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[0:00] On the Christian calendar, today would be the day in which Jesus Christ rode into an unbroken cult!

[0:30] And they were there before Him, crowds, multitudes of people, and they cried out, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

[0:41] It was a wonderful scene because people were crying out to the Lord Jesus Christ and claiming Him to be their Messiah. But you know, only a few days more, and some of them in that crowd that day that were singing His praises would be in that crowd that would say, crucify Him, crucify Him.

[1:04] We do not want this man to rule over us. So we're approaching Good Friday, as it is called, the day that traditionally that we believe Jesus Christ was crucified.

[1:15] Some say rather that it's Thursday, but whatever the day, the fact is it did happen. They crucified Him. But three days later, He rose from the grave. And next Sunday, you're going to celebrate that.

[1:27] But don't limit me to one day of the year to celebrate the resurrection because if He's alive, we can also live. And He is alive. Thank the Lord He is alive. Open your Bibles with me this morning.

[1:40] We'll focus in on the cross, the crucifixion, and a particular aspect of that. The 23rd chapter of the gospel according to Luke. And we're going to read those verses in just a moment.

[1:54] But what I want to remind you of, that Jesus spoke seven times from the cross. Here He is dying. I mean, He went through the cruel trials and the mockery of it all.

[2:05] And then they beat Him almost to death. It was a savage attack upon the Son of God. And He withstood it all. Well, Isaiah 53 tells us about that.

[2:17] In fact, Isaiah prophesied not only that He would carry our griefs and our sorrows and our sins. It says in Proverbs 53 and verse 13, 12 rather, He shall divide the spoiled with the strong.

[2:34] Then notice He said He poured out His soul into death. 700 years before Christ was crucified, the prophet Isaiah prophesied that this would happen.

[2:45] And listen to what He said. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sins of many. And He made intercession for the transgressors.

[2:57] I mentioned that He spoke seven times from the cross. The first time He spoke, He said these words, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they do.

[3:08] Aren't you amazed at that? After all they had done to Him, and that which was yet to be, I mean, the suffering of the cross, Jesus said in response to their cruelty, Father, forgive them.

[3:23] They do not know what they do. Now, forgiveness is a wonderful thing, but it's never automatic. It comes when we ask for it. You see, for forgiveness, it's there. The potential of it is there for every person's life.

[3:36] And Jesus prayed back there in His prayer. The advocacy of His prayer continues to this day. And we have a God who's just waiting to forgive you of all your sin, but He won't do it unless you ask Him.

[3:49] He can't do it unless you're willing. So you receive that forgiveness when you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. The second time He spoke, He practiced that forgiveness.

[4:00] There were two thieves crucified at the same time of Jesus, one on His right, one on His left. By the way, pictures of artists that have tried to picture that scene always put the center cross a little bit higher.

[4:12] Have you noticed that? But on that day, there was no difference. Except that something different was happening on every cross. Two thieves crucified, one on either side.

[4:23] It said, and Isaiah said He was numbered with transgressors. There He is crucified between two thieves. We'll look at that in just a little more closer later. The third time He spoke from the cross, looking down, He saw Mary, His mother, standing with John the Apostle.

[4:42] And He gave this commandment, Son, behold your mother. Mother, behold your son. Giving to John the Apostle the responsibility for caring for Mary. Isn't that wonderful?

[4:53] And so in keeping with the commandment of our Lord, says, honor your father and your mother. Of course, Jesus' father was God, but Mary bore Jesus in her womb. And so in keeping with that commandment, Jesus Himself assigned to John the Apostle the responsibility for caring for Mary.

[5:12] Isn't that wonderful? The third time He spoke from the cross. Awesome words. Fourth time. Awesome. Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.

[5:24] That is to say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's difficult for us to understand the depth of that, but let me point out something to you in that state.

[5:38] Always during our Lord's life and ministry, He referred to God as His Father. Frequently, my Father, my Father, our Father. But on this occasion, He said, my God, what changed?

[5:55] It was that moment in time when your sins and mine were placed upon the perfect, sinless person of Jesus Christ. It was that time when He paid the supreme price, giving His life as a sacrifice for us.

[6:13] and God had to turn His back on His own Son. It was Martin Luther that said, God, forsaking God, who can understand that?

