I think it's going to be interesting when we get to heaven to see how some people that have never worshipped him, so I'll start worshipping him when I get to heaven. I bet you will, but I think it'd be good to go ahead and practice up now, and you don't have to wait to give an get to heaven to praise him and worship him. Matter of fact, it's a biblical mandate that we worship God. And we do that. Some people would question, they'll say, well, what is worship? It is adoration of who he is, right? Praise and worship are not the same thing. He deserves both, but we ought to worship him. Worship means to put ourselves under him. We're not on equal grounds with God. He's high and holy. We're not. And so when you understand how holy God is and how sinful mankind is, it makes grace even greater. And so that's a lot of what the book of Romans is about is how, as we study the first three chapters of it, how sinful man he is. Now, we live in a day where people don't see that. And as Richard and I were talking, by the way, you're a Davidson County native, aren't you? Didn't you go to North Davidson? He's a Black Knight, so everybody ought to love him around here. Unless you're West Davidson, then you probably don't like him, right? but he's on our side so we ought to get along with each other but as you look at the day we're living in I've made this statement before I believe we're living in a Romans 1 time period as you study Romans 1 you see that basically because of the wickedness of mankind God turned him over to a reprobate mind to do that which is unseemly and basically that's part of the judgment of God we think about the great judgment the tribulation how God has said he will destroy the world with fire and I believe that but I believe that we're in a judgment now and people said well if God does not apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah then He does not judge a miracle. He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, no he doesn't. He's just and righteous, can do whatever he wants to do. And there's still a remnant in this country. There's more Christians in this building today than there were in Sodom and Gomorrah. But there's no doubt we live in a very wicked time and we need God. Amen. We need God. And I'm thankful, as I've said often, we ought to vote and we ought to vote right. But until man turns back to God, then we're doomed. Right? So I want to pay attention to Romans chapter number 3 this morning. I want to begin verse number 23. We read this last week. And again, as we tie in, the Bible said in chapter 3, verse number 10, there's none righteous. No, not one. By the way, none still means there's zero. There's nobody righteous. Verse 11 says there's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. they are all gone out of the way they are all together become unprofitable so then we go down to Romans chapter 3 verse 23 and you know this scripture the Bible said for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God so again we realize that every one of us are sinners that no matter if you're committed some gross immoral sin or something we would consider a small transgression it doesn't matter if you make it one foot or 99 feet if you're trying to get to a hundred you didn't make it right I mean if you come up short you come up short doesn't matter how short you come up and that's really what this scripture is saying because we live in a day where we'll say well look at how wicked these people are and they deserve hell but I'm not that bad and so therefore my good will outweigh my bad and so therefore I deserve heaven well that's not what the Bible said by the way it doesn't matter what you think or I think or what a denomination says it simply matters what the Word of God says and so in verse 23 he says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Well, if we stop there, listen, that'd be doom and gloom. There'd be no reason for us to be here today. But then as we go to verse 24, the Bible said, being justified freely by His grace. Amen. Being justified freely by His grace, notice this, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I think it goes on verse 25 to say whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God notice this in verse 26 to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus now that's very important that last that last phrase in verse 26 that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. In other words, it's saying when God saved you, if you're a born-again believer, if you've trusted Christ as your Savior, that he justified you. He made you right in the sight of the law of God. Yet he never ceased to be just in doing it. Right? So here's what Paul's saying in this scripture. He's dealing with God's righteous plan of salvation. Everybody says, well, God is love. And that is true, Brother Matt. But listen, God is holy. and he is righteous and he can never ever stop being those things in other words in order to save us he had to come up with a plan a way to save us and justify us in the sight of what is right and holy yet he had to remain just he could not we'll say well that God forgives the sin he does but there's a reason he didn't just sweep them under the rug Somebody had to pay because the Bible said the wages of sin is death. So God had to come up with a plan, Brother Gary, that he could pay man's sin debt, yet not cease to be God. And that's what Calvary is all about. See, it is spitting in the face of a holy God to say, I'm a good person, so I'm