WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.960 your Bible, please, to the Gospel. The book of 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:15.419 Romans, chapter 1, verse 16. I am not ashamed 00:00:15.419 --> 00:00:18.379 of the Gospel because it is the power of God 00:00:18.379 --> 00:00:22.920 for the salvation of everyone who believes. First 00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:28.140 for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:32.850 Gospel, A righteousness from God is revealed. 00:00:35.049 --> 00:00:37.270 Perhaps you would agree with me that life is 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:42.630 complex. And it seems the older we become, the 00:00:42.630 --> 00:00:50.789 more complex life becomes. Last weekend, I was 00:00:50.789 --> 00:00:53.649 with a group of people I haven't seen in 30 years. 00:00:54.229 --> 00:00:57.500 We graduated together from high school. It's 00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:01.840 amazing how old they have become. Now I shouldn't 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:04.620 say old, probably I should call them chronologically 00:01:04.620 --> 00:01:10.659 challenged to be more politically correct. But 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:13.620 one thing I determined after having chatted with 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:16.140 them for a while, that for all of us, life has 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:19.799 become a lot more complex than it was when we 00:01:19.799 --> 00:01:24.959 were seniors in high school. And for that matter, 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:29.359 our whole culture has deteriorated, become more 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:33.939 anti -Christ, so that for the Christian, life 00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:38.200 is even tougher in its complexity. Life is filled 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:42.340 with difficult alternatives and hard choices. 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:47.340 It's often perplexing. It's good to know that 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:50.659 there are some things that are still simple. 00:01:52.109 --> 00:01:57.310 Salvation is that way. Now our critics label 00:01:57.310 --> 00:02:01.549 us as offering a message that makes people troubled 00:02:01.549 --> 00:02:07.209 by modernity more comfortable. They say people 00:02:07.209 --> 00:02:09.610 in this complex world are looking for simple 00:02:09.610 --> 00:02:13.129 things, therefore people who are evangelicals 00:02:13.129 --> 00:02:17.310 offer a simple message. In a demeaning way they 00:02:17.310 --> 00:02:21.509 say that. and therefore they have their followers. 00:02:23.389 --> 00:02:26.650 Well, the fact is that our message is a simple 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:33.849 message. It is not simplistic. It is not old 00:02:33.849 --> 00:02:42.389 fashioned. It is not ordinary. But our message 00:02:42.389 --> 00:02:47.080 is uncomplicated enough to be grasped and applied 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:51.099 by anyone with the capacity to understand biblical 00:02:51.099 --> 00:02:55.539 truth. Salvation's basics haven't changed through 00:02:55.539 --> 00:02:58.780 the centuries, nor have they been altered by 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:04.080 the changes in culture. The message that we proclaim, 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.240 the message of salvation, is the same straightforward 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.159 message that was valid 2 ,000 years ago when 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:16.810 it was proclaimed by the apostles. Maybe it'd 00:03:16.810 --> 00:03:19.449 be good for me to define salvation because that 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:21.349 is a term that has a lot of different meanings 00:03:21.349 --> 00:03:25.110 these days. When I talk about the simplicity 00:03:25.110 --> 00:03:31.009 of salvation, I'm referring to deliverance from 00:03:31.009 --> 00:03:33.490 the penalty of sin, which is separation from 00:03:33.490 --> 00:03:39.770 God, and the establishment of an eternal relationship 00:03:39.770 --> 00:03:44.490 with the living God that dramatically changes 00:03:44.490 --> 00:03:49.840 who we are and what our destiny is. That's what 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.840 I mean by salvation. It changes us so that we're 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:57.120 no longer enemies of God, we are children of 00:03:57.120 --> 00:04:02.680 God. No longer is our destiny hell, our destiny 00:04:02.680 --> 00:04:08.659 is heaven because of this simple message of the 00:04:08.659 --> 00:04:13.030 Gospel. Salvation is simple. although some have 00:04:13.030 --> 00:04:15.729 encrusted the message with centuries of religious 00:04:15.729 --> 