[6:24] And I understand why He said that. It's hard for us to understand how God could turn His back, but that's exactly, and I want, it helps us to understand the enormity of our sin.

[6:36] How grievous it was to God. A price had to be paid, but we couldn't pay it. So Jesus bore, as Peter would say, He bore our sins and our iniquities in His own body on the tree.

[6:51] And so Him crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The next time He spoke, He said just two words, I thirst. I thirst.

[7:03] Now, it was, of course, the result of the physical beating and all that He had endured. He was dehydrated and then His body was crying out for thirst. But I think it's deeper than that.

[7:17] There's a spiritual thirst here, I think, that's applied. When my sin was placed upon Him, He suffered the agony that I should suffer. Sin never has satisfied.

[7:29] It won't. It'll leave you empty. It'll leave you helpless. But Jesus took our sins in His own body and so as a result, when that sin was applied to His life and He felt that experience of being separated from God the Father, He said, I thirst.

[7:46] It was David that said, as the heart, as the small deer panteth after the water brooks, so my heart, my soul, panteth after thee. Jesus said, I'm the water of life. He gives that sense of satisfaction in our life.

[7:59] Now, the next time He spoke, He spoke and said, it is finished.

[8:12] Finished? What was finished? Some said it was Him. He is finished, they said. No, that's not what He meant. When He said finished, by the way, it was one word. Finished.

[8:23] He was referring to the fact that every commandment, every desire of God's heart had been completely fulfilled. He completely fulfilled everything that's in this book.

[8:39] He's the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. And He said concerning His ministry that everything would be fulfilled down to the jot and the tittle, the dot, the period, and the comma.

[8:50] It's all fulfilled. When He said finished, nothing needs to be added to it. And then finally He said, into thy hands I commend my spirit.

[9:01] Seven times He spoke. So for one moment, I want you to stand together as I read from the 23rd chapter of Luke, in honor of God's word, focusing in on that second word from the cross.

[9:16] Then one of the criminals, verse 39, who were hanged, crucified, blasphemed Him, saying, If you are the Christ, save yourself and us. But the other, okay, answering, rebuked Him, saying, Do you not fear God, seeing you're under the same condemnation?

[9:38] But we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man, referring to Jesus, has done nothing wrong. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[9:55] And Jesus said to him, Assuredly, I say to you today, you shall be with me in paradise. Father God, thank you for this tremendous proof that you do indeed love us.

[10:09] how could you love us? But you do. And you took our sins in your own body, and you died in our place on the cross of Calvary.

[10:21] And through your debt, we rejoice in for the provision, the forgiveness of all our sin. I pray that for deeper understanding and a deeper commitment to you in view of all that you've done for us.

[10:39] I pray in Jesus' name. Bless this congregation. If there should be one person today who has never surrendered his or her life to you in faith, may this be the day and the hour.

[10:51] In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Now when I was in high school, I recall that I was introduced in English literature to the poem Paradise Lost.

[11:06] Very difficult to read because it was written in English, 1664, but you do not recognize the English of that day. Words have changed. Hard to read.

[11:17] I thought it was. But what Paradise Lost was about was about by the Milton wrote that poem. It was based on biblical truth.

[11:29] Paradise Lost being how that man was separated from God because of sin. It was one of those poems, one of the English literature that was still permitted in schools to be read after the, you know, they stopped reading the Bible and all that because even though it had a religious flavor, it was poetry.

[11:49] And many consider Milton as being one of the great poets out of that era and even their own day. Well, Paradise Lost. But I announced that my sermon would be Paradise Bound.

[12:03] From our text today, Jesus talked about Paradise and gave a promise to a man that was dying alongside him and said today, you're going to be with me in Paradise. We could talk about where is Paradise.

[12:15] And I would say to you, I don't know. It's okay for me to say I don't know? I could give you my opinion about what it is and how it refers to is referred to in the Bible.

[12:27] But the important thing about Paradise is found in the words where Jesus said, with me. You know what that means? Down here, we worship Jesus by faith.

[12:39] We've never seen him. Oh, I've seen pictures of people thought they might have looked. But we don't really know, do we? Unless you might be one of those unusual persons who say, well, I've seen him.

[12:50] I've had people tell me that. Well, I have to tell you, I've not seen him with these eyes. But one day, one glorious day, I'm going to see him. I don't know about heaven, how you feel about heaven and Paradise.

