Christ is not offered as the solution to racism. Not just here in the United States, but anywhere around the globe.

When I have spoken in multicultural churches, one thing stands out in the truly strong Bible ones. You know what they have in common? They never tried to be multicultural. It just happened as a byproduct of having the authentic gospel in their midst.

It's much different from the ones who I've seen that try to make it an agenda item. "Let's have diversity for diversity's sake." And most of the time it's what? It's contrived and it really shows their true colors. What's that? Goats in a sheep costume is one way to put it.

It Touches Every Religion

Anyway, verse 9 also touches on every religion.

Paul tells us that the Jew and the pagan are both sinners. It matters not how dedicated they may be to their religion. They are still sinners in the sight of God.

Notice the words: "What then? Are we better off? No, not at all."

Paul tells his Christian readers that they are no different than anyone else. All people are sinners and there is no escaping that awful truth.

See, many have mistaken the idea that if you believe strongly enough in your religion, it has the power to take away sins. Some even think that sincerity is the key to having your sin removed.

However, the truth of the matter is no one has ever been saved by religion or by sincerity. You can sincerely believe anything you want to and still be sincerely wrong, deceived, and headed for some sort of destruction.

No Human Righteousness

Verse 10 takes away all options. It says, "None is righteous, no, not one."

Here is God's indictment on the sinner. He looks at them and says that no human has the ability to produce righteousness. In fact, the Bible tells us that the best we can produce in the flesh is filthy rags in the sight of a holy God. You've heard me quote that often. I want to show it to you today.

Isaiah 64:6:

"But we are like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. We fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

See, the best we can do will never be good enough.

The problem with the idea is that Jesus said we had to possess and execute perfect righteousness to get into heaven.

Matthew 5:20:

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Many people translate that as "you got to increase your efforts." That's not what he's saying there.

Matthew 5:48:

"You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

See why sometimes I wish the scriptures weren't true?

In and of ourselves, that is absolutely impossible. I can never be good enough to please God because I'm a sinner and everything I touch is ruined and corrupted by sin.

The Wrong Measuring Stick

Mankind's problem is that we always measure ourselves against the wrong measuring stick.

We will look at our neighbors and say, "Well, I'm certainly not as bad as he is. I'm certainly not as bad as she is." People do that and then feel they are somehow superior and pleasing to God because they're not as wicked as their neighbor.

However, what people forget is that dead is still dead. Lost is still lost.

Imagine for a moment that you're with a group of people in France and you've all decided you're going to go to England and you're going to cross the English Channel at its narrowest point about 21 miles. However, you're not going to use any conventional method of getting there. Instead, you're going to try to jump across the channel.

And I mean, some of the people you're hanging out with are in pretty good shape. They run and they jump with all their might and they make it 25, almost 30 feet. Others aren't as in good shape—might be able to jump 10, 15 feet. Still others who are in very bad shape might have difficulty jumping even five feet.

Now, those who jump the farthest might look down on those who jump the least and feel superior, but the fact is none of them were going to be able to go the distance.

That may be a lame illustration, but it does speak to me. No matter how far I jump, I will still be miles short.

But that is exactly what some folks are trying to do. They are trying to jump into heaven on the basis of being in better spiritual shape than someone else.

People can try anything they want, but the fact remains that there is only one cure to the sin problem and to be allowed to enter into God's presence in heaven, and that is through the faith of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the only way.

If we trust ourselves to get to heaven, we can trust ourselves right onto a path to destruction.

See, sin is a horrible problem and it has only one cure and that is the faith that you find in Jesus Christ.

Point Two: Sin Is a Hideous Problem

Wicked to the Core

The sin nature of a person will always manifest itself in their life. Me, you, all of us, it happens.

Verses 10-14 tell about a problem that people have because they are sinful. These statements prove that while sin is a universal problem, everybody must deal with it. It's such a hideous problem.

Notice what sin has done to the sinner.

Simply stated, this is hard to say, but I'm going to tell you anyway. We are wicked to the core of our beings, and there is no good in us at all.

That may bother folks, but that's the truth nonetheless, which is what makes salvation so awesome.