00:04:21.750 tradition, or complicated it with lists of rules, 00:04:23.250 --> 00:04:26.990 or overlaid it with sacraments and rituals, thus 00:04:26.990 --> 00:04:32.050 perverting its simplicity. The fact is that the 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:34.949 message itself is a simple message. It is not 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:41.009 cheap. It is not common. It is not trite. but 00:04:41.009 --> 00:04:45.810 it is, thank God, simple. In the first place, 00:04:45.810 --> 00:04:51.269 it is simple in its origin. Paul says in this 00:04:51.269 --> 00:04:54.769 verse, I am not ashamed of the Gospel because 00:04:54.769 --> 00:05:02.029 it is the power of God unto salvation. The Gospel 00:05:02.029 --> 00:05:04.629 did not originate with some kind of religious 00:05:04.629 --> 00:05:08.480 evolution. There are those who have applied the 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:12.800 Darwinian theory of evolution to theology And 00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:15.680 they say that man as he was coming out of his 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:20.220 caves Developed a certain kind of simple theology 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:23.259 and through the years that has evolved into what 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:28.740 we believe today baloney The gospel is not the 00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:33.579 result of some sort of evolution in theology 00:05:33.579 --> 00:05:37.399 and religion Nor is it the result of human invention. 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:42.740 The Gospel is not the kind of message that human 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:47.360 beings will invent because it calls human beings 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:52.139 sinners who are dead in trespasses and sins and 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:56.699 helpless to save themselves. Human beings will 00:05:56.699 --> 00:06:00.759 not create that kind of a message. Rather, the 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:05.360 origin of salvation is in divine intervention. 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:10.220 It is in God Himself. The psalmist says salvation 00:06:10.220 --> 00:06:15.639 belongs to the Lord. In Jonah we read salvation 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:20.300 is from the Lord. And over and over again the 00:06:20.300 --> 00:06:24.540 Apostle Paul, for example, calls God our Savior. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:33.120 Salvation originates in the heart of God. Contrary 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:35.920 to what the New Age religion tries to tell us, 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:40.759 man cannot be his own savior. He is helpless. 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:47.360 He is without hope. He needs someone who can 00:06:47.360 --> 00:06:54.500 intervene on his behalf. I acknowledge that when 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:57.139 we say that it's simple in its origin that there 00:06:57.139 --> 00:07:01.430 are some profound mysteries in this. It is a 00:07:01.430 --> 00:07:08.089 profound mystery how a holy God could come into 00:07:08.089 --> 00:07:13.209 this world and become a man, unite himself to 00:07:13.209 --> 00:07:17.449 sinless humanity. It is a profound mystery how 00:07:17.449 --> 00:07:23.050 God could then become sin and die for the sake 00:07:23.050 --> 00:07:28.410 of sinful, rebellious humanity. That is a profound 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:33.139 mystery. But at the heart of it, it is simple. 00:07:34.620 --> 00:07:38.740 With all of its complex mysteries, the Gospel 00:07:38.740 --> 00:07:43.060 originates in the heart of God. It is God's Gospel, 00:07:43.540 --> 00:07:48.060 not man's. It's simple in its origin. It's from 00:07:48.060 --> 00:07:55.019 God. It's given to us by divine revelation. Secondly, 00:07:56.740 --> 00:08:01.779 salvation is simple in its definition. Paul says, 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:06.540 it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone 00:08:06.540 --> 00:08:12.860 who believes. The Gospel saves. But what does 00:08:12.860 --> 00:08:17.819 that mean? Well, the very word means to rescue. 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:21.079 And so in the first place we would say that the 00:08:21.079 --> 00:08:24.660 definition of salvation is that it is a rescuing 00:08:24.660 --> 00:08:29.519 action. It is somebody taking action on behalf 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:35.240 of someone else to deliver them. My mother -in 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:39.059 -law was driving her automobile a couple of weeks 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:46.740 ago. And as she was passing a semi, somehow the 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:52.759 bumpers got caught. And she was tossed sideways. 