In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of living a life that aligns with God's will and laws. He challenges the audience to honestly assess their own lifestyles and whether they reflect God's desires. The speaker warns that some individuals will end up in hell while others will be in heaven, highlighting the urgency of his message. He also acknowledges the presence of the devil and cautions against allowing the Word of God to be easily forgotten or dismissed.

Okay, well, the first time I went across the Andes Mountains, I was absolutely wide-eyed. I mean, I just couldn't believe the beauty and the majesty. And the old missionary that was with me, Homer Crane, he was snoring. And I thought, how on earth could he do that amidst all this beauty? And then about 15 years later or so, I took a bunch of young guys across the Andes Mountains, and they were all wondering how I could snore through such beauty. And the whole idea was, even the most beautiful things, because of a fault in us, for sure, after they're seen quite a bit and spoken of much, they don't lose their beauty, but we lose our interest. Things become cliches really quick. Love the Lord. What would Jesus do? All these things just become cliches. Little things we reduce down into little tracks. Jesus died. We wonder why the statement has no power when it doesn't even seem to have power to warm our own hearts. We can sing about, well, Jesus died. We can talk about it, but it just kind of seems mundane after a while. What does it mean that Jesus died? A lot of men in a great desire to communicate the sufferings of Jesus Christ, they will tell you about the horrid nature of the cross, of that Roman tree. They may even quote Tacitus and Josephus and all the great historians and the annals of the Roman Empire and explain to you how vicious was that cross and the whip and the cat of nine tails and the forty lashes minus one and the strength of the Roman soldier and the crown of thorns on his head and the robe on his back. They may explain to us how they crossed his feet and drove a nail through both of them, how they drove a nail not through the palms of his hands, but actually through his wrist. And in the Greek word, it reaches down about this far and the nails went into his hands. And they'll tell us all these things and they're all so important. We don't want to take away from them. But that's most people's idea of the pain of the cross. What does it mean that Jesus died? Well, he suffered that Roman cross. And because those Romans beat him and nailed him to a tree and because the Jews did what they did against him, he has paid for our sins with his death. No. You see, you've missed the point. Was that horrid? Yes. Was that beyond description? Quite so. But that's not the pain of the cross. That's not the thing that set Christ's heart to tremble in the garden when he said, let this cut pass for me. You see, there's something far worse that almost no one ever talks about because no one or very few people know very much about it. Yet it's the very center of the cross. And if you don't understand that, you've never understood the cross. The pain of the cross is not what the Romans and Jews did to Jesus when they nailed him to the tree or they stuck a lance through him. The pain of the cross is that when he was on that tree. Well, again, it's not what the Romans did to Jesus. It's what his own father did to him. His own father crushed him. His own father slaughtered him. That is the pain of the cross. And that's why so few people understand it. You see, God is just. He cannot pass over sin. All sin must be punished. God is holy, righteous, and loving. And therefore, the response of a holy, righteous, and loving God to sin is wrath. The perfect, just, fierce anger and hatred of God against evil and evil men. Now, in order for God to take some of these evil men as his children, to forgive them, something has to be done before he can forgive them. They have to be pardoned. But there's a problem. A just God cannot just pardon men in the same way that a judge, when he lets a criminal go free, you complain and say he's corrupt. Well, see, you're a criminal. You have broken every law God has ever made. The only thing a just God can do with you is kill you in hell. But this God of ours is not only just. He's loving. But he cannot pass up his justice. Sometimes we'll hear preachers say, God could have been just with you, but instead of being just, he was loving. Do you know what that preacher is saying? He's saying God's love is unjust. No, God has to be both loving and just. So God makes a way to satisfy his own justice. And how does he do that? The death of the wicked or a substitution for the wicked. God becomes a man and walks on this earth and lives a perfect life. And God goes to a tree. The son of God, all man, all God, not a demagogue, not something in between, but truly God and truly man. And he goes to that tree. On the tree, he carries the sins of his people. And then all of the perfect justice of God that should be poured out on the heads of his people throughout all eternity, all the fierce wrath and anger and hatred of God against evil that must be poured out on wicked men is poured out on the son of God. That's why Isaiah says in Isaiah 53 10, it pleased the Lord Yahweh or Jehovah. It pleased the Lord to crush him, to crush the Messiah. You see the pain of the cross, the thing that brought that blood in the garden where he sweated drops of blood was not a Roman tree. It was knowing that he would bear sin, stand in the law place of his people and that his father would turn away from him and then crush him under the full force of his wrath. That is why he said it is finished. A Greek term often used in business to say paid in full. Someone had to pay. God in his love came down and paid in his only son. Third day, he rose again from the dead. It was God's great public declaration and vindication of his son. You want evidence that Christ is God and that his sacrifice was sufficient to save the sinner? God's only going to give you one demonstration. He's already given it. It's the resurrection of his son from the dead. He vindicated him or declared publicly that this is the Messiah, this is the Christ, this is the only Savior and what he did on that tree is the only act of salvation. And if you pass over this, there remains nothing for you. There remains nothing for you. Now, upon hearing this message, nowhere in Scripture does it say, now, how many of you would like to go to heaven and if so, how many of you would like to pray right now and ask Jesus to come into your heart? Nowhere in the Bible does it teach that. It says that God commands you. He doesn't ask you. He doesn't even invite you. He commands you to repent and to believe. He commands you to do that. It's what he does. Now, what is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind. I said the other night and I'll say it again. Look what we do. We ask people, do you know you're a sinner? And if they say yes, and some of you have done this. Yes. Do you want to go to heaven? Yes. Would you like to pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart? Yes. And then someone prays with you and you ask Jesus into your heart and then they tell you, you're saved. Why? Because you prayed those prayers. You prayed that prayer. You said those words. Were you sincere? I think so. Well, you're saved. No. That's not what the Bible teaches. Now, can someone call upon the name of the Lord and be saved? Most certainly. Is salvation only by faith? Yes. But now, young people, listen to me for a minute. Look what we've done. We've turned this beautiful doctrine of salvation by faith, of repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus Christ, we've turned it into a religious creed those Baptists have. And so have a lot of others. A creed. Do you believe in Jesus? Yes. You're saved. Ah, be careful. The demons believe that God is one. And not only do they believe, they're actually more pious than you are. They tremble. You see? What is repentance? It's not just, yeah, I know I'm a sinner. Ask the devil if he knows