So in our Bible, so the Book of Romans, I'm so thankful for the blood of Jesus. The Apostle Paul as he's writing Romans in this portion of Scripture is trying to get to the point where the Jews understand that it's only through the blood. In Romans chapter number four, we'll start reading in verse number five. Can you stand with me as we read? Romans chapter number four, verse number five. And if you'd pray for me, I would greatly appreciate it. Romans chapter four, verse number five. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh his blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also. For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe. Though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them. And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but whose also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. Father, I pray that you'd bless the time in the scriptures this morning and Lord, I pray that you would just Lord, give me the strength I need to be able to deliver the message and I pray that through the Holy Spirit that you draw folks to yourself. Lord, there are some that are here that are lost. Lord, they're trusting all other things in order to go to heaven except for Jesus and only Jesus. I pray that they be saved today. Lord, for those of us that are saved, Lord, we easily forget what you've done for us. We easily forget how blessed we are to be born again. And Lord, I pray that you'd remind us. And either way, we'd come here with the angels rejoicing, that we'd leave this place with the angels rejoicing over sinners that have been saved, and Lord's saints rejoicing in the fact that they are saved. Either way, may you be honored and glorified. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. And we thank you so much. You may be seated. Every one of you, if you've been paying any attention over the past few years, you have read stories and you've heard stories of a judge who has a criminal in front of him, a violent criminal, maybe even one that committed robbery and murder, and for one reason or another, the judge says, I'm gonna let you go free. All of us are familiar with stories where there have been an illegal alien that's come over illegally and committed crimes, serious crimes, even murder, and for one reason or another, they're able to go free. And anyone who's paying attention would step back and say, wait a minute, there's great injustices going on. That if someone commits a crime and they're guilty, then there is a price that needs to be paid. It does not matter if they're illegal or not. It doesn't matter if they're poor or not. It doesn't matter if they're rich or not. If they have committed crimes, they need to pay for those crimes. Now, in justice, would you say amen? That's the way it is supposed to be. And so when the Apostle Paul says in verse number five, when he says about God, him that justifieth the ungodly If you understand who God is and you understand the Old Testament, you say, well, how can that possibly be that God would justify the ungodly? A judge is not supposed to do that. God promised that he would not do that, that God would not justify the ungodly. You say, Pastor, what did he say that? Well, he said it in Exodus 23, verse three, I will not justify the wicked. I'll not do that. That God will not look at someone who is wicked, someone who's a sinner, someone who's unjust, someone who is guilty. He will not look at that individual and justify them and let them go free. Is that what he said? He says in Deuteronomy 25 verse one, if there be a controversy between men and they come unto judgment, the judges may judge them. This is how God wants the judges to judge. Then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. That is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. If the judge looks at someone, if they are guilty, then they are to be judged and condemned. If they're innocent, then they're to be let go free. So when Paul says, Right now he's talking to the Jews. When he says that God will justify the ungodly, the question has to be, how can that possibly be? He's holy, he's righteous, he's just. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? How can that be? How can God look at someone, an individual, a person like you and me, who are guilty of sin and let us go free? It's one of the oldest questions in the Bible. Job asked that. How can a man be justified before God? How can that possibly be? Because we're all sinners. In Romans chapter 3, verse 10, he points it out. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of us, every person that came in this building is a sinner. Every person that's ever been born has been born as a sinner. Every one of us. We've confirmed it. You've not had to sit down and teach your kids how to lie. They learned that from their mother. I mean, no, no. You didn't have to teach them to be selfish or disobedient. You didn't have to teach them to steal. They did all those things. Why? Because they're born sinners. They confirmed it by the way that they live. And so the question, again, is then how can I be right with God? How can I make sure that when I die and stand before the judgment, when I stand before the great white throne of this great judgment, when I stand there as a sinner that's broken God's law, how can a holy God say, enter thou into the joy of the Lord? How can a holy God and a holy throne allow me a center in the holy city when God says not even a liar will be allowed to enter that city? That all murderers and whoremongers, liars and thieves will be outside of that city. They'll be in the lake of fire. How? How does God see a sinner as being justified? Justified is to be pardoned, to be clear from guilt, to be declared innocent, to be declared righteous. How can that possibly be? Well, Paul already gave the answer. The ladies that sang that song, they sang the answer. The answer's the blood of Jesus. That's the answer. Look at chapter three, verse number 24. Verse 24, being justified freely, freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God had set forth to be the propitiation through faith in His, what? In His blood. Verse 28, therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by what? by faith. It's free. It's a free gift. We're justified by faith, not by our works, not by our deeds. We're justified by our faith and what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. So he talks about these works of justification. Someone would stand up and say in chapter number four, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. We're justified by works. What about Abraham? Father Abraham, he worked his way into heaven, so we can work our way into heaven. We're following Abraham. And the Apostle Paul shows very clearly that Abraham did not justify himself by being a good person. In the book of Genesis chapter 17, God appears to Abraham and says, Abraham, I'm Almighty God. Be thou perfect. Was Abraham perfect? No. We saw last week that he's a liar. He lied on several occasions. He's an adulterer. Disobedient. Well, then how can he be righteous? They're saying, well, he's righteous because of his deeds. He's righteous because of his works. And Paul says, no, he's not made righteous by his works. We're not. The Jew would say Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord. But we find out, no, he wasn't perfect in all his deeds. And so the works of justification are not done by man, it's freely given. But then he pipes in with David, what I love this. So he talks about Abraham, but then now he talks about the wonder of justification in verse number six. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. I like David. But David had some problems. He had some real deep spiritual problems. He had grieved the Lord on several occasions by taking the census, but you know he also committed adultery and then tried to cover it up. Is that right? Committed murder. I mean, he's breaking the commandments of God left and right. Adultery, coveting thy neighbor's wife, Right? That shall not bear false witness. That shall not kill. He's breaking them all. And so David, he knew he had broken God's law. He knew he had broken God's commandment. And he was trying to find how to get right with God. How can I, that was an adulterer, and a liar, and a murderer, how can I be just before God? Well, David found the key. And David says this, listen, I wanna tell you guys the most important thing. You wanna be blessed, you wanna know the blessing, you wanna know the biggest blessing a human could ever have, that is the blessed of being justified by the love of God through the blood of Christ. What does he say? He says in verse number six, he said, blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Verse seven, saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. David's sins were forgiven. David's sins were covered. Verse number eight, blesses the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Now that word impute is used in verse number six, verse number eight, verse number 11, verse 22, verse 23, verse number 24, chapter number five, and verse number 13. That's an important word. And impute means this. It means added to your account. So say for instance, I said, listen, I'd like to give you some money. Can I have your account number? Would you give to me? Wait, I'm going to add to it, not take away. You don't trust me. OK, OK, I know where we stand. All right, all right. To add to it, to impute is to add, to give to that account. And what David says is an amazing thing. David says, blessed is the man beyond benefit, Beyond anything we can imagine is a man who God looks at and says, you know what? I'm going to impute or add to your account righteousness. And I'm not going to add to your account sin. That means when God looks at your account, he finds no sin. I'm here to tell you, if he finds sin, you're not going to heaven. So he says, I'm gonna add to your account righteousness, and I'm gonna take from your account sin. Well, if God's a just God, that sin, he can't just take a sinner and give him righteousness and take away his sin and say, okay, I'm declaring you just. Then God wouldn't be just. So where does this sin go? Well, the Bible says that through Jesus Christ, that he became sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. I'm gonna tell you what happened, folks. This is the most amazing thing in all the world. That if you come to Christ through faith, that God will freely and graciously say this. All right, you're coming to me in faith. I will take away your sin from your account. I will impute this sin on my son's account. My son will pay for your iniquity, for your sin, and for your transgressions. And I will go beyond that and add to your account righteousness. Grace. Mercy is when he took my sin and added it to the cross, and grace is when he took his righteousness and added it to my account. This is an amazing thing. We're gonna talk about earning our way to heaven, being good enough to go to heaven when God did the only thing that could happen for us to go to heaven. That nothing can be added to it, nothing can be taken away from it. I don't mean to make light of it, and I shared this insignificant illustration before, but I know this. I know that my wife knows how to cook, and if I go in the kitchen, I do nothing but mess it up. I know that once my wife cooks a meal, I know, I know, and I look at it and it looks wonderful. It looks really good. And thank you, honey, for this wonderful meal. It looks great. Great. Let's pray. And we say amen. And I reach for the salt shaker. And she gives me a look. It's not good enough? I'm enslaving the kitchen all day, adding all kinds of spices you never heard of before? And I've done all this stuff, and I've presented to you, and you think that you can add something to it? She gets offended. Thank you, ladies. All right. There we go. Right there. Right there. And as silly as it is to think that God looks at you and God looks at me and says, I see you as a sinner, and I'm going to justify you. But there's only one way I can do it. There's only one way I can make you right and I stay right. That I can make you holy and I can continue to be holy. I'm a righteous judge. This is the only way. I will take your sin from you that you are guilty of. Because of your faith in Christ, I will apply it to my son and impute it on him. And I will give my righteousness upon you. And now I can look at you as being righteous and I see no sin on your account. It's paid for. It's paid in full. And you think you can add a little bit of baptism to it? Church membership to it? Give a little money here, a little there? Imagine how offended God is when a redemption has been purchased by the blood of his son to think that somehow we can add to it. David said, this is a wonderful thing. the wonders of justification. But then there's still some doubters. There's still some people on the sidelines in Romans chapter four that Paul has to address. They're still saying, yeah, but Abraham, but Abraham, you can't just be justified by the blood of Jesus. That can't be enough. You have to keep the law. You need to be baptized. They were saying that in the book of Acts, chapter 15, verse 24. For as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls. Remember that phrase, subverting your souls. Saying, you must be circumcised and keep the law. to whom we gave no such commandment. There's people going around saying, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you gotta, yeah, well, we're so thankful for Jesus, but you gotta keep the law, and you certainly still need to be circumcised, and the apostles in Acts chapter 15 said, wait a minute, if you believe that and you preach that, you are subverting souls. If you're pointing people to works and the law and circumcision, you are pulling them away from the free grace and the free mercy of the cross of Calvary. But Abraham was, Abraham, look at verse number nine, chapter number four, verse number nine. Come with this blessedness, the blessedness of having my sin imputed on the cross and his righteousness imputed upon me. That blessedness, come with this blessedness then upon the circumcision only. Can the only person that has their sins taken care of be ones that are circumcised? Now, I don't know how many times he uses the word circumcision in this. I didn't count. It's just too many to count. It's all about circumcision. It's very important. So the only people that can have their sins forgiven are those that keep the law and those that are circumcised. Paul's asking that question, those are the only people blessed with this? Well, he answers it, for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. He says, wait a minute, Abraham wasn't saved because he was circumcised, he was saved because he had faith. Right? See, it comes down to this. Either we are trusting in the finished work of Calvary, or we're trusting in our flesh. We're trusting Him or we're trusting us. Paul addresses this in the book of Philippians. Keep your finger there in Romans 4. Go to Philippians chapter number 3. Philippians 3. I can't wait to preach through Philippians. We'll get this done in like three or four weeks. Philippians chapter number 3. Look at verse, Philippians chapter number 3. Look with me at verse number... We'll pick it up in verse number four. Philippians chapter three, verse number four. Well, verse