If you have your Bibles with you, hold it up there and let me see it. I want to see those Bibles. Amen. I see Bibles all across here. That's good. You know, that's something we shouldn't take for granted. You know, pastors just went over a KJV series on why we should believe and how we should get into the Bible. You know, we have so much to be thankful for in just the Bible alone. And I'm glad to see those Bibles. I'm glad to see that you brought it here. It shows me that you're willing and able to listen to the Word of God and you're ready to hear from it. I want to take a moment to thank Pastor, even though he's not here, he's listening through the internet, to thank him for this opportunity to be able to speak. I mean, I consider it a great honor to be able to speak here on his behalf while he's over there in Kazakhstan. Do keep him in your prayers as the team is over there. Well, if you've seen any of the teenagers that went on the trip, there's four of them, so I encourage you, if you haven't seen them yet, go ahead and go up to them, talk to them, ask them how their trip was. It was a great trip. I believe the hand of God was upon it. We went to Louisville, Kentucky. We left at Monday morning at 3.30 a.m., got down there about 2 o'clock, and we spent a lot of time down there and came back. And we got back early Friday morning. So if you see any of us tired, if you see me and I'm tired, that's the reason why. If you see me and I'm fired up, that's the reason why. So either way that you look at it, that's how you can see it. But the Lord's hand was really upon that. I mean, there were some great speakers there that had God's hand upon their lives. And they were able to take the Word of God and share with us some truths from it. And you know, you listen, you think, you know, I've heard it all. And then you hear the Word of God. And you know, it never gets old. It's good to hear from it. It's good to see those guys. And I love getting motivated. Now at school, when I was in class, now you hear some good preaching. Before it was my turn to preach, I loved it. It actually got me all fired up. So I usually get that, you hear good preaching. And when I do, I love it. It gets me all fired up. And also, it's another thing that gets me fired up is this message today. I love the message. I love the message of the gospel. I can't ever get over it enough to be able to share it with somebody else. I love sharing Jesus Christ and what He has done for other people. As we come here to Romans, we see this gospel and what Paul had to say about it. I want to read verse 16 and 17. It says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. You know, Paul could have said anything there. You know, I'm not ashamed of Jesus. I'm not ashamed of what He done for me. But he used that word, I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. And I want to speak today on the topic, The Roman's Roadmap to Heaven. And I trust that you give a listening ear and an open heart today as we go through this. Let's just go ahead and open in prayer. Our Father, we love you and we thank you so much for this day. And Lord, I thank you so much for the gospel and what it can do with life. And Lord, that it can give us a new life in you. And Father, I thank you for Christ, who died on the cross to make this all possible, and that he rose again the third day. Lord, that we could put our faith and trust in him. Lord, if there's any under the sound of my voice today that does not know Christ as Savior, may today they know Christ. May they accept him. And Father, we who have trusted Christ, may the gospel speak to us, Lord, even though we are saved. Father, touch our hearts, we pray. Touch my heart, and Lord, we'll give you the praise for it all. It's in His name we pray these things, Jesus Christ, amen. The gospel is the greatest news that could ever be heard throughout all the world. You look through your King James Bible there, and if you were to count the number of times you come across the word gospel, you'd find it 98 times. The gospel. And here in this passage, Paul uses that word gospel. Now when we look at the definition behind the word gospel, we see that it means good news. Now in our society today, when we hear that word gospel, we usually associate it with something religious or the biblical truths of God's Word. Or if you ask an unsaved person, they know it has something to do with the Bible when they think of that word, the gospel. But you know, when Paul went up to somebody and told somebody that word in their language, the gospel, they weren't thinking, you know, Christianity necessarily. They weren't thinking, you know, this is something that's going to be, you know, about the Lord Jesus Christ that we just heard about and crucified not too long ago. But when they heard that word in their language, the gospel, they heard, hey, he's about to tell me something good. It's kind of like when we go up to somebody and say, hey, guess what, I've got good news for you. And you know, they give a listening ear. You know, they want to hear, hey, what do they got to say? You know, what's this good news? We like receiving good news, don't we? We don't like receiving bad news. I hate to say it, this past week I had to call home to my family about my car. Most of you have heard that story already. But you know, we don't like to receive that kind of news. We want to hear, hey, I got some great news. Everything's going, you know, just hear good news. You know, when Paul came through, he told people, hey, I've