on sabbatical from Thailand. And through the generosity of this body, we were able to donate about $1,000 last week to that vital ministry. So thank you for your faithfulness in giving. In fact, we're sometimes asked about our method of giving at Harrison Hills. We had a brother who was once convinced that we had a wealthy benefactor because we never took an offering. Well, no, we definitely don't have a benefactor. While one can give online, some may not notice, if they're new here, that small box back there at the back as you enter the sanctuary. That was handmade with love by our very own Harold Weber. Of course, giving is a part of worship. Sadly, in Scripture, we see the act of giving being turned into a demonstration of pride. An opportunity to show everyone else how godly we are by our giving. The offerings being given in the synagogues during Jesus' day were used as a time to put on a show for all the others. The focus was moved off of this act of worship and on to men. Who's watching me? What will they think? For us today, it would be like worrying about Miss Ethel's judgmental eyes as the offering plate passes you by. Well, one way that we facilitate this moment of giving in worship as a time only between you and God is to allow you to give quietly and unseen in that small box as you enter or as you leave. Now, there's nothing wrong at all with passing an offering plate, as many churches do, but we desire that all giving be of a pure heart, not under compulsion or manipulation. We trust the Lord to provide through the sacrificial and worshipful giving that is accomplished between the Lord and his people. I may have shared this before as I was considering our humility in giving, and I was reminded of a story from a pastor who had a very wealthy woman in the church come into his office one day and asked him, Pastor, if one wanted to donate $50,000 to the church, how would one do that? And the pastor looked up from his desk and told her one would put it in the offering box. No showboating, there's no applause nor is there any judgment or manipulation. We worship unto God, we give unto God, he is our provider. I know in these times of inflation, things are tight. We feel it every time we check out at Walmart. So we want to thank you all for your faithfulness to the work of the gospel here. Amen? Amen. Well, two weeks ago, we completed a message titled, Jesus Loves the Little Children. If you missed that, it's available on Facebook or Sermon Audio. You will certainly be blessed by it. And we were ushered into this story, perhaps expecting a familiar scene of Jesus blessing the children. But for many of us, we came out having witnessed one of the most consequential texts in all of scripture. In it, we saw the very heartbeat of salvation by grace, as Jesus took these babies, these brephos, and he blessed them. He said something that shook the foundation of every Jew listening. He told them that the kingdom of God belonged to such as these. These babies, these infants, these toddlers. And here, as Jews toiled and as they labored under the law, trying to earn God's favor through works, we saw Jesus envelop these brephos in his arms, these little ones that had nothing to offer, no works to lay upon the altar, who are utterly dependent and utterly helpless, and says, this is how you must come. And in fact, if you don't come like this, if you do not come as one who realizes their helpless estate, if you try to put your works between me and my grace, you cannot come at all. It doesn't just make it harder to come. You cannot come because it's a different gospel. The God of the universe will not take the most prized gift of salvation and have it cheapened by our works or to be bribed with our works for such a gift. Ours is a gospel of grace given to helpless and defenseless creatures that were dead in their trespasses and sin and were given new life. It's such a wonderful picture of the gospel found in such an unexpected place. Now many may have looked at the text we are coming upon this morning, perhaps read ahead, our good students, in anticipation of this message, and be tempted to think that we're shifting gears. It seems to be such a different story, such different actors and players. Surely we've moved on from Jesus and the children. However, this is not the case in many ways. Mark has put these two stories together, one after the other, and it seems very well that he has done so. In both scenes, Jesus puts his finger on the heart disposition that would separate us from God. Whether it be works offered up as a payment for salvation, or idolatry, the draw of the world, superficiality, all stand as a barrier toward coming to Christ. Today we are going to be looking at the story of the rich young ruler. This series will take us through verse 31 of the 10th chapter. And some of you may recall me sharing that when we approached the previous text of Jesus with the children, I was unexpectedly surprised by the incredible depth that was contained in this text. Like I felt like I fell into a sinkhole with all of the buried beauty. But this story, on the other hand, puts the meaning, the lesson, the warning, the exhortation right on its sleeve. Like a swimmer seeing the signs out past the buoys. Caution, deep waters ahead. Warning, riptides and fast-rushing currents. Every one of us is going to have our