Built through Confession

What do you need to remember about God's faithfulness to free you from the past of your sin? To remember the ways that God has provided for you when you just didn't deserve it. To remember the ways how God has opened up doors, how God has healed, how God has restored, how God has made new despite the fact that you did nothing but rebel. What do you need to remember so that you can trust him again? This morning we are going to be continuing on through our series in the book of Nehemiah. And if you have a Bible, you can open up to Nehemiah chapter 9. And as you're flipping there, uh, let me just tell you a little story. Is last night, uh, uh, my daughter, she's been doing these little fun activities is I I put all my kids to bed at 7:00. All right, it's glorious. I'm like, "Go to bed at 7:00." Or a couple older ones, they're probably not ready, but I'm like, "You can read a book, listen to a yo until you're ready." But my daughter, my 9-year-old Arya, my oldest, she likes to write us notes. And she writes us these notes and leaves them outside her door. So when we go to shut her door at night, I get like have to read a little booklet and then and she gives me responses. So she asks me questions and she's like, "And you have to circle yes, no, or maybe." and I grabbed what she had last night and I'm going over and then uh as I'm going to uh get a pen because I mean who has pens anymore, right? So I open a drawer and first pen doesn't work, second pen doesn't work, third pen doesn't work, fourth pen doesn't work, finally I find a pen that works and circle my answer and then I do what probably all you do. I just grab all the pens and put them back in the drawer and shut the drawer because that's our junk drawer. There's pens in there. There's rubber bands. There's batteries that probably are dead. Uh there's bills that are probably passed due, but we didn't want them at the time, so we just like they're medical. It doesn't matter, right? I don't know. Uh but you have drawers in your house that are just full of junk, full of stuff. And the thing about those drawers is when you open it, it's usually so ugly that you close it shortly after cuz you don't want to see the mess. The problem is we have spiritual junk drawers in our lives as well. That when we open them up, we look at them and be like, "Ooh, don't want to deal with that. Let's close it." Instead of dealing with the issues, often times we just push it to the side. If it's out of sight, it's out of mind. But today in Nehemiah chapter 9, as God's continuing to build walls, but now build people, and as he brings his people together, he's calling them to open up the spiritual junk drawers of their life and to look inside and ask how to we address the stuff inside our life. So, here's how today is going to be. We're going to be interactive and we're going to be fun. And and I'm going to tell you in this and and I said this in the first service that what you put into this is what you are going to put out. How you contribute to reading God's word to diving into today's message to giving and being honest with who you are is what you're going to get out of this. And this is the great thing. It is February 1st. There's no football games on. It's the Pro Bowl. We're not watching that anyway. So no distractions during this time. But as you walked in, you probably sat on a little piece of paper and you sat on a little paper that says my junk on it. You might still be sitting on I'm not going to say that. Um the the card. Yeah. All right. Some of you got that. Uh but pull out this card that says junk on it. And and here's what I want you to do as we start. And I'm going to do this with you. I brought a pencil up uh from one of the chairs because pens don't work for me well. But I want you to write on here some of the junk in your life. Maybe it's the junk of your past, the junk of your present. Present. Maybe it's the junk of financial pressure, of stress. I know for me when I write on this, I think of the junk of my pride. Is sometimes I I I think I'm smarter than I am. I know I'm smarter than all you guys, but sometimes I think I'm smarter than God. That was You took that personally, didn't you? It was a joke. All right. But sometimes I think of the junk of my anger as maybe I'm not patient as longsuffering. So here's what I'm going to give you right now. Just take a minute. Write down on your slip. What are some of the junk in your life? The things about you that you don't like to look at. You might want to write small because we're going to come back to this later. Some people are like, I think I need three more sheets to write my stuff on. And you see, as we write this junk today, God's word is going to tell us now, how do we let go of this? The stuff in our lives that we don't like to address. The stuff in our lives we don't like to look at. The stuff in our lives that when we see it, we want to push clothes. We want to push in the darkness, we want to forget about. Well, in Nehemiah chapter 9, starting in verse one, we see the path that the Israelites took as God exposed the sin in their life and how to respond to it. And we start in verse one. It says this, "On the 24th day of this month, the Israelites assembled. They were fasting. They wearing sackcloth and had put dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all the foreigners. And listen to this. They stood and they confessed their sins and the iniquity of their ancestors. While