Okay, Mickey's hand is on the 10 and the 12, so that tells me it's almost time to get started as soon as I get this microphone fixed. Good to have you here. Of course, Brother Tom is not here. I don't look like Tom, do I? Amen. He's up in the mountains somewhere in Tennessee. And so, Tom, if you're watching by live stream, only one caution of advice for you this morning. Don't feed the bears, amen? Don't feed the bears. Remember the bear story he was telling, all that? So, I was thinking about that yesterday and this morning. I hope he's not feeding the bears, amen? And another thing is, we're not gonna sing, I'll Fly Away. That's because I don't know how to play the guitar and I don't have the voice. So that's two good reasons we're not going to sing I'll Fly Away. But we are going to take prayer requests. If you have a quick prayer request, we'll go ahead and take that and then we'll get on with the Sunday School lesson. I appreciate the time that was a lot of me, and Brother Tom, I usually fill in for him whenever he's on vacation, but last year, we didn't get to do that, so it's been a year and a half, almost two years since I had the honor to fill in for him, so it's definitely an honor for me to fill in for him. So, a special urgent prayer request, and then we'll pray for the Sunday school class and then have the Sunday school lesson. All right, any requests from the floor? You're making it easy for me. That means more time. You better have a lot of requests. I've got a long message. Amen. I have a friend in Alabama, and her daughter-in-law just recently found out she's expecting a baby. The baby had severe birth defects that we tell already. And in the meantime, she found out she had breast cancer. So she just last week lost the baby. She's heartbroken for the loss of the baby, but now going through all these treatments for cancer on top of all that. So we just don't know how people are hurting, do we? Yes. Chronic pain. Still going through that pain. I don't know how she does it. For all these moments, just constant chronic pain. Anybody else? Oh, that's good. We have a friend by the name of Ray Beakley. He's had a heart attack. He's in the hospital. All right, anybody else? All right, let's go to a moment of prayer, shall we? Lord, we do pray for Ray, Lord, that you'd help him with his heart attack, Lord. You know all these problems that he has. And Lord, we know that you're the great physician. We would ask that you would do your mighty work. in his life, comfort him and his family, and Lord, watch over him for Amber and the loss of this baby, Lord. And now through all this treatment that she'll be facing with this cancer that came in her life, Lord, we just lift her up, how heartbreaking that is, and suffering over the loss of a child, and then to turn around and face cancer surgery. We pray for Joanne, Lord, we lift her up and just ask that you be with her and guide her and help her through these days of excruciating pain. Lord, we just ask that you would touch her body and heal her, give her a good day today, Lord. And I know that can be so discouraging, not to have a normal, active family life, Lord, and how that's been hampered in her life. So Father, we reach up to you and seek your face and ask that you would have your will and way in her life. And Father, that you would heal her. You're the great physician. You can do anything. There's nothing impossible for you. So Lord, we lift her up. And these other requests that maybe were not even spoken, Father, we just lift them up. Those in her Sunday school class that are hurting, those that Brother Tom prayed for, Lord, each week, we lift them up to you. And we just ask that you would have your willing way in their hearts and lives. And we pray for Tom and Debbie as they're traveling on vacation. A much-needed one, Lord, we just ask that you protect them, watch over them, and Lord, help them to relax, enjoy themselves. and God bring them back renewed and rejuvenated, they might continue teaching on the book of Revelation that we enjoy so much. So, Father, bless the message, bless the lesson to come up. May it be clear, may it be simple, and help me remember that which I should remember and forget those things that are unnecessary. So, Father, help us. And Lord, we love you. We want to thank you for loving us so much. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, if you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Galatians, if you would. My wife asked me about 15 times already this morning, do you have your glasses? You know, when you get my age, you need more than glasses. It gets pretty rough. So I'm going to put these goggles on so I can see what I'm doing. The book of Galatians, chapter number 6. While you're turning there, let me ask you a question. Whenever you see a cross on a church steeple, what do you think? When you look at this baptistry and see a cross hanging there in our baptistry, what do you think about? Whenever you see a book with a cross on the cover of it, what do you think? Or maybe whenever you walk up to someone and you see a cross hanging around their neck, what is it that you think about that cross? A lot of people have different ideas about the cross, thank God for the cross. Most people, when you ask them that, what do you think about when you see a cross? Most people's understanding of the meaning of the cross is only a small fraction, I believe, of what God intended for us to understand. If you ask the average person what the cross means to them today, they'll probably say, The cross means to me that my sins are all forgiven. And thank God for that, amen? My sins are all forgiven. And then I'd ask them, well, what else? They