Very profound, very profound thoughts. We preach the message on Sunday morning. If you're a children, if you're a kid, and you'd like to go to Children's Church, you can do that right there. You can follow this man right here, Pastor Rick. He'll take you right now. I was hoping to keep all the kids in here tonight. That'd be fun, wouldn't it? But I guess they've got some meetings to go to themselves, so we'll let them go. The rest of you that are going to stay in here, take your Bibles and turn to Psalm 119. I just want to go back and revisit just a moment, Sunday morning's message. I want to give you a challenge tonight for Monday night and Tuesday night and Wednesday night. I'd like for you to memorize Psalm 119.59. It's a very short verse, but it's a verse that I think that will be a help to you and your life. And perhaps you were not here on Sunday morning. I challenge you to go back, listen to that message, and really go through this passage. And in a way, I believe that'll help you understand what's being spoken about here. But I hope that maybe we can just say it together tonight, Psalm 119.59. And let's work together through this. So you look at it in your word and just say it with me. Psalm 119.59, I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. You know, it's such a simple truth. But it's a simple truth that will really help you in your life. So would you do that with me one more time? Look at the Bible and we'll say it out loud together. Ready? Psalm 119, 59, I thought on my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies. Good job. I encourage you to work on that a little bit. Try to memorize that. Commit it to memory this week. And we'll try, you know, tomorrow night, maybe Wednesday night, we'll give you a chance to stand up and say it and I'll try to find something I can throw your way. Maybe something sweet, maybe something chocolate. I don't know. We'll try to find something. But I encourage you to do that. Memorize Psalm 119.59. It's always a good thing to put God's Word in your mind and it'll be a help to you in the future. Alright, take the Bibles and turn to 1 Peter chapter number 2. 1 Peter chapter number 2. While you're turning there, we had a couple of folks come by and see the fifth wheel tonight, and we just enjoyed showing them around. And my girls, I think, just get a kick out of being a host and showing you all around the fifth wheel. And if you'd like to do that tomorrow night, we'll open it up again around 6 o'clock, and we'll stop around 6.45 or so. So if you would like to come and see the fifth wheel again. You guys have been such a blessing to us, providing financially and enabling us to be able to get that fifth wheel, so we want to show you what you gave towards. And so tomorrow night will be the last night, we won't do it on Wednesday, but tomorrow night, Tuesday night, six o'clock, it's about 6.45 or so, you come by and we'll be glad to show you around inside the fifth wheel. Now, last night I kind of let the cat out of the bag. I'm a bit of a math nerd. And we had a lesson or a sermon last night that was about math. And we talked about addition. And, you know, I got to thinking about this and I thought it would only be appropriate to add another service about math. And that would only make sense, don't you think? And so you were a kid, and you learned addition, and you thought that you just had everything down pat, and it was never going to be more complicated, and then they told you there was a different kind of math you had to learn, and what was it? It was subtraction, wasn't it? I hate subtraction. I really do. I mean, it's just awful. I'd much rather add, you know? And just to be honest, I mean, who really likes subtraction? You have to think so much harder to subtract than you do to add. My mother-in-law was a college lecturer. She taught college-level statistics and college-level algebra. And even with all of her math training and all of her credentials, she despised subtraction. And so she'd be working a problem in front of the classroom and she'd be writing it out on the boards or the whiteboards, whatever they had there. And she would come to a part of that problem that involved subtraction and she figured that she had done enough math up to this point in her life, she didn't need to do subtraction anymore. So she would write the subtraction out on the board and then she'd just stop and she would wait for one of her students to do the subtraction problem. And when one of the students did the subtraction problem, they would yell out the answer and then she would wait for another student in the class to validate that the first student had gotten the correct answer. Once they had two that had the correct answer, she wrote it down and just kept on going. Because she just didn't like subtraction. I don't like subtraction. You probably don't like subtraction. We all know what it is, though. We've been subtracting for most of our lives. And I looked it up in Webster and he pointed out to me that subtraction has to do with taking something away. And we're familiar with that, aren't we? You work and you get that paycheck. And you'll notice that the government has subtracted out a portion, right? We're familiar with subtraction. I have a mortgage on my home and I make a payment every month and it's exciting to see the statement come in the next month and to see that principal balance has been reduced, amen? That's a good thing. So sometimes subtraction is a good thing. Sometimes it's a bad thing. About a month ago, a friend of mine named Jonathan