he's a sinner. He'll say, yes, I am. And a mighty fine one at that. But repentance is where God opens your eyes to his holiness. And he opens your eyes so that the least sin in your life becomes a vulgar thing that you can see should condemn you to hell. I was preaching one time years ago in Ohio, of all places. And right after I got through preaching, this little boy, nine years old, he gets up and he starts walking down the aisle like this. And I came down and I said, young man, what's happened? He goes, can God save a wicked boy like me? And I said, what have you done? I have disobeyed my mother. Now, don't laugh. I want to tell you what God was doing. God was doing something that needs to happen to every one of us. God was showing that little boy that that one sin was vile enough to condemn him to hell throughout all eternity without Jesus Christ. God was making sin real to that boy. It wasn't just, do you know you're a sinner? Well, yeah, everybody is. No, that wasn't it. God was impressing upon that boy's heart, you are a sinner. And the way you treat your mother makes you worthy of death. And you need Christ to escape condemnation. Let me give you a perfect example. One of my favorite guys in history, Martin Luther. What's happening to him? He's a priest, but he's bothered by something. What? God was dealing with his heart. And in what way? He is bothered. I mean, he's almost out of his mind. Because he's realizing in Scripture, God is holy. And you can't approach Him if you have one sin. God is just and He will condemn the wicked. And Luther, seeming the only person just about on the planet, is going, but I'm a sinner. Does anyone see a problem with this? See, God was pressing upon his heart, what? The wickedness of sin. You sin enough by the time you get up in the morning to getting down to breakfast to condemn your soul to hell forever. Do you realize that? That's what Luther realized. The problem is today, we've taken the Gospel and reduced it down to a few little things that if you say yes at the end of each question, we declare you saved. But has God ever pressed upon you how vile your sin is? The condition of your lostness, that you deserve hell. That's what Luther was going through. And he just started looking at everything in his life. And if he found one thing that was wrong, he'd go to the priest and he'd confess it. Finally, the priest tells him, look, Martin, go out and do something worthy of confessing. Because the priest didn't understand why. He was lost and in darkness. But God had opened up his eyes and shown him, you are a sinner. One sin, Martin Luther, one. Not a hundred, not a thousand. One sin will condemn you to hell forever. And you say, well, what's the biblical basis of that? How many times did Adam and Eve sin before God condemned them in the entire human race? Once. You see, the Spirit of God woke up a German monk to understand that and pressed it upon his heart so much he almost went crazy until finally realizing there's absolutely no hope. I cannot save myself. I'm lost. And if God condemns me right now, He is just in doing so. And then comes the great declaration. Martin, the just shall live by faith. And the glory of what God did for him on the cross was opened up. And he looked at that and found salvation. Now, there's eternities of difference between Martin Luther saying justification by faith and what most people do today. They have no knowledge of their sin. They don't think there's anything really bad about them. Jesus is just alright with me. Sure, I'll believe in Him. And they believe in Him, supposedly, and that's it, and I'm saved. There's been no true working of the Spirit of God in their heart. God has never pressed upon them the weight of their sin. They've never feared judgment. They've never thought about how wicked they are. They've never seen Christ as precious. For this reason, I'd call up Bill Gates and ask him out for dinner. Invite him over to the house and give him Froot Loops. Or a piece of ham. He's probably not going to kiss my hands for the generous offering I've granted him. But I've worked in many places around this world where if I gave someone a piece of ham, they would drop down on their hands and knees and kiss my feet. Why? Because they were starving and they were needy and they were dying. You see, most young people and old people, in this little evangelical thing we've got going on in America, Christ is not precious to them. I had a reporter come up to me one time and he said, why are you always preaching about sin? And I said, because I want you to love God. He was so mad at me. He said, what do you mean? I said, you don't love God much because you don't realize how much God has forgiven you. And you don't realize how much God has forgiven you because you don't know how sinful you are. And you don't know how sinful you are because no one's told you the truth like me. You see, salvation is not just you said yes to a few questions. Salvation is a supernatural work of God whereby when the Gospel is preached to you, you are struck by the greatness and the majesty and the holiness and the justice of God. And you are struck by your own sin and your wickedness and your wretchedness and your vileness. And you are put to silence because you realize there is not one thing you can offer God in order to make peace between both of you. And then, your eyes are opened up to the cross of Jesus Christ where He shed His blood for you. And recognizing that everything else in your life is dung, you cling to one hope. Jesus Christ died for me. And you trust then. If you truly trust. Here's the big question, isn't it? We could dismiss this group right now and go out into this county and we could go into every tavern, every seedy place in this whole place. Just about everybody is going to be saved. Isn't that wonderful? And you know why? Because of bad preaching. Deceiving preaching, that's why. They think they are saved. Because if they are Baptists, one time in their life, they prayed a prayer and asked Jesus to come into their heart. Lutheran, Catholic, whatever. I got baptized. Went through confirmation. I did this. I did that. But the Bible says, you believe? You really believe? Well, congratulations! The demons believe too. And they have more piety than you. They tremble. You don't even tremble. Your faith is no better than that of a demon. You say, but I confessed Jesus with my mouth. You know what your confession of faith is worth? Zero. Zero. And I can prove it to you. Jesus said, many will come before Me on that day and say, Lord, Lord. And I said, depart from Me. I never knew you. They confessed Him. And in the Hebrew, even though it was written in Greek, the Hebrew thought behind that is this idea. The Hebrews repeat stuff to emphasize it. So what He's saying is, even though you emphatically declared Me to be Lord, not just hidden about it, but you emphatically declared Me to be Lord, I never knew you. So here's the million dollar question. You say that if we believe in Jesus, we're saved. You're absolutely right. But here's the question. How do you know you believe? Demons believe and they're not saved. So how do you know that you believe? Well, most people say, well, I know I believe because I know that I know that I know that I know. Really? My heart tells me I'm saved. The Bible says the heart can be deceitfully wicked. So wicked that no one can know it. Well, I think I'm saved. The Bible says there's a way that seems right unto a man and it leads to death. Well, I experienced all kinds of goose bumps. I did too when I caught the bird flu one time. Alright. So how do you know that you believe? Yes, I agree with you. Salvation by faith, by trusting in Christ. But how do you know you trust in Him? Where's your evidence? Do you know what most people's evidence is? It's this. Well, I prayed and asked Him to come into my heart. And He said, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice, I'll open the door and he can come in. There's only one problem. That's not what that verse means. Jesus is knocking on the door of a church. He's not knocking on the door of a sinner's