In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of staying young at heart and setting a standard for life. He believes that what we do in our youth greatly impacts the rest of our lives. The speaker encourages the audience to remember their Creator in the days of their youth and establish a rule or model for their spiritual life. He suggests that by setting a standard in their youth, they can be an example for themselves and others, and the rest of their lives will fall into place. The speaker references Psalm 71:1-5, where David expresses his trust in the Lord.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Greetings this morning in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the dear Lamb of God. I count it a privilege to be here. I'm Paul Hershberger from Ohio. In some ways I feel like one of you. I've been at many a Bible school and remember being young very well yet it seems to me. But I'm starting to understand what people mean by 40 year old young people. Life keeps going but oh to stay young at heart. And I trust this week sharing with you that I can stay young at heart. That's my heart this morning. Be one of you and just share God's word. The focus of the week that I'd like to use this week is setting a standard for life and the burden of my heart is looking out across this group and there's about 650 opportunities sitting here. There's about 650 purposes sitting here. There's about 650 missionaries sitting here. There's 650 opportunities and callings sitting here. The question is what are we going to do with it? What are we going to do with it? And the burden I have is that we could see what we do in our youth will affect the rest of our life. To be able to get a grasp that what I do when I'm young majorly affects my life. It is important. If you're sitting here this morning and you're wondering why am I here? I'd have a burning passion in my heart that by the time this week is over that one is all settled. Because there's a clear reason for your life. We don't know how long we're going to live, any of us. We don't know that. We need to be ready to die at any time and yet we need to prepare for life like I'm going to be 90 or 100 years old when I die. And that's the burden on my heart this morning is that we could lay a foundation of standards in our youth, each one of us individually for our own life that we can build on the rest of our lives. I've realized in the last few years how often I look at my own heart and I consider before God where am I? And I turn back in my mind to when I was young, when I had energy just abounding, when I had time to use and very little responsibility. I'd like to convince you that you'll never have any more time than you do when you're young. If you could just believe me that that is so. For me it's about 15 years later since I got married and I think all of the married people here would agree when you're young you have more time and free life than any other time in your life. As the busyness of life presses in, it's not as easy anymore. Takes more effort, takes more determination and if you've laid a foundation of standards in your youth of following God and seeking after God, you can go back to that and say, here's what I need to do and it becomes a springboard, it becomes a motivation. Learning the scriptures and learning how to pray and having burdens after God and all of that becomes so important when the pressure is on, the responsibility is heavy. If you could turn to Psalm 71, Ecclesiastes 12 verse 1 says, Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. While the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, before you're old, remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth and I'm trusting that by being here today, that's what we're doing. By being here this week, we're remembering our creator in the days of our youth. The word standard simply means to establish something as a rule or a model. Establishing something as a rule or a model and the truth is that the burden I have this week is that we could take some important things in the spiritual life and make them a rule of our life and a model of our life. Not a box that we put ourselves in, but something that has the relationship of Jesus Christ in it with a burning heart's passion to please him and to be like him that we can all our lives go back to in the days when I was young and follow that rule and that model that we set forth when we were young. You know Paul told Timothy that he should be an example of the believers and Timothy was pretty young, but if we could at least in our youth set an example for ourselves for the rest of our life, the rest will fall into place. If we could set that rule and that standard in our lives that God wants us to have, the rest of our life can be built on that. It can. Psalm 71 verse 1 through 5, David is saying, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape. Incline thine ear unto me and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort. Thou hast given commandment to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Thou art my hope, O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth. Thou art my trust from my youth. I'd like to turn to verse 16, same chapter. I will go in the strength of the Lord