might say, well, if all your sin's forgiven, what else could there be? Well, that's not the full understanding of the cross of Jesus Christ at Calvary. And many of us probably would respond the same way, that Are sins forgiven? What else do we need? What else is there? But that's only a very small part of what transcribed and what took place upon the cross. It was the most important, yes. But Jesus dying on the cross, it entailed much more than that. Much more than just offering salvation to all who believe by faith, by His grace and mercy. There are other things involved in that that we want to look at today, and hopefully I'll be clear. If there's one message I could get over to you today, as well as those who are watching by live stream, is that God loves us no matter what. That God loves you and me just the way we are. And I like that. And I'm going to prove that this morning, too. You say, well, how could God love me with all my sin, with all the things that I've been involved in? And how can God love me after he sees everything that I've been doing? Well, that's the grace of God, amen? Whenever your sins were forgiven, whenever you came to Christ for salvation, what was it and how many sins did He forgive? He forgave all of them, did He not? He gave all of our past sins, all of our present sins that we would do today and all of our future sins that we'll ever ask God to forgive us. They've all been forgiven at the cross. The blood of Christ covered it all. But the cross and salvation, as important as it is, is not everything on the cross that God wanted us to know about. That's just a very small part of what transcended on the cross. The message of the cross is that God loves you and me just the way we are. Now, we're going to look in Galatians 6.14 in just a moment. But if you look at that verse, it's telling us what Paul said that, and Paul was a great man. And before you go there, let's turn back in Philippians chapter three. Hold your finger there in Galatians. Turn back to Ephesians. Well, I should say forward to Ephesians. I'm sorry, Philippians. In Philippians chapter number three. We're going to look at a little part of Paul's life. We're going to look at his position and his standing and why he could say what he said in Galatians 6. Most of us know the background of Paul the Apostle. We know his standing, we know his position. We know that he was a great warrior for his cause, even though he persecuted Christ before he was converted to Christ. He had a background. He was a leader of the Pharisees, of the Jews. He came from a rich background. But look what he said here in Philippians chapter 3. Look with me down to verse number 4. Paul said in verse 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Circumcise the eighth day. of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and the Hebrews as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, harmless. And then verse 7, But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. So that was just a little bit of a snapshot of what Paul says what he had going in his life as an unbeliever. Before he met Christ, he says, this is my background. If you do a background check on me, you'll find that this is true. So he was a man of standing, a man of importance, a man of great position, but then he held your finger in Galatians chapter 4, I mean 6, look at verse 14. Galatians 6, verse number 14. Now he writes, this same Paul, after he has been converted, after he had trusted Christ as his personal Savior, after he got a living for the Lord, he said this as he wrote in Galatians, chapter 6, verse number 14. He says, but God forbid that I should glory, look at those next four words, save in the cross. He goes on to say of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. What was Paul trying to say? Paul was trying to say, if there's anything that I could brag about, if there's anything that I can boast about, if anything that I can gloat in or take pride in, anything at all, it's not my position, it's not my standing, it's not what I was before, it's not any of those things of what I am now. He was saying, if there's anything at all that I could boast about in my Christian life as a believer, if there's anything that I could brag about, if there's anything that I can gloat about, it was that one thing in verse 14. He could only boast in the cross. And my friends, that's all you and I could boast about today as a child of God. is that we have nothing to boast about. You know why? Because there's nothing good about us. The Bible says, for there's none good, no, not how many? One. There's nothing good about us to boast about. The only thing that you and I have to boast about is what Jesus did on the cross for sinners like you and me. The only people that can boast are those who realize that they are nothing, will never be anything, cannot be anything besides the cross of Jesus Christ. And so it's the cross, the only thing that we can boast about. And Paul said it very well there. He said, I got the position, I had all those things in the past, but I can't boast about all those things. Now, it doesn't matter what you and I had in the past. Maybe the influence we might have had, the jobs we might have had, or the positions, or the notoriety that you and I might have had in the past. There's nothing to brag about. But you can brag about the cross. You can boast how Jesus died for you upon the cross. What was Paul saying? Let's look at verse 14. He said, But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at the next phrase. By whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. What was he saying? He's saying that the lost that the world has lost its