heart. That's not what that text means. As a matter of fact, the Bible never says that someone gets saved because they open up their heart. The Bible says that God opened up Lydia's heart and she was saved because God did it. How do you know you're saved? Well, I made my decision. And? What decision? Well, I know I know Him, but does He know you? I can walk up to the White House tonight and try to get in there, and they're going to arrest me. And I can say, Well, I know George Bush. And they're going to say, We don't care. But if George Bush walks out of the White House and points to me and says, I know Paul Washer, I'm going in. So see, it's not so important that I say I know George Bush. Of course, the question is, does George Bush know me? Same way with glory. I know Jesus. Whoopee! Does Jesus know you? So what's the evidence that you've truly believed? Are you going to swing out there into eternity on this idea that, well, I've got to be, because I said the right words. I've got to be saved. I've repeated a prayer. I've got to be saved. I was in the youth group. The devil comes to the youth group when he's not with the adults. And so how do you know you're saved? Well, I want you to look at something in Galatians, just quickly, and then we're going to go to 2 Corinthians and then we're going to plant ourselves somewhere else. But look in Galatians for a moment. Chapter 6, verse 15. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation. The word there can also mean a new creature. Now, what Paul is saying is some Jews were saying, I'm circumcised. Paul's answer to that? I don't care. And other people were saying, I'm not circumcised. Paul's answer? Whoopee. I've done this religious thing. So? I've done that religious thing. So? I haven't done either. So? I know I'm part of the family of God. Why? I've been circumcised. Paul says, I don't care. I know I'm part of the family of God. I've been baptized. Knock yourself out. Well, I know I'm part of the family of God. I prayed that prayer. That's not evidence of anything. How many people do you know that prayed a prayer and asked Jesus to come into their heart and are now in prison for murder? Multiple murders. How many people around this county right now have prayed and asked Jesus to come into their heart and they commit every abomination under the sun and are proud of it? Do you think that really is something you want to swing out into eternity on? I prayed a prayer. Congratulations. Paul says, I'll tell you what's the evidence of whether or not you're saved. I'll tell you the evidence of whether or not you know Him and He knows you. I'll tell you the evidence of whether or not you believe. Are you a new creature? Has God changed you from the inside out? You see, salvation is not I made my decision. Salvation is God literally, this is not poetry, God literally does a supernatural recreating work in the Christian. Takes out His God-hating heart, a heart that doesn't care about God, that doesn't care about His Word, that doesn't care about prayer, that doesn't care about seeking Him, that doesn't care about walking with Him, that doesn't care about keeping His commandments and puts in the place of that wicked, defiled heart a new heart recreated in the image of God and true righteousness and true holiness, a new heart that desires God and wants to please Him and know Him and seek Him. Not just go to a youth group or adult service, but a new creature. Not someone trying to do their best, a new creature, an entirely new creation. If any man be in Christ, 2 Corinthians tells us, 517, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things pass away. Behold, all things are new. How can we be certain about this? Because this next verse says all these things are from God. Salvation is a work of God and whenever God saves somebody, certain things are going to happen and if they don't happen, you're not saved. He doesn't save someone a lot and save someone else a little. He doesn't save a bunch of people but only changes a few of them. And you've seen that, haven't you? Everybody in the church, they're all Christians, but some of them are very spiritual and seem to like to pray and give and serve, but the great majority of them don't want to do anything except come to church on Sunday. And they've done everything that they need to do. Don't ask anymore. Now that's devotion, isn't it? How do you know you're saved? Now that's an important question, isn't it? Well, praise God, the Bible gave us an answer. A big answer. That's the wonderful thing about the Apostle John. When the Apostle John wrote his Gospel, he told us why he wrote it. I wrote these things so that you would believe. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, if you want to know what the book's about, you don't have to dance around. Just ask the one who wrote it. He says, I wrote it so that you'd know this is the Son of God and that you'd believe in Him and believing in Him, you'd have eternal life. That is why I wrote this book. Well, when he wrote his first epistle, he did the same thing. He tells us why he wrote the epistle. So let's look at 1 John 5. 1 John 5, verse 13. These things. What are these things? The book of 1 John. Everything found in the book of 1 John. He says, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God. Now, you need to understand something. I believe when the apostles addressed the churches in the many letters to the different churches, you need to understand something. They wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but they wrote as men. Every time they say, I'm writing to the believers or addressing the believers, don't think that they believed that everybody in that church was saved because in the other parts of the letter, it's obvious they didn't believe everyone was saved. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and talked about them being believers and how they were mightily gifted of the Lord and they had so many things that they can do and they were so prosperous in the things of God. Then he goes on in the letter and explains that he believed that many of them that were in there weren't even Christians. So when he says, I write this, I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, he's basically saying as a man, I'm writing to those of you who have confessed Christ. Now, he's writing to a church and he writes to that church and says, now, I'm going to write this whole letter to those of you who have confessed Christ, that I have seen confess Christ. In the congregation, in baptism, you profess to know Jesus Christ. And then he goes on and he says, who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. I'm going to write you this book so that by reading this book, you can know whether or not you are truly Christian or whether or not you are reprobate, which means unapproved and destined for hell. Now, listen to my language for a moment. I've been to a lot of universities and a lot of schools. I realize that I'm talking with an edge. Why do you have to say it that way? How do you want me to say it? Do you want me to speak in rhyme or mystery? Do you want me to hide the truth from you? Look, my boy turned four yesterday. What am I doing in Kansas? If this was just about your best life now, I'd have stayed in Alabama. Why I talk like this is because it's a reality and the reality is this. Some of you within 50 years will be in hell. Now mark it down. Anytime you're speaking to any congregation, no, I'm not a prophet and I can't look at your heart and everything, but just the standard of being in congregation after congregation within time, some of you are going to be in hell and some of you are going to be in heaven. That's why I preach. I don't preach for other reasons. If it was just about self-esteem, I'd give you a lollipop and tell you to heal yourself. This is not about self-esteem. This is not about you getting your best life now. This is about the fact that I'm preaching to people who some of them are going to go to hell. And that's why I want to be so blunt about it. It's true. That's what drove... Again, you say, why is this Baptist using