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:56.799 The car rolled twice. and landed upside down 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:00.019 in the median. She should have been killed. She 00:09:00.019 --> 00:09:03.480 had her seatbelt on. She had one little prick 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:06.000 in her finger like a pinprick. That was the only 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:09.500 injury she had. Not even a whiplash. I told her 00:09:09.500 --> 00:09:12.899 there were 14 angels just covering her as she 00:09:12.899 --> 00:09:16.019 turned over and over. But when she landed, she 00:09:16.019 --> 00:09:19.919 was hanging by her seatbelt. And she couldn't 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:22.600 help herself. Some people had to come and help 00:09:22.600 --> 00:09:28.690 her and rescue her. Salvation is simple in its 00:09:28.690 --> 00:09:31.250 definition because it simply means a rescuing 00:09:31.250 --> 00:09:35.669 action. It means that we are helpless and that 00:09:35.669 --> 00:09:39.649 God intervenes on our behalf. He comes to rescue 00:09:39.649 --> 00:09:45.110 us from danger. How many of you watch Rescue 00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:49.210 911? I know it's a little embarrassing, but not 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:57.980 bad. Or Code 3. I'm a sucker for those shows. 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:03.779 I don't know, there's a little bit of something 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:06.720 inside of me that the adrenaline gets moving. 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:10.539 And it's exciting to see people who are in trouble 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:14.700 rescued. That's what God has done with the Gospel. 00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:19.059 Salvation is simple in its definition. God has 00:10:19.059 --> 00:10:22.559 taken a rescuing action. But there's another 00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:25.860 way that we can define the Gospel. It's not only 00:10:25.860 --> 00:10:29.259 a rescuing action, it's a purchasing transaction. 00:10:30.820 --> 00:10:34.519 The word save or salvation, its noun, means to 00:10:34.519 --> 00:10:37.480 rescue. But there's another word that's found 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:41.039 in chapter 3, for example, in the book of Romans, 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:46.379 that is roughly equivalent to salvation, that 00:10:46.379 --> 00:10:52.620 gives us a different insight into it. It's beginning 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:57.379 reading in verse 23 of Romans 3. For all have 00:10:57.379 --> 00:11:00.179 sinned and fall short of the glory of God and 00:11:00.179 --> 00:11:04.159 are justified freely by His grace through the 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:10.600 redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Redemption. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:14.539 Salvation is not only a rescuing action, it is 00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:18.659 a purchasing transaction. This word redemption. 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:22.299 There are three words actually in the New Testament 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:25.440 in the original language that are translated 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:30.259 redeem or redemption in our English translations 00:11:30.259 --> 00:11:37.139 One word means to buy a slave to purchase a slave 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:41.480 in the slave market to pay the price for him 00:11:41.480 --> 00:11:48.159 a Related word means then to take that slave 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:52.750 out of the slave market. To buy it and then to 00:11:52.750 --> 00:11:54.590 take it out of the slave market. Then there's 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:58.190 a third word that's translated redeem that means 00:11:58.190 --> 00:12:04.549 to let loose, to let go, to free. Now you put 00:12:04.549 --> 00:12:06.629 all those words together and you get the idea 00:12:06.629 --> 00:12:10.549 behind the word redemption. It means that God 00:12:10.549 --> 00:12:15.690 has come to the slave market of sin where we 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:20.850 are in bondage. and we cannot pay the price for 00:12:20.850 --> 00:12:27.070 ourselves. And He pays the price in our behalf. 