In this sermon, the preacher talks about the story of Noah and the flood. He emphasizes the importance of having a cheerful and happy spirit, which he equates to having a merry heart. The preacher mentions that Jesus instructs us to be of good cheer three times in the Bible, indicating the significance of having a joyful heart. He also highlights the importance of having our sins forgiven and trusting in Jesus for salvation, rather than relying on our own works or good deeds. The preacher concludes by emphasizing that a merry heart, rooted in the forgiveness of sins and trust in Jesus, can bring healing and happiness to our lives.

And the other which means well. So the word cheerful means a well mind. When our Lord said, be of good cheer, and he said it three times in the Bible. Be of good cheer, he's saying be of a well mind. A merry countenance or a cheerful countenance. Doeth good. Lack of medicine. What is that? A countenance of a well mind. A person that doesn't enjoy life can't have a well mind. A person that isn't cheerful can't have a well mind. And so, I want to chat with you for a while about it. People come to our church and they hear the buzzing as they come in. And they hear all the talking and the fellowshipping and so forth. And they say, I don't like that. I don't like that. That's not, that's irreverent. It isn't really. I hope to tell you this morning why it isn't. You see, you've been brainwashed a little bit by the liturgical religions. You've been brainwashed a little bit by the ritualistic religions that believe that God is in a building. And that you come by and visit God every Sunday morning. And that's why you sing the Lord is in His holy temple. Because here's where the Lord lives. We come by every Sunday morning and see how God's getting along. And we worship and then go out and live like the devil all week long. And so, but that's not true. The Lord is not here any more than He's in your kitchen at home. The Lord is not here any more than He's anywhere that Christians gather. If this group had gathered this morning, down the civic center as we've done before, by young people, the row of girls. The girl I called down several times in the dark dress with the white down the front. The one I called down last Sunday. And the fellow that sat two over that I called down last Sunday. I'm going to send you out. Call your names and send you out if you misbehave again this morning. And so the, we met down the civic center. The Lord would be just as much there as He is here. The Lord is not, Jesus said to the woman in Sychar. She said, yeah, we know about you Jews. You worship the God in Jerusalem. And we worship on Mount Geriz and we Samaritans do. Jesus said, that's not true. The day is coming and now is when they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. What does it mean? Wherever you go, wherever Christians gather, you can worship the Lord Jesus Christ. People come to our service and we sing, what's the first song we sang this morning, Doc? You got a card there? Yeah, he is able. It is the grandest theme on the mortal tongue. It is the grandest theme that the world heirs on. Our God is able to deliver thee. And folks wonder, now that's Sunday night singing they say. Why don't you sing on Sunday morning? A holy, holy, holy. Or what? Not from our foundation, but from Greenland's ice and mountains. Or how tedious and tasteless the hours. Why don't you sing something high church on Sunday morning? Because we want to have a merry heart on Sunday morning as much as on Sunday night. We want to have a well mind. We want to have something that does good like a medicine. Why don't you sing on Sunday night? Because a lot of you folks don't come back on Sunday night. And I might say this, it's the folks that want the liturgical service that don't come back on Sunday night. You don't come back. If you get a merry heart, I've got to get you a merry heart. And so we sing the same songs on Sunday morning we sing on Sunday night. And so forth. And people can't quite understand it. Now this morning, if you will listen to me, I can help you to have healthier children in your home. I can help you yourself to be healthier. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Did you know that doctors say, and I'm sure that Dr. Streeter, one of our deacons will vouch for this. Did you know that doctors say that 90% of the people who come to them have psychological illnesses instead of physical illnesses? 