1 John 2, verses 1 and 2. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. I was reading this, the Believer's Identification. I want to explain the propitiation. The propitiation as you find here... Raymond, you want to... if you can help him there, brother. The Believer's Identification. During the Civil War, George Wyatt was drawn by lot to go to the front. To go to the front of the war. He had a wife and six children. This is back in the 1860s in the United States. He had a wife and six children. A young man named Richard Pratt offered to go in George Wyatt's stead. He was accepted and joined the ranks bearing the name and number of George Wyatt. Before long, Pratt was killed in action. Hey, you want to help me out here? He's welcome to go back to the foyer. Just go back to the foyer there if you could, please, buddy. You'll help us out. Thank you so much. Yeah, if you can make your way back to the foyer. If you can make your way back to the foyer. You can sit right there, right in the back, and you can look at me, OK? No, go straight to the back, OK? Mr. Raymond will help you there, buddy. Here, I need you. Come on there, bud. Yeah, Mr. Raymond will help you out. He's a good man. He's a good man. Thanks for coming in, buddy. So think about this story. George Wyatt was drawn to go to the front, a wife and six children. Richard Pratt says, I will go for George. He was accepted and he joined the ranks bearing the name and number of George Wyatt. He went with the name of George Wyatt and the number, the military number of George Wyatt. While in battle, Pratt was killed in action. The authorities later sought again to draft George Wyatt into service. He protested, entering the plea that he had died in the person of Pratt. He insisted that the authorities consult their own records as to the fact of his having died in identification with Pratt, his substitute. Wyatt was thereby exempted as beyond the claims of law and further service. He had died in the person of his representative. As I mentioned last week, and as an example, imagine that underneath this white tablecloth was the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant. And then you would have on top of the Ark of the Covenant, you had two cherubim with their wings outstretched, touching each other. And once a year, that's the mercy seat, and they would pour the blood on top of the Ark of the Covenant, and it would go all over the Ark. That blood covered what was inside the ark, the Ten Commandments, the law, which says I'm guilty and you're guilty. But that blood of that lamb that was shed over that mercy seat spelled forgiveness. The law didn't condemn because the payment had been made by that sacrificed lamb. And this is exactly what Jesus Christ did for you and I. He propitiated. He covered God's penalty of sin, God's penalty of wrath. And Jesus went in my place. That's propitiation. The covering, the satisfaction of the penalty that I deserved and you deserve. There is a belief system out there among some churches that says God chooses who will be saved. And I want to say this morning, that is not true. God is not willing that any should perish. If you want to accept Jesus, you come right on ahead. God doesn't handpick anyone. Because God, does He know who's going to be saved? Of course. But we each have a personal choice to accept Jesus Christ. Romans chapter 10 verses 12 through 13, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What does he say? Whosoever. I'm telling you God doesn't have that whosoever doesn't look at your record. It doesn't look at the past. it looks at the present, are you coming? Have you come to Jesus Christ? Now as I mentioned and I continue this, God is not a God desirous of judgment, but instead of grace and most importantly, reconciliation. He is a God who seeks the heart and soul of every person to be steadfastly fixed upon Him. Every person is given the choice to accept Him or reject Him. Your choice has consequences. And if you're not saved today, man, come to Jesus. But I want to say this very clear. Christ is sufficient to pay for all our sins. And as he says, Or otherwise, Jesus is a liar if He doesn't pay for all of our sins. We must live for Christ, give out the message of a propitiating Savior that Jesus' blood pays for every sin. I want to look at this a little bit further this morning. But it says here in verse two so clear, and he is the propitiation, the satisfaction for the judgment that the judge has handed down that I deserve. For our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. You mean every despicable, horrible thing that's ever done? I'm saying yes. He is my propitiation covering satisfaction for what I deserve. Oh, my friend, this is a story of the unbelievable love of Christ. As we're going through 1 John verse by verse, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for this day. Lord, I thank You as we sang that song, here is love vast as the ocean. Lord, that we would realize that there's a God in heaven. There's a Savior that is waiting for those who will receive the precious gift of Jesus Christ. that'll receive the redemption from the power and penalty of sin. And Lord, may we as Christians live victorious Christian lives because we've been set free. Lord, may we also give out the message Jesus saves. It is a message to all people of all the world. Father, help us to be found faithful. God, I need your help. Lord, you take over. Strengthen my voice. Give me the words to speak. Thank you for the time that we sang. Lord, be back there. Help Miss Garnett as she teaches the children. And the children, I pray that they would listen. Lord, you're a marvelous and wonderful Savior. I love