got good news for you. And people turned their ear. What's this good news? What is this good news that Paul has to share with these people? Maybe it's just something that just touched his heart. I believe it did touch his heart. Maybe it's something that could affect their lives, and believe me, it could. What is this good news Paul has to say? I believe it's better explained in the book of Corinthians. You have your Bible. Turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter number 15. Keep your place there. We're going to be using your Bibles a lot today. We're going to be looking at a lot of Scripture, because if there's something that explains the Gospel clearly, I think Scripture does it the best. I can try all my explanations, my illustrations, and believe me, I'll try to use some today. But there is nothing that explains the Gospel more clearly than the Bible itself. Paul here explains the Gospel, what it is, in 1 Corinthians chapter number 15. We will look at the first four verses. Paul speaking or writing here in 1 Corinthians 15 verse number 1, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Even Paul agreed. If there's one way to share the Gospel, the easiest way is through the Scriptures. Now today I'm going to be looking at a number of New Testament passages, but you go through your Bible, not just New Testament, Old Testament as well, you can see Christ in the Old Testament. I think of Genesis 3, verse 15, where Adam and Eve, though they ascend against God, God promised them a deliverer from their sins down the road, that Satan would be defeated, that Christ would get the eventual victory. I think of the prophet Isaiah who predicted that there would be a virgin to give birth to a child and that was the Messiah, Emmanuel. And you can look throughout all your Bible and you can find places where the Gospel is presented. Like how somebody once said, all roads lead to Rome. But we see that all verses in the Bible can point to Christ. A lot of people, I've been down to Seville Square. It's good to have the young people up today. I love this message for the young people as well. Any person I like to speak to, I think the young people is one of my favorite. Down at Bible College, I would speak with the second graders. And you know, we'd go over that and we'd talk with the second graders and all that and we'd discuss some things. And you know, I loved them. I got to talk to the stories with them, got to tell stories with them. And they'd be on the edge of their seats and they wanted, they had a heart for the Bible. That's why I love sharing the gospel with them. You know, it would do some adults some good to have a heart like them for the Bible. They want to hear and receive what God has for them. You know, that's the way the gospel is. You know, Paul wants that. That we would be willing and able, that we would want to receive this good news. But Paul here describes the good news, how that Christ died on the cross for our sins. That He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. In this passage, if you were to read 1 Corinthians chapter number 15, that explains why he's going over this. You know, they were questioning the resurrection. You know, if Christ wouldn't have got that resurrection, where would the victory be? But praise God, He finished His work. Because we did, we can know we are saved. So what is Paul's message to the gospel? How can we understand it? We saw a summary of it right here in these simple four verses. If that's all we had, we'd have enough. But I want to go into greater detail. The book of Romans, I believe, is one of the greatest books we can use for the gospel. Yes, and I agree. Like I said, all the books we can use. But we're going to look at one book in particular, the Romans' road map to heaven and how we can know for sure we're going to heaven. Now before I get into it, some of you already know these verses. In fact, some of you probably turned to the pages right now to go to the first one. Because you know this, it's in your heart, and I'm glad that it is. But never let it get old. You know, I was mentioning today, when we say that we're gospel, a lot of people associate it with religious things. And because they do, it gets old. They think, you know, okay, that's that Jesus stuff, that's that God stuff. Okay, I've heard all about that. You know, it grows hard, or their heart grows hard to what the gospel has to say. I think of Christians. Oh, I can recite the Romans to you over and over. I know John 3, 16. I can give you Bible verses after Bible verse after Bible verse. I don't need that. I know the gospel. Do you let it touch your heart? You know, Christ may have saved you, but there's so much more to the gospel. You know, let it affect your heart. as we go through it today. You know, the gospel has so much more that we can learn from it. And I trust that as I present today, that will be presented clearly. Number one, that the unsaved can know how they can go to heaven. But number two, that we as Christians can never forget what Christ has done for us. The first verse I want you to look at, Romans chapter number three, verse number ten. Romans three and verse ten. In Romans chapter number three, we see the first point of Paul's outline that we saw, how that Christ died for our sins. We saw that in 1 Corinthians. The first thing we need to realize is man has a problem. Look with me in Romans chapter 3 and verse number 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. You can read down through that passage in chapter number 3 and we won't take time to look through it. You can see a whole list of things that man is guilty of. You get to verse number 23 though, Paul summarizes it all up. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You see, the first thing Paul wanted to point out is that man had a problem, that problem was sin. Ever since in Genesis chapter number 3 where we see the fall of man, and man disobeyed God in that garden, sin was passed down as Romans chapter 5 verse 12 tells us. Sin was passed down from generation to generation and death along with it. You know, you say, oh, sin, it's not that big a deal. Sin, that's nothing to worry about. You know, everybody does it. Yes, everybody does it, but that doesn't make it a problem to overlook. That makes it more of a problem to heed to. It says, for all have sinned. You know, you can't find one person on this earth that this verse does not include. This verse includes everybody, all. Every individual has done something that broke in God's law. You know, we look at sin and see it, and many people, they have this light idea about it, but the fact is, it is a problem. You look through your Bible, you see it described as iniquity, transgression, sin, unrighteousness, wickedness, evil. And you go through your Bible and you see how God describes it. God looks at it as something that is an abomination. Something He does not like. It's something He can't put up with. Sin. It says all have sinned, but not only that, it shows that all have broken God's law. You know, many people, you ask what sin is, they get the idea, okay, sin is when we do bad things. It's just more than we do bad things. God has set a standard and we did not meet it. Almighty God has made rules and we did not heed to it. Young people, for example, you know, when we disobey God's law, We sin. Older people, when we disobey God's law, we sin against Him. But not only does it show that we broke God's law, it also shows how we broke God's law. I like the word sin here. It points out that it just has the idea of missing the mark. We tried, but we just didn't make it. You know, you could look at that word transgression, you know, deliberately doing it. You know, a lot of people out there deliberately sin. And they will suffer the consequences for it. But God also includes those that make that mistake of crossing or missing the mark. Everybody has sinned. We have all sinned. But not only that, I'm glad the verse doesn't stop there. For all have sinned. God makes it more clear. I believe he put this passage here for people that they can see it. And come short of the glory of God. I use the illustration all the time when I go sewing. I love the illustration. If I was to set a target up here and have you and I throw darts at it, and you say you hit the edge of that target and I completely missed the pulpit for just what it's worth, you know, you came closer than I did by far. But none of us hit that bullseye. You know, when we compare ourselves with other people saying, you know, I'm a bad person, but you know, so and so down the street, you have no clue what they've done. You don't know what kind of lifestyle they're living. Hey, I'm not, you know, that Hitler person, I'm nothing like that person. And, you know, we compare ourselves with people. But, you know, when you compare yourselves with people, you're comparing yourself with other sinners, because it says, for all I've sinned. But the verse didn't end there. It goes on to speak about God. And what God's standard is, when you put yourself compared to God, you find that you fall short of the bullseye. You find that you fall short of what God has set as a standard. When we see God for who He is and we see God as He is, then we can realize how short of the standard we have come. You have your Bibles, turn to Isaiah chapter number 6. Isaiah chapter number 6. I believe the book of Isaiah here portrays how our God is holy and how sinful we are as men. Here in Isaiah chapter number six, I'm going to read the first five verses. Follow along with me if you would. And the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. And the post of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." Okay, we just had a great image placed in our heads of what God is. And then we get to verse number five, one who actually saw God. Then said I, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Isaiah portrays a great story, or life-changing experience here for him. He says he sees God, and when he sees God, It smites him. It says, woe is me, for I am undone. And when you compare yourself to God and what His standard is, then you realize what you are, a sinner before Him. And Paul wanted everybody to know that, that everybody has sinned. But Paul didn't only want us to know about sin and the problem. Oh, by the way, I'm getting ahead of myself here. It is a problem. And the world doesn't like to view it as that. You look at the world today, you see people that promote alcohol instead of reading Proverbs chapter 20, verse 1. Proverbs 21, verse 17. Proverbs 23, verse 30 through 35. In fact, I go down to Seville Square and I have people actually blatantly tell me they're trying to have Jesus promote alcohol. That's our world today. That's what they see. It's okay. It's alright if we have it. You look at the idea of marriage today. Instead of one man and one wife, as the Bible teaches, they indulge in fornication, adultery, and sodomy. And I could go on and on with the list of all these things that people promote. In fact, even