90% of the people who go to doctors, it's in the mind rather than in the body. And much of the other 10%, the physical ailment is caused by something wrong in the mind. Frederick II, you historians know this, Frederick II ruled Sicily in the 13th century. Frederick II, and the fact that you mentioned the orphanage this morning is very interesting. I'm going to say a few words about orphanages this morning. But Frederick II got the idea, or he wondered, what language that children would speak if they were taught no language. And so he decided that he would take some children and place these children in certain foster homes. And nobody would speak a word to these children, nobody. Nobody would speak a word. These children were placed in homes that have foster mothers, foster fathers, but they wouldn't speak to them. And the idea that Frederick II was seeking was to find what language they naturally would speak. And so these children grew up without one word being said. I mean nobody said one word to them. And all of them died within a year. Every one of them. You know why? A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. In 1915, there was a study in the Johns, Johns Hopkins made a study, and what they did was this. They found that 90% of the infants put in poor foster homes lived less than one year. If a child, they put children, some children, and I don't think they should have done this, but they did it. They put some children in a good foster home and other children in a stern foster home where there was fussing and fuming and fighting. And the ones that were placed in the stern foster homes lived less than one year. Why? Because a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. In Germany, in the post-World War II days in Germany, they built two orphanages. They put 50 children in one orphanage and 50 in another. They fed them the same meat. They fed them the same vegetables. They fed them the same fruit. They had exactly the same diet. They built exactly the same kind of rooms. They had exactly the same kind of heat. They gave them exactly the same kind of exercise. There was not one difference between these two orphanages of 50 children each except one thing. And that one thing was this. Fifty of the children in one orphanage had a happy, cheerful atmosphere. The other orphanage was sternly operated. And no smile, no love, no cheer, no fun, same food, same games, same exercise, same environment. One difference, and that is stern, harsh parents, whole house parents here, and loving, tender, cheerful house parents over here. After one year, they tested these children. They found that the children who were tested, who were in the happy place, were two inches taller than average growth. Two inches above the children who were in unhappy, an unhappy environment. They found that the children who were happy, weight-wise, were several pounds heavier than the children who were in the unhappy condition. They found that there were many times more diseases and illnesses in the children of the unhappy, stern kind of environment than from those in the happy, gay, merry kind of environment. What are they trying to teach? If they read the Bible, they found out years ago, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. And that's why we have a little humor. You don't know it. We're trying to make you well. We're trying to save you, Dr. Bales. And that's why I'm so well. I have a merry heart. And so, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, so says the Bible. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of my favorite characters in history, was an invalid. She could not as much as lift up her head in bed. One day, a man came by to see her, Robert Browning. Robert Browning visited her one day, and she lifted up her head for the first time in years. He came back and visited her the second time, and for the first time in years, she sat up in bed. On his first visit, he brought her so much cheer and love that she lifted up her head. On his second visit, he brought her so much cheer and love that she sat up in bed. On his third visit, she eloped with him. You know, some of you gals that can't get married, if you just have a cheerful countenance, you'd be surprised what would happen. And so, what is it? A merry heart, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. A merry heart doeth good, a merry countenance, a cheerful countenance doeth good like a medicine. Now, you say to the house, how do you get a merry heart? I'd like to be cheerful. You'd be surprised how many people come to me and say, do you ever feel sad, young people? Do you ever feel sad? You're going to feel sad in a minute. And you ever get down? I guess I get down some. Occasionally, I get discouraged, but I hardly ever get what you'd call real, honest-to-goodness blue. I do not recall the last time that I was real, honest-to-goodness blue. You say, well, why don't you? I haven't got enough sense to know about my problems, you see. Down in Terrell, Texas is the Westville of Texas. That's where the place is where people like Brother Fisk spend their lives. And it's the mental institution. And Terrell, and so if you want to insult somebody, and we shouldn't do this, it's terrible, and it's humiliating, it's unkind. But just say, you ought