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We have three here tonight who are willing to give testimony to God's saving grace in their lives. and they are also seeking membership in this church.
! Good evening everybody.
Yeah, so I just wanted to share with you guys a little bit of what's going on in my life lately. But first I'd just like to thank God and praise Him for the work He did in saving me and not giving up on me.
Many of you read my testimony and just the fact that God was willing to use whatever it took to make sure that I came back and truly worked to glorify Him in my life.
So, lately, the Lord has really been working in my life. One of the big things that I've been learning about is holiness and what a great thing that is to just seek after.
And the work of the Holy Spirit in my life teaching me to just want to glorify God more and to want to want to glorify God more.
And helping me to put to death the remaining sin that's in my life, that's been a huge thing right there. I've been reading John Owen, Mortification of Sin, and that's been a great book, a wonderful book.
Just understanding what that work is, the Spirit working in your life to put to death the remaining sin. And then, also, I just moved here.
I've been here six months about. And the struggles that come along with that and the study that we've been doing in James has been spectacular. Learning about the trials in my life as I take on a new job and trying to learn what all that means.
And God just teaching me just what it looks like to be an engineer and glorify God in my job. And that's something that I've been trying to learn and that God has been working with me in my life.
And, yeah, it's just been great. I just praise God for this church. I came here the very first time I came here. I knew that this was the church for me. Just the word that's preached here and the people, the way they care and love for one another.
And I just thank every one of you for all the encouragement that you've given me. And, again, just got to praise God for the work he's doing in my life.
I'd like to read from the Bible a story like mine.
Luke 17. Now, on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him.
They stood at a distance and shouted, Jesus, Master, have pity on us. When he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priests. And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice.
He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Like these men, I could not cure myself.
Religion tried everything these men can't cure themselves. They can't cure themselves. Lepers. Christ forgave me for my sins. There's no self-reformation in religion.
You have to have Christ. And like these men, I crossed paths with Jesus. A friend of mine gave me a CD and reminded me of a truth I'd forgot a long time ago.
And the point is that Jesus is the friend of sinners. And as I thought about that, the Lord used that in my life to remind me of who Christ is and who I am.
And like these men, I called out for mercy and received mercy. And like these men, I was cleansed.
I was forgiven. Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine I diffused a quickening ray.
I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. I was very bitter and very arrogant and very self-righteous as a hypocrite.
And God took all that away from me and filled me with inexpressible joy. And just like the leper that came back to Christ, all that I can do is just thank Him for what He's done for me.
The cords of death entangled me. The anguish of the grave came upon me. I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, save me.
How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I want to thank everybody for praying for me over all these years and for the help that this church has given me.
I am very grateful for all of the brothers and sisters that I have. I want to thank everybody for including me and your family.
Psalm 92 says, It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High. And verse 4 says, For you, Lord, have made me glad by your work.
At the works of your hands I sing for joy. I can with confidence sing for joy like David and be glad at the work that God has done in my life and in my marriage.
And I stand in awe at the grace that He bestows to us every day. And I'd like to thank you guys for praying for us while we were away at school and then in the ministry and bringing us to where He has brought us.
Steve Wessner is Evie's husband. He's a member here at Grace Fellowship Church.
He moved out east to go to school. He and Evie then remained out there for a short period of work in ministry and has maintained his membership here throughout that time.
Steve has now moved back to this area. He went out as one. He came back as a troop of four. And he's just asked that this opportunity, to have opportunity to share with you something of the grace of God working in his life.
And we want to give him that opportunity now, Steve. Thank you. I want to read to you from Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1 through 7.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
So that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in the kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
As I stand here to testify what God has done in my life and in our life, I say that in all things, God has shown me grace.
It was God's grace that he suffered long with me when I walked in sin.
What grace that he didn't snuff me out in my sin. How great is the patience of God and full of grace.
This great and powerful God of the universe granted me life and breath, a loving family, thousands of other blessings day after day.
What grace.
How sweet are the realities of these truths in the Christian life. Not only doctrines in the mind, but the realities.
He's given me freedom from the old master of sin. What grace. What grace upon grace upon grace.