Look, you can search the world from town to town and cover every one of the eight billion people that you know are on this spinning rock and you're going to find some folks that are better than others. But when they are judged by the standard, the perfect righteousness of God himself, then the truth is plain to see. They are all guilty before the Lord.

Now people may look good outwardly, but inwardly they are rotten and wicked.

Spiritual Brain Damage

Verse 11 teaches the terrible truth that sin has dulled our minds to the truth of God.

Here's the one thing that really bugs me about the Bible truth: there is not a single person in the world who will seek God if left to themselves. No one will seek God. Not me, not you, nobody.

It's almost like sin has left us with spiritual brain damage. Nobody decides to go after God.

When a person begins to hunger for the Lord, it is the work of God in his spirit. The human is a rebel and is dead.

Ephesians 2:1:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins."

How is that not clear?

And so it is not until the Lord speaks to the heart and creates a hunger in the human for God. Many of us here today have had that spoken to us and we've responded and we've been pursuing that.

John 6:44:

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day."

Wayward and Worthless

Verse 12 makes the accusation that all sinners are wayward and we are worthless to the Lord. This is not a church planting sermon. Just so you know.

It's the same idea that's mentioned in Isaiah 53:6:

"All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."

The picture is of one who is unusable to the Lord.

Not only has sin dulled our mind and damaged our spirit, it has also dirtied our whole existence. God will not use a dirty existence. It's worthless until it has been cleansed and made worthy of the Lord.

That is why he says that there is none that do good.

A Matter of Perspective

Now, we might be tempted to disagree with that statement. In my common sense, I want to disagree with it. I don't want it to be true.

I mean, come on. Is there not a difference between a Mother Teresa who spent many years working among the untouchables in India compared to maybe a Saddam Hussein who was responsible for untold misery and suffering?

There must be a difference between a doctor who uses his education and talent to heal versus one who uses the talent to perform abortions.

From a human standpoint, there is a difference between their work. And from our vantage point, we see that some people work good while others work evil.

However, from a biblical heavenly standpoint, God looks at all of our works as they appear beside his righteousness—that leaves us guilty in his sight.

One analogy I heard is imagine seeing New York City from a boat in the harbor. It's kind of easy to see the difference in the height of the buildings, but if you fly directly overtop, look straight down, it's hard to tell which one is taller than the other.

It's vantage point, right? It's a matter of perspective.

Unfortunately, many folks don't understand your perspective will count for nothing when it's time to face judgment for your sins. God has said just through natural revelation alone that his presence is manifest enough for all people to understand.

Sin Has Ruined Our Speech

Then we get to verses 13 and 14 of our text.

Paul now moves to tell us that sin has ruined our speech. It is a fact that your words will reveal the condition of your heart.

Notice what our text says about the sinner's speech. It says it's like the smell of an open grave or a rotting corpse.

Have you listened to the language of our modern culture and society lately? It'll tell you what's going on in the conscience of the rotting United States.

See, the human speech is filled with lies and deception. It exaggerates its own greatness. It flatters. It lies without remorse.

Lying has long been a national pastime of ours. It is everywhere. I heard an old school southern preacher say this: "From the White House to the church house and everywhere in between."

Lying is an indication that humans are wicked.

Also, it says it's like a deadly poison.

I think of the souls deceived into fake assurances by the poison of false doctrine that has come off the lips of some heretic preacher. My heart breaks for them. If they'd only lay it down next to scripture and open their eyes. It's everywhere nowadays.

I think of the deadly poison that ruins reputations of godly people through gossip and rumor.

See, the tongue is a wicked thing. No wonder the book of James tells us that to tame the tongue is to be able to control the whole body and to live perfectly. See, it is a weapon of the most devastating power.

The tongue of the sinner is a dreadful thing. It can ruin lives and it can damage testimonies and reputation. And it can damage more than a lifetime of right living can undo.

Your Inputs Affect Your Outputs

I don't know how you use your tongue, but I know how you speak reveals the condition of your heart. And that can change day by day, week by week.

I know that there have been times that I've been murmuring and just foul for no reason, mostly because I just got full of myself for 10 minutes.