Luchak, he was actually just a new deacon in our church, he invited me to go fishing with him. Now, that is an offer that I just have a very hard time refusing. He's got a little 16-foot fisher, V-hole bass boat, 40 horsepower Johnson, and we were going to go out and we were going to try to do some bass fishing. I was all excited and I hadn't been out on a boat to go fishing in a long time. I mostly just fish from the bank. And so we got out there, and he put me up in the front of the John Boat, and I was sitting on that crossbar, you know, literally how John Boats are, and I just kind of sat sideways in it. And he was back there in the back, and he explained to me, he says, hey, you know, my boat leaks. And so one of the, you know, has a drain plug in the back. And he said, so I've learned that once I get up to speed, I just pull the drain plug and the suction kind of pulls the water out. So, you know, he kind of, I said, that sounds good. That's no problem, you know. And so he's sitting and it was kind of a homemade boat and he had the steering wheel and he had to reach way up forward, you know, to get to the steering wheel. And we were driving and we got that 40 horsepower going as fast as he could go. And then he lets go of the steering wheel and reaches back and pulls the drain plug. And when he did that, the steering wheel went, zoop, and the boat just went, zoop, in the water. And I didn't go, zoop, with the boat. I stayed going straight. And, you know, he subtracted me right from that boat. I could not believe it. You know, I had my cell phone in my pockets. I lost 450 contacts, lost my sunglasses down into the bottom of the lake. I thought, you know, this has been some kind of fishing trip. We hadn't even thrown a single line in the water. We had just gotten out there. I was talking to my brother-in-law about this message here recently and he said, you know, I don't like subtraction, it's just too negative. Yeah, yeah. Well, that is a little bit of an introduction to get you to thinking about subtraction. I want you to look in 1 Peter 2, verse 1. I have preached this portion before. For those of you who went to Trinidad, this will be a little bit of review. But this is just a springboarding point for us tonight. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2, If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Would you bow with me for a word of prayer? Father, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening. Lord, I pray that you would bless our time together. Lord, speak to hearts tonight. Do what I cannot do. Father, fill me with your Spirit. Give me the words to say. And Father, do something special here this evening. Lord, we love you. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Subtraction is a part of spiritual growth. It's just a part of life. Whether we like subtraction or not, it is a part of spiritual growth. The Bible says here, wherefore laying aside. You know what that means? It means subtract. Laying aside, it means literally to take off, if I was to take off this suit coat. That is what laying aside means. Subtract it from your life. And it tells us there that we are to lay aside a few things, malice, guile, hypocrisies, envies, all evil speakings, as newborn babes, and then it says this word here, desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. Now, the grammar of this passage, whenever you look at it in the original language, it just jumps out to you and is amazing here. The Bible is commanding you in verse number 2 to desire the sincere milk of the Word. I think that makes sense to everybody in here who's a Christian. You should desire to be in this book. But if you would be honest with me, you would probably have similar testimony to me, that there have been times in your life where you have not really had a desire for this book like you should have. Everybody in here should be able to relate to this. Well, the Bible here explains why, or at least one reason why that may be the case. The command here to desire the sincere milk of the Word cannot be fulfilled unless there is subtraction in your life. unless there is a laying aside. Wherefore, laying aside, that comes first. It is prerequisite to the desire for the sincere milk of the Word. The Bible says, if you will desire the sincere milk of the Word, the natural result of that will be that you will grow spiritually. We all want to grow spiritually, don't we? So we see that in our text, and the Bible says that we need to lay aside, and we must be laying aside if we expect to have a desire for God's Word. If we'd be honest with ourselves, those times where we haven't really had a desire for His Word, it's because there's been some desire in our life that shouldn't be there, and we've elevated that above the desire for His Word. And what the Bible is telling us here is, look, there needs to be some subtraction in your life. Get rid of some things that shouldn't be in your life. And when you do that, when you take that step, the desire for the Word of God will return. And when the desire for the Word of God returns, then you'll be able to grow spiritually. So what is the Bible telling us here that we need to subtract from our life? The Bible says in verse number one, What is malice? Malice is just general badness. That just kind of sums it up. Right there. Anything that's bad, it should not be a part of your life as a Christian. And then the Bible says all guile should be subtracted. Guile has the idea of being deceptive, catching with a bait, a lure, something along those lines. The