We now bring you the Making Much of Jesus podcast featuring the late Dr. Jack Hudson, the founding pastor of the Northside Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. And now today's edition of the Making Much of Jesus podcast. Open it to the gospel of John, the gospel according to John. And let's begin first. I'm going to read two scripture verses this morning. The gospel of John, chapter number 20. And let's see, verse number 31. I'm speaking to you again on the necessity and yet the simplicity of salvation. It's absolutely a necessity, and yet the Lord Jesus has made it as simple that even a babe can understand it. In the Gospel of John now, chapter number 20, verse number 31, John was written, of course, by John the Beloved, the youngest of the disciples. He was the one, you remember, who laid his head on the breast of the Lord Jesus Christ and was called as a result of it that a disciple who loved Jesus. I love to read John's writing. God seemed to use him in a special way. I don't think it was because of his age. I think it was because of his love. John also wrote, as you know, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. He also wrote the book of the Revelation. John the Beloved. And he was the one who was exiled on the Isle of Patmos. He was the one, you remember, after he had seen the wonders of heaven, and was placed back on the isle, lifted up his head towards heaven, and he said, even so, come Lord Jesus. He wanted to go back. So he's telling us now why he wrote the Gospel of John. To me, the greatest gospel. The reason I say that is because it presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. It presents salvation, the necessity of it, and yet the simplicity of it. So he says to us in verse 31 of the 20th chapter, but these are written, now that's all of the gospel of John. These are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, the one that was sent from God, that he is the God, the Son, and yet God, the Son. He's Jesus, is God. All right, listen. That He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, that is believing that He is God, and that He is the Son of God, and that He is the Christ, the anointed one of God, that He came to die for our sin, that believing that, you might have life through His name. Now did you notice what he said you might have life that you might have through his name that you might have life You see you must have eternal life in order to be born again You must have eternal life in order to go to heaven You've got to have eternal life to live the christian life because that's what it is Now if you've got little plants, for example, they're alive. You've got to water them You've got to see that they get just the right amount of sun. They can't have too much or too little now you can take an artificial plant Put it in the bowl. You don't have to water it. You don't have to put it in the sun. These have been here for four years. Look how good they still look. We've never one time watered them. We've never put any fertilizer on them. We've never had them out in the sun. They're just as beautiful as they were the day we got them, but they're artificial. They're not real. They have no life, but anything that has life must have care. and it must have a beginning and ultimately it'll have an end. And the Lord said, these things are written that you believing you might have life through his name. The only way you'll have life is through his name. Now let's turn back to the first of the book, John chapter three. And we'll read a very familiar portion of scripture to many of you, of course, but there you see the necessity of it. We saw there the simplicity of it just by believing in His name. Now look at John chapter 3 and verse number 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, that is, unto Nicodemus, verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now that's God's exception. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Look at verse number seven. Marvel not, or don't be surprised, or don't act like you've never heard this before. Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again. There is the necessity of it. When the Lord says must, it's the absolute essential. You must be born again. Now let's look at it in that sense, the simplicity of it. John's gospel is simple. It helps us to understand it. Look on the very first chapter, if you will. In chapter number one, verse number 11 and 12 and 13. He came unto his own, that is, he came unto the Jews. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. The Jews said, we'll not have this man to rule and reign over us. We don't want anything to do with him. Away with him, crucify him, and so on. But look now what he said. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power, the right, or the authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born. Now you see your word again? Jesus said, you must be born again. And except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now John's gospel is written that you might understand that he's the Christ and that believing on him, you'll have eternal life. Now notice what he's saying, which were born not of blood. In other words, you don't become a Christian because of your blood lineage. My uncle was a preacher. My dad was an evangelistic song leader. The other day, Brother Shearer and I were out and we met a man at the nursery and he was talking to me, talking about my dad and how he sang and the beauty of his voice and things of the sort. My dad was a gospel singer, wrote many gospel songs. My uncle was a preacher and through the bloodline, but I could not been born again because of the bloodline. And you may be in a religious family, you may be in a family where the servant God, every one of them may be preachers and missionaries, but