No, just just throw it up over your shoulder We're giving away free Bibles and we're hand out tracks talk to people about Jesus Christ, do you have any particular spiritual beliefs? Yeah, I'm Catholic. Okay, alright. My name's Tony. Tony, nice to meet you. And you are? Nathan. Nathan. So, Nathan, let me ask you. So, my niece is a student here. We came out from Davenport, Iowa because of what happened last week. And, you know, my niece, like so many, was hunkered down in a closet in her dorm for four hours. Were you sheltered in place? Were you even here? Yeah, yeah. So, a harrowing night, right? Never would You would hope that would have never happened. You don't necessarily expect it to happen even though you know it can. You certainly don't want it to ever happen again. But, you know, Nathan, right? I'm sorry, yeah. So, a lot of people in the aftermath of events like this, it's common, reasonable, expected that they're thinking about their own mortality, right? What if I wasn't, in a sense, safe in my dorm? What if I was in the student union? Or what if I was in Berkey? What if that was me? And you don't think that in a sense, well I'm glad it was them and I'm glad it wasn't me. You hate that it was them and you're glad it wasn't you. That's reasonable, normal. So a lot of people are thinking about their own mortality. So, based on what you believe, Nathan, what do you think is gonna happen to you when you die? Hopefully, go to heaven. Okay, good, yeah. That would be my hope for you. That'd be my hope for me. That's my hope for everybody. That's why we're here. What do you think a person has to do to go to heaven? Just live a faithful life, I guess. Okay, and so people define faith and faithful all kinds of different ways, right? How would you define what's faithful for Nathan? What would be a faithful life? Well, believing in the Lord. Okay. Fully loving the Lord. Acting on his messages. Okay. Self-discipline. Self-discipline. Okay, everything you mentioned are good things. How good do you think you have to do those things? At what point is it enough? At what point is it not enough? I mean, I guess that's the eternal question, you know? Sure. That's a good way to put it. It is an eternal... Just try to live the best life. I'm sorry, you say you don't think anyone knows? I don't think so. Okay. You just gotta live the life. The best life you can. Okay. So, if there's no way of knowing for sure, I believe there is a way. Yeah, I do. But if there's no way we can know for sure and we're only hoping for the best, can we ever have any real hope or assurance? I'm not sure. Okay. Nathan, that's an honest and good answer. So, here's how we can be sure. And there is a way. It's not Tony's way. But there is a way. So God the Father sent his son to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, truly God, truly man, born of a virgin. As God in the flesh, he lived a perfect life from cradle to grave for some 33 years. I would hazard a guess, a perfect life that you and I can't live for 33 seconds, right? I mean, I'm probably almost old enough to be your grandfather and I haven't lived a perfect day in my life, okay? Yeah. But Jesus did, as God in the flesh. Yet even though He knew no sin, at a time appointed by God the Father before the foundation of the world, God the Son voluntarily submitted Himself to the torturous bloody death of a Roman cross. He died a death He did not deserve to take upon Himself the punishment you and I rightly deserve for our sins against God. And then he forever defeated sin and death when he rose from the grave. Nathan, I'm guessing you've probably never been in a courtroom before? I have. You have? But like, field trips. Okay, alright. So let's say, let's say Nathan, that you're not Nathan, the nice young man who stopped to have a nice conversation. Yeah. Let's say instead you're someone like the man who came on campus a week ago. I don't believe you are, okay? But I'm just painting a picture, okay? And let's say you get, instead of taking the coward's way out and killing yourself after you destroy lives on this campus and affect lives maybe potentially forever, instead you get caught. And it, You don't try to worm your way out of it. You admit to it. You even sign a confession. Interesting thing about confession, I grew up Catholic as well. Interesting thing about confession, confession never exonerates anybody from their guilt. Confession is only evidence of the guilt that's already there. I was a police officer for 20 years, and I loved it when people gave confessions of their own volition. I could have no better piece of evidence of the person's guilt than their own words saying, I did it, right? So you feel remorseful, and you sign a confession, and you ought to be remorseful because of what you've done. And you're found guilty. And the judge determines that the punishment for your crime is death. And instead of, though, like our system here that works for the most part, where you're gonna have the next 10 or 20 years for appeals and all of that, instead of that, they're gonna whisk you into the next room, they're gonna strap you to a gurney, they're gonna drive a needle in your arm, and they're gonna put you to sleep like a stray dog as the just punishment for your crime. Okay? So far so bad? Yeah, okay, all right. As they're about to do that, though, Nathan, The judge, who rightly found you guilty, and the judge, who alone has the authority to sentence you to death, stands up from behind his bench, he takes off those black robes of authority, he steps down, and he says, Nathan, you are guilty, you do deserve to die, but I'm going to take your place. The judge goes into the next room, allows himself to be strapped to a gurney with your name on it, allows a needle to be shoved into his arm with your name on it, and he dies the death you ought to die. And