All right, thank you. Genesis 49, please, if you turn over there. Thank you for being here this morning. I enjoyed that guitar playing. It was a blessing. And I haven't heard anybody play Dixie and Yankee Doodle since my father-in-law used to do that. He plays that Chet Atkins style. I always called it thumping. I don't know what you're supposed to call it, but I always called it thumping. But I'm telling you, that fella can do it. Amen, that was good. And I appreciate him. I want to spend a few moments in this chapter for just a moment, Genesis 49. And I want to thank you for being here in the morning service. And I'll try and be brief this morning. I've been trying for 39 years and it's never worked, but I'll try it one more time for your sake. In Genesis 49, Jacob's getting ready to die and he's going to speak to his sons. In verse 1, the Bible said, And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father. And you remember that Jacob had several boys, and he is going to, at this moment, before his death, go through and speak to these boys and give them a word from God. Every father ought to have something from God to say to his children. Somebody said, well, preacher, I've got a lot of wisdom. Well, your earthly wisdom won't help them, and your experience won't help them, and your philosophy won't help them. but a word from God will help them in their lives. And so, Jacob's going to give them a word from God. He'll go down through each one. We don't have time to look at them all, don't want to do that anyway, but I want to deal with Judah for a moment. If you'd look in Genesis 49, beginning in verse 8, follow these verses with me for a moment. The Bible said, Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp, from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal into the vine, and his asses cold into the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Now those are some unusual verses, but I want to use them for a few moments this morning. I want to talk to you in a moment about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when we come to this passage, Jacob speaks to Judah and begins to describe what Judah's future will be like. And I want you to notice what he says. He says, first of all, that Judah will be praiseworthy. Watch verse 8 again. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. So Jacob basically says, Judah, everybody around you is going to praise you and say that you are better than we are. His brethren are going to have to praise him. His enemies are going to have to praise him, and all of Jacob's children, whether they be male or female, are going to praise Judah. And all of them are going to say, you're better than we are. Then the Bible said this in verse number nine, Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? Here he tells us that Judah will be powerful. Do you notice in this passage there are three lions? There's a lion's whelp. There's an adult lion that takes the prey, and there's the old lion that has been exalted. So Jacob said Judah's like three lions. He has the energy of the young lion, he has the expertise of an adult lion, he's able to take the prey, and he has the exaltation of the old lion. Don't mess with him, don't rouse him up. So he's going to be a man of power. He's gonna be a praiseworthy man. He's gonna be a powerful man. We'll come back to verse 10 in a moment. Look in verse 11 and 12 if you would. Binding his foe into the vine and his asses cold into the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. Here he tells us that Judah will be prosperous. Now think about the wording that Jacob uses here. He's using symbolic language and he's trying to tell us that everything, we might put it this way, everything Judah touches turns to gold. When he says that he shall bind his foal to the vine, think about a vine large enough and strong enough that you could tie a horse to it and it would not break away. And then think about the fact that he's washing his clothes in wine and the blood of grapes. What do you wash your clothes in? I'll wash mine in water with some soap. But what he's saying to us is that Judah will be so prosperous, he'll have wine like you have water. Then he said this, his eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk. What he's saying is if you showed up at Judah's place, you'd see he has so much milk, when he smiled at you, it's dripping out the sides of his mouth. You could see it in his teeth, white with milk. He's telling us that nobody will be as prosperous as Judah. Now listen to this a moment, here's what he's saying. He's saying, when I look at all of my boys, Judah is the best of all of them. He's the best we've got. Nobody else measures up to Judah. That's what Jacob said about this boy. Now, I want you to look at what his mama, Leah, said about him. Would you go back with me to Genesis chapter number 29 for a moment? Genesis 29. I want to read what Leah says about this boy. You remember that Jacob married sisters. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying that's what he did. He married Leah first because of a deception of his father-in-law, and then he married Rachel. So he has two wives, and there is a contention between these two wives. And in Genesis 29, the Bible says in verse 30, and he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. So he's married to both of these sisters, and he loves one more than he loves the other. So you can imagine how that would make Leah feel. Then the Bible said this in verse 31, and when the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. So Rachel has Jacob's love, but Leah is going to have Jacob's children. Now watch what happens when she begins to have children. Look in verse 32, if you would please. And Leah conceived and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction now, therefore my husband will love me. The Bible said in verse 33, She conceived again, and bare a son, and said, Because the Lord hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also, and she called his name Simeon. And she conceived again, and bare a son, and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore was his name called Levi." Now let me stop here a moment. When we read the names of these three boys, do you see a theme in the names? Here's what she's saying. My husband doesn't love me. I want my husband to love me. I wish my husband loved me. Now will my husband be joined in me? Every son that's born, Leah doesn't say, I'm thankful for a son, I'm thankful for a child. Every son that's born, she said, I got a problem. My husband does not love me. But I want you to listen to what she says when Judah is born. Look in verse 35. And she conceived again. Do you notice what's missing? No complaint. No bad-mouthing. Nothing about the fact her husband doesn't love her. There was something about Judah when she looked at him. She forgot all about her trouble. She forgot all about her sorrow. She forgot all about her problem. And all she could say was, I'm gonna praise the Lord about this one. There was something different about Judah. Then notice what the Holy Ghost tells us in this verse. Therefore she called his name Judah, which means praise. And the Bible said, and left bearing. She's not gonna have any more children for the time being. It's as though she said I have enough. I've reached the pinnacle. Now here's what she's saying. She's saying the same thing Jacob said. Jacob is saying Judah is the best we've got. Leah is saying that Judah is the best we've got. We've come to the best. We've got the best there is. He's the best son of all the family. He's the best. You know we hear a lot about that today, don't we? football season's coming up, you know what I'm gonna hear football season, I'm gonna hear them say, you know so-and-so's the best quarterback that ever was, or so-and-so's the best running back that ever was. We hear that so-and-so is the best at this, and so-and-so's the best at that, and nobody can measure up, and he's top, and he's number one. That's what we hear. And we're always looking for that, seems like, and thinking about that in the day we live. Who's the best? Well, he's the best at it, or she's the best, or nobody measures up, or that one's the best. And so when Jacob and Leah speak to us, here's what they say. Judah's the best we've got. But I want you to notice a verse we skipped over there in Genesis 49. Would you go back and look in verse 10? In the middle of this prophecy about Judah, I want you to listen to what Jacob says. Now, he's speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. You say, what's that mean? That means God told him what to write down. Now watch what it says in verse 10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Now, here's what Jacob just told us in the middle of his dissertation about how wonderful Judah was. He said, Judah's the best we've got, but there's somebody better that's coming. It's as though Jacob would say, Judah's the best we've got, and Leah would say, best we've got, and God would say, Judah may be the best you have, but he's not the best I have. Because Shiloh is coming. You say, well preacher, what is Shiloh? No, Shiloh is not a what, Shiloh is a whom. Who is Shiloh? The word Shiloh means the bringer of tranquility. Do you know what we would call him? We'd call him the Prince of Peace. We'd call him the Lord Jesus Christ. Shiloh is an Old Testament reference to the coming Christ, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. And notice the Bible said that the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come. What we might say is this, Judah was the best they had until Jesus showed up. Can I say this to you? No matter how good you are, no matter how wonderful you are, no matter how accomplished you are, there's nobody in this world as good as Jesus. Nobody as wonderful as Jesus. Doesn't matter how moral you are, doesn't matter how honest you are, Doesn't matter, doesn't matter how far you've gone in life, all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but there's one who's better than us, and that one is Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is better than anybody in this world. let's think about him a moment you know what everything that's good about judah is better with jesus jesus is more praiseworthy than judah you know what our bible said said his brethren shall praise him his enemies shall praise him his father's children will praise him but my bible said this let everything that hath breath praise the lord and so if you're breathing You ought to be praising Jesus. You ought to be telling somebody how good he is and how wonderful he is. He is worthy of our praise. As a matter of fact, the Bible said in the book of Philippians about Jesus, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. One day Jesus was coming into Jerusalem and the people were praising him. They were saying, Hosanna, blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They were throwing. Do you remember this? They were throwing down palm leaves in His way, and He's riding on a donkey, and they're praising Him, and the Pharisees got upset about it. They said, tell those people to be quiet. Do you remember Jesus' answer? He