Well, praise the Lord, it's good to be here with you this morning. Last Thursday, a young police officer was on patrol in a little place called Montgomery, Louisiana, and he was in pursuit of a speeder. The roads were wet. and he dropped off his tire. He ran off and got off on the shoulder of the road. Go ahead, go ahead. Go ahead, make that outside. The shoulder of the road, and he overcorrected and came back and into the oncoming lane and hit a pickup truck. Killed him and the driver of the truck. This past Friday my pastor preached his funeral and the title of his message is, Are You Ready to Die? And I would just add to what Brother Glenn said this morning that life is uncertain. We make plans. We're going to do this tonight, tomorrow, next month, next year, but we don't know what tomorrow brings. What is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. Thank you this morning for the invitation to come. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, a very familiar text of Scripture this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Thank you, Brother Glenn, for that good Sunday school lesson this morning. I appreciate that very much. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Verses 3-6, But if our gospel be hid, and it is, it is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world hath blinded of the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, we come this morning once again as a very needy people. We come, Lord, desiring that You might meet with us this morning. Lord, we've already rejoiced in the song service. Our hearts have come together in times of worship and praise, and we've exalted you, Heavenly Father, in these old hymns that we sang. Lord, now we turn our hearts to your precious Word, and we pray that you would anoint the Word this morning. Lord, I need your anointing to preach. The folks here need your anointing to hear. And I pray, Lord, that you would just be with us in a very special way. I pray for the services in my home church this morning. I pray for my pastor as he stands behind the sacred desk and preaches this morning. I pray you would be with him. I pray for the pastor of this church. I'm sure he's in church someplace this morning. I pray you'd be with him and bless him. Brother Homer who's struggling with some health issues of his own and bless him, Heavenly Father. Bless our time together this morning in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There's three groups of people in our text. There's one group of people who reject the gospel. There's another group of people who preach the gospel. There's another group of people who receive the gospel. Let's talk about those who reject the light of the gospel. Paul says, but if our gospel be hidden. Now he was speaking there as an apostle. He was saying that my gospel is apostolic, is the apostolic gospel. The gospel of New Testament is the eyewitness account of being specifically chosen by Jesus to hear the things that He preached and to be an eyewitness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. John said, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life, This gospel is the gospel of the apostles. You remember when the apostles were questioned by the Sanhedrin. They were commanded not to preach in the name of Jesus. And they responded, well, you make up your own mind whether or not we ought to obey God or obey men. But we can only, only tell you those things we have seen and heard. The primary truth of the Gospel is, of course, more verbatim, we declare to you the Gospel, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose the same day. Now, the Gospel is very necessary because of what Adam did. We go back to the book of Genesis, and we discover there that Adam plunged the entire human family into sin. And Jesus, as the last Adam, came to redeem humanity from sin. Because we, as Adam's children, we have a problem. It's a sin problem. And that sin must be dealt with. God is righteous, God is holy, God is just. And that sin that we inherited as children of Adam must be dealt with, and that's what Jesus was doing on the cross. Also, we must have a righteousness that God will accept. And the only righteousness that God accepts is the righteousness that God Himself provides through the person of His Son. The psalmist said, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe of righteousness. That's the righteousness of Christ himself. Now the gospel that is set forth in the New Testament, the gospel of the apostles is hid to them that are lost." Now, the lost are those, of course, who are the children of Adam. We come into this world lost. We were born lost. Now, if you're lost, that means you do not know where you're at. And if you do not know where you're at, you certainly do not know in which direction to go. I've been lost a few times out hunting and fishing, and when you're lost, you're lost. You don't know where to go north, south, you're lost. You don't know where to go. And the same thing is true spiritually. You do not know where you're at spiritually. You have no means of communing or communicating with God. And you do not know the right way to go. And you do not understand the implications of your condition. You know, we don't wait to be condemned on the day of judgment. We're not going to stand before the holy judge one day and at that time we're going to determine whether or not we're condemned. Jesus said we're condemned already. He said, that, and this is the condemnation, that light has come to the world, and men rejected preferred darkness rather than light. He that believeth on the sun is not condemned, but he that believeth not the sun is condemned already. We're condemned by virtue of being born. being born, we're condemned. We come out of our mother's womb a sinner. Now I know the world doesn't like that