you, Jesus. Thank you for this time together in your precious house with your people. I love you. In Jesus' precious name, I pray. Amen. I looked at, first of all, last week, your debt is paid in full. We mentioned that grace and salvation is a gift. It's not a wage. You can't earn it. There is nothing that would force Jesus to go to that cross but merely the thought that He didn't want me to face eternity without Him. God, in Matthew 25, verse 41, tells us He created hell for Satan and his angels. The wicked and enemies of God who repent will receive mercy. Isaiah 55, verses 6 and 7. Look with me at Ezekiel chapter 18. I'm just doing a little review from last week. Ezekiel chapter 18, there in the major prophets. You have the major prophets because they're bigger. You have the minor prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, those are all, and just the reason why they're minor is they're smaller. Ezekiel chapter 18, verse 23. I want us to get this into our minds that God is for every person. I've had people say, I've done too many wicked things that God will not receive me. I need to make some things right. When God said whosoever, He doesn't list the whosoevers. He doesn't put any conditions on whosoever. If you're a human, you're a whosoever. He says, come. Here in Ezekiel 18, verse 23, the Bible tells us, as God says, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? Saith the Lord God. Not that he should return from his ways and live, verse 32. Repeating this, for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dies, saith the Lord God. Wherefore, turn yourselves and live ye. You know the famous passage in John 3.16, for God so loved the world. For someone to say there is a branch of, there's some teaching out there that says God chooses who will be saved. But as I look at the scriptures, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? God says, I don't. I have no pleasure that they die. I have no pleasure that they face eternity without God in torment. I have no pleasure. Because the Bible tells us in John chapter three, verse 15, that whosoever believeth in him." Whosoever. That's not whosoever I've chosen. That's whosoever. You and I are a whosoever. It was April 30th, 1986. I bowed down and I asked Christ to forgive me of my sins. There is a young boy with my dad against my bed. And I got up and the burden of sin was lifted off my soul. A young child to an older gentleman, it doesn't matter, I remember some time ago there was a gentleman from one of the northern communities here and I was there in the hospital and just a couple weeks from, I didn't know he was soon to pass, but I went there and he wanted prayer and I began to, the Lord just prompted my heart, I began to give him the gospel and talk about how he needed Jesus. Two weeks later, I called, and I had his daughter's number, and this man went into eternity at 83 years of age, accepted Christ in the hospital. It doesn't matter your age. Look, in this idea, in John 3, 17, for God sent not His Son of the world to condemn the world. The world through him might be saved. God is for Jew and Gentile. God is for the world because every human is made in God's image. God wants us in his righteousness. What is the extent, I want to pick up where we left off, would you turn with me to Isaiah 49 verse 6 this morning in your Bible. This is a messianic prophecy. What I mean by messianic is it is a prophecy that looks forward to the day when Jesus came and that we obviously know that, that we celebrate at Christmas time. But Isaiah chapter 49, one we celebrate every Christmas too, or every Sunday, excuse me, every Sunday. Why do we meet on Sundays? You ask the question. We meet on Sundays because Jesus rose on the first day of the week. We celebrate the resurrection every Sunday. We meet. Isn't that awesome? It's amazing. I mean, we celebrate at Easter time, but we meet on Sundays, the first day of the week, and that's when Jesus rose again. Isaiah chapter 49, verse 6. What is the extent of Jesus' propitiation? His satisfaction? How far? It says, for the sins of the whole world here in 1 John 2, Isaiah 49, verse 6. Take a note at the last part of this verse. And he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation into the end of the earth." The speaker is God the Father, speaking of Jesus Christ. His ministry to Israel, to Jew and Gentile. He says to the end of the earth, if you could go to the most remote, secluded people in the entire world, Jesus still went for them. We find in there John the Baptist as he sees Jesus coming. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. How much sin the world sin? Is that a lot of sin? Well how much per day do I sin? Multiply that by the world's population. Now you multiply that through generations. That's a lot of sin. When all of that that He bore on the cross, that blood that satisfied the law that said condemned and the blood spread and said forgiven. He propitiated, satisfied all that the law said guilty and He said paid in full. In John 4, verse 42, look with me, we'll look at a couple verses here in John. John 4, verse 42, I'm telling you, anyone that says that God would choose anyone for salvation is not familiar with the Scriptures. And they'll use lots of various words and very big words, but I want to tell you Jesus is for every person. And I'm so thankful for that. That God would reach down to my parents and reach down to my grandparents, fierce alcoholics at the bars every weekend. Grandpa was an abuser, a violent, mean man. And God reached down. Grandpa was a womanizer cheating on my grandmother. God reached down. There at the kitchen table, they would make a profession of faith. So