God didn't only unite me to Christ in his death, but he united me to Christ in his resurrection. When God stretched out his power and rose Christ from the dead.
He also gave me newness of life. And extended to me his enabling power to live in obedience. What amazing, astounding grace.
Thank you. Thank you. The Lord Jesus, before he ascended into heaven, gave the church a mandate to go into all the world.
And to preach the gospel and to make disciples. And once disciples were made to baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And he said he would be with us in that task to the end of the age. He's with us tonight. And we are going to be baptizing Andy Schmidt tonight.
Both Jason and Evie have been baptized since their conversion. But not Andy. So he comes for baptism tonight. I'm going to ask that before we baptize you, Andy, that you come forward.
As I have some questions to ask you to further confess your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Andy, do you confess that you are a hell-deserving sinner whose only hope of mercy is found in Jesus Christ and what he has done for sinners?
Do you trust only in his blood and righteousness to save you? And realize that the waters of baptism do nothing to wash away sin or merit favor with God.
And do you desire tonight to publicly identify yourself as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And purpose by his grace to turn from your sin and to follow him in faith and obedience for the rest of your life.
On the basis of your profession, we will baptize you. I'm going to ask that those who are joining the church together with Andy come at this time as we have membership, commitment to make.
These three are seeking membership in this church. We find in the New Testament that when people repented of their sin and turned to the Lord Jesus, they were baptized and added to the local church.
They attached themselves to the people of God in a common commitment to one another and to the Lord. And so these three seek membership in Grace Fellowship Church.
We have studied together in the Bible the responsibilities of a member to other members in the church as outlined in our Constitution. And we have heard of your desire to fulfill those responsibilities.
We're now asking you to make that commitment public before the members of the church to whom you will be joined. So I ask you, do you acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and commit to follow his word in every area of your life?
Do you agree to submit to the loving discipline of this church and the oversight of its elders? Do you commit yourself to support the ministries of the church by your faithful attendance and by serving in it according to your talents, spiritual gifts and God-given responsibilities?
And do you agree to cooperate in the outreach of this church to the world by bearing witness to Christ, praying for the spread of the gospel and giving of your financial resources?
Do you understand that the 1689 Confession of Faith is the doctrinal statement of this church and agree to not spread among us doctrines contrary to this confession?
Do you then commit yourself to this body of believers, to love them and to seek their good, to work and live with them in harmony, all to the end that Jesus Christ may receive glory in this church?
I'm going to ask the members of Grace Fellowship Church to stand at this time and to affirm your commitment to these three.
Members of Grace Fellowship Church, do you welcome these three into the membership of this church and thereby commit yourselves to them as you have to one another, to pray and labor for their building up and growth in grace, and to esteem them in love as brothers and sisters in Christ?
If so, say, we do. We do. Let's pray together. Our Father, how thankful we are that you sent your Son to save us.
We have heard these testimonies tonight that have said, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to you alone be the praise. For it is you who have saved us and not we ourselves.
And how we thank you that when you saved us, you didn't just leave us to wander alone through this life, to find our way heavenward by ourselves.
But you have called us to be united with a band of Christians traveling together on the narrow road to heaven. Thank you for these three and their willingness to join themselves to us.
Lord, would you make them a blessing to us? Already, Lord, we've been blessed by their testimony and seeing it, not only hearing it from their lips, but seeing it in their lives.
Already we've been blessed with our fellowship with them. Lord, we ask that you would increase the blessing, that you would make us a blessing to them, that we might know what it is to pray for one another, to encourage and love and to help one another heavenward.
So keep us from being stumbling blocks to each other and make us to truly be stepping stones closer to the Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray.
Amen. Amen. Andy, you may prepare yourself now for baptism. Pastor Aaron may be seated.
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. Andy, you've told us that you were not seeking Christ, but that he sought you and he found you and he saved you.
So you're here tonight to be baptized and to show by this baptism that you have been joined to Jesus Christ. That the old Andy is buried with Christ.
And the new Andy has risen with Christ to live a new life to his glory. It's on the basis of your profession of faith that I take great joy, my brother, to baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Buried in the likeness of his death, raised in the likeness of his resurrection. Amen.