they stood in their places, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day and spent another fourth of the day in confession and worship of the Lord their God. As we start this journey and we ask this question of how do we let go of the junk in our past, the junk that is affecting our present, the junk that is holding back our future. How do we address and let go of this stuff in our life? You see, the first step here is that we need to recognize what we have done and what has been done to us. You look at the scene here in in chapter 8 after the walls have been built and after this great celebration then they go actually and pastor Jackie illustrated this beautifully and exposited this text as Nehemiah has led this project. He calls his priest friend Ezra and he says Ezra bring the book. And they brought the book of the law the Bible they had at that time. They start reading the words of God and all of a sudden all of a sudden response breaks out. All of a sudden, action is prompted. And then from there, in the second half of chapter 8, they have this festival of the shelters. They hadn't had the celebration in years and decades. And they have this festival and everyone's happy. And then all of a sudden, they come to chapter 9 and the scene has shifted. Days after this celebration, all of a sudden, they're fasting. Now, if I fasted for two days, I would be pretty grumpy. All right? Two days with no food. You're getting hangry right there. And then on top of that, it says they wore sackcloth. Sackcloth was not nice, comfortable like this $6 shirt that I got that my my wife got for me on clearance at TJ Maxx. All right. Um, but it was not a nice comfortable fit. Instead, it was itchy and it didn't feel good. And then they put ashes on their head. And this was not a party. This was a funeral for their sin. And in verse two, it is so revealing here as they're coming into this funeral for their sin. I just love it. Says, "They stood and they confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers." Did you catch that? They confessed their sins, but and the problems, the sins, the messed up parts of their past. You see, they're not just dealing with what they have done, but they're also dealing with what has been done to them through generations of dysfunction. You see, this is so important because some of us, we are carrying baggage that isn't even ours. We might have inherited anger from our dads. You might inherited anxiety from our moms. We might have inherited patterns of addiction or abuse or neglect that go back generations. Here's another fun exercise I want you to do is bring back out that my junk card. And as you bring that out, I want you to start to write on here what is some of the junk that you have brought that is not your sin. That is not maybe how you have messed up, but is generations being passed down to you. Maybe it's the the some of the gener maybe it's the generations of just living in a sinful way. Maybe you never saw a marriage be practiced well. Maybe you had abuse in your life. And here's the deal. As you write this, you might feel guilty. But here's what you need to know is your parents are sinners and messed up because you are a sinner and messed up. Your kids, their parents, they're probably more jacked up than your parents are. And the thing is that we come from generations and generations of broken and messed up people that do impact the junk that we carry with us. Write those down on that paper. We will deal with your parent issues as we go. I promise. But as we write these things from our past, you see they confessed it. And now you might hear this and you be like, "All right, that's great." like okay we're going to talk about all the ways that that that I have had a hard go in life all the issues that have brought but here the thing is there's this balance here it's not just what they are responsible for but also the things that have happened to them but here's where it leads it's not just talking about their problems and saying now I feel better instead it leads to confession they acknowledge their junk and then they confess it and here's what confession does it brings brings everything into light. Not just our personal failures, but the whole messy history that we have come from that shaped us. And look at verse three. It says they spent 3 hours reading God's word. That is the fourth of the day from kind of sunrise to sunset. And then they spent three more hours in confession and worship. 6 hours total. Here's the next change we're going to make on Super Bowl Sunday is we're changing our services to 6 hours each week. You're going to get comfortable. You're like, "I thought these were an hour long." Actually, we usually plan for an hour and 10. So, you're not late. You're on time when you get out 10 minutes late. All right. Um, but for 6 hours. Now, think about that for a second. When was the last time you gave 6 hours of your time devoting to God? If we're honest, and maybe you're like, "Man, I'm too busy for six hours. I feel that. I got four kids. I'm working. I'm doing things. I'm like, six hours carving. If I had six hours alone outside of sleep, that would be awesome. But there is times that we have that we give away too freely. Last night, my wife, she went to a birthday party of her friend and she left at 6:00. So, I had the kids. I put them all to bed at 7. Actually, 6:50 cuz they're annoying me. I'm like, "You're ready to go. All right, let's go." Like, "This