Bible says that it shouldn't be in our life. Malice, guile. What's the next word there? Hypocrisies. I find it fascinating that that is plural. You know, you're not just hypocritical typically about one area in your life. It's multiple areas in your life. We know what a hypocrite is. It's pretending to be someone you're not. You know, I tell you what, there's a beautiful thing about being transparent. I think it's scriptural to be transparent. We're to be transparent with the Lord, aren't we? You know, we can't fool Him about who we are. I mean, just be real. Don't put on a facade. Don't try to be something that you're not. Just be real and be honest with people. This is what the Lord is asking you to do. The Bible says that we should not have malice, guile, hypocrisies. Even Envys here says, resentment aroused by jealousy. And then he ends that verse and he says, lay aside all evil speakings. Slander, get this stuff out of your life. Have you ever been on a hike, walking through woods, maybe going down a trail, maybe you're out there early in the morning and you're walking along and maybe you're tall like me, I don't know, these things always catch me, but you're out there hiking and you run into a cobweb. Have you ever done that? Oh, it's awful, isn't it? I mean, the stuff's just sticking all over you. You don't know if the spider's there or not or where he's at on your body. And man, you just start... I mean, you're just emphatic. You're starting to throw that stuff off and you're doing everything that you can to get yourself clean. And you know what you're doing? You're trying to lay it aside. You know, we need to have that kind of attitude as Christians when it comes to sin. I mean, just get rid of it and be serious about it and go after it and don't tolerate the presence of sin in your life. Get rid of it. There is a link between your desire for sin and your holding on to sin in your life and your desire for the Word of God from which you're going to have spiritual growth. Friends, there is a link between subtraction and being the kind of Christian that you need to be. I've shown it to you here in 1 Peter 2. I'll show it to you again over in James 1. Would you just flip over there? We're going to bounce around a little bit in Scripture tonight. By the way, there's the Madalims. Good to see you guys. Been looking for you this week. Praise the Lord. So great to see you here. James 1, the Bible says in verse 21. The Bible says, "...wherefore, lay apart..." You know, that's the same word that's translated, lay aside, over in the passage in Peter. What's that mean? It means subtract. Subtraction, once you start looking for it, is all over the pages of Scripture. "...wherefore, lay apart all filthiness and all superfluity of naughtiness." And look at the link there. If you'll lay those things aside, what will happen? then you'll be able to receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save your soul." You know, it is impossible to grow in that which is holy while you are holding on to that which is unholy. It is impossible, folks. When the Lord's putting His finger on something in your life and you know that it shouldn't be there, the best thing that you can do is just subtract it from your life. and get excited about getting rid of it, because when you get rid of it, the desire for God's Word is going to come back. You'll be wanting to spend time with Him. All that will be there, and you'll be able to grow. You know that word, superfluity of naughtiness. I love King James English, don't you? You know, it's just fantastic. I don't know why anybody would want a different version. It just doesn't make any sense to me. It's just fantastic, such graceful language. Remove the superfluity of naughtiness from your life. I mean, that's cool. I couldn't have come up with that. What does superfluity of naughtiness means? Well, I don't really know, but I would think, you know, that it just kind of broad brushes anything on the excess, anything on the fringe, you know, anything that's close, all those gray areas, you know what, just get rid of them. Just get rid of them. Just get rid of them. I was talking with a pastor friend of mine, and he was just sharing and confiding with me, and he said, you know, Dustin, he said, the very worst thing that I ever did in my life was let my teenage daughter get a cell phone. This is the worst thing that I ever did. He said, you know, it wasn't my idea. He said, a nice member of my church came to me and said, you know what, I understand, you know, you guys, financially, whatever speaking, we would like to get your daughter a cell phone plan. And so, you know, he was kind of taken back by the generosity. I mean, that's a very nice offer. And so he accepted and she got it. And you know, he, boy, we need to be careful, don't we? Man, there's a lot of trouble you can get into on your devices. What are you doing on your devices? What if I went and looked through the history on your phone and traced your steps further the past week? Where would I find that you'd been on your cell phone? Oh man, superfluity of naughtiness. There's no room for it in the Christian life. And if you're holding on to those things, I can tell you you're not in this book. I can tell you. I'm telling you you're not spending time with God every day. On the authority of God's Word, you're not in the book like you should be. And you won't be until you deal with the sin in your life by choosing to subtract it. Friends, we have to do this. Can I say something to you, parents, grandparents? Your