I would wake up as a young kid staying at their house. I've mentioned this many times before. Grandma had her Bible open, notebook next to her Bible. At night, I saw my grandma on her knees, and I heard my name mentioned as she prayed for me. Can I tell you the power? Man, that shot an arrow into my heart when I heard my name mentioned by my grandmother. You may not have much money, but your kids hear you pray their name, man, it's going to shoot in their heart that mom and dad are taking me before the throne of grace. And I told my wife, I said, I want to pray with you at night. I heard the example from my grandparents. I never got to see them as the mean drunks they were. I got to see them as God got to hold and change their lives. John 4, verse 42. Here is Jesus speaking. Let's look at verse 40. So when the Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word, and said of the woman, this is the Samaritan woman that's been married five times. She's living with a man that's not currently her husband. And now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. These Samaritans, who were hated by the Jewish people, they were, if we would say today, they were a mix of Jew and Gentile. Sometimes there's all sorts of different names, but they would note them as dogs because they were not pure Jewish people. They were outcasts, societally not accepted. Samaritans and Jews did not get along. And Jesus came to her, came to this community, They said the Savior of the world. If you are born into this world, Jesus is your Savior. Look with me at chapter 6, verse 40. I'm going through a number of verses because I want you to see throughout the Scriptures that God has always been for all of humanity. The only condition for Jesus, the extent of His propitiation, His covering, His satisfaction of the law which says guilty, and He says paid in full, John 6, verse 40, and this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, what does it say next? And believeth on Him may have everlasting life. I will raise Him up at the last day. Acts chapter 2 verse 21, it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now what is God's goal in all of this? Would you look with me at Philippians chapter 2 verse 11. Philippians chapter 2 verse 11 if you have your Bibles this morning. I trust this is rich. I trust this is encouraging you that God is for all people even the most vile, wicked, despicable individual that you could, the most horrible person that you could think of. Jesus still died for them. We have an election going on. There's an election going on down in the states. Tuesday we'll determine. We'll see what happens. But I gotta tell you, no matter who's in the White House, who's in Ottawa, I still have a King on the throne. A King that is waiting for every person to come to Him. On Wednesday nights when we meet here as a church, we pray for our Prime Minister. We pray for our MPs and Senators and our MLA and our Mayor and Council. We pray for our Premier. They need our prayers. They need our prayer. I may or may not agree with them. But however much I disagree, at the end of the day, every one of us will breathe our last breath. And we have somewhere to go. They still need Jesus. In just a few weeks, just a little advertisement, in a couple weeks here, on Wednesday nights, we're going to start doing some Bible studies out there in the foyer. Some handouts. I want people to know this book. Man, I want you to get plugged in. See how good God is. I know we can go through life and, well, I think the Bible says this. Let's get it settled. The Bible says this. Let's know what the Bible says. Let's know why we believe what we believe. Get plugged in. What is God's goal for your life and mine? Oh, here's the generic goal of God. Philippians 2, verse 11. And that every tongue Every language in the world should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. And just in verse 10 above, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow if things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. What is God's goal? He wants everyone to say Jesus. His name, Christ, the Messiah, Lord, His position of authority. Your judgment is satisfied because of the blood that was shed. That law within that Ark of the Covenant says, guilty, guilty, guilty. And I say, I'm guilty. In an act of humility, I simply receive as a gift what Jesus did to pay for what the law judged me on. God's goal is that I would confess Jesus as Lord. In 2 Corinthians 5, just going back a couple books there, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, I've got to hasten here. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, And therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. And hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 19. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 19. To wit, that means to know that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. How important is reconciliation? I mean, it is mentioned here at least four times in two verses, reconciliation. God is concerned that I am his child. You're his child. Ministry of reconciliation. He wants every person, the little kids, and I'm so thankful for the children's ministry, the little kids to the older men, older women, doesn't matter where you're at, anywhere in the spectrum between. He wants us to be reconciled. Now, what is our duty? What is our duty? Our duty is propagating to all. The story is told about a barber who had just been gloriously saved in an old-fashioned revival meeting. The next morning at work, he wanted to share his new faith and witness to the lost. A customer came in, and the barber began to shave him. He was trying to muster up the right