00:12:28.330 --> 00:12:31.990 He removes us from the slave market of sin, and 00:12:31.990 --> 00:12:37.549 He lets us go so that we are no longer under 00:12:37.549 --> 00:12:43.049 obligation to sin. That's salvation. It is a 00:12:43.049 --> 00:12:46.950 purchasing transaction. And the price of that 00:12:46.950 --> 00:12:51.029 was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's 00:12:51.029 --> 00:12:54.429 what it cost God. It's free to you and to me. 00:12:54.990 --> 00:13:01.149 But it cost God dearly. Because He Himself paid 00:13:01.149 --> 00:13:05.830 the price that we might be purchased and belong 00:13:05.830 --> 00:13:12.269 to Him. That's redemption. Thirdly, we can define 00:13:12.269 --> 00:13:17.899 salvation simply as a legal declaration. A legal 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:21.340 declaration. You see the word justify here in 00:13:21.340 --> 00:13:26.519 verse 24. Justification. What that means is that 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:30.879 God declares us legally in His sight to be righteous. 00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:34.879 Forgiveness is the negative side of salvation. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.539 It means that our sins are removed. They're taken 00:13:38.539 --> 00:13:42.820 away from us. Justification is the positive side. 00:13:42.940 --> 00:13:46.159 It means that not only are our sins subtracted, 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:51.259 but God adds to us His righteousness. And again, 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:55.120 the ground of our justification, the legal ground 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:58.100 for it, is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:14:00.580 --> 00:14:04.320 That's why God can legally declare us righteous 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:07.360 in His sight because Jesus paid the penalty. 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:13.210 Therefore, we can be freed from that legal penalty 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:20.090 of sin. All of our sin was put on Christ, imputed 00:14:20.090 --> 00:14:23.909 to Christ, and His perfect righteousness was 00:14:23.909 --> 00:14:29.009 imputed to us, given to us, so that we, in God's 00:14:29.009 --> 00:14:32.590 eyes, are legally declared to be righteous, and 00:14:32.590 --> 00:14:37.539 that can't change. Good news. The gospel is the 00:14:37.539 --> 00:14:40.799 power of God unto salvation. Our salvation is 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:46.860 simple in its definition. Thirdly, it's simple 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:52.580 in its condition. Simple in its condition. You 00:14:52.580 --> 00:14:58.379 see, not everyone is going to be saved in the 00:14:58.379 --> 00:15:03.080 end. Despite the power of God unto salvation, 00:15:03.299 --> 00:15:06.820 despite the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, not 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:14.299 everyone is going to be saved. The verse says 00:15:14.299 --> 00:15:19.340 it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone 00:15:19.340 --> 00:15:25.320 who believes. That means that those who do not 00:15:25.320 --> 00:15:30.929 believe will not be saved. And that this gospel 00:15:30.929 --> 00:15:34.389 that is God's power will not deliver them or 00:15:34.389 --> 00:15:40.250 rescue them from the penalty of their sins. Today 00:15:40.250 --> 00:15:46.690 people are still dying and going to hell. Bad 00:15:46.690 --> 00:15:52.450 people today are dying and going to hell. But 00:15:52.450 --> 00:15:56.409 I'll tell you something else. Good people today 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:04.139 are dying and going to hell too. Today, there 00:16:04.139 --> 00:16:06.679 will be atheists in the Twin Cities who will 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:13.100 die and go to hell forever. Today, there will 00:16:13.100 --> 00:16:16.600 be church members who will die and go to hell 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:25.600 forever. Why is that? Because the Gospel is applied 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.919 not because people are good, not because they're 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:33.940 baptized. Not because they joined the church. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:38.220 Not that those things are wrong. But that isn't 00:16:38.220 --> 00:16:43.740 the reason the Gospel is applied to them. Salvation 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:47.480 is very simple in its condition. You don't have 00:16:47.480 --> 00:16:50.240 to go out from here this morning wondering if 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.500 you've done enough. You can never do enough. 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:58.799 You don't have to go out from here this morning 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:01.019 wondering if there's some more ritual you ought 00:17:01.019 --> 00:17:03.740 to go through. You can't go through enough rituals 00:17:03.740 --> 00:17:11.839 to be saved. The condition of salvation is very 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:18.900 simple. It boils down to faith. To everyone who 00:17:18.900 --> 00:17:24.420 believes, says the Gospel. To everyone who believes. 