Amen. Folks, the work of salvation in the heart of a man is too good to keep to yourself.
The Lord Jesus wants his works to be made known. And if Jesus Christ has made you a new creature, if you're a new man in Christ, a new woman, a new boy or girl in Christ, he intends for you to publicly identify yourself as such in the waters of baptism.
If that's you, see one of your pastors and we'll rejoice with you in what God has done. Amen. Let's take a moment to pray together and praise God for what he's done.
Our Father, we are in awe of your saving power tonight, of what you can do in the life of a sinner, how you can show them their sin and their need of the Savior and set them on the path that leads to life.
We thank you for doing it for Jason and for Evie and for Andy. And we thank you for adding them to the body of Christ and for adding them to this church.
And we pray that you would enable them to keep their commitments of membership that they have made. May we remember the same commitments that we made when we joined. And we pray that you would enable us, your church, to keep the commitments that we have made to them.
We pray that you would make us to be a blessing unto one another. And we pray that we might grow together in grace and in holiness and likeness to our Savior as we walk the path that leads to life.
And we pray that others here who do not know you might come to faith in this glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray that you would do a great work even as you've shown us that you can do a great work.
Work more still, we pray. Add more lost sinners to your kingdom, to your church, and do it for your praise, for your glory. And we pray it in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. I ask you to turn with me in your Bibles tonight to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 23. Luke 23.
I'm going to read in your hearing verses 26-49. We pick up the account of the death of Christ as they are proceeding to Calvary.
We'll be focusing tonight on the criminals that hung on either side of Jesus, but notice with me as I read Luke 23, verses 26-49.
This is the Word of God. As they led Him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene who was on his way in from the country and put the cross on Him and made Him carry it behind Jesus.
A large number of people followed Him, including women who mourned and wailed for Him. Jesus turned and said to them, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. Weep for yourselves and for your children.
For the time will come when you will say, Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills cover us.
For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry? Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with Him to be executed.
When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him along with the criminals, one on His right, the other on His left. Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
And they divided up His clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, He has saved others. Let Him save Himself, if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.
The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar and said, If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself. There was a written notice above Him which read, This is the King of the Jews.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him. Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us. But the other criminal rebuked Him. Don't you fear God, He said, since you are under the same sentence.
We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserved. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said, Jesus, remember Me when You come into Your Kingdom.
Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in Paradise. It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining, and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Jesus called out with a loud voice, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. When He had said this, He breathed His last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, Surely this was a righteous man.
When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew Him, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.
Now this account records for us not just the salvation of one sinner in particular, though it does record that, the thief that hung on the cross. It's also the story of the work that Christ did for the salvation of all of His people.
For the salvation of each one here tonight who has professed faith in this Christ. What happened on the cross that day was especially precious to that criminal that hung there next to Him.
And it is especially precious to each one that knows that Savior tonight. To all who have cast their lot in with this crucified and risen, ascended Lord Jesus.
With the man that hung on the cross there next to Jesus, showed understanding and an understanding that anyone must have who would become a follower of Christ and who would be with Him in paradise.
Understanding that you must have tonight if you want to be with Christ in glory. And it's not very complex. It's very simple actually.
You must know who you are and you must know who to turn to for help. We could boil the testimony of each of the three who have joined our membership tonight down to this.
They knew themselves to be sinners and they knew that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. But the thief didn't stop with just understanding these things. He acted.
He called out to that one who was able to save them. To that Savior that hung on the cross next to Him. So did these who have joined us tonight and so must you. If you would have your sins forgiven, if you would be a follower of Christ, you must know who you are.
Who to turn to for help. And then you must turn to Him for help. Who are you? One of the criminals was a fool.
He was mocking and rebuking Jesus. And from the other Gospel accounts, it seems that actually both for a time were mocking Him. Even this repentant sinner, this criminal that we read of here.
But somewhere along the way, he has a change of heart. And he hears his fellow criminal blaspheming Jesus like the soldiers, like the other watching, the others who were there. And he recognizes who He is.