is done." 6:50, they're all in bed and in their rooms mostly and coming out every now and then. And for about 3 and 1/2 hours, I binge watched a show, all eight episodes of Wonderman on Disney Plus. knocked it out like that. And then right after I'm like, I think I was supposed to be praying and consecrating and confessing my sins right before the sermon. But I made a great sermon illustration about how I'm a failure just like you, so it works out better. But here's the deal. We have all this time that so often we so easily give away. But here's the thing. The principle behind this is we can't clear out our junk drawer in mere minutes. that real confession takes time. Real healing takes intentionality. The first step of letting go of the junk is recognizing that it's there in the first place. But here's the deal. Recognition isn't enough. We also need perspective. And and here's what I love for this because maybe you hear this and you're like, this is kind of modern therapy is to talk about your problems. To recognize that you are broken, that you are not perfect. to recognize that you come from a bunch of broken, messed up people. And in therapy today, it's all about that. It's love to talk and talk and talk about your problems. But here's where I think our world struggles is I think often our world stops at that step. But the Bible does not stop there. The Bible says, "You are broken. You are messed up. You come from broken, messed up people." But then it makes a turn here in verse four and shows us something greater. All of a sudden, the Levites come onto the scene and there was Jesua, Bonnie, Camdile, Shboni, Bunai, Sherai, Bonnie, Chennai stood on the raised platforms built for the Levites. And listen to this. I love in the end of verse four, how cool this is. And they cried out loudly to their Lord and God, their L to the Lord their God. Six hours of reading the book of confessing, then these dudes stand up and just start yelling. And in verse 5, it says, "And the Levites, these same guys again, Jesu, Cadmill, all of them, they said, stand up. Blessed be the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it exalt above all blessing and praise." That's an amen. Here's the next step. as we recognize the junk in our lives is then we need to read about what God has done despite us and for us. Here's what I love where this passage just becomes absolutely incredible is all of a sudden it's dealing with, hey, they are broken. They are sinners just like we are. But then they go to this transition in this passage where they're going to spend the rest of the time talking about how great their God is. And what's crazy here is actually they're going to go through and walk through the entire narrative of the Old Testament up to this point. And and it's going to follow this pattern that repeats over and over again that God is faithful, that mankind fails, yet God shows mercy. And it just repeats again and again. And you see that pattern happens in our life that God is faithful. We fail, but then God shows mercy and repeat and repeat and repeat. And today, I want us to spend a little bit of time of walking through these same steps that the Levites walked the people of God through thousands of years ago. And in verse six, he starts here and he says, "You, Lord, are the only God." That's huge. He's giving theology into them. He's like, there's not just we don't live in a world of all these different gods. this world of all these different powers says you believe what you want. I believe what I want and say he says Lord you are the only God. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them. And all the stars of heaven worship you. as they're starting and going down this road, the first thing they show is we serve the God of creation. We we read about this God and the Levites are reciting is this is the God who we have, the God who spoke in the world came into existence. And here's what's beautiful for that is not only do we serve the God of creation, we serve the God of creation as the highest order of creation. Being men and women, the Bible tells us that we are born that we are created as a mo day in the image of God. Meaning that we replicate, we look like we have the attributes of our God. We are not holy and perfect by any sense. We are fallen but we are in the image of God. One of the blessings we see is that we get attributes of God that others do not have. One of those beautiful attributes is the attribute of creation. Animals do not create things. Animals do not have the same mind that humans do. You might think your dog is smart, but I promise it's not smarter than a human. Even though you might think it's smarter than your neighbor, you can't stand. But I promise your neighbor's still smarter. But but God created us differently. My four-year-old son, Arlo, he he just he loves to build things. And he tells me, he's like, "Dad, I have some other room I want to show you." I'm like, "Did you destroy your room and you want me to clean it cuz I'm not falling for that trap again?" But he's like, "No, I created something." And I go in there and there'll be like this giant magnetile like tower like this high. Like how'd you create that? Like did you like you know like uh tell mommy to create this for you and just like pass it off on your own? He's like no I built it. And in his little four-year-old brain he is living out things that are only available because he is created by God and created specially