[13:02] And there are many aspects about it that we're looking forward to. One thing where, you know, our knowledge is going to be advanced. My mother, before she died at 91, she asked me, do you think we'll know each other in heaven? I said, oh yes, Mom, we're going to know each other in heaven.

[13:14] We're going to talk to her about that and sharing with her scripture proof. She said, oh, that's okay, son. And if you say it's so, it must be so. And she clapped her little hands together as weak as she was and said, won't that be wonderful to be there?

[13:27] Her mother died when she was just 12 years of age. And she talked about how godly she was and said, I want to see her someday. And that's a marvelous aspect about heaven. One day, we're going to see our loved ones who have gone before us.

[13:40] And isn't that a wonderful thought? I never go to a grave site that I don't remind the people of that divine truth, but I'll always remind them. The only way to get there, the only way you're going to see your loved one again is that you come through Jesus Christ.

[13:56] Did he not say in John 14, he said, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My father's house were many mansions, as if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, you may be also.

[14:13] But you see, there is no other way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. Now that's either true or not true.

[14:24] I choose to believe the Bible, that it is true. There are those who believe that there are many avenues to heaven. You just choose the one you want to go. No, that's not what the Bible says. And it may not be politically correct with some, but it's biblical truth.

[14:38] If you're going to heaven, you've got to go through Jesus Christ. I'm longing to see my loved ones who've gone before me. I have a granddaughter. She was killed when she was 15 years of age.

[14:49] My heart still aches because of her absence. She would be 22 today. Struck by a car in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And I've grieved over, I led her to Jesus two years before.

[15:01] I want to sit down and talk to her again. She used to come in and she left me these notes and she'd tell me how much she loved me. I loved her. But you know, as much as I want to see her again and I want to see my mother again, my grandparents, all those who've gone before me, like John Jasper of old, an African-American preacher right after the Civil War.

[15:23] People ask him one day, what do you want to do when you get to heaven? Well, he talked about seeing the prophets and this one and that one, but then he added, but first of all, I want to see Jesus.

[15:34] First of all, I want to see Jesus. And it's my belief, by faith I believe, that when you close your eyes in this life, if you know Jesus as your Savior, when you open them in eternity, you're going to look into the face of Jesus Christ.

[15:47] and that's a glorious truth. That's the important thing. I was talking about where paradise is and what it's like. I could tell you a lot of things about it, I think, but you know, the most important thing about paradise, Jesus emphasized it to this thief on the cross, today shall you be with me in paradise.

[16:09] So, while paradise, as Milton wrote about it, paradise lost, the Bible tells us that, but the fact is, paradise found, Jesus told us that there is a place. And we call it heaven, but it's where Jesus dwells and that's the important thing about it.

[16:25] Well, remember, there were three crosses on that hill that day. On the front one cross, we see a man dying in his sin. He was over on one side, either side, one on each side, and one, I don't know which side it was, but it doesn't say, the Bible doesn't say, but on one side, there was one man who began to cast words in Jesus' face.

[16:44] He said things like, look, if you're really the Son of God, why don't you save us? Why don't you save us from this cross? Why don't you come down and save yourself and us?

[16:55] In other words, he was the doubter. He was the skeptic. He was the infidel. He didn't believe in God. Here is a man facing death. I mean, there was no one who recovered or, you know, survived a crucifixion.

[17:08] He knew that this was, he was going to die. And yet, even in the face of death, he hardened his heart against God and said, I just refuse to believe. I will not believe unless you show us some great miracle, namely, deliver us from this cross.

[17:23] But on the other side, this man died in his sin, by the way. You know, I've had the experience throughout my over 64 years of ministry to be by the bedside of a lot of people who pass.

[17:36] What I've observed that people who know Jesus as their Savior, they just die better, easier. I've known of those who did not know Jesus as their Savior. And I've even pled with some, you know, in the thinking, well, hopefully they can hear me and make a response.

[17:50] But it's a terrible thing. Listen to me. It's a terrible, it's a horrible thing to die without Jesus. I would not encourage you to go there without Jesus.

[18:03] Though I walk, Thomas said, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you're with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. To die without Jesus means to spend an eternity separated from God.

[18:19] There's a picture of one who died in his sin. But on this cross that we're looking at this morning, we see a man who died to his sin. He recognized his sin.