going to heaven. It's spitting in the face of a holy God to say, I think my good outweighs my bad, and so therefore, if that were the case, Jesus would not have had to die on the cross for your sins. So God can be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And so while reaching down to the depths into which man has fallen, and we're seeing it now. You say, man, it's never been this bad. Well, it sure has. You look at the Old Testament, it's been pretty bad. Hey, even in the history of America, the Great Awakening, if you look and study your history, things were pretty bad then. There have been times when it's been bad. And I agree that according to the Bible, things will get worse and worse. But that does not mean God is not holy and righteous and he's not still on the throne. So he has satisfied his holy requirement while still being forgiven. Now we don't understand that. See, Brother Barry, because in our mind, number one, we're not holy. So if I forgive you of your transgression toward me, what I'm saying is, I don't have, I mean what I'm really saying is I don't have the right not to forgive you because I'm as wicked as you are. That's good preaching by the way. If God's people figure out that we're commanded to forgive each other because we're all in the same, well I'm not as bad as they are, yes you are. But see God is not, He's not on our level. He is perfectly holy and perfectly righteous and so for Him to forgive us shows us the grace of God. So what Paul's writing in chapter 3 as we get to the end, he's showing how God can still be holy and righteous and just and still save mankind. You ought to get on your face and worship him one more time for that. Praise God, so should I. So Jesus is the answer to God's requirement and man's greatest need. So we never stopped being God and we didn't get to the place where we were better so God said come on into heaven. We were singing that song about heaven just a few minutes ago when we all get to heaven. You do realize we need to be careful that that ain't talking about everybody. That's talking about those that have trusted Christ as their Savior. So here's two things I want to share with you out of this scripture. Number one, in verse 24 to 26, the Bible is speaking about the ruined condition of man. The ruined condition of man. Well, notice what he says in verse 24. He said, being justified freely. By the way, I like that word, don't you? being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Well, what does that mean? Well, it gives us two things. First of all, it gives us a remarkable principle that the Bible is founded on, and that is this. The word justified means this. It is a legal and formal acquittal of guilt from God. It's not just forgiving, it is an acquittal. It's one thing for you to go to court and them say, well you know what, you take this plea bargain and we're going to lower your sentence than it is for them to say you're not guilty. Can I get amen this morning? If you're saved by the blood of Christ, you're not guilty in the sight of God. And so what the devil will do is he'll keep bringing that mess up and he'll keep dragging it up to discourage you. But if you're saved by the grace of God, according to Scripture, you're justified, which means that you are legally and formally acquitted from guilt by God. Amen. There's no higher authority in the universe than God. And God's saying, listen, if you'll come by the blood of Jesus Christ, I'm going to erase, not sweep it, not just throw it behind my back, I'm going to deal with it. We're going to wash it away by the blood of Jesus Christ. And now you can stand before a thrice holy God acquitted of your sin. Amen. So it is a constant process of justification. You say, well, what do you mean by that? Well, it's been dealt with one time. But listen, the Bible said that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. So every time he brings up an accusation, we go back to the blood of Christ to say that we're justified. I think Brother Barker said, every sin you commit has a death sentence attached to it. Right? That's good preaching. Well, guess what? Every sin you have to be acquitted from. So in a general sense, we're saved, we're acquitted of sin, but every time you sin, the Bible said, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well, every time you sin, God's saying, that one's acquitted. That one's acquitted. Amen. The devil's saying, listen. Johnny's sin, Shane's sin. Hey, judge, do you see this? And he said, acquitted. How can you say that? He said, because of the blood of Christ. Not because you're a Baptist. Amen. You know what? There's as many Baptists in hell as there is anything else. You're not going to get to heaven because you go to a Baptist church. You're not going to get to heaven because you got dunked in the water. You're not going to get to heaven because you shook somebody's hand. You're going to get to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross of Calvary. And so this remarkable principle is justification. And so what we're saying here, God is continually justifying us because we're constantly being accused. Now you say, well I thought we were forgiven. Well you are, but here's the problem. Forgiveness and justification are not the same thing. Forgiveness means we are guilty and remain guilty even though we are forgiven. So a lot of people like to say, well, hallelujah, I'm forgiven. Well, you are. But if you weren't justified, you still couldn't get to heaven. Somebody had