by him. And we see this God of creation. This God who is bigger. God who spoke things into existence. And what's so amazing here is the God who made everything that exists is the same God who hears your confessions. If he can speak the universe into existence, he can handle the mess of your junk drawer that we're going to open up a little bit more in a second. But he continues in verse 7. In verse 7, he says, "You, the Lord, are the God who chose Abram and brought him out of the Chaldans and changed his name to Abraham. You found his heart faithful in your sight and made a covenant with him to give him the land of the Canaanites to give to his descendants. You have being God fulfilled your purpose for you are righteous. As he makes this move to not only talking about the God of creation, he then moves in the story of Abraham and talks about how God is the God of a covenant that he has made a promise to people and he keeps that promise. Here's what I love is God chose Abram. God changed his name to Abraham. He found Abraham's heart faithful and and he made a covenant to him to saying, "Hey, if you are faithful, I will show. If you follow me, just keep believing." He's like, "I will give your descendants this land." And in verse 8, I just love this line as it describes God. It says, "You have kept your promise for you are righteous." How many how much of our junk in our lives is from ourselves or from other people not keeping their promises? When you look at that list, when you look at the stuff of your life, when you reflect on your sin, when you reflect on your past, how much of it is either people failing to keep their promise or you failing to keep yours? That's what destroys marriages. That's what strains families. That's what tear down friendships is. We are people that as broken as we are, we cannot always keep the promises we make, but we serve a God who does keep his promises. This is his track record. He does what he says he will do. But we keep going in verse 9. In verse 9, he says, "You saw the oppression of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea. You, he who performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and the peoples of his land, for you knew how arrogantly they treated our ancestors. You made a name for yourself that endures to this day. A as he the Levites are going through history, they're saying in this all of a sudden there is this time where where the people were enslaved not because of what they had done, but just because they lived in a broken world and they were enslaved in Egypt. But God saw that. Skip down to verse 16. It says that even though he he freed them from that horror, that slavery, shortly after in 16, it says, "But our ancestors acted arrogantly." And verse 17 says, "They refused to listen and did not remember your wonders you performed among them." Verse 18, it talks about how they made a cast image. Verse 19, though, despite their continual sin, despite their continual backtracking, it says, "You did not abandon them." and said in verse 21, "You provided for them in the wilderness for 40 years. They lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell." We serve the God of creation, the God who made a covenant with his people, but also the God of Exodus when we come in to this scene in history and spiritual is Moses. All of a sudden, all the Israelite people are enslaved in Egypt and God uses Moses as a vessel to free them from their slavery. But what's so funny as God is showing his mercy, it is not very long before all of a sudden they go back into their sins, go back into the problems that they had done for generations to generations. We see the scene as they built a calf. They went away from his commands. They wanted to go back to slavery in Egypt. They grumbled and I and complained. Can I be honest for a second? I think we do exactly the same thing. Sometimes that as a dad I get frustrated when my kids are not grateful for what they have. When they don't want to eat the food we make and then I get that dad line of like there are kids in Africa that just eat whatever they can. Right? Um and they they're like I don't I'm not in Africa so I'm here in Surprise Arizona so can I eat something else? I'm like no you're missing the point. And when I get frustrated I'm like you guys need to be more grateful. And then I think about how ungrateful I am towards our God in heaven. We literally have to sing a song that just over and over again says, "I'm so grateful." And the reason we do that is to remind ourselves that we have so much to be grateful for. >> And you see, even though they were not grateful, even though they were rebellious, even though they built a calf and they called it their God, it says in verse 18, God did not abandon them. For 40 years in the wilderness, their clothes didn't wear out. For 40 years, their feet didn't swell. For 40 years, he gave them mana and water. God's mercy outlasted their rebellion. But the story keeps going in verse 22. In verse 22, he says, "You gave them kingdoms and people and established boundaries for them. They took possession of the land of King Sihon." Here's what's happening. As then it moves into the story of Joshua that they're going into the promised land. In verse 23 says, "You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky." This is this is the promise that he made to Abraham that he is fulfilling. And through this they're seeing all these amazing things happen is they captured cities. In