Martin Luther so much? Why preach in a Lutheran church a couple times a year just to keep me right? But here's the point. Here was a man who realized something. This is not about forming a religion. This is not about a social club. This is not about all of us just being moral. This is about a real God who is really holy and really just. This is about a fallen people that are really fallen and corrupt and condemned. And this is about how can we be saved from hell unto God. And that's why I talk this way. It's not just because I like being mean. It's just true. As a matter of fact, I would be mean if I did it the other way, wouldn't I? If you were crossing a railroad track and I saw the train coming, I would not whisper. I would not look in a book of etiquette to try to find out what would be the best way of approaching you without offense. I would do everything in my power to knock you off that track. Same here. You're on a track, but it's worse than a train. Hell is moving. You say, Brother Paul, are you trying to scare people? Well, you've discerned correctly. You need to be scared. It's a real thing. It's a real thing. Paul the Apostle did not make these journeys and risk his life and die daily for just a religion that really doesn't matter. Countless Christians, the over 50 million that have died since Jesus Christ rose again from the dead, the thousand who died today and every day now in modern history, about a thousand Christians are being martyred. Why? Because this is real. It really is real. I know you look at adults a lot of times and they profess Christ and everything and you look and they're more concerned about what's going on at Walmart or something than they are what's going on in Scripture. But that still doesn't mean it's not real. It is. You're going to die. And some of you are going to hell. That's a horrible thing to face, isn't it? How can we know that we're truly saved? How can we know that we are truly saved? Well, John gives us a series of tests. And we're going to go through some of those tests so that you can biblically see, am I really a Christian? Well, John's going to say, does this describe your life? If it does, that's evidence that you're a Christian. If this doesn't describe your life, be afraid. And we're going to go down and we're going to take a series of these tests and we're going to see, is there any reality of Christ in my life? Now before we do that, I just want to say one other thing. It's funny how we put the cart before the horse and turn things around so conveniently. I walk up to somebody and go, are you a new creature? Yes. How do you know? Well, I believe. That's not the way it's supposed to be. Do you believe? Yes. How do you know? I am a new creature. It's evident. Now, what's the first test that John gives us? Let's read verse 5 of chapter 1. This is the message we have heard from Him and announced to you that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Now what does that mean? Most popular interpretation of this in modern times is, of course, God is holy and there's no sin in Him. Well, God most certainly is holy and there is no sin in Him, but I don't think that's the point of the text. Why? This group was being attacked by the early stages of what we call Gnosticism. It was the most evil enemy of Christianity in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries. And Gnosticism, what it taught from the Greek word gnosis meaning knowledge, was that God was an esoteric God. Esoteric meaning He's a dark God, a mysterious God, a hidden God, and you can't really know what He's like and you can't really know His will unless you're one of the secret gurus like us, they say. Privy to special information that you commoners don't have. God is dark. His will is obscure and no one can know it. No. John is saying no. God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. And what is he saying? God has revealed to you who He is and what He desires. In other words, now listen, God has made known to you something about His nature or character. You know He's holy. You know He's just. You know what He thinks about sin. You know something of the real God. You really do. God has revealed Himself to you and God has revealed His will to you. He has revealed His commands to you. So what's John saying? He's looking at this people just like yourself and he's saying, listen, the first thing I want you to know is God has told you who He is, what He's like, and you know it. And God has told you what His will is. You know His Ten Commandments. You know other things about Him. You know He hates sin. You know what to do and not to do. He's shown you in the Scriptures. Now, here comes the first test. Verse 6. If we say we have fellowship with Him. What does that mean? If we say we are Christians. Now don't make any mistake about this. If we say we are Christians and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Now, what does it mean to walk in light? Well, it means this. If we say that we are Christians, children of God, going to heaven, and yet we walk in darkness, that means we walk in a way, we live a style of life that when someone looks at our life, it contradicts what God has told us about Himself and it contradicts what God has showed us about His will. Still, we're liars when we say we're Christians. That's exactly what it means. Now, the word walk is very important here. If we walk in darkness, not walk in the light, it's peripateo. Pateo means to walk. Peripateo means to walk around. And what he's saying is this. If you say you're a Christian, and yet the way you walk throughout your life, the way you live, your style of life, everywhere you go, the way you actually live contradicts what God tells us about Himself and contradicts what God has told us about what He desires, you're a liar. That's as plain and simple as it gets. Now, I want to show you something though. If you were to follow me around with a snapshot camera that just took one picture, and you waited, it wouldn't take long, and you saw me angry, or you saw me proud, or you saw me just whatever, and as soon as I did it, you went, click! And then you brought the picture back, blown up on the wall, and say, see, I told you that guy was lost. Look at him. There's a picture of him sinning. But is that an accurate description of my life? No. Not at all. You caught me at one moment. That's not accurate. But, if for several months, you followed me around with a video camera, unknown to me, you followed me around, and you filmed my style of life. When no one else was looking, when no one else was watching, you filmed me at school, you filmed me at home, you filmed me here, filmed me there, everywhere. And then you brought it and presented it here, you would have some strong evidence, wouldn't you? Because now you've captured my style of life, the way I live. Now, let me tell you something. You need to reflect and be careful here. You need to be honest. Does your style of life, do you live in a way that conforms to what God has told us about Himself? And that conforms to what He's told us about His law and His will? Or do you live in a way, a style of life, that is constantly contradicting who God is and what God has said His desire to be? Now, you need to answer that question, not play around, because this is about life and death. Do you? Do you? You know, people say, well, you don't know what's in my heart. I don't have to know what's in your heart. Because Jesus said what's in your heart is going to come out of your mouth. I don't have to know what's in your heart because Jesus said by your fruit you would be known, not by what you supposedly have in your heart. So you can't judge a book by its cover. Jesus didn't say that. As a matter of fact, Jesus said just the opposite. He said you can judge a book by its cover. Don't judge me. Judge not lest ye be judged. Twist not Scripture lest ye be like the devil. Because that's not what Jesus meant. Because in the same text where He said judge not lest ye be judged, He said you will know them by their fruit. Would they convict you of being a Christian in a court of law? Would people in your