to pay your sin debt. And so understand that justification means that our debt has been paid and we're no longer guilty. Amen. See, here's the thing. Let's say you owe MasterCard $20,000. You probably do in this economy. You can't buy breads at $19,000 a loaf now. So you owe them $20,000 and you say, well, I can't pay it. You call them up and say, well, listen, we'll take $10,000 of the $20,000 you owe, right? You say, well, I've been justified of that debt. No, you haven't. They forgave it. But in a legal sense, you still owe it. Now if I came in and you said, Brother Johnny, listen preacher, I owe MasterCard $20,000 and I know that you've got millions of dollars, which that would be a fairy tale, but praise God if he thought. And he said, could you just give me $20,000? Or loan me $20,000? I said, you know what Brother Johnny, you're my brother, I'm going to give you $20,000 and you take it to MasterCard and that debt will be paid, won't it? They can't bring it up anymore. That's the difference. You can be forgiven, but it's not the same as being justified. Amen. Now they coincide, but they're not exactly the same terminology. So we like to be forgiven, but we need to be justified as well, right? So here's what he says in verse 24, being justified freely. Well, what's that mean? It means in the sight of God you're not charged with anything. right the devil keeps bringing it up but God saying his sin debts been paid his sin debts been paid his sin debts been paid so we're justified freely in verse 24 by what well by your merit no that's not what it says it said justified freely by his grace well what does that mean getting something we don't deserve God's unmerited favor amen Man, when you hear the word grace, when you hear the term amazing grace, it ought to stir something inside of you. See, we become so callous to what grace really means. Well, I've offered him grace. All right, well, let's pay attention to this. In order to extend grace, you have to be higher than the person that you are quote unquote extending grace to. Right? Unmerited favor. Well you say, well you know what preacher, I've extended grace to you. No you haven't, because you're not higher than I am. I'm not higher than you are. Grace means that I've extended unmerited favor to someone lower than me. Well if we're all sinners, guess what, you haven't extended anything to me because you deserve the same thing I got. Amen. See we have so deified ourselves to where we're like, I'm so much like Jesus, I've offered you grace. No, you're not. Man, you deserve in the same charred walls of hell that I do. It's only by the grace of God we're even here this morning. Right? So we ought to not confuse how high and holy we are and how high and holy He is. He's the one who extends grace and He says it's free. Amen? Well, you say, praise God, if it's free it must not be too good. No, it's free to you. But it costs God the most precious thing He has. So number one, here's a remarkable principle that we learn in the book of Romans that we're justified, which means legally and formally acquitted from guilt by God. Well, listen, the Bible says this, that we should not be afraid of someone that could kill the body, but the one that could kill the body and soul. Well, who's that? Well, you can kill my body, but you can't do my soul. So the one I should fear is God himself, right? Well, he's the only one that sets the standard of heaven and salvation. It doesn't matter to me what theologians say. I could care less, Brother Russell. Line them up. They'll say, well, we've studied the Bible, and we feel like this, and we feel like that. No, what matters is what that book says. And you don't have to, by the way, People say, well, I'm just not educated enough to read the Bible. Well, you do realize this King James Bible was written on a sixth grade level. That was in 1611. So I'm not critical of the educational system, but if adults can't read the King James Bible, maybe we failed in the educational system and don't necessarily need to rewrite the Bible. It's good preaching, by the way. So it's a remarkable principle, but then notice this. There is a redemptive price. Look at verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in, who? Y'all dead this morning. Revival wore y'all out. Not in me, not in baptism, in Jesus Christ. Right? That's what he says. Now verse 25 says, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. What does that mean? Here is the word redeemed. It means purchased, delivered, or set free. So what he is saying is you have been set free not because of anything you have done, not because of a title, not because of where you were born, but you've been set free because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross and the word propitiation means God's holiness has been fully satisfied so now God can look again in favor of man listen when Jesus died on the cross you remember first of all the sun was blacked out secondly the veil was rent in half from top to bottom And now man has access to God. You ought to, hallelujah. You know there's a time you couldn't pray like you pray now. There's a time where only the high priest could go into the holy of holies. But when Jesus satisfied the law, right? Listen, so the law was set up. Some of you say, well, listen, my good outweighs my bad. You don't know the law. You say, we're not under law, preacher, we're under grace. You're right, but grace is not below the law. Grace is higher than the law. So the law was not ever meant to