The Math of Mercy

Every part of who you are is going to be completely saturated with the Holy Spirit. I'm going to baptize you with my spirit. You're not just going to experience it from a distance, but you're going to know it in intimacy because I am going to make my home in you. I'm going to give you my Holy Spirit. I'm going to pour it out upon you without measure, and every aspect of your humanity is going to be saturated with my spirit. We have heard about a forthcoming revival, about a billion soul harvest, about the nations of the earth being rocked with the gospel. We're going to continue in this sermon collection called The Kingdom is Like, Matthew 18. The kingdom is like. We're going to read verse 21 through verse 35, Matthew 18, verse 21 through 35. A lot of scripture, but very rich, and there's so much in here that I think I could do an entire collection on this one passage. I really mean that. I really think I could, but obviously I don't have time for that. So let's stand to our feet. We're going to read verse 21 through 35 all together as a family. The Bible says this, then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? I just want to say this is an extremely valid question, and I have to believe if we get honest for a minute in here, a very relevant question. How many times, Jesus, do I have to forgive somebody that sins against me? It's a really great question. So Peter asked Jesus, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? And then he says, as many as seven times, which is quite a lot. And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times, which is rhetorical. It's like a thousand times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven. Now here's why we're studying this passage.

The topic that we're studying in this season is the kingdom is like, and the reason I bring that up is because I want you to notice here that Jesus is about to teach us a kingdom value. If you are going to be a kingdom citizen, you must be a forgiver. Look at your neighbor and say, he's talking about you. Tell him right back, and you too. You must be a forgiver. If a Christian is anything, a Christian is a forgiver, right? Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. And when he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. Who owed. I want you to notice the connection there. As Peter is talking about forgiveness, Jesus starts talking about debt. All right, we're going to dive into this. Who owed him 10,000 talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold with his wife and children and all that he had in payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me and I will pay you everything. If you want to know what repentance looks like, look no further than that sentence. The servant fell on his knees, imploring him, have patience with me and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. If you want to know what forgiveness looks like, look no further than that sentence. And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him of the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100 denarii.

And seizing him, he began to choke him, and then he said, pay what you owe. So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me and I will pay you. And he refused, and he went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. If you want to know what unforgiveness looks like, look no further than those five attributes. Seizing him, choking him, demanding payment, refusal to forgive, and then putting them in prison for the debt that they owe. And when his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. You gotta notice, unforgiveness affects your community. And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. And then his master summoned him and said to him, you wicked servant, I forgave you all of that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy, everybody say compassion, on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all of his debt. So also, my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. That last sentence is extremely sobering. I mean, let that hit home for a minute. So also, my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother,

I love that he said, from your heart, because that means you've gotta mean it. You can't just pretend, you can't just say, oh, I forgive him. It's like, no, you better mean it. So the title of the message I have for you today is The Math of Mercy. How many times? Let's talk a little Holy Spirit mathematics, all right? So Lord, we say thank you for your word. It's everlasting and unchanging, yet always faithful to change us. We recognize the power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And we say thank you, Holy Spirit, for being the teacher. We say thank you, Holy Spirit, for being the helper. We ask that you would open our hearts wide to receive the seed of God today, that that seed would germinate by the power of the Holy Spirit, that you would water it, God, and that we would all bear 100-fold fruit for the kingdom of heaven. In Jesus' name we pray. And everybody said, amen. You can be seated. I don't know if there's anybody else in here that grew up praying the Lord's Prayer, but the Lord's Prayer is one of those prayers that can be prayed pretty much anywhere,

and everybody will join in. Even people who are not Christians will say the Lord's Prayer with you because they're familiar with it. Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our... You see how everybody said something different? That's the one part where people tend to deviate because there are different translations. There are some people who say, forgive us our transgressions, or trespasses. If you pray transgressions, you definitely grew up in some old Pentecostal church where they only preach from the King James. But there's a lot of people who say, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. You guys know this, right? It's like, forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us. But it's interesting how Matthew puts it. Almost every single translator in the book of Matthew reads it like this. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. All right, so if you read the Lord's Prayer