And so we read, Don't you fear God, he said, since you are under the same sentence, we are punished justly for we are getting what our deeds deserve. This criminal realized that he had done something worthy of death.
He deserved to be hanging on a cross that day. He deserved the sentence that had been passed by the Roman court. But not only that, he hadn't just broken the laws of men, he had broken God's law.
And now hung trembling before Him, Don't you fear God? He's not afraid of the Roman soldiers. He's not afraid of the cross that he's hanging on. His life is going to end. And don't you fear God, the one who is able to cast body and soul into hell?
The sentence of death was just for these two criminals. And this man acknowledges his guilt. He knows he's a sinner. He knows he deserves to die. Don't you fear God? He obviously does now.
There's something much greater to be feared than those who can end your physical life. The one who can punish you for your sins against Him. The Holy God.
Maybe this criminal had heard Jesus teaching in the past. Maybe he had been in one of those crowds that heard the Savior speak or had seen miracles done. We don't know. Maybe Jesus' words, spoken moments before, Father, forgive them, had their effect.
We don't know where he got his knowledge, but it's clear the Holy Spirit is convicting him of his sin. And he does know that he's a sinner. And that he deserves judgment from men for his deeds that he's committed and from God for his sin in the eyes of this God.
He didn't just have a little problem that was no big deal. He deserved death. He deserved the eternal punishment that was coming. He deserved hell. Which is what everyone who sins against a holy God deserves.
And that's all of us here tonight. There's not a person here that hasn't sinned against a holy God. Not a person here that doesn't deserve the sentence of eternal death.
It's a terrible plight to have lived a wicked life. And this man is about to die without hope.
He's a sad man at this point. But if you've ever experienced this, a realization of your sin, you've come to this knowledge. I'm a sinner. I deserve nothing more than punishment.
You see your horrible predicament. That realization is a blessing from God. It's not a pleasant state to be in. If you've been there before, maybe now you're under the conviction of sin.
You know that it's painful. It hurts. You feel the guilt of it. The weight on your shoulders. As though you can't escape it. But it's a blessing from God to be convicted of your sin.
If He awakens you to your sin, that's the first step down the path of being delivered from that sin. And it's penalty. It doesn't feel good, but it is good because it drives us to the One that can do something about it.
Many people, though, are blind. They're not convicted of their sin. And if they are, they ignore it. They hear other people talk about their conviction of sin, even in a testimony like tonight.
They're deserving judgment. And instead of resonating with that, they think, no, I'm not so bad. I don't really think that there's a God. I don't think that I'm going to be punished.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him. Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us. And sadly, perhaps some here tonight fall into that category.
You hear Andy and Jason and every talk about their Savior. About Jesus. And in your heart, you hurl insults at this Savior. He never did anything for me.
I don't need Him. I'll be okay on my own. If He's so great, why doesn't He take away all my problems? There's just three more deceived fools buying into all this religion garbage.
What a waste of time it is. I pray that's not your heart tonight. I pray that you're not rejecting the truth of a glorious Savior tonight.
It was the heart of the unrepentant criminal that hung on the cross. And He is in hell today. And justly so.
So this man, this repentant thief, he knew who he was, that he was a sinner, that he deserved the judgment that was coming. But he also knew who to turn to for help.
And you must know who you can turn to for help. You, this thief on the cross, millions of others who have gone before you have found help in the Savior Jesus.
The thief realized there was something special about the man that hung between the two thieves. He says, this man has done nothing wrong. He was innocent. He's done nothing out of place.
Nothing that he shouldn't have done. He's never once broken God's law. The criminals, all of us, do wrong. We do everything wrong. We've broken all of God's law. If we've broken it just at one point, we're guilty of breaking the whole law.
We do wrong. But this man, he didn't do anything wrong. Imagine that. He never once sinned. Never once broke God's law. And so, he knows there's something different about him.
He was innocent of all charges that were brought against him. The criminals deserved to be on that cross that day. Jesus didn't. He was holy, blameless, living the life that none of us ever could.
And that no one ever has. And do you see how he calls him? He says, Jesus. Jesus, remember me. You shall give him the name Jesus.
