Good morning. If you have your Bible with you, go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter three, and as you're turning there, I've got three announcements that I want to share with you this morning. Number one, there's a guy in a Hawaiian shirt waving a Bible over there. Also, if anybody needs one of those Bibles, he's happy to bring that to you. But my first announcement is over there on that table are birthday cards for our missionaries. I realize when we're done, we start visiting, we get acquainted and all that kind of stuff, but if you could, put your signature down on that card that we're gonna send out to our missionaries. That's number one. Kind of connected to that, we're taking a love offering this morning. I'm looking for my plate. Taking a love offering this morning for a village missions church in Vermont. Now, I've worked on the name of this town. It's either Groton or Groton. or my favorite, Groton, in Vermont. And so John and Carrie Smith, they've been there five months. And this field, this church, is a brand new church to Village Missions. So a brand new VM church. And this couple served six years in the Midwest and just moved here five months ago. As soon as they get there, furnace goes bad. Many other categories of their residence, this parsage started to break and go bad. And in the middle of winter in Vermont is not so warm. So they've been struggling a bit and we've helped them out a bit financially already. And we want to send another love offering to them to support them. Two reasons. Well, three, we want to glorify God. But also, I want to encourage this couple. I spoke to him yesterday on the phone. They're healing. They left a difficult field, and now they're here, and when they get there, boom. The church was built in 1860, but it gets better. because the parsonage was built in 1880. So it's almost like new. Anyways, so we're taking a love offering for the Smiths. If God lays that on your heart, the plate's up here or you can chat with Kathy Bailey and we can make that work. Also, Tom and Linda Kaczynski, congratulations on a brand new grandbaby. John texted me, what night was that? Was that Friday night? Yeah. And it's Leanna? Okay. Yeah. Groten, groten, whatever. Okay. Romans chapter three. And I want to pick it up at verse one. Read the context behind the verse that Brother Mark read for us. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then, if some did not believe, does their unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God? May it never be. Rather, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and overcome when you are judged. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is the God who inflicts wrath unrighteous? I'm speaking in human terms. May it never be, for otherwise how will God judge the world? But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not say, as we are slanderously reported as some claim that we say, let us do evil that good may come. Their condemnation is just. What then? Are we better? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. It's been said, and if you have some familiarity with the book of Romans, it's been said that this book is quite simple. You get bad news, then you get good news. And then there's some personal application, letter done. You get bad news, you get good news, some points of application specifically to these believers in Rome, and then you're done. That's Romans. So it makes it quite easy for the preacher, because I plan on being in this book for a very, very long time. But having those big pieces reminds you of where we're at, that box top of the study. If you're visiting, I just want you to know we are in the thick of bad news. Romans chapter 1 through Romans chapter 3 is devastating. And I don't use that. It's not hyperbole or drama. It's devastating if you know what's being communicated. If you grasp what's being said by the Apostle, what the Spirit of God has inspired the Apostle to write, if you grasp it, you are left on your face before God. If you grasp it. If you can waltz through chapters 1, 2, and 3, unflinched, and just totally unmoved, you've missed the text. I've missed the text. If I can study and prepare to work hard in the text to bring it to you, and I just can do this so flippantly, I've missed the passage. No preacher should preach a text that hasn't got him in his heart to some level. We are in the bad news of Romans. Now, there's a phenomenon to bad news. I have seen this, as many of you know. I serve as a chaplain with the sheriff's office. When we go and do a notification to a family, at times, they don't hear you the first time. That's why we try not to use euphemisms when we do a notification, because when you go share, they won't understand what you say. You say, well, so-and-so is no longer with us. Yeah, he went to the grocery store. The brain doesn't want that bad news. And it works hard to find some avenue to say it isn't so. Beloved, I want to use that as just a little bit of a parallel this morning coming to this. Because I think, I know, one of the greatest misconceptions in the Church of Jesus Christ is a lack of understanding of the depths of our fallenness. Sometimes there are statements that I prepare to say that I I'm fearful to say just because I recognize how much I'm swimming against the current. But that's true. One of the biggest misconceptions in the Church of Jesus Christ is a recognition of the depths of our fallenness. Now, please don't miss what I'm