in the book of Matthew, you're gonna see the prayer is this. Forgive me of my debt, as I forgive my debtors. But if you read it in the book of Luke, most translations are gonna read like this. Forgive us of our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. It's very interesting, I'm trying to paint a picture here, that in Scripture, the words sin and debt are sometimes interchangeable. I want you to get this. We're laying a foundation for where we're headed. The words sin and debt are sometimes interchangeable in the Scripture. Perhaps the most vivid example is this, Colossians chapter two, verse 13 and 14. I've abbreviated a bit for the sake of the message. The Bible says this, and you who were dead in your trespasses, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us. All of our trespasses by doing what? By cancelling the record of debt, right? Once again, if you exchange that word debt there for the word sin, it would mean the exact same thing. And we know that the wages of our sin is death, right? That's why here in Colossians, it says you were once dead in your debt. You were once dead in your transgressions. You were once dead in your sin.

You were once dead in your trespasses, but because Jesus has forgiven us all of our sin, all of our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us, this he set aside, and then did what? Nailed it to the cross. If you've ever wondered, like, how much do you owe? Can you imagine if every single one of your sins was written out on a receipt? I grew up, like, watching my grandmother do the accounting in a grocery store, a small business, and I remember at night hearing that little machine. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch, brr-r-r-r-p, ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch, brr-r-r-r-p, you know, and it's like, and at the end, she'd rip that thing off, and it'd be, whoo. Like, if I had to print out all of my sins, sheesh. That thing would be out the bridge. And so, Jesus says, I took that receipt, and I nailed it to the cross. So, if you ever wanna review, like, all of your debts, where are they today? Look at the cross. Up there is a long list of all of your debt, and it's been nailed to the cross. If you're ever tempted to buy into the cross, if you're ever tempted to buy into the lie of the enemy that says you're upside down in your debt to God, what you need to let hell know is they just need to remember the cross of Calvary. Now, I'm gonna tell you where my debt is, devil.

It's on the cross. You can see the receipts. It's been nailed to the cross of Calvary. That's encouraging. I don't know about you, but I've preached enough. We can leave right now, and we'll leave encouraged. That encourages me. Amen. Somebody just got a notification from the Lord. You know, any time a phone rings when I'm preaching, I'm like, somebody's getting called. The point I'm trying to make is that our sins are debts, according to Scripture, and at some point, what this parable points out, you've gotta pay your debts, or you're gonna get into some trouble. In the natural, pay your debts, and that's what this parable is all about. It's about the debt of sin, but not just our debt before God, but about other people's debt of sin owed to us. I heard a preacher say one time that the blood of Jesus certainly takes care of my sin before God, but I've gotta work it out in regard to other people's sin against me, and I've gotta learn how to navigate that. I'm like, okay, I see that here in this parable, because this parable is about other people's debt of sin that is owed to you, and learning how to navigate that,

because learning how to do that is what kingdom citizens do. This is how we behave in the kingdom. This is the culture of the family. That's what Jesus is teaching. In this family, we forgive. All right, so if you come into this family, and you're a brand new Christian, and you're thinking it's absolutely acceptable to hold a grudge and plot revenge, you need to listen to what Jesus is teaching you. He's saying, no, no, in this family, our family culture is forgiveness. This is a primary characteristic of the kingdom. When you come into the kingdom, then you lose your right to hold on to unforgiveness. You with me? You guys doing okay? So have you ever had a friend owe you money before? No. Doesn't it just jack up the relationship? It does, right? It just, it ruins the relationship. Like, you think you know somebody until they owe you money. And they say, well, I'll pay you back next week, and then next week, a relationship. and they don't call, they don't text, you don't get no notification of an Apple Pay. You call them, they don't answer. A week later, you finally hear from them