toes stepped on here in this series. In the telling of Jesus' interaction with this man and the later explanation of Jesus to his disciples, it's a text that's going to hit close to home for all of us at different points. So I pray we have soft hearts that are prepared to receive. Much like Jesus blessing the children, we see this account is given in all three of the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I always mention this because, of course, John wrote at the end of his gospel that there were also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. The takeaway being what we have given to us is handpicked by the Holy Spirit for us to have. The story of the rich young ruler is so critical that all the synoptic gospels record it. Now we know that everything Jesus said and did is important, but it's often helpful for us to remember that Jesus did magnitudes above what we read. So knowing that what we have is divinely chosen for us, out of all the things that Jesus did on earth, we have this, making this our telling even greater still, a greater treasure still. So with that, let's look to our text this morning. We'll be preaching only Mark 10, verses 17 through 18. this morning, but for further context, I'm going to read all the way through verse 22 for us. We won't be on the screen. You can follow it in your Bibles. Mark 10, 17 through 22, I'll read. And as he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him and began asking him, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother. And he said to him, Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth. And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, One thing you lack. Go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.' But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property." Let's pray. Lord, as we prepare ourselves for this series through the rich young ruler, Holy Spirit, we need you to do your work. desperately. Lord, we each have a place in our heart that needs mining, that needs to be flushed out, that needs to be corrected, that needs to be exhorted. Lord, that needs to be made fresh and anew, where stony ground may have begun to crop up, where calluses may have begun to grow. We ask that the healing balm of the Holy Spirit would soften it again and anew and afresh, that we might receive it as you have given it to us. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Well, how many of us remember the real estate collapse of 2008 and 2009? It was really quite a sight to behold. In today's high-flying market, it kind of seems like a distant memory. While there were many factors that played into this explosion of foreclosures and defaults, one of the main culprits of that was the adjustable rate mortgage. These are loans that would adjust to higher interest rates as the rates went higher. And many purchased homes that they could afford only at the lower rates. But as they rose, they were quickly unable to pay. They wanted the home, but they could not pay the price. The price was too high. But those were the terms set by the bank. As long as the price was artificially low, you had lines of people wanting to buy that home of their dreams. But once reality set in, the rates went up, the costs were made clear, many were not prepared to pay the price that it would take. Now that is merely our earthly home made of wood. Jesus told his disciples in John 14, too, in my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. We have a heavenly home. Jesus has gone ahead to prepare and build it. And here in our text today, we have a man, like 10,000 other men that want that heavenly home. Not surprisingly, ask a thousand people on the street today if they want to go to heaven, if they want that heavenly home, and a thousand people will probably tell you yes. If the rates are low enough, if the bar for entry is low enough, I'll take that mansion in the sky. But what happens when our rich young ruler approaches the divine bank this morning to inquire about the rates? Imagine approaching your bank to buy that home of your dreams and you say, how much will it cost me to buy this home? What are the rates and what are the terms? The bank's reply, it's going to cost you everything. The rates, infinity. The terms? Sell everything you have, quit your job of prestige, and come clean toilets at the bank. Of course, the man will balk. But that's all I have. That's all that I have to give. The bank says, great, that's all we ask for. Most will not pay the price. It's too high. I want that beautiful home, but I will not sacrifice everything for it. Here today, we are going to see a man, a young man, a uniquely positioned man who has a very common desire. He wants what the whole world wants, heaven, eternal peace. Everyone is seeking that. Everybody wants that. So much so that some time ago, big heads in evangelicalism said, hey, let's tap into this. Everyone is seeking love, joy, peace, heaven. Let's cater to that crowd. And when talking about those types of churches, we often hear the term seeker-sensitive, made popular by the likes of Rick Warren and a number of other false teachers. Instead of putting the real cost of the home on the brochure, instead of making bold the fine print, they advertise a much more palatable mortgage. Doesn't cost you much at all. Easy entry, available to all. Easy approval and