In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes that God has prepared everything for us and invites us to partake in His eternal inheritance. However, many people make excuses and prioritize temporal things over the eternal. The speaker encourages the audience to take a stand for the cross and choose to be among the few who follow the narrow way. He shares his personal journey of making a choice to stand with the few and challenges the listeners to do the same. The sermon also highlights the importance of using our words to edify and impart grace to others, while avoiding corrupt speech that grieves the Holy Spirit.

The following message is provided by Eternal Weight of Glory. For other sermons, teachings, and articles, please visit EternalWeight.com. Lord, I thank You that You constantly call us unto Yourself. I thank You that You are the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through You, Lord. I thank You that You are truth. You are the Word made flesh. And God, I thank You, Lord, that You are right, and You know all things, Lord. And God, we look to You, we look to Your Word this morning, God, because it is truth, Lord. It is the wisdom of God from above, Lord. It's not like the wisdom of man. It's pure. It's undefiled. It's righteous. It's perfect. It's established in the heavens, Lord. It endures forever and ever and ever, Lord. And Your Word carries out its purposes, Lord. And we thank You, God, that we can trust in Your Word. Father, anoint this Word, God. Father, speak to our hearts, Lord. Father, bring truth in these hearts and minds that are so accustomed to a lie, to false things, God. I pray You would bring truth and light into our hearts and minds this morning, Lord, because of Your great love for us, because of Your great desire, Lord, to make Yourself known, to reveal Your Word to us, Lord. I pray this and ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. And it is God's heart to reveal the truth to you. He wants you to know the truth. And it's His heart to reveal Himself to you because He loves you and He understands that because you're deceived, because you don't see right, you're headed down a pathway that leads to destruction. And God is love. God is merciful. And God doesn't desire that any of you should perish. So He's been constantly calling out to you your whole life, trying to get you to see the way, the truth, the life, Jesus, so that you can get on a pathway that leads to victory, that leads to being more than a conqueror, as we've been talking about in this series. And God has made a way to be more than conqueror in Christ who loved you, who came, who manifested Himself to you in the person of Jesus. But Jesus said this, men. Jesus said, narrow is the gate. Difficult is the way that leads to life. And there are few who find it. Now that tells me that there's only one way. It's narrow. It's difficult. There's going to be pressures. There's going to be things that are hard about it. It's not going to be a walk in the park. It's going to be difficult. And there's only few who find it. The multitudes aren't running in the way that Jesus prescribes to enter into life. He said it, few find it. Paul said it this way in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18. He said the message of the cross is foolishness to those that are perishing. But to us, the few, who are being saved, it is the power of God. There is nothing more powerful, men, than what Jesus did on the cross. There's no other hope other than what He did in the cross. There's no life. There's nothing without what Jesus did on the cross. But the world is blinded. The Bible tells us the God of this world has blinded people so that they don't see. They don't comprehend the light. They're blinded. They're in darkness. But God, in His mercy, constantly is trying to shine His light. To bring people to their senses so they'll see right. And that cross, to me, represents the heart of God screaming out to humanity. For 2,000 years. To anyone that'll listen. To anyone that'll turn. To anyone that will respond. So that He can give them life. So that they can enter that pathway that leads to life. That narrow way that Jesus talked about. And as we continue to look at the reign of King Hezekiah, you can turn over to 2 Chronicles chapter 30. I want to look at what it looks like to stand with the few. What does it mean to stand with those few that Jesus talked about? Because Hezekiah, we remember it in chapter 29, that he had restored true worship. He had basically gathered up a core of believers in Judah and there in Jerusalem. They had repented. They had cleansed the temple. They were now worshiping God again. But it was only a remnant. It was only a small number of people. And God's heart is that all would come in. And I believe just like back then there was a little remnant, today there's a true church, people. There's a true church that has cleansed the temple. That are true worshipers of God. But God's not satisfied. God wants His house full. And God is constantly calling out for people to come and to join in in this worship. So it wasn't limited to those in Jerusalem. And in chapter 30 verse 1 we see that it says, Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. Again, that's God's heart, man. He brought you here because He wants you to come into this few, these core believers that have cleansed themselves, that have entered into something powerful with God. That's why you're here. You've been given an invitation just like these people. And they weren't looking for it. They were happy in their idolatry. They were given over in abominations. But God through King Hezekiah intervened in their lives. And Hezekiah sent out a message in the land to come and to join with the people. But in verse 11 we see the response. It says, Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh, Zebulon humbled themselves. And there's the key word, humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. So that's what I want to focus on, these few that responded. What does it mean to stand with the few? What does that look like, to stand with the few? I remember 17 years ago, in two days, I arrived here at Pure Life Ministries. And God basically was challenging me, was I going to stand with the few? In other words, it was time for me to take a stand for something. You can't stay in between two opinions forever. You have to take a stand on one side or the other. And that's really what you're here to decide. It's time, man. You're either going to stand for the cross. You're going to stand what Jesus describes as a narrow way. Or you're going to stand for something else. You're either going to stand with the few or you're going to stand with the many. And you have to decide which one it will be. I was far, trust me, I was far from being more than conqueror 17 years ago. Trust me. But God wanted me to be. He wanted me to be, but I had to make a choice. It was up to me, really, to get on that pathway. I just want to look at some things that I see in this chapter that define the few. So let's just read now through verses 1 through 5. And what we're going to see, the first thing the few do is the few stand for only one thing. The few stand for only one thing. Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah. He also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord of Jerusalem. And here's the key right here, to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month. Now, I believe they thought they came up with that. But I believe God put that thought in their mind. Because God knew what the people needed to be focused on at this time. He knew it was vital that they understood what they were standing for, that they understood why they were coming to join in this worship. So He put it in their hearts, I believe, to hold this Passover. But it says in verse 3, For they could not keep it at the regular time because a sufficient number of priests had not consecrated themselves, nor had the people gathered together at Jerusalem. And the matter pleased the king and all the assembly. So they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Bathsheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem. Since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner. So it had been a long time that they had done this. And I believe that the celebration of the Passover was significant. And we see its significance in Exodus chapter 12. If you remember in Exodus chapter 12, God is delivering the children of Israel out of bondage. And you understand that's a picture of Christ leading us out of our bondage, leading us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. And as God was preparing to deliver them, He established the Passover. And in chapter 12, we'll start in verse 21, it says, Moses got together the elders of Israel and he said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. And you understand that is a picture of Christ, who was the perfect lamb that was sacrificed for you and I. And it shall be that you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel, the two doorposts, with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. Because the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood, see, it's all about the blood of this lamb. When he sees the blood, he will pass over the door, not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. And it shall come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as he promised, you shall keep this. In other words, you need to be doing this all the time. You cannot forget this. I want you to keep this ever before you. And then it says, I like what it says here, it says, and then it will be when your children say to you, you know, why are we doing this? What does this mean? You shall say to them, it's a Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. And then it says, the people bowed their heads and they worshipped. And people, that is a picture of what should be going on in our hearts all the time. Because Paul tells us, Christ, our Passover, is slain. And we should be forever in our hearts, feasting, rejoicing, remembering what Jesus did, remembering that there was no hope for us, we would all have been destroyed. But because of the blood that's been applied to our hearts, death passes over us. But it doesn't stop there, because when they celebrated this feast, they actually ate the lamb. And that's a picture of us partaking of Christ. Jesus said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have no part of me, or you cannot have any part of me. So it shows us that it's not just about atonement. It's not just that I escape hell. It's not just that I'm not destroyed. But Christ becomes my very life. I literally feed on his flesh. He becomes my life, everything I need, my nourishment. That's what that's a picture of. And God's inviting us into that, to celebrate that. That's a picture, people, of somebody that's poor in spirit, that understands that they're utterly wrong, they're utterly hopeless, they're helpless. There's absolutely nothing they can do to save themselves. But in that condition, they see the lamb that God provided, slain, and that blood applied to our hearts that covers our sin, our blackness, the darkness of our hearts, the iniquities, the filth, it covers it and God passes over us. We're not destroyed because of our sins. And then Christ becomes our life. We understand, we look up and we're in awe of what he's done for us because we understand our condition, we understand what we are, but yet we see him dying for us. And we joyfully, men, do you hear me? We joyfully fall at the foot of that cross in our hearts every day. And we worship God, we celebrate, as it were, the Passover every day. And that's our focus. As Paul says, I've determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Paul