and they're like, sorry, I've just been so busy. I'm like, oh my bad, I didn't realize you were a thief. You know, it just like ruins the relationship, right? And I'm a Dave Ramsey guy, like mostly, and so I don't like debt. Like I don't like debt. I do my best to avoid it. I don't have consumer debt. I don't like to borrow money, and as a result, I don't like to lend money, to be honest with you, because it gets awkward really fast whenever people owe you money, especially when it's a large sum that you actually need back, right? And that awkwardness is something that I dislike so much that I won't actually loan people money. If someone is close to me and they need money, then I consider it a gift, not a loan. Because here's my principle, you can borrow it if you'd like. I never loan more money to a friend than I'm willing to forgive and remain friends after. Right, if I have to forgive that debt, I wanna still like you afterward. So if it's a lot, I'm probably not gonna like you afterwards. It's like you are a very irresponsible human being and I am not friends with people like you. So I don't loan very much money.

I'll give you 10 bucks. I don't know, some of you guys are better than me and I know that. But it's not a lot. It's not a lot because I don't wanna loan more money to a friend that I'm willing to forgive and then continue to be friends with them after the fact. I don't wanna have to let go of a lot so I don't put myself in that position. How much debt in that situation is too much for you? For me, I don't know how much it is for you. But I believe that that's the same question that Peter is asking here in verse 21 when he says, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Like how long does the receipt need to get where I am pardoned from having to forgive this individual after they have sinned against me so many times? Is it like one thing on the receipt? Is it two things on the receipt? Is it three things on the receipt? Because that is what the culture had been teaching everyone in Hebrew thought because in the book of Amos, the rabbis were looking at the book of Amos and saying, you should forgive people three times because over and over in the book of Amos, God talks about three times, three times, three times. And so what they had implemented in this culture was a three-strike policy. If somebody sins against you three times, it's okay.

You can write them off, it's done, it's over. But I think today that for some of us, if we were given permission to use a three-strike policy, we would even consider that to be generous. We're like, I ain't giving them three, they're getting one. And they're done for in my life, man. Like I am not forgiving them, get away from me. We say things like fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, right? Y'all remember that? George Bush said it differently and it was awesome. I wanted to look it up and I just. So God says over and over in Amos, three transgressions, three transgressions. And so what's happening is like the rabbis are doing math. Right, they're doing math. And they're saying like when someone sins against you, here's what it means. They owe you a debt. They're in debt to you. So good religion at the time determined that three occurrences of forgiveness for the same party was plenty. And so what Peter's doing when he approaches Jesus is he's doing math. And he's saying, okay, well I've heard it said that three times is enough to forgive somebody. But I say, because you know Peter's growing in his tutelage and his discipleship. And he's also probably hoping to impress Jesus

with his knowledge. Jesus, what about seven times? You know, obviously it's the culture. And he remembers what Jesus said. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisee, you ain't gonna see the kingdom of God. Remember that? So he's thinking, okay, well I remember Jesus taught me that principle. So I'm gonna exceed that of the Pharisee twice plus one. So seven times, right Jesus? Seven times, like I'm giving you a holy answer. Jesus, how many times should I have to forgive somebody? Seven times is enough, right? He did some math and he thought that he was approaching Jesus and he was being radical. But then what Jesus does is he presents some additional arithmetic whenever he says, I do not say to you seven times, but I say to you 77 times. Now if you read this in some translations, it will say 70 times seven, which is like 480, I think. Isaiah, do the math for me. My son is a math Jesus, a genius. 480, 70 times 7? Let me know by the end. Is it 480? 490? 490, you're also a math Jesus. 490, okay. That makes sense, yeah. 7 times 7 is 49. Add the 0, carry the 1. Yeah. I don't know anything about math, honestly.