high school, would your parents, would your children, do you walk in a way that conforms to what God has told us about Himself? Or do you live in a way that contradicts everything God has told us about Himself? Do you walk in a way that conforms to what God has revealed about His will? Or do you walk in a way that constantly contradicts His will? And I'm not talking just about Sunday school and church. I'm talking about when you're out of here. In the South, even in the Midwest, we have what I call Bubba Christianity. Bubba tailgate Christianity. Bubba saved. Because Bubba says grace and Bubba goes to church on Sunday morning. Now he may be half drunk when he gets there, but Bubba goes. Bubba goes to your youth group. Bubba goes everywhere. Bubba's lost and he's going to hell. Because it's a game. I know kids that will come to youth groups and they do so because their parents tell them to. And the moment, man, they're away from their home and they're gone, it is adios to God. You have to ask yourself, when no one is looking, do you look like a Christian? Do you live in a way that agrees with who God says He is? God says He's holy. He's just. He's loving. Or do you live in a way that contradicts what God has told us about Himself and His will? Now, let's go on to the next one. Verse 8, the next test. The first test is this. The true Christian will walk in the light or will walk in a way that conforms to what God has revealed about Himself and His will. The second test is this. The true Christian will be broken over his sin and will be led to confession. It says in John 1, verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His Word is not in us. Now, what does this mean? Well, it means more than just taking out a context as a proof text for confession. Confession comes from the Greek word homologeo, which means to speak the same thing. Now, what he's saying is this. The true Christian, a person who's truly converted, truly a child of God, truly going to heaven, when they sin, when they sin, they will be sensitive to that sin and will be brought to repentance and confession of that sin. You see, the evidence that you're truly Christian is not that you're sinless, but that when you sin, when you break God's law, it breaks you. When you commit crimes against God, when you disobey Him, it strikes your heart. And though you may struggle with it a bit, eventually you're brought to getting on your knees and confessing your sin before God. The Christian life is marked by a brokenness over sin and a sensitivity to it and confession. That's why Jesus said, blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. God says, the contrite, the one who trembles at My Word, I will not despise. Isn't it amazing? I'm going to show you how this works. I don't know if you've ever been in a service where God just comes down and begins to deal with people. You know what's amazing? You'll be preaching to the congregation, to Christians about sin or about holiness or maybe about none of these things, and God just begins to work. And I've seen it so many times, it's absolutely amazing. God will begin to deal with people about sin. There will be a special presence of God and God dealing with people about holiness and righteousness. And you know what's amazing and is always the case? The most holy, most devoted, most godly, most dedicated people in the church are the ones who come forward and are weeping over their sin. And the most carnal, wicked, cold as a stone congregants in that church sit back there as though nothing was wrong with them. And what are you seeing? The difference between the saved and the lost in that church. The godly people who have truly been converted, when God shows them their sin, they're broken over it and desire to confess it. The others sit there as though there was nothing in them that should be judged. So one of the greatest evidences that you are truly Christian is not that you're sinless, but that when you sin, it breaks you. One of the most heinous crimes, and I want you to realize this because there are a lot of young people here, I just want to tell you something. One of the most heinous crimes in all of Scripture is to rebel against your parents. Did you know that? And rebellion in Scripture with regard to parents has to do with not only disobeying them, but you can even obey them and dishonor them by not giving due reverence to them, by not treating them as the authority that God has set up over you. It is such a heinous crime before God that people were stoned for it in the Old Testament. Let me ask you a question. When you smart off to your parents, when you disobey them, does the Holy Spirit strike at your heart and show you how heinous and wretched and wicked your deed is? Or do you just justify that your parents don't know what they're talking about and they're trying to put too much pressure and cramp your lifestyle? You ought to be afraid. Imagine, one of the most heinous crimes in all of Scripture, and yet when you do it, it doesn't even affect you. One of the signs of the end times or at least the decadence of a society is that they're disobedient to parents. Can you sit there and watch things on television that only 30 years ago would have been illegal by secular standards? Been considered pornography even by secular authorities. Can you sit there and watch it now and the Holy Spirit doesn't even strike at your heart? You ought to be afraid. Do you ever notice that your prayers are hindered? And the fact that your prayers were hindered, it made you realize that you have probably sinned in your life? Most people don't even know when their prayers are hindered because they're always hindered. Have you ever been struck? When was the last time you wept over your sin? It's amazing, isn't it? I sense the fear of God growing here tonight. It should. One of the most heinous crimes. When was the last time God struck down your heart, adult, over idolatry? Because there was something in your life that you thought about more than God. No. You see? Heart issues, aren't they? It's not just about morality or externals. Heart issues. Test number one. The evidence that you're truly Christian is that your lifestyle, not perfect at all, but if someone watches over the full course of your life, they see someone whose life actually seems to be in agreement with what God has told us about Himself. It seems to be in agreement with the will of God. Remember, Jesus said, it's not the one who says, Lord, Lord, who goes to heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father. And that does not mean a work salvation. It means salvation is only by faith. But if someone is truly believed, they become a new creature, and a new creature automatically lives a new way, and that new way is comprised of being conformed to the will of the Father. Not perfectly. That's why we have this second test. Another great evidence of a true believer is that when they do sin, and we do sin, that we're broken over our sin. Now let's go to the third test. Chapter 2, verse 3. By this we know that we have come to know Him. Man, can it be any clearer than this? By this we know that we are Christian. By this we know we're going to heaven. By this we know we've been born again. By what? Because we keep His commandments. Now look at it, folks. Do you see how much evangelical Christianity you can hear and never really understand the text? You see that? Now notice, it doesn't say, by this we save ourselves because we keep His commandments. That's not what it says. By this we know that we have been saved. So see, it's not a works salvation at all. He doesn't say, by this we are saved because we keep His commandments. No, He says, by this we know that we have already been saved. Why? Because we have a new relationship with the commandments of God. A young person comes to me sometimes and says, Brother Paul, I've got a new relationship with God. And I always ask him, do you have a new relationship with sin? Because if you don't have a new relationship with sin, you don't have a new relationship with God. Do you have a new relationship with the Word of God? Because if you