you're as lost as any person could ever be unless you're born again of the Spirit of God. You're not born of blood, not because of the lineage, nor of the will of the flesh. It's not because you just desire to do so. I've heard people make a statement just so simple, so, well, unconcernedly, they said, well, just one day, I just decided to become a Christian. God is saying, you don't decide to become a Christian. Have you ever heard anybody talking about their birthday? And they said, well, my birthday is March the 3rd. Would you believe me or would I be making intelligent sense to you if I got up here and said, well, I decided to be born March the 3rd? You'd say, well, Brother Hudson, you don't decide to be born. You are born. Not even the doctor knows for sure. Your mother didn't even know for sure, but we can anticipate to some degree, but that's decided by, in essence, the act of God. and you're born on a certain day. Now, I'm not saying predestination. I'm simply saying God says, I want you to understand two things. Number one, you're not born because of the family you're in. You're not a Christian because of the family you're in. Secondly, you're not a Christian because you just decided to become one. That's not the way you get to be a Christian. Then number three, notice what he said. Nor of the will of man. If I could will it so, I'd just will that everybody in Charlotte would be saved. Then I'd will everybody in North Carolina to be saved. Then the United States, and then the world, and by three o'clock this afternoon, it'd all be over. We'd have everybody saved, and we'd go on about our business. And I'll tell you, I have preached and cried and I've begged and I've pleaded for all these years, and I'll guarantee you, I've never gotten anybody saved because of the will of man. You don't do it. You may get somebody to come down the aisle, you may get somebody to make a false commitment, but you'll never get anybody born again by the will of man. That is because man wants it. Now notice what else. But he says, but of God, but of God. Beloved, when you become a Christian, you're born again. And you're born again of the Spirit of God who brings conviction into your heart. And when that conviction is there that you are lost, you then look to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of God points you to Him. The Bible says, and when he has come, that is the Holy Spirit has come, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not on me. Now, the reason is you must believe on him. Isn't that what John said? We must believe on him in order to become a Christian, to be born again of the Spirit of God. All right, now think with me if you will. if we must be born again in order to go to heaven, that is, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to notice the simplicity of it. The Lord, for example, turn in your Bible for just a minute to the Gospel of Luke, chapter number eight. And the Lord has given the parable, as we call it, of the sower. The sower went out to sow, and some fell by the wayside, some fell on stony ground, some fell on thorny ground, and so on. Now I want you to notice if he says the seed. Now this is the time of the year most of you got sore, aching muscles this morning. Yesterday you start, you know there's so many gardeners in the spring and so few about the middle of July when the sun gets hot. Whole lot more gardeners in the beginning of the year. And you go out but you put seed into the ground. What if somebody came along and said to you, Brother Hudson, I've planted the best garden you've ever seen. What all did you plant? Oh, I've got a row for green beans, and I've got a row for corn, and I've got a row of radishes, and I've got a row of this and that and the other. Is that right? Yes, sir. I plowed that ground thoroughly. I put the right amount of fertilizer. I even put some mulch in it. I've been watering it every day. Did you put any seed in? No, I didn't put any seed in. Didn't think I needed. You'd say, Brother, you'll never have a garden. Now before you can be born again there's got to be some seed. Did you know apart from seed there is no life whatsoever? I had a lady ask me several years ago, she said, preacher, could you explain to me the new birth? And I didn't want to be smart Alec or nothing, but I tell you, I had been thinking in my mind. I said, ma'am, I can't even explain the natural birth to you. Did you know I've been reading more recently and studying in one of the most intriguing studies I've been on in a long time. Did you know when you break it down, and I'll not go into all the ramification, but did you know the nucleus or the one cell that's passed from the parent, that is from the male to the female, that created you and me and brought us into existence? Did you know it's so tiny that it would take one million of them to cover one square inch? One million of them. Each one of them has its own individuality. They're called chromosomes, or genes as they're sometimes called. Did you realize that when these mate, they split exactly into 32? Never 31, never 33, exactly into 32. each one of these now remember they split off from what it would take one million to cover a square inch they split into thirty the only way they can photograph them even under a microscope is to put dye into them they're so slender they look like little rods or little streaks even under a microscope but within that little tiny chromosome is a blueprint It's going to determine exactly how tall you're going to be, the color of your hair, the color of your eyes. It's going to determine the size of your ears. It's going to determine what you are physically. It's going to even determine your mental makeup and your physical makeup from a little thing that's so infinitesimal they have to put dye into it to