and the world doesn't approve of that, but that's what the Bible teaches. That we're born, we're sinners by virtue of our race, by virtue of our genealogy. We're also sinners because of our nature. We're condemned because we inherited from Adam a sin nature. The first time as a little boy, the first time in my little heart when I rebelled against my mother and she took out a little switch and reminded me of her parental authority, I was expressing my rebellion. I was expressing my rebellion against God. Why? Because I was a sinner. I was born with a nature of rebellion. We're also condemned by the way we live. Because this Bible says, it sets forth commandments that we are to obey. And when we violate those commandments, then we come under the penalty of the law, which is eternal death. And since none of us can keep those commandments, and since you break one of them, you break all of them, the law condemns us. The law was never given so that we could live right. The law was given to show us how desperately we needed a Savior. It was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So in this condition of being lost, we are enemies of God. We have a carnal mind that is hostile toward God. And there's absolutely nothing that lost people can do in their own efforts, in their own religion, to improve their condition. Isaiah said, But we're all as unclean things. All of our righteous, the very best we can produce in our own effort is as our filthy rags in the sight of God. The psalmist David said, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. That does not mean there's anything sinful about conception. He's saying that when he was conceived in his mother's womb, he inherited from his father a sin nature. God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek after God. Every one of them is gone back. They have all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now the lost remain in their condition of being lost because they have no spiritual discernment. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are spiritually discerned, neither can he know them. So a lost man left to himself will never come to the knowledge of the truth. God in His mercy and grace through the preaching of the gospel uses the preached word and the power of the Holy Spirit to open the heart of those who are lost that they might receive the gospel. So the gospel is hid to them that are lost. But there's also a power at work that is keeping them in this condition of being lost. And that is the God of this world. We know Him as Satan. We know Him as the adversary. He's called the Great Dragon. He's called the Prince of Darkness. He's called the Serpent. But that was not His given name. His given name was Lucifer. Now that's kind of an ugly word, but when you look it up, that actually means the shining one, the morning star, the light bearer. Lucifer was created as perhaps the greatest created being that God had ever made. He was the anointed cherub that covered. He was adorned with rubies and topaz and emeralds and sapphire and jasper. A symbolic way of describing this beautiful, magnificent, created being that perhaps received all the blessing, all the praise, all the worship of the innumerable hosts that God had created. And all of that channeled through Him. And He offered that up to God as the praise of all of the angelic hosts. but iniquity was found in him. And he announced the five great blasphemous statements. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit upon the mount of the congregation. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I, I will be like the Most High. And so warfare broke out in heaven, and he was conquered and cast out. And so since he could not conquer God, he launched an assault upon the apple of God's creation, upon Adam and Eve. And he deceived Eve. And he continues his work of deception to this present hour. We won't take the time this morning, but you can go back in Genesis chapter 3 and you can see the method that he used against Eve is exactly the same method that he uses today. He uses those to blind the minds of those who believe not the lust of the eye. Now, there were innumerable trees in that garden. I don't know how many trees were out there. Thousands upon thousands of fruit trees. They were free to partake of all of those fruit trees, thousands of them, except one. God said, this is my tree. Don't eat of this tree. And Satan immediately directed Eve's attention to the one tree that she did not have, ignoring all the other things that she had. But he isolated this one tree. He said, God's holding out on you, Eve. Oh yeah, God's holding out on you. And so He enticed her through the lust of the eye. She saw the fruit of the tree that it was good to eat. He does the same thing today. The covetous desire for that which is forbidden. He entices people today. And then the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh. She took the fruit and ate of it, and sure enough, it was good. In other words, He entices to partake of sensual pleasures that are outside the parameters that God has provided. You know, God invented pleasure. gave pleasure. He gave us all kinds of pleasure, bodily pleasure, emotional pleasure. God invented pleasure. But what the devil does, it's already been brought out, is that he takes what God intended for good and he twists it and he manipulates it. And so he took pleasure, especially sensual pleasure, and he says, oh, you need to step outside of God's parameters to really enjoy. Eve, if you'll go beyond what God is saying, do you think God really meant that, Eve? Oh no, you're not really going to die. Why don't you just go ahead and partake of that which God has forbidden? That's the call of our culture today. And of course the pride of life. Oh, Eve, if you'll do this, you'll be as God, knowing good and