job is not to make your children happy. Your job. That's not in the job description of a parent. It's not in the job description of a grandparent. It is not to make your children happy. You need to make your children have godly character. You need to train them in the ways of Scripture. You need to teach them how to be a good adult. And then, whenever they grow up and become adult, guess what? They'll be happy people. Your job is to not make your children happy by giving in to every whim and every desire that they have to use technology or whatever it may be, however they want to do it. They don't know what is good for them, you know what is good for them, and therefore step up to the plate and be the parent that God has called for you to be. Be a good parent. Get rid of those things in your life that don't please the Lord. Subtraction is also a part of God's plan for revival. You know, we talked about math, haven't we? We talked about addition last night. We talked about subtraction tonight. You know, if you really just break it down on the surface, you know what revival is? Addition and subtraction. Get rid of things that don't belong there, put in things that do. Again, I wish that I could stand up here sometimes and preach something that'd be rocket science, you know? I mean, people could be so impressed. I came to preach chapel this morning, this is funny, and they asked one of the seniors to come up and pray, and he got up here and he said something to the effect of, Dear Lord, thank you so much for sending this really smart man to preach to us today. And I thought, I started looking around, I see, you know, who is the world is preaching today? I came on the wrong day, you know? You know, really, at the end of the day, the Bible is just basic. It's straightforward, it's easy to understand, it's right there in the black and white on the pages in front of you. Just subtract things that shouldn't be there, add in what should, and you can have revival this week. Psalm 119.59, "...and I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." Turn with me in your Bible to the book of Hebrews, just a couple of pages to your left, chapter 12. Verses 1 and 2. Subtraction is part of running a good race. Subtraction is part of running a good race. Why subtract? Look at it in Hebrews 12, verse number 1. Wherefore, seeing we also are encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us. and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Why subtract? Because we don't want to be hindered while running the race. Anybody ever seen those things, ankle weights, right? You strap them around your ankles and they're full with sand or something like that and you can put them on and then you can go running or you can do the exercises that you have with them and all of those things. You know, those things are great tools for exercise, aren't they? But, you know, I ran cross-country when I was in high school, and I was trying to think back of all the instruction that Coach Pryor gave me. And, you know, not one time did he ever tell me to show up with ankle weights to the race on race day. That was never advice that he gave. Why? Because that would have just slowed me down. It was a good training tool that I could use. It was a good thing to practice with and to build muscle. But when it came to race day, I didn't need to have any excess weight on my body. I wanted everything to be streamlined. Not that it would really help, I was quite slow. But you know, I was trying to do everything that I could do in order to run a good race. What is the weight that is talked about here in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse number 1? Well, it's not a sin. It's not a sin. The Bible says there to lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset you. So a weight is something that's not necessarily a sin, but may be a hindrance to your Christianity. You know, it's possible to have those things in our life. Something that in and of itself may be good, but you know what? It shouldn't be in your life. You know, it's possible even that that thing, it may be okay in somebody else's life. But God's put His finger on it in your life and says, you know what, this area right here, you need to get rid of. You know, that would be an example of a weight. Something that's not necessarily a sin, but something that's a hindrance to you. Maybe a hobby in which you spend too much time or too much money. I mean, it could be a number of different things. I was over in... Well, I won't tell you where I was. I met a guy recently, and he had been convicted about drinking in his life. Now, that's not a weight, that's a sin. Are you with me? Alright? And he gave it up. Now, praise the Lord, it's pretty exciting to see a new Christian growing. He decided, you know what, this doesn't need to be in my life. I'm gonna get rid of it. I'm gonna subtract it. He saved $1,500 a month by just not drinking. You know what he did? He bought a fishing boat and he started fishing all the time with all of this extra money that he had around, you know? Now I'm not saying that that's how it should work, but I'm just saying, you know what, it is possible to spend a whole lot of money on something that we really shouldn't be spending money on. And you know, at the end of the day, that can end up being a hindrance to our Christianity. Weights can cost you both time and money. Perhaps it's a friend. Perhaps it's a relationship that has become a spiritual hindrance to you. Perhaps it could be something like a TV show. You know, I was watching