save anybody. The law was to show us that we could not be saved by our merit and that we needed to be looking for a Savior. Well, so that ceremonial law, and we'll look at this in just a minute, but what it was saying was you need someone to fulfill the law to be right with God. That's what Jesus said. He said, I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. And so, He died on the cross. for you and he died on the cross as you. Propitiation means God's holiness has been fully satisfied. Well, that was that ripping of the veil. God said, listen, I'm satisfied. So there never needs to be another sacrifice. There never needs to be another Calvary. Listen, we're not continually offering things to be saved like they did in the Old Testament to cover our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, God said, I'm fully satisfied. As a matter of fact, I'm about to have a shouting spell. The Bible said after he put the blood on the mercy seat, you know what he did? He sat down. Why did he sit down? Because redemption was complete. There was no more work to do. By the way, he wasn't tired. He was finished. It is finished is what he said. So this morning that word propitiation means the holiness of God has been satisfied. Well you say how much holiness is that? Complete holiness. There will be no sin in heaven. There will be no good outweighing bad. If you get to heaven it will be because you have accepted the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody is going to be bragging about what we did to get there by the way. When you see the nail prints in His hands, when you see the thorn prints in His brow, when you see the spear print in His side, and you realize that it cost God His precious Son for you to get to heaven, there'll be no bragging about my ministry and what I've done. We ought to get a little glimpse of that now. Then you'll bow down and worship Him one more time. So here, this redemptive price, what it took to get you to heaven is the death of Jesus Christ. Faith. Notice what he said in verse 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Well, the word faith means trusting. So he's saying that we are trusting, right, in his blood. Not in your works. In the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. So faith becomes saving faith when it is placed in Jesus Christ. You don't get saved because you got faith. You get saved because you have faith in what Jesus did on the cross. Right? I mean, anybody can have faith. You say, well, I don't know. My faith isn't strong. I believe it's real strong. How many of you, when you came in and sat in that pew, you were going, one of these things is going to hold me. You just plopped down. Right? When you leave church today, I'll tell you what you're going to do. There's somebody I know, y'all. Somebody will say, I'll prove him wrong. When you get it, you're going to go outside. You're going to get in your car. You're going to turn your key. And you're going to assume that car's going to start. I would say, now somebody will now, brother Matt. I would say, if I wouldn't have said this, nobody would go out and say, well, let me go out and check the oil levels. Let me go check my belts, make sure everything's right before we get started. You won't do that. You just assume that the last time you got in the car, it cranked up and went, right? That's a measure of faith. Every time you get on that death thing called a highway, you have faith that the guy on the other side is not going to come across there and run head on to you. Right? When you get on an airplane, you're assuming you have faith that whoever's behind the wheel of that thing knows how to, you know, didn't get their pilot's license by staying at a Holiday Inn Express the night before. You're assuming they actually have a pilot's license, right? You don't ask for credentials, you just get on there. Why is it we can have more faith in that than we can in what God says? Right? Some of y'all even have faith in your government, hallelujah. That's just crazy. I mean, it's crazy. I'll probably get shot over that one. So God can offer redemption by the blood of Christ, not because of anything else. So there's a redemptive prize to the ruined condition of man. There's a remarkable principle. You're a lost man, God knows that, and He wants to justify you. But in order to justify you, He can never cease to be just, and there has to be a payment for sin. Well, then we come down to verse 25 and verse 26. Notice the Bible said that we have faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Alright, what's all that mean? Well, hold on, look up here, I'll help you. You know what that is? That is Calvary. See, it is a royal proclamation. In other words, here's what Calvary did. In the cross of Calvary, in Jesus down on the cross, he did two things. The cross is the public declaration that God is righteous in the way he handles the sin question. Alright, again, go back to the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, they had to find a lamb without spot or blemish, right? They examined that lamb and they sacrificed that lamb for the remission of sins as an atonement. The word atonement means covering. So the blood of those goats and bullocks in the Old Testament never washed away sin. They simply covered it till the next year. And what they were doing, they were pointing to Calvary. Every sacrifice in the Old Testament was pointing to the Messiah coming and then dying on the cross of Calvary. Right? We on the same