don't have a new relationship with the Word of God, you don't have a new relationship with God. By this we know that we've come to know Him because we keep His commandments. Now does that mean, by this we know that we've come to know Him, that we've become a believer because we don't sin and we perfectly keep all of God's commands? Absolutely not. We've already learned that one of the signs of being a true Christian is that when you sin, you confess it. What it's talking about, again, over and over in John, is a style of life. Present tense verbs all over this text that are saying style of life because we live this way. And it means this. Prior to my conversion, I had no relationship whatsoever with the Word of God. Oh, I'd go to Sunday school. I went to church with my mom. All kinds of stuff. I'd sit there and listen to the sermon thinking I'm going to die if this guy doesn't stop talking. I would, you know, go to Bible class and paint pictures about Joseph's coat of many colors and all these things. I would go to church with my mom even when I was a teenager because, well, I wanted to kind of be good and she was a good mom and stuff like that. And I'd read the Bible every once in a while because the youth director would say you need to read the Bible and this or that. I had no relationship whatsoever with the Word of God. Like some of you. But when I was saved, what happened? Everything changed. It didn't mean that automatically, oh, I'm keeping all the commands of God. But it did mean my relationship with God's Word changed. Before, I didn't have a desire to know the commands of God. I could care less. I didn't care to know the commands of God. If I knew them and broke them, it really didn't bother me. I really didn't have a relationship with the Word of God. But after I was saved, I wanted to know what is the will of God? What are the commandments of God? And I desired, put forth real effort, seeable, provable effort, that I want to obey these commands. And when I broke these commands, it broke my heart and I confessed it and I started all over again. And that's what he's saying there. By this we know that we've come to know Him if we keep His commandments. If our style of life shows a person, if someone watches our life, they can see that we have a new relationship with the Word of God. If the other students in your school watch your life, do they see a new relationship with the Word of God? Would I be able to bring your class or your co-workers in here and would they be able to testify, yes, this person, even the unbelievers, yes, this person's some kind of fanatical nut because it's always the Bible. He's always trying to obey the Bible. Would they do that? Or would they say, well, I had no idea this guy thought about the Bible or anything like that. Don't play. It's too dangerous a game. Just look at what the text says. Look at what it says. Then it goes on and it says, the one who says, I have come to know Him, but does not keep His commandments is a liar. Is a liar. I mean, the Apostle John was called the Apostle of Love. I mean, there are ecclesiastical traditions about the love of this man that's absolutely phenomenal. The compassion and kindness. But look what he's saying. He's saying, if you say you're a Christian and you have no relationship with the Word of God, no real vital relationship with the Word of God, you're a liar when you say you're a Christian. Now why is he doing that? Just because he is the Apostle of Love. When you love people enough to tell them the truth, you may go to hell, but your blood won't be on my hands. You'll know. And you know what? Do you know what I am? I'm what any other preacher is. Light and darkness. Life and death. To some of you, a fragrance of life. To some of you, I'm like opening up a grave and allowing the stench to come out. For some of you, throughout all of eternity, you will remember this day and be blessed by it. For some of you, you will gnaw your teeth in pain thinking about every word I've told you. Again, if it was any different than this, I would be home with my children playing right now. That's why John says you're a liar. I was street preaching in Fort Worth a long time ago and almost got beat up. It took like three guys to pull this cowboy off of me. Because I was preaching and he'd come waltzing in there, drunker than you could possibly imagine. And he said, yeah, preacher, I'm a Christian member of the First Baptist Church or this or that. And I said, sir, you are a liar. And you're going to hell. Why? Could a Christian fall into drunkenness? Yeah. But if he did, would he walk up there brazingly and proudly stick out his chest and say I'm a member of First Baptist this or that? Absolutely not. Now, I could have been real nice and he would have really liked me. And he wouldn't have tried to pound my face in the concrete. But if I really love him, the only thing I can do is tell him the truth. But I'll tell you this, I wasn't primarily motivated by love. I was motivated by fear because this man too must stand before the judgment throne of Christ. So you see, my dear friend, the one who says I have come to know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Now here's the question, do you have a real and vital relationship with the Word of God? Now, I want to preface that by saying this, all of us, all of us, the pastors here, all of us, no matter how dedicated we try to be, no matter how saved we are, we all struggle in our heart. At times, there's a dullness. At times, man, I just don't want to get up and read the Word. But if you look at the style of life, you will see a great change between when we were unconverted and now that we are. There is a real relationship with the Word of God. Now let's go on to the next test. Verse 6 of chapter 2. The one who says he abides in Him, the one who says he's saved, ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. You say, brother Paul, all of us are going to hell. Who walks like Jesus? Let me again explain the text. He's talking about style of life and practice. Let me give you the best illustration I can on this. When I was a little boy, I greatly feared my dad, but I wanted to be like him. He was a big old guy. He was pretty amazing. We raised Charlay cattle on our farm in Illinois and quarter horses. We didn't get a lot of big snows, but we got some big snows. Well, when I was a little boy, I started working on the farm. I remember since I was about 5 or 6 years old, my dad would come in every morning, 5 or 6 in the morning and say, Paul boy, get up. No rest for the wicked. That was the first Bible verse I ever remember. And back then when your daddy said get, you better be up before he gets to up. And I would jump out of bed and it would still be dark. And sometimes the water would be frozen over so we would either have two big feed buckets like this or water buckets or something. My dad would grab two and he would take out walking across that farm lot. My dad was a really big man and he would walk across there and hold those buckets. Well, me, I wanted to be just like him. I'd grab those buckets and I would try to put my foot in the footprint there he left in the snow. I looked like a spider on heroin. I mean, it was absolutely an impossibility. Alright? Many times I'd look like a fool. Most of the times I couldn't do it. Sometimes I fell down. But I want to tell you something. If someone walked in that feed lot and looked at me from a distance, there would be no doubt in that other farmer's mind that boy wants to be like his dad. There would be no doubt. That's what it's talking about. And if they would have looked at my dad and said, hey, Bob, look at your son. Is he a lunatic or something? He'd have pounded him in the snow. Because there was no doubt in my father's heart that boy wants to be like me. Now, is that a reality in your life? If someone looks at you, would they say, yeah, sometimes he falls and he's pretty laughable sometimes. No, a lot of times he doesn't look like Jesus. But there is no doubt in my mind that kid wants to be like Christ. That's his goal. That's her goal. Not to be like a movie star. Not to