to go to Terrell if you want to insult somebody. And so, over in Terrell, we used to go there and conduct services on Sunday afternoon. I'll never forget it. Had a fellow in Terrell that thought he was George W. Truett. George W. Truett was pastor of the famous First Baptist Church of Dallas, the largest church in the world at the time, and no doubt the most famous pastor in the world. And this fellow thought he was George W. Truett. And every Sunday afternoon we'd go over there, and this fellow had a crowd, and he's preaching to them. And he'd say, my name is George W. Truett, and I have come to tell you the gospel. And he had a little crowd, and a bunch of the folks, they were the same type of folks he was, and they'd listen to him, and they thought he was George W. Truett too. And so, and he had the biggest time. We were there watching him one day, and a fellow said to me, don't you feel sorry for that fellow? I said, feel sorry for him nothing. I never heard him complain. I never saw him frown. He's the happiest fellow I know. The truth is, I wish I were George W. Truett. And he's happy. I said, look at him. He has a crowd to hear him preach. They think he's George W. Truett. He thinks he's George W. Truett. He doesn't have to have a deacons meeting. He doesn't have to raise any money. He doesn't have to build a Baptist city. He doesn't have to raise the budget. He doesn't have to find chairs for the crowd. Ah, they all wear straight jackets. He doesn't have to find chairs for the crowd. He doesn't. He's the happiest fellow in the world. I said, I envy the fellow. The honest, simple truth is, envy the fellow who has a merry countenance, a happy heart, a cheerful spirit. Why? It doeth good like a medicine. You know what? You know why a lot of folks have stomach problems? And I'll have stomach trouble tomorrow. You wait and see. But just worry all the time. And what happens? The nerves and the high blood pressure shoots up and the stomach problem comes. And after a long, nervous breakdown and then you break out in a rash and so forth. Why? Because you don't have a merry spirit, a cheerful spirit, a cheerful countenance. And what happens? Physically, you're not well. Why? Because you're not happy. That's why. Now, you say, well, how in the world can I get this happy or cheerful spirit? All right. Jesus tells us how to get it. Three times in the Bible, our Lord mentions a certain sentence. Be of good cheer. By the way, that word, that word cheer is exactly, exactly the same word that the word merry is. Now, of course, it's in different language, but it means the same thing. Be of good cheer. When it says a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. Be of good cheer. Three times, only three times did our Lord ever say these words. Now, Paul said them once or twice, but Jesus said them three times. Be of good cheer. Have a merry heart. Have a happy heart. Have something that'll do good like a medicine. Now, what three things makes a person have a happy heart? Number one, sins forgiven. Sins forgiven. You want to have a merry heart that doeth good like a medicine? Get your sins forgiven. Jesus said, what it was, he came to Capernaum. And when he was in his, it was his hometown, by the way. He was born in Nazareth. Capernaum was a little bigger town down the road. And Jesus came to Capernaum, which was sort of the capital of the county. The county seat, if you please. His hometown. He came to Capernaum. And a fellow came there sick of a palsy. And Jesus said, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Oh, boy. Cheerful is the person whose sins are forgiven. You want to be cheerful? That's one reason I enjoy life. You sit by the house. Don't you ever have a guilt conscience? Yeah, I have a guilt conscience. Sure, I do. But my sins aren't recorded in heaven. Why? Because I've been saved. When God saves a man, not only does he wipe away all of his past sins, but he never again, as long as he lives, records a sin against his eternal record. Why? Our sins are imputed to Jesus Christ. That's what Paul meant in Romans chapter 4 when he said, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. The word blessed there means contented is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Happy is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now, we've done this time and time again. But if you're unsaved, folks, I won't do it again this morning. Doc, let you and I drive down the street here. We've done this before. You and I have done this together before. We're about to do it now. Okay, let's drive down the street. You've got a car and I've got a car. We're driving right beside each other. And we're pulling out from the church here going down Sibley. Have you ever come to that light when it's green down there, the first light? It's always red. Always red. I'll take it back. It's always green until you get