[18:30] He said to the fellow in this being crucified himself, look, we're getting what we deserve. Well, what does the Bible say about it? People sometimes say, well, I just want, I just want what I deserve.

[18:41] Well, I don't. If I got what I deserve, I wouldn't be here today. Wasn't saved, wasn't saved until I was 19 years of age off the streets of the stockyards of Fort Worth.

[18:54] And I guarantee you if I wasn't, if I hadn't been, trusted Jesus as my Savior, if he hadn't saved me, if he hadn't revealed himself to me and I hadn't trusted him, I wouldn't be here today.

[19:05] In fact of the matter, my best friend in high school. I remember the Gideons coming to our school. Used to do that. They don't do it, they can't do it now, but some high school settings.

[19:18] But they came to our high school. And there were several of them. It was a huge inner city high school. And I remember that my friend and I, by the way, there were only two student automobiles in the whole class of nearly 500 students, two students at the cars.

[19:33] And he was one of them. So he became my buddy. You know. We double dated together. We spent a lot of time together. And we decided that we would, we heard that they were going to have this meeting, an assembly.

[19:49] And this school, large school, had a balcony. And what we decided was that we were, we would go and if we didn't like it, we'd sneak out and get in his car and go get a Coke or whatever we could do.

[20:00] but the Gideons were there that day and that man, bravely, presented the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can't do that anymore. But he did that day. My heart was touched by that.

[20:11] And as we're leaving, he said, by the way, as you're leaving, we have a gift for you all. That we have a free gift for you. And what that gift was, was the New Testament. My friend, who was my best friend, before me, and he, I remember picturing it.

[20:24] He put his hands down deep in his blue jean, tight blue jean pockets, walked by the man, nah, nah, walked by, would not take the New Testament. I thought, but that's mighty rude.

[20:35] I mean, what's, what's going to hurt? So, and I remember this man said to me, look, take this book. It'll reveal Jesus Christ to you and, and you'll find out how much he loves you, et cetera.

[20:46] And so I took the New Testament, began to read it, make a story short. I found Jesus as my personal Savior. I mean, he revealed himself to me and I've trusted him as my Savior. About two years after that, God called me to preach.

[20:59] I was not, by then, 19 years of age. And I was home reading the Fort Worth Star Telegram in a bold print on the front page, down the bottom of the page, it said, local gang war leaves one dead.

[21:13] I read the article. You guessed, my best friend. And I said, no, you know, that's what it says.

[21:25] And my heart was broken. And I thought, when he walked by that guy that day and said, I don't need that, I want it. And I thought to myself, if I had not received that New Testament and Jesus revealed himself to me, that article could have said two dead.

[21:41] He said, is that a true story? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. It's a true story. But Jesus changed my life. Now, and gave, you know, a different course.

[21:53] So, here I am, you know, these years later, we see a man dying in his sin. We see another dying to his sin. He said, we're getting what we deserve and repented.

[22:06] I believe he repented because he said, I'm getting what I deserve. And then he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. A brief prayer, right? Wouldn't you agree? Very brief, very short, but to the point.

[22:19] He didn't have forever. You know, he just had a brief time there and he just said, Lord, just remember me. But as short as that prayer was, it brought an immediate response.

[22:30] For while we have one dying in his sin, another dying to his sin, on the center cross was dying for our sin. And this thief, through the leadership of God, through the Holy Spirit, he simply said to Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[22:50] Now you think about that for just a moment. I want to remind you what's going on. There was not one cross, there were three crosses. Nobody survived the crucifixion. And yet he's telling to a man on the center cross next to him, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[23:07] What kingdom? They arrested Jesus, they put him through one cruel mockery of a trial after another. Remember what they put on his head?

[23:19] Crown of thorns. Press it into his brow and blood began to trickle down his face all around. And painful, oh, it must have been agony. He wore crown of thorns.

[23:31] Now, Herod put a sign above his cross and said, Jesus, King of the Jews. Now the religious leaders of that day said, change that sign. He said that he was King of the Jews and the writer says that he replied, what I've written, I've written.

[23:48] Jesus dying for our sin? How significant is that to you? You say, well, I'm not such a great sinner. Then you haven't fully understood what it involves to say no to God.

[24:01] The Bible says we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Here it is, through Jesus Christ, the Lord.