pull and tug on Him, and He into the world. What was Paul saying? Paul was saying, this world has nothing to offer me. The pull and the tug that the world had on me, the flesh, this body and everything concerned with it, has no longer any pull, no longer any tug on me. That's a good attitude to have. That's a good spirit to have. That's something that you and I ought to be able to say in our lives. This world has nothing, no pull, no tug on us anymore. The only thing that you and I could ever boast about is the cross of Jesus Christ. So I want to bring a message very quickly on the message of the cross. Now Charles Stanley has some things that I noted and that I'll be saying here a little bit. But let me say something. The cross, sometimes, if we are so short-sighted spiritually, we will miss the full meaning of what Christ did upon the cross for you and me. Yeah, it's salvation for sure. But you know what, folks? It's much more than just salvation. Much more than just being saved. It's much more than that. And we're going to look at that. You said, well, Brother Gilly, are you minimizing the death of Jesus upon the cross? By no means. By no means. But there's more to it. There are many, many Christians living today, well, I've got my sins forgiven, I trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, and I might attend church and maybe open my Bible up a little bit once in a while and read that, but they're losing the full effect and benefits of what God wants us to understand about the full meaning of what He did for us upon the cross. There's much more to it. And we're going to look at that. So, we look at Paul's position, we saw his heritage and his background. If you studied the books in the New Testament where Paul taught, you will find out one main theme throughout all his books. What was it? If you read the book of Galatians, if you read the book of Ephesians, if you read the book of Philippians, and if you read the book of Colossians, there's one thing that permeates, that saturates the theme in all four of those, especially those four books of the Bible. Paul had one message. Check it out. It was the message of the cross and the love that God demonstrated upon the cross in all four of those books. Check it out yourself. The message of the cross is permeated in everything that Paul had to say. Why? Why did Paul do that? Paul had a good grasp. And he understood completely and fully the full meaning of what Jesus did upon the cross. Salvation, yes, but much more than just salvation. And when I say just salvation, I'm not minimizing that. Don't get me wrong. And you have to listen very carefully today unless you understand what I'm trying to say and what I'm trying to get over. But we're going to look at this. We're going to look at something. How did Paul really understand the full meaning of the cross of Calvary? Well, it would be the same way that you and I would have to look at the cross and understand. We have to understand that without the Holy Spirit of God living in us, living in our lives, and teaching us and giving us understanding of the scriptures and learning about the cross. Without that, my friends, you and I will not ever comprehend the full understanding and meaning of what God wanted us to learn. about the full meanings of the cross. So it's through the work of the dear Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul had it living in him, the same one who lives in us, that we can have that same understanding of the true meaning and the full meaning of the cross of Christ. Now God will give us a description of the kind of people that he loves. The message of the cross was that God loves you and me just as we are. Now, for most of us Christians, we have a hard time understanding it. How could God really love me unconditionally? without merit, eternally, without any conditions, how in the world can God love me? Doesn't He see when I sin? Yes, He does. You and I will never sin outside the foreknowledge of God. Did you know that as a Christian? Did you know that as a Christian that you and I will never sin without the presence of God? Do you know that you and I will never sin outside the knowledge of God? God sees everything you and I do. When we were lost, He saw that. When we trusted Him as our Savior, He sees those things. The only difference now is that when He sees us as a Christian sinning against Him, against an almighty, all-righteous, holy God, He doesn't see the sin, but He knows that we have sinned. And you know the greatest thing about that is? He still loves us. Amen? He still loves us. You might ask, how in the world can God love me when he sees the kind of person that I am? That's a good question because I've asked him that numerous times. God, how can you love me when you saw me do this? When you heard me say that? When I went here, oh, I went there. God, how in the world can you still love me like that? God loves you and me unconditionally for all eternity. He loves you and me without any conditions, without any reservations. How can God do that? Turn in your Bibles, please, over to the book of Romans, okay? We're going to stay in Romans for a little bit. The book of Romans, and if you would, turn to chapter number five. Romans chapter number five. I'm going to prove to you that God loves you and me, just as you and I are. You say, well, I can improve my condition, can you? Can you really improve your condition? Your standing is taken care of. You're saved. But look at this. In Romans, have you ever heard somebody introduced, and you know somebody, and maybe you've known them for years, and you say, you know, that's a good man. That's a good woman. Now, when you say things like