Hollywood itself will promote this, you know, promote it as something that is good, something that is enjoyable. The sad thing is they promote what is enjoyable about it, but not the consequences of it. You look at commercials which promote alcohol and the parties and all, but they do not promote the headaches, the poverty and the heartbreak that comes after with it. You look at Hollywood and how it promotes fornication and such like sins, but it does not show the broken homes and the family problems that go along with it. Sin has problems. Those who live in sin in the here and now suffer the consequences later. You may be living in a life of sin right now, you may be enjoying it, but it has its consequences. Listen for me, James chapter number one, and I'm going to read three verses from James chapter number one. It says, let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and his tithes. Let me stop there for a second. I feel sad that I have to feel obligated to explain what this is, and people who do not know what lust is. When we speak of lust, we speak of an evil desire, wanting something that is not right. And these people that this verse is describing are people who want to do what is wrong. And that temptation is there. It is just urging them to do it. And finally, we get to the next verse, and they just go ahead and go with their lust. They go with their desires. Then when lust hath conceded, it bringeth forth sin. And sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. You continue to live your life of sin, there will be consequences. James points out, it says, when it is finished, the word finished here had the idea of completion, the very end of something. And when sin has its very end with you, the end result is death. Whether it's talking about physical death or spiritual death, you're here today and sin's corrupting your life, it will hurt you, physically and spiritually. But if you're here today and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, my friend, today, you have a much more painful death than just a physical death. The end, the completion of sin is this death. This death that we get to look on, not only did Paul want us to know about sin, but he also wanted us to know about sin's penalty. We see Romans chapter number 6 and verse number 23. Romans chapter number 6 and verse 23, you go ahead and turn there in your Bibles. But Romans 6.23, the first part of it says this, for the wages of sin is death. I shouldn't have to, but explaining the idea of a wage. A wage is simply something that you earn. For example, I go out and get a job somewhere, and I say I get a job at Burger King. They agree to me my hourly wages is going to be $7.75 an hour. That is what they agreed to give me for every hour that I work. That's my wages. And you know, when we sin, what we get in agreement for sin, the wages of our sin is death. But this verse here I don't believe is talking about a physical death. You look at this chapter and you see Paul is doing a very big contrast. He shows eternal life and non-eternal life. What is non-eternal life? You look down through here, he's talking about the eternal punishment for our sin, known as death and hell. Now a lot of people don't like to talk about that. hell in that awful place. In fact, you see a lot of preachers, they like to be all positive and happy about things. They don't want to talk about that horrible place. But the fact is, if you read your Bible and you look through your Bible, you see that hell pops up quite a bit. And one of the interesting places that pops up is through the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. You read in Matthew chapter 5 verses 23-30, Matthew chapter number 18, 9-10, and Mark 9, 43-47, we see that if it takes losing an eye, losing a hand, or losing a foot to escape hell's judgment, we should be willing to do that. That's the severe consequences of it. Matthew 23-33, I find it interesting, it says, Ye serpents, ye generations of vipers, Christ speaking to the Pharisees, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? If it wasn't a real place, why would He give such harsh consequences and such a rebuke to these people? If it's not a real place, why would He tell Peter in Matthew 16, verse 18, I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Why warn of such a place if it doesn't exist? Luke 16 tells of the rich men who went and suffered the torments of hell. Read it if you haven't read Luke 16. describes the awful agony of such a horrible place. Second, Peter teaches us that Peter believed in such a place. And I'm going to read to you Revelation chapter number 20, verses 11 through 15, what John believed about hell and what he saw about this place. Verse 11 reads, I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. By the way, we just looked at what kind of God that we have. When we look at God for who He is, it should motivate us to realize we are sinners. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it. And then death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now don't misunderstand me. You read your Bible, you can see it clear. Salvation is not through works. If you're thinking from this passage, oh, I must do good works to get to heaven, you're totally misunderstanding the passage. These people here already had their faith sealed because they did not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. They already had passed away. They died and they went to hell because they did not accept Christ. And they're standing before God, and they are being judged because of what they did not do. And that's accept Christ. Every opportunity they overlooked, every chance they had that they could have, that's what they're being judged for. You don't see anybody here being judged saying, hmm, who's going to heaven, who's going to hell? No. These people had their chance, and they did not accept Christ. And they were going to their eternal destination. And sadly, that eternal destination was the lake of fire, a horrible place. Here's a warning to you, spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 10, 28. And fear not them which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Hell is real. As real as we are standing here today. And according to Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin is death. And that death, as we just read in Revelation 20, verse 15, the second death is in this hell. That's what we deserve for our sin. Remember the wage? What we get for sin, that's what we deserve. It's an eternal punishment in that place. So how should we, a person, end up in this horrible place? It's simple. Do absolutely nothing. I was back there actually earlier this month and looking through and I saw a box of tracks and I was looking at the front and I was showing Brother Brian, he got a kick out of it, that was new to me. I looked and it says, what do you have to do to go to hell? And I opened up and there was nothing on the inside. You do nothing to have to go there. You already have done what you have to do. You are a sinner. And because of our sin, that's what we deserve is eternal judgment in this awful place. Say, Brother James, that sounds kind of harsh. It's the truth from God's word. Sadly, many people today like to promote the love of God. You know how God is love. You know how God is so good and that God is... But we don't look at the fact that God is just. If you were to know a murderer who murdered one of your family members, you would like to see what they deserved, the punishment for their crime. You know, God said we broke His law, and He's just. He has to fulfill what takes place, the punishment for breaking His law. Now you say, well, that's trouble for me, because Romans 3.23, for all I've sinned. Everybody's broken His law, and that means everybody deserves that punishment. But God loved you and loves you still. And He did not want you to suffer that punishment. In fact, 2 Peter tells us that He is not willing that any should perish. So Paul pointed out sin. Paul pointed out that hell is real and that's the punishment for our sin. But he also pointed out Jesus is the solution for that sin. We read in 1 Corinthians that Christ died for our sins. You turn and look at Romans 6.23 in your Bibles, and you see the rest of that verse. For the wages of sin is death. There's that contrast. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I love this. I'll just lay this. You know, when you get a gift, I think of Christmastime. I love it. I love getting those presents. But you know, when you think of Christmastime, It's sad to say that our world's got the Santa Claus and all that warped in their heads, that you have to be so good to get presents. I know some pretty bad people who still got presents around Christmas time. I don't know how they got them. But I'll share here with you how they got them, and this verse helps explain it. You know, when we get a gift, we didn't do anything to deserve that gift. We got that gift because somebody loved us, wanted to give us something. You know, God here has a gift for you, and not because we deserve it, but because He loves us and He's offering to us. Now Christmas time came around, I did not have one single present where I opened it and then my parents said, okay, you got your present, now go out and clean our car. Now go out and pay for the gas of our car. You know what, do the dishes, take out the trash. We didn't do any works to get our presents in our home. We just got it because people loved us. And God says, you know what, I love you so much, I want to give you the gift of eternal life. Eternal life. You know how long eternal is? Forever, and ever, and ever, and ever, and ever. It doesn't end. God says, that's what I want to give to you, is the gift of eternal life. I want to give it to you freely. You say, how do I get this gift? It's through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Continue the Romans roadmap to heaven. Go back to Romans chapter 5. I want to show you something that Paul mentioned earlier. By the way, if you read through the book of Romans, you can see the whole gospel in almost every chapter. I mean, Paul goes through it thoroughly. I'm just picking out key points that he shows to us. But if you read the whole thing, it shows how his love towards us. Romans chapter number 5. You know what? I'm going to go ahead and do this. I want to do an illustration here. If I could, can I get... Let's see. Who do I want to use? Who would be willing to be used? I know Tom does. But I'm not like Pastor. I'm not going to make Tom the bad guy. Let's see, who else? Andy, you wanna come help me? I need one more person. Who wants to be my other person? Do I gotta volunteer or do I have to get a draftee? You know what, I like teenagers. Who wants to be a teenager to help me? Any teenagers? Tell you what, Raymond, I know you're not a teenager, you're my brother, come on up. Okay. All right, here in verse number six, For when ye were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 7, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Okay, here