you're set free, not because you're good. You're not. Not because you're innocent. You're not. But because of the love the judge decided to show you, the mercy he decided to show you, through the sacrifice of his own life, you're set free. What would you think of that judge? That is Jesus. Yeah, that's Jesus. So do you think, do you think having committed that crime, do you think it would have mattered at all if you said to the judge, Your Honor, I believe you're the judge, and I know I did something wrong, but I'm trying to live a faithful life. I've tried, for the most part, to follow your commands, to follow the law, but I really messed up this time, so I think you oughta let me go. Is the judge gonna let you go? Do you think anything you just said would add anything at all to the sacrifice he made by dying the death you deserved? No, no. And that is the point of the cross, Nathan. There's nothing we could do to earn or deserve His love. There's nothing we could do to earn or deserve the sacrifice Christ made 2,000 years ago. And any attempt to make ourselves right with God through our works, through our church attendance, through our confession, God sees as an attempt to bribe the judge. God sees it as if we're saying the sacrifice, this young man, this young woman, this old man, this old woman, they don't believe that the sacrifice of my son was enough to cover their sins. That's what we're saying to God when we try to work our way into heaven, whether it's through religion or through trying to be a good person, whatever it might be. And the Bible supports that. The Bible says that it is by grace we're saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it's a gift from God, not as a result of works, so that no man may boast. If I was wearing a watch and I said, you know what? I'm gonna give Nathan my watch because he was kind enough to stand here in the cold and talk to me and you You're flabbergasted. I'm gonna give you my watch and you take it and as you're about to walk away I said, well, hang on Nathan. That'll be 300 bucks for that gift Is it still a gift if you have to pay me for it? No The Bible says the wages of sin what we earn for our sin is death eternity in hell but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord And so if you were to, now, let's look at it another way. If I were to give you that gift, and you were to insist that I took $300 for it, what are you saying to me about what you think of the gift? You don't want it. You don't want it as a gift. You want to pay for it. And that's what we say to God. Anytime we say we believe in the Lord, we believe in what you did, but I'm gonna do all these things just to make sure I'm gonna try to do all of these things so I can work my way into heaven. What we're doing is we're actually trampling under our feet the blood that Jesus shed as a free gift to those who will believe. The good news, Nathan, is you're never gonna be good enough for heaven. The good news in that is that God provided a way for you to be reconciled to him, for your sins to be forgiven, that has nothing to do with your goodness, but it has everything to do with God's goodness, that would allow his son to die for sinners like us. Does that make sense? So make sure, make sure Nathan, that you're putting your faith and your trust, not in Jesus plus all you can do, not in Jesus plus religion, not in Jesus plus confession, not in Jesus plus contrition or good works, but in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. And then you'll have assurance. When I die, I'm gonna die, and I may very well likely die before you, but we don't know the numbers of our days, either one of us, right? None of the people affected, those three beautiful names on the board there, Ariel, Brian, and Alex, none of them thought, you know what, today's gonna be the day, right? He calls you home. Right. The Bible says life is but a vapor. We're not promised tomorrow, let alone our next breath, right? But if I were to die today and stand before God, and he were to ask me, why should I allow you into heaven, Tony? My answer would be, God, you shouldn't. Because I've never been faithful enough. I've never trusted you enough. I've never been good enough. I've never repented enough. I've never confessed enough. I've never done anything perfectly right. Because Jesus said you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. I haven't lived a perfect day in my life. God, if you give me what I deserve, I should go to hell. But I know I'm not going. Not because I'm good, but because you are, God. I'm going to heaven not because of who I am, but in spite of who I am. Not because of what I've done, but in spite of what I've done. I don't look in the mirror to see that guy for my hope. I look to your son, Jesus Christ. That's where all of my hope and my insurance is. So if you put your faith and your trust in Christ alone, Nathan, you can have assurance. You can, because you're not relying on you at all. You're relying on Christ entirely. Does that make sense? Do you have a Bible? I do not have a Bible. Can I give you one? Sure. Great. Praise God. What's that? The words of eternal life. The Bible is the key. It opens up everything. There you go. Now, there's a bookmark here. Yeah, right there. If you haven't read it before, if you haven't read it much, that's a great place to start. You can start anywhere you want. Start at the beginning, work your way through to the end. Now, you and I are great friends now. We've known each other for 15 minutes. If you're reading this and you have any questions at all, my number's there, my email's there. I don't know everything, but I'd be glad to go look for the answers with you. Thank you. All right? I really appreciate it. Yeah, God bless you, Nathan. You too. You have a great day. Thanks for stopping by. Thank you. All right, take care.