Straight Talk About Salvation

Well the advertising manager struck that whole paragraph and wrote two words at the bottom of the page. It floats. Ah for clear simple words. We like our information in in bite-sized pieces that we can understand and process and then act upon. And that is the way Jesus talked. That is the way Jesus spoke with clear simple straightforward terms. There's no better example of that than in Luke chapter 13. I want to invite your attention to Luke 13 this morning where we find Jesus giving us some straight talk about salvation. This is only three months before Jesus would die. The persecution and opposition is so intense in Jerusalem that he has gotten out of town away from the area has gone across to kind of a backwater area across the other side of the River Jordan to a half-Heathen Roman province called Peria. And in that place he began to draw huge crowds knowing his death was only three months away. Jesus poured his life and his heart and his ministry for those three months into the crowds that came to hear him preach but also into his twelve disciples as he prepared them for what they did not yet understand his leaving to go to the cross and eventually back to heaven. The first event of that particular time of his ministry in Peria is recorded for us here and we find it begins with a question in chapter 13 verse 22. Then Jesus went through the towns and villages teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, Lord are only a few people going to be saved. You see the Pharisees describes the religious teachers in Jerusalem pretty much taught that the road to the kingdom of God was very wide. The door was wide. Everybody was going to get in. All of Israel would enter into the kingdom with the exception of maybe a few hardened sinners, the really, really, really, really bad people. But really the door was open to everybody and all of Israel was going to get in. But evidently this person had heard Jesus speak enough to where he thought, you know, I believe the rabbis may have this wrong. That's not what Jesus teaches and so he poses this question to Jesus, Lord are only a few people going to be saved. Jesus takes the opportunity as he answers to give us some straight talk on salvation. Plain, simple, white-sized, understandable. Jesus gives us some straight talk on salvation. So in answering a question, Jesus speaks very plainly about salvation. And he gives some stories, some background, some metaphors, word pictures to help it make sense. But really what he has to say is very plain, very simple. It can be crystallized into four statements, four plain, clear statements about salvation. This is straight talk about salvation. The first is this. There is only one way. Jesus takes a general theological question. Lord, are there only a few people going to be saved? He takes that general theological question and makes it very personal. Notice his answer. He said to them, verse 24, make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many I tell you will try to enter and will not be able to. You can debate all day the theological question about how many people will be saved. Jesus is not interested in debating that theological question with this audience. He turns that general theological question. Are there many people or few that will be saved and directs it personally very clearly to his audience? He speaks on clear terms. More important than solving a theological issue is to solve the personal question, will you be saved? The question really for us today is not theologically to figure out how many will be saved, how many will be excluded, who's in, who's out. The real question for us to face is, are you saved? Am I saved? And Jesus makes it beautifully personal and clear. But expounds upon this thought, there is only one way. And notice he talks first of all about a narrow door. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Jesus is telling us that the entrance to his kingdom, unlike what the rabbis said, is narrow. There is only one door and it is not wide, not open for everybody. Not everybody will get there, but it is a narrow door. There's only one entrance and it's narrow. There's only one way and that way is through Christ. It's not that the way is so broad as the rabbis taught that everybody who is sincere, who is religious, who is a morally good person will get into the kingdom. Jesus says there's a narrow door, one way and it is through Christ himself. It is through faith in Christ as our Savior that we get into the kingdom. There are not many ways, there's only one way. And it's exclusive. It's narrow. Jesus said it this way in Matthew chapter 7. Enter through the narrow gate. For why does the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction? And many enter through it, but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it. Jesus talks about a narrow door. But in explaining the fact that there's only one way of salvation, only one way into the kingdom, He then talks about the effort of many to try to come some other way. The effort of many. You see it there in verse 24, make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many I tell you will try to enter and will not be able to. There are many who like to promote today that there is a wide door which lets in anyone who is generally good or sincere or religious. And so we must be tolerant of all religions and all philosophies and all belief systems for as long as someone is sincere and a good moral person. Certainly God will let them into His kingdom, right? Jesus says wrong. Only one way