evil. And that's the same message today. Why don't you install self on the throne room of your heart? The question that I come across in studying this, does Satan make it impossible for sinners to receive the gospel? And here's the way this works. God in His infinite mercy through the preaching of the gospel shines the light into the sinner's dark heart. The sinner has a choice. God does not overrule the will, and so the sinner, by an act of his will, resists and turns from the light of the gospel. Satan, acting upon that act of the will, brings the sinner back into a state of darkness. And that process may continue until such time as that God no longer deals with that person, no longer gives them light. And we probably all know people in that condition. that at least from our perspective it seems that they are reprobate, that God is not dealing with them any longer. And I pray every day for my children that they would not get in this shape. They will not get to the place that God no longer deals with them. So these are the people that are lost. But if our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this age has blinded the minds of them that believe not. Why? Because He does not want the gospel to shine in to their hearts. Now, the second category is those who preach. Now Paul sets forth the agenda of every God called preacher. And here's the agenda of every minister of the gospel. Our agenda is not to advance our ministry. Our agenda is not to impress you with our biblical knowledge. Our agenda is not to seek monetary gain. Our agenda is not to promote our own glory. Our agenda is not to be popular or to be well-received. Our agenda is not to build our ego or advance our reputation. But Paul says that we are servants, and that word in the original means bond slave. We are bond slaves that God has called for the specific purpose of preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that preaching is regardless of how that gospel is received. We're not responsible for how it's received. We're only responsible for proclaiming it. We're responsible for proclaiming it even if no one responds. Noah preached for 120 years. As far as I know, he didn't get one convert. Jeremiah preached, and the entire nation went into captivity. In the midst of Jesus' ministry, when he began to teach doctrine, when he began to teach what it really meant to be a follower of Christ, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And they turned and walked with him. But he didn't quit preaching. He kept on preaching. And we're going to keep on preaching because, see, we're not, as preachers, we are not responsible to change you. That's not the preacher's job. We don't have the power to do that, nor do we want the power to do that. We're simply proclaiming the message and depending upon God, working through the Word and the Holy Spirit, to produce results. Now there's a lot of preachers going out and they're trying to produce results. That's where this easy believism stuff came from. It's the preachers wanted results. They wanted to say they got so many saved in their ministry. But that's not our job. Our job is not to produce results. Our job is to sow the seed of the gospel. And that seed falls on various kinds of hearts. And as the condition of the soil will determine the results. So, there are those who reject the Gospel, there are those who preach the Gospel, and praise God, we have some in here this morning who have received the Gospel. He goes back to the book of Genesis, and there, in the book of Genesis, the author Moses records for us the glorious act of creation. Now Moses wasn't there, so God had to reveal it to him, and Moses wrote down what God revealed to him. And thereby, God, by the power of His word, spoke and liked light shone upon a dark world that was without form and covered in water. You can go back and read that in the book of Genesis. But here, by the same awesome power of the Word, The light has shined in our hearts which were shrouded in darkness and unbelief. And that light revealed to us the glory of God manifested in the person, in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the book of Genesis records this great, glorious act of creation which manifested the awesome glory of God. But the Gospels record another glorious act that manifests the glory of God, and that is the cross. Now, on Genesis, the glory of God's infinite power in His creative ability. The angels, as they observed, God must have created the angels sometime prior to the creation of the world, because they observed God's creative efforts, and they sang for joy, according to the book of Job. And that must have wondered, to have seen that, to have been there, hear God speak, the Word speak, and out of nothing God spoke it into existence. Can you begin to imagine the kind of power that can speak a billion, billion stars into existence? But that's our God. He spoke. Now many believe that nothing times nobody equals everything, but we don't believe that. We believe that God by the power of His own person, spoke and out of nothing called it all into existence. But the Gospels, the Gospels show us the glory of God in His infinite mercy and grace. See it was there on the cross that we were delivered from sin. We were delivered from the penalty of sin. That's justification. That means that Jesus on the cross satisfied the demands of the law on our behalf. because the law says the soul that sinneth shall surely die. Now that law must be fulfilled. God's Word cannot be broken. God cannot lie. As Brother Chris already pointed out, whatever is in this Bible, God It's God's Word. So the soul that sinneth must die. So in the condition that we were in, then we had to die. But praise God, our Savior in our stead took our penalty, took our death, took our hell, and there on the cross bore in His