saying here. I'm being very careful here. I'm not saying that they don't recognize that they're sinners. If you're a believer, you get that. If you're truly a believer, at some point you came to the point of saying, I'm bad, God's good, I need Jesus to be good before God. But then when you work as a believer in the study of the word, as you pursue the scripture, God in his marvelous grace pulls back a veil and gives you a broader and broader vantage point of the level of the depths of our depravity. of our fallenness. And so it's kind of like at conversion, you see the iceberg's tip and then the water levels go down as you grow in godliness and you go, wow, I had no idea. I thought it was just a tip of an iceberg. Wow, when does this stop? And then you turn 104 and you go, when does this stop? Because it just keeps getting larger and larger. You see more and more. Because, paralleling that, you see God's grace. You see God's goodness. You see God's holiness more and more. And the more you see Him, the more you want to say, I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm a man who's a sinner before God. Coming to terms with the Bible's declaration of our state apart from Jesus Christ is a progressive thing. It is progressively happening. At first glance, we recognize we're sinners before God. We recognize His holiness, we recognize our sin, and we need to do something about that. And He did do something about that. He sent forth His one and only Son who paid the penalty for sin. But then you grow in godliness and God by His grace convicts you and shows you more and more and more of you. One Puritan said, it's a good day when God allows you to see yourself rightly. But it's also a painful day. So here's Paul's argument. All mankind is under sin. I'll explain what I mean by under in just a second. And just so you know, as far as roadmap, I'm not going anywhere today. We're in Romans chapter three, verse nine. That one verse. Because to be quite honest with you, I just can't get past it. And here's why. As a Christian kid, growing up in the church and sleeping in the pews my whole life, well not now, but you know what I'm saying. As you mature and grow up in the Lord, Verses become familiar. Things wash over you. You read the text and it goes by. And so I could read Romans chapter three, verse nine in this group, and it has potential to go right past us without any kind of affliction or reminder or difficulty or something like that. You just hear it and poof, it's gone. It's like a car passing you on the highway. Hey, what was their license number? I don't know. I didn't pay any attention, just went right by. That's how sometimes these verses go right by. Chapter 3, verse 9 is one of those that you could so quickly just go right by. But beloved, this is a summation of the whole argument. And how this landed on the minds of the Jews and the Gentiles was catastrophic. Paul's argument of the fallenness of the Gentiles and the Jew. Now, this is what's interesting. He makes reference to the moral Jew and to the immoral Jew, and the moral Gentile and to the immoral Gentile. When I say moral, I mean in the eyes of men, those who would consider themselves to be morally up above, the upper crust morally, not the bad people. You know, I'm like the sinners. And so Paul jumps in this with two questions, if you look at nine. He says, what then? Now, what he's getting at there is, in light of everything I've said, what do you say after that? Where do we go from here? The emoji would be, I don't know, now what? Where do we go from here, what then? And the reason for the what then is because of the precision of the Apostle as he's articulated the fallenness of all mankind. So he's articulated that with great clarity. What then? What are you going to say to this? And that's really the question is, what do you have to say to that? What's your response to that? Do you have anything to say to that? And then he moves on with the second question. What then? Are we better? Now, here's the interesting piece, is if you look at your Bible, that word we, and you pick up 15 commentaries, you'll find about four or five interpretations just of what we is referring to. And think this through with me. Is the we, the Gentiles, who are moral and have a leg up on the Jews, which it seems that that's implied here to some level? Or is it to the Jew? The Jew that has every advantage? Remember chapter 3 verse 1? Is Paul referring to we as in himself and the Jews? Who is he referring to here? And numerous commentators and good solid commentators were very helpful to me here because I had never seen this other option. Is the we the Apostle Paul and the believers in Rome? The Christian. If you track through Romans 1 and 2 and up to this point in chapter 3, Paul does not refer to the Jews as we. He uses we in other places in the first two chapters, but it's to the Christians, to the believers. So then when he goes, are we any better? I believe a solid interpretation would be that's in reference to the Apostle Paul, the folks who are traveling with him, as well as the believers in Rome. And here's what he's asking. Are we Christians any better in and of ourselves? Because remember, beloved, this is what I've said week after week. What he's doing is he's removing everybody's false assurance. He's kicking the slats out from underneath all mankind. Nobody's left standing in regards to their self-righteousness. So to the Gentile, nothing. To the Jew, nothing. Well, who would