membership. No credit or collateral required. Sure, there's a little interest charged, but nothing at all that will impinge on your lifestyle. Nothing that will cause any sacrifice to buy in. And the people, they'll line up around the building for it. Oh yes, they will. The people will fill a stadium for that deal. Sure, it will cost me a few Sunday mornings once in a while when I would rather be fishing, but the payoff is heaven, and I want heaven. But the deal is a lie. It's a fraud. The rate is going to adjust to infinity. The terms are going to require everything, and that stadium is going to empty. Sending away the thronging masses, dejected and distraught because they were hoodwinked and they were sold a bill of goods. Except this time, the foreclosure is eternal. The repossession and the incarceration of the soul. Where there will be outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. They were lied to about the cost. They were told they were seekers. But there are none who seek after God. No, not one. At least the rich young ruler in our text today got the truth in lending disclosure up front. No teaser rates. Here's the cost. So let's dive deeper into this amazingly tragic encounter. Beginning with verse 17, verse 17. and as he was setting out on a journey. Let's pause there for our geography context that we love so much. Now we are still in the time of Jesus' Parian ministry, still heading south to Jerusalem, Jesus' final journey south for the Passover into Calvary. And recall that he was surrounded by Jewish families and people who were taking the long way around Jerusalem to avoid walking in Samaria, not even wanting the dust of their sandals to be tainted by the lands of these Jewish, Gentile, Samaritan half-breeds as they saw them. These Samaritans were a people group that shouldn't even have existed as they saw it. God had commanded them to be wiped out, but they were still here. So the Jews would walk around their defiled land. But Jesus has set out in this area, and he's heading south, and a very unusual sight takes place. A man ran up to him and knelt before him. A man. Who is this man? Well, we know three things about this man. Look at our title, The Rich Young Ruler. We know that he's rich, we know that he's young, and we know that he's a ruler of some kind. Well, there's treasures of information to be mined there. These details about this man are recorded for us in scripture, beloved, because they matter. The details matter as we learn to become better expository listeners. So first, he's rich, not only rich, but rich at a young age. Now, we might just think, well, maybe he inherited a lot of money, and that's possible. But it tells us something of his place in life. It tells us something of his drive and his ambition. He was an accomplished fellow. He had it all. He was the millionaire 25-year-old who just hits on all cylinders, right? There's not a person he meets that he hasn't beaten in the game of life. Now, he's not just young and rich. But look here, he's a ruler. What does that mean? A ruler of what? Well, this would be a religious type of title, meaning that he held a high rank in the synagogue, not like a teacher or a Pharisee, but as a layman. He was a power broker. He was a mover and a shaker in the community. He's highly accomplished. And as a leader in this realm, this man is seen as having great spiritual maturity for his age. He's already a ruler. This becomes very important later in our scene. So this is quite a scene. If we look to Matthew's account of this, he actually says, Behold, a man ran up and knelt before Jesus. Behold, meaning this is quite a sight. This is an unusual occurrence. People threw themselves at Jesus' feet all the time, but not the upper crust of society. You would not find the wealthy and the well-to-do and the fancy pants Jews getting down in the dirt at Jesus' feet. And yet, here is this man. Now, what do we think of this? Well, if I'm looking at this from an outsider's standpoint, I'd say we have a pretty hot lead for a new convert here, don't we? I mean, look at him. He's sought out Jesus. He's ran to him. And one commentator reminded me that Middle Eastern men of status and wealth never ran. You don't run. That's unseemly. He's thrown himself at Jesus' feet. Oh, such humility! And we will see him asking about eternal life. Man, that's the stuff that dreams are made of for most pastors. Wow! But not only does Jesus see this ruler's heart, But his own words tragically expose that heart. So let's look at this man's words. At Jesus' feet, coming in humility, coming he believes as a seeker. Now observe how the rich young ruler opens the dialogue. He starts with a title. A title that brings this entire encounter to a screeching halt. With this opening title, we will see that the game was over before it even began. How does he address Jesus? Good teacher. Good teacher. Beloved, every story has a single word or perhaps a single phrase that an entire scene hinges and swings on. There's an epicenter of a text, meaning everything before the word leads up to it and everything after flows from it. Here is that center. This word, good. Good. We must stop and camp on this word because Jesus stops and camps on this word. It is this title that makes him stop and that elicits this response. It is this man's understanding of this word, his use