three. Verse three, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So, wait, we are circumcised, but we're not trusting our circumcision, we're trusting Christ. Verse four, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he might trust in the flesh, I more. If you think that your flesh, your religion's getting you to heaven, I guarantee you, Paul says, I've done more in my flesh than you have. He says in verse number five, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is the law, blameless. Hey, if anyone could stand before the Lord and say, Lord, you need to let me in. I'm justified by my works. I've been circumcised the eighth day. Right the day I was supposed to be, I was on that day. I'm a Hebrew. I'm of the tribe of Benjamin. That's where you pick the first king of Israel from. I'm a Pharisee. I've studied the law. I'm strict. There's things I won't do. I fast twice a week. Right? The law, I know the law. I teach the law. I keep the law. Is that good enough? All these righteousnesses. So what's his conclusion? What does he say here in Philippians? He says this in verse number seven, but what things were gained to me, the things I thought were, the things I thought that I added to my account that would get me to heaven. Huh, I count loss for Christ. Ye doubtless, I count all things but loss for the ecstasy of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but dung that I might win Christ and be found in him, not having mine own, what? Righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. I'm not trusting in the law, I'm not trusting in my heritage, I'm not trusting in my circumcision, I am trusting Jesus Christ by faith. What are you trusting? What are you trusting this morning? To go to heaven. Back to Romans chapter number four. But Abraham was circumcised and Abraham, so he has to make this final point. Verse number nine. Talks about the way of justification, the way. It's not by works. It's not by works. It's by faith. It's not by the law. It's by grace. Can you remember that phrase? That's what he's saying. Verse number nine, come with this blessedness then, upon the circumcision only, is it just, do you have to be circumcised to get this deal? Or upon the uncircumcision also, can the uncircumcised get it? Can I put it this way, is it just for the Jew? Or can the Gentiles get in on this? Now there's some that would say the Gentiles can if they get circumcised. And he's saying, no, that's not the case. That's not the case. Verse 10, how was it then reckoned? How was it then reckoned? Here's the question. How did Abraham have God look at him and say, you're just before me, Abraham? How did that happen? And the real question is, did it happen before he was circumcised, when he got circumcised, or after he was circumcised? That's the question. Let's look. Go back to Genesis chapter number 15. You're doing really well, I'm almost done. Genesis chapter number 15. Genesis 15, look with me at verse number, For sake of time, Genesis 15, verse number six. Genesis 15, verse number six. Genesis 15, verse six. Say amen if you're there. And he, what? Believed in the Lord, and he, that's God, counted it, reckoned him, imputed upon him. You've noticed that these are all accounting words, right? counted him for what? Righteousness. Now I need to tell you this, this is over 400 years before the law was even given. God said, Abraham, I am now reckoning you righteous. So was he kept righteous by keeping the law? The law wasn't even given yet. Okay, well then, he must have been circumcised at that point. No, no, no, no. Genesis chapter 16, verse one. Genesis 16, verse number one. And when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. He gives them a covenant. Verse number 10. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised, and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. Okay class, was he reckoned or counted righteous before the law was even given? Was he counted or reckoned righteous before he was circumcised? Chapter number 15 comes before chapter 17. He's called righteous in chapter 15. He's circumcised in chapter 17. And if there's any doubt, they're 14 years apart. 14 years before he was circumcised, God looked at Abraham and said, you know what, Abraham? I'm declaring you righteous because you believe me. Because of your faith, not your circumcision, not keeping of the law, not your good deeds, but your faith in me. That's it, it's case closed. It's case closed. Go back to Romans 4. Let me make my final statement in this case that is closed. In verse number 11, and he received the sign of circumcision as a seal. So in verse number 10, he's called righteous before he's circumcised, 14 years before. And then 14 years later, God gives him the seal of his righteousness, the sign of his righteousness, that he has a covenant with him. It's very much likened to baptism. We're not saved by being baptized. Baptism is a symbol of what has already taken place. It's a seal. That he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them. Do you have righteousness imputed unto you? I didn't ask if you were circumcised. I don't think I've ever asked