it is a narrow door and people will try many other ways, the broad way. But there's only one way. Christ says the door is narrow. Now you know it's amazing how we accept that in most every other avenue of life. But when it comes to how to get into heaven, how to get into the kingdom of God, so many people struggle with this. But we accept it in the rest of life. I think I made every home football game at Princeton High School this year with the exception of one. It didn't hurt that my granddaughter was playing in the band. But I made several football games. Now if I had gone if I had gone up to the ticket counter and by the way there's only one way to get in, it's a fairly narrow passageway. You have to go through to get into the stadium and they put a table right in the middle. And if I were to go up to that table and she would say okay where is your ticket or are you going to buy a ticket and I would say yeah I don't believe in tickets. Tickets are so restricted. That is so narrow. We're pluralistic. We're more open-minded. I love football. So I should be allowed to get in, right? You know what they would be doing don't you? She'd be on the radio calling for security. We got a nut up here at the front gate. I'm getting. We accept that. The high school has the right to say there's only one way for you to get in. You try to board an airplane without a boarding pass. You try to go without a ticket. Well you're allowed to be carted off and spend the rest of your life in jail. You're going to have to show the proper ticket or boarding pass twice. You're going to have to show it when you go through a security. You're going to have to show it when you board the plane again. They will not let you on that plane unless you've got the boarding pass and we accept that. We understand that airline has a right to reasonably screen those and to set the standards for those who will get on that airplane. You know you cannot get into another country without a passport. We understand that. Governments have the right to stipulate who will get in and who will not and many countries you have to have in addition to the passport of the Sun stamped into that passport to get into that particular country. I found that out the most humiliating way possible. Many years ago we were supposed to go on a mission trip to Brazil. We had visited the Davies in Norfolk and missions to military and then we flew down to Tampa to visit a retired missionary widow there who was living in a missionary retirement village in that area and then we flew to Miami. We were to fly from Miami onto Brazil. I had traveled to six different countries up to that time and I never needed a visa to get into a country. Just needed a passport. Israel, Jordan, Switzerland, Trinidad, Bonair, Jamaica. I never needed a visa and really did not understand what they were. I mean I've heard a visa. I knew that you needed them to get in there but I thought in my being so naive and ignorant which I still struggle with. I thought you needed a visa only if you were going to be working in a country or living in a country. I would always ask a series of questions to the missionary that we will be visiting about infancy, taxes coming out, what's expected in the airport, what's the custom, what's the weather, how should I dress, all kinds of things. He never thought to tell me and I never thought to ask you need a visa to get into Brazil. So I walk up to the ticket counter in Miami and I hand her my passport and my driver's license and she looks at the passport and she says you don't have a visa to get into Brazil. And my my luggage has been put on a plane in Tampa. It's already on its way to Brazil. She said I don't know why they let you on in Tampa knowing that you were making an international connection but she said you can't go to Brazil. My heart stopped. I'm thinking I'm supposed to speak in Brazil this week. I've got ministry obligations there. What's the church in West Virginia going to think when I didn't even know enough to get a visa and I go walking back home it was the most humiliating things ever happened to me. It was awful and I pled my case with her. She was unbending. Now she was kind. She was gracious. The airline put us up for the night in a motel. They're close to the airport. They arranged for us to trade our tickets to tickets to get us back to Charlotte where we'd originated from. They were very kind and gracious but they were absolutely unbending. You cannot go to Brazil unless you have the right paperwork. Now they had a right to do that. And God has a right to tell us who gets into his kingdom and who doesn't. And God says there is only one way. If you don't have the proper ticket you're not getting in. And here's how to get the right ticket. He's told us. He's very gracious. He's very loving. He's very compassionate. In fact we're all sinners and we can't get to heaven on our own anyway. And so it's very gracious and kind of God to say I will make the way possible for you. And he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross for us so that we could have our passport stamped with the blood of Jesus. But if you don't have that on your ticket to get to heaven you're not going. And God has the right to set those requirements. How come we accept that in every other part of life but when it comes to getting into heaven we want to make our own way a broad way so that anybody who is sincere or religious or a good person will get there. Jesus says no. There's only one way. There's only one way. Narrow door. The effort of many is going to be sadly disappointing. So notice what he says. So strive to enter. Strive to enter. They're in verse 24. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Now please don't misunderstand that. The word make every effort is the word which means to act in eyes. It's a word from which we get the word of an athlete who is giving his best. And it doesn't mean that we work our way to heaven that by our intense and earnest efforts we will gain entrance in that. Doesn't mean that. Jesus is saying you'd better be in dead earnest about this. You better not try any other way. You better recognize just as an athlete knows the goal before him and knows what he must do to agonize in training and lifting weights throughout the year and preparing himself or herself for that competition. Be in dead earnest about this. Don't try any other way. I've told you there's only one way. You better be in dead earnest about going through that door only that narrow door. So Jesus is talking very plainly here. There's only one way. But he says something else that's designed to kind of shock us into the realization. This is straight talk on salvation. Not only is there only one way Jesus says the time is limited. Time is limited. It was 25. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door you will stand outside knocking and pleading. Sir open the door for us. But he will answer I don't know you or where you come from. Then you will say we ate and drank with you and you taught in our streets. But he will reply I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me all you evil doers. There will be weeping there and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. But you yourselves thrown out. People will come from the east and west and north and south and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first and first who will be last. Now Jesus is painting a picture here and I want you to see the picture. When he stresses the fact that the time is limited the picture is this. He pictures the kingdom as a great feast and seated around the table at this great feast are all the patriarchs, the fathers of the nation of Israel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, other great fathers that they all revered and looked up to and and seated around that table are also prophets from the Old Testament and other people as he describes. But there is a limit on the time you can get in for the feast because the owner is eventually going to as he says close the door verse 25. He will get up and close the door and some will wait too late and find the door closed and then on the outside knocking feverishly at the door looking in the window to see what's going on but it's too late. It's too late. Jesus is stressing the fact that when you think about salvation you need to realize there's only one way and it's a narrow door through which you must come and that is through faith in Christ as your Savior. That's the only way. But if you fool around trying other ways to get there you're going to find that the time is limited. One day the door is going to be closed. It will be too late. And he even indicates there are several reasons for being too late. Several reasons why someone might wait too long. The reasons for being too late are three. Jesus points them out. The first one could be you're on the wrong way and don't know it. Back to verse 24 make every effort to enter through the narrow door. Be dead earnest about making sure you know that's the only door because many I tell you will try to enter and will not be able to. They're trying to enter some other way through that wide door. The broad way that is so inclusive and so tolerant to accept every religion and everybody who's just sincere and good and moral. So maybe you're on the wrong way. You're on the wrong road. You're knocking at the wrong door and you may not realize it because you may think you know I'm a pretty good person and if I'm a good person and I try to live right, treat my neighbor right, try to keep the law and those kinds of things then surely God will smile on me and kind of wink at my sins. So you know you're good stuff kind of outweighs your bad stuff. I think you deserve to get in. Maybe that's what you're doing and you're knocking at the wrong door. You're on that broad road. And so you're on the wrong way and you know realize it would be a tragedy if you would wake up too late to realize all this time you've been knocking at the wrong door. You were trying to get in the wrong way. So one reason for being too late is you're on the wrong way. You're on the wrong road. The second reason Jesus points out for being too late is you have a false security. You have a false security. Notice in verse 25 he pictures these people who are outside knocking and pleading, sir open the door for us and Jesus answer is I don't know you or where you come from. Now listen to their protest. Well wait a second Lord. We ate and drank with you. You preached. You taught in our streets. We were around you. We were close to you. We sat down at a table with you. What do you mean you don't know us? And he will reply I don't know you or where you come from. You see there's a false security in thinking that being close to Jesus knowing about Jesus, hearing the word of God is enough. And Jesus makes it clear that's not enough. What's his response? Twice he says I don't know you. So it's not enough to be in the street with Jesus. It's not enough to be at the same table with Jesus. There must be a personal relationship with him through faith. You must know him. He must know you in that sense. You