said, I could tell them to be quiet, but if these hold their peace, even the rocks. would cry out. You know what? All creation groaneth and travaileth until now, looking for the redemption of this world. I'm saying to you, the birds are praising Him when they sing, and the wind is praising Him when it blows, and the frogs are praising Him when they croak. I'm telling you, friend, He is worthy of our praise this morning. Not only is he more praiseworthy, but he's more powerful than Judah. Judah was a lion's whelp. Judah was an adult lion, and Judah was the old lion. He was a lion. But you know what the Bible said in Revelation chapter five? John is looking into the heavens. God has allowed him to see what's going on in heaven. And when he looked into heaven, an angel said to him, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Now I want you to think about the difference between a lion and the lion. You know, if I were to look around this congregation this morning, I could look at Brother Tom and I could say, there's a preacher. And I could look at some of the other folks here and say, there's a preacher, and there's a preacher. But if I looked at Brother Tom and said, there's the preacher, You know what I just did? I just put him in a different category. I just put him in a category all by himself. Well, John the Revelator said Jesus is not a lion. He is the lion. He is in a category all by himself. Nobody else measures up. with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's more powerful. But then I want to say this, he's more prosperous than Judah. Now watch what the Bible said. Let's go back to our passage in Genesis 49 a moment. And you remember what Jacob was saying about how prosperous Judah was? He said this, he said, Did you notice the emphasis on wine and milk? involved in being prosperous. All right, I want you to look with me in the book of Isaiah a moment. Isaiah and chapter 55. Look in Isaiah 55 a moment. Here's a wonderful chapter and there's a verse or two in here that we quote often. In Isaiah 55, we like to quote these two verses, verses eight and nine. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Have you ever heard those verses? And do you know how we use those verses? Whenever we go through a trial and we can't understand it, we can't figure out why, here's what we say, well, God's thoughts are not my thoughts. His thoughts are higher and His ways are higher. And there's nothing wrong with that because it's true. But that's not the context of those verses. What are those verses talking about? Look in verse number seven. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Now verse 7 tells us what that entire chapter is about. It's about forgiveness and pardon. And what he's saying when he said that the Lord's thoughts are higher than my thoughts is that in this world I will never be able to understand the forgiveness of God, nor fathom the depths of His grace and His pardon. I can't figure it out. If you figured it out how God could love sinners like us and send his son to die on the cross and save a wretch like me, I can't figure it out. I will never be able to figure it out till I get to heaven. The context of the chapter is forgiveness. Now, go back to the beginning of the chapter, Isaiah 55. Now, I want you to look at these verses. Isaiah 55 verse 1. If you don't get anything else I say this morning, please get a hold of this. Isaiah 55 and verse 1. Look what it said. Come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, watch it now, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Now, remember what the Holy Ghost used to tell us that Jacob was prosperous, wine and milk? Here we find in the context of forgiveness, that the Lord Jesus has wine and milk without price. Now here's the picture. If I could use this gentleman right here. If this man was Judah, and I come to Judah's orchard one day, his vineyard, and I'm hungry and I'm thirsty. And so I come and say, Mr. Judah, I'm hungry and I'm thirsty. Can I buy some wine and some milk? And he'd say, well, I got plenty, I'll sell you some. So I give him some money, he gives me wine and milk. I come back the next day, I say, Mr. Judah, I'm hungry and I'm thirsty. Can I buy some wine and milk? He said, I've got plenty, and so he sells me wine and milk. I come back the next day, I say, Mr. Judah, I'm hungry and thirsty again, but I have a problem. I have no money. I have nothing to pay. So Mr. Judah looks at me and said, well, I see you're hungry and thirsty, and I know you don't have any money, But I'm going to give it to you anyway. So he gives me wine and milk. I go away refreshed. I come back the next day. I say, Mr. Judah, I'm hungry and I'm thirsty and I don't have anything to pay. And he'd say, well, you know, I don't do this usually. Let's not make a habit of this, but I'm going to help you one more time. So I come back the next day, I say, Mr. Judah, I'm hungry and I'm thirsty. And he said, now, you know, this is getting old and you've been coming here every day and you have nothing to pay and you want my wine and my milk. Now, one of two things is going to happen. He's either going to say to me, sorry, you've exhausted my patience or he's going to say, you have exhausted my supply. And sooner or later, I'm going to come back and I'm going to say, I need wine and milk. And he's going to say, No more. You've exhausted the supply. There's nothing left. Now remember what wine and milk are symbolizing in our chapter in Isaiah 55? Forgiveness, pardon, grace. And so Jesus has wine and milk and he said, come and buy without price. So first of all, if I want