you that question personally. I'm not asking if you keep the law. I'm saying, was there a point in your life where God the judge, the righteous judge, the holy judge, Listen, he can't let you into heaven as a sinner or he'd cease from being a holy God. So has there ever been a time when he looked at you as a sinner and said, listen, you put your faith in the finished work of Calvary and God says, that's it. Because of your faith in the cross of Calvary, I can freely bestow upon you grace and I add to your account righteousness because I took your sin and I added it to his account. Now I have a question for you. Is there anything more blessed than that? Like I'm saying, was there something wrong with David? Because it seems to me that even as he's brought up here in chapter number four, David was excited about being forgiven. He was excited about being saved. He was excited about being spared. Like, listen, he's a guy that had all the riches and all the gold and all the power and all the fame. He said, I don't need any of that. I'll tell you he was blessed. As someone that God sees as righteous, someone who God sees as forgiven, And I'm afraid of this. I'm afraid that it's very sterile after a while. It's very doctrinal. We don't ever want to get excited about it. We acknowledge it mentally that, yeah, that's what took place. And we'll use all the words, propitiation, justification, But can we just stop for a minute and say, he saved you when you couldn't save yourself. Can we just say, is there anybody more fortunate? That word blessed, the word blessed that he uses, that David uses, or recorded blessedness, is supremely blessed. Are you not supremely blessed? I mean, fortunate, are you fortunate? You did not get what you deserve, and you did get what you didn't deserve. How blessed this well-off is there anybody more well-off than someone who is heaven-bound? well-off Blessedness he goes that that definition Good fortune Man my fortune my future was a lake of fire My future is heaven Not because of my deeds, not because of my baptism, circumcision, not because of the law, but because of grace. Because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Now, I don't expect you, I don't expect you to get excited as I am. You don't have to do that, that's fine. But if there's, if you've lost I want to say that loving feeling. Whoa, that's a feeling. Don't you dare put that in the title, by the way. Have you gotten over it? Because you can check right now, if you're saved, you can check right now. and there's still nothing on your account. I'm pretty sure you send after this whole deal, transaction was made. And there's still nothing on your account. If you're saved, there's still nothing there. Can I share my favorite story? I haven't shared it here in like four or five years. Can I do that? When we moved into Hartford to start that church there, Miss Heidi and I did, We moved into this apartment building, and the neighbor was selling the house. Contacted us, hey, we're selling my mother's house. The state's gonna come take it if we don't sell it. I'll give you a good deal, but the transaction's gotta be made in a week. So I went to the bank, and the bank said, no, we're not gonna have a turnaround by then. We have to have a home inspection and all these different things. We can't do that. So I thought, OK, well, we're not going to get the house. So we were over at my parents' house, and I was talking about the house and how wonderful it would be to have that house. And even though it's in the inner city, at least it's our own home. But we're not going to be able to get a loan for that. And my mom said to me, and my dad said, well, what about Brother So-and-so, one of their friends? Their friend was extremely wealthy. I mean, very, very, very wealthy. Well, you can go to him and he'll let you borrow the money. I'm like, I'm not borrowing, I'm not gonna borrow that kind of money from somebody that I know. I can't do that, I can't do that. My mom's like, well, don't get the house. And I said to my wife, I said, Heidi, what do you think? She says, well, if you don't wanna ask, I just guess we don't get it. So, I call the guy. I call the guy and I say, hey, brother, how are you? I said, let me just tell you what's kind of an opportunity that we have. And I feel like a little kid trying to convince his parents to buy a puppy. Hey, if I can borrow this money, I'll pay you back. I'll pay you back with interest. I'll pay you back. If I can borrow this, hey, brother, no problem. I show up at closing five days later with two cashier's checks for the price of that house. I think that was in like October, we moved in. Isn't that a blessing? And so November, I write a check, the agreed amount, here's the check. I send that off there. December, I write a check, send it off. I'm gonna be paying this off for a while, okay, but I wanna maintain my testimony, so I write a check. Well, the end of December, towards the end of December, I got a Christmas card from them. And I got the card, and I opened it up, and they said, oh, Ken and Heidi, we love you guys. We appreciate what you're doing there in