a TV show. This would have been several years ago by now. And I can't even remember necessarily what the TV show was, but I was really into the TV show. You with me? You know, and now you can stream all these shows and you can watch just episode after episode after episode. And you can just take in all this information, you know, and maybe not the best thing to do. But, you know, I was doing this and I was watching this show and at the show, there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the show. But God said to me, Dustin, Get rid of it. Does He ever do anything like that to you? Something that maybe you're enjoying, something that maybe isn't all that bad. You're kicking back at the end of the day, and you're watching something or whatever it may be, and God puts His finger on it and says, that doesn't need to be in your life. Well, you know, I'm a good Christian, and so I did what most Christians would do. I said, no, Lord. No, no, no, no. I said, I like this show, and I'm in the middle of the season. I need to know what happens to all these people. I mean, I'm really into all these characters, and you know, I'm emotionally attached, and I've got to figure out what happens, and I can't give this show up. Lord, are you crazy? Do you ever argue with the Lord? Come on, you do, don't you? Surely I'm not the only one. You know, I was arguing with the Lord. I was trying to justify why I needed this in my life. And you know, I was absolutely miserable. You're fighting against God. He's got His finger on something. You know you need to get rid of it, but you're holding on to it for everything that it's worth. I was fighting with the Lord. I said, Lord, if I get rid of this, it's going to drive me insane. I'm not going to know what happened. Well, finally, I succumbed to the Lord. I said, OK, if you want it out of my life, that's fine. I'll quit watching the TV show. But I'm not gonna like this, you know? You know, a week went by. It was one of the greatest weeks I've ever had spiritually. God was showing me things in His Word I'd never seen before. Things just jumping off of the page. I'll tell you how exciting that is. And to think I was going to hold on to some stupid TV show and miss out everything that God wanted to show me that week. I mean, that's just crazy. You know, a week went by, I couldn't even tell you the names of any of the characters that I was so attached to. One week, I thought that would be impossible. Today, I don't even know what show it was. I still don't know. And I'm telling you, it's wonderful. I didn't need it in my life, whatever it was. And I was willing to just get rid of it. The Lord had talked to me about it. He put His finger on it. I subtracted it from my life. And I'm telling you, the other side of that subtraction was glorious. The other side of that subtraction is glorious. Another point here. Subtraction must lead to addition. Go to Ephesians chapter number 4. Ephesians chapter number 4, we'll pick it up in verse number 21. Subtraction must lead to addition. In verse number 21 of Ephesians 4, the Bible says, If so be that ye have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye what? Put off. What is that? That's subtraction, isn't it? That ye subtract concerning the former conversation of the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of mind, and that ye what? put on the new man. What is that? That's addition, isn't it? You know, subtraction should be followed by Addition. Now the Scriptures here gives us several examples of this. Look at it in verse number 25. Wherefore put away lying. There's the subtraction. And then the Bible says, speak every man truth. What is that? That's addition, isn't it? In other words, when you subtract, replace it with something that is wholesome. The Bible says it again down in verse number... let's see, where am I at here? Verse number 28. Let him that stole steal no more." There's subtraction. And then the Bible says, "...but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs it." Subtract the stealing, add in the working, so that you then have to give to those who are in need. The Bible goes on here. Look down at verse 31. It says, "...let all bitterness..." No, bitterness is a terrible sin. Someone once said that bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Hebrews tells us that bitter people are troubled people, and that through their bitterness, many people around them end up being defiled. And if we take the time and go over to Hebrews chapter 12, you can look at it later, verses number 14 and 16, we would find that if there's bitterness in your life, the way to remedy that is, of course, to subtract the bitterness and replace it with peace to all men. Peace and holiness is what the Bible says. I know that's a difficult step, but the Lord will help you do it. Bitterness doesn't hurt the person that you're upset at. It only hurts you. And it only hurts those immediately around you, those who you love the most. Subtraction must lead to addition. Verse 31, subtract there, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, let it be put away from you, subtracted from you with all malice. And then put on, verse number 32, that ye add, that ye be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. I know that subtraction is not easy. It's just not easy. You got something in your life that shouldn't be there, it can be hard to give it up. I understand that. But I want to challenge you with something. Don't focus on giving it up. Don't focus on the subtraction. Focus on what happens after the subtraction. Would you go with me and your Bible to Psalm 32? Psalm 32. What is the first word of Psalm 32? Blessed. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. You want to know what's on the other side of subtraction? Blessing. Blessing. It's right there. It's there for the taking. God is waiting with open arms to just pour out blessings upon you. But if there's something in your life that shouldn't be there, those blessings are hindered. And the Bible says, get rid of it. He whose transgression is forgiven, He is blessed. Look what else is on the other side of this subtraction. Look down in verse number 5. The Bible says, I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I hid not. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord. Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. What's on the other side of subtraction? Forgiveness. is on the other side of subtraction. Look in verse number 6. For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found. Surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto thee. Thou art my hiding place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble, thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance, preservation, for the Lord is on the other side of subtraction. Songs of deliverance are on the other side of subtraction. Look in verse number 8. The Bible says, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Is subtraction worth it in your life? Absolutely! On the other side of subtraction, there is instruction in the Lord. There is teaching in the way that thou shalt go. On the other side of subtraction, there is the Lord's guidance there in your life. You know, we often pray, we'll ask the Lord to guide us in the way that we should go. You know, there's a promise here in the Scriptures. If you want the Lord's guidance, then do some subtraction in your life. Something's there that shouldn't be there, get rid of it, and you'll find that the Lord will be able to guide you in the way that you should go. Look down at verse number 11. The Bible says, Be glad in the Lord. On the other side of subtraction is gladness. And then the Bible says, Rejoice! On the other side of subtraction is rejoicing, you righteous. And shout for joy! All ye that are upright in heart. I get excited about the other side of subtraction. I don't like subtraction. I'd rather do addition. But sometimes subtraction is necessary. And on the other side of subtraction, there is blessing. Look at verse number 3 of Psalm number 32. The Bible says, when I kept silence, in other words, when I would not confess my sins to the Lord, when I would not do business with the Lord, when I was holding on to that sin, the Bible says, my bones wax old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned into the drought of summer, Selah." You know, you really have a choice to make, don't you? Do you want to have the hand of the Lord's oppression upon you, as is mentioned here? Then just hold on to your sin. Or do you want to have the blessings and the rejoicing? Then do business with the Lord. Subtract those things from your life which should not be there. My message tonight has been mostly for Christians, trying to get Christians to understand the importance of subtraction from their life. But maybe there's somebody here tonight, and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. And if I were to ask you right now, if I were to ask you to hit the fast-forward button in your life, and we'd fast-forward all the way to the point where you were standing before the Lord, and He looks at you, and He says your name, and He says, why should I let you into my heaven? Perhaps you're here today and you'd say something like, well, I hope that you'll let me in because I've been a good person. And I've never done really anything all that bad. And, you know, I think I have more good in my life than bad. And I'm just hoping that I'll be able to get in in that way. You know, if I was just to challenge you with something tonight, the Bible would challenge you to subtract wrong thinking from your life about the issue of salvation. The Bible nowhere says in it that there's a scale whenever you get to heaven, and that you'll put all your good works on one side and all your bad works on the other side, and as long as the good outweighs the bad, then I'll let you in. The Bible doesn't say that anywhere. Can I show you what the Bible does say? Go with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. And we'll look at verse number 19. I want to look at the purpose that God gave the law. Most people think that God gave us the law, gave us the Ten Commandments, so that we would know what to do in order to please God, in order to merit or earn our own way into heaven. But the Bible says in Romans chapter 3 and verse number 19, You know, the law was not given so that you could keep the law and thereby be righteous. The law was given according to the Bible so that you would know that you were not righteous, so that you would know that you were guilty of breaking God's law. And in verse number 20 it says, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified or saved in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. The Bible very clearly teaches that we're all sinners, and that because of our sin we deserve to spend an eternity in the lake of fire. And the Bible says here and in many other places that, you know, it doesn't matter how much good you do in your life, There is what the Bible says here, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. In other