see it under a microscope. And when somebody says, explain to me the spiritual birth, I'm absolutely honest when I say, I can't even explain a natural birth. But I'm here. I'm here, big as life and twice as ugly. I'm here. And you say, Brother Hudson, explain to me the spiritual birth. And I tell you, I cannot. And when I say I cannot, I'm being honest to you. But bless God, I'm born again. Bless God, I have received this Holy Spirit of the living God has come into my life, revealed to me the Lord Jesus, I've received him as my Savior, and I have been born again of the Spirit of God. I know that. Now, the Word of God says, these seed represent something that must get into your life. Apart from seed now, remember, if you folk could have been reared on the farm, God bless you city folk, you just don't understand it. You know, I'm serious when I say this now. We lived out in the country, since we lived here in Charlotte before I was married, we lived out in the country. And there were two old maids, now this is true, lived below us. And they had some chickens, and they could not understand Why they didn't have any? Those old hens had set. That's the right word, S-E-T, chicken set. They don't sit or sat, they S-E-T. And these old hens would S-E-T on those eggs and they never hatched anything. And one of the neighboring farmers went by and said, well, ma'am, I don't know how to say this to you, but you've got to get some roosters in the flock. And they put some roosters in it and they marveled that the same old hens had some biddies. You got to get seed in there. And you got to put seed in the garden. And the Bible says before you can be born again, there's got to be some seed get into you. Now look what it says in Luke chapter eight. Verse 11, now the parable is this, the seed is the word of God. The seed is the word of God. The Bible is the word of God. You've got to hear the Bible to get the seed in there. Now, the Bible says, does it not? When we think about it, in Romans 10, verse 17, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You've got to hear the word of God. And when the word of God comes in, it lodges in your, say it if you want to, in your heart, if you want to put it that way. Now, the Bible word heart never means this fleshly palm. It means that with which we receive, that control mechanism. And this morning you are listening to and you're hearing the Word of God. And as it comes into your life, it's just like germinating. It's just like impregnating. It's just like a seed that lies there and germinates. And that Word can bring fruition. Now notice what it says then. It says first, you've got to hear the Word. Secondly, you've got to believe it. The Bible says in John 3.16, For God so loved this world, that he gave his only begotten Son, and that whosoever believeth in him. That is, you hear the Word and you believe it. You say that's God's Word. I believe it to be true, regardless of what the world may say. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe that He died for my sins. I believe that He was resurrected from the grave on the third day and now ever lives to make His promises true. I believe that. I believe that. I believe it. And again, you remember the Bible says in John 5, 24, He that heareth my word. Now there it is. and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life and is passed from death unto life right this minute, is what he's saying. He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me. Now, not only do you do that, but then there is a receiving. We hear it, we believe it, then we receive it. Isn't that what he said in the scripture that I read to you a moment ago? For as many as received him, to them gave he the right, the power, the authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So it's every bit a matter of hearing the Word of God, and believing the Word of God, and receiving it as the Word of God, and realizing that no life can be brought about apart from a seed. And the Bible that I hold in my hand is the seed, is the Word of God. Then I want you to see this very quickly. You see, then there comes the birth. The Bible says in John 3, 36, he that believeth on him hath the son. Let's see, somehow you get mixed up sometime when you're quoting scripture rapidly. So I'll turn and read it. He that believeth on the son hath, the word hath is has. He that believeth on the son has everlasting life, and he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. You see, life, eternal life, spiritual life, every bit depends upon receiving Jesus Christ as the Son of God, as Christ, as the Messiah, as the Anointed One, every bit of it. When we receive Him into our heart, when we take Him by faith, it's like the seed coming in, and from it then comes this birth. Just like a person comes and says, I'm expecting a baby. And as a result, she gives birth to a person like an unto herself. And when we receive the Lord Jesus Christ, we're birthed into the position, the Bible says, we are partakers of his divine nature. And then one day we shall be made to look just like he looks. What a blessed thought it is. Then I wanna show you one more little simplicity here. In John chapter 2, as he tells us there that we must receive the Word, he's given us an illustration in case you didn't get that one, he's going to give you another one. So in John chapter 2, here's the best illustration of salvation that you'll find. That is, many of you will understand it a little better. This was the first miracle that the Lord Jesus ever performed, was when he changed the water into wine at the wedding at the Cana of Galilee, the first miracle. I believe God was doing it, number one, to reveal himself. Second, it says that the disciples were saved as a result of it. Number three, God was showing us the importance of