You're a math Jesus, amen. Here's the point, the number is not exactly, it's not even supposed to be exact because the number doesn't even matter. I want you to catch this, like Jesus is not telling you, keep that receipt, tabulate it up, and then once you reach 490, then you don't have to forgive him anymore. The reason why he's saying, no, 77 times, 70 times 7 is because he's saying it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how many times somebody else sins against you, every single time in this house, in this family, in this kingdom, you are supposed to forgive them. This is what you are to do. This is what obedience looks like as a kingdom citizen. No matter how many times somebody else sins against you, you forgive them. This is radical, like even just like I feel in the room, like how radical that thought is, but it's right there. It's what Jesus is teaching us. Are you with me? So you can either reject it and say, I ain't gonna do that, or you can accept it and say, okay, there's some work that needs to be done in me. Holy Spirit, help me because I want to change the way that I think because I want to operate with the mind of Christ and I want to live a lifestyle in accordance to the culture of the kingdom. So forgiveness in the kingdom is not optional. Now, I'm not saying you have to go back to being their BFF. I'm not saying you return back to that same place of trust. I'm not saying that you can't exercise boundaries, but I am saying that you have to forgive. Are you with me? That's not optional. Forgiveness is not optional. So when you say, must, oh, no, I ain't doing that. You have no idea what this person did to me, and you have no idea, pastor, how many times that they did it. They did it 490 times or more. Yet, this is life in the kingdom of God. Because if a kingdom citizen is anything, they must be a forgiver, not a debt holder or a scorekeeper. And so to explain how we ought to forgive in the kingdom, Jesus is teaching here in verse 23. He says, therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.

Now, I'm hoping that the parable is obvious, but the king here is God. And let's all remember that God is coming one day to call to account what his servants have done with what he's given them. We remember that, right? There's going to come a time that the king is going to come and take an account. And that's what Jesus is telling us. Now, the servant who owes the king 10,000 talents, I did some math, that is somewhere between 4, depending on how you look at how much a talent was worth at the time, 4 and 18 billion dollars. Billion, not million, billion. That's like 490. It's like, it's so much, it doesn't matter. Like, whether I owe 10 million or 18 billion, it doesn't matter. I'm going to jail. You know what I'm saying? Like, I can't pay either amount. And that's kind of the point. It's so much that it's impossible to satisfy the debt. 18 billion, perhaps. So, again, the exact number doesn't matter so much. Math isn't really required here. The point is that it's impossible to pay back. And here's where we've got to put on our thinking caps a little bit and understand the illustration. Remember, we set a foundation when we started, about 15 minutes ago, that debts and sins are interchangeable. Right? You've got to get that to understand this parable. That debts and sins are interchangeable. So, Jesus is revealing to us, as well as reminding us, that the amount of debt that you owe God as a result of your sins is insurmountable. The amount of debt that you're in with God because of your sins is insurmountable. Unless He pardons you of the debt, you're going to get the exact same sentence that that servant received. Which is, you are now going into slavery forever, and your kids are going with you. You cannot tell me that your lifestyle of sinfulness, resisting and refusing to come into the kingdom of God and obey Jesus as Lord, doesn't have an effect on the generations behind you.

Are you with me? You getting the parable? So he's like, everybody, man, y'all all gonna be stuck because of your sin, dad. So Jesus is reminding us of this, you're beyond upside down and there's no hope of getting right side up without, get this, radical forgiveness. You're gonna have to receive radical forgiveness and it won't be long now, the king is returning soon, we know that, and whenever he returns, he's gonna call each of us to an account. And then Jesus goes on to talk about how these debts, these sins, will eventually land us in extreme bondage if not forgiven. Now thankfully, the man responds as we all must in the light of our great debt before the just king, that's verse 26. So the servant fell on his knees and he implores him, have patience with me. And then I didn't include this, but he says, I'll pay it all back. But we know he can't, it requires grace. But this is the heart posture of repentance. Whenever I become aware of the debt that my sin has caused, then I hit my knees and I implore God, have mercy on me. I can't pay this back on my own. I can never get right side up in my own strength.