[24:13] Who's on that sinner cross? Not just a mere mortal man. The Son of God. He took our place on the cross, dying for sin.

[24:24] He believed Jesus had a kingdom. Really? What kingdom? Even His disciples fled. They weren't there. Mary was there, the mother of Jesus, a couple of other women, and there was John, the apostle.

[24:38] Only one left. The others were in hiding. One of them, named Simon Peter, had been one of the chief leaders in that group. Jesus told him one day, you're going to deny me three times. Oh, no, no, no.

[24:49] I'm ready to go with you to prison and to death. I'm ready to die for you. But when the test came, he failed miserably. But even he was included in God's forgiveness.

[25:01] Isn't that wonderful to know? He did not even do it. What kingdom? Do you believe Jesus has a kingdom? Do you really believe Jesus has a kingdom?

[25:14] The world does not agree with you on that. Most people look toward their present circumstances and say, here's my kingdom.

[25:24] This is my kingdom. No. God has a kingdom. And by the way, his kingdom is in here, if you know Jesus. That kingdom that I'm talking about is there.

[25:41] Do you understand that? We're not talking about something that's, yeah, you know, naive, some little thing. It's a big thing. I'm a child of the king.

[25:55] A child of the king. His kingdom is in me. There's a throne room in your heart. We call it the heart. That's the total you, the person on the inside.

[26:05] The real you, the one that's going to live forever. The body, the outward man is going to perish. But the inward man, the Bible says, can be renewed day by day. That's the real you because that part of you is going to live forever somewhere.

[26:20] And Bible tells us that somewhere can become a reality to you that is the kingdom of God. And by the way, that begins, that kingdom of God comes into your life through the presence of God's Holy Spirit.

[26:33] He sits on the throne room of your life and he wants to be the Lord and master of your life if you're led him. Master. But where is his kingdom?

[26:44] His kingdom. His kingdom is anywhere that a child of God goes. Now, that is to remind you that you are a part of the kingdom of God and you and I carry a great responsibility that is to represent this king everywhere we go.

[27:05] There's someone that doesn't know Jesus that you may cross paths with. And you and I need to understand that the commandment that's called the Great Commission is for every Christian going to the whole world with the whole gospel and present it to every person that you possibly can.

[27:23] You know, sometimes we, and we do, we expect the pastor to do that. Brother Dan, he used to do that. You know, there are the ones that are called in our church to do the job.

[27:34] Listen, we've all been called to this task. I see Matthews and wrote a book Every Member's Task to remind us that this business of sharing the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, with others belongs to every single one of us.

[27:51] Well, I'm not asking you to come up here and stand up here and preach. Some just wouldn't feel comfortable doing that. And it's not your calling. But we've all been called to be a witness.

[28:04] Angels said, you'll be my witnesses. Jesus said, you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, where we live, in Judea, the state, in Samaria, the country, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth.

[28:19] It's every member's task. He believed Jesus had a kingdom. And there's something else that he also understood. And a lot of people don't.

[28:32] Salvation that we're talking about, a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, is not something you gain because of your good works, you know, being good. You ask the average person, how can I go to heaven?

[28:45] If you really believe in heaven, how do you think a person goes? Nine times out of ten, the unsaved person would say, by doing good, by being good, you know, doing the right thing.

[28:56] Well, I'm certainly in favor of doing the right things, aren't you? I'm morally responsible for the life we live, but folks, we're not saved by our good works. Let's take the thief on the cross for just a moment.

[29:09] Why is he there? Because of the lifestyle he'd lived. He'd broken the laws. Now he's dying for his crimes. I mean, you know, perpetrated.

[29:21] Could he come down from that cross and get baptized? Not likely, was it? There are some people who believe that, you know, to be saved, you've got to do good works or you've got to get baptized, this, that, and the other.

[29:34] Now I believe in those things, but not to be saved is because you have been saved. There's a difference, isn't there? Listen, Paul said in Ephesians, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy has he redeemed us through the washing of sins.

[29:55] That's in the book of Titus. For by grace are you saved through faith. That's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

[30:06] Listen, this man could not come from the cross and do anything other than what he did. By the way, I think God had that testimony put in there for all of us to understand something.

[30:19] This message, it's by God's grace. You don't earn it. You can't work for it. You can't buy it. And you certainly don't deserve it.