God. I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth. And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is come. Here is David, in his old age, and he's saying, Lord, meet me, deliver me, be my strong tower, be the place I can escape to, that I can resort to, like when I was young. Now David, he was that shepherd boy that was out there on the hills, watching the sheep. And he'd sing to God, and he'd bless God, and God met him out there in the wilderness, alone. He could have been wondering, why am I out here? I'm just watching sheep. But there he was, just watching sheep, but loving his Redeemer, loving his Lord, giving his life, pouring out his soul to the God of heaven, and the riches of heaven opened up over his life. Now here's David, in his old age, and he's looking back to those years that he spent there alone with God, out in the wilderness. He's saying, God, would you meet me like you did out there in the wilderness? God, would you meet me that way? And that's the burning passion in my heart that we can all see, if we can establish that relationship with Jesus, with the God of heaven, and we can establish our spiritual lives in such a way that heaven opens over our lives, and there's a beautiful radiance and magnificence of Jesus being revealed in our lives, just coming, flowing forward and forth and forth, like they did out of David. And in all the days of our life, we can look back and say, God, would you meet me like you did in the days of my youth? I tell you, it's a treasure. It's a treasure, if there's no other reason for you in your youth, that's the only one we need, my brother, my sister. That's the only one we need, to sell out to Jesus, get alone with God, learn to know Him, fellowship with Him, have that sweet fellowship. The day comes when we'll want to look back and say, oh God, would you meet me like you did back there in the wilderness, wherever it is, out there hurting the sheep, looking into heaven, singing, fellowshipping, loving His word, submitted and surrendered. There He was, just watching sheep, but oh, way more than watching sheep. Sometimes, young people, we look at life and we'd like to leapfrog way into the future and get some honorable position that we have framed in our minds of being this super spiritual Christian. And really, we need to see that just watching sheep is not just watching sheep, if we're serving Jesus in the middle of that with all of our hearts. It's not just watching sheep, it's learning to know my God. It's learning to know Jesus. He had built a relationship with God in his youth that followed him all the days of his life. What a rich treasure. Proverbs 8, verse 17, I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me, he says. Isn't that sweet? Those that seek me early shall find me. My dear young person, I guarantee it to you, if you will seek God this week, He is to be found. He's to be found. He's not hiding somewhere, making it hard to find Him. If we'll seek Him, we can find Him. We can find Him. Those that seek me early shall find me. I love them that love me, he says. I love them that love me. Oh, for that sweet place, just basking in the love of Jesus and then living there. Well, that's the burden this week, that we can just get a glimpse of some beautiful things that we need to establish in our youth as young people. We need to set forth a model. We need to set forth a guideline. We need to set forth a rule, if I can say it that way. Don't take that legalistically, and yet a standard, something to go by. You know, as I look down the aisle here, someone had something to go by. The chairs are pretty straight, and we all know why they are. So because there's a line right down through there. If we could have those lines established in our lives of how to walk with Jesus, I promise you it'll be a fruitful life. It'll be a fruitful life. Today I'd like to focus on Jesus, Lord of all. Jesus, Lord of all. I believe that's the first principle and the most important one that we need to establish in our hearts and lives as young people. It's Jesus, Lord of all. Acts chapter 2, verse 36. Therefore, let the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ. I was blessed with what Brother Rick said this morning about how often Lord is in the Bible, and how often Savior is in the Bible. And what I'd like to share, this is right in the beginning where the church was established. It was made very clear that Jesus is not just Savior. He's not just Christ. He's not just Redeemer. He is Lord. He is going to rule. Everything is going to listen to Him. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And when God says so, it's going to happen so. Jesus, Lord of all. I'd like to use an illustration this morning. We're going to pretend or imagine, whichever way you want to say it, that this glass is our heart or our life. And I don't know where we find ourselves this morning, but you might be in here, and you found your heart that it's full of ugly, hard stones that are dirty, that are filthy. Your heart is crusted over. My friend, I would like you to consider Jesus. Jesus said we're to break up the fallow ground, and if a heart looks like this, where it's full of hard stones, it's full of hard spots, it's all lumpy, and then there's something that happens. Sometimes we find ourselves in that condition, and we're getting concerned about the condition of our heart. It doesn't look very good. If I asked you to come take a drink of this wonderful fresh water right now, you wouldn't be very interested, would you? We get concerned about how it looks. Not very appetizing. A lot of things that don't look good. And I have a burden about my heart looking like that. So, I need to do something about it. We'll just put Jesus on there. Fixes it all up, doesn't it? Looks much better now, doesn't it? I mean, we've got Jesus in the picture. At least nobody else should notice. But my friend, the message of that is we do exactly that. We do exactly that. We see a heart that's got a lot of ugly things in it. It's got a lot of sin in it. It's got a lot of ungodliness in it. Dirt and filth and self is in our hearts. And everybody's seeing it. So, I get a label out and I put Jesus on it. Now, I'm supposed to fix it all up. But let's remember, Jesus is to be Lord of all. And in this condition, Jesus is not Lord of all. Well, if that doesn't suffice, let's help it out. Put some living water in there. That'll surely help. That looks different even. That's changed things a bit, hasn't it? Now, I have a little bit of bubbliness about me. I've got Jesus on me. And surely, people can see that things have changed a bit. And they might have, my friend. But Jesus is not Lord of all. If we have a heart that's full of sin, then Jesus is not what He needs to be in my heart and life. If we have a heart that allows ungodliness, that allows bitter ending and strife to be in it, or rebellion, lying, pride, then Jesus is not Lord of all. And so many times in our day, people want Jesus to be Savior. They want Him to be their Savior. They want to tag Him onto their life and try to pour some religion into their lives and make ourselves look like we're good. But my friend, I'm here to plead with you to make a standard in your life that Jesus has to be Lord of all or not Lord at all. Jesus needs to be Lord of all or not Lord at all. We can't go this way. Well, then we're going to have to start confessing sins, getting rid of some things. And the burden is getting lighter, starting to feel a little bit clearer. We'll just confess a number of them. See if we can get a heart to feel a little bit better. What a relief. I've unloaded a whole bunch of sin. I've cleared a lot of things in my life. What a blessing. What a joy. In fact, we need to add a little bit more water. Get a little bit more of Jesus in there. What a wonderful life. Do you want a drink now? None of us want to drink out of this glass, do we? It looks worse than it did, doesn't it? Because now we were in there stirring things around. Yes, we've unloaded some. That's a half-hearted Christian life. That's confessing and getting out and unloading what I think I have to in order to get by. I mean, I need to convince people that I've changed. Yeah, I probably have changed some, but Jesus is not Lord of all. And we won't have that beautiful radiance coming out of our lives that David had out there in the desert, in the wilderness, alone with God. It won't come out that way. Doing it this way, just half-hearted, it's going to be a blessing. Well, probably better off if I got rid of it. Whew, that was a big one. If we'll just keep confessing sins, pouring hearts out before God and let Him purge us and cleanse us, add a little bit more water again. I mean, my heart's just about empty. I've really poured myself out before God. Want a drink? Still nobody wants a drink. And it's because there's sin left. Actually, there's one stone left in there and a whole bunch of other stuff. Did you know we often do that too? We clean it all out except that one spot that's too embarrassing. It's too embarrassing. It's too shameful. I don't want to talk about it. It'd be too humiliating to open that one up and let others see that. You know, God knows all about it. He knows all about it. Maybe it's too painful. There's something that happened to me that's too painful. And it's too hard to talk about it and we convince ourselves. Maybe there's something that someone did and they threatened you. Don't you ever tell anybody about that or I'm going to do so and so to you. Those things happen. Therefore, we let it tucked away there in the back corner of our hearts. It's a secret reserve spot just for me. Is Jesus Lord of all that way? We need to come to Jesus and just pour it all out and ask him to wash us. Let him go in there, scrub us, clean things up like only he can. And it might take a process. It might take some time. It might take some travail and agony. It might not just be quickly doing a little bit something to suffice everyone. Still have a couple specks. We need to be washed, cleaned by the precious blood of Jesus to look any better. And my friend, this is what we can all look like if we give Jesus everything we have. Everything we have. No reserves, nothing to hide. Lord Jesus, walk through my heart. Search me and try me. See whether there be any wicked way within me. And if we will set this kind of a standard for our lives, that Jesus is Lord of all, I promise you one thing. You'll have a sweet life walking with Jesus. You'll have a blessed life following Jesus. You'll have a fruitful life enjoying his presence. His grace will come down upon your heart, my friend, like you've