It's impossible for me to save myself. I need a savior, I need a forgiver, I need a debt canceler, right? So the servant responds in that way and praise God, not only is our king a just judge, but he is also a compassionate forgiver. And so you see that in verse 27, out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. This is who our king, our God is. We need to remember this this morning, saints. In Psalm 130, the Bible says, if you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you, God, there is forgiveness so that we can, with reverence, serve you. Hallelujah. God, we say thank you that you are not only a just king, but that you're a compassionate king. I thank you, Lord, that when I stand before the judge, I've got favor with the judge. That not only are you just, but you're also compassionate. In Isaiah 43, 25, God says, I, I am he who blots out all of your transgressions for my own sake and I will not remember your sins. Despite the fact that our debt totals billions, is your sin four billion, 18 billion? I don't know, it's so much you can't pay it back. And the cause of that debt is eternal punishment, hell, it's right here, this is the parable, this is what Jesus is teaching us.

The good news, church, the gospel is, our king has pardoned us completely. I don't know who needs to remember that today, but I hope it's encouraging your heart this morning. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, our debts have been paid and we have been forgiven, which is why in Psalm 103, it says, he has removed our sins as far as the east is from the west. Hallelujah. We have been forgiven all. God does no math when it comes to his mercy. But how often do we do math? How often do we keep score of how much other people owe us? How often are we doing math and tabulating other people's debts to us? How often have we been a forgiven unforgiver? And I know, to keep a ledger, man, it feels like justice. Oh, you did that again. Let's write that down in a note in my phone so that the next time we talk, I can bring it up to you and remind you of the seven instances in which you have sinned against me. I know to keep a ledger feels like justice. You're owed, you are. That's what the Bible is teaching. You are actually owed, like you're right in that. You are owed something. A sin is a debt. So you are, whenever you say, they owe me. You're right.

They owe it to me to repent. You're right. They owe it to me to make amends. They owe it to me to come correct and clean up their mess. They owe, you're right. The Bible, when someone sins against you, they owe a debt to you. You're right. But we go and then do what the servant did. We put people in prison, in our heart. And that's not where you want to go. And that's not where you want to be because look what happens to the servant eventually in verse 34. And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all of his debt. Now, what we read translates that word as jailers, but the actual. The Greek word is the word tormentor. That's actually crazy. Verse 34 in the New King James says this, and delivered him to the torturers. And that's what it's like to live as a forgiven unforgiver. It's to live in a state of torture. Joyce Meyer said it like this, when you're bitter in your heart and you practice, you hold on to unforgiveness, it's like drinking poison

and then expecting the person you're mad at to get sick. The prison that you build for somebody else eventually becomes the prison that you suffer in yourself. This is the hidden cost of unforgiveness. I know you're owed something, but just so you know, as you're continuing to tabulate that debt and you're building that prison brick by brick for the person that has done something so bad to you, you're building a prison for yourself. It's like you're not building that prison from the outside, but from the inside. And before you realize it when it's all done, you're inside of it. And this is, here's some more math for you as we close, is that in Genesis chapter four, I thought this was pretty interesting, Lamech said this, if Cain's revenge is sevenfold, see this is some ancient mathematics here, then Lamech's is gonna be 77-fold. You see, people have been doing math like this for a very long time. Do you think that it's a coincidence that Jesus used that exact same number whenever he is speaking of the kingdom? I don't think so. I think that the way of the world for a very long time until Jesus' arrival had been the way of revenge. But whenever Jesus shows up, he says the way of the kingdom is not to multiply revenge, but to multiply mercy without limit, every single cent of debt will be forgiven.