we have man number one. We'll call him Mr. Righteous. You know, he lives the law. He does what is right. He lives by the book. And you know, he may not have had an effect on you, but if you saw him, you knew who he was. He was the guy that did the right thing. This was Mr. Righteous. You know, in this passage it says, for a righteous man, scarcely will one die. You know, very rarely will somebody die for Mr. Righteous. But he's a good man. I mean, he does what is right. It says, for scarcely, though, will one die. And then we get over to, let's bring you over here, Mr. Good Man. Mr. Good Man. Now look at verse number 7, let's read it. It says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet per a venture for a good man, some would even dare to die. This man's a good man. This man, you know what? Some would dare to die for this man, because you know what? Not only is he good, but unlike Mr. Righteous, he had an effect on you. You know what? He's helped you out. You know, you could see the goodness in him, and it touched your heart. And you know, some of you would die for Mr. Good Man. We saw Mr. Righteous, we saw Mr. Goodman, but you know what? A lot of people like to overlook one man that's also included in this passage. And sorry, Mr. Andy, but we have the Mr. Ungodly sinner. We overlook that. You know, the passage pointed out that some would scarcely die for this man. And you know, some would even die for this man here, but you know, where's the men dying for this man? Because you know, that murderer, he's going to get what he deserves. I'm not going to take his place. You know that person that robbed from me? I'm not going to take his place in jail. You know what? He can do it. He deserves it. Thank you guys. You can be seated. But this passage pointed out something to me. You had Mr. Righteous. You had Mr. Goodman. You know, people would die for them, but somebody wouldn't die for this man. But hey, look at this. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even dare die. Before I get to the next verse, by the way, you know what category we are? We're number three here. We're Mr. Ungodly sinner. You say, whoa, wait a minute. Hold on. That's not me. I'm not a murderer. I'm not a thief. No, but you're still the ungodly sinner. You know what the word ungodly means? It means not godly. You know what godly means? Something that's God of God. You know, we all do things that are not of God, so therefore they're ungodly. I think of lying. You know, the Bible tells us that God cannot lie in Titus. And you know, we see that, you know, maybe stealing, okay, we may have took a little thing here and there. How about disobedient to parents? Not honoring them? How about obeying those who have the rule over you? And we can go down the list, you know, not tithing, not being a faithful church member, and we can just go on down. And those things that are not of God, but they're ungodly. That's our condition. That's us. And we looked and we saw somebody's willing to die for this man, but nobody's willing to die for us. I like how this passage pointed out, not only is nobody willing or not able to take our place because they cannot pay for our sins, nobody would probably be willing. Why would we want to die for your sins, your faults? But then it doesn't end there. It says, but God commendeth his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, you know what that's saying? While we were lying in His face, while we did what was wrong, while we lived in the sin and enjoyed it, while we basically spit God in the face, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ died for us. It wasn't when you were doing right. It wasn't when you were trying to live for the Lord. It was while you were in sin. He still loved you. And He died for you. And by the way, this death is not something to be overlooked. This death was not a light death. John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The importance of this. If he would not have done this, we would all be eternally doomed. But he did. He was beaten, betrayed, mocked, scorned, spit upon, whipped with a cat of nine tails. For those who don't know what that is, it's basically a piece of letter with strands at the end. They would take glass, bones, and other little sharp objects and put it there, and they would whip the criminal with it. And Christ was whipped with that. He was nailed to our cross, had a crown of thorns on his head, was falsely accused. He had God the Father turn his back on him, and he bore our sins on the cross. I like 2 Corinthians 5.21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. For those that just seems like a tricky verse for you, Christ never did one thing wrong. He lived a perfect life here on earth, yet he became our punishment for our sin. That wage that we deserve to be burning in hellfire, Christ said, you know what? I'll take your punishment. Mr. Unrighteous here, Mr. Ungodly, the murderer who deserved to die, the liar that deserved to die. Christ said, you know what? I'll take your penalty for you. I'll die on the cross. I'll pay for your sins. That is the law of the Christ. Why do you do it? Because John 8, 24, I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins. For if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. Because if He would not do it, we would have no way to have that sin debt taken. We would die in those sins and we'd have to pay for them. And by the way, notice throughout this entire time as I've been reading through here, not