words to say. Finally, as he stood with his razor poised over the man's throat, Are you prepared to meet your God, he said. Probably not a good time to ask that question. But our duty is to propagate to all. Consider the circumstances. I always understand that our world is deceived. Satan was deceived with the whole world. Revelation 12, 9 tells us that. The world lies in wickedness, 1 John 5, 19. In your bulletin, I'd like you to look at this illustration and read it along with me. Christopher Searcy was playing basketball with his friends on May 16, 1998 when he was shot in the chest and a bullet perforated his aorta. His friends helped him get within 40 feet of the entrance to Ravenswood Hospital. Then he went inside and asked for help. A hospital staff refused to help Christopher, saying it was the hospital's policy to administer aid to those outside the hospital. Eventually, a policeman was able to get a wheelchair and wheeled Christopher into the hospital, where the hospital staff helped him. It was too late, however, and Christopher died about an hour later. Often churches seem surrounded by people who desperately need to hear the gospel, yet Christians are content to share it only with those who manage to come inside their church. Here's a man outside a hospital bleeding to death, shot, and they won't go outside to pull him in to care for him. I want you to look with me at Romans chapter 10. What does God think about this? I say that is criminal. Here's a man in need of help, going to a place of help, and dying right outside because of a policy. You've probably heard of stories like this before. But I'm telling you, Christian, you and I have the healing to the gunshot of sin. Why do we have little flyers back there? Why do we have invitations? We went out yesterday passing out flyers and tracts. Why do we do all of this? Why do we do our outreaches? Because there's people outside the hospital. A church can be a hospital. that are bleeding to death, and they are not even certain of what's going on in their life, their life is a wreck, and they may not even know it. In Romans 10, verse 12, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek. God says, I don't care what culture you come from, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. How can they hear unless we preach? I'm not talking just preaching from the pulpit. That preach there is to deliver a message. All of us can be a deliverer of the message that Jesus saves. You have people you know, family you know. I was talking with my niece several years ago, and I was talking to her about Jesus because she's not saved yet. And I took her out to go get some candy in a nearby community and just get some ice cream and just totally just spoil her rotten. It was fun. And I was talking to her about Jesus and she said, oh, that stuff belongs in church. I'm telling you, if that stuff belonged in church, it would have never changed my grandparents. It would have never changed me. If that stuff belonged in church, And she was young and doesn't know. I want you to see what Jesus says about this very thing. Look with me at Matthew 28, verse 18. The Great Commission. Many of you are familiar with that. In Matthew 28, verse 18, the command is go. In Matthew 28, verse 18, Is it uncomfortable? Yes, it is, sometimes. Is it where you get nervous trying to talk to people about Jesus? It is. But just pray, Lord, give me divine opportunities to talk about you. You open the door, and I'll talk. You give me the boldness and the courage, and I'll talk. Because the Spirit of God that lives within us has the ability to empower and strengthen us to tell people the message that Jesus propitiates for all. In Matthew 28, 18, Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given to me in heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things. Whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Jesus said, go, baptize, teach. That means like disciple. Why? So that when I disciple others, they get to learn, and they get to grow in Jesus, and then they disciple others. And guess what happens? When we reproduce ourselves, God created it in the beginning, right? He says, be fruitful and multiply. That's not just for children. The church is a living organism. Like when we're meeting here, a living organism. Spiritually, God is here to reproduce ourselves by telling people the good news of Jesus Christ. Not only teach, not only preach, baptize, disciple, and guess what happens? Imagine all throughout our north, we could have churches that love Jesus all throughout our communities. Because men and women get a burden saying, I want to reach the north. I don't want people to be in an area where there's not a good church that they can attend. Someone that'll sit down with them when you're broken, when you're hurting. God says, go. There's an illustration here about relying on the Holy Spirit. Dr. Paul Brand was speaking to a medical college in India on Matthew 5.16. He said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. In front of the lectern was an oil lamp with its cotton wick burning from the shallow dish of oil. As he preached, the lamp ran out of oil. The wick burned dry and the smoke made him cough. He immediately used the opportunity. Some of us here are like this wick, you said. We're trying to shine for the glory of God, but we stink. That's what happens when we use ourselves as the fuel of our witness rather than the Holy Spirit. Wicks can last indefinitely, burning brightly and without irritating smoke if the fuel of the Holy Spirit is in constant supply. Why do I mention getting into this book every day, meditating? Because unless the Spirit of God is feeding me, I