to it. And just before you get to it, it turns red. There's a cop that hates me that parks down there and has a switch and turns that thing red. Every time I get to it, it's always just turning red. Okay, we're both in a hurry. That's always the truth. We're both in a hurry. Now, you're not saved. I'm saved. Since I'm the one in charge of this performance, I get the best part. So I'm saved and you're not saved. Okay, drive down the street. And all of a sudden, the light changes. We push on the brake. We push on the brake. Okay, and we have to sit there. And that's the longest light in the world. It's green for the folks on Soul Street. I mean, it's green for us on Sibley Street, 10 seconds. It's green for Soul Street, 20 minutes. Have you noticed that? About that. Okay, and we've got to wait. And I'm mad, you're mad. I said, dirty brick-a-back-a-pack-a-loamer. You said the same thing. Dirty brick-a-back-a-pack-a-loamer. All right, now then. The Lord looks down and says, and says, Hey, recording angel, Billings just said dirty brick-a-back-a-pack-a-loamer. And so the angel writes down against me here, Billings, dirty brick-a-back-a-pack-a-loamer. And he lost his temper and got mad. And that's in his record. And the angel says, Okay, Hiles said the same thing, Lord. I'm going to put it in his record too. And the Lord says, Nope, don't put it in Hiles' record. And the angel says, Well, you favor Hiles over Billings. No, I don't either. Well, he said the same thing Billings said. I'm going to put it, No, don't put it in his record. Well, it's the same thing. Same thing. Well, now, why does the Lord put it in Billings' record, not put it in mine? Because I've been saved. And so what happened? Jesus says, Angel, put that on my record. You see? Put that on my record. And so what happened? All of a sudden, Billings said, Uh-oh, God's going to put that on my record. Uh-oh, God's going to put that on the record. It's not on my record. When I said that, it's on Jesus' record. Now, who's blessed? Me or Billings? Huh? Look at him frowning. Look at me. I'm happy. See? What happens? He gets alters. I don't. A mere heart does good like a medicine. Don't you see? Thank you. Now, blessed is the man whom the Lord not imputes sin. Here's two fellows getting a buzz. And one says, You dirty... Help me on some bad words. I don't know any. Vineyard? You dirty flatterer. And another fellow says, Oh, you dirty flatterer. And they said the same thing. Both of them get mad. And the Lord charges it up against the unconverted man. Against the man who's been saved. It does not go against his record. Don't misunderstand me. He'll pay for it in the flesh. And God may punish him. And the other guy may knock him and hit him in the nose and give him bloody nose. And he'll pay for it. But as far as his standing before God is concerned, God never puts a sin against his record. Now, if your sins are forgiven like that, how do you get your sins forgiven like that? Not by joining a church. Not by being confirmed. Not by getting baptized. Not by going to confession. Not by turning over a new leaf. Not by living a good life. How do you get your sins forgiven like that? By realizing that you're a sinner and that you can't save yourself. And that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for you on the cross. And you come and say, Oh God, I receive you in faith as my hope for heaven. And that faith makes contact with God. And Jesus says, Father, put all of his sins, past, present, and future on my record. And then Jesus died on the cross. He paid the penalty for my sins. Now, that's what salvation's all about. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sins. I can recall when I was in college, one of the most impressive things I ever heard said, by a Bible teacher, one of the Bible teachers, Dr. Frazier was his name, a great man. For years he had been a pastor in the church of Christ. Now, I'm not criticizing the denomination this morning, I'm just giving you the story. But a pastor in the church of Christ. And he thought that you had to live good to go to heaven. And if you had any unconfessed sin, if you died in that state, you'd go to hell when you died. And so Dr. Frazier stood up one morning, early in my college days, and I'm sure he's in heaven now, and he said, he said, brethren, oh, he said, thank God I learned about grace. Thank God I learned about grace. And he told this story. He said, I was a church of Christ preacher. And I thought that if you didn't hold on, you wouldn't get to heaven. And I thought if you did anything wrong and didn't get forgiveness for it right away, and you died, he said, I thought you'd go to hell. And he said, I can recall every night, though I was pastor of a church, I'd get on my knees beside the bed, and I'd say, oh, God, oh, God, forgive this sin today, and for this one, and this one, and that one. Oh, but