In this sermon, Alexander Clark shares a story about a man who was saved by another man and offered everything he owned as a gesture of gratitude. Clark then relates this story to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, emphasizing the insignificance and frailty of human beings. He highlights the depravity and sinfulness of humanity, stating that we are unclean and capable of great evil. However, despite our unworthiness, Clark asserts that Jesus died for us and calls on listeners to live for Him. The sermon is based on 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 and encourages reflection on the love of Christ and His sacrifice on the cross.

This audio tape is copyrighted by Uplook Ministries to maintain the integrity of the material. Permission is granted to make copies of this tape in its entirety as long as this message is included. Additional resources may be obtained from Uplook Ministries by calling 1-800-952-2382. Could we turn in our Bibles please to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I'd just like to read two verses there. Verses 14 and 15. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Verses 14 and 15. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all died. And he died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. I think on this first night of the new year we cannot do better than to go to Calvary and stand there before that middle cross and look up into the face of the one who is hanging there, gaze and meditate. Because that was the day of all days. There was never a day like it before and there will never be a day like it again. The poet said, center of two eternities, which look with rapt, adoring eyes onward and back to him. And it's true, isn't it? And as we stand there and gaze upon the sinless Son of God, suspended between heaven and earth, none of us fully comprehend what is taking place. None of us fully understand the tremendous implications of it all. The issues involved strain the brain. In a sense, they're incredible, yet wholly incredible. We want to think about them tonight. Who is it who is hanging there on the cross? Some say it's the young Jew of Nazareth. Well, it was, but it's more. Some say, well, it's the one who wore that carpenter's apron amid the sawdust of that shop. And it was, but it was more. Some might say, well, it's the one who girded himself with the apron of a slave. And got down and washed the disciple's feet. Well, it was that too, but it's more. That one hanging there is absolutely unique. Virgin-born Son of Mary. No one like him ever walked the dusty lanes of this planet before. He stands out through all of time. The dearest and the best. Who for a world of lost sinners was slain. He's true man. As he hangs there, he's true man. He wept. He thirsted. He hungered. He entered into our humanity. He was perfect humanity. We are not. We are fallen humanity. It's more. He's sinless humanity. Marvelous how the scriptures bear witness to the perfect sinlessness of the Lord Jesus. I am impressed that those who we never think of as being his friends spoke eloquently of his character. Pilate, for instance, said, I find no fault in him. His wife said, have nothing to do with this just man. Herod said, I don't see any reason why he should be put to death. That he's guilty of any capital crime. Even the betrayer said, I have sinned against innocent blood. So you get this choir of people, I say, who never are thought of as being his friends. Yet they all had to attest to the perfection of the character of the Lord Jesus. But he's more. That one hanging, that middle cross, is God. That probably is the center of what I want to say tonight. We think of him as a man hanging there. He is. He's God. Manifest in the flesh. He's God incarnate. Isaiah said, he's the mighty God. John says, the word was God. In another place, he says, this is the true God. And eternal life. The Apostle Paul says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You could hardly find a stronger statement as to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then in Romans, Paul says, he's the one who is overall God-blessed forever. God the Father called him God. In Hebrews chapter 1, didn't he? Unto the Son, he said, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Paul is most audacious of all, I think, when in Acts chapter 20 and verse 28, he's speaking to the elders there, the Ephesian elders at Midian. And he says, shepherd the flock of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Just think of that verse. The flock of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Whose blood? The blood of God. I know that Darby changes that verse to read, which he purchased with the blood of his own. But I think the Spirit of God put that there for its shock value to you and to me. To wake us up to something of the implication of what happened there on Calvary's cross. When the incarnate God hung there in agony and blood for you and for me. It's marvelous when you stop to think of it. God incarnate died for us. You say, well, does the Bible really say that? Are you sure that you're not getting off into some doctrinal aberration? Well, first of all, think of what the Apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter two. One of the great Christological passages in the word of God. There he describes the one who thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And in that very context, where he's speaking of the absolute deity of the Lord Jesus, he said he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Remarkable, isn't it? And then in Colossians chapter one, verses 14 through 20, the