stink. I'll make people think, I don't want that. I don't want Christianity. This book feeds you. It's not just, I'm doing it because it's the good Christian thing to do. I'm doing it because I want to shine my light bright for Jesus. This book. The worst time in my life, one of the worst times in my life, I was working a job 16, 17 hours a day, I don't know, long, seven days a week. I stopped going to church. I stopped reading my Bible. And I made a lot of very foolish decisions, and God broke me. I made some foolish decisions, and I had to own up to my responsibility of the bad decisions I had made. And you know what hurt me the most? It was there in my apartment on the shag green carpet. It was ugly. It was on my face before God. And the Spirit convicted me. He says, listen, you have taken the name of Jesus and you've pulled it through the mud so that the lost world sees Jesus through the dirt and filth that you've just brought him through because you bear the name of Jesus. And I said, God, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. God's command is to every person. Can I look with me at Luke chapter 14? You know what I love? I love it in this church. I don't care who you are, where you come from, if you're coming from the streets, you're coming from a house, I don't care, I'm thankful. It's a blessing that every one of you are here this morning. You're a gift of God. In Luke chapter 14, we can get so caught up in, are we talking right? Are we dressing right? Are we doing this? And I dress up, one, for my position, but also just personally, my own personal, I just wanna dress up for my Jesus. That's my personal choice, and every one of you are gonna have to be convicted in your own way, But Luke chapter 14, verse 16. I want everyone here, if you have a Bible, if you can look this up. Luke 14, 16. Then said he unto him, this is Jesus, certain man made a great supper and bade many and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, come, all things are now ready. They all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground and I must needs go and see it. I pray that you have me excused. Another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen. I go to prove them. I pray that you have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and showed his lords these things. And the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in hither the poor and the maimed and the halt and the blind. The halt being the limp. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. The Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Here's a whole bunch of people. They have religion. They have their rules. But they don't know Jesus. Jesus says, I don't care. OK. If they don't want to come to me, go out into the highways and hedges and the byways. Get the people from the gutters. Get the people from wherever they're at. If they'll come, bring them in. because Jesus' blood pays for everyone's sin. A man took a photo of men stealing grapes. He went to the owner of the grapes, intending to show him the evidence, and found he had exposed the photo too long and had been blotted out, so God blots out the sin of those who come to Him for mercy and forgiveness. You know what? There are those that seek to hinder, the Jews hinder the gospel to the Gentiles, the religious people. Who was it that did the greatest damage in Jesus' ministry? It would be those that you might find, it would be the, sometimes when you look, like the good Christian person. It says, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. This is there in 1 Thessalonians 2.16, to fill up their sin all the way for the wrath that's come upon them uttermost. False teaching, false prophets. bringing damnable harasses, even denying the Lord that bought them. They may add to, you must, oh, you must trust Jesus for faith, and you must do some good works. Or you must do good works for God to accept you. I wanna tell you, all of that totally kicks this all gone. The blood that covers it, ah, I don't need that. The sacrifice, ah, I don't need that. I mean, it's an absolute insult. All I need to do is as I see this cross, I repent. And I ask God to forgive me one time. And I'm forgiven. You're forgiven. Some just want Jesus as a get out of jail free card. If that's all it is, then you missed the point. It's not a get-out-of-jail-free. Remember I said the ministry of reconciliation? I want Him. I want God. You want God. And I want His heart. When I got married, I didn't want to just have my... I didn't want to just get married and, oh, I do, and okay, well, see you later. You know, after I said I do, I said, I see you later. What kind of marriage is that? That'd be terrible. When I said I do, I wanted her and her heart and a life with her. When I said I do to Jesus and I accept the gift, he says, listen, your debt is paid. Will you receive the gift? Will you receive the gift? I said, yes, Lord. Forgive me. He says, I got all of you for eternity. You're mine. In Romans chapter 6 verses 1 and 2, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? I don't want to live for sin. I don't want to live in my selfishness. Because as we go back to our main passage, and He, Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. As I draw this to a close, God's character is a revulsion, a hatred of seeing people go to hell. He has given out a gift that is for all people. Jesus gave us the gift of righteousness. Romans chapter 5, look with me here just a couple passages and then I'll finish this off with an illustration. I've got two passages left here. Romans chapter 5 and then we'll look at Romans chapter 6. But Romans chapter 5 in your Bibles Thanks, brother. In Romans