he said, Lord, if I forgot many, oh, Lord, if I forgot many, let me, remind me of it now, because if I died while I was asleep and had a sin unconfessed, I'd go to hell. Oh, God, let me know now. And he said, I couldn't sleep at night and I'd try to think of all my sins, and I was miserable, and I was sick. And he said, one day somebody told me that it was faith and not works, and it was grace and not goodness and good deeds and joining a church. And one day I came and I said, Jesus, I trust You to take me to heaven. Not my goodness and not my confession of sin and not my church membership, but I trust You. And a great big smile crept across that old saint's face. He used to be an army officer, a major in the army. And a great big smile crept across that old warrior's face. And tears began to stream down his cheeks. And he raised his hand toward heaven. And he said, young man, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I found out it's not me, it's Jesus. It's not my works, it's Him. It's not what I've done, it's what He did. And now he said, I go to bed at night and said, Lord, forgive my sins because I want You to forgive me. I don't want You to punish me for it. But he said, as far as going to hell is concerned, it is done. The great transaction is done. I am my Lord's and He is mine. He led me and I followed on charmed to confess His love divine. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe. You want to marry a countess this morning? You'll come to church and you'll say, little house, I just don't believe it. All this laughing in church. And you know why? Because you're trying to work your way there. Huh? Hey, here's a flood back down there 6,000 years ago or so. I forgot how old the flood was now. Back down there. Here's a flood. And Noah Oh, hey, hey, honey, calls his wife. Let's get inside the boat. I've been building for all these 120 years. It's going to be a flood. His wife gets inside the boat. And, hey, hey, kids, hey, hey, you and your wife, come on over here. Let's get inside the boat. They got inside the boat. Hey, Ham, Ham, come over here. Let's get inside the boat. And Ham and his wife came over and got inside the boat. Hey, Sam, come over here. Bring your wife. And they got inside the boat. And now there they are. Are they safe? Yeah. You know what? There's a storm outside. But they don't have to worry about that. They can sing together. They can laugh together. Have fun together. You know, a lot of you folks, what you do, you think that Noah drove eight nails on the side of that boat. A big 16 pinion nails. And he said, hey, sweetheart, you grab one nail and hold on. Hold on. Faithful. Hey, Ham, you get one. You get one. Ham, hang on to a nail. Japheth, hang on to a nail. And there comes the flood and the storm. And the boat begins to rock. And Noah says, blessed be God, I'm holding out faithful to the end. You wouldn't have to worry about that. You'd get inside the boat. Just get inside the boat. Inside the boat, you don't have to worry and fret. Oh, Jesus, Jesus said, Paul said, blessed is the man in the Lord who does not impute sin. And Jesus said, be of good cheer. Thy sins are forgiven. You want to have a happy heart this morning? And therefore, a good healthy body? You want to do it? Then what do you do? Get your sins forgiven. Let me ask you a question. Are your sins forgiven? Huh? Are your sins forgiven? Have you been born again? Have you ever come to Jesus and said, not my goodness, but thine? Not the church, but you? Not the confirmation, but you? It's faith in Jesus. Have you been born again? Then you have a right to have a cheerful heart if your sins are forgiven. But there's a second thing the same words. Be of good cheer. The second time is in Matthew 14, 27. You recall, there was a terrible storm. And the storm was raging. And Jesus came to them and said, be not afraid, it is I. Be of good cheer, be not afraid, it is I. Now, why can a person have good cheer and have a merry heart? He does it because of the presence of Christ in the storm. This morning, a lot of our people were in the storm Mrs. Williams and their family this morning. I thought of Bob this morning getting ready for church. I thought about him. And how I used to stand back at the back. And how many times Bob has come to me and said, preacher, is everything okay this morning? Is there anything I can do for you? How many times he's comforted me. And this morning he's gone to heaven. But the family were born. But they can be of good cheer. Why? In the storms of life, Jesus. Jesus is there. Oh, what a difference it makes. Ah, there's them. There are many others. One of our dear ladies. I'll just call her name. Mrs. Hunneford. Wally Hunneford's wife. Went to the doctor. I talked to her on the phone last night. And she had a few lumps on her neck here. And she went to the doctor. And the doctor told her that it