Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade man. We persuade man. That's my subject. And I've come here, I think, with something of the knowledge of what the prophets meant when they said the burden of the word of the Lord. We persuade man. That means I'm here to put the squeeze on you. I'm here to put you under pressure, to pressure your hearts, your minds, your consciences. We persuade men. I want to persuade you, O Spirit of God, come do this work. I want to persuade you who are yet rebels to God our Savior, who yet are under the wrath of God, who yet believe not on the Son of God to be reconciled to God by faith in his darling son. I want to persuade you right now, right where you are, to come to Christ. Believe on the Son of God. I know that work is not a work I can do, but God uses the preaching of the gospel to do that work, and I pray he will do that for you. Believe on the Son of God. Throw up the white flag of surrender in your soul. to Jesus Christ the Lord. Faith in Christ is nothing less than the surrender of your life to God Almighty in his Son. The surrender of your life to the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, the willing voluntary surrender of the totality of your being to Jesus Christ the Lord. Believe on the Son of God. And I want to persuade you who are gods, you who have been born of God's Spirit, saved by His grace, washed in the precious blood of Christ, I want to persuade you and persuade myself to utter consecration to God our Savior, renewed devotion to him who loved us and gave himself for us. 47 years ago, I took my place in a watery grave with the Son of God, and I lifted my hand to God and to the world and to God's church. And I said in confessing Christ in Believer's Baptism, when I was 17 years old, I belonged to God, lock, stock and barrel. It is mine now to live for Him. Spirit of God, persuade me again of that commitment. I've lifted my hand to God, and I cannot go back. If God gives you faith in Christ this night, if God has given you faith in Christ, I urge you, confess Him and believe His baptism, and understand what you're doing. You're lifting your hand publicly to God. I'm his. Risen with him to walk in the newness of life. And pastor, I want to persuade you and brother Clay and myself and brother Greg and you preachers. I want to persuade us to give ourselves anew. in utter consecration to the cause of our Redeemer in the preaching of the gospel of His grace. I realize that some of us are on the downhill slope, Brother David. We're about done. Our day's about done. But it is my prayer, it is my desire, it is my hope that as long as I live in this world to my dying breath I'll be doing what I'm doing now, only with more commitment, with more devotion, with more zeal than I've ever done it before. Would it be wonderful to be like Caleb when he took the possession of the land? I was 80 years old. Now, 40 years ago, God gave me this land in promise. 40 years ago, I came back with a good report and said, we're going to take this land. And I'm as strong now as I was then. Somehow, I've got a hunch. He wasn't talking about physical strength. I've got a hunch. He was talking about a whole lot more than that. He was saying, I believe God, like I believed God then. I have this vision just as clear now as I did then. God, give me grace to give myself ardently to the cause of the gospel in the last days of my life. You older men and women, Brother Joe, Joe McSherry is 70 in a day or two. That's all right, isn't it, Joe? And you have a tendency to think, well, I've had my day, I'll give over to these young folks. Don't you do it. Don't you do it. As long as God gives you breath, you give yourself to the service of our God in his house as you have in your youth. I can't contribute what I used to. When you're 70 in a day or two, you can contribute other things. And give yourself to it. Children of God, don't ever grow weary of the calls of Christ and the service of our Redeemer and the interest of the gospel in this world. Give yourselves to it in utter consecration. We persuade men. You'll have my text in verse 11. Actually, I want to give you an exposition of these 21 verses, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, but the burden of my message you'll find in verse 11 and in verse 20. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Now look at verse 20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's head, be you reconciled to God. Brother Clay Curtis just stood up here and preached to you as an ambassador, an ambassador for Christ, but not merely an ambassador, not merely a messenger. An ambassador is just a messenger. He doesn't necessarily have any concern about the one who sent him or the message he carries or the ones to whom he gives the message. Not God's servants. Oh, no. Oh, no. I've heard men say many times standing pulpits, I don't care whether you believe this or not. I do. I do. I tremble for your soul. I do. Nothing concerns me more than the one who sent me. I'm God's ambassador. I'm here to represent the God of heaven, the king of glory, to speak for him and in his name. And I'm greatly concerned about the message he's given me, the gospel of his free grace in his darling son. And I'm concerned for your immortal soul. My prayer My heart's desire to God for you is that you may be saved. I want you to know God. I want you to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to know the free pardon of sin, perfect righteousness in him, his everlasting salvation. Now, let's see if I can find some basis for calling on these things, calling on you to give up your life. to give up your life, utterly give up your life to the Son of God. And call on you my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus to relentlessly seek grace that you may more and more utterly give up your life to the Son of God. How