that leave? Well, I could imagine that the readers here potentially could say, well, then what about the Christians, the we? And so Paul says, are we any better? And the answer is no. He's wrapping up the argument to some level here. There's more to come, obviously, but he's wanting to level everybody. The we of Paul and fellow believers in Rome. Now, hear me on this, please, because I always want to be very careful here. I'm not positive that that's a reference to the believers there with Paul and Brom. It could certainly make reference to the Jews. I doubt it makes reference to the Gentiles. Now, knowing exactly who it is does not change the point of the text in any way, shape, or form, because the point is all mankind. So, but look at this other word. Are we better? Are we better? Well, better in what way? A better standing before God. A better advantage in regards to salvation before God. Are we better than anyone else in and of ourselves? And here's what's being put to these readers. Is there anybody, is there any human who can say, I've got a better advantage to get saved than another person? I've got an easier path. Well, here's what my Bible tells me. No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him. And I'll by no means cast him out. The scripture tells me that which is impossible with man is possible with God. Remember the apostles said, well, if he can't be saved, then who could be saved? Jesus says, it's easier for a camel to slip through the eye of a needle. I mean, that's a ginormous needle, right? No, it's hyperbole. What he's getting at there is it's impossible to get that camel through that needle. Their response, okay, so if that's true about the rich, then what about us? Then nobody can do this. Right there, Jesus could have said, well, no, you can, you're better. No, what's his response? That which is impossible with man is possible with God. No, there's nobody better. No, there's nobody who says that they helped Jesus out. It is the sovereign grace of the living God why you stand in Christ today. One cannot be totally sure, but it doesn't change the main point as far as who this refers to. But the reality is, this refers to all human beings. And what's his response? Are we better? Not at all. And there's emphasis here. It's just a whoosh. No, absolutely not. Perish the thought. No way. Not a chance. Nobody is better. And he says, for we have already charged, this is in reference to the previous argument, if you look at verse nine. He says, not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks, Greeks here is in reference to all Gentiles. It's another way of referring to all of the Gentile people, all the Gentile nations. And if you're not a Jew, you're a Gentile. If you're not a Gentile, you're a Jew. Those are the two people groups that we have in our New Testament scriptures and in our Old Testament scriptures. And so it's a very fast way of him saying, this is the removal of anybody's false assurance, anybody's false hope in regards to their self-righteousness. All humanity is under sin. This has been charged that all are charged before God. Now here's a very fascinating statement, one that I pray with all of my heart and have been praying lands on you afresh if you're a believer and lands on you powerfully if you don't know Jesus Christ. What's been charged? We've charged that all are under sin. This word under is devastating. And here's some thoughts in regards to this word, but also there's some theology and some scripture that comes underneath and undergirds this, you guys. Under the influence of sin. Under the condemnation of sin. Under the power of sin. The influence, the condemnation, and the power of sin. Now, here's what I don't want you to miss here, because this is a pivotal point that I just don't hear referred to, or I don't hear folks dissect this enough. Sin does not merely refer to sins, but speaks to our nature. You're not a sinner because you sin, You sin because you're a sinner. This is in reference to the nature of mankind, not merely the bad stuff we do. And I can show you a mountain of scripture. I'm not gonna, I'm gonna show you maybe like a bunny hill of scripture here this morning, but I can show you a mountain of scripture in regards to this fact. that this is not merely a few people made bad decisions so they need to be saved. No, this is about the nature of humankind. The fall in Genesis chapter three was far weightier than we know. And I knew stepping into this message this morning, I would have the toughest time finding enough vocabulary to communicate to you the depths of this. I can't get there. I don't have a word in the English language to communicate to you the depths of our fallenness before a holy God." You know, at conversion, you say, well, I'm bad. Later on, oh, no, I'm really bad. I'm really, really bad. You know, you search for words, right? Times what? Infinity. Times what? Say whatever you want to say. Because the more you see God, the more you see yourself, the more you see yourself, the more you go, eww. I'm a sinner. This is horrific. Now, what's fascinating about that, and I'll speak more to this in just a second, what's fascinating about that is that I did not know my fallenness until God saved me. I didn't know what I didn't know until Christ gave me new eyes. The scripture's description, the scripture's description in reference to the fallenness of mankind is that he is under the influence of sin, under the condemnation of sin, under the power