may be Hodgkin's disease. You know what that is. And I called her last night. And I said, let's believe God. Let's believe God. And so the storms were there. But oh, blessed be God. When the storm is there, Jesus is there. Ha, ha, ha. You say, why are you happy all the time? Somebody said to me, he said, you come up at a funeral. Well, the most folks do it at a wedding. Yeah, I know I do. I know I do. Somebody came to me and said, well, the house said, you have the sweetest weddings. You laugh at weddings. The other day, I married a couple. And he gave her the wedding band in the restroom. That awful. He was, he came to visit her. And he wanted to get, he wanted to get along with her. He couldn't get along with her. And so he, he said, would you come back here in the kitchen? And the company was in the kitchen. He said, would you come back here in the bedroom? The company was in the bedroom. He said, can I see you in the living room? They're in the living room. And so he said, okay, come in here. He didn't know what it was. He opened the door and walked in the room. And there, it was the restroom. And he gave her the wedding band. I told him the wedding. Oh, you say, you shouldn't do it in a time like that. Well, I don't, I don't just have a merry heart in certain times. I don't have a merry heart at a ball game and not at a wedding. I have a merry heart at a funeral. I hate to say it, don't mean to be unkind, but though my father had died and he wasn't saved, nevertheless, when I, when we, I buried my dad years and years and years ago, I had in my heart a merry heart. Why? Because Jesus was there. He was there. I counted a privilege here His cross to bear. Tis heaven to me wherever I may be if He's there. Why do we have a lyre in our singing? Why do we sing He is able to deliver thee? Why does Dr. Billings get up and say, oh, try to get the world's greatest baseball player? That's one of the funniest things I ever heard in my life. He played basketball all through the night on the faculty's team. I asked him how many rebounds he got. All he got was a bunch of bruises on his nose where the knees of the other players hit him. And, but, why do you, you say, oh, I don't believe in all that laughing and cutting up. You would if your sins were forgiven. You would if Jesus were with you in the storm. Look, look, the darkest day the Christian ever spends is brighter than the brightest day the unsaved man ever spends. I said it often. I go to church after church. I was at a Church of God convention recently preaching, and I walked in and they had a dual chancel, one pulpit over here, one pulpit over here, and a big table in the middle, a bunch of candles burning here in the middle. And, I said, I like to warm myself out running from pulpit to pulpit preaching, you know. And, and, and, and, and they were so dead and dry, and I got up and I said, where's the casket? And the moderator said, what do you mean? And I said, where's the body? He said, what do you mean? And I said, you know, our folks have more fun at funerals than you have in there. Why? Jesus said to that man, sick of a palsy, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven. He said to those apostles that were on the stormy sea, be of good cheer. Don't be afraid. It is I. The third time he said it, he said, be of good cheer. In John 16, 33, I have overcome the world. He's talking about his departure back to heaven. It'll just be a few hours now until he goes back to heaven. He's about to go to the cross with all the suffering of Calvary. And so he gathers his own around the circle and talks to them. And they said, oh, he's going to go away. Our captain's going away. Our savior's going away. What do we do? And Jesus said, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. I've overcome the world. What does that mean? It means that our Lord said, don't be afraid of the world. I've overcome the world. I think he meant about what it means when our Lord said, do not rejoice because the demons are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written down in heaven. Did you know I checked that word rejoice one time? And you know what it means? It means jump up and down and click your heels together. If I said this morning, your name is written in heaven. And if Doug Hiles over here said, whoo-hoo, all of a sudden most of us are criticizing. And the Lord said, that's what I have in mind when I wrote that verse. It means jump up and down and click your heels together. Why? Your name is written in heaven. I had a wonderful privilege. Oh, it's been, oh, my soul's been longer blocked than goodnight. It's been a while ago, but I had a I wanted to join the Navy back in World War II. No, I didn't want to join the Navy. I had to, I wanted to do that or the Army. And I wanted to get in the easy one, the Navy, fellas. And, but, I wanted to get where all the sisters go, and so I, but anyway, I wanted to join the Navy. So I, I, they said, you got to have a birth certificate. I never did get in because I failed the color blind test. so I, no birth certificate. So I went down to Italy, Texas, where I was born. Little town of a thousand people. And went to the, no city hall. No city or no hall, really. Little old building over a drugstore. Went up some old rickety stairs. The last time it was dusted was when Abraham Lincoln was there to visit. And, then, oh, and found some old books, rickety books. And, and, and so a fellow said, that's not there. 