own body our sins on the tree. And so God said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied that Danny Babcock has satisfied the demands of my holy law through the person of my son. Therefore, I cancel his sin debt because that debt has been placed upon Christ and has been paid in full. Now, the Old Testament, in the penal system of that day, that when you were incarcerated, there was a sign outside your cell door stating the crimes you have committed. Now, I'm sure that's, we couldn't do that today, that wouldn't be very loving, but that it states, so if you went by and you want to know what prisoner so-and-so had done, there was his crimes. that he had committed. This is why he was incarcerated. But after he had paid his debt to society, after he had completed his sentence, he would take that indictment, and he would take it and come before the judge, and the judge would write down on there that his debt had been paid. That was a very important document. He would keep that document with him, and shouldn't a police officer accost him and say, hey, I thought you were in jail, what are you doing out? He'd pull that thing out and say, you look right here, the judge just signed that my debt has been paid. That's our condition that our debt has been paid. We've been washed in the blood that our sin problem has been covered. So we've been delivered from the penalty of our sin. We are in the process of being delivered from the power of sin. Now when we were saved, sin lost its position of prominence and power. Sin was dethroned. It no longer could compel. It no longer could command. It could only suggest. But sin is continually seeking to regain its position of power. How? through the enticement and seduction of the flesh. Because the flesh was not annihilated when we were saved. We all still got one this morning. And Satan entices us through the enticements of our flesh. Now we're no longer slaves to our flesh because now we have a will that has been delivered from the power of the flesh. We have a mind that's been transformed by the gospel. We have a Holy Spirit abiding in us in our redeemed humanity. Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. So when I am enticed by my flesh, and I am, on a continual basis, we all fight with our flesh. Anybody tells you they don't have any problem with their flesh, just write them down, they're a liar. Because we all have problems with our flesh. The Apostle Paul. If Paul had problems with his flesh, and he did, you can be certain he was the greatest Christian that's ever lived apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. If he had problems, then you can be certain you and I are going to have problems with our flesh, and that's just a reality of the Christian experience. But we don't have to listen to our flesh. We can counter our flesh. We can say no to our flesh. We can resist the devil and he will flee from us. We can quote the Bible. There's no temptation taken you, but such is common to man. But God is faithful. who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape. So in every temptation, there's always a way of escape. Now be careful now, be careful, because if you bring yourself to a place of temptation, if you see how close you can get to sin without actually sinning, then that promise does not apply. The promise only applies when you are tempted, and then when you're tempted at that moment in time, there is a way of escape. and God provides that way of escape. I use this illustration all the time if I'm a diabetic and I can't hang out around donut shops. You know, that's just not a good place for me to be because I love donuts in every shape form, and fashion. I like the cream-colored ones, I like the chocolate-covered ones, I like the ones with little sprinkles on the top, I like the ones that are twisted up to cinnamons, you name it, there's not a donut that I don't like. And so I can't be around donuts. See, one day my wife sent me to Walmart. And on my list, the first thing on my list was bread, okay? So I'm going back to the bread department, and to go by the bread department, you have to pass right by the bakery. And as I was passing by the bakery, they pulled out a fresh pan of hot donuts. And that smell came out, and immediately, my flesh said, I want a donut. At that point in time, I have to make a decision based upon my will. I can listen to my flesh, and I can ease over there and start looking at them, and sooner or later, if I do that, I'm going to have a doughnut. And when I have a donut the first time, the second time that I go by the bakery, it's going to be a whole lot easier to get another donut. So at the very outset of that temptation, I must deal with it right then using an act of my will and tell my flesh, no flesh. You're not getting a donut today. Get on down to the bread aisle and get you the bread and go home. You don't need a donut. And that's the way it is with all sin. We are being delivered from the power of sin. That is an ongoing process. And as we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, those things that used to bother us, We have conquered those and overcome those. Of course, there's always something else. Our flesh never gives up, but we are in the process of being delivered from the power of our sin. But praise God! Praise God, there's a day coming when we're going to be delivered from the presence of sin. Now, we still have sin in these bodies. So, we could go out on a desert isle someplace, and you know the monks used to do this, they would go seclude themselves, and they would take whips and whip themselves, but the problem was, they couldn't get away from sin because it was inside. And so that's our problem. We carry it around with us. But on that day, we're going to receive a body that is going to be sin-free. We're going to have a mind of