[30:30] But God in his mercy and in his grace reaches out to us with the person of the Holy Spirit and calls us to himself by faith. By grace are you saved.

[30:43] Through faith. That not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. But keep in mind the fact that it's through Jesus that you get to paradise or heaven.

[30:59] It's through Jesus that you find forgiveness for your sins. It's through Jesus that you find a real meaning for life. For Jesus said, John 10, I've come that you might have life. Capital L.

[31:12] And that you might have it more abundantly. The abundant life. The fulfilling life. The meaningful life. The life with intent and purpose is to be found in a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

[31:28] Isn't it wonderful to know that Jesus while on the cross when it would, no one would, would, would have blamed him or accused him if he had been thinking of himself.

[31:40] The only thing he ever said that might have been near that, he said, I'm thirsty. But that was in relation to all that he was going through. When they offered him, by the way, the vinegar, he turned it down.

[31:53] Didn't want anybody thinking that he was going out of this life in a stupe fight. He knew what he was saying. He knew what he was doing. Faith in Jesus Christ, trusting him, plus nothing, brings you to salvation through faith.

[32:10] Now then, if you are saved, and I'm assuming that probably all of us, if not all of us, most of us here today, have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, then our task is to be faithful to him and to be his witness for as long as we live until he calls us home.

[32:31] Charles Bealingsley wrote a song, Finish Well. How about you? You want to finish well? Here I am 84. You say, you look 94, but here I am 84, still trying to preach the gospel, still begging people to come to Jesus, and I expect to be doing that in my last breath.

[32:54] I want to be, because if there's anything that I want to do, I want to live this life since I've been saved.

[33:05] I want to live for him until he calls me home, living for Jesus. He expects that of you. Now we might, you know, to be talking about some of the expectations that God might have, but faithfulness is the chief one.

[33:19] Be faithful to him, faithful to the church, his body of Christ, as I've heard many of you refer to it, and it is that. Be faithful to the body of Christ, the believers, and also mindful of worldwide needs and praying for others and those who do go.

[33:35] That's our responsibility, and it does not end until you draw your last breath. I haven't found the word retirement in the Bible. I've been looking for it, but God bless you, those of you.

[33:49] Now then, again, I want to mention the fact that if you're here today without Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, let me say to you, you're in the right place because we share the Word of God.

[34:01] You've met Christian friends and others who love you, and they would do anything in the world for you, but only God can bring forgiveness. a decision is called upon at this point.

[34:14] Here we have a picture of a man dying in his sin and another who died to his sin to receive Christ as his personal Savior. I call upon you to make that decision.

[34:27] Now, you can't do it unless the Holy Spirit draws you, but if you feel that little tug in your heart and thinking, you know, I really do need to be saved. I really do need to accept Christ as my personal Savior.

[34:38] that's not something that just happened. That's God at work in your life and saying, I'm calling you. Did you know the word come as appears in Scripture related to an invitation from God is found over 600 times.

[34:58] How many times does he have to say that to let you know that he wants you to come? RSVP, please respond. And your response is, yes, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

[35:13] I repent of my sins and ask him to come into my life. Now then, I close with this thought. Revelation, the third chapter, 20th verse.

[35:26] Jesus said, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice, opens the door, I will come into him and fellowship with him and he with me.

[35:42] Frequently, I go visiting. I don't do as much as I used to. My wife's not able to go with me and I always like to take her with me when I go. But I do some.

[35:53] But the fact is, some of it that I do is not just planned visitation. I just happen to be in a place where I feel like I can share my faith with someone else. But the important thing is, if I came to your home and I knocked in the door and you didn't know who I was, in this day and age, you'd be real careful about who you opened the door to, right?

[36:14] Right. We're real careful about who we opened the door to. But I want to encourage you because if Jesus knocks at your door, that tug, that sensation, that feeling, that thought, I need Jesus in my life.

[36:28] He put it there and what he's doing is knocking at your door. Who's going to open the door? You must open. You must let him come in. And I would encourage you to do that.

[36:39] We like for people to come forward and we don't do that to embarrass you. But we do it because you are given the opportunity to say publicly, I confess Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.

[36:54] And he can save you on the spot and he does. You'll call on him and ask him in. I won't. I won't. I won't.

[37:04]  I won't. you