can I find reasons for you preachers? You know, boy, I'm working to death now. I'm doing all I can. Oh, no. How can I find some motive by which to urge you to addict yourselves to the business of preaching the gospel? I've got seven. I'll give them to you briefly. First, eternity. Eternity. and the immortality of your souls. Eternity. Oh, eternity. Eternity. You and I are not animals. We didn't just evolve from a worm or a germ or an ape. We are creatures made in the image and likeness of God, living in these Bodies that we dote about way too much. But these bodies are not us. We are living souls. And we will live forever. Either in endless death or in endless life. Either in the bliss of glory with God and Christ in happiness and joy and perfection are in darkness and torment and everlasting damnation. One of the two. Another breath and you're going to meet God. None of us can find words with which to describe the vanity of all things you can see and feel and touch with these hands and these eyes and these hearts in this world. We look not, we're told in verse 18 of chapter 4, on things which are seen, but on things which are unseen. For the things which are seen are temporal. The things which are unseen are eternal. And you look on things here and you get real excited about it. And that's all right. There are things here that are excitable. Things that we delight in, good mercies of our God. Oh, what a blessed man I am. I have a family that loves me, a congregation that loves me, blessed in so many ways, but everything here is very brief. And there's nothing here you can hold very long. Try as you might. Soon, you're going to give up the dearest objects there is in this world to you, and you can't hold it. You can't hold it. Your wife, your husband, your son, your daughter, your mother, your father, just temporary. And soon they're gone. Look at verses one through nine and understand something about what the apostle tells us here about a believer's attitude toward these things. We live in the expected hope of immortality. In the expected hope. I don't mean that we just sort of hope we're going to live forever with God. Oh no, no, no, no. Christ is mine. I fully anticipate glory as soon as I close these eyes in death. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have immediately, right now, a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we grow. Just like Lot did in Sodom. Next, we grow. Grow with our sin. grown with the corruptions in us and the corruptions around us. In this we grow earnestly desiring. Now that's either true or it's a lie. There are no in between gray. Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed. We're not just wanting to get out of trouble, escape this life and all. Oh, no, no, no. But we're burdened that we may be clothed upon. That mortality might be swallowed up of life. Mark Daniel, this life is just mortality. This life is just dying. And we desire for this dying to be swallowed up with living, with real life. Our faith in Christ gives us confidence concerning these things, assurance concerning these things. Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing. Boy, that looks like it reads wrong, doesn't it Andy? Every time I read it, I want to read it. He that hath wrought for us the selfsame thing. But that's not what it says. He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing. That is to say, God who worked us to prepare us for this glory is God. Who hath given us the earnest of the spirit, the pledge, the down payment, the foretaste of the spirit. Therefore, we are always confident because we had the seal of the Spirit in our souls. We have faith in Christ, sealing to us all the blessings of the covenant, knowing that whilst we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. But we walk by faith, not by sight. We live here and we walk with God just like Enoch walked with God. We really do. We walk with God just like Enoch walked with God, having this witness that we please God. We walk with God by faith, but all the while, something's missing. All the while, something's missing. And that is the immediate presence and glory of the Savior. So we walk by faith, not by sight, but we're confident. confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And yet this confident faith is not a matter of presumption. Wherefore, we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. Your pastor has said things just to this effect several times last night, this morning and tonight. I want to be one of the sheep. Lord, make this work your work. Well, you're one of his sheep. This is his work. But we don't act presumptuously. We don't deal with God presumptuously. We live continually as mercy-begging sinners at the throne of grace, walking with him, seeking his grace and mercy by faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. We recognize that there are multitudes who, as soon as they die, must perish forever under the wrath of God, who vainly presumed that they were perfectly accepted with God. They made a decision, they changed their lives, they started going to church, they started acting good. Don't be so foolish. If you die without Christ, You will die forever under the wrath of God. We persuade you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. In the light of these things, give yourself wholly to him. Second, I make my appeal to you on the basis of the certainty and strictness of divine judgment. There is a day of judgment. I know there is a final climactic day of judgment appointed by God, but don't imagine that you won't suffer for your sins until then. Oh no, verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body. According to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. You're going to meet God in judgment, and the books will be opened. And you will be judged of God, every one according to that which