see what Jesus is saying. It's not enough to be around me if you've never trusted me. It's not enough to hear me if you don't have a personal relationship with me. If there's no heart response, it's not enough to know about me to know about the Bible. If you've never committed your life to Christ as your Savior. Do you know him? That's the question. It's not whether you're religious or you're a good person, you're a good family person, you're a pillar in the community, you're a church member. None of that is the issue. The issue is do you know Christ and have you entered into a personal relationship with him through faith in his shed blood for you on the cross so that he knows you in that personal relationship kind of way. That is the real question. So you may be knocking on the wrong door. You may be on the wrong road the wrong way or you may have a false security thinking you're okay. You're going to be in the kingdom. You're going to be in heaven. When in reality you're just religious. You're just a good person. You've never trusted Christ. There's a third reason why Jesus says you may be too late and that's because of pride. Notice how Jesus and we don't really get this because we're not in that culture. We're not understanding maybe where he's coming from with the culture of Jew and Gentile but Jesus really gets to them on this point of national and religious pride. He says in verse 28 there'll be weeping there, gnashing of teeth. When you see, when you're outside looking in the wind that you can't get into door anymore you're looking in the wind that you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the prophets. These are fellow Jews. You're seeing them in there and you're thinking I'm a Jew. I'm an Israelite. When am I not in there? But you're looking, you yourselves are thrown out and then worst of all to the Jewish mindset is verse 29. People will come from east and west and north and south and will take their places and the feast in the kingdom of God. And whenever the New Testament uses geographical directions it always is marked from Israel. So when he says people come from the north and south and east and west he's talking about people outside Israel. Is your Gentiles? How offensive this would be to the Jewish mindset that you mean Gentiles are going to be seated at that table and I'm on the outside looking in. How can that be? That's an affront to my national pride. That's an affront to my religious pride. I'm a child of Abraham maybe nationally, ethnically, but not spiritually. You see some people wait too late because they're not going to the wrong door. They're on the wrong way. Some people wait too late because of the false security that they're okay when they're not. Some people wait too late because of pride. Oh I'm a member of such and such church. Oh I know that maybe some other religions aren't going but Christianity is the right way. Listen I am narrow enough to believe that there's only one way to heaven but I'm also narrow enough to believe that not even all people who are in Christianity are going to heaven because it's not a religion that saves you. It is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So you can be you can call yourself a Christian. You can be you can be involved in the greater broader spectrum of Christianity and you can say well I'm not a Hindu, I'm not a Muslim, I'm not I'm not Jewish. I'm a Christian thinking of the fact that because you are in a church in the Christian religion. My friend that does not mean you'll be in heaven. There is no place for pride in religion or nationality or ethnicity or whatever. The only way to get into heaven is to humble yourself before that narrow door of the cross and trust Jesus who died for you there. So Jesus is talking straight to us. He says there's only one way when it comes to salvation. Secondly the time is limited and notice he even gives us the horrible result of being too late. Did you notice it as we read those verses verse 25 I don't know you again in verse 26 or 27 I don't know you verse 27 away from me verse 28. There'll be weeping in nationality and you will be thrown out. Those are chilling words. Absolutely frightening words. It's a brutal, brutally clear presentation of the fact that someone who thought they were on the inside finds themselves for eternity on the outside looking in the window fever she knocking at the door thinking a mistake has been made. And yet Jesus says away from me you are thrown out there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Can you imagine that person on the outside of the building looking in the window feverishly knocking at the door overwhelmed with regret because they see they see I missed my opportunity. All these other folks are inside enjoying the banquet and I realize now I'm too late. I think one of the most awful agonies of hell will be the realization that I missed my opportunity. I thought I was okay. I was a good person. I was a church member. I was religious. I thought I was okay. Oh the regret, the overwhelming regret, the agony of realizing at that time you're on the outside. You've missed your opportunity. Jesus is talking straight. There's only one way time is limited and here's the third thing he says. God is in control. You say well how does that fit with what you've just said? Here it is. God is in control of the timing. God is in control of the timetable. Time is limited and I'm not in control of how much time I've got. Only God is in control of that. And here's how Jesus says it. It's an event that happens immediately as he's