never had or seen before. Oh, the beauties of heaven will just come shining forth. In fact, if we have this kind of a heart, there's something that will happen as we keep walking with the Lord and serving him. He'll keep pouring it in and it'll just run right over. Hallelujah! What better life could we have than serving Jesus with all of our heart, giving him everything we have, make him Lord of our lives. Jesus, be Lord of all or not Lord at all. Oh, to set that standard in our youth when we're young, when we're full of zest and serving God. Romans 12, verse 1 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable under God, which is your reasonable service. We need to totally give ourselves to Jesus and it's only reasonable, my friend. It's only reasonable that we make him Lord of our lives. He didn't just die to put a smile on our face. He died that we would serve him, that that relationship that was broken back in the garden with man would be restored and that man could walk with the living God. The problem is, we're not all in that place. We're not all in that place. I'd like to take a little bit of time here to focus a little bit on false conversions. False conversions. Luke chapter 6, you can turn there if you want. False conversions, conversions where Jesus is not Lord of all and my friend, it won't come out the same before God. It looks just like the illustration we looked at here this morning. It looks just like that. And the fruitfulness and overflowing of God's spirit and God's word in our hearts will not come until it's Lord of all, being Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 6, verse 43, for a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit, neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh, and why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? Oh, the heart of Jesus is crying here. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? It says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You don't go gather wonderful fruits of the spirit of a heart that is full of sin. The same way as you don't go pick the fruits of sin and foolishness and ungodliness off of a heart that is crystal clear, my friend, it doesn't work. It doesn't work that way. It won't come out that way. Fruitlessness. Oh, I'm born again. I'm born again. I've been saved. I've been saved. But there's fruitlessness. There's no fruit of the spirit coming out of our lives. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, temperance, meekness, gentleness. We can act like there's peace. We can put love smiley face on and joy while everybody else sees. But you know, really down deep in our hearts, we know what's there, don't we? We know what's there. Fruitlessness. A five-year-old conversion. A five-year-old conversion. I was just a five-year-old and I said, Jesus, come into my heart because I don't want to go to hell. My friend, I'm here to plead with you. That's a false conversion. Escaping hell isn't why we get saved even though that's part of it. That's one of the benefits. Standing at a meeting, I stood up to acknowledge Jesus. And I'm not going to say that if your heart isn't right that that can't happen, but normally it doesn't do anything for us except deceive us. Accepting Jesus without confession of sin. Accepting Jesus. And this is rampant through the land today. Oh, I'll accept Jesus as my Savior, my friend. Is that what the Bible teaches? Is that what the Bible teaches? And we'll look at what the Bible teaches on some of these things yet. But I'd like to just ask you to consider that as a false conversion. I've tried it and it just doesn't work for me. It doesn't work for me. My friend, I'm here to say if we make Jesus Christ Lord of all, it will work. It will work. If it didn't work, then it was a false conversion. No power over sin. No power over sin. Oh, I accepted Jesus, but you need to accept me how I am just living in sin. My friend, I'd like to plead with you. If you don't have power over sin, consider it a false conversion. I don't enjoy the Christian life. It's okay. I know you have to be a Christian in order to get to heaven, but it's no big excitement to me. My friend, I'd like you to consider that as a false conversion. That's not the abundant life. And Jesus gives us the abundant life. It will make him Lord of all. It will make him Lord of all. No assurance. No assurance. You know, the Bible says that God comes by his spirit and he bears witness in our hearts that he has received us. And if that hasn't happened, my friend, consider it a false conversion. I don't care how good your counselor is. I don't care how much they walk with God and how wise they are. Our counselor cannot give us assurance, my friend. Mom and Dad cannot give us assurance. Growing up in a Christian home will not give us assurance. We need to surrender to Jesus Christ completely as Lord of all and let him take control of our lives and let him give us assurance. And if that happens, nobody can talk you out of it. I'm not involved in the work of God. I'm just disinterested. That, you know, some people are called to that. Aren't we all called? Aren't we all called? Actually, we're called to be predestinated into the image of his Son. And if we name the name of Jesus, we're called to give him Lord, make him Lord of all. And if I'm not