page? So God was pointing to Calvary and he's saying that those animals were never qualified to fully take sin away. Well, then, remember this, John the Baptist, when Jesus came, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. that take the way of sin in the world. So what he was telling those Jews was this. He was saying, listen, this Messiah you've been looking for that every time the high priest would sacrifice these animals was pointing to the Messiah, there he is. Right? That's what he said. He said, there he is. And they said, we'll not have him rule over us. Right? Well, see, we're no different today. We're looking back on Calvary and we're saying, no, I don't need it. I think I'm good enough. My righteousness, right? My goodness, my religion, my baptism, my good outweighs my bad, right? We're saying, well, I don't need what Jesus did on the cross. I'll take my chances with what I'm doing. Well, that's what they said. So what God did at Calvary was all the way back in the book of Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned, He said the wages of sin is what? Death. Well God has obligated Himself by His Word. When He said the wages of sin is death, every time there is sin there has to be death. God can't get away from that. See, God can't lie. You said he could if he wanted to. No, he can't, because a lie is not defined as what we think of today. Today we think a lie is there's degrees. Little lie, untruth. We don't want to call it a lie now. Well, he told an untruth. No, he lied. So guess what's going to happen between now and November? You're going to see a lot of lying. There will be no untruths. There will be lies. Well, that's just politics. That's called lying. Right? So, you say, well, God can change His mind. Well, once He's obligated Himself by His Word, if He goes against it, He lies. Well, you say, well, what's a lie? By definition, a lie is the absence of truth. Right? Well, I don't agree with that. It doesn't matter if you agree with it. Lie is the absence of truth. Well, it wasn't a lie because they asked me this and I just answered vaguely. Well, if you didn't tell them the truth, you lied. I mean, we clear what a lie is? Well, you say, God could lie if he wanted to. No, he doesn't. Because if a lie is the absence of truth, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He can't lie because there's no absence of truth in him because he is truth. So if he says it, he is 100% obligated himself by what he said and what he wrote in his word. Matter of fact, remember he said this, let God be true in every man. What? A liar. right so what I'm trying to get you to see is you can trust the Word of God you can trust what he said well what he said was I'm getting there hang with me the cross right the wages of sin is death he said that so therefore in order for him to be just a just God every time that someone sins there has to be a death If he did not, if he just forgave sin and there was no death, then he's a liar. Some of you are looking at me like, Preacher, I'm not sure about this. I promise you, Brother Ken, I'm right on this. So he said, look what he said in verse 26, that he might be just right and not then say or and so he has to be two things he has to be completely righteous just and he has to be the justifier well how do you do that right I'll tell you how you do it you do it by the cross of Calvary see here's what I'm saying he's saying listen I have to be just and holy I have to require death for your sin But because I love you, I provided the payment for sin that will justify you if you'll come the way I tell you to come. He satisfied both of them. He never ceased to be just because He said somebody must die for your sin. But He's a justifier and He shows His mercy and grace and love by sending Jesus to die, the perfect Lamb of God, to die in your place so that He never ceases to be righteous and merciful at the same time. You say, well, you're making that up. No, that was his plan. And you ought to get on your face and thank God that he never, because if he ceased to be holy, you couldn't trust him. If he lied in one point, you couldn't trust any of the Bible. So he has found a way to be completely holy and just, yet be merciful and gracious and still save you and me. Hallelujah. He deals with the ruined condition of man, so the royal proclamation declares that God has found a way of being just and merciful, and it was the cross of Calvary. That's why it's important. That's why it ought to be offensive. It is offensive to God. It should be offensive to us when we say, well, I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person. My good outweighs my bad, or got baptized, or I belong to this church. It doesn't matter about that. Listen, if you hadn't come by the way of the blood of Jesus Christ, then what you're saying is, God, I've got a better way than you got. So number one, I'm going to be, I ought to just quit there. That's good preaching on that. Number one, the rule and condition of men. Number two, real quick, the righteous character of God. Well, he has to be righteous. The Old Testament sin offering and burn offering, so in verse 26 he said that he might be just and the justifier of him which believed in Jesus. Well, two things. In that Old Testament, the sacrifice dealt with two things. One was the vileness of the sinner. In other words, in the sin offering, all of the sinner's vileness is transferred to the substitute. When they laid their hand on that scapegoat, what they were saying is