that, what are you saying? You're saying, by their character, I can tell by their character and by their decor, by their spirit, you know what? They're good women. They're good men. But the Bible tells us there's none good, not even one. You're in the book of Romans, drop down please to verse number six. You know these scriptures very well, I'm sure. The Bible says, for when we, look at that next word, it's past tense, it says were. Now keep that in mind. It says, for when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for, who? The ungodly. The ungodly. Now let me say something here. The Bible says two things in that verse. In the first part of the verse, he says that we were without strength. We were without strength. That means that we were weak, we were helpless, we had no power, we were floundering, and we were in the pits. And that's how we were. And the second part of that verse says that not only that, but we were ungodly. Now, whenever you think of the word ungodly, what do you think about? Whenever you say, well, that's an ungodly person. Most people will say, well, you know, they're not living the Christian life. They're living in the flesh, they're living for the devil. And they're not living for God. They can't do godly things and things of that nature. But when you look at the Bible, and you see the word ungodly, it means that we have no power to live the godly life without the Holy Spirit living in you and me. And that only comes through the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, what is he trying to say here? Let's look at it again. In Romans 5, verse 6, For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly." Now, it simply means that the very, that word ungodly, if you take that and look it up, and there's two times mentioned using the same thing in Paul's writings. The word ungodly means simply defaced. Defaced. What are you talking about? Defaced, that the image of God was defaced. Take your Bibles and hold your finger there or something there in Genesis. Let's go to Genesis and hold your Bible where you're at there and your place there. And we're gonna look in Genesis chapter one. Let me show you something real quick. And this really struck home when I realized that you and I who have been born again by the grace and mercy of an almighty holy God, I couldn't get over this verse, these two verses in Genesis chapter 1, and drop down if you would please with me in verse number 26. In verse 26 of Genesis 1, and God said, let us make man in our, what's that next word? Image. Image. Let us make God in our image and then after our likeness. Those two phrases are interchangeable. Now, it doesn't talk about that when Jesus and, you know, and the triune God, the Lord, the Father, God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they got together and said, you know what, let's make God in our own image, in our likeness. He wasn't talking about the flesh. Because God is a spirit, amen? And he definitely wasn't talking about making a man in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ because he was sinless and yet we were born in sin. What was he talking about? Let's make God in our image and in our likeness. He was talking about spiritual things there. Let us make man to have the mindset of us. Let us make man to have a heart to love people, to fulfill righteous things, to think like God thinks, to do what God would do. So it's talking about the soul and the spirit of man, not talking about the body. The body is corrupt. The body is sinful. And he wouldn't say, let us make man in our image like that, in the likeness of that. So he had to be talking about the soul, amen? So, let's look back now. So, he was talking about the image and how they would have dominance over the fish and stuff and all that. And man, on the sixth day after everything was created, God said, now let's make man, an intended man, to think like us. We're going to create man to be a godly man. We're going to create man in our image, in our likeness. But we know that something happened in the garden, don't we? What happened to that image? The devil came to Adam and Eve, came to Eve first. So watch it, men. You've got to watch the ladies first, all right? And she convinced after taking of the fruit that God told her not to take of, and man partook of that same fruit. And the Bible says her eyes were enlightened. Doesn't Scripture say that? But what was it enlightened to? Was it enlightened to be a godly person? No, because the devil says you'll be just like God and lied to them. They were like God as God intended them to do and to be before they had their eyes enlightened by eating of the forbidden fruit. And so what happened? They fell into sin and what happened to the image of God? Sin now came into their bodies, into their lives. And what happened to the image of God? Did God not make them in the image of Him? He said, yeah, let's make them in the image of God. And He didn't put them in the garden of paradise. Everything was perfect. What happened? That image of God that God wanted them to have to radiate the goodness and the holiness and the righteousness of God was defaced. In other words, that image of God had been so defaced that it was destroyed, and now man did not even look like the holiness of God. Man no longer thought about the things that God would think about. Then man began to live for self, began to live for their own flesh, carnality, wickedness, and you know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say. Now you know the rest of the story. Look what happened. Look where we are at today. And so we look at this and we say, wow, did we ever mess up. Come back to the book of Romans chapter 5 