words, you can't be good enough to get to heaven. But I'm so thankful that the Bible says in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And he gave his son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life and died on the cross, and he paid for your sin debt there on that tree. And the Bible very clearly says that if you will put your faith and trust in Him and what He did for you, then you can be forgiven and you can have a home in heaven. Maybe there's somebody here tonight, and you need to subtract some wrong thinking about salvation, and you need to trust the Lord as your Savior. Let me just say this, too, as I seek to close here tonight. I hope that each of you are sharing the Gospel. I hope that you're doing that. I was in Fort Lauderdale last week. I hope I didn't say this the other day, but I was in McDonald's and there was this guy that came in. And you know, you can start up conversations with people, even in 2020, even in the midst of a global health pandemic. You know, you can talk to people. You can even talk to some people without masks. You know, you can, you can talk to them. Do they need Jesus? They do, don't they? You know, I sat down and talked with this guy, and he had that same thought. You know, I'm just going to be good in order to get to heaven. And I was able to take the Bible, open it up, walk him through the Scriptures, and share with him the way of salvation. I'm telling you, we need to be doing that, folks. You need to be subtracting things from your life that don't need to be there. You need to be adding things into your life that should be there. And if you're here today and you never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, today, is a day of salvation. Don't wake. Do the Lord's will in your life. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I want to thank you for all that you've done for us tonight. I want to thank you for your word. Again, Lord, I want to thank you for the simplicity of it. Father, I know that subtraction is difficult. Sometimes we hold on to things that we shouldn't. Lord, we're thankful. We're so thankful for your grace and your mercy when we're fighting against you. Father, I ask that you would give grace tonight. Lord, if you put something, your finger on something, somebody's life, Lord, that they would... They would submit, Lord, to your will for their life, and they would get rid of it, and they'd put something in place of it, Lord, that should be there. Father, thank you for the blessings that come on the other side of subtraction. Lord, thank you for the truths and the promises in the scripture. Lord, that if we'll humble ourselves, if we'll draw nigh to you, Lord, that you will draw nigh to us, you will lift us up. Father, we love you. I thank you for all that you do for us tonight, and in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. If you would, just stand right where you're sitting there. Stand to your feet. I'm going to ask that you would bow your head and close your eyes and the pianist to begin to play. Let me just ask you this. We've talked a lot tonight about subtraction. Can I just ask you, is there something in your life that shouldn't be there? God's put His finger on it. You know what it is. I hope you'll do business with the Lord tonight. Maybe the Lord's put his finger on some area of your life and it's not a sin, but the Lord showed you tonight, there's a weight there, it's a hindrance in your Christianity and you know you need to get rid of it. Maybe there's somebody out there and you're like me, you're fighting with the Lord, you want to hang on to whatever it is that he's put his finger on. I'm telling you, friends, there's blessings on the other side of subtraction. There's joy, there's gladness, there's rejoicing, there's fellowship with the Father. Just do business with the Lord. Is there somebody here tonight, and you say, you know what, I need to trust Jesus Christ as my Savior. I've never done that before. You know, if that's you, you can just pray. You can get saved right in your seat, right where you're set. If that's you, you can say something like this to the Lord. Say, dear Lord, God in heaven, I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I deserve to spend eternity in hell. I know that Jesus came. He died on the cross for me. Lord, right now, the best way I know how, I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins. Give me a home in heaven. You know, the Bible says in Romans 10, 13, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you prayed that tonight, on the authority of God's Word, the Lord has saved you. You know, I don't want to call you for it or embarrass you in any way, but if you prayed that prayer tonight, if you asked the Lord to save you, I'd just love to rejoice with you. If you did that with nobody looking around but myself, would you just slip your hand up right where you're standing? Anybody at all, anywhere. I prayed that prayer. I asked the Lord to save me tonight. Boy, I'd be so tickled if you had made that choice to trust the Lord to save you tonight. Christian, I hope that you've done business with the Lord. Don't delay. Now is the time to make decisions. Now is the time for revival. Father, I want to thank you for all that you've done for us tonight. Thank you for your word. Thank you for all these dear people who have come in their faithfulness to come and be here for these revival services in the midst of a busy work week. Father, we love you. And in Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Pass yourself.