of this word that is the entire center of gravity for this young ruler's heart. What does good mean? It's this amazing word that we all think we understand, but the world fails to understand. In fact, the deception surrounding this word of good is so strong that the writer of Proverbs says we've all been deceived. Proverbs 20 verse 6 says that every man will declare his own goodness. I am good. My neighbors are good. My children are good. Now we must understand this, beloved, this is so critical. One's understanding of the word good determines your entire worldview. The very heart, the very genesis of a worldview, the necessary foundation of a worldview has to start at one point with one question. Are human beings fundamentally good or fundamentally bad? Are they by nature good or by nature bad? Now, the world's wisdom, the culture of our day will tell us that humans are fundamentally good. This is why the more godless a society becomes, the more secular a society is, the more they believe that a societal utopia can be achieved, that world peace can be achieved, heaven on earth is achievable. Because underneath all the bad, humans are fundamentally good. Of course, this is what Jude would call a doctrine of demons. It's a demonic doctrine because if you follow it, you will never see your need for a savior. Why would you? Good people don't need saving. Of course, this is directly at odds with how scripture describes the state of man, the irreparably fallen state of man, not only being dead in our sins before being brought to life in Christ, but with a heart that is set upon wickedness continually. We are not born desiring God. No one had to teach your child to tell their first lie or to be selfish with a toy. It's innate. It's utterly natural. Imagine a toddler screaming in a tantrum. Now fast forward that child to 30 years old with no training or no cultural restraints. What you would witness would be awful. What we do witness when we turn on the news is often inconceivable. We are born in sin. None are good. No, not one. Boy, that's not popular preaching today, is it? And even those who have been taught a biblical anthropology, a biblical doctrine of man, even when we know in our head what the Bible says, there are times that our heart really doesn't believe it. It really doesn't believe it. So our rich young ruler has thrown himself at the feet of Jesus. He's come in humility. He's inquiring about eternal life. He has all the markings of a great potential convert, doesn't he? And then he says, good teacher. I'm sure he thought he was being respectful of Jesus. I'm sure he thought he was paying him a compliment. So what's the problem here? Why is the title good, agathos, slamming on the brakes? What is good to this man? Is it a biblical understanding of good? No, he understands good as most of the world today understands good. All are basically good. This man is prominent in the synagogue. He would no doubt refer to all the teachers and Pharisees and Sadducees as good, good teacher. So we must ask, does this man know that Jesus is the Christ? No, we know that he doesn't. Does this man know that Jesus is God in human flesh? No. So here's the problem. God is actually good. But your definition, young ruler, is a complete perversion and an insulting misapplication of the word. The psalmist declares, Psalm 119, 68, you are good and what you do is good. God is good and only God is good. Now, good to us is a relative term, right? It's expandable. It's adaptable. It's fungible. It has degrees and layers. It's a nebulous term today, right? That's really definable by the user. But the attribute of goodness which belongs to God alone is absolute. It's singular in its definition and in its practice. But how many of us honestly process goodness this way? How many of us contemplate this truth, the attribution of goodness, as an absolute principle that is applicable to God alone? That is so far removed from our current culture, but it has no doubt impacted our thinking. But saints, this is vital. If we are good, by definition, we don't need God. In fact, we've even seen the bumper stickers, right? The T-shirts. Good without God. Good without God. And I actually appreciate the sentiment, however wrong it may be, because it unwittingly puts its finger directly on the crux of the issue. If I'm not good, I do need God. If I am a sinner, I need a savior. If I'm sick, I need a physician. Don't call me good. The moment I believe I'm good, I am separated from the only gospel that has the power to save. Now are we saying that goodness is absolute? We're saying that goodness is absolute with God and his attributes. But how about sin? Now sin can have degrees, not in a Catholic, venial, and mortal sense, but sin can have bad, bad, or worst, right? I know it's a common phrase in evangelicalism that sin is sin, that it makes no difference to God if it's small, bad, or worse. But scripture shows clearly that God feeling greater degrees of indignation and anger and wrath towards some sins than others. There are degrees. Of course, some minds may be drawn to Christ's teaching on hatred, for example, being murder of the heart, or lust of the eyes being adultery of the heart. That these are somehow showing that all sins are equal to God. Of course, Jesus is not saying that hating someone is as bad as murdering someone in God's