we're taking our sin symbolically and putting it on the head of that scapegoat and they're going to lead him out to where he'll never be found again so that our sins are gone. Well see, that's what Jesus did. Where in the Old Testament they covered the sin, Jesus, he washed away the sin. So this is what God did at Calvary. He washed your sins away if you'll come to Him, right? Well, see, in the Old Testament, that sacrifice did no good if you did not believe or you didn't trust in that symbol of what God was trying to do. Well, we can celebrate Easter all you want to. You can say you believe Jesus was a person and that He died on the cross of Calvary, but if you don't trust that He died in your place and you don't accept Him as your Savior, it does no good. So there's number one is the vileness of the sinner. Number two, letter B, is the virtue of the substitute. So the same thing, where in that sacrifice, Brother Gary, they took the sins of the people and put it on the substitute to be taken away. When the virtue of the substitute was this, in the burnt offering, the virtue of that animal that was sacrificed was transferred to the sinner. So it's not enough, watch, it's not enough that Jesus took your sin and put it on him and paid for it, right? What he's saying is not only the transaction that took place as he did that, but also he took his righteousness and put it on you. Hallelujah. That propitiation, right, is that He took your guilt and your sin and your death sentence and He put it on Him. But then He took His righteousness and holiness and worthiness of going to heaven when you get saved and put it on you. The Bible said He's in us, but guess what? We're also in Him. Yes, sir. Man, you and I, we got nothing to brag about except Jesus this morning. You're not going to heaven because you're a good person. When God looks at you, if He looks at your righteousness, He'll see one of two things. He'll either see your righteousness, which is nothing, or if you're born again, He'll see the righteousness of Christ, which is everything. So this morning, you say, Preacher, I don't understand that. Let me give it to you in a nutshell and I'm done. Jesus died for you. Jesus died in your place on Calvary. He took away and paid your sin debt that you owed and I owed. And if you'll come to Him as your Savior this morning, He'll make you worthy for heaven because in taking away your sin, He's given you His righteousness. That makes me worthy to go to heaven, not because I'm good. There's none good, no not one. I'm worthy to go to heaven because when God sees me, if I'm saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, He sees the righteousness of Christ. Now the question is, what are you going to do with it? Everybody's not going to heaven. Only those that come by the way of the cross, only those that trust You say, I believe in Jesus, I believe He died on the cross But do you believe you deserve to die on the cross and He took your place? Or do you just think it was a historical event? Right? Are you willing to say, I should have been crucified? yet he died in my place and so therefore I'm going to trust him as my savior are you saying yeah it's a historical fact I know the you know history books say it and it happened but I don't think I I still think my good's gonna outweigh my bad and I don't need him as my savior then you're not understanding what the gospel message is for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God all that's every one of us but I'm glad there's hope in him let's stand together all over the building Let's bow our heads, close our eyes. No one's looking around. Thank you so much for your attention this morning. While we're standing here, no one's looking around. I'm not going to embarrass you. I will not come to you. I want to pray for you. Would there be one that, by an uplifted hand, you'd say, Preacher, I'm not sure that I've ever trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I don't know. I don't know. Or maybe you do know. You'd say, no, I'm not saved. I've never trusted him as my Savior. And I want you to pray for me. Okay? Here's what I want you to do. If that's you, if you'd answer and you'd be honest, I won't embarrass you. No one's coming to you. I just want to say a prayer for you right now. Would you slip your hand up and say, that's me, preacher. That's me. Would you do that? Is there one? Is there one? If I die today, I'm not sure I'd go to heaven, but I sure would like you to pray for me. Is there one? I'll say this. I pray that's true. Because according to the Bible, as we see the days approaching, we realize it's getting worse and worse. We realize He's coming back. We realize that we're not guaranteed tomorrow. So if that's our testimony, every person in here, brother Jerry, everybody's saved, hallelujah, praise God, then we are all going to heaven. But there's a world out there that's not. I don't think God would lay that message on my heart if somebody didn't need it this morning. What the devil will try to do right now is try to tell you, well you don't need to raise your hand, you don't need to go forward, you'll be alright. If you're concerned about it, please come. Somebody can take the Bible, show you how to know you're on your way to heaven. If you're concerned about someone else, won't you come pray for them? Don't walk out of here not having the peace of God. Maybe you're far from Him this morning. Don't walk out of here not having the peace of God. Too important. Only trust Him. Amen.