understood what it meant to celebrate that Passover. Every moment in his heart, it's all throughout his writings. He gloried in the cross as that song we sang beneath the cross of Jesus. It's the only thing you and I have to glory in. And this was important for them to understand and to remember. And it needs to be at the bedrock of your faith. It's at the bedrock. Those that stand with the few, the few, that's at the bedrock of their faith. They understand it. That's why they don't care what it's going to cost them. They don't care that it's hard, that it's narrow. They understand what has been sacrificed, who has been sacrificed, so that they can be passed over by death, so that they can enter in to life. We heard Thursday night, you're all wrong. But it's okay, because he's made things right through Jesus. The second thing then, that will define the few, is that the few stand against the many. The few stand against the many. Now, I'm going to say this about this message. I'm not boasting or anything, but it's just true. This message is one of the most important messages you will ever hear. And I'm going to tell you why, because there's a thousand preachers to one, that will preach you something different, that will preach a different gospel to you, than what I am sharing with you this morning. And you need to take that to heart, because I remember when I came here, and I remember when I heard the preaching of the cross, and something in my heart said, that's right, that's true. And when I got in the scriptures, I saw that it's what Jesus taught, it's what his disciples taught, it's what saints have been teaching for thousands of years. But today, there's many, there's many who will preach you a different gospel. And you have to know what it means to stand against the many. Let's look here at, back in 2 Chronicles, verse 6. And I'm going to show you what a well-balanced message of grace looks like, okay? It says, And here's the message. Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Then he will return to the remnant of you, who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Don't be like your fathers, or your brethren, who trespassed against the Lord of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as you see today. Don't do that. He goes on and says, I don't hear a whole lot about, Hey, just come to God and he's going to bless you. No, I hear, you better repent. Learn from their examples. Learn from your father's examples. Do not harden your heart to this message. Do you hear that message? And then it's pure mercy. It is absolute pure mercy. This is why. For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion, by those who led them captive, so that they may come back to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious. It's grace. It's all grace. They didn't deserve it. He's gracious. He's merciful. He will not turn his face from you. If. If. That's important. That's what gets left out most of the time. If, if you return to him. In other words, if you repent, if you repent, if you turn away from your sins, and you respond to this message, and go after God, and come and join us. If. And it is mercy, men. We need more Hezekiahs in our land. We need more Hezekiahs in our land. That would call God's people back through repentance. Not a blessing gospel. A well-balanced grace gospel with both sides. That to me is a perfectly balanced message. So, what's the response? Look at the response in verse 10. And this is typical. When you preach the cross, you need to expect this. Says in verse 10, So the runners passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulon. But they laughed at them and they mocked them. They laughed at them and they mocked them. But then it says in verse 11, as we heard earlier, Nevertheless, some responded. Some men. Do you hear me? Most laughed and mocked. Now remember, this is Israel. This is not the unchurched. Get that in your heads. Because when you leave here, trust me, you will be laughed at and mocked because of the stand you've taken. If you really get a hold of the pathway that God is setting your feet on, if you really embrace the cross and everything it means, you will be mocked when you leave here. I've heard story after story after story of students that leave here, and other Christians mock them because of the stand they have taken. They call them self-righteous. They call them legalistic. But really, they're just justifying their own behavior, their own worldliness, their own lack of consecration. So to justify themselves, they'll call you self-righteous. They'll call you legalistic. But this is what William Gurnell says, an old Puritan teacher. He says, When sincere teachers of the word press sincere obedience to it, Satan's oversees will come and say, What hard taskmasters you have. They harness you with continual duty. Come on. We'll show you an easier way to heaven. But he who sells cheapest will have the most customers. But in the end, truth with self-denial is a better bargain than error with all of its flesh pleasing. Men, get that into you. God has put that into me. It is in me like a rod of steel and he confirms it every day and every day. Because I'm telling you the delusion out there is getting stronger and stronger and it's subtle. You better know what you stand for. You better know how to stand against that when it comes. God's calling you to a radical and a reckless faith men. He's not calling you to some nominal Christianity. You're here because that's what you had. And I say that in love. I was the same way. A more than conqueror men is standing against the many. When I think about the people Peter spoke to in second Peter, and he said, You have like precious faith and he describes to me a more than conqueror life. That they're given exceedingly precious promises from God. So that they may be changed transformed from what they are into the