interested in the work of God, something is badly wrong. Look at it. Maybe it's a false conversion. No fellowship or love for God's people. Oh, I'm a Christian. But sitting down and just talking about the Bible and conversing and rejoicing in the goodness of God is, oh, it's sort of uncomfortable. My friend, the Bible says if we don't love those kind of things, back in John, it says it very clearly. We're not walking the light. We don't love God's people. We don't love him. No matter how hard we try to say we do. Consider it a false conversion. No love for the Bible or unable to understand the Bible. God's Word is a treasure, is a lamp for our feet. It's a little bit like a black man. He had this clock that didn't work. He took the hands off and he took it to the man to fix it, the clock man. And he told him, these hands don't want to go anymore. I can get them going and they won't go any longer than six months. And the watchman looked at him and said, well, where's the clock? And the man told him, well, I told you it's the hands. The hands won't go. The only reason you want the clock is so you can tinker with it and send me a big bill. Sounds almost comical. How often do we come to God with the hands? Here Lord, fix this. And God says, where's the clock? Where's the heart? Where's the center of the problem? Will you bring that to me? Are we saying, Lord, I want to bring you the hands because the bill is too big if I bring you the roots. And the bill is giving up ourselves, giving up my will, surrendering my life completely to him and make him Lord of my life. That's the bill. 2 Corinthians 13.5 says, examine yourselves. Whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. You know, we can claim to be Christians, but if we're living in sin, we're not of God. We're not of God. We cannot live in sin and serve Jesus with all of our hearts. Secondly, I'd like to look at all have sinned. All have sinned. There's a couple of verses I'd like to read. Romans 5, verse 19. And then I'm going to read a few in Romans 13. For as by one man's disobedience, that is Adam, many were made sinners. So by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Adam sinned in the beginning. And the Bible tells us that we have all become sinners because we're descendants of Adam. In one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. Romans chapter 3, verse 12. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. How many of us in this room are left after that? Not one, right? The Bible also says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There'd be a lot more verses we could quote, but for the sake of time this morning, I'm not going to do that. All have sinned. All have sinned. We have all sinned. We have all failed. I'm standing here as a man before you this morning that is subject to fail today. If I do something of the flesh, therefore it becomes an awesome thing to walk with the living God. I want a heart passion to make Him Lord of all so I can be free from sin. And whenever sin comes up, I deal with it right away. All have sinned. Well, sin separates us from God. Sin separates us from God. So what are we going to do? I'm separated from God. So thirdly, I'd like to look at Acts chapter 2, verse 38 and 39. The people were listening to Peter preach, and they were convicted. They were pricked in the heart. They wondered, what shall we do? We have crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, which God has made Lord and Christ. We have crucified Him. We are sinners. We are undone. What shall we do, Peter? Apostles, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I'd like to get the word repent here. Repent. Repent. In other words, in order to help us understand, repent a little bit, I'd like you to think about the prodigal son. He said, Dad, I want my inheritance. Give me that portion which is mine to have. And his father did. He packed up his bags not many days after, and he left. And he went out and he lived it up. He had many friends at all kinds of parties. He lived in sin and ungodliness and filth of the flesh. Served himself. And then the money ran out. He ended up in the pig pen. And it says he came to his senses, and he realized how lost he was, how foolish he was, how ungodly he was, and how he's messed up his life. And he said, I know what I'll do. I'm going to go back home to my father. And he went back home, and asked him to be one of his servants. He was walking away from his father, serving the flesh, serving sin, fulfilling the lust of the flesh. And he decided, I'm going to go home, and I'm going to serve my father. There is a father in heaven that is our father, whether we serve him or not. He is our father. And if we're walking away from him, living in sin, living in ungodliness, not yielding ourselves to him, fulfilling the lust of the flesh, living in rebellion, living my own way, maybe half cleaned out, it's time to repent and turn around and say, I'm going to serve my father. You know, he didn't just sit there in the pig pen waiting for the father to come find him. You know, if dad came and got me, I'd be very glad to go home with him. He said, I'm going home to my father. I'm going home to my father. Repentance is saying, I am a sinner. I am ungodly. I am unrighteous and unholy. I need to get up and go home to my father. I don't come like I deserve to be a son. I come like a humble servant. Could I just be one of your servants, Lord? He came home in the frame of mind, oh, wretched man that I am. Dad, I need your forgiveness. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Today, the message is, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Savior, Lord, Lord, Jesus, Lord of all. Jesus, Lord of all. When we accept Jesus, we're accepting him on our terms. When we kneel in repentance, desperate, heavy hearted, troubled, crying out to God, then we meet God on God's terms. And my friend, that's when we get the clear heart that is overflowing. That's when we get that. Number four, confession of sin. First John 1.9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All of it. It's all gone. I didn't ask anybody whether I could give you a drink, but I think I could probably find a volunteer now. That's the kind of heart Jesus wants. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. He doesn't just get the stones out, gets all the grime that was with it too. He wants to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But Proverbs 28.13 says, he that covereth his sins shall not prosper. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper. He that puts the label Jesus on it and just wants to keep going or tries to put his hands around it and protect it so nobody sees it. The Bible says if we do that we're not going to prosper. Life will not come out as an abundant Christian life that way. We'll never get anywhere with Jesus. But whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. Whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy. And my friend, we need the mercy of God because God is a holy, just and righteous God that will have nothing to do with sin to the point that He deserted His own Son on the cross when He took our sins upon Him. His beloved Son, He forsook Him because of sin. We need the mercy of God. But if we'll come repenting and confessing our sins and just being open, get it all out, pour it out without reserve, the Bible says we shall have mercy. And we all need mercy. If God would require an exact of me that which I deserve, I'm damned without a shadow of a doubt. Number five, believing. And I'm going to use a familiar verse again. And I want you to get the idea here, it's not some stuck away thing that is difficult. The gospel is simple. Lordship salvation is plain and clear and it's right there for us to see. John 3.16, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now we've seen some clear scriptures, familiar scriptures that say we need to repent, we need to confess our sin, now it's telling us we need to believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life. The Bible also tells us that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. On the cross, God forsook His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, because of our sin and then in that condition He did what? Shed His blood. Why? To pay for our sin. To pay for our sin. Now, here I am, I'm a sinner and I see that. I'm a sinner, I'm lost, I need to repent, I need to just open it all up and pour it out. And then I need to believe in Jesus and in the blood that was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin. And we can't say, here let me scrub a bunch of it up and then you do the rest Lord. We need to come to Jesus as we are and just dump that whole thing out without reserve. I have sinned. I have pride in my heart. I'm a liar. I'm a fornicator. I'm rebellious. Lord, I'm a wretch. But would you please forgive me? The Bible says if we will confess our sins and just come out with it and not cover them, we can have that blessing of mercy on our lives where God's heart is moved. He says, oh my dear young soul, yes I will. You're forgiven. You're forgiven. Hallelujah. I tell you it's the best answer in life. And Jesus is that answer. Jesus is that answer. The prodigal son, he said, I'm going home to dad and I'm going to confess my sin. And he went home and he said, Father, I have sinned before you and heaven. I've sinned greatly. I'm not worthy to be your son. I'm a wretched man that I am. How can you forgive me? But would you just let me be a servant? And what happened to that father? His heart was moved. His heart was stirred. He said, yes, son, I will. And it took him back as a son, didn't he? Number six, regeneration. Regeneration. An Italian woman whose husband had accepted the gospel and joined a Protestant church was asked, is it true that your husband has changed his religion? No, answered she, but his religion has changed him. Formerly he had no religion, but now he has accepted the one that must be very good because it has changed him so. You must have noticed that he does not get drunk anymore. Here's a rebel, debauched, wretched man and the gospel changed him all the way. Changed him completely because he came and surrendered all to Jesus. And my friend, it's here for each one of us today. If you came troubled to Bible school today, you do not need to leave that way today. You can be changed. You can be changed. I'd like to turn to Titus chapter three, starting in verse three. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy and hateful and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God, our Savior toward men appeared. Verse five, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Here he's called Savior. What does he want to do as Savior? He wants to regenerate us. He wants to regenerate us from these old things. Not by our own works, but according to his mercy, he saved us. And how did he save us? But by the washing, the washing of regeneration, taking a heart from being filthy and dirty and full of stones and hard to being clear and clean and overflowing. Regeneration. The word regeneration means spiritual rebirth, spiritual rebirth. It's redone. You must be born again, the Bible says. You must be born again. It's rebirth coming from darkness to light. Major change, not some little thing. It also means spiritual renovation, spiritual renovation. I don't know how many of you have any idea what this building looked like. There's a few here that do. I remember. This place has been renovated majorly. Majorly. That's what God wants to do in our hearts and lives. He wants to renovate us majorly from darkness to light, from filth to clean, from sin to righteousness. It's a total change. He wants to regenerate us. And if we'll come to him like a prodigal son that says, I am not worthy, I'm a wretched, miserable soul, would you have mercy on me? Then God by Spirit wants to regenerate us. Regenerate us. Repentance is tearing down the old. Regeneration is Christ rebuilding the new. Another meaning for regeneration is Masonic restoration. Or Masonic restoration, meaning Jesus restoring us. That's what he wants to do. Give us a restoration from that sin-cursed position we were in to being sons of the Father in heaven. Now number seven, I'd like you to turn to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12, verse 29 and 30. Number seven, love with all. If we're going to make Jesus Lord of all, then we need to love with all. And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. Young people, if we're going to make Jesus Lord of all, then we're going to give him our mind. Everything I think needs to fit what Jesus would think. Everything that I ponder in my mind needs to think what Jesus would approve of. Needs to fit into the purity of the gospel. I need to give him my eyes. Jesus, Lord of all, I'm going to love him with my mind. I'm going to love him with my eyes. I'm going to love him with my ears. I'm going to love him with my tongue. I'm going to love him with all of my mind. I'm going to love him with all of my heart. All the passions that burn in my soul are for Jesus. Oh, to set that kind of a standard in our youth, my friend. Every passion that burns in my heart is for Jesus. Not for self. Not for self. Not for the world. Not for my friend. But it's for Jesus. Everything I do is my hand. Needs to fit what Jesus would think. Needs to be for Jesus. Maybe it's watching the sheep for dad. But it needs to be for Jesus. We could be out there doing it, being disgruntled and griped that I need to do it or we can do it for Jesus. The strength of my arms needs to be for Jesus. I need to take my shoulder and put it to the plow of Jesus. Let him have the effect of putting my weight in there. Let him have my strength. Give it all to Jesus. Love with all my mind. With all my heart. With all my strength. With all my might. With all my soul. That's that inner being that makes us tick. With everything I have. With all of my feet. Everywhere I go needs to be dedicated to Jesus. And the things we do in life will change totally. If we can do that. Now I'd like to read just a couple more verses. Luke chapter 14 verse 26 and 27. As we look at this whole thing of setting a standard in our lives. Of Jesus being a standard of lordship in our lives. And then I'd just like to read Luke chapter 14 verse 26 and 27. If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and his wife and children and brethren and sisters. Yea and his own life also. He cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And it's very clearly giving the message that Jesus is either lord of all or not lord at all. The question today is where do we find ourselves today? Is Jesus lord of all? Do I have reserves in my heart that I don't want to give him? We all know where we are. Is he lord of all? Is he? If he is. Let's keep that there and set it up in our lives. And set as a standard for life. If he's not my friend I plead with you. Give him everything. Give him everything. All the affections, dreams, plans and wishes. Give him everything and make it a standard in your life. Let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Lord Jesus this morning. You're so special. You're so sweet. It's your sweet presence that we yearn for. It's living in the center of your will that we are reaching for. Let that be reality in our hearts. Lord search us today. See whether there be some hard stones in our lives. Whether there be some filth and some dirt. Search us lord and see whether there be reserves that we're holding back. Special spots in our lives that we won't let you in or anyone else. God would you send your spirit, the holy spirit to convict us if that's the case. God we pray this morning for every soul in this place that they could be free indeed to serve Jesus as Lord of all. We lay that before you, committing it to you. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. God bless all of you.