And then you come back to the scriptures. You come back to accepting the fact they are true. Come back to accepting the way that you really are.

Even though you're saved and been walking with Jesus and been on platforms all over the globe testifying to the greatness of Jesus, you still need him every minute of every day because of who you really are.

Matthew 12:34:

"Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks."

I always say, "Your inputs affect your outputs."

When my prayer life is clicking on all cylinders and I'm in God's word, the love for y'all just grows in my heart. When I'm worried about this, that and my own problems, it's different. Many of you who are saved, you know what I'm talking about.

Swift to Shed Blood

So, now we get to verses 15-17.

And Paul tells us that the influence of sin in our lives has caused us to be extraordinarily cruel and wicked in the way we walk. Notice what he says about the sinful heart.

Verse 15: We're quick to shed blood.

This speaks of murder. Look at the statistics concerning abortion in the United States to know that we are a guilty nation.

I believe that God's judgment is upon our land. But the reason we continue to thrive in certain pockets of Christianity is because we still have the prayers of the faithful. And this nation has spread the gospel far and wide across the globe more than any other in the last 200 years. So God continues to bless that while we're under his judgment.

Growing More Brutal

Verse 16: People are growing more and more brutal.

Paul says that destruction and misery are in their path. That is, as people go through life, they are guilty of stepping on one another to have their way.

This is why I cannot stand the Christian industry, whether it's broadcasting, filmmaking, megachurches, whatever. They're no better than Hollywood or fill-in-the-blank broadcasting. And it seems like the bigger the church you get, the more you have to water things down and the more you will step on everybody else to get your own way.

I think of a producer that was helping us with the original marketing of Bible Idiots and he met a girl at a party and while he's getting a beverage for her, she's checking him on IMDb to see if he's a strong enough producer for her to hang out with. You follow?

When you see that in the places where people are called by God to make his name great and they're playing this game, nauseating.

Often lives are lost and people are permanently damaged by people who are simply brutal in the way they live.

No Desire for Peace

Verse 17 tells us people do not really want to live in peace.

Basically, people just want to have their own way. They do not care about the rights of others. And they will stop at nothing to achieve their own goals and their own dreams.

And that's also in the church.

Unless you have the antidote, which is Christ unity amongst the brethren, wanting to make his name great. He must increase, we must decrease.

When you have that, you have a chance. You have a shot. Doesn't mean you're going to get there, but at least you have a chance. Because without that, you have no chance.

Practical Atheism

Verse 18, the last charge against the sinner in our text.

It tells us that mankind possesses no fear of God. This is why they are able to do all these other things. This is why folks are able to live the kind of lives that they do.

To put it simply, people just do not fear the Lord.

God has already told mankind what will happen as a result of sin. And folks have chosen not to believe the word of God. They don't like it. And I can relate.

In fact, many people actually live out their lives as if God doesn't even exist.

You know what this is called? This is called practical atheism.

People who can claim Christ can live out practical atheism. This kind of person knows there is a God. They know there is a hell. They even know the need to live for the Lord. Yet they choose to live their life in a way as if there were no God. This frees them from any restrictions in behavior and allows them to do as they please.

God has a name for people like that. You know what he calls them?

Fools.

Psalm 14:1:

"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"

What if you've claimed Christ? What if you said the prayer and you still live a practical atheistic life because you feel like you can do anything you want since God's going to forgive you for it anyway and you have no real relationship with Jesus. You've just added him on.

You're a false convert and you're a fool.

The Fear of God

It is the fear of God that motivates people to come to Jesus Christ for salvation, surrender their life.

It is the fear of God that motivates the Christian to live now for God.

Fear is a healthy force for righteousness. If that fear is born out of a desire to please the Lord, the number one thing you can do in your heart when you are tempted to sin, and you all will be, is to say, "No, I'm not going to do that because I don't want to sin against my God."

Not "No, I'm not going to do that because I'm afraid of my testimony" or "I'm afraid that I might look bad in the Christian community" or "I'm afraid my spouse might find out" or "I'm afraid of..."

No, like David, if sin comes my way, no, I don't want to sin against my God.

Point Three: Sin Is an Indisputable Problem

The Straight Edge of the Law

Verses 19 and 20.