Why? Because he'll save his people from their sins. Jesus, Savior. He calls out to the one who can save him and who can fix his worst problem of deserving judgment.
He calls to Jesus. This man who is the friend of sinners and more than that, the Savior of sinners. You notice he doesn't ask the Roman soldiers for help.
Please, commute my sentence. Let me down from the cross and I'll reform my ways. I won't be a criminal anymore. I'll be a good member of society. If I could just get down from the cross, I promise I'll change.
He doesn't ask some of his buddies who were there to watch him die, to intervene with the officials. Hey, go speak to them on my behalf. He doesn't try to get himself down from the cross.
His problems are much greater, much deeper than any of these solutions could handle. When you have a cancerous tumor, you don't ask your mom for the best home remedy.
You don't get your friend and say, hey, can you get your saw and cut this out for me? You don't try to fix it yourself. You go to the cancer specialist, into the surgeon, the one who is able to provide you with a solution to your severe disease.
And so it is with your problem of sin. Many times people, maybe they're awakened to it. They see it, but they try to fix it on their own. I'm going to try harder. I'll try to do better to keep God's law, to obey Him.
I'll work harder at it. Or I'll go talk to a therapist about it. They try to fix themselves, or they just ignore it. They pretend like it's not there. They ignore their conscience until it's seared.
But this is no solution. There's only one place to take your sin, and that is to the cross of Christ. For forgiveness. To be washed in His blood.
To be washed clean. To have your sins forgiven. You see, God at the cross that day punished Jesus instead of punishing His people. He took the punishment that we deserved. And this man, this thief, understands that.
Jesus, remember me. And remember me when you come into your kingdom. He knows that Jesus is a King. Not just in a mocking sense. Oh, He's the King of the Jews as many were mocking Him that day.
No, He really is a King. He knows that Jesus is going to come again and He's going to bring His kingdom in fullness. Jesus' kingdom began when He came the first time to earth.
But this man recognizes that He is truly a King. That He is one with authority. He is the Lord who is to be obeyed. Not just a man to be mocked. He's powerful.
Even though He hangs on the cross at the hands of wicked men, He's the one with all power and authority. He must be worshipped. He must be obeyed. And if you want help as a sinner, He's the one to whom you must turn as Savior in repentance and faith and as Lord, submitting to Him.
You can't have Him as Savior and not as Lord. He's a package deal. And the sinner recognizes that. This criminal. Jesus, Savior, remember me when you come into your kingdom. The King and Lord.
And if you've recognized tonight, like the criminal, that you're a sinner. That you're going to receive the punishment you deserve. The good news is that the story doesn't end there. There's one who can save you and lead you in the way you should live.
For the man hanging on the cross, that one just happened to be hanging right next to Him. And so what did He do? He saw He was a sinner. And here's the one that can save Him. And so what does He do?
He cries out to Him. Jesus, remember me. Remember me when You come in Your kingdom. And you must call out to this Jesus for help. It's not just enough to know you're a sinner and to know that Jesus is the Savior of sinners.
He needs to be your Savior. And so you cry out to Him, Jesus, save me. Even as these we've heard from tonight have done. Remember me.
It's a humble entreaty for help. And what a memory our God has. He remembers us, but He remembers our sin no more. Because of what Christ has done. I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sin no more.
And if you call in genuine faith, He will answer. Jesus died that day. But it wasn't because of what He did. It was because of what we did.
And He didn't stay dead. He was bearing the sins of the criminal that day. He was bearing my sins. The sins of Andy, Jason, and Evie.
The sins of all of His people. And He can bear your sins as well. If you would but call on Him, He will answer.
And what an answer it is. I tell you the truth. He's not making it up. He's not just trying to soothe the conscience of a man about to die. No, this is the truth.
Verily, certainly, truly, amen, I say to you today, you will be with Me in paradise. Paradise. That very day. What a powerful Jesus.
Talk about doing measurably more than all that we could ask or think. This thief, he's thinking of when Jesus comes again. His second coming. When you come in your kingdom, remember Me.