he has done, precisely according to strict justice, and you will receive from God exactly what you deserve forever. There'll be no mitigating circumstances considered. There'll be no circumstances that might give you an excuse for what you've done or not done. You will be judged of God according to what you have done in your body. Exactly by that shall you be judged. Brother Don, then we're all going to hell. No, not everybody. Not everybody. I will stand before God in that day with perfect righteousness and perfect obedience and perfect faith with never a single deviation from it with no sin. Read Jeremiah chapter 15 verse 20 and read it for yourself. God says in that day I'll look for the sins of Judah. I'll look for the iniquity of Israel and it shall not be found. I know who my pardon. Every sinner who looks to Christ has been completely obedient to God in every totality. No mark against him in the person of God's darling son. Oh, that's called substitution. And God will reward us with perfect obedience because we obeyed him perfectly in his darling son. Now I know people say, well, that's the way God sees things. Just in case you didn't hear me last time I was here. I would let you in on a little secret. However God sees things. David call you, that's how they really are. This is how God sees it. That's the way it is. I get messed up. My vision's not much good. Yours either. God sees things as they are. And God beholds us in his son. And if God beholds you outside his Son, who can stand before his indignation? God will reward you with everlasting damnation because you fully deserve it. And nobody will be sorry that he does. Nobody will shed a tear when he cast you into hell. Nobody will be heartbroke because all standing at the judgment bar will see things exactly as God does. Ye sinners seek his face, whose wrath you cannot bear. Fly to the shelter of his cross and find salvation there. All flee away to the city of refuge and find safety in the Lord Jesus. Number three. I appeal to you to give your life in totality to the Son of God. Utterly surrender to him. Savior said, if you hate not father and mother and brother and sister, yea, in your own life also, you cannot be my disciple. Does that mean? What does that mean? That mean that Greg Elmquist was supposed to go home and start treating his wife and his daughter and family maids just to treat them like they don't exist? No, no, no, no. If you follow Christ, you're the best husband you could possibly be. What's it mean then? It means that they don't come into any rivalry with God. What did God do when he said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated? He devoted himself to Jacob. And he didn't even think about Esau. Gave no consideration to Esau. That's what he's talking about. So that you give no consideration to self, only to him who loved you and gave himself for you. Fear of wrath won't do that. The threat of judgment won't do that. Only the goodness of God leads men to repentance. So look at the next thing here. The love of Christ. Oh, now. I claim your attention and hearing not because of anything in me, but because of the gospel I preach. This is my commendation of myself to you. But we are made manifest unto God. And I trust also it may manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf. that ye may have somewhat to answer them, which glory in appearance only, and not in heart. My motive, I believe, is obvious. I don't have any concern in this thing except God's glory in your eternal good. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God. Or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. The basis of our appeal, the foundation of our message, The strength of God that's issued to you in the gospel is the love of God revealed in the sacrifice of his dear son. Look at verse 14. For the love of Christ constraineth us. The love of Christ with effectual Irresistible power constrains, compels, forces us because we thus judge. Considering that Jesus Christ died in the room instead of his people 2,000 years ago, he was made a curse for us because of his great love for us. That constrains us to make this judgment, make this conclusion. If one died for all, then we're all dead. If Christ died for all his people, we were dead when he died. We were crucified when he was crucified. We were put to death when he was put to death. We were executed when he was executed so that justice has no claim upon us. The love of Christ constrains us considering this. and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. You're not your own. You've been bought with a price, and Christ died for you. that you may live to him. He didn't die for you so you could live here and make money and get a lot of property and have a lot of stuff to leave to your children. He died for you that you may live to him. Live to him. Live to him. Read on. Wherefore, henceforth know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we've known Christ after the flesh, Yet now henceforth know we him no more. That is our knowledge of God in his son is not just a carnal knowledge. It's not just something that affects the mind. It's not just an intellectual thing. It's not just a historic thing. We know him by the revelation of God's spirit in our hearts, revealing Christ in us. And now we know all men in the light of that. We look upon all men in this light. What a marvelous, compelling force this is. Amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? I make another appeal, and I make it on the blessedness of God's salvation. Look at verse 17. Therefore, that is, since Christ died, since Christ died and we died in him, since Christ died, that we live no longer to ourselves, but unto him who loved us and gave himself for us. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away and behold, all things are become new. If any man be in Christ, by God's decree, by the power of God's Spirit in the new birth and the effectual call, by faith in Him, he's a new creature, a new creature. Now, theologians, folks who study God, theologians and folks who think they are, use the word regeneration to refer to this. I have used it many times and will probably use it again tomorrow, referring to the new birth. You other preachers do it. We do it all the time. But do you know the word regeneration or regenerate is never used in this book to refer to the new birth? The only time it's used in this book refers to God creating all things new in the last day when he's destroyed the earth and made it anew in the regeneration. That's the only time it's ever used. Well, how do you describe this then? In the word of God, the scriptures speak of us being quickened. The word is made alive. Raised up from the dead, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death shall have no power. The word of God speaks of us being raised up from the dead, born again, born of the spirit, but never regenerated. You see, when God saves his people, he doesn't regenerate the old man. Oh, no, no, no. He doesn't regenerate the old man. He puts a new man in you. He creates you new. He makes you an altogether new creature by his grace and puts Christ in you. The hope of glory puts Christ in you, making you partakers of the divine nature. We're born again, born of the spirit, given an entirely new life in Christ and old things are passed away. Some of you are young and old enough to remember when we had tape players instead of DVDs and CDs. Y'all remember those old days? We were talking to our granddaughter. She can't hardly think about folks not having cell phones. Some of us had readers. But how did you communicate? Well, we used to have cassette tapes, reel-to-reel tapes, VHS tapes, and you could push a rewind button and start all over. How many times have you thought to yourself, I wish I could push the rewind button and start all over? What would you give if you could start all over with a perfect record, with no sin, with no guilt, with no blame from God, with no possibility of messing it up? With no possibility of messing it up. Believe on the Son of God. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away. Their sins and iniquities, God said, I will remember no more. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. I'm calling for you to be reconciled to God. your soul's eternal good. I'm trying to persuade you to come to Christ. Now, here's the fifth appeal. The finished work of Christ. Verse eighteen. And all things are of God. Salvation is God's work from start to finish. Didn't you love the illustration that Paul gave when he talked about that camo going through the needle's eye last night? Wasn't that good? Sitting back there trying to picture that. Now I don't use sewing needles, my wife does, but I do know what one looks like. And I used to be able to see how to get thread through the eye, but I get thread up close to it now, I just clog up the needle. I can't even get thread in a needle's eye. But God Almighty is able to take a camel and put him right through the needle's eye. I could picture God on both sides of the needle's eye, pushing the camel from his tail and pulling him with his nose. All things are of God. This is God's work. But what does man have to do with it? But what about our will? It's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. First time I preached in Louisville, Kentucky. for Redeemer Church, Brother Ian B. Magruder came up to me after the message, and he said, after telling me, he said, well, you gave the Reformed fellows a hard time tonight. He said, isn't it interesting that man takes the weakest part of his nature and makes a god out of it? His will. It's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. What? Hath reconciled us? Past tense? Done already? I thought we were trying to get folks to be reconciled to God. Hang on a minute. I'll talk about that in a minute. Here he says, he hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. How was that done? God, by the sacrifice of His Son, took away every obstacle to our union with God in His Son. All our sin, all our iniquities, all our transgressions, He took it all away and reconciled us to His Son. And we're sent to preach repentance and forgiveness of sins. Sent to preach. That is to announce, to proclaim, to declare the good news of repentance and forgiveness of sins. What? How is it that repentance gets connected with good news? It's a turning. It's a turning accomplished by God in His Son at Calvary when He turned us again to Himself. and is given to us the ministry, the service of reconciliation. Oh, what a service. What a service. The service of reconciliation. He sent us into the world with the gospel of his grace to reconcile sinners to himself. To proclaim reconciliation and call sinners to reconciliation. You remember when our Lord stood at the tomb of Lazarus? He's about to raise Lazarus from the dead. And he says to some fellas standing there, take ye away the stone. Well, it looks to me like if he could raise Lazarus from the dead, he could take away the stone without any trouble. He could, but they couldn't raise Lazarus from the dead. They could take away the stone. And he gives them the high honor of rolling the stone from the tomb. Oh, I'd like to put my shoulder to that rock. Oh, I'd like to have been involved in that. What an honor. I couldn't raise the ashes from the dead, but the Lord let me push the rock out of the way. I can't raise you from the dead, but I pray God will use me to push the rock out of the mouth of your tomb, and you'll come to God this night, be reconciled to him. He's given us the ministry of reconciliation. What is that? It's ministry of reconciliation. To wit, God was in Christ, reconciling the world. Now, for the sake of