of sin, enslaved to sin, Romans chapter six, but then there's this whole other category, passionately in love with sin. See, this is not the poor soul that's weeping and crying while sin's holding him down. That's not how the scripture describes us, beloved. We love this enslavement. We cherish the bondage. We grip this sin. We suppress truth in order to have our sin. It's not a matter of, I need somebody to take this away because I reckon. No, I don't reckon. I love it. My nature loves this sin. That's the biblical doctrine of sin. That's what we need to get our arms around to know who we were. Dr. John Murray said, in reference to under sin, is to be under the dominion of sin This is wordy, but that's what theologians do. And the pervasiveness of the resulting perversity is demonstrated by the manifold ways in which it is manifested. There's a part of me that's just like, dude, can you just cut that down to like, you know, I'll do it one more time. To be under the dominion of sin, and the pervasiveness of the resulting perversity, in other words, it's just still strongly there, is demonstrated, it's shown for everybody to see by the manifold, this is multifaceted, ways in which it is manifested, made to be seen by everybody. You just wait. The little kid that you try to feed and they go, mm-mm, and then they kick you and then, oh, that's so cute. No, it's not. If they were big, they'd do harm. But they're little, and you pick them up like this, and it's cute, but what's the nature? The nature is fallenness. And so what is Paul getting at here with, I think, with clarity? What then? Are we better? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. Boom. That statement would be devastating to the Gentile, but so much more to the self-righteous Jewish person that would have read this letter. And I want you to be reminded this morning, beloved, that's you. That's me. Now, if you're in Jesus Christ, you have been set free. You have victory. You're no longer enslaved to sin. Not only that, but God in His grace gives you fresh appetites for Him, for His Word, for His glory, and a distaste for what you used to love to eat. Let me give you a couple direct statements. Go to Genesis chapter 6. Now, this is sword drill for about three to five minutes, okay? So just track with me. Genesis 6-5. And the reason I'm having you turn here, sometimes there are some preachers who would just chew me out for having you turn to all these, but there's something about the ink, the paper in your hand, your eyes. So Genesis chapter six, and look at verse five. Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, Now listen to this statement, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 8, 21. Just a couple pages. This is after the flood, so I gave you before the flood, now after the flood. Everything's good now, right? Well, look at verse 21. And Yahweh smelled the soothing aroma, this is from the altar from Noah, and Yahweh said to himself, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done. Beloved, do you catch what he's saying there? He's not saying some men. Men, boom, end. Psalm 51, five. Just stick with me here, you guys. It's important. Now, if you're not wanting to track, just jot it down. I'm gonna read it for you, but Psalm 51, verse five. David says, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. And in sin my mother conceived me. Now, this is not in reference to some sort of adulterous sin that was being done by his mom. This text is not in reference to the sin of the mom. This is in reference to the sin of the baby. This is in reference to the sin of David. What's he communicating? I was born this way. I was born a sinner. I was born in sin, with sinful appetites, sinful inclinations. Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9. Jeremiah chapter 17, nine. You probably have this to memory, I would think. The heart is more deceitful than all else. How much money has been spent on advertisements that encourage you to follow your heart? The heart is more deceitful than all else, and, just for good measure, is desperately sick. Who can know it? Another translation is uncurably sick. Well, what do you do for it? Nothing. You can't. Beloved, do you hear the absolute, direct contradiction of the Word of God to the philosophy of our world? Let your heart be your guide. No! I don't trust Dan. I don't trust that heart. Complete false gospel. Ephesians chapter two. I'm getting close. Ephesians chapter two. But I mean this, beloved. I want you to see what the Word says. Ephesians 2, verse 1. And you were dead in your transgressions and sins. Please notice, not sick, not doing well, not almost dead. all the way dead in transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world." In other words, you were a robot that just walked right in line to your sinful inclinations like the rest of the lost world. Get in line and follow. And God in His grace gave you eyes to see. course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh." Romans chapter 3 verse 23. We'll get there in a couple weeks, but Romans chapter 3 verse 23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So that's it as far as the passages I wanted you to turn to, but I want you to feel the weight of that. Let the Word of God have its way. Not what you like, not what you think, not what makes sense to you. Let the Word have its way. God knows more than you. He knows more than me. So when He says something, that's true. You disagree with Him, you're