Hartford. Not many people would go there. And my wife and I prayed about it, and we decided that we don't want you to pay us back. Merry Christmas. I looked at that thing, and I went, don't pay us. Don't, don't. Conjunction. Do, do, do. Do not. Listen, you got to be really careful here. I wanted to rejoice, but I wanted to make sure I was reading it right. I have Dyslexia, by the way. I just don't know that. But I'm like, am I reading this right? Do not pay us back. Merry Christmas. Woo! This is amazing, look at this, this is amazing. I mean, that is the greatest Christmas card I ever got. And we rejoiced over it, but now I didn't know how to talk to them. Like, what do you do? And I always joke like, you write a thank you note? Thank you for the house. It is very nice. How do you even do that? How do you even thank them? So I was complaining to my mom. I said, I don't even know what to do. I feel awkward talking to them now. I don't know what to do. And my mom's like, well, why don't you just take them out to eat and just break the ice? They're just real people. They love you. That's why they gave you the house. Just take them out to eat and just don't worry about it. OK, so we take them out to eat. We go to this really nice restaurant. It was a really nice restaurant. And we're eating. And we made small talk. We said thank you. And it was a really good time. And then the check came. Which is a bill by the way? I don't like it's a bill not a check the bill comes and he goes to reach for his wallet Now I grew up my dad used to pretend to reach for his wallet If you say you got it, there's no volley you got it I Mean polite is I got it. No let me get it. No you get it. Okay. You get it. No not my dad You say you got it. It's yours So he goes, he reached for a wall and said, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. You are not paying for this meal. I mean, you got the house. I got the dinner. All right? Be even. All right? So I'll pay for this meal, buddy. I don't even give a good tip. I'll pay for this. No, I'll pay for this. So I paid for it, and I felt a whole lot better. And my mom was a little bit of a busybody. So she knew when I got home, she called me. She says, how was dinner? I said, oh, it was good. Broke the ice. And I said, you know, he tried to pay for the meal. How dare he? And she said, oh, you paid, right? I said, yeah, of course I paid. She said, well, where did you go? What restaurant did you go to? And I told her, I said, oh, a real nice restaurant. And I told her the name. And she went, oh. I'm like, what? Oh, and I'm thinking cockroaches. She's going, oh, my. I said, what? She said, I think they own that restaurant. What? He got the money anyway, right? That is the best illustration to where we are with the Lord. The Lord says, you know what? I love you and your faith in me. Your account is paid in full. Forgiven. The debt is forgiven. The blood of Christ, it covers it all. Blessed is that man. And we think, OK, well, thank you for eternal salvation that I didn't deserve. And anything that you do from that point on to show Him that you're thankful, He already owns. That should not stop us from trying. Should not stop us from trying. Father, we are amazed and overwhelmed that this salvation is freely given. Father, the world is full right now of people that literally walk on coals to be made right with you, that flail their bodies for the atonement of their sins, that do so many extreme things to be found right in your eyes, and yet salvation is freely given. We are so unworthy, but we are so thankful. Lord, we are thankful that it's not by circumcision or by the law, it's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but it's according to your mercy. Lord, I humbly ask, Lord, this morning, if someone here does not know Christ as their Savior, Lord, that they could humble themselves and realize that this salvation is a free gift. It's free to us, but it costs the precious blood of Jesus Christ. I pray that they be saved today. Lord, for those of us that are saved, may we thank you. And we show our appreciation for what you've done for us. We know that every good and every perfect gift is coming from above, but Lord, this is the best gift. So I pray that we could thank you. Every head bowed, every eye closed, let me ask you this. Who's here this morning? Pastor, I'm not sure if I'm saved. I don't know if I've had my sins imputed on the cross of Calvary and Christ's righteousness made upon me. I'm not sure if I'm truly saved. If you're not sure of your salvation, can I pray for you? Would you slip up your hand right now that I might pray for your pastor? Please pray for me, I'm not sure of my salvation. Please pray for me. All right, Christian, you've been given more than a house. You've been given eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I'm not asking you to write a thank you card, I'm asking you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. Would you stand on your feet, every head bowed, every back closed. I'm going to ask the piano to play. And I want to give you an opportunity to thank the Lord for His righteousness in your life.