Apostle Paul describes him as the one who is the image of the invisible God. Absolute equality, the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Had the highest honor over all creation. He described him as the creator and the upholder of all things. He's the one in whom all the fullness dwells. Paul says to the Colossians, and then in that very context, he says, in whom we have redemption through his blood. Marvelous, would you stop to think of it. Hebrews, the writer to the Hebrews in chapter one, he speaks of him as the brightness of God's glory. The express image of his person. And without scarcely a break, he said, he purged our sins. Just think of that. He purged our sins. Dear friends, I've known of other religions where the people die for their God, but I've never known another religion where a divine being dies for his creatures. Did you? That's what we grapple with tonight. That's what you want to think about tonight. The tremendous implications of what happened there at Calvary. But you say, brother, it's raising some questions. God is spirit. Can God die? And the answer is, of course, in the incarnation. God, the Lord Jesus, was spirit, pure spirit from all eternity. But he came down and took upon himself flesh so that he might die. Aside he threw his most divine array and veiled his Godhead in a garb of clay. And in that garb, this wondrous love display, restoring what he never took away. But somebody will say to me, but God is immortal. And immortal means not subject to death. And I say, yes, that's absolutely true. But once again, it's solved by the incarnation, isn't it? It's solved by the incarnation. And I'm intrigued by reading our hymns and seeing how this light flashed into the souls of some men like Isaac Watts. He said, Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood. And Charles Wesley, in his own inevitable way, said, To mystery all. The immortal dies. Who can explore his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love's divine. And then quickly he adds these lines, Amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God, should die for me? And it really is amazing love. But there's a third question. And that's, if God died, who ran the universe during those days when his body was in the tomb? And of course the answer is, the body of the Lord Jesus went into the tomb. The Lord Jesus went to heaven, didn't he? Said to the thief on the cross, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. At one moment he's here on earth, upholding all things by the word of his power. The next moment he's in heaven doing the exact same thing. And I want to tell you, this really strikes at my heart. It fills my heart when I think of it. What happened at Calvary was not homicide. That's one person killing another person. It was not genocide. That's wiping out an ethnic group or race. What happened at Calvary was theoside. The murder of a divine being. And I think the poet has said it very well, the maker of the universe. As man, for man, was made a curse. The claims of law, which he had made unto the uttermost, he paid. His holy fingers made the bow, which grew the thorns that crowned his brow. Just think of it. The nails that pierced his hands were mined in secret places he designed. He made the forest whence there sprung the tree on which his body hung. He died upon a cross of wood that made the hill on which it stood. The sky that darkened o'er his head by him above the earth was spread. The sun that hid from him its face by his decree was poised in space. Wonder of wonders. The spear that spilled his precious blood was tempered in the fires of God. The grave in which his form was laid was hewn in rock his hands had made. The throne in which he now appears was his from everlasting years. But a new glory crowns his brow and every knee at him shall bow. Think of the marvel of who's hanging there at the cross of Calvary. Think of what he did for us, he died for us. And then think of us, the persons for whom he died. We're insignificant really. In a universe such as the one in which we live, I think it's good what a physicist said. He said that we are mere self-replicating specks of matter trapped in a tiny planet for a few dozen orbits around an undistinguished star in one of billions of galaxies. We're insignificant, really are. And not only so, but we're very frail creatures. One day we're standing, moving, racing in full athletic strength. Then a non-filtrable virus enters our system and we're weak. Weak as water. We're perishable. We're just born for one brief day. The Bible has all kinds of synonyms to describe the shortness of our life. It's just a breath. It's swift. It's like a weaver's shuttle. It's like a hand breath. It's like a cloud, mist, and so forth. But that isn't the worst for evil. We're totally depraved. Dear friends, what we are inside is a lot worse than anything we've ever done. The capability for evil in the human heart is absolutely monstrous. And you mean to tell me that God incarnate died for people like us? That's what I mean to tell you tonight. We're unclean, really unclean. I have to chuckle almost when I read what Bildad said in the book of Job. He said, the moon does not shine. The stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man who is a maggot and the son of man who is a worm. Isaiah was more delicate. He compared us to grasshoppers. We were God haters. We said, we desire not a knowledge of your ways. We were only happy when we could forget him. And only sad when we remembered him. Worse than that, we were murderers. Murderers, guilty of the death of God incarnate. We were forgetful and unmoved. I