00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:29.210 So this belief begins with the knowledge of the 00:17:29.210 --> 00:17:35.589 truth. People have to hear in order to believe. 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:38.549 And how shall they hear unless a preacher be 00:17:38.549 --> 00:17:42.230 sent, a missionary be sent? Like you. Like these 00:17:42.230 --> 00:17:43.869 folks who are training to go to the other side 00:17:43.869 --> 00:17:46.670 of the world. Like you being trained to go across 00:17:46.670 --> 00:17:53.009 the street. And how shall they preach unless 00:17:53.009 --> 00:17:58.400 they be sent? But God has sent us. We proclaim. 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:02.720 Now people are responsible to believe. That belief 00:18:02.720 --> 00:18:06.140 begins with the message of Christ suffering for 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:08.480 our sins and dying and being raised from the 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:14.599 dead on the third day on our behalf. People have 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:17.079 to know the facts, but it goes beyond just knowing 00:18:17.079 --> 00:18:19.200 them because I want to tell you something. There 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:22.099 are people who are in hell today who knew those 00:18:22.099 --> 00:18:25.259 facts when they went to that awful place of judgment. 00:18:28.819 --> 00:18:30.740 It's just that they had never personally come 00:18:30.740 --> 00:18:35.339 to a point of entrusting themselves to that truth. 00:18:36.700 --> 00:18:42.059 They had never let go of their own works to trust 00:18:42.059 --> 00:18:46.329 the simple gospel. They had never believed under 00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:54.309 the salvation of their souls. Dr. Donald MacLeod 00:18:54.309 --> 00:18:58.549 writes, The Reformers stressed that faith did 00:18:58.549 --> 00:19:01.130 not mean simply believing whatever the Church 00:19:01.130 --> 00:19:05.329 teaches, nor does it mean merely believing that 00:19:05.329 --> 00:19:10.130 we ourselves are saved. The terms used in the 00:19:10.130 --> 00:19:14.940 Bible to describe faith Make plain that it involves 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:21.019 decision as well as conviction. It means turning 00:19:21.019 --> 00:19:25.519 to, looking to, coming to, fleeing to, and bringing 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:30.000 all one's burdens to Christ. It means seeking 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:36.000 and receiving and leaning on Christ. It means 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.680 trusting Christ so much that we are prepared 00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:42.859 to face the judgment seat with no other protection 00:19:42.859 --> 00:19:49.119 than His obedience and blood. This obviously 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:52.640 implies that faith has a clear and specific focus, 00:19:53.640 --> 00:20:01.680 Jesus Christ. Salvation is simple. Thank God 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:05.960 it is. Simple in its origin, simple in its definition, 00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:10.700 simple in its condition. From beginning to end, 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:16.279 it's wonderfully simple, but it's also remarkably 00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:23.200 ignored and neglected. The Scriptures say, how 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.140 shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:32.059 as this? As simple as it is, it becomes a stumbling 00:20:32.059 --> 00:20:36.049 block to those who do not partake of it. The 00:20:36.049 --> 00:20:39.609 same gospel that saves those who believe damns 00:20:39.609 --> 00:20:46.390 those who will not believe. Thus, the good news 00:20:46.390 --> 00:20:52.930 becomes their bad news. Someone says, well, I'm 00:20:52.930 --> 00:20:56.309 not ready yet. I'm not sure this is the time. 00:20:56.670 --> 00:20:59.890 Listen to what God says. Behold, now is the accepted 00:20:59.890 --> 00:21:06.250 time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today, 00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:10.349 not tomorrow. We're not guaranteed tomorrow. 