verse 25 they had these fertile land. They took possession of well supplied houses, sistns out of rock, vineyards, olive groves and fruit trees in abundance. And I love this last line. They ate. They were filled. They became prosperous and delighted in your God's great goodness. You see, God continues to move through this story. He created everything. He made a covenant with Abraham. He He freed his people from Exodus. And even though they kept rebelling, all of a sudden he who stayed with them showed his mercy. And it led to a season of prosperity. All of a sudden, they moved into this promised land. They moved in to fulfill the promises of God. And and despite their sins, they kept on messing up. All of a sudden, he he gave them judges and they rebelled against that. He gave them a king and they had a great reign under King David. But then that fell apart. But despite this, God kept pursuing. God kept showing his mercy. And God still had ways that they could eat and be delighted in his great goodness. And here's what's important in here is that we see through this story is everything they could ever need, God provided. Everything they could ever want, God gave them. God gives us all the ability and the things we need to have a prosperous life. Now, when you hear prosperity, you might think about that TV preacher. It's just like, "Speak that car in your name and you'll get it right. I'm still waiting on my jet. Um, one of these days it's going to come." But that's not the prosperity the Bible promises. Instead, the prosperity that God promises in scripture is he's going to provide what we truly need. He's going to spiritually provide for us what we truly want in our hearts to show us something greater. But what happens next in this story? We pick back up in verse 26. It says, "But they were disobedient and rebelled against you." Like, man, how many times do these people got to keep screwing up? Like God is merciful. God is good. God keeps saving him. All of a sudden, God gives them this prosperity, but it says, "But they were disobedient and rebelled against you." And God finally there was so much disobedience because they flung their law behind their backs. They killed their prophets who warned them. They committed terrible blasphemies. So verse 27, so you handed them over to their enemies who oppressed them. All of a sudden they got sent into exile. Verse 28. But as soon as they had relief cuz his mercy is so great. They did again what was evil in your sight. You warned them to turn back in verse 29 to your law but they acted arrogantly would not obey your commands. They sinned against your ordinances. and he just keeps on going with this pattern of sin. But verse 31, I love this. However, in your abundant compassion, you did not destroy them, even though they deserved it. You did not abandon them, even though you should have abandoned us, for you are a gracious and compassionate God. We move into the next scene of remembering how great our God is. And they cover the exile in this section. the exile of all of a sudden when God blessed them, they rebelled and God sent judges to rescue them. They rebelled again. God sent prophets to war. They killed them. So then all of a sudden this cycle repeating for centuries in order to break the cycle, finally God allowed them to be conquered. He gave them over to their sin and they went into exile. But in verse 31, we're reminded of his mercy, reminded that he kept pursuing them, that he did not abandon them, he did not destroy them. You might hear all this and maybe you're overwhelmed or maybe you're excited cuz you just got the whole Old Testament pretty much summarized in one chapter. But you might be asking the question, "What in the world does this mean for me?" You see, as we look at the history of Israel, it truly is the history of us. It's a mirror showing us of our own tendency to take God's goodness, but then also rebel against him in the next turn. We do the very same thing that God is faithful. We fail, but God shows mercy and it just goes over and over and over again. And here's what the next question we need to ask is, how has God provided for you despite the junk in your life? Go ahead and grab that card back out. Grab uh your junk card. And as you grab that, I want you to just take just a quick second and write on some of the ways that God has blessed you, the things that God has done that despite the junk that is on this card. Despite the sins you have committed, despite the past sins that you have inherited and that have just come into your family and the junk you carry around you, how has God provided despite that? Maybe he's allowed you to have a marriage you don't deserve, allow you to raise kids that you are not worthy to raise, and you're so scared you will mess them up. Don't worry, there's worse parents out there. I promise. Maybe he has provided for you and a healing that you didn't deserve, grace that you didn't do anything to receive. But here's where all this builds in the last half of this passage in verse 32. After they recite all this history, they literally go through the meta narrative of the Old Testament. The is the Levites say, "So now our God, we've established your track record, God. We've established our track record. We've seen how terrible we are. We've seen how good you are. So now our God, the great mighty and all inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant. Now they plead with him. They say, "God, we are