be like a rock star. Not to be like this star and that star and every other star that this world puts before us. But to be like Christ! You see, here's what you need to understand. In Colossians, when it says all things were created by Him, I love that because in the Greek text, it's inoptos. In Him. It means that everything that's ever existed was created in the sphere of Christ. Nothing has sense or value outside of Him. Now, you may not recognize that, but that's the way God looks at things and that's the way it will be. Outside of Jesus Christ, everything is absolutely ludicrous. Everything we do outside of Christ is absolutely ludicrous. It's insane. Maybe that's why it says in the book of Revelation, in the end, there was no place found for them, for they were not in Christ. They're not in nothing. If someone looked at your life, would they say, man, this person wants to be like Jesus? Not that you're consistent. Not that you look like Him all the time. Not that you don't two steps forward and one step back. Maybe three steps forward and five steps back. But when they look at the full course of your life, they say, there is something about that person that sticks out from everyone else. And it is this relationship with Christ and a desire to be like Him and a relationship with the Word and a different relationship than we have with sin and a desire to walk in a way that pleases God. New creature. See, new creatures give evidence of being new creatures. Now, let's go to the next test. He says, verse 9, The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. Now, look at this, dear, dear people. Look at this for a moment. One of the greatest evidences that someone has truly come to know Christ is that they love their brother. Now, brother here does not refer to someone of another race because actually, that's an evolutionary idea. There's only one race and it's human. But it doesn't mean here that we're just supposed to love people who are different than us even though we are supposed to love people who are different than us. Brother here is not the poor even though we ought to love the poor. Brother here refers to other Christians. One of the greatest evidences that you have become a Christian is that you desire to be with other Christians, fellowshipping about Christ. Now, let me ask you a question. When was the last time you went over to your friend's house to talk about the glories of Jesus Christ? When was the last time a couple of you got together and said, hey, you want to just spend some time worshipping adults? Same thing. Going to have a fellowship. It means that Baptists are going to be gaining weight. You know, it's amazing how quickly we'll depart from a sermon and begin to talk about things that have no matter at all and call it fellowship. I forget his name. I had it on my computer for the longest time and it said any conversation where Christ is not the major theme is absurd. When? Well, let me put it this way. Do you come together with other believers in the name of Christ for the pure enjoyment of it? Do you desire to manifest love towards other believers by practical service? Let me show you how we can distort a passage. You know where Jesus says, I was in prison and you didn't visit me. I was sick and you didn't come to me. I was naked and you didn't clothe me. And so we all decide that, well, we need to have a prison ministry. That's not what that text means. That is not what that text means at all. Now we need to have prison ministries and we need to feed the poor and clothe them, but that's not what that text means. He's not saying I was a psychopath in cell 4 and you didn't visit me. That's not what he's saying. We take these texts and we pull them out of context and just do foolish things with them. What it means is this. Let's say that I'm... Well, let me put it this way. First of all, in the third world, even in Peru where I was at for a time, in certain prisons, if you were thrown in prison, guess what? They didn't provide food for you. At least that's what my friends would tell me. They didn't provide water or clothing for you. Someone had to come from outside the prison and give it to you. That's what's going on here in that passage in Matthew about the sheep and the goats. And what he's saying is this. Well, let me just set up an illustration for you. Let's say first century and we're all here and we're Christians and we're hiding in the catacombs and I'm preaching the gospel to you. And all of a sudden, when I leave, the Romans grab me and another elder and they take us off and throw us in the prison. Then the next night, all of you come together. You found out about it. You spread word all throughout the network of believers and you all come together. The Romans caught our two elders and they're in prison. And then you begin to discuss it. They're going to die there. They're going to die. We've got to take them water. We've got to take them food. We've got to take them clothing. We've got to bandage up their wounds. You know, they've been beaten. Who's going to go? And someone stands up. Well, you know, whoever goes is going to get thrown in prison. Stands a chance of suffering the same fate. But brothers, we're brothers. We're Christians. And two men stand up and say, I'll go. And they go to the prison. And they give food to this hungry believer. And they give clothing to this naked, beaten believer. And they help this sick believer in the name of Christ because it is a believer. It is a brother. It is a brother of them and a brother to Christ and a son of God. And so they go and they manifest that they truly love their brethren by laying down their own life. That's what it's talking about. That's the kind of love demanded of us in the New Testament. As Brother Charles Leiter always tells me, Paul, in the New Covenant, love is not a thing. Love is the thing. One of the greatest manifestations that you are a Christian is you lay down your life for the brethren. You will serve them in practical ways. It's a lot different from the preacher didn't shake my hand so I'm not going back. Or it's raining today, I'm not going to church. It's this idea of, yes, I'll go. I'll die. I don't have a choice. We have a brother in prison and I must go. That's the kind of love he's talking about. Now let me just give you an old saying. Birds of the feather flock together, young people. Old people. Birds of the feather flock together. Do you desire to be with Christians? Now I have to be very careful there because I might be saying, do you desire to be with other people in the church who are just as wicked and carnal as you are? That's not what I mean. Do you desire to be with other people who love to be with Christ? Do you want to fellowship? Do you want to be with believers? Or do you want to be with people who never care about the things of God? Do you want to fellowship with other young people or other older people who all they want to do is talk about the things of the world and they're worldly? It makes you no matter. You enjoy being with them. Do you know why you enjoy being with them? Because you are just like them. You are not a new creature. You're not a new creature. Now, let's go on. Verse 15, Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Can you imagine that? If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And then he goes on to say, the world is passing away. A possible translation of that, the world is being pushed out and also its lust, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. The world represents everything in our universe. Every idea, thought, practice, and deed that contradicts the will of God. Do you delight in those things? Do you delight in the fashion of this world? The youth cult of this world? The hobbies of this world? Do they consume you? All the things. Ask yourself this. The things I'm most passionate about, will they make it into eternity? If you say no, you love the world. Sometimes people say, how do I know what my God is? I guess the best answer would be, what do you think about most? What's mostly in your mind and in your heart? What gives you the greatest pleasure? Don't