00:21:11.009 --> 00:21:20.730 Today is the day of salvation. When I was younger, 00:21:21.589 --> 00:21:24.049 I heard an evangelist one time illustrate faith 00:21:24.049 --> 00:21:28.490 this way. He said there was a little boy who 00:21:28.490 --> 00:21:33.660 loved his daddy. And he couldn't find his daddy 00:21:33.660 --> 00:21:36.599 one day, and as he was walking around their yard, 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:41.299 he finally came to the well. And he could hear 00:21:41.299 --> 00:21:43.519 something going on down there in the darkness 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:50.599 of that well. He said, daddy, is that you? He 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:56.559 said, yes, son, it's me. He said, daddy, I want 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:05.200 to come down there. OK, son, come on. Said daddy, 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:09.559 how am I going to get down there? We said son 00:22:09.559 --> 00:22:15.339 just jump and I'll catch you Boy look down that 00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:22.460 black hole he said daddy. I can't see you Daddy 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:27.000 said that's alright son. I can see you just jump 00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:34.470 I'll catch you There may be someone here today 00:22:34.470 --> 00:22:38.150 who says, God, I can't see you. He says, all 00:22:38.150 --> 00:22:42.349 right, I can see you. But how do I know you'll 00:22:42.349 --> 00:22:49.109 catch me? I've never dropped anybody. This simple 00:22:49.109 --> 00:22:54.130 salvation can simply be yours today if you will 00:22:54.130 --> 00:22:58.930 throw yourself upon the God who's promised that 00:22:58.930 --> 00:23:04.799 by His power He will save everyone who believes 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:10.359 this gospel. He's not going to begin dropping 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:18.160 you. He'll catch you. But you have to jump. You 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:21.759 have to commit yourself. Or knowing this message 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:29.609 will only mean a hotter fire in hell. It takes 00:23:29.609 --> 00:23:33.849 your commitment. It takes your faith. It takes 00:23:33.849 --> 00:23:37.589 your step of obedience in trusting Jesus Christ 00:23:37.589 --> 00:23:43.210 for that power of God to be real in your life. 00:23:43.750 --> 00:23:52.650 And it can be today, right now. Let's pray. Lord, 00:23:52.670 --> 00:23:55.589 thank you for salvation, for its simplicity. 00:23:57.620 --> 00:24:00.440 Oh God, we thank you that you have made it so 00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:02.880 simple that any of us who can understand these 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:06.779 truths can believe and be saved if we choose 00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:12.299 to. And I want to pray for every one of us gathered 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:16.640 in this room that we will not be deceived by 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:21.119 the devil or by our own hearts into thinking 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:27.559 we're saved when we're not. And I pray that if 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:31.359 there be some excuses in our hearts as to why 00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:34.140 we've not made that jump yet into your arms, 00:24:34.700 --> 00:24:37.799 that you will show us the emptiness and the meaninglessness 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:42.519 of all of those things when compared to salvation. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:46.380 God, right upon our hearts, why shall it profit 00:24:46.380 --> 00:24:48.940 a man if he gained the whole world and lose his 00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:53.759 soul? And so Lord, right now, would you open 00:24:53.759 --> 00:25:00.930 the heart of some friend here? to believe. And 00:25:00.930 --> 00:25:03.250 as we bow in prayer, I wonder if there's someone 00:25:03.250 --> 00:25:05.829 who would say, Pastor Call, today I am trusting 00:25:05.829 --> 00:25:09.309 the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. This day, 00:25:09.809 --> 00:25:11.690 I'm making that commitment. I've not done it 00:25:11.690 --> 00:25:16.410 before. I've heard the message, but I've never 00:25:16.410 --> 00:25:21.369 made the commitment. But today I'm jumping into 00:25:21.369 --> 00:25:25.609 the arms of God. Is there someone who would just 00:25:25.609 --> 00:25:28.910 lift the hand as a profession of your faith and 00:25:28.910 --> 00:25:32.769 say, that is my heart's decision this day and 00:25:32.769 --> 00:25:35.430 I lift my hand to testify to it? Is there someone 00:25:35.430 --> 00:25:41.109 here? Lift it high enough that I might see you. 00:25:41.109 --> 00:25:43.990 I don't want to miss you. I want to rejoice with 00:25:43.990 --> 00:25:51.910 you in your decision today. Let's sing together 00:25:51.910 --> 00:26:02.259 a chorus. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul 00:26:02.259 --> 00:26:14.519 Thank you, Lord, for making me whole Thank you, 00:26:14.640 --> 00:26:26.700 Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation so 00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:33.599 rich and free. Amen.