a home. I don't care what this lost and godly adulterous generation says, God doesn't approve of premarital sex or God doesn't approve of people living together apart from marriage. God sanctions marriage. He performed the very first nuptial vows himself in the Garden of Eden. And so the Lord Jesus Christ attended a wedding and performed his first miracle there. But in order to do that, in doing that, he revealed to us again the simplicity and the necessity of salvation. You see, before people get married, they must be in love. Yesterday, last night, I said to that young man, would you take this woman whom you hold by your right hand to be your lawful and wedded wife, and will you, and I went on down the line, and forsaking all others, keep thee on her side. I wish you could have seen the glow on his face. Boy, he looked at her, and I thought for a minute he could have just eaten her. Feller said to me one time, you know, Brother Hudson, he said, before I married my wife, I was so in love with her, I felt like I could have eaten her. After I was married to her a few years, I wished I had her. I don't know what that means, but that's what he said. Now, then I said to the young girl, I said, will you take this man whom you hold by the right hand? Boy, there was a glow came over her face and she said, yes, I will. Beloved, before we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we've got to love him to the sense that we're willing to forsake all others. And I say, and will you forsaking all others keep thee only unto thyself so long as ye both shall live? I will. They promise God, and they do it in front of a company. They do it in front of people. They do it in front of their pastor. They promise that forsaking all others Brother, there's got to be that love for the Lord Jesus Christ, where you would not be ashamed to come out of your seat, you would not be ashamed to come down in front of this church, and you would not be ashamed acknowledging Him as the Lord of your life, as your Savior, and that you're trusting Him now, and nothing else. There's got to be that love. You know, there's got to be a sacrifice because the Lord Jesus Christ never has asked for second place. He won't take it. It's either absolutely first place or none at all. And beloved I, that young couple I married last night, they looked at one another. There wasn't another girl in the world as far as that young man was concerned. And when that young lady looked at him, there wasn't another man existing but him. You say sacrifice? Yeah, they sacrificed any other young man or any other young lady. They sacrificed it, but would it have been a sacrifice to them? Oh, no. They were so in love, it wasn't a sacrifice at all, but it was a blessing. And you know, in a marriage, obedience is necessary. One of the things that I purposely read every time because the Lord says it. And I said to the young lady, and will you promise to love, honor, and cherish? and to obey till death do you part. She smiles every time. I've never seen one frown yet. She says, I will. Beloved, when we come to the Lord, Jesus Christ is coming in obedience. He's now our savior, he's our Lord, and we're coming to him by faith and whatsoever he saith unto thee, we are willing to do it. It means that. Then I think there's a picture there that you need to see. You see, he changed the water into wine. He said, fill up the water pots. And they filled it up. Now you see, water is a type of the word. And again, we're coming back to our word. It was there. The Lord didn't have to have them fill it up with water. He could have done like that. He could have created the pots, the wine. He could have done it all in this one word. But he said, fill up the stony pots. And when they filled it up, There were six of them, and I could get into a lot of things there. I think the stony parts speaks of the stony hearts of men. Men's hearts are so stony. I mean mankind, men and women, even boys and girls. And he said, fill it up with water. Let the water get into it. That's the only thing it'll do, the word. We've already found that it's like a seed. Now he's giving it to us like a picture of water. Let the word of God get into the heart. Then he says, when the word gets in that old stony heart, And then they look to me, and when I look to them, then I'll change that into wine, the symbol of joy. I'll change that old stony heart into that which is filled with joy. Do you know anything that makes you happy in being a Christian? I don't. And I'll be honest with you, and I'm not standing here boasting. I've experienced a lot of things that a lot of men never will. I mean, I've experienced a lot of things, traveling and experiencing my life prior to my salvation. But I'll be honest with you, I've never experienced anything that gives you the joy of being saved. I've never even experienced anything that's comparable to it, but you can't say being saved is like, because there's nothing like it. It's a uniqueness, it's something, it's been, how can you say, well, being alive is like, what could you compare it with? There's nothing you can compare being alive with. You just have to be alive to understand what it is to be alive. I'd rather be alive in poverty. I'd rather be alive in the ghettos than to be dead in the finest mausoleum in the face of the world, wouldn't you? I'd rather be a Christian and live in the ghetto than to be dead spiritually but alive physically and have all the money this world could have. There's no comparison. And the Lord says, I want you to know, I'll take that old stony heart And I'll first of all, I'll fill it with the word of God, the water of the washing of the word. And from that water then I'll fill it with joy, the wine, the symbol of joy. And I'll give you that which is a blessing in your heart. And when