chapter 5, verse 16. You know, when we get a glimpse of sin as God looks at it, not just the word sin. We talk about sin. Yeah, I do bad things. No. I'm talking about the very thing. That's the reason that he took all that pain in my place. I'm talking about something that had the gavel of justice that said guilty, that deserved an eternity to pay it off, and I don't have to pay it now. In Romans chapter 5 verse 16, and not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift. For the judgment was won to condemnation. What's he talking about? He says Adam. Adam's judgment brought condemnation. But the free gift is of many offenses, that means all the bad things I've done, unto justification. The word justification is, I've mentioned it a number of times, but just as if I never sinned. There is no record. It's white. It's clean. It's pure. Many offenses unto a pure, clean record. For if by one man's offense, say Adam, death reign by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ. Woo! One man blew it. Brought condemnation. One man and humility, forgiveness for all, propitiation for all sins, if you'll receive the gift. Romans 6.23, the Bible tells us, for the wages of sin is death. We know that. You do bad things, there's bad consequences. But the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Wages, you earn it. You did bad things. You deserve a penalty. God says, I'm not looking at the penalty. I'm looking, I want to give a gift. Will you receive it? Final illustration, the story of Awful Gardner. One of the most notoriously bad characters that ever lived in New York was Orville Gardner. He was the trainer of prize fighters and companion of all sorts of hard characters. His reputation was so thoroughly bad that he was called Awful Gardner. He had a little boy whom he dearly loved, and this boy died a short time after his boy's death. He was standing at the bar in a New York saloon, surrounded by a number of his companions. The night was sweltering, and he stepped outside the saloon to get a little fresh air. As he stood out there and looked up between the high buildings at the sky above his head, a bright star was shining down upon him. And as he stood looking at the star, he said to himself, I wonder where my little boy is tonight. Then the thought came to him quick as a flash. Wherever he is, you will never see him again unless you change your life. The truth here is if a young child departs this life, they automatically are ushered into heaven. That's the truth here. But anyways. Touched by the Spirit of God, he hurried from the saloon to the room where he knew his godly mother was. He went in and asked his mother to pray for him. She did pray for him, and she led him to Christ. He went home to where he kept a jug of whiskey. He did not dare to keep it and did not know what to do with it. Finally, he took it down to the river, got into a boat, and rowed over an island. He set the liquor on a rock and knelt down, and as he afterwards said, fought that jug of whiskey for a long time, and God gave him perfect deliverance. But what should he do with the jug? He did not dare break it, lest the fumes set him wild. He did not dare leave it, lest someone else get it. Finally, he dug a hole in the ground with his heel and buried it. He left the island a free man. He became a mighty preacher of the Gospels through listening to him preach that Jerry McCauley, a convict turned preacher and founder of the McCauley Water Street Mission, was set to thinking that thinking afterwards led to his conversion. And we have stories like this by the hundreds through the centuries, through the years, of whom Jesus saves. We also have stories of young people that were spared from all the wickedness this man got into. Why? Because they accepted Christ at a young age. When we look at this passage of Scripture in verse 2, and He, Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, the answer is the receiving, the reception of the gift of Christ. Christ's propitiation is for all to find freedom like the man in the story, like myself, a young boy who found complete forgiveness in Christ. Is this a story worthy of your time to tell? Is this the truth you're willing to accept as well as place your eternal faith and security upon? And this morning, if you've never been saved, if you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, I'd love to show you how you can receive the gift of Jesus Christ by faith alone. He paid the penalty that I deserved. I didn't do a thing. I received it by faith. And this morning, if you've never accepted Christ, I'd love to show you. Christian, may this story never get old. May the story of the redemption of Jesus Christ, of His payment for my sins and yours, may it embolden me, may it strengthen me for the hope for eternity power for today, freedom from sin, and help us to lead others from outside that hospital, bleeding, needing the truth and the healing of Jesus, into the saving grace of an everlasting Savior. And this morning, as we have a time of invitation, I went a little longer. I just want to challenge you. Christian, what will you do with Jesus? Who will you tell? If you've never accepted Christ, I'd love for you to tell me or take one of those flyers back there and they'll show you on the inside how you can know Jesus for sure. Whatever you do, know this, your judgment is satisfied by Jesus. As the music plays, I trust you just take some time to pray wherever you're at. If you need a kneel at your pew, you're welcome to do that. If you want to come up front and kneel, you're welcome. Just take some time to pray and talk with God as the music plays. The song that plays is Jesus is all the world to me.