eyes. Jesus' purpose was to teach them that they were both sin, the feeling or the thought, and the act. See, beloved, in Pharisaical Judaism, it taught that it didn't matter what you thought. It didn't matter. You could think or feel whatever you want. You could harbor in your heart whatever you want. That's fine. You just can't act on it. It's only the act that is sin. And Jesus says, no, it doesn't matter. Now all are punishable, all will be held to account, all must be washed by the blood of Christ, but there are degrees. So all sin is not equal in severity, but they are all equal in punishment, and they're also equal in their ability to be forgiven. But goodness, as we see in our text today, it's an absolute term. There can be no degrees of goodness. Adrian Rogers once said, quote, the worst sin, the sin of all sins, the worst form of badness is human goodness. When human goodness becomes a substitute for the new birth, the worst form of badness is human goodness. Jesus said that the prostitutes and crooked tax collectors were going to heaven before the Pharisees. because they had their self-righteousness as a substitute for God's mercy." Close quote. Good teacher. What must I do to inherit eternal life? And how does God, how does Jesus respond to our rich, young ruler? Well, if he was in church today, someone would probably have led him in a sinner's prayer, had him raise a hand and walk an aisle and pronounce him saved. Jesus does none of those things. Jesus responds in a way that the 21st century church would think terribly unloving and unfriendly. Here's this man prostrated to your feet. He's set aside his rank and his status to run to you, to beg for your wisdom and insight. Oh, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? We don't hear any evangelical cliches in Jesus' response. He doesn't tell him that he has a hole in his heart that only he can fill. He doesn't tell him to pray a prayer and ask him into his heart. He's not even overjoyed and thrilled that someone would come to him and ask him about eternal life. Now, why not? Why not? Because the whole world wants eternal life. They're just not willing to pay the price for it. It sounds great to ask for and to inquire about, but it's nothing unique. Find someone who doesn't want to go to heaven, who doesn't want to live forever in paradise. How do I obtain this peaceful bliss? Today, if someone said that, we might say that God is really drawing that person. Not necessarily at all. Eternity is written on the heart of every man. Eternity is woven into our DNA. We are eternal beings. We will all live for eternity. We all innately sense that and we want to spend it in a pleasant place. All fallen men and women want to go to heaven. They just don't want the God of the Bible to be there when they arrive. Or they just aren't willing to pay the price. To be as the merchant who is seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one pearl of great price, he went and he sold all that he had and he bought it. Or the one who found the hidden treasure in the field and from joy over it, he goes and he sells all that he has and he buys the field. All want the reward, few want the sacrifice. There's nothing unusual or even special about this young ruler's request or his desire. And that's important for us to grasp as we look at Jesus' response here in verse 18, verse 18. And Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. Now we have much to see here. Jesus responds with a rebuke. He responds with a correction, saying your understanding is wrong. How many could we see today responding in such a way? We would be aghast at such a callous response to this seeker, wouldn't we? Be honest. That's not very nice. If we're to come to God, we must come to him as he is, not as we wish him to be or as we have formed him in our mind to be. Those who come to him must come to him as he is. And he is good. God is good. Jesus is good. And this man is standing in front of divinity, and he ascribes to the second person of the Trinity a goodness that is fit for a devil. not fit for the king of all. In Jesus' response to the young ruler, he is taking the man's word good at its literal face value. Jesus is taking it the way it's meant to be taken, as an absolute attribute that is given to God alone. It should be mentioned that many have looked at this text. Pseudo-Christian cults have used this text to assert that Jesus was saying that he was not God or that he was less than God. Not only is that not true, it's quite literally the opposite of what Jesus is saying. You call me good. I know what good actually means. And do you have any idea who you're talking to? If I'm actually good, as you've called me, I'm God. If Jesus is not God, then Jesus is not good. Far from being a verse that diminishes Jesus' deity, it is a claim of deity. Not only is Jesus correcting his understanding of the word good as it relates to God, but beloved, this is the opening salvo against this man's conscience. that we're going to see next week. Beloved, if only God is good. That means that I'm not. In a world where every man will declare his own goodness, how popular is that going to be? What Jesus is about to say to this man is going to land like a crushing stone. Before Jesus even begins to open the law to this man, which he does, and Jesus opening salvo in making the