forgiveness and grace and mercy and pardon, I don't ever have to pay for it. He said, come, buy it without price. I don't ever have to pay for it. It's free. You say, why is it free? Because somebody else already paid for it. Jesus himself paid for it. But not only is it free, it has a never-ending supply. You know what that means? That means if I come today and ask Jesus for mercy and grace and he gives it to me, and you come tomorrow, he'll still have as much as he had today when he gave me some. And then somebody else will come and say, I need some wine. milk I need some mercy grace he'll never say sorry we're running short on that he never does run out and it also means that if I come seven times a day if I come seven times a day to the Lord say Lord I've got to have some forgiveness I messed up again I did the wrong thing you know what he'll never say hey this is getting old or he'll never say hey we We've run out of supply. You know what he'll say? He'll say, I got plenty, got plenty of grace, got plenty of mercy. He never does run out. He never, can I put it this way? A sinner who comes to Jesus needing forgiveness and grace will never be turned away. He'll never say, sorry, we're not doing that anymore. Sorry, we're all out of that. Sorry, we're done with that. No, every sinner that ever comes to Jesus wanting mercy and grace gets exactly what he needs, mercy. and grace and forgiveness. He never runs out. His mercy endureth forever. You know what he's telling us? Jesus is more prosperous in the things that count than Judah is. So he's more praiseworthy than Judah. He is more powerful than Judah. He is more prosperous than Judah. But then let me say this. I'd like to say two more things. I want to say this to you. Jesus has done something that Judah could never do. Now Judah was the greatest there was, according to Jacob. He's the best there was, according to Leah, his mama. But Jesus has done something, this Shiloh that we're talking about, has done something that Judah never could do. Judah was prosperous, he was powerful, he was praiseworthy, but he could not pay for my sin nor redeem me from the bondage of sin. But Jesus could, and Jesus did. He died on the cross of Calvary and rose again on the third day. and he ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, and he ever liveth to make intercession for the saints. Nobody can do for you what Jesus did. But there's one more thing I want you to see. If you go back to Genesis 49, I want you to watch again what Jesus is called in this passage. By way of prophecy, here's what he's called. Chapter 49, verse 10, look at it again. The word Shiloh means the bringer of tranquility. In the Old Testament, Jesus in Isaiah is called the Prince of Peace. In the New Testament in Thessalonians, he's called the Lord of Peace. Here's what Jesus can do. Listen to me now. Here's what he can do for you that not Judah nor anyone else can do for you this morning. Not only can he save you from your sin, but he can put peace inside of you. He can give you peace with God. He is the bringer of tranquility. It's interesting how verse 10 lays out. It said, the scepter shall not depart from Judah. What is a scepter? It is a symbol of authority. Then the Bible said, nor a lawgiver from between his feet. What is a lawgiver? He's the one that makes the law. So what you have is you have a lawgiver, the laws are in place, and you have a scepter, the authority. Now there's no sense having law if you don't have authority to enforce it, right? And if you have authority but no law, then you become a dictator and you're under tyranny. So what he has is he gave Judah law and he gave Judah authority to enforce the law. Why? Because without law and without authority, there's no peace. But you know what Judah never did? He never brought peace to Israel. He never did. But you know what Jesus can do this morning? Jesus can give you peace. He can give you peace with God through the blood of the cross. And he can give you, according to the book of Philippians, the peace of God. You remember what Paul said? He said, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus. That's Philippians chapter four. You can have peace this morning through Jesus Christ. But He is the only person that can give you peace. You say, Preacher, my life is in turmoil. He can take that turmoil away and give you peace. You say, Preacher, my heart is troubled. My heart is troubled. He can take that trouble away and give you peace in the midst of the storm. But only the Prince of Peace can do that. Only Jesus can do that. There was a man in the Bible who lived in the tombs. You remember him? He cut himself with knives, with stones. No man could tame him. They chained him. He'd break the chains. No man could tame him. And that graveyard, that tombs where he lived, apparently in those tombs it overlooked the sea. And one day that man was looking out over the sea and there was a storm had come up and there was a little ship out there in the sea. And probably that crazy man, that demon possessed man looked out there and said, he might have laughed, he might have said, ha ha ha, there's another ship going down, there's another one going down. But all of a sudden as he watched, a man stood up in that ship and he rebuked the wind. And He rebuked the waves and the wind stopped blowing and the waves laid down. And I bet that man had never seen anything like that before. He watched a man bring peace in the midst of the storm. And you know what happened when that little ship came to land? That demon-possessed man came running to that ship. And when Jesus stepped off that ship