brevity, let me tell you what that means. Reconciling his elect wherever they're found in the world unto himself. Oh, but world means world. Well, we'll take that up another day if you want to. But if it means world, then everybody's going to heaven. If it means everybody in the world, everybody's saved. There's never a hint of such blasphemy in the scriptures. Our Lord God was in his son, reconciling his elect scattered through all the nations of the world unto himself. not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word, the message of reconciliation. And that's my sixth appeal. The message of the gospel. Here is the word of reconciliation. There is no passage in this book more glorious than these last two verses of second Corinthians five. No words to be found in human literature to compare with these words. Read them and weep over your sins that demanded such a sacrifice. Read them and rejoice and give thanks to God for the grace that provides the sacrifice. For he hath made him sin. Sin. I preached from this text years and years ago down in Houston, Bel Air Reformed Baptist Church, where my brother Drew was pastor. through Garner. At the service, we talked a little bit about the sin. Paul is quoting from Isaiah 53, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. And by divine inspiration, he writes it this way. He hath made him sin. Not a sin offering, sin. Why? If you care to get your concordance and look up the word sin offering in the Old Testament, every single place, no exception, the word is sin. Sin. It doesn't say he hath made him to be sin, he made him sin. He made him sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. How can that be? I don't have a clue. I don't have a clue. Now, I know there's a lot of arguing, debating and fussing over this. My dear brothers, hear me. Hear me. This is too precious, too magnificent, too wonderful. for debate and argument. It's altogether proper. We talk and try to understand it better. It's altogether proper. We raise questions, talk. That's fine. But to debate, divide up, take sides. Oh, God forgive us for such evil. God forgive us for such evil. It's too precious. The word made here I'm not like Brother Donnie. I do know a little Greek and Hebrew. I knew a little Greek who ran a restaurant down in Winston-Salem. I knew a little Hebrew who ran a clothing store right around the corner from him. But I have a friend who's a linguist, and I called him up. I said, tell me what this word means. What's it all about? He said, it's a marvelous word. It means wondrously. mysteriously, inexplicably made. In other words, you can't tell what it means. Made, made. The gospel we preach is full of paradoxes that can never be understood by our puny brains. I don't know how God became a man, but he really did. and never cease to be God. I don't understand that. And the fellows I've read who tried to explain it, I found out understood less than I do. I don't understand how the eternal God, without beginning and without end, could live the space of time on the earth for 33 years and die. But the book says he did, doesn't it? God purchased the church with his own blood. Well might the sun in darkness hide and shut his glories in when God the mighty maker died for man the creature said. I don't understand that, but I know it's so. I know it's so. I don't understand. I gave up long ago trying to figure out how the incomprehensible eternal God can dwell in the body of a man in all the fullness of his Godhead. Have you got that figured out, Dwayne? But in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're completely in Him. I can't understand it, but I worship God. I can't understand it, but I believe God. And I don't have an inkling of an idea how Christ, the Holy One of God, could be made sin, really made sin, and yet remain the Holy One of God. But he did. He did! The spotless Lamb of God was made a curse for us when he hung on the curse tree. And God rewarded him justly. He cried, Awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow. Smite and slay the shepherd. And he who is all fullness, in whom all fullness dwell, emptied himself, utterly emptied himself in his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. And yet he remains him who is all fullness in whom all fullness dwells. Why did he do that? Why did he do that? That we It might be made the righteousness of God in him. Made the righteousness of God in him. Here's another paradox. How can a man, how can a woman be the very righteousness of God? Your pastor read it after Donnie finished preaching this morning. This is the name whereby she shall be called Jehovah Sikinyu, the Lord our righteousness. Now that's not pretend, that's real. How can, Todd and I, how can you be the righteousness of God? Perfect holiness, perfect righteousness, perfection, perfection. It shall be perfect to be accepted and still be full of sin. How can that be? He's a new creature in Christ. God puts something new in you. He declares us to be righteous because of Christ's obedience. And he makes us righteous in the experience of the new birth, imparting righteousness to us in free grace, giving us that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Some of you have been exposed to legalistic works, religion all your lives. And folks latch on to that statement in Hebrews 12, 14. It said, you've got to follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now, yeah, God gets you started. And God, that's all of grace. And God justified, and that's all of grace. And God put his spirit in, and that's all of grace. But now you, you've got to pray, read up, and tithe, and do missionary work, and you've got to wear your hair a certain way, and talk a certain way, or whatever group you come from, you know. Down at our place, we've got two groups of what they call simple people. They split off of one another. Some