one time did I ever come across a passage that said anything about purgatory. Not one time did I ever get across one passage that said, you know what, you can get temporarily to hell and then get out of it. You know what, you can work off those sins. No, I did not come across one passage that said we could do that. Only Christ can do that. I love what Peter said. There is no other name under heaven. He says this in Acts chapter number 4. There is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. It's through Christ and it's through Christ alone that we can be saved. He's the only way. He gave His life, a cruel death on the cross for you. Now, just because He died on that cross, though, doesn't mean everybody's going to heaven. Why? Because He couldn't pay for all the sins of the world? No. 1 John 2 tells us He was the propitiation for our sins. Not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. Christ's sacrifice was good enough for everybody that has ever lived. So why won't everybody go to heaven? Because God's not going to force you to go there. There are some people who are too stubborn and they want to reject what God has for them. That free gift that's laying right there in front of them, and they don't want to accept it. One more verse of the Romans chapter number 10. One more passage. Romans 10 verse number 9. This eternal life that we can have to pay for our sins is found in Romans chapter number 10. How can we get this gift? It's through the Lord Jesus Christ. But how do we get the Lord Jesus Christ? Romans 10 verse 9 states this, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. If you read verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Thou shalt confess with thy mouth. How do you talk to God? You pray to him. You talk to him through your mouth. But it didn't just say talk, it says confess with thy mouth. You know, when you confess something, you admitted that you have done wrong. You need to admit that you're a sinner. Admit that you can't pay for your sins. There's nothing you can do. You know, Ephesians chapter 2, Paul points out that if there was some way we could work our way off, you know, we would have reasons to be proud and boast about. But he says, there's no way you can do that. It's because you can't do it. But it's through Christ. He said, admit that you're a sinner, confess, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Believe. It comes from the Greek word pastuo. Now for those who don't understand that stuff, basically what that has the idea of is putting your trust in it. Like for example, I can believe that all I want this thing will hold me up. Now I'm believing that it'll hold me. I'm trusting it. And the Lord said, or Paul here says, if you will believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead. I often wonder why he rewarded like that. You know, why didn't he say, die on the cross for our sins and all that? I believe Paul wants to realize, hey, Christ finished the job. He didn't just die on the cross, he was buried and he rose again, as he mentioned in 1 Corinthians. If you believe in your heart that the payment for your sin is finished through the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, it says, believe in thine heart. I like the saying, I hate to admit it, Some people died just by 18 inches. You know, they have all the facts up here, but they didn't do anything about it here. Believe in your heart. You're trusting in Him. If you will do that, it says, thou shalt be saved. I loved it when we learned at school, you know, the idea of will is it's the fact that it will happen in the future tense. But when it says shall, That's the idea that you can count on and guarantee it's going to happen. That thou shalt be saved. Verse 13, for whosoever. Know what verse 13 does? That includes anybody. Say, I've done too much. I've been, I'm too bad of a sinner. You know what? I need to get right. I've been so bad. I love this verse. This verse is for you. If you say, you know what? I've sinned too much. I cannot come to God. Mark chapter number two, verse 17 reads, when Jesus heard it, by the way, he's speaking to the Pharisees here. The Pharisees were like many people today that says, you know what, I have to get right before I come to God. And Christ looks at them and says, they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. Christ uses a simple illustration. You know, you don't go to the doctor if you have no problems with you. You go see a doctor if you need to get something checked out. Maybe even with just a checkup, you're checking to make sure, hey, there's nothing wrong here. He says, they that are whole have no need of physician, but they that are sick. And then he uses that illustration to say this. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You're here today and you say, I've sinned too much. No, you haven't. You're exactly who God's looking for. God didn't come here to save those who didn't need salvation. He came here to save those who are in need of it. And that's sinners. He called the sinners to repentance. Chapter 19 of Luke, verse 10. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Not found. He's come for the lost. Maybe you're one of those that don't want to give up your sin. We've already looked at the judgment of hell, what you have in store for you. Please do not reject Christ just to enjoy sin. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 teaches us that Moses chose to think, teaches us that he chose rather to go with the Israelites, suffer the affliction there, instead of enjoying the sins, the pleasures of those sins, for a season. The Bible points out there is pleasure in sin. You might find some joy in that sin, but you know what? It's only for a season. The end result is not worth it. If you're here and you're living and you're saying, well, I want to live in it, I want to keep it, you have a judgment waiting for you. Do not reject Christ. Maybe you say, I'll do it tomorrow. Proverbs 27.1, boast not thyself but tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. 2 Corinthians 6.2, now is the day of salvation. Not five minutes from now, not five seconds from now, not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, now is the day of salvation. I'll do it another way. As I mentioned through Peter, that there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So here today, you realize you're a sinner, and you understand the judgment that is in store in hell. But you do not have to do that. You have Christ here that died for you and offers a free gift. That payment is settled. You have a choice today. You can either accept them or reject them. We looked at Paul's good news. Christ died for our sins. All you have to do is receive that free gift that he offers to you. By the way, Christian that's here today, you say, I've already trusted Christ. Don't ever forget what God has done for you. Paul described this gift as an unspeakable gift. He didn't have words to describe it. It's described as a glorious gift. If you read chapter number two of Ephesians, and by the way, I encourage you to look at that passage, but if you read down through there, Paul does a great job illustrating how what we were before without Christ, we were dead. In other words, we were destined for that hell. But then Christ came along. I love Kenny Baldwin. We got to hear a great message by him this past week. It just popped in my head as I was thinking about this. But he talked about how when Christ passed by, you know, something happened. You know, when God steps in and does something for you, something happens. You who were dead, He quickened, made alive a new life in Christ. And by the way, He didn't only just save you, He gave you a new life to live for Him. He gave you the ability to be able to serve Him. He has done so much for you. Also think of our passage earlier, Romans chapter 1 verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Don't be ashamed of it. Share it with others. Share it with somebody you know today that needs this good news that Christ died for them. Paul shared with us the good news. Will you believe it and allow it to change your lives? And believers, will you let it affect your life? Will you go out and share it with others? Because people need this good news. People are on their way to eternity, and they need to know how they can go to heaven. Because there's no other name under heaven whereby they must be saved. It's only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Go share that good news with them. Every head bowed, every eye closed. You're here today, and you say, you know what? I've listened to that message very carefully. I realize I'm a sinner. I realize that I deserve hell, but Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for my sins. Heads bowed, eyes closed. If you say, you know what? I have never accepted this free gift of God in my life, this gift of eternal life. But you know, I want to accept this gift. I want to trust Christ. I want to know I'm on my way to heaven. If that's you here today, you say, you know what? I want to know I'm going to heaven someday. I want to trust Christ. If that's you, will you slip your hand up and let me pray for you? I want to pray for you. If you do not know 100%, for sure you're going to heaven. Anybody like that at all? Anybody in here that I could pray for? Yes. Anybody else? I don't want to overlook anybody. Is there anybody else that says, you know what? I want to know for sure I'm going to heaven. Okay. Maybe you're here today and you say, you know what? I've trusted Christ. I put my faith and trust in Him. But you know what? The gospel has not had an effect on me like it should. You know, I've been ashamed of it. You know, I haven't lived it. If that's you today and you say, you know what? I want to change that. I want to live for Christ. I want to share His gospel, His good news. If that's you today, would you slip your hand and say, you know what? I want to share His good news. Don't be ashamed. There, I see that hand. I see that hand. A number of hands around. You know, Christ wants us to spread the good news. He could have chosen anybody else to do it, but He chose you and I. If you're here today and saying, I want to be the one that shares that good news, if that's you, anybody else, want to slip your hand? Yes, I see a hand. Any others? Yes, I see that one. Father, we love you and thank you for this day, and Lord, I pray that decisions will be made for you today. Lord, we thank you so much for the gospel. Lord, I can change our lives. Father, I pray, Lord, that you'd speak to our hearts. And Father, that you'd help us be willing to change for the gospel's sake. Lord, I pray that you'd help us not to be ashamed of the gospel. Lord, this individual that raised her hand wanted to know Christ as Savior. Father, I pray that they would get that settled today. Lord, that they can know they're on their way to heaven. And Lord, we'll give you the praise for all. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Let's stand to our feet.