the men drew it out, they said, this is the best we've ever tasted. Brother, I don't know what it is you've experienced or maybe what is it you haven't, but I'll guarantee you when you get born again and the life of the Lord Jesus comes into your life and you know that you're his and he's yours, it's a joy that this world doesn't know anything about. That's where all of our joyful songs come from, is understanding this. When you think about it in your mind, I want you to give you one more little picture, not but one now. Turn to John 4. If you notice there, The Lord is picturing something here. Here was a dear lady, came to the Lord Jesus Christ, or really, they were there at the well, the woman at the well. Now, I imagine she looked like everybody else, but she was there at the well all by herself. And the Lord went up to her to ask her, you know, if he'd get her a drink of water. And she said, why did you come to the well? I didn't have anything to dip it with. Did you know I've drunk water out of that same well? I have thought about it so many times, and the Lord said, Lord, to begin a discord with thee. See, she came because she needed the water. I believe that. David said, as the heart paineth after the water brooks, so doth my heart paineth after thee. Now, a hard H-A-R-T is a deer. And many times a deer, when it was being pursued by the hounds, they'd run. They didn't have time to stop and drink. And they have rather a long tongue anyway. They use it to help them feed, to pull the leaves off. And hunters have said, and said even in Bible times, the deer, the heart, would run along and they couldn't stop. And they'd run along and hold their head down and let their tongue down in the water. And they'd just let their tongue run through the water and they'd get a little bit on. As the heart paneth after the water brook, so doth my heart paneth after thee, O God. Just as that deer wants that drink of water when he was being pursued by the hounds. He said, that's the way I am. The hounds of sin are after me and it seems like they're bothering me all night. He says, it seems like when I wake up in the morning, my sin is ever before me. And he said, it's just like, just like, now I don't doubt at all, but David might either have been hunting or maybe he was there and witnessed and he saw, maybe he felt sorry, a little tenderness in his heart for that deer. And he saw her as she reached down and ran her tongue through that water. And he thought, that's just the way I'm longing after God. Are you here this morning like that? Are you like the heart panteth after the water broke? Do you need something that'll slake your thirst? That's just the way this woman was. Then you see, before the Lord did anything for her. Now, this is where I differ with much of the world's teaching today. I want you to listen because I believe this is the pivotal point in salvation. I do not believe, and I can't find it in this Bible, and God knows I've searched it. I want you to listen to me now. I do not believe that you can be born again of the Spirit of God unless you're willing to repent of your sins. Unless you realize that you're a sinner, unless you turn away from your sin and say, I'm coming to Jesus Christ. I know that I can't turn away. You know how I know? How many times did I sit to my dad? looked in that face and those old gray hairs, knew that I'd put most of them there. And I said, Dad, I'm gonna do better. Well, I said, Papa, that's what I called him. Papa, I'm gonna do better. And I meant to. And brother, it wasn't long until I was back in the same thing. I wanted to, but I didn't have that down inside of me which could keep me from doing that which was wrong. But one day I got saved. Then something happened to me down inside. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new, and things became new to me. And the things that I used to do, I didn't want to do anymore. And the things that I used to didn't want to do, suddenly I wanted to do them. I didn't want to go to church. Man, I was racing. That was, I thought, for sissies to go to church. Then I turned around and I said, why? That bunch of fellas don't even know what happiness is. I found that took more of a man to stand up for Jesus Christ than it did to drive a race car. I found out it took something down inside of you that gave you a feeling down inside that I'm glad to be a Christian. You wanted to stand up on the tallest building and say, I'm a Christian, thank God I'm born again. You had something down inside of you. I couldn't have done that by myself. There wasn't anything in me to do it. And when the Lord Jesus Christ brought this dear lady face to face with her sin, she saw that she needed something more than religion. Look what it says in chapter four, verse number 18. He said, I believe he said it kindly, he said to her, why don't you go bring your husband and I'll talk to you about salvation. Oh, don't you imagine that kind, like a little arrow hit her in the heart. Then he said, she says, the woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, thy has well said, I have had no husband. I don't believe he ever raised his voice. I don't believe it's critical. His word is a sharper than any two edged sword, not his attitude. His word, listen, for thou has had five husbands, and he whom thou now has is not thy husband, and that thou sayest truly. And the woman said unto him, sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. She knew there was no ordinary man. He knew exactly, he named them, he could have named their names, five husbands. And the man she was living with then was not even her own husband. He dealt with her on the sin problem. You see, then she began to argue religion, you see, and she said, Our father's worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. She's