again. So we were helpless, ungodly, weak, unable to do anything to help ourselves. We were both down and God says we were counted out. But He still loved us. In Romans chapter 5, if you drop down to verse number 8, it says, but, I'm glad that's in there, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, what's the next phrase? He died for us. So he saw us as being corrupt. We had the image of God destroyed and defaced from what he had intended for us to be. We were wicked, ungodly, down in the pits, and yet God says, I love every single one of them. I love them. That's why he sent Jesus to the cross. In Romans chapter 5 verse 8, if you look at it one more time, it says, but God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, You see that? He said, while you were down in the pits, while you were unrighteous and unholy and wicked and depraved and in sin, I died for you. Thank God for that. A sinner is one who has transgressed the law of God. A sinner is rebellious against God. A sinner is one who has sinned against a holy God and stepped over the boundaries that God had intended for him to have. A sinner is one who has fallen short of the glory of God. A sinner is one who is living by the dictates of self, the flesh, and the five senses, see, feel, hear, touch, and I don't know what the other one is, but we're living by that. carnal lives, fleshly lives. In Romans chapter 5, if you're there already, drop down to verse number 10, please. In verse number 10 of Romans 5, for if, if when we were, you see that word again, were, past tense? If when we were, now look at that next word, enemies. We were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. He said, at that time in our lost condition, we were what? Enemies of God. Well, somebody might say, well, I was saved when I was 12 years old. Or 14, or 8, or 10 years old. I never thought once about being an enemy of God. But I got saved. Explain that, preacher. That's easy. Very easy. You see, Well, I'll let the scriptures explain it. Turn over to Jeremiah, if you would. Hold your place where you're at. Turn over to the book of Jeremiah. If you find Isaiah, you're getting close, okay? And tuck between that and Ezekiel. You're gonna find Jeremiah, let me turn there myself, chapter number 17. Jeremiah, chapter number 17. Now, a 12-year-old boy can trust Christ as their personal Savior, or as soon as they understand, doesn't have to be 12. But he was asked the question, how in the world can I be an enemy of God? Like Romans chapter 5 says. It says, we were, he didn't say just the adults were, did he? He said children, everybody were enemies of God without Christ. Look what he says in Jeremiah chapter number 17. And let's drop down to verse number... Let me see here. Nine. Jeremiah 17, nine says, the heart is what? Deceitful above all things. And he says something else about the heart. He says, and desperately wicked who can know it. So, now the scripture says, you want to know what kind of people God loves? He says, the heart, you were enemies of God before you came to Christ for salvation at the cross. Your heart was deceitful above all things. And not only was it deceitful above all things, but it was what? Desperately wicked. Now, let's get back to the 12-year-old boy who trusts Christ as his Savior. The difference between a 12-year-old boy and a 40-year-old man, 50 or 60, 30, 25, of being an enemy of God is that the 12-year-old boy has not yet had a chance to experience and be cast into the circumstances and situations of the sins that older people will have an opportunity or situations or circumstances for them to be cast into. He hasn't had to go in. He hadn't gone in probably into bars and committed adultery and all that stuff that you imagine could happen for a 12-year-old boy. Like the 35-year-old man would or the 45 or the 60-year-old man or whatever. They've all been cast into that and they've been living that kind of lifestyle in some form or some part. So what happened? Does that little boy still have a deceitful heart and desperately wicked? Yes, he does. And later on in life, more than likely, that deceitfulness, that wicked heart will expel all the wickedness and all the filth and all the sin and all the unrighteousness that a 35-year-old man will eventually. Given the chance, given the opportunity, he has that ability to do that. Would you not agree with me? Why? Because God says that the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Now that's how God looks at you and that's how he looked at me before we come to trust Christ as our Savior. We were, our hearts were deceitful. We were wicked. Now I've got to really hurry up through this, okay? So hang here with me. Now, God says, I know that I love you and I'm gonna prove it. And in your down and outness, and in your unrighteousness, and unholiness, and deceitfulness, and in your wickedness, in your sin, and your rebellion, and your hatred for me, and being the enemy of God, God says, I love you just the way you are. And how did God do that? He sent His only begotten, sinless, darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross to prove just that. As Christians, we'd often quote John 3.16. Listen to me. For God so loved the... what? World. If you and I are not careful, we Christians will get so used to that verse, we'll think, and maybe lost people thinking if you're on live stream watching it now, you may have thought this. How in the world can God love me? I'm just a little nobody. I'm just like one little grain of sand on some beach in the world somewhere, insignificant, small, of unimportance. And yet God would send his son Jesus to die for the likes of me? Yes. We'll think that we're