Even 77-fold. Which is why in Luke 17, Jesus also teaches, he says, pay attention to yourself. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a single day, and then turns to you seven times and says, I repent, then you must forgive him. And this is who Jesus calls us to be as kingdom citizens. We are forgivers because forgiven people forgive. Kingdom citizens, you and I, we're not ledger keepers. The question today, church, is not whether or not you've been forgiven, the question is whether or not you will choose to also be a forgiver. You know, in Hebrew culture, debt cancellation was built into the calendar. It was called the year of Jubilee. Perhaps you've heard of it before. But every 50 years, everybody's debts got canceled. And then they could just go free. All the debts got canceled. Everybody that was in bondage got to go free. And as we pray this today and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, I wonder if some of us in here today couldn't just declare that today is a day of Jubilee. What if today, you just decided, today, I'm choosing this. Today's gonna be a day of Jubilee for me. And everybody that I have put in prison in my heart, because they've sinned against me, and they owe me,

I'm gonna, today's Jubilee day. And I'm gonna release them. I'm gonna let them go. They get to come out of the prison, I'm letting them go. That's what forgiveness is. Forgiveness, if you look it up in the Greek, as he was talking about it in this passage of Scripture, it means to release, and it means to let it go. So I wanna ask you, maybe there's multiple people, but for a lot of us, you're probably thinking of one person. Dude, I ain't forgiving that guy. You don't know what he did to me, and you don't know how many times he did it to me. I ain't forgiving her. You don't know what she did to me. You don't know what she said to me. I'm not forgiving that person. You don't know what they took from me. You don't know how they robbed me, they stole from me. They stole my future, they stole my destiny. You need to consult with Jesus about that. That's not true. That's not true. That's not what Romans 8, 28 says. That's not what the Word of God says. God can turn everything around, every single thing around, but it is on you to choose to be like Christ and be a forgiver, because this is how we behave in the kingdom. Can you stand to your feet?

We're gonna pray. Just take a moment, close your eyes. If you don't mind, just bow your head. Could you take a moment here, could you take a moment here, if there's somebody that you know you need to forgive? Truly, I know this can be a little scary to face, but let's just have a moment of jubilee. Sometime when I pray I like to use just prophetic imagery and Just take the key to the jail cell that you've got that person locked up in in your heart Open it up. Tell them today's the day of Jubilee. You can go free debt's canceled You it's true you owe me, but I'm canceling the debt. I forgive the debt. I release the debt. You're not to pay me anything back Go it didn't mean you have to restore relationship with that person It doesn't require that they're back in your you know, best friends. Let none of that. You're not to trust them That's not what I'm asking you for it. I'm I'm saying release them forgive them This is what kingdom citizens do so Lord. I pray over everybody today That is releasing somebody and saying yes today is the day of Jubilee for us Even even like physically some of you guys may just feel weight just lift it off your heart It's okay you can let them out you can let them out This is what we do in this family, it's what we do in the kingdom. It's what we do as Jesus followers Be free In Jesus name, let's sing this course Jesus Come on could you sing from your freedom today? Thank you for Jubilee Thank you for the debt that you forgave us Jesus If you need to turn your attention to the cross again and see those receipts you can do that All your debt has been paid Every single sin has been forgiven Jesus

Thank you Jesus Jesus we say thank you today for being a forgiver. You're a just and a righteous King and we recognize that today You're mighty. You're powerful. You have our future in your hand Lord today we say thank you for being compassionate. Thank you for being kind and tender and patient with us Thank you for being willing to go to the cross on our behalf when we were enemies of yours We did not deserve it and yet you forgave all of our debts Thank you Lord Just before we wrap up I know everybody's Praying and I just I want to ask you if you're in the room today And you need to get right with God and you need to give your life to Jesus I want you to come to this altar. I want you to pray with one of our prayer team We're here to serve you and pray for you if you need to make it right with God if you're wrestling With you know you with forgiving somebody I Have the utmost respect and understanding and compassion. We've all been through a lot of things Some more intense than others and if you just need some help somebody to walk you through a prayer of forgiveness You tried a moment ago. It just didn't work, but you need somebody like can you just help me pray this? I don't know how to pray this by myself Have an amazing team of people here ready to pray with you and to walk you through that All right, so the altars are open as we close As we're finishing just put your hand on your heart. I pray for you now that the Lord would bless you and keep you Make His face to shine upon you, lift up His countenance upon you, and bring you peace. The altars are open.