image of Christ. And not only that escape all the lusts that are in the world. That's a more than conqueror, but they had something precious. They had a precious faith. It was like Jesus describing the man who found a pearl of great price and he sells everything. They understood. They understood number one. They understood the sacrifice. They understood their true condition. They understood that Jesus was everything they needed. He was their only hope. He was their only way into life. They understood that and when they saw it, they sold everything. They just forsook everything. That's the narrow way. That's what the rich young ruler faced and Hebrews 11 shows us. What happens when you do that Abraham, right? Forsook his life in this world live like a pilgrim Moses in the courts of Egypt. Gets a side of this and says to himself, you know what the reproach and the sufferings of Christ are better than all of this. Again, he doesn't say the blessings of Christ. He says the sufferings of Christ are better than this. He been he had a sight others were tortured, you know went through all kinds of things. Why they understood what it meant to stand against the many their faith was precious. Their faith wasn't just some little prayer. They prayed at an altar one time in their life. It was their whole life. It involved their whole life. See the few understand that. Where is your faith this morning? Are you standing with that company? Are you with the few that I just described? If you want to be men, you know what I found out when I finally said, yes, when I understood God did something that I never thought I could do myself and I was right I couldn't but look what it says here because this is interesting in verse 12. It says the hand of God was on Judah to give them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders at the word of the Lord. In other words, God's power was on him. God's hand was on him to help them to do what they couldn't do themselves. And that's what happens. It's the power not to sin. The power to live a godly life. God infuses you with power men to keep his word, to obey his commandments. His hand will be upon your life when you forsake all, when you get on that narrow way. God's going to be there for you. The grace of God's going to be there for you. And then the last thing that will happen which will define that you are part of the few is that the few stand in their love for one another. That will be the trademark of your life. The few standing in their love for one another. Jesus said a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you're my disciples. Everyone will know you're part of the few if you do this. If you have love for one another. Paul said it this way in Colossians 3. He said, therefore as the elect of God, therefore as the few holy and beloved put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against one another even as Christ forgave you, forgive them. But above all these things put on love which is the bond of perfection. You see men, if we're truly standing with the few it's going to show by our compassion for others. Because the few we remember are those that live at the foot of the cross. Their one focus is Christ and Him crucified for me. And they never get up from that place. They understand what it's like to embrace His sufferings, to face the many, to face the opposition, to taste a little bit of His sufferings. Therefore they're willing to suffer the loss of their own life, the loss of their own desires so that others can also obtain mercy. They're willing to love. They're compassionate. Because they're constantly in view of the beam in their own eye. They're not ones that are so quick to go around judging everybody else. Instead they pray, they bear. I appreciate that because I know how I can be it many times still. And I know my wife bears me a lot. She prays for me a lot. Because she understands. She understands her own need. And I appreciate that. As you guys learn here in the mercy definition, we need to learn how to accept others freely, gladly as they are. We need to learn what it really means to supply the needed good of life. We need to build up others. We need to bring to peace and keep in peace. We need to take others into our hearts and cherish and nourish them there. This is the glow of love. That's the anointing. You want a powerful anointing? Learn what it's like to lay your life down for other people. Look at verses 18 through 20. We see here that all these people come in. It says a multitude of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover. Contrary to that, in other words, they didn't have everything right yet. And God understands that. But Hezekiah, it says, prayed for them. In other words, he had compassion on them. He didn't get all bent out of shape like, Oh, you're doing that wrong, that's not how you do it. No, he had compassion, he understood. All he could see was, oh, they're responding to God. And that's what God is like. It brings joy to his heart to see people responding to Him. So Hezekiah prays for them. And he says, May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek for God, the Lord God of his fathers, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And then it says, the Lord listened to Hezekiah and he healed the people. I encourage you to do that for one another. Instead of ripping each other to shreds, instead of, you know, trying to remove the speck from everyone's eye, why don't you learn to pray? God, they're not perfect, I'm not perfect, but God, I pray you would heal them, God. I pray, Lord, you would restore them, Lord, and just make them whole, God. God, I pray you'd have mercy on their lives. And then verse 21, it says, Then the children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness. And the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing to the Lord accompanied by loud instruments. Encourage one another. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves. That's why I love these meetings. I love our morning times. Friday night was such a blessing for me. Just to get with others that were rejoicing in God, others that were thanking God, it affected me. And there's something to that. You know, we're admonished in the Scriptures not to forsake the assembling of ourselves. We see in the book of Acts, they regularly met together. And God encourages us to do that. And love is the opposite of isolating yourself. Love goes out and reaches out to others. Love is unity. Love brings people together. And it's beautiful when God's people worship. And then verse 22, it says, Hezekiah gave encouragement to all the Levites who taught the good knowledge of the Lord. And they ate throughout the Feast seven days, offering peace offerings and making confession to the Lord of their fathers. Again, he encouraged, he exhorted them. He was building up the people. Ephesians 4 tells us in verse 29, Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. I'm still working on that one. No corrupt word. No corrupt word out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. You received grace. I received grace. We're going to impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by which you were sealed for the day of redemption. And I know it grieves the Lord when he sees his children backbiting, gossiping, tearing one another down. We should be building up. We should be encouraging one another. And then lastly, verse 24, we see that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, gave to the assembly a thousand bulls, seven thousand sheep. The leaders gave to the assembly a thousand sheep. A great number of priests sanctified themselves. And what we see here is basically a giving spirit, giving for the needs of others. We see it in Acts, where they all brought their possessions, remember? And they laid them at the disciples' feet and they sold their lands so that everyone's needs would be met. And we should be that way. We should hold our possessions, our things loosely. We should be concerned with the needs around us. If you'll do these things, you'll know that you're with the few, if you see this kind of love for one another. And then to me, the most beautiful thing is verse 27, then the priests, the Levites arose, blessed the people, and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven. What a time of rejoicing it will be when the few gather and rejoice in the house of God. What a joy it's going to be for God. You know, He desires that His house would be full. He's preparing a feast, man, unlike any other feast that's been celebrated on the earth. And the few are going to be gathered there. His room's going to be full. And just like Hezekiah sent that invitation out to come and join the feast, God right now, today, has an invitation going forth. Jesus described it in Luke 14. And I'm going to close with this because I believe this is God's heart this morning. He's calling you. He's calling you to stand with the few. And this is what it looks like. You see, Jesus described it as a man giving a great supper, who invited many, and He sent His servant out. And He said to those that were invited, Come, for all things are now ready. In other words, I have done everything. I have prepared everything. I have made the way for you. Everything is finished. The work of the cross is complete. God has left nothing undone. And everything is ready. And God is preparing an eternal inheritance for everyone that will respond. And He's sending out the invitation. But like we saw, many make excuses. I bought a piece of ground. I've married a wife. You know, please have me excused. Or like the young rich ruler, you know, we look down. It's a hard saying. We just can't let go of the temporal. And we forsake the eternal for the temporal. So it says, the master was angry. And he said to his servants, Go quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city. Bring in the poor. Bring in the maimed and the lame and the blind. And the servant said, Master, it's done as you commanded. But there's still more room. And again, God's heart. This is God's heart. Do you see His heart? Go out. I want more. I'm not satisfied. God burns with a desire for souls. He burns. His heart is on fire for souls. He's in a passion. That's why you're here. That's why He's pursued you your whole life. He is in a passion to save your soul. Go out. Go out into the highways, the hedge. Compel them. Compel them to come in. Do you hear God's heart? So that my house may be filled. But now listen, because they didn't respond, because they didn't come, they're not even going to taste my supper. They're going to miss out on what I have prepared for them. Man, that is the gnawing worm that will never die. I had the invitation in my hand and I threw it in the garbage. I just wasn't ready. I had other things to do. And as we heard earlier, like the rich young ruler, where's his invitation now? How important are those things? That he refused to accept the invitation that Jesus was offering him. How important are those things? How important is money right now? How important you think a wife's going to be? How important you think a job's going to be? What is keeping you from responding? Do you understand the invitation that is going forth to really get a sight and a comprehension of what God is offering you? It's not hard. It's not a forbearing way if you understand where you're headed. It's not, man. But Jesus went on and He said this, If anyone, anybody comes to me, doesn't hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, his own life. He cannot be my disciple. See, He's defining the few here. Jesus is defining the few. Not Jeff Cologne, not your pastor at home, not some counselor, not some book you might have got at the Christian bookstore. Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God, to whom all authority has been given, Jesus said, if anyone comes to me, he has to lose his life. He says, whoever doesn't bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And then He gives us two illustrations that you're going to have to really consider what you're responding to. You're going to have to make up your mind what you want. Because you can't go halfway. Because if you do it halfway, you're going to get in the middle like a king going to war or a man trying to build a tower, and you're not going to be able to finish because you were half-hearted about it. The few are not half-hearted. They go into it wholeheartedly, fully understanding what it's going to cost them, and they throw themselves into it because they understand the price. You understand? They understand the price. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all. What does He mean when He says that? He means everything. It means you don't hold back a little part of your life. It means everything. All cannot be my disciple. I had to do that 17 years ago. I do it every day. Every day I get up. I have to look up from the foot of the cross, and my first thing is, Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you for saving me, God. And from that, you see everything else flows. Then as I go throughout my day, and I have to face this and that and give up this and let go of that and come under this, it's okay. It's okay. I can stand. God helps me. But I had to make up my mind. Just like you have to make up your mind. God's made victory available to you. Most of you, all you've known is defeat. But more than conqueror is real. Through Christ who loved you. But then, I'm sorry, there's only one way. You got to forsake all. You got to take a stand with the few. There's no other way. There's no other easier way. You have to stand with the few. I kind of gave a little thing here at the end. You know, the Marines have that saying, the few, the proud, the Marines. I'm part of the few, the humble, the remnant of Christ. God's calling you to join His army. But that's what it means. You got to humble yourself. You got to come down and learn what it means to stand with the few. Lord, I just do lift up these men. And I pray for mercy, God. I pray for the mercy that you had on Steve Gallagher so many years ago, Lord. I was so full of pride and rebellion. So full of wickedness. The mercy you had on Jeff Cologne 17 years ago. You practically had to drive him here with a baseball bat by his pastor to get him here. And when he was here, he was arrogant and argumentative and fought against everything. But there was something in him that you saw, Lord. There was a spark of willingness inside his heart. And you had mercy on Jeff Cologne and Bradley Furgess and Mike Johnston and the others. Lord, I pray that you would have mercy on these men, God, in the sense of, please, Lord, if there is a speck, a scrap of sincerity in their hearts, Lord, that you would get a hold of that tiny little bit of willingness to do right and nurture it and bring them along and please bring them out of that insanity, this insane thinking that they can live the way they want to live and flout your laws and think that they're going to heaven and amen good sermons and be totally deluded. Lord, I pray that you would reach into their deceived minds and show them a way out, God. Show them their great need, Lord. Bring reality, truth into their minds, God, their clouded minds. Bring truth that they can't escape and shut out all the lies, God, that would tell them that they can carve their own Christian path. Shut that lie out, God, once and for all. Let them count the cost, but God, they can't count the cost if they can't see reality. So I'm asking you to bring truth into their minds, God, and then let them make their decision. And if they don't want that narrow path, okay, but please let them see the reality of where they are because I know that you will win some, Lord. Realistically, it's not going to be all 70 men who are sitting in this chapel. I hate to even say it, Lord, because I want to believe for every single man here. God, reach their hearts in such a way that they will never slip back, that when they get back out there amongst the many and they're being scoffed at, that they won't slide away from the narrow path, but they will stand firm. They will be of the few who will not back down and will not be intimidated. God, put that iron in their souls. Only you can do it, Lord. But we know that you can. We know that you can, Lord. We've seen so many wonderful examples of men who dragged themselves into this place barely alive, full of sin and corruption, and nine months later marched out of here and never turned back. We've seen many such testimonies lived out. We have some right now in the back of the room. We know what you can do, Lord. We know what you can do, and I pray that you would do it. God, move mightily. Please move mightily amongst this group of men, Lord. Please reach into their hearts, oh God. Set them free of this terrible, deadly delusion. Set them free, God. And help them to see the truth that has been expressed in this message today, I pray. Oh, God, I can only ask you for mercy, but you have much. And we thank you, Lord. It's only because of your blood that any of us have any hope. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for those who you're going to win and carry all the way through. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that some of these very men I will stand with in glory, and we will praise your name. The battle will be over, and we'll hold our hands together and hold our heads high as victors in Christ more than conquerors. Praise the Lord. That's what it's all about. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. And you will get all the credit, Lord. You will get all the glory, you alone, Jesus, the captain of our souls. In your name we pray, amen.