wrong. Now, I know that's like baby stuff, but it's the truth, and we fight that. When the Scripture says something, we go, well, I don't know if that's exactly how I would see it. Well, you're wrong. Years ago, this is many, many years ago in another church, and one man in that Bible study said, why wouldn't exactly say I'm hostile to God before I got saved? Well, you're wrong. The Scripture says you were. You were hostile to Him. You don't like that? That's between you and God, not between you and preacher. I'm just declaring what He said. And if the Word is your authority, then be real with the Word. That's what it said. It said we were hostile in nature against God. We're told in Colossians chapter one that we've been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of his beloved son. You were in the domain of darkness. That's a language of our lostness. And Romans chapter 6 tells us that we were enslaved to sin. Romans chapter 5 tells us that we were dead, or not dead in sin, but dead in Adam. Because of Adam's fall, all are cursed by that. But let me go on further. And don't turn here, just track with me. If you have familiarity with the Word, this won't be hard for you in any way. Genesis chapter 3, you see the fall of mankind. What's the immediate response? Let's hide from God. Let's blame Satan. No, let's blame Eve. No, let's blame God for giving us Eve. You see the sins of the patriarchs. Abraham says, tell them you're my sister, but why don't we trust God? Just tell them you're my sister. My lie will cover this. And over and over we see the different patriarchs and their foolish mistakes, their sin, the sins of the prophets. No perfect prophet. The sins of the priests. Remember what Hebrews says? They have to offer a sacrifice for their sin before they'd offer a sacrifice for our sin. So the prophet, the priests, what about the kings? Really? And they followed the sins of their father. And they followed the sins of their father. And they did not remove the high places. And they did not remove the high places. Over and over and over. Even the good ones. Israel's utter failure and idolatrous behavior. Read Isaiah chapter 1, not this second, but at some point read Isaiah chapter 1 and listen to God say, I am so sick and tired of your sacrifices. That's what he says. He says when you open your hands or hold your hands up to me in prayer, I will turn away from you. That is strong language when it's the sovereign of the universe saying that to that people. And the fallen nature of man is built into the very framework of the Word of God. Beloved, this is not a hard argument to make. This is not rocket science, what I'm sharing with you this morning. What the Word says, what we see in our world is so clear that man's fallen. But what takes time is the depths at which we were fallen before we came to Christ. These are clear indicators in the scripture, and so we need to face the reality of God's report on the fallen state of man. God, what's your report? God's insight into my heart surpasses everybody. Nobody knows my heart better than, well, Amber, and then myself. God tells me what's in my heart. God tells me what is. He knows us far better than we ever will. So here's a statement, and I pray that God would use this in your thinking. Our experiential knowledge of our fallenness in this life is never completely accurate. We don't know the half of it. Our experiential knowledge of our fallenness in this life is never completely accurate. Even my good days, where I feel like, doing pretty good. Is it in the word? Didn't yell at the dog? I don't yell. I love my dog. But for those of you that would do such a thing, I'm doing pretty good. And what's the scripture say? You are so still utterly dependent on Christ's righteousness. You don't make yourself clean once He's cleaned you, beloved. You don't do that. He did it. He did it. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners by nature. So here's some points of application I want to press into your heart, and may the Spirit of God attach to this. The longer I'm a believer, the older I get, the more I raise my kids, pastor, and just live in this world, I am amazed at the incredible lengths fallen man will go to deny this reality. I want you just to consider some of the lengths man has gone in history to deny the reality that we're fallen. Romans chapter 1 says that they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. To deny the reality of the created universe came from a creator and is here by pure chance over billions of years of change, is one of the most amazing lengths this world has gone to deny the reality of their fallenness and their need for a Savior and the fact that there's a Creator God. And there's a bunch of stuff, guys. You know this. I don't have to go into great depths of this, but I find myself just jaw-dropping at times seeing what lengths the world will go to to give a green light to sin and say, I'm sure it's fine, it's good, you experienced it, you want it, so it can't be good because you're supposed to be happy. But let me turn the screw just a little bit. I'm also amazed at the incredible lengths Christians may go to in order to lighten the weight of the scripture regarding the depths of man's fallenness. Now hear me on this, please. I'm blown away by the incredible lengths Christians may go to in order to lighten the weight of Scripture regarding the depths of man's fallenness. The more I read the Word, the more I study the Word, the more I