talking about this verse 31. At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you. And that was probably true. Jesus was in the area where King Herod had arrested John the Baptist and put him to death and he probably wanted to get his hands on Jesus too. But that's probably not the real reason why the Pharisees say this. Some of the Pharisees have caught up with Jesus. And they probably want him out of Herod's territory back in Jerusalem where they can do with him what they want more easily. And Jesus' answer is classic. It's beautiful. He replied, go tell that fox. Now Jesus is not using that as a derogatory term necessarily. He's using it as a very fitting work picture of both the character and the lack of power in King Herod. The fox is a very sly, wildly cunning animal, but has no power. It's not like a wolf. It's not like a lot of other animals that have carry a lot more dangerous weapons and can do damage. It's wildly and cunning and sly, but no strength. So it's a very appropriate word picture for Herod. And the point Jesus is making is he may be wildly sly, cunning, but he has no power in this issue. Notice how he goes on to say this. Go tell that fox. I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow. And on the third day I will reach my goal. In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow. And the next day for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem. Jesus knows he is on a timetable. He already knows it's exactly three months until he will be in Jerusalem, will be arrested and will die. That's not Herod's timetable, but it's God's timetable. And Jesus knows what God's timetable is. And he knows he's got three more days of ministry in Peria before he moves on. So who's in control? Jesus or Herod? Jesus is in control. And he's clearly making the difference in the timetables. Herod, I'm on a different timetable that you cannot touch. It is God's timetable. And I'm not afraid because I am operating by God's timetable. I know the timing of my death, the place of my death, and that's all in God's hands. And Herod, you can't alter that. You can't touch that. So what does that say about Jesus and you? Is the same thing true about your life? I would submit to you today. It is. You are not in control of the timetable of your life, nor am I. God alone is in control of the timetable of our lives. He knows how long you have before that door is closed. He knows how long before the trumpet sounds and Jesus returns and the coming things of the Lord's coming and just kingdom are ushered in. He alone knows the timetable. You are not in control of that. You are not even in control of how long you live and how much more opportunity you have to trust Jesus as your Savior. You're not in control of that. Only God is. Proverbs says it this way in Proverbs 27.1, do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring and you don't. I don't. I've got plans for tomorrow. I've got plans for this week. I've got places I'm supposed to be. Meetings I'm supposed to be in. People I'm supposed to visit. Cermans I'm supposed to prepare. I've got to let plan down. But I have no promise that any of that will actually happen. Only God is in control of the schedule. Not me. Not you. James says it this way with these chilling reminders. Now listen you who say and here's the business plan for the week. Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city spend the year there carry on business and make money. We've got it all laid out. We know exactly what we're going to do. Notice what James says. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say if it is the Lord's will we will live and do this or that. And that's not an admonition to just tack Lord willing on to every statement that we make. Well I'll see you later. Oh, oh, Lord willing. It's not that. It's a lifestyle. It's a mindset. It's a realization that I am not in control of tomorrow. God is and my friend only God knows when that door is going to shut and the time of opportunity for you to receive Christ is gone. He is in control. Not you. So there's only one way. Times limited. God is in control. But I love the way Jesus ends with a passionate plea that tells us God longs for you to be saved. God longs for you to be saved. Now all of this there's only one way. Times limited. I'm in control. God is not saying I don't care about you. No, he ends by saying those are the harsh realities. But listen, I long for you to be saved. Look at how Jesus says at verse 34, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I have longed to gather your children together. That's God's desire. Do you hear the longing, the passion, the grief in his voice as he says, how long I have longed. How often I've longed to gather your children together. As he sees your unbelief, he weeks over you. He longs for you to come to him and be saved. His heart, his heart is broken over you if you've not yet trusted him as your savior. That's God's desire that you be saved. But he goes on then to craft in a word picture which beautifully shows God's deliverance. This is the way that he longs for us to be saved. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I've longed to gather your children together. Here it is. Here's the word picture. As a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. The picture of God's deliverance and salvation is of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings to protect them and to shield them and to deliver them from harm. A number of years ago there was one of those well-known fires in Yellowstone National Park and it devastated a portion of the park after the fire. Some of the rangers, park rangers, were walking up a hillside assessing the damage. And as one of them walked up the hillside, he looked down to the ground and saw a site that was gruesome. It was a bird perched on the ground petrified in ashes burned to death. It was a gruesome site. Kind of freaked him out. So he reached out with a stick and knocked the bird over. It was just sitting there like a statue and as he knocked the bird over three little chicks ran out from under that mother bird. You see what had happened is that mother bird and her love and protection for her chicks knew that the toxic fumes would rise upward from the fire so she got them out of the nest one by one, took them down to the ground and then covered them with her wings. And as the fire got closer she didn't flinch, she didn't move, and the fire got closer and she didn't run away. She stayed on top of those chicks and with resolution let the fire sweep over her so that her chicks would be safe. My friend that's exactly what Jesus did for you on the cross. That's exactly the picture he's giving us here of God's longing for you to be saved. Jesus with resolution and with passion in order that you might be delivered from the fire of God's wrath. Jesus stayed on that cross. He went to the cross and he stayed there and let the fire of God's wrath and judgment sweep over him, consuming him and taking his life so that you might be saved. That's what he did for you. That's God's deliverance. That's the way of salvation through him pouring out his wrath upon Christ. You can be spared. You can be saved. You can be delivered. God's deliverance. I love what Jesus says next. It has to do with our decision. He says how often I have long to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. Here it is. And you were not willing. You see God will never force you in his plan somehow, mysteriously, in his plan. God gives us the opportunity to either accept Christ as our Savior or to reject him and refuse God's plan of salvation. And he says you were not willing. God is leaving that decision up to you whether or not to trust him, whether or not to respond and accept Christ as your Savior. If you do not, as Israel did not, then you find our desolation, the end of the verse, or verse 35. Look, your house is left to you, desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. His point is specifically directed to Israel. Your house is left desolate. That's speaking of their judgment. God will remove his hand from the house of Israel, from the people of Israel. And they will be judged because they have not accepted him as their Messiah. And so they will not see him again. Once they put into death, I mean, it sends back to heaven, they will not see him again until they cry out with the psalmist, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, not until they welcome him back as their ruling king. And he sets up his kingdom. They will not see him again until then. What does that mean to you and to me? It means that if we reject the gracious offer of God through his son, Jesus, to be delivered from his punishment on our sin, to be saved, to have a home in heaven with him, if we reject that, then we will face separation from him for eternity, enjudgment in a place called hell. We have chosen. We've made the choice to reject him so we've not accepted the only God-given means of our sin being forgiven. If we do that, our future is absolutely desolate, there's no way to overcome that only in eternity, separated from God in hell. It's pretty straight, isn't it? Pretty clear. Jesus gives it straight and clear. Death is sure there's only one way to be right with God. The time is limited. So decide now that is his point, not just to answer the theological question, Lord, there are only a few people who are going to be saved. How many people are going to be saved? A few, many answer that question for me. And Jesus says it's much more important for you to know that you're going to be saved. So I want to tell you plainly, clearly, there's only one way and that's through Christ. There's only one way. Time is limited. You don't know when the door will close and God only is in control of that, not you. So he gives you the decision. He longs for you to be saved. What decision will you make to accept or reject? For there's only one way. And it's not an ostentatious doorway. It is a narrow doorway, an entrance into a stable that leads to a narrow path to a cross that leads to a narrow entrance way into a tomb. But beyond the stable and the cross and the tomb is eternal life. And it is only that way, that door whereby you can be saved. Will you accept that today? If so, you'll be in heaven forever feasting at the kingdom table. If not, you will hear those awful words away from me. You're thrown out. You're not allowed to place at the table. The decision is yours today. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the clarity of our Savior. How clear He answers, how clearly He answers the question. And yet how penetrating it is so much more than just a theological observation. It is a penetrating personal application of M.I.Saved. So Lord, I pray that today each of us would ask that question personally of ourselves. Have I trusted Jesus and Jesus alone as my Savior? Father, help any who are wavering to realize the times limited and they're not in control of how much time they have. Help them to see that you long for them to be saved today and may they come to the Savior for it's in His name we pray. Amen.