out onto the land, that demon-possessed man fell down before Jesus, and those demons besought him, and Jesus sent those demons out into the swine. And you know what happened to that man? They found him clothed and seated in his right mind. You know what they found? They found the Prince of Peace had taken the turmoil away and replaced it with peace, and that's what Jesus can do. And only Jesus can do it. You can have peace this morning. You can have peace with God, and you can have the peace of God because Shiloh has come. The Lord Jesus has come. He has died on the cross. He has been put in the grave. He's risen from the grave. He's ascended into heaven. He sat down on the right hand of the throne of God, and he has peace available for anybody who trusts him. You say, preacher, my life's in a mess. My life's been ruined by sin. My life is wrecked. I'll tell you what will happen. You can come to Jesus. He'll give you a brand new life and give you peace with God. He'll save your soul, give you a brand new start. He'll give you peace with God. I remember one day I was preaching out in Pennsylvania. After the service, a man came to shake my hand, and he shook my hand. Usually when someone shakes my hand, they'll say something maybe about the preaching, or they'll say, it was a good day, preacher, or glad you was here, or something like that. He didn't say any of those things. He shook my hand, and he looked at me in the eye, and he said, 30 years, preacher. I said, 30 years? He said, 30 years. I said, 30 years what? He said, 30 years since these lips have tasted a drop of liquor. He said, 30 years ago today, God saved my soul. And he said, I'm lit. I've never tasted that beer and that liquor that I drank for years. He said, I'm saved. Now I'm on my way to heaven. One day I was preaching. I was preaching out of Isaiah chapter 40 on how to find comfort in the Lord. And at the end of the service, a man came running. He didn't come to the altar. I don't know why. They didn't have a communion table here. They just had the pulpit. He came and grabbed the pulpit. started crying out to God and wanted to be saved, wanted God to save his soul. And he got born again that day in that service. It was at Ambassador Baptist Church in Hudson, North Carolina. His name was Rufus. After the service, his wife came. She said, Preacher, she said, that was my husband that got saved. I said, well, I'm so glad he got saved. She said, you don't know the whole story. He's a heroin addict. She said, he's destroying his life and destroying my life, and he got saved today. I saw him, I don't know, I was preaching in Dublin, Georgia, probably, I don't know, maybe 10 or 12 years later, and here he come. He'd moved to Georgia, and he walked up on the platform. He shook my hand. I said, Rufus. He said, yes, sir, it's Rufus. I said, how you doing? He said, well, I'm a deacon down here at such and such a Baptist church, been serving God down here. He said, preacher, what is that? That's what Jesus can do. He can break the bands. He can take away the turmoil. He can wash away the sin. He can give you peace where there wasn't anything but sorrow and trouble. I could go on and on and on and on and on, but I'm just telling you. I was preaching in Boomer, West Virginia, and a man came wanting to get saved, and I didn't know what was going on. Him and the preacher were down there on the front row, and they were praying, and pretty soon they got on their knees, and they were praying, and when it got done with the invitation, the preacher stood up and had the young man stand up. He said, y'all know this man. He named his name. He said, tell them what happened. He said, I just trusted Jesus right down here on the front pew. I just got saved. God saved my soul. You know, I didn't know who the fellow was, but that night, I'm sitting on the platform and I look out here, and here he is back and he's got a woman with him and a little boy. And I said, so-and-so's back? He said, yep. I said, who's that with him? He said, that's his wife. I said, where was she this morning? He said, oh, you don't understand. He said, that man was a drunkard. His wife had thrown him out. Their marriage was in a shambles. He wasn't even allowed to see his son. He said, but this morning he got saved. He called her this afternoon and said, honey, I got born again. I'm not drinking anymore. God saved my soul. Let's give it another try. As far as I know, they're still in the church in Boomer West Virginia. I'm just telling you, Jesus can do for you what nobody else can do. He can save your soul and give you peace in your heart. If you're not saved this morning, you say, preacher, Has time run out? No, time hasn't run out. You said, preacher, have I sinned too much? No, you haven't sinned too much. He's got wine and milk without price, and he'll save you if you'll ask him, and he'll give you peace if you'll trust him. He's the best that ever was. He's better than the best, better than anything that man has. Let's think about two things about this, first of all. You might go home tonight and you say, I want to go to heaven and you lay down on your head on your pillow and you say, well, I did this that was good and I did that was good and I did this that was good. And you start counting up and say, hopefully I've done more good than I've done bad. But it doesn't matter how much good you've done, you still come short. It's still not good enough. Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven. On my best day, I'm not good enough to get to heaven. But Jesus is good enough. And here's what he'll do, according to Apostle Paul. He, talking about God, hath made him, talking about Jesus, he hath made him to be sin for you who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Paul said, here's what he'll do. He'll take your wickedness and put it on Christ's account. And he'll take Christ's perfection and put it on your account. And you'll be able to go to heaven when you die because of Jesus. So no matter how good you think you are, how much good you think you've done, or how wicked you think you are, or how much wickedness you've done, Jesus is better, and he's enough. He's enough. Here's the second thing I want you to think, because some of us, after we get saved, we do the best we can for the Lord, and we come up short. You ever feel that way? You ever feel like you didn't measure up? You know what I believe Jesus does? He makes up the difference. So I'm going to live. I'm not going to heaven because of how I live. I'm going to heaven because of what Jesus did. But I want to live for him and I want to please him and I want to be the best I can for him. But when I'm not all that I'm supposed to be, Jesus makes up the difference because he's better than I am. There's nobody better than him. I want you to bow your heads a moment. Your heads are bowed and your eyes are closed. I want to say to you, Jesus is better. He's better than the best. and He has abundant grace and mercy if you'll trust Him. If you've never been saved, if you'll call on Him, He'll save you. He's never turned anyone away. I remember one day a man was touring a children's home in London, England. Dr. Charles Spurgeon was there, and the man said to the man running the home, he said, how do you decide which boys to take and which ones to turn away? And Mr. Spurgeon said, Did you look on the door when you came in? He said, No, sir. He said, Go out and look. So he walked out and he looked and written above the door, it said, There's no destitute boy ever refused. Now, you listen to me this morning. Jesus has never turned away a destitute sinner. And this morning, if you know you're a sinner and need to be saved, if you'll come and call on him, you know what he'll do? He'll save you. If you'll turn to Him, Paul put it this way, how you turn to God from idols. It doesn't matter how much you've done, how wicked you've been, how old you are, how young you are, rich, poor, learned, or unlearned, does not matter. If you want to be saved this morning, He wants to save you. If you'll take your place before Him as a sinner and call on Him as a Savior, He'll save you today. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. Would there be somebody this morning say, Preacher, I'm not saved, but I want to be. I need to be saved. I want that peace in my heart. I want to be clean again. I want to know Jesus. Would you pray for me? Is there anybody like that this morning? You lift your hand, and I'll see it, and I'll pray for you. I won't come where you are or point you out, but I'd like to pray for you. You just lift your hand up quickly and bring it down. I'm not saved, but I want to be. God bless you, sir. You can put your hand down. Somebody else? Would you pray for me? I'm not saved, but I sure want to be. Will you remember me when you pray? Is there anybody else this morning? There's a hand. I see your hand, dear lady. Somebody else. Pray for me. I'm not saved, but I want to be. Thank you. I see your hand, sir. Somebody else. I'm not saved, but I sure want to be, preacher. I want that peace with God. I want to be right with God. Will you pray for me? Anybody else? All right, now here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to pray for you. Then when I'm done praying, we're going to stand to our feet, and our brother's going to lead us in a song of invitation. Do you know what an invitation is? somebody inviting you to come. And we're going to invite you when we stand to come. You step out from where you are and come and we'll get somebody to take the Bible. You just step, come right to the front. The preacher's here. We'll get somebody to take the Bible. They'll sit you down and they'll help you to get it settled and you can be saved and know it before you leave. Oh, if you're not saved, I wouldn't miss this opportunity. You just come this morning, we'll help you. If you're a lady, we'll get a lady to help you. If you're a fellow, we'll get a fellow to help you. You can get it settled. There's no telling, preacher, how many people have walked the aisle in a church, in Hope Baptist Church, and somebody took a Bible and showed them how to be saved, and they left with peace that they didn't have when they came. You could get it settled this morning. Now, Father, will you help us this morning? I know you don't force anybody to save, to get saved. You don't twist any arms. You don't make anybody do anything. But you did promise that if we'd call on you, you'd answer. And you said, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And there's some folks here who raised their hand and said, Preacher, pray for me. I need to be saved. Lord, I sure do hope they'll come. And I know this, if they do come, you'll save them. If they'll call on you, you'll answer them. So I pray they will come. There may be some Christians ought to come today and say, Lord, I haven't been what I'm supposed to be, but you help me to do better in my Christian life. Somebody's a little defeated. Help them come, Lord, and look to thee. You help us today. Save these souls, and I know you will if they'll ask you. You help us in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Let's stand to our feet a moment. What are you fellas going to say?