of the old fellas wear breeches with zippers. And the other ones just wear buttons. Because that's holy. That's holy. Fall in peace with all men and holiness! That means you wear a straw hat and chew on hay seed and wear bibbed overalls either with buttons or zippers, whichever denomination you're part of. Now we laugh at that, but that's going on all over the world, in churches everywhere. What is that holiness without which you can't see God? It's Christ in you. Christ in you, Christ in you, born again, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, oh, in the light of these things, may God give us grace to live not to ourselves, but to him who loved us and gave himself for us. My preacher brethren, Oh, pray for me and for yourselves. God, give us grace. God, give us grace to utterly consecrate ourselves to this work. I'm 64 years old, and I don't have the strength I used to have. But I tell you what I'm doing best I can. I'm looking for more to do, not less. I'm looking for more to do in the service of the master, for the furtherance of the gospel, for the cause of Christ, not less. Because I haven't yet begun to get started doing anything as I ought to do as the servant of God. Brother Ryan Heller sitting back there, his mom and dad, missionaries in New Guinea, Probably the most primitive part of the world it is to live in. His grandmother and grandfather just came home the last time just because of physical health forbidding them to live there. You correct me if I'm wrong, Ryan. Last time they went back there, last tour down there, your granddad was 84 years old, wasn't he? Well, what kind of fool would do that? A fool for Christ's sake. A fool for Christ's sake. God makes such fools of us all in the eyes of this world, in the eyes of family and friend. Give yourselves to him. Now look at verse one, chapter six. Here's my last appeal. We then as workers together with God beseech you also. that you receive not the grace of God in vain. Oh, don't hear this in vain. You've been privileged. Do you know there are few places in this world where people will hear in a year's time such free graces you've heard in the last two days? Few places in the world. Don't receive the grace of God in vain. Don't let this fall on deaf ears. For He hath said, I've heard thee in the accepted time. In the day of salvation have I succored thee. What day is this talking about? What time is this talking about? Go back to Isaiah 49. I had Shelby turn back and read it to me on the way over here tonight. It's talking about the day when God reveals His Son in you. I've succored you. The reason you call on me now is because I came and helped you. I've heard you in accepted time in the day of salvation, I succor thee. Behold now, this day of grace, this is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. All this blessedness, all this grace, all this forgiveness is in Christ. God give you grace to trust him. Years ago I read a story A man in Chicago and his son, a very wealthy, wealthy man, had a large art collection. And they were well known for their wealth, their position, their rank in the community, and their art collection. And when the Vietnam War broke out, the young man felt it his duty to enlist in the military, and he did. And he wasn't there very long. and he was killed rescuing some soldiers who were caught in a horrible battle. And the father got word. Of course, he was devastated. Some months later, several months later, someone knocked at the door, and he had a large package under his arm, and the father didn't know who it was, but he answered the door, and the young man introduced himself. He says, sir, you don't know me, but I knew your son. served together in Vietnam. In fact, your son was killed carrying me to safety. And he often spoke about you and his great love for you and his admiration for you. And he told me about your art collection. And he started to unwrap a package. And he said, this is nothing but, he said, I did this painting of your son. I loved it. And I wanted to give it to you. And the man looked at him and tears welled up in his eyes. He just captured his son, just captured him. And he started to offer to pay him. He goes, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is my gift to you. And he took him inside and hung it right over the mantel in the living room. And everybody who came in from that day on, he showed her a picture of his son. And in the time appointed, he died. left everything to be auctioned off, public auction, according to his will. And it was advertised, well advertised, and folks came crowded from everywhere, just packed into the place, wanting to get a chance to purchase one of those masterpieces at a good price. And the auctioneer stood up, time to open the auction, and he struck his gavel, and he said, we're going to open the auction with this piece here. And he unveiled that picture. drawn by that soldier of that man's son, painted sort of crudely. Folks started to jeer and mock. We didn't come here for that. Where are the masterpieces? Who wants that? And the auctioneer said, according to the stipulations of the will, we start with this picture. What am I bid for the picture? Nobody wanted it. Nobody said a thing. Finally, a man back in the back raised his hand and said, I'll give you $10 for it. $10 once, $10 twice, sold for $10. The old man was a gardener. He'd worked for that old man all his life. And he bought that picture for $10. He loved his son, too. And the auctioneer struck his gavel, and he said, the auction's over. And the folks were really angry. What's going on? We came here to buy the pictures, to buy the artwork. He said, well, there's one more stipulation of the will. I wasn't allowed to give out until now. The stipulation reads like this. He who gets my son gets all. Get Christ and you get it all. Miss him and you miss it all. Amen.