like what Jowett said. He said, we leave our places of worship and no deep and inexpressible wonder sits upon our faces. We can sing those lilting melodies. And when we go out into the streets, our faces are one with the faces of those who have left the theaters and the music halls. There's nothing about us to suggest that we've been looking at anything stupendous and overwhelming. And what is the explanation of this? Preeminently, our impoverished view of God. Dear friends, it's surprising. We're not more surprised, isn't it? When you think of what happened thousands of years ago, the hell outside the city of Jerusalem. You think of the marvelous program that he had in mind in doing this. One day you and I would be saved. Saved from going to hell. Mind you, if he had just saved us to live on the earth for a short time and then go off into oblivion. If he had only saved us to live on the earth forever. No, no. Saved from hell. Our sins all forgiven. What a miracle. What a miracle. What a marvelous redemption. Can a mortal ever know how our sins, though red like crimson, can be whiter than the snow? He's given us eternal life. His own life. We become partakers of his own life. That quality of life that explains the difference that comes into a person when he or she trusts the Lord Jesus. It's enough to make angels gasp to know that sinners saved by grace are accepted in the beloved. As God looks down and sees them in Christ. Absolutely perfect as far as their position is concerned. And if that isn't enough, we're complete. Complete in Christ. Which means that we have absolute fitness for heaven through him. Not in ourselves. But through the Lord Jesus Christ. Complete in him. Something to sing about, isn't it? We're children of God. Children of God. What a privilege. To be able to look up and call God our father. I don't think any individual Jew in the Old Testament did that. But we can do it. God is our father. Not only that, we're heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Marvel at that. I tell you, God could have done less when he formed that way of salvation, couldn't he? We're heirs of God. We're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. By one of the persons of the Trinity. These bodies of our humiliation become the temple of the Holy Spirit. I gasp to think about it. And you know now we're able to pray. We have instant access into the presence of God. I read recently that if you're close to the President of the United States, there's a special number you can call and get through to him. There's a special e-mail address you can use to get through. There's a special fax number you can use to get through. It's not always easy getting through to the President. But it's always easy getting through to the Father, isn't it? Always easy getting through. You don't have to have any special number. And then to think. To think that God the Father will not be fully satisfied until he has us whole in glory like the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be like him, but we shall see him as he is. You know, we need to respond to that. That's why I read those verses at the beginning. The love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge if one dies for all, then we're all dead. And he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but that they can die for them. And rose again. Oh, you say, brother, I was saved 16 years ago. Yes, that was a good beginning. But there's more. There's more. You say, well, I was baptized and received it. Oh, that's wonderful. Praise the Lord. There's more. There's more. As far as fitness for heaven is concerned, you are fit in Christ. But you have to respond and I have to respond to the fact that that one who hung on the middle cross was the one who made me. He's the one who designed my body. He's the one who put Andromeda into space and embroidered the Milky Way and billions of galaxies. But I want to tell you something. There's only one response we can make. That is to turn our lives over to the Lord for whatever he wants. Oh, it would be nice to think that everyone who has trusted Christ for salvation has also made that dedication of themselves to him for birth. That isn't true. You know that is. It's not true and I know it too. It's possible to be saved through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and then live your life the way you want to live it. And he never intended that. He intended that we live for him who died. Dear friends, failure to do that is yawning in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's looking up into his face and saying, you haven't done anything of such consequence that I should turn my life over to you. That's solemn. You haven't done anything that's of such importance, such implication, such significance that I should turn my life over to you. He wants us, spirit, soul, and body. That's what commitment is. Commitment is going before the Lord and presenting your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. That's exactly what it is. It's saying, take me as I am, Lord, and make me all thine own. Make my heart thy palace and thy royal throne. Be careful. It could mean a change of career. Goodness. In the will of God, it could mean a change of career. I want to tell you it's possible to commit my life to the Lord for salvation and then go live the way I want to live, map out my own course of action. And if I'm really fully committed to the Lord Jesus, there are certain words that are not found in the vocabulary of commitment. Not so, Lord. Not now, but later. Let me first. Not so, Lord. I say these expressions are not found in the vocabulary of