slaves in this land. God, we are broken. Our life is a mess. God, we are not going down the path we want to. God, because of our choices, because of our ancestors choices, because of your great mercy that we have constantly rejected, God, our life is a mess. And in verse 37, he says, "There is abundant harvest, but it goes to the kings who have said over us because of our sins." He says, "They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please." And just this angst in their heart, "We are in great distress." that God, our lives are a mess because of all the junk that we just can't get over. And as they're remembering this God, the God of creation, the God who makes covenants and promises that he continues to keep, the God of Exodus that frees us from our slavery, the God that will give us prosperity when we seek him, but the God that we it lets us experience exiles when we are prone and hard-headed, but ultimately he is the God of restoration. They bring it to this present moment and they ask God not to minimize their suffering. They acknowledge everything that has happened to them that they deserve. But I love this in verse 33. They say, "You are righteous concerning all that has come on us because you have acted faithfully while we have acted wickedly." That statement is almost like a summary of the entire Old Testament. is that you have acted faithfully while we have acted wickedly. That is a statement that summarizes our life that God you are faithful God we are wicked and yet despite that God keeps showing mercy. What I love in this whole big old chapter, this prayer slashw worship slashsermon, it all ends by acknowledging that they're still in distress. They're still slaves in their own land. They're still foreign of serving foreign kings, but they don't ask for justice. They ask for mercy, and they ask God. They rehearse God's faithfulness so they can trust God with their future. What do you need to remember about God's faithfulness to free you from the past of your sin? To remember the ways that God has provided for you when you just didn't deserve it. To remember the ways how God has opened up doors, how God has healed, how God has restored, how God has made new despite the fact that you did nothing but rebel. What do you need to remember so that you can trust him again? You see, what I love here is that the people in Nehemiah spent hours rehearsing their failures over and over again by saying, "Oh, God, woe is me." But they weren't doing it to wallow in their guilt. They were doing it to highlight the mercy of God. And today, as you write down the junk of your life, the sin of your life, it is not to make you feel like a terrible person. You should already know you're a terrible person. If you don't think you're A TERRIBLE PERSON, SPEND some time and we'll walk through your story and I'll show you how terrible you are. All right, you have an open invite. But it's not to say how terrible we are. It's to show how glorious God is. And here's what's so awesome about this is in Nehemiah chapter 9 when they were doing this, they were looking forward to something that would be greater. They're looking forward to a savior, a way that God would provide and wipe away all their faithlessness, wipe away all THE JUNK, WIPE AWAY ALL THEIR SIN. BUT WHAT'S HAPPENED since Nehemiah chapter 9? Jesus Christ has come. And here's the deal. We're on the other side of that coin. The junk in your life, the stuff that is wrestling you back, the garbage that you can't stand to look at, SO YOU SHUT THE DOOR or put it in the darkness, Jesus took it on the cross and died, so it is gone. And as we begin to wrestle with how we move forward when we have this stuff in our life, guys, it's as simple but as hard as giving it over to the God of the universe. And I love what Paul tells us in Philippians chapter 3 on how we are to do this. Paul tells us in verse uh 13 he says brothers and sisters I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. He says I am not an expert on all things but he says one thing I do. He says forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead. Paul was a murderer. Paul was a guy who literally led to the death of people. When you think that you are a terrible person, there are more terrible people in the Bible than you, but God still loves them and still saves them. In verse 14, he says, "Well, what do I do when I forget and I press forward? I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God's heavenly call in Christ Jesus." Here's the beautiful thing we have to look forward to today. Here's the freeing truth that as we just get to think about, do we hold on to our junk? Do we just keep it stashed away in the dark or in a drawer that we don't want anyone to see? Do we keep it from our spouse and our loved ones and our friends? Do we just keep holding that back? Or do we offer it to God so he can do something with it? And here's the thing. As God's people, we are not called to dwell on our past. We're not called to hide our past. We're not called to stash it away in a dark corner and just think, "Woe is me." We are not called to dwell on the past of our sin. But as Paul Paul said, we are to rejoice in the promise of his salvation. Jesus has died for your sins. He rose to defeat those sins. your junk, your problems, they're not meant to be carried by you alone because they will crush you. They will destroy you. They will drag you down time and time again. But Jesus wants to take it away.