purity. And not only will we not have sin in our body, there's not going to be sin in the world. Sin is going to be banished. and we're going to be delivered totally and completely from the presence of sin and there we're going to stand before God in our glorified body and we're going to be able to shout with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Because why? Because we are those who have received the gospel. There was a day, every person in here that's saved, there was a day when by God's providence and God's grace we heard the gospel. The Holy Spirit spoke to our hearts, let us know that we were sinners, we needed a Savior, and we responded by faith. We may not have known anything. All we knew is we were sinners and needed a Savior. No special prayer we had to pray. No religious ritual we had to go through. Just a desperate heart crying out to God, Oh God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now of these two groups, those who reject the gospel and those who receive the gospel, both groups will eventually see the unveiled glory of God. Now we see God's glory now veiled. But one day every human being that's ever lived is going to see the glory of God. Those who reject the gospel will experience the glory of God's wrath. God's wrath. And those who reject the gospel, that's my kids and your kids and my grandkids and your grandkids, those who reject the gospel, that's why I preach judgment with a broken heart because I've got kids and grandkids that are headed for judgment. And so they're going to stand in absolute horror and terror before the God that they rejected. And the same wrath that God visited upon Jesus on the cross, they will experience. Now, most people that are lost have a real problem with going to hell for eternity. They just don't think that's fair. They say, after all, surely Surely after you spend a thousand years, two thousand years, a hundred thousand years, surely at some point in time that the sinner ought to be able to pay off his debt to God, but to To believe that is to have a very low view of God and a very high view of man. See, God is infinitely holy. God is infinitely righteous. God is infinitely just. Now, our minds are finite and we cannot comprehend infinity, but there's no end to God's holiness, righteousness, and justice. So when you sin against an infinite God, it requires infinite punishment. Now Jesus experienced that in time on the cross, and I can't explain that, but I know that Jesus experienced the fullness of God's wrath in a moment of time. So sinners are going to be in hell forever because they'll never, never satisfy the wrath and justice of God. But praise God, our Savior was a perpetuation for our sins. He satisfied God on our behalf. God says, I am satisfied with what my son did on Calvary's cross. Also, you've got a high view of man. Most people believe they're pretty good folks. I've witnessed a lot of people, and they're pretty good folks for the most part. And they're always based what they feel like they're pretty good because of what they do. The only problem is, our problem is not what we do, but what we are. That's our problem, is what we are. Jesus said, out of the heart, that's what we are. That's what's on the inside. Out of our heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. He said that's what every person is in their heart. You may never commit one of those sins outwardly, bodily, but in your heart that is what you are. We are rebels who have cast off the restraints of God's law. All of America now, we're in rebellion because we're saying, hey, we don't have to believe the Genesis account of marriage. We don't have to go by that. We don't have to believe in this awful thing of fornication. We reject that. But we're rebels. We're rebels. who say we're just going to ignore God's law. We're going to do what we want to do when we want to do it. We're rebels. We're rebels. We have a carnal mind that's hostile toward God. We've spurned the grace of God that has been extended to us in Christ Jesus. I tell people all the time, it's going to be hotter in hell for people who sit in church and hear the gospel over and over and over again than the aborigine who's never heard the name of Jesus, who's never read a Bible, never been to church, He's going to die and go to hell because He rejected the light of creation. How much hotter in hell is it going to be for you who have been privileged to hear the gospel and yet have rejected that gospel? Hebrews talks about trampling, trampling upon the Lord Jesus Christ, spurning, trampling underfoot the blood of Christ. We've rejected God's love when you reject the cross. See, the cross not only is an expression of God's wrath, it's an expression of God's love. For God so loved me that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, his son, should not perish, but have everlasting life. So God in His great love has provided everything that is necessary for every person in the human race to be saved. God didn't in eternity pass pick out just five or six to be saved. He has extended His salvation to the whole world. and those who believe are recipients to receive the gospel. But when you reject the gospel, when you reject the cross, when you reject the invitation that God has extended, then that's the condition you're in. We've resisted The invitation, we've renounced God's sovereign rule. What we are in ourselves, we are monsters of iniquity. That's what we are by nature. That's what I was by nature. That's what you were by nature. Regardless of how we outwardly express that, Some of us grew up in a Christian environment, and our depravity was suppressed. It was under parental authority. It was under church authority, and we couldn't be as wicked as we wanted to be. Other people, maybe they didn't have that authority, and their depravity was expressed