It's this humble plea. And Jesus said, I'm going to do better than that. Today. Not a long time from now, but today. I'm not just going to remember you. I'm going to take you to paradise with Me.
I'm going to take you to glory. Where there will be no more suffering. No more struggle with sin. No more pain. Jesus.
The second Adam. Restores for all who repent and believe in Him what the first Adam lost. You know, Adam was in paradise, wasn't he? But then he sinned and he lost it.
But Jesus restores that for us. By His life and death. And resurrection. And so He can promise paradise to His people. For the criminal, it came that day.
For you, if you're in Christ, it comes when you die. And even more fully, when Christ comes again, restores all things, the new heavens and the new earth, and gives us our resurrection bodies.
But even right when we die, we go and be with Him in paradise. Truly, I say to you, today you'll be with Me in paradise. Now there's all sorts of things you can learn from this passage.
You can learn that the waters that Andy just entered didn't save him. Baptism doesn't save you because this criminal never got baptized.
He died on the cross there. And He's in paradise right now. Those waters don't save. They're a picture. They're a symbol of what has taken place in your heart.
Dying to your sin and being raised to newness of life. Having your sins washed away. And every believer who cries out and trusts in Christ should follow their Lord in baptism.
And they must. They commanded. And so our brother has done it tonight. But that baptism doesn't save you. We could learn other things. Talk about the possibility of a deathbed conversion, but of the great danger of waiting.
Because you may not have the moment this man had. There were two thieves that day and one of them didn't have such an experience. There's no guarantee of it. Well, I want us to take away a couple of very simple things.
Believers, those that have trusted in Christ, thank God for Jesus. Thank God for His Son tonight. The one who died so that we can be forgiven. For the one who suffered for us and accomplished our salvation so that we can be with Him forever.
He didn't just save that one criminal that day. He saved all His people. We're forever in His debt. Tonight, we've heard of these three more that He saved by His great work that day.
Praise God for those that Christ has saved. And pray for more that they would see their sinners, that they would see the Savior, and that they would cry out to Him. And for any here tonight that don't know the Savior, that haven't trusted in Christ, perhaps you do know you're a sinner.
And you need the Savior. There could be all sorts of things holding you back tonight. You know what they are. Lay them aside.
Lay aside those obstacles. Right now, you're like the criminal who is mocking Jesus, who is in hell today. And if you don't cry out to Jesus, you will be too.
Call out. Ask God to give you a new heart. Ask Him to show you your sin and the need of your Savior and then come running to Jesus. And He will receive you. He's not going to turn you away.
He's not going to reject you. He's not going to say, you're not good enough. His blood can cover all of your sin. Your sin is not too great. You can come today.
And then instead of always trying to push aside thoughts of your sin or ignoring it or trying harder to be a good person all by yourself, all these other things that you've tried to deal with your problem, to ignore it, instead of doing all of those things, you can have your contents wiped clean.
You can have the guilt taken away. The burden lifted off your back. Your sins can be forgiven. And let me tell you that there is no joy like the joy of sins forgiven. There is no peaceful sleep like the peaceful sleep of being able to lay your head down at night without guilt, knowing that Jesus has died for your sins.
And so come to Him tonight. Say, Jesus, remember me. Remember me when You come in Your kingdom. Save me by Your grace. Our Father, we thank You for Jesus.
We thank You for the man that hung on the middle cross that day. We thank You that He saved that criminal that hung next to Him. We thank You that He saved Andy and Jason and Evie and many others here tonight that can give testimony to the same grace of God, the same marvelous work of the Savior on their behalf.
We've seen You save sinners. sinners, we ask tonight that You would come and save still more. People that are here in this room tonight, come and do a great work of salvation in our midst.
Add more to Your church that You might receive the glory and the praise. What a remarkable thing it is that the lost and dying sinners who deserve eternal punishment don't receive it because Jesus took it in our place.
what a remarkable thing that we can soar to worlds unknown, to paradise itself, through the work of Christ. We give You thanks and praise for we are unworthy.
We do not deserve this marvelous blessing of redemption, and yet You have seen fit to grant it. We give You thanks and praise and glory and honor this night for all that You have done for us in Christ.
And we pray in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.