1926. And I pulled it out. And, you know, the kind of paper that if you bend it, it would, it would break. And I, I opened to H. And then opened to the last H. And sure enough, I was born. I seen it with my own eyes. And, you know, it seems so funny looking there, and there it was. It said, Jack Frazier. That's F-R-A-S-U-R-E. Jack Frazier Hiles. Born, take a note, September 25th. And, 1926. And, and, and I just laughed. And I thought, man, isn't that something? There's my name right there. And I thought all the way home. If I could go to heaven and get the recording angel that has the books. Hey, look at the H's there. Huh. And the angel, here, here's one of the H's. Okay, look toward the end. Over at H, H-Y. And, I know this morning, as sure as I know that my name is written in Italy, Texas, on the birth register, that if you looked in heaven this morning, under the H's, you'd find old Jack Frazier Hiles. The angel says, it may be spelled F-R-A-Z-I-E-R because angels don't spell very well. And, but, you'd find Jack Frazier Hiles written. You know why? Because I've been saved. And the Bible says, REJOICE! MERRY! HAPPY! CHEERFUL! Why? Because your name is written in heaven. That's why we have a, and did you know you can have a merry heart? You folks sitting here this morning said, I'll be glad this is over. Did you know you're going to have high blood pressure and ulcerated ulcers if you don't watch out? Did you know that? You folks say, I tell ya, I just wish we had a more ritualistic service. I know you do. You know why? Because you don't have much peace all week long. And you've got a fine little house where you can get a little peace every once in a while. But if you get your sins, listen now, if you get your sins forgiven, and if you can have the presence of Christ with you in the storm every day of your life, and if you can know that your name is written in heaven, you'll find you have a merry heart. And it'll do good. Like a mist. Let us pray. Our heavenly Father, we thank you that our Lord has told us how we can have good cheer. I pray that you would speak to our hearts this morning with this invitation. Every head is bowed. Ushers, may I have either more volume, or may I have more treble, please? Let every head bowed and every eye closed just for a minute, please. I wonder how many can say, Brother Hiles, I know what you're talking about. My sins are not recorded against me. My sins are not written in heaven. I know what you're talking about. I understand it. Brother Hiles, I know what you mean. My name is in heaven. If you went to heaven and looked in heaven this morning, you'd find my name is there. My sins are forgiven. I have the presence of Christ. I'm God's child, and I know it. Would you raise your hand, please? Way up high. You know you're saved. You know you're going to heaven when you die. You can drop your hands. Now, if you didn't raise your hand, either one of two things. Either you're not saved, or you're ashamed of Jesus, and either one's a pretty sorry state to be in. Either you're not saved, or you're ashamed of Jesus. Now, you've got to die, too. But you say, Brother Hiles, I'm a Catholic. Catholics have to die, too. But I belong to the First Baptist Church. First Baptist Church folks have to die, too. But I'm a Presbyterian. Presbyterians have to die, too. But I'm a Christophean. Christopheans have to die, too. But I'm an assembly of God. You've got to get born again, too, like everybody else. Except a man be born again. He cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. I wonder how many of you are just as honest as you were then. And you said, Brother Hiles, I couldn't raise my hand then. I couldn't raise my hand. I do not know that my name is written in heaven, but I wish I did. I'd like to be saved. I'd like to know that I'm going to heaven when I die. I don't know it, but I wish I did. I want to be saved. I want my sins forgiven. I want Jesus with me in the storms of life. I want my name written in heaven. I don't know that it's there. Oh, let's say honestly, let's be honest this morning. Let's just face the issue. How many would say, Brother Hiles, I do not know that I'm going to heaven, but I wish I did. I don't know that if I died now, I'd go to heaven, but I want to know. First on the lower floor. How many?