in a more outward way. Regardless of that, we all are depraved and fallen in Adam. We are monsters in iniquity. So those who reject the gospel, one day they're going to manifest the glory of God through His awful wrath. But what about those of us who have received the gospel? We see through a glass darkly now. We see a glimmer of God's glory, but for the most part, it's hidden. Moses said, show me your glory. And God said, oh Moses, as righteous as you are, you can't see my glory. But I'll tell you what I'll do, Moses. I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock. I'll put my hand over you and you can see my hinder parts. And so that's what God has done for us. He's put us in Christ and we see the glory of God through the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. But one day the heavens are going to be rolled back like a scroll and we're going to look up and we're going to see Him in all of His awesome glory and power, not coming back as the baby in the manger. Not coming back as a suffering servant, not coming back as the little babe in the manger, coming back as Lord of Lords and King of Kings and we're going to gaze upon all of His awesome glory and power. Now that sight will terrify the lost and they will cry for the mountains and rocks to fall upon them, but our hearts will be filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory and we'll sing that song in Revelation. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and glory and all the blessings and all our hearts will be filled with joy and worship and praise as we look upon the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know what's great about heaven? It's not the streets of gold. It's not seeing Grandma, as wonderful and precious as that'll be. Oh, but it's looking upon the face of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, and I look upon the face of the one who saved me by His grace. What a glorious day that's going to be. to be in the presence of our Lord and Savior for all eternity. And as an old preacher used to say, we'll assemble there on the hillsides of glory and we'll praise and worship God for what He has done for us in Christ. We'll never get over that. For all eternity, we'll never get over what God did for us in Christ. Undeserving, wicked sinners that we were, God, in infinite mercy and grace, brought about circumstances that we could hear the gospel and be gloriously and wonderfully saved, not because we deserved it, but because God loved us. And oh, what a love He has for us. A final word to the rejecters and I'll be done. If the Holy Spirit troubles you through the preaching of the Word, that means that you still have a day of grace. Some people have wasted their day of grace. Some people have sinned away their day of grace. But if the Holy Spirit is troubling you, then He's extending to you the opportunity to repent and to believe the gospel. That is the only response that God will accept. There's not, you can't come to God your way. You have to come His way. And His way is through repentance. That is a turning, that is change of mind. The prodigal in the hog pen had a change of mind. He hated his father before. He said, cut me a check. I want out of here. I'm tired of your rules. I'm tired of being under your household. I want to go to the far country. But in the hog pen, he said, I know what I will do. I will arise and go to my father. I'm starving to death here in the hog pen. But my father has bread to spare. I will arise and go to my father. He had a change of mind, a change of attitude toward his father. And then by an act of his will, he actually got up and went. That's what repentance is. You're going in this direction, you're following the world, you're following your lust, you're following your passion, and you turn from that to the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, and you embrace that light, and you believe and trust in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not in a plan. There is a plan of salvation, but salvation is in a person, the person of Christ. This may be your final opportunity. I don't know that. I'm not God. I know that one day your final opportunity will come. There will come a day when that will be your last opportunity. Bartimaeus, we sang about him this morning, he had one chance, just one. Jesus was passing through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Not coming back. Blind Bartimaeus had one opportunity. He took advantage of it. Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. You can do the same thing this morning. You can cry out from the depths of your heart, Oh God, what a sinner I am. Have mercy upon me. And God will have mercy. Jesus says, All that come to me, I will in no wise cast. All that the Father giveth me will come to me, and I will in no wise cast him out. Jesus came to seek and to save those that are lost, and He looked me up one day, and He looked you up one day, and by God's grace, we were saved. We would pray this morning, if you're lost, that God might trouble your heart this morning, that you might leave here under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and at some point, if not this morning, at some point, you might turn from your sins and turn to Christ. I wonder if we might have a song of invitation. Salvation is not in an invitation. It is the opportunity for you to respond. There's nothing magic about walking down the aisle. The Bible does talk about a public confession, so we always give people an opportunity to respond publicly to the truth that they've heard as we stand together. If God has burdened your heart this morning, the altars are open. If you need counsel, we've got men here that can talk with you and share with you the truth of God's Word. Whatever the Lord has dealt with your heart, as we sing, brother.