assertion that the quality of good applies to God alone, that it's an attribute given to God alone, that it's not an expendable relative term, but it's a universal absolute. This is a mind bender. He cannot possess it. But all of his attributes leave us in such a state. What else is God alone? Our ladies are in their study of the very attributes of God. The immutability of God, the infinitude of God, the immateriality of God, the self-existence and the self-sufficiency of God, the omnipresence, the omnipotence, the omniscience of God, the sovereignty of God, the externality of God. The perfection and the holiness and the wisdom of God. The grace and the mercy and the love of God. The impassibility of God. The justice and the jealousy of God. The veracity of God. The foreknowledge and the patience and the eminence and the majesty of God. All these belong to him alone. And none of us possess it. But what else? The goodness of God. We do not possess it. We cannot possess it. Beloved, today we must take away in our hearts and our minds the biblical definition of good. Goodness is the absolute perfection in God's nature and his being that nothing is wanting to it or defective in it and nothing can be added to it to make it better. That's what it means to be good. Does anyone here wish to apply this to themselves? We can no more apply goodness to ourselves than we could apply any other of God's attributes to ourselves. God's goodness is not lesser or subservient to his omniscience or to his omnipresence. We could no more be good than we could be all-knowing or sovereign or self-existent. We need to chew on this. We need to digest this truth. It is a pillar foundation of having a biblical worldview. Goodness belongs to God alone. I am not good. I cannot be. Beloved, without this truth, we cannot come to Christ. It is a narrow gate and a narrow way. When we sing, nothing of myself I bring, simply to the cross I cling, that includes our goodness. There is no room through the narrow gate for us to bring that faulty sense of goodness. When scripture speaks of a narrow way, the language is meant to convey to the reader's mind two rock walls. that are so close together that to enter in, it requires that one come naked. Clothes won't fit. And even to turn sideways, to shimmy through. If you're clothed in anything else that you brought, you won't fit. If you have a backpack full of your works and your goodness, you won't fit. Nothing of myself I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Those who come must come naked and destitute because that is the reality of our condition before we are clothed in the wonderful, beautiful righteousness of Christ. This rich young ruler needed his definition of good corrected before he could even proceed. And we need the same. How might our theology, our humility, our walk, our desperation in faith change when we know and believe that goodness belongs to God alone, that we cannot possess it, that our only hope is to be clothed in his goodness and to be clothed in his righteousness? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God. If this is not the gate you pass through for salvation, knowing that none are good but God, scripture says that you've come in another way. Scripture says it makes that person a thief and a robber. They snuck over the wall. You must go back and come in the narrow way. no backpacks on of works and goodness because we have none and it won't fit even if we tried. We cannot see ourselves or God rightly without this truth firmly set in place. We cannot see the world around us rightly without this truth set in our minds and in our hearts. While the tragedy of the rich young ruler is only beginning to unfold before us, Jesus' correction to this man concerning who God is, of what goodness means, is as true today as it was that day in Perea. If you be in Christ this morning, if you came in the narrow way, naked and destitute, brought low by the knowledge of our sin and our desperate need of a Savior, beloved, beware. Along that narrow path are many off ramps, one of which is legalism, begging you to come. A shiny new backpack sitting right there for you to pile your works into. That's a fool's errand. We will never be good enough because there is only one who is good. And we daily throw ourselves on his mercy. Our merit is in Christ. We must be clothed in his goodness, clothed in his righteousness. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are good. We thank you that you have shown us what that means. Lord, not only that we can bathe and bask in your goodness, but what that means about ours. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, you spoke hard words to this rich young ruler, and these have been hard words to us today. But Lord, we ask that you would cause this to germinate and to manifest in our hearts and our lives. Lord, if any of us have come in another way, if any of us have come in with a backpack of good works, that we've snuck over the wall, that we did not come in the narrow gate, Lord, we do not want to be a thief and a robber. We ask that today be the day that we go back and we come in through the narrow way, naked and destitute as we may be, we will be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We thank you for this word. We ask that you would keep us until we can meet again in Jesus mighty name. Amen.