talking about you. See, she goes to religion, and the Lord doesn't deviate a moment. He holds her right on the pathway. Jesus saith unto a woman, believeth me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what. You know what he was saying to her in words that I could use here? You're so ignorant you don't even know what you worship. You don't know what you're worshiping. Listen to what he said. You know not what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshiper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. It goes on and finally she said, she went back and she said, come to the men, oh, come see a man that showed me all that I can ever do. Do you know how that woman got saved? Listen to me, this is important. Do you know how she got saved? She got saved because of what Jesus said. And when Jesus says something, it's the Word of God, for he was God manifested in the flesh. And he said to her, you're a sinner, and your religion won't save you. You need to drink of the water that I give you. You drink of this water in the well, you'll thirst again. But if you drink of the water that I give you, you'll never thirst again. And she believed what Jesus said. Now, what did Jesus say to you and me at the beginning of my lesson? Ye must be born again. Would you believe it? If you believe it, you can be saved. She knew it wasn't baptism, wasn't church membership, it wasn't good works, it wasn't turning over a new leaf. She knew she had to come to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Let's sum up what I've said. The Lord said, first of all, you must be born again. All of John has written so that you can know how. Simple, simple, simple illustrations over and over again. He says, you've seen people born. Can you, can anybody, can these genetic specialists tell you how a birth comes about? Oh, they may know the mechanics of it, but the wonders of it, no. He says, it's just like a wedding. You see people coming together, take their names, they become one. They're willing to sacrifice. The man says, I'll forget all the other women, and the woman says, I'll forget all the other men, and we become one. I'll take your name. I'll live for you. I'll obey you for the rest of my natural life. God says, you can understand that. Then the Lord said, it's just like this woman needed water, like the heart that pineth after the water brooks. And I wonder if that's you this morning. You see, in order to have life, you must come to Him. You must, just as you've heard, I've preached the Word of God to you this morning. You've heard the Word. And just as you've heard the Word, it's found lodging in your heart. Now, you can do one of two things. You can let it become that on stony ground, that is on the hard-beaten path. You can let the fowls of the air come and pick it up. That means the devil will come and take it away. Or you can let it say, I'm gonna believe God's word. I'm going to believe it. I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I've sinned against God. I know that. But I believe in all that. I believe if I come to him, God will grant to me eternal life. And I believe he'll do it this morning. Let's stand together, heads bowed. Our Father, I thank you this morning in Jesus' name for the necessity and of the simplicity of salvation. I thank you of the necessity because, Lord, it's something that we can urge. It's something that we don't grow into. It's something that we can't decide our own birthdays. But, oh God, it's a time when we just simply listen to the Word and believe it, receive it into our heart as the Word of God. and then just simply trust Christ as their Savior, and then we have eternal life, because we have life then from an eternal being. Speak to hearts this morning, say boys and girls and men and women, I pray that in Jesus' name that you'd save many for thy name's honor and glory. Touch other people helping to come and join the church this morning. While heads are bowed, eyes are closed. How many of you say this morning, Brother Hudson, I know beyond any shadow of a doubt, beyond any doubt in my mind, that I have been born again. I'm gonna put my hand up, I got it up. Come on, put it up with me if you really believe it. If you're willing to die with what you believe right now. If you're willing to die with it, hold it up. All right, thank you, pull them down. How many of you say, Brother Hudson, I'm just not sure of my salvation. But God somehow touched my heart this morning. I wish you'd pray for me. I'm not a Christian. But I do believe what you said this morning. Would you slip up your hand, hold it up just a minute, put it up, let me pray for you. Slip your hand up and say, Brother Hudson, I'm not a Christian. I don't have the assurance of my salvation. I couldn't hold my hand up a while ago. Slip it up right now, will you do it? Just hold it for a minute. Yes, God bless you. Yes, God bless you. Others, just slip it up for a minute. Let me pray for you. Hold it up. Brother Hudson, I'm not a Christian. I don't wanna die without Christ. I know there's just no hope without him. Slip your hand up. Let me pray for you just a minute. All right, now Father, I commit this service into thy hands and I pray that the Holy Spirit will do that which man can't do. Oh, Father, there must be the implantation of the Word. There must be that belief, and there must be the reception, and we must receive it. And just like a seed does its work, Lord, the Word of God will do it. And so help them to believe it this morning. Help them to come and be saved. And I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. We thank you for listening to the Making Much of Jesus podcast. If this sermon was a blessing to you, please share and invite others to listen. And join us next time for the Making Much of Jesus podcast.