Man's sin is proved by the law because the law of God condemns all the things that man is guilty of. We stand condemned in front of the law. We don't want to, but we do. I wish it wasn't so, but it is.

The law has the ability to show us how wicked we really are.

One old school preacher said this. I love this quote:

"It is the straight edge of the law that shows us just how crooked we really are."

No one can look into the word of God and miss the truth of what Paul is saying. Just remember Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount. Read Matthew 5 when you get a minute. It's the word of God that shows us how wretched we really are.

God gave the law to man as a tool. It was given to show that he was a sinner and to drive the person to Jesus. And that's the best place we can go.

Galatians 3:24:

"So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith."

You see how good news is really good news when you get into the perspective we're getting this morning.

If the law had one purpose, it's to show us that we're guilty.

The Law Is Like a Mirror

The law is like a mirror.

James 1:22-25, which was the original text for today—we somehow found our way to Romans chapter 3—but check this out as we bring it home:

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."

Mirror, mirror on the wall.

You know, it can show you how dirty your face is, but it can't be used to clean you up. You don't take the mirror and rub it on your face to get clean. The mirror is there to point you to the water and the soap.

So it is with the law.

The law cannot clean us up, but it can create a hunger in us for the one who can.

There's only one who can. In all of human history, there's only one, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Only Solution

Surrendering to Jesus

We celebrate God coming to the earth in the form of a baby this month, and we look forward to him returning as King and Conqueror soon.

And so we don't look to the law to save us. We don't try to live out the law. The only thing that can save a sinner is surrendering to Jesus Christ by faith.

We have too many who are trying to do good in their own way. Simply not going to work.

The Bible is clear on this point: you must be born again.

Do you want to know how you know you've got authentic salvation? It's called the changed life.

It's called the changed life where you now want to give your time. You want to give your resources. You want to be a part of a fellowship that makes his name great because he's everything.

The Good News

If I right now told you I had a fountain of youth that could make you feel like you're 20 years old for the next hundred years, you'd give everything for that, wouldn't you? Especially the older we are. We would.

Here's an offer to take our wickedness and be turned into righteousness.

When I tell you now after what you've heard for the last few minutes, how awesome the good news is where you and I are going to be presented in front of a holy God as if we're perfect and we never sinned.

That's good news.

That changes my life forever. I only have one life to live and as long as I draw breath, that's all I want to be about because I can't wait for that day because I know who I am and what I am. And I've seen the mirror and I know the law and it ain't good.

I wish it wasn't true, but it is.

A Slave to Christ

The only thing that can save a sinner is surrendering to Jesus Christ by faith.

Folks, the conclusion is crystal clear. The only solution for our sins is not found in trying to do good or being a good person or even saying a little prayer that you don't understand or don't mean.

It will be found in a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ where you surrender your life to him at the foot of the cross and you say, "Not my will, Lord, but yours."

And he now has a servant.

Do you know what the servant translation is in the authentic English language? It's called slave.

We now become a slave to Jesus Christ and we go where he says to go. We do what he says to do. And when we wobble, when we get off course, when we get full of ourselves, we come back and we repent and we surrender ourselves and we refocus.

And for some of you, you might be able to get away with that once a month, some once a week. Losers like me, I need it daily.

Every morning I get up, I thank the Lord I'm still breathing. And Lord, help me not be the loser that I am.

Every day that saving relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Question

So I ask you, are you saved by grace through faith in Jesus?

If you were to die today, would you die a child of God completely trusting in Jesus and nothing else to take you to heaven?

If not, then make today the day of salvation.

If you are saved, and many of us are, make this holiday season one to really see the work of Jesus in and around you. And let's celebrate the fact that you and I, as wicked as we are, we're redeemed and we're headed for glory.

And he starts a good work in us. And so we're not who we used to be.

Is the authentic saved person sinless even though they're wicked? Yes, but they still sin. That's why we have grace.

But let's celebrate that we're redeemed and headed for glory. Because in the mirror, when we really see ourselves, we see that the cross and the resurrection are everything.

And that had to start with the advent. Had to start with Jesus coming.

And we celebrate that with Christmas.