am just simply amazed at the language used to refer to Dan Mason before he was born again in Jesus Christ. And we struggle with that. Going back to the intro, the bad news is given. Okay, so we read a text that says, you're dead in your sins and trespasses. Did you hear what I just said? Yes, I did. What did I just say? You said that I was sick in my sins and trespasses. You were hostile in nature. Did you hear what I just said? Yes, I heard what you just said. What did I just say? You said that I didn't like God that much, but maybe I'll give him a chance. No, I didn't say that. But we do that. We do do that. I've been pastoring long enough to know this is how we function at times, is the scripture gives a tremendous statement, and we lighten it, because I just don't want to fess up to that. Well, in the words of my brother Mark, tough noogies. Because that's what the word says. Submit. Surrender. It's the truth. And here's the part that just grabs me by the back of my coat, is whether you like it or not, Dan, That is the truth. I hate the fact, I despise the fact that ice cream brings more calories. I hate that. But it is the reality. And when God says, this is what your nature was like apart from me, apart from my grace, God, I don't have all the answers to all the questions in any stretch, but I submit and surrender. That's what I was like. And help me to read the word and let it say what it says and surrender. And here's why, as we come to the Lord's table. Because the more Dan Mason lightens and diminishes the grave reality of the bad news, the more I lighten and diminish the incredible reality of the good news. See, if I was merely just a guy who was in a pretty bad state but needed a leg up from God, that's a good salvation. Did you hear what I just said? It's a good one. But when I see the depths of who I was, and I see what was necessary in order to bring me from death to life, I struggle to find proper words to express gratitude to this God. Beloved, if we do damage to the bad news, we're going to do severe damage to the good news. If you don't look at the mirror of Romans 1 to 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, they're not going to hit you. They won't hit you. So I pray and I plead with you, would you Would you be honest with what the Word of God said about you prior to Christ? And if you're not a believer this morning, it says it about you now. Because when I think of the Father, the Sovereign of the Universe, sending forth His majestic, glorious Son to come in the form of a man to this fallen world, and let His creation mutilate His body and absorb the wrath of His Father." So Dan Mason, this guy right here, all these weird quirks and personalities, God says, I redeem you. Dan, you're mine. I bought you. I spent the price of Christ on you. You're mine. If I'm a pretty good guy, that doesn't strike me as hard. But a guy who's dead in sins and trespasses, hostile in mind towards God, and one who has shaken his fist at the Lord in his heart, that God says, no. New eyes, new heart, heart of flesh, heart of stones gone. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. I will break through the wall and save you. Glory. Glory be to His name. I have some bread and some juice here in these cups. If you're new or just not familiar with what we're about to do here, there's no magic here. There's nothing fancy or anything like that in the sense of regarding the elements. It's the best made bread in the world, Pam. But it's there as a symbol. for the purpose of bringing back to your memory afresh, I know you didn't forget Jesus this week, but to stop and by way of reminder, to remind you who you were. As he's on the cross pierced, he's dying for bad people, not for good people, he's dying for bad people. The perfect God's dying for really, really evil, bad, sinful, lost people. While you were yet sinners, Christ died for you. And so as we take the bread and take the cup, it should stir in our hearts a fresh reminder of that news of the glorious gospel. But I must say, it's part of my duty here, if you know in your heart of hearts you've rejected Christ, you don't know him, you haven't tasted the sweetness of the salvation, or you're really, really struggling over the gospel, On the authority of Scripture, I encourage you, do not come to the table today. When the tray comes to you, don't take it. Let it pass. But please, don't just leave in that. Talk to somebody. Grab somebody by the arm and say, I gotta talk to somebody about what was being said today. And for you, believer, I encourage you. I don't do this every time we do communion, but I wanna do this this morning. If there's something It's just deep in your heart and it will not let you go. And I don't necessarily mean, well I don't mean anything, because I don't know what it could be. But if right now and throughout this message something just keeps coming at you and coming at you and will not let your mind go, spend some time before God. Why would He bring that to your mind unless He's trying to communicate, at least communicating something to you? Before you come to the table, we'll have just a quick, or a silent time for just a bit for you to be able to do that. But beloved, I encourage you, prepare your heart. My hope is you prepared your heart before you entered the doors this morning, but prepare your heart before the service of these elements to you. So, if you would, bow with me, and I'll invite the brothers to come up, and we will serve you.