commitment. Commitment is to say, O Jesus, Lord and Master, I give myself to thee, for thou and thine atonement didst give thyself to me. I own no other master. My heart shall be thy throne. My life I give henceforth to live for thee, O Christ, alone. I'd like to give you eight reasons why this is the proper thing to do. First of all, we've gone over the first one, that is, our Creator died to save us. There's no mistake about it, friends. Our Creator died, not only the one who framed our bodies, but the one who's giving you and me the breath that we're taking right now to stay alive. It all comes from Him. No wonder the poet said, Thus might I hide my blushing face, while thy dear cross appear. Dissolve my heart in thankfulness and melt my eyes to tears. But drops of grief and ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself away. It's all that I can do. If it is true that that one in the middle cross is God incarnate, the only proper response is, Dear Lord, I give myself away. It's all that I can do. The fact that our God incarnate died for us, reason number one. Reason number two, the mercies of God demanded. Paul says that, doesn't he, in Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God. We've already gone over a short list of some of the mercies of God. Saved. Forgiven. You could add justified. Redeemed. Reconciled. Sanctified by the Spirit of God. We said indwelt by the Spirit of God. Given the seal of the Spirit, which marked you off as belonging to God and secure for all eternity. The earnest of the Spirit, which means that as sure as you have the Holy Spirit of God, you're going to get the whole inheritance someday. The anointing, the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, which enables you to distinguish between truth and error. And so you could go down through a long list of mercies of God. It's the only reasonable, rational, sane, sensible response we can make to what the Savior did for us. Three, simple gratitude requires it. You know, if a person saved you from drowning, I'm sure you'd be grateful to that person the rest of your life, wouldn't you? I would. If he just saved you from drowning, you'd be tremendously grateful. The Lord Jesus saved us from more than that. J. Alexander Clark tells this story about in Africa, he saw a national being attacked by a lion. The national was severely mauled and Mr. Clark got his gun and he brought down the lion and he got that man and he took him to the nearby Mission Hospital and that man was nursed back to health and went back to his home. Three months later, Alexander Clark was sitting on the porch on the veranda of his house out there and he heard all these noises coming down the road. There was the clucking of chickens and there was the quacking of ducks and there was the sound of sheep and of cattle and then there was the gaggle of human voices too as well and pretty soon came into view that man he had saved from the lion. And when the man came to him, he said, Mr. Clark, do you remember me? He said, I'm the one you saved. He said, the rule of our tribe is when something like that happens, everything I have belongs to you. All my chickens belong to you. All the ducks belong to you. All of the cattle and sheep belong to you. All my children, he had quite a few, belong to you. He said, all my wives, he had several, they belong to you. He said, this is the rule of our tribe. Dear friends, the Lord Jesus died for us, didn't he? We should say, Lord Jesus, thou has bled and died for me and forth I will live for thee. O Christ, thy bleeding hands and feet, thy sacrifice for me, each wound, each tear demands my life a sacrifice for thee. Simple gratitude. Then the love of Christ compels us. The love of Christ. That's why we read that verse in 2 Corinthians 5, those verses. The love of Christ constrains us. It's so interesting to go to David Livingstone's home in Scotland and see this plaque and it says, the love of Christ constrains me, Paul, and then David Livingstone, the love of Christ compels me. It's compelled by the love of Christ and we should be too. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my heart, my soul, my all. Another reason is we're not our own. We're not our own. And I like what C.T. Studds said once. He said, I had always known that Jesus died for me, but I didn't have the realization that when he died for me, he bought me. He bought me. I belong to him. And if I take what belongs to him and do with it what I want, I'm a thief. He said, when I saw that, it didn't seem too hard to turn my life over to him. That's the truth, dear friend. If I take my life and carve out my own career, do the thing that I want to do, do the thing that I think is best, I'm a thief. I'm taking something that really doesn't belong to me. We're not our own. The next reason is because Jesus is Lord. And you know, we use that expression all the time. We call him Lord. The word Savior is found 24 times in the New Testament. The word Lord is found 670 times in the New Testament. We always say, well, not always, but we often say our Savior and Lord. The New Testament never says that. It's always our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There must be a reason. And you know, I believe that the Lord Jesus in his teaching with the disciples and his teaching to us too, said, look, either do what I say or don't call me Lord. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say? We would say today, either do, either obey me or quit calling me Lord. It's just as simple as that. Then he knows better than I do. You know, and that's so true. He knows better than I do. What would be the best life for me? And that's what he would want. He would want the best life for me. I counted dollars while God counted crosses. I counted gain while he counted losses. I counted my worth by the things gained in store. He sized me up by the scars that I wore. I counted honors and sought for degrees. He wept when he thought of the hours on my knees. I never knew till one day by the grave how vain are the things we spend life to save. I wonder if that speaks to somebody here tonight. Been climbing the ladder of success. One day you're going to reach the top, and you'll realize that the ladder was against the wrong wall. What a tragedy. What a tragedy that would be. The Lord Jesus knows better than we do, you know. And we do him a strange disrespect by saying that we know better than he knows. We question his wisdom, and we question his love, and we question his power. Commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ for whatever he would want saves us from a life of trivia. A life of trivia. A life of emptiness. A life where your soul is saved and your life is lost. Why do we hesitate? Why do we hesitate? Why is there such a battle that goes on in the human breath when the issue of full surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ comes? Well, fear. Fear. Let me go over some of the fears. Fear of God's will. We're afraid of God's will. You know, when you talk about full surrender to people, what's the first thing they think about? They think about the mission field with its spiders and its snakes and its tarantulas and its suffocating humidity and everything is terrible and formidable. And you know, that does a great disservice to the Lord, doesn't it? First of all, God only wants volunteers for the mission field. And secondly, if he wants you on the mission field, he so works in your life that that will be the thing you want to do. He doesn't drag reluctant draftees to the mission field. They're all volunteers. But also, God is a wonderful God. He's very imaginative. He has an encyclopedia of options for people who are surrendered to him. Not just one, but a whole raft of options that he has for those who love his will. Second fear, we're afraid of what he might take from us. This does another terrible disservice to the Lord. The Lord Jesus said, The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. He wills only the very best for those who leave the choice with him. I want to tell you tonight, dear friend, dear young friend, maybe the battle's going on in your soul. If you present your life to the Lord with no conditions attached, he will do for you the greatest thing that the wisdom of God can conceive. That's pretty good, isn't it? That's pretty good. The greatest thing that the wisdom of God can conceive. Fear of God's denials. But I do want to be yielded to the Lord, but I want to get married first. But first, but let me first. That is not full surrender. That is not. That's playing games with God. You know, the fact of the matter is God's will for most of the human race is they should be married. They should be married. That's proved by the fact that most of us come from a long line of married people. And just yielding your life to the Lord, the difference would be maybe you'd be choosing your mate, whereas if you yield to the Lord Jesus, he would choose for you. Those who want to get married in the worst possible way usually end up doing that. But, you know, this is something you can commit to the Lord and let him make the choice. I want to tell you, it'll be the very best choice. Fear of loss of independence. You know, I'd like to have a home in the suburbs with hot and cold folding doors and all the gimmicks and a two-car garage with a car in each one and, you know, a good name in the community. It's all so vain. All so empty. It's all so like the world. Fear of the unknown. Abraham went out not knowing where he went. We fear the unknown. But I tell you, we never go anywhere without his presence when we're walking in his will. That's the greatest place to be. Let all the world be walking in his will. Fear of the loss of security. People think, oh, if I did that, you know, I might be on the wealth there. Dear friends, God is the only security we have in this world. He really is. He's the only security we have. And he'll never let you down if you're yielded to him. If you turn over the reins to him. If you get off the throne of your life and put the Lord Jesus on the throne, he's all the security you'll ever need. The fear of hardships. Isn't it wonderful what vivid imaginations we have? If I gave myself to the Lord, I would be in a world of outdoor toilets and no hot and cold water, you know. I'd be wearing early Salvation Army clothes. While all my friends are back at home, living high up the hall here, and maybe enjoying all the things that kill the soul. Who knows? Who knows? Fear of inadequacy. Well, I don't have any gift to give to the Lord. I think a lot of people are sincere when they say that. I don't have anything. I'm just a nobody. Dear friends, God has no nobodies. And God couldn't love you more than he loves you at this very minute. All you have to do is continue to be poor, weak, base, despised. He can use you. I tell you, his ways are not our ways, are they? I think the biggest problem when the subject of turning my life over to the Lord Jesus is pride. Rotten, stinking pride. You know, I'm too good for that. I'm too good for that. And I want to say that a lot of Christian parents have that too. They'd be totally embarrassed to see their son out on the street corner preaching the gospel. I'd rather see him as the vice president of some