be deceived. And listen to me, especially young people. You're going to walk out that door tonight, and before you get out that door, some of you, the Word of God is going to be snatched straight out of your heart and you'll forget about everything I've told you. I not only believe in God, but I know there's a devil. And I know he's working. It's like seed thrown on a stomped path. It's not going in and the birds are going to eat it right off. Before you know it, you're a little worried right now, but before you make it to the car, you'll be as jolly as you can be. Just wondering if it's too late to get to some place to hang out. Now, there are so many things that we can go through. Let me just touch on this and then I want to touch on one last thing. Look at 17. The world is passing away or being pushed out. Is this at all a reality in your life? Is this a reality? Look, we have what I would call today a cult of youth. Everything in the media, everything in television, everything in movies, it's all about youth and physical beauty and physical strength. I think we would do well to look up photographs of many of the most famous stars that have gone before us and see them now at 80 years old if they're still alive and ask ourselves, where is their beauty? Where is their strength? And where is their fame? The people who gain the most out of this life, the multimillionaires and billionaires and jet-setters, where are all of them from only 50 years ago? They have passed in all their glory with them. They die and no one cares. The world keeps going. Your youth will turn to old age. Your strength will flee and your body will become your worst enemy. Do you have any reality of that? Have you been taught of the Holy Spirit that these things are true? Has God given you insight and wisdom, the insight and wisdom that He gives to every one of His children to recognize temporal from the eternal? It's a very important question. Now, I want to go finally, we're not going to go through the whole book, but let's just run over back to chapter 5 for a moment. Verse 12. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. It is really that simple and that complex. I ask so many people, how do you know you're saved? You'd be surprised, especially in Latin America because of the evangelical preaching that's been there and the evangelists that come through there in Europe and other places and boast about great numbers of people who are converted and yet are not. How many people answer that question? When I say, do you know you have been saved? They say yes. Why? I made my decision. Do you realize they're looking unto a decision and the sincerity of their heart in making that decision. That's their hope. Others tell me, I prayed that prayer. That's what has me full of confidence that I'm onward to glory. Paul said, it's neither circumcision or uncircumcision, but a new creature. Is there evidence that you are a new creature? And one of the greatest evidences is that you recognize your entire destiny is bound up in the person and the work of the Son. Isn't it amazing that in Matthew chapter 7, when Christ speaks to those who think themselves Christians and He judges them and tells them they are not and they are destined for condemnation, they say, but Lord, we prophesied in Your name. We cast out demons in Your name. We did all kinds of miracles in Your name. Now just look at this for a moment. Let's say for a moment, just for a moment, this is totally hypothetical, that the Lord made an error and there's someone standing before Him that is a genuine believer. Okay? And the Lord makes a mistake. Again, hypothetical. The Lord says, depart from Me, I never knew you. Is that true believer going to say, but Lord, I prophesied in Your name. But Lord, I cast out demons. But Lord, I did miracles in Your name. But Lord, I attended church. But Lord, I was baptized. But Lord, I tried to do good. Would that be the argument they would put forth? No. It would be, Lord, I was a wretch. And I deserved hell. And I have no argument. But this, I believed that You had shed Your own blood for my soul. People say, I ask Him, You saved. Yep. Don't worry about me, preacher. I took care of that a long time ago. How many times have I heard that? You did what? I took care of that a long time ago. Uh-oh, something like getting a flu shot, I suppose. Yep, don't worry about me. I repented. And I believed. Only to tell them, sir, the evidence that you truly repented unto salvation on that day, is that you're still repenting today. And the evidence that you truly believed unto salvation on that day a long time ago, is you're still believing today and growing in both these graces. It's not a flu shot. It's not something you get done. It's not something you take care of. But what I love to hear is when I ask someone for the confidence, their assurance. Why do you believe you're saved? And they say, oh, sir, I am looking unto Jesus. I am looking unto Him. Present tense. Continuation. Christ is everything. I'm looking to Him. I'm hoping in Him. I am watching Him work in my life and change me. You see, we're saved by faith. But faith comes from a supernatural work of God that also produces a new creature. And that new creature does new things. And how do you know you're a new creature? Because you do the things new creatures do. So many on that day will say, Lord, Lord. And He'll say, depart from me. I never knew you. But those who are trusting in Christ... Do you know what happens, young people? Let me tell you something. If you are a Christian, this is a splendid thing. If you're a new Christian and you might be very zealous in preaching and reading the Word and all sorts of things, and that's wonderful, you have no idea what awaits you. No idea. If you truly belong to Him, Christ will reveal more of Himself to you and more of Himself to you. And He will become more precious and more precious and greater and bigger and more beautiful and more precious and of more value until simply the heavenly vision of that exalted Savior will drive you on. You will need no other argument. You will need no other plea. You will need no one come to you and tell you, if you do this, He'll bless you. If you do that, He'll heal you. If you do this, He'll prosper you. And you'll look at them and say, I need none of it. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me. He will become more and more and more glorious until just Him, just the vision of Him will be enough to drive you to greater and greater devotion. You have no idea what you have not yet seen. It is so much bigger than anything you could imagine. So much more beautiful. As I said earlier today, people think that in the book of Revelation is found all the deep truths of the Bible. Not at all. Like I said, the moment Jesus returns, you're going to know absolutely everything about the book of Revelation. You're going to know absolutely everything about the Second Coming the moment He returns. But you will spend an eternity of eternities in Heaven and will not even begin to comprehend how glorious is this Savior and how glorious is this work that He's done for you. But the question is, do you belong to Him? Do you belong to Him? Does He know you? And I don't care about what you feel in your heart. I don't care about necessarily what you think in your mind. And I don't care about someone who is not instructed in the Word what they tell you you ought to think or do compared to what you've heard tonight. The Word of God. Do you know that you know Him? And do you know that He knows you? Let's pray. Father, I come before Thee, O God, and I would ask that You would get great glory for Yourself in the lives of those who have heard. So much at stake, Father. So much at stake. The only hope they have is You. Your mercy and Your grace. Would You not gain for Yourself an even greater name by bringing them all in, by saving them all? Do what You will do and we'll rest in that. Lord, we tremble before the Word that we've heard, the Word that I've preached. Now we're left up to You, O God. No man can sort this out. Do Your work among Your people. In Jesus' name.