insignificant for God if we're not careful. For God so loved the world. Look, whenever you see God speaking to somebody in the Word of God, He is speaking to individuals. He's speaking to people. To you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and me. He loves us. And He speaks to us individually. Not just as a little grain of sand. For God so loved you, and you, and you, us. Not a big old vast sea of humanity that we might think, and, oh, I'm so insignificant. No, if you and I were the only two people on the face of the earth, He's still sent Jesus to die for us. Amen. It wouldn't hold Him back. He says, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for you. While you were in your wickedness, He said, I died for you. While you were in your sin, I died for you. While you're in your rebellion, God says, I died for you. When you're in all kinds of down in the pits, God says, I died for you. And he did. Listen to me, God loves you just as you are. And if you never improve, and let me tell you something else, you're not gonna improve. Now, don't get your doctrine wrong here and don't think I got mine wrong because I don't. You're not going to improve yourself. I'm not going to improve myself. Now, we can try. You say, well, how can I not improve myself? I got the Word of God, I got prayer, I got Sunday school teachers, pastors. You might improve in some way in knowledge, but my friend, you're not going to improve your sin problem and that thing that separates from God here in your presence from time to time. You're not going to improve yourself with that. I'll prove it, very simply. If you're like me, it's something like this. As soon as you have a problem, you have an error in your life that you definitely need improving on, amen? It might be some sin, some habit, something that you've got in your life that you just can't seem to shake. But, there might come a time when you will say, I got this under control, I got this. I've got this sin habit under control. And just when you think that you've got that thing under control, God will allow the devil to pull the rug out from under you. Has that ever happened to you? And you say, why did I do that? I thought I had that thing licked. I thought I had that thing under control. What happened? We didn't depend upon God to help us with it, amen? Because you cannot improve old self. That's why God, when he sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross, That's why he left the Comforter, the dear Holy Spirit, to lead us, to guide us, to teach us, to convict us. And I'll be speaking next week a little bit about that. But he's left him there to teach us because we can't pull ourselves up spiritually by our own spiritual bootstraps and thinks that we're gonna be alright with God. It takes the Holy Spirit to do that. You cannot improve old self. That is not your job. That's the job of the Holy Spirit as you search for Him to help you to improve things in your life. you don't have the slightest chance of improving you. Not a one. I got about six or seven minutes, let me say something here. And how has God demonstrated that love to you and me? He's demonstrated it in so many ways. By sending Jesus to the cross, yes. Turn to the book of Romans again, you're there already in chapter five. Look in verse six. In 7, verse 6, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Verse 7, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet, peradventure for a good man, some would even dare to die. Now, there might be a person who said, you know what, somebody might have enough courage, might have enough valor, might have enough goodness in their hearts to die and lay down their life for a friend or a spouse, a mother, a child. But that's rare. But God says in verse seven there, per venture would a person even dare to die? What was God saying there? God was saying this. that I am willing to send my son, the Lord Jesus, to die upon the cross of Calvary for my worst enemies, for my most vicious enemies. He knew that when he sent Jesus Christ to the cross, that the world would reject him, that the world would rebuff him, would be cruel to him, mock him, and beat him, and accuse him. And he says, yet I love every one of them. every one of them. And let me say this, God knowing how wicked we are, down in the pits, full of sin and vile and deceitfulness and wickedness, and yet God says, I love every one of them. What was he saying? He was saying, and listen to me real quickly, our time's about gone. He was saying this, you know, there are about six and a half billion people on the face of the earth today, and God loves every single one of them. just as they are. Yet, knowing that the vast majority of that six and a half million people will reject Christ all the way to the grave, reject Him, all the way to the grave, and yet, He still loves them, just as they are, just as they are. God's message to the cross is that God Himself in all of His holiness, and all of his righteousness, came down to the earth in the person of his son, the Lord Jesus, to a world that he knew would persecute him, reject him, and send his son to the cross of Calvary. And on that cross, he would suffer and bleed and die. And yet he says, I still love him. The crown of thorns on his head hurt. The nails and the spikes in his hands and in his feet hurt, and the bones being out of joint in his body hurt. And it was hell for him just to be able to breathe, and he was dying moment by moment upon the cross of Calvary. And yet he said, I still love them, as they jeered and mocked for his garments, and jeered and laughed. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He said, but I love them. Thief on the cross next to him. Father, God remember me when you entered your kingdom today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. He loved him. He loved the one that didn't ask for salvation. Yet he loved him. In his death, he loved him. He loves you. Without reservation, without merit, for all eternity, without any conditions or reservations, he loves you. Well, if God loves me so much, how in the world can I live the way I'm living today? That's for you and God to decide. That's for you and the Lord to take up. God is in all of his wisdom, holiness to ask, what can I do? That man will never forget the kind I love, the kind of love I have for them, every single one of them. He said, I know what I'll do. I'll send the most precious gift that the world could ever receive. I will send my only begotten son, the perfect Lord Jesus Christ, to die upon the cross for their sins. He said, thank God for salvation. Was that the demonstration of love of God? Yes, it was. But it wasn't the most demonstrated love for sinners like you and me upon the cross. You know what that was? It was knowing that when Jesus would go to the cross and suffer and bleed and die for the sins of you and me in the world, That was a great demonstration of His love, but it wasn't the greatest. The greatest was that He would be separated from His dear Son, who had never been separated from all eons of time, from all eternity. That He and the Father had blessed fellowship for all that time, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were never separated, and yet now the time has come that the greatest demonstration of the love of God for you and me was that what? I have to turn my face from my Son. As sin, He took our place. and imputed his righteousness to us. God says, I can't look upon it. And he turned his back. That was the greatest demonstration of the love of God. Why? Because he loves you. Because he loves you. Now, if you're watching by live stream, let me tell you something. God loves you as much as he loves anybody. And you, and you, and you, and you, he loves us all the same. You say, well, before maybe you're lost. And you say, I know I need to get saved. I know I need to trust Christ, my savior. But I got to clean up some things first in my life. No, you don't. You don't clean up. Bible says that God came to call sinners to repentance. Not those who didn't need salvation, but those who are sinners. You don't clean up to trust Christ as your Savior. You trust Him as your Savior and He will clean you up if you let Him. So what must I do to be saved? Won't you right now, if you're lost and undone without Christ, won't you accept the grace and mercy and forgiveness of what Jesus did upon the cross as payment for your sin and receive Christ as your personal Savior? You who might be watching on live stream, You say, well, I just can't put these things to a side. By faith, why don't you just trust Christ and say, Lord, I can't do this by myself. Every time I think I'm doing good, the old devil pulls the rug out from under me. How many times have I tried to do right in order to be saved until faith came and says, it's nothing you can do. You're hopeless, you're helpless, you're wicked, you're deceitful, you're all these things. There's nothing good about any one of us. And so when Christ died, he died for that. He died for you. And you, and you, and you, and you. Just as we are. And lost friend, if you're trying to trust Christ in any other way, you're not gonna make it. God has a plan for your life. He has much more for you than what you could ever come up with. And everything that you have, everything that you are, and everything that you ever hope to be is gonna come by one way, and that's the way of the cross. No other way. No other way. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And so why don't you do that right now? If you've never trusted Christ, would you simply ask him to save you, ask him simply to forgive your sins, and by faith accept the penalty that he did on the cross, and shower that love down upon the cross by his blood for you? Would you do that? He has a plan for your life. And He'll make something of you that you can never make of yourself through the Holy Spirit of God living in you once you're saved. Amen? That's the message of the cross. For salvation, forgiveness of sins, yes, yes, yes. But there's much more to it. How can you ever doubt God's love that He loves you after seeing what we were And if you take the Holy Spirit out of our lives, we would revert right back. If the Holy Spirit that lives in us who are saved, if you take him out, we would resort back and go back to some of those wickedness and deceitfulness and sins that we just talked about. But that's the kind of people God loves. Thank God my sins have been washed, amen. God has given me a new life, new nature, and everything I ever hoped to be. am or put my hope in in the future is only going to come by one way, and that's the cross. And that's why the Apostle Paul says, I've nothing to gloat in. I've nothing to brag about. except I can boast in the cross of Christ. Amen. He knew what he was talking about. Shall we pray? Father, I pray that you'll take the message and you'd use it for your honor and your glory, Father. If I could only convey that you love us just the way we are, it would be such a blessing to so many as it was to me, Father, in understanding that you love me just the way I am. Help me to improve, Lord, not in myself, but improve by the grace of God, to improve my walk with you. I cannot do it on my own. But Father, I need you, and we need you today. And thank you for loving us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, God bless you.