utility in charge of paper clips. And I want to tell you, pride today keeps an awful lot of people from enjoying what God has for them. The wonderful things that God has for them. You choose that pathway. It's possible for your soul to be saved and your life to be lost. It's possible to go to heaven empty-handed. It's possible to barter, miss out on God, barter God first and be satisfied with his second, third, or fourth. What it comes down to is this. It's a crisis. It's a process. It's a crisis. There has to be a first time in your life when you turn control over to him. Ideally, it happens when you were saved and it seldom does. It did with the Apostle Paul, but we're not the Apostle Paul. And oftentimes we trust the Lord. Maybe all we know at the time we trusted him is I'm a poor lost sinner, but Jesus died for me. You can be saved and be very ignorant, you know. As time goes on, as I say, we stand before the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ and realize in a new sense what's happening there. I tell you, common sense tells us turn your life over to him. It's a crisis. Spurgeon put it this way, and I like this. He said, Oh, great and unsearchable God who knows my heart and tries all my ways with a humble dependence on the support of thy Holy Spirit I yield up myself to thee as thy own reasonable sacrifice. I return to thee thine own. I would be forever, unreservedly, perpetually thine. While I am on earth, I would serve thee. May I enjoy thee and praise thee forever. Amen. And Hudson Taylor, his commitment was similar. He said, well do I remember as I put myself, my friends, my all upon the altar the deep solemnity that came over my soul with the assurance that my offering was accepted. The presence of God became unutterably real and blessed and I remember stretching myself on the ground and lying there before him with unspeakable awe and unspeakable joy. For what service I was accepted, I knew not. But a deep consciousness that I was not my own took possession of me which has never since been effaced. God used him to open up inland China for the gospel. William Borden, scion of millionaires he forsook all to take the gospel to the Muslim people died in Cairo on his route to China at the age of 26. He said, Lord Jesus, I take hands off as far as my life is concerned. I put thee on the throne in my heart. Change, cleanse, use me as thou shalt choose. I take the full power of thy Holy Spirit. I thank thee. Amen. And dear Jim Elliot said, Father, take my life yes, my blood if thou wilt and consume it with thine enveloping fire for I would not save it for it's not mine to save. Have it, Lord. Have it all. Pour out my life as an oblation for the world. Blood is only of value as it flows before thine altar. I've used that illustration before of that dear young woman in South Carolina and she gave her testimony of this experience in her life. She said, I just took a blank piece of paper and I just signed my name at the bottom and I let the Lord fill in the details. That's nice, isn't it? I wonder if somebody tonight is going to take a blank piece of paper just sign it at the bottom and let the Lord fill in the details. It's a crisis, but it's also a process. You'll soon find out that after you've laid that sacrifice on the altar it has a terrible tendency to wiggle off. And so that has to be renewed day by day. Lord Jesus, for the next 24 hours I re-dedicate myself to the dear Bishop Taylor Smith sat down on his knees by his bed every morning and said, Lord Jesus, this bed, your altar, myself, your living sacrifice. Good, isn't it? Good. And then I love to quote this poem. Many of you have heard me quote it before. I want my life so cleansed of self that my dear Lord may come and set up His own furnishings and make my heart His home. And since I know what this requires each morning while it's still I slip into that secret place and leave with Him my will. He always takes it graciously presenting me with His. I'm ready then to start the day in any task there is. This is how my Lord controls my interests, my ills. Because we meet at break of day for an exchange of will. For an exchange of will. You know, the people of Israel had been saying we want to bring the King back, we want to bring David back and Abner stood up, he said, look, you've been saying it too long. Just do it. And I think that's what the Lord is saying tonight. You know, your intentions have been good. Now, just do it. And I'm going to suggest at the end of the meeting as the folks are going out that if God has spoken to your heart and you'd just like to come down and pray with some of us, be a great joy. Maybe this would be the first time. Maybe this would be the crisis. When you just abandon everything else and say, Lord Jesus, You bled and died for me. I give you my life. It belongs to you. And I know there are some who will say, maybe we just clear this first row in case there are some that do come down. There are others that will come down and pray with you. Some brothers and sisters who just like to do that. Shall we look to the Lord in closing prayer. Blessed Lord Jesus, we thank you for this view we've had of Calvary. And we pray with a deeper appreciation than we ever had before. When we think that you, God incarnate, died there to put away our sins by the sacrifice of yourself. We acknowledge tonight there's only one reasonable response we can make. That is to give the keys of our life to you. To set you on the throne of our life. Let you make the decisions instead of our making them any longer. So that the Spirit of God might move in power in our midst in your own worthy and precious name.