When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, they that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Friend, who's about 20 years older than me, that makes him about the same age as Moses. Wouldn't we talk? Our conversation nearly, not nearly, our conversation always winds up on a Bible topic. He knows that at best, his time is growing very short here on this earth. He's about to beat his maker. I mean, when you get that old, it's just a matter of not very much time left. He is hoping that he will be accepted because in his judgment, he's a good person. I've tried time and time again to tell him about his need for salvation, and I don't suppose I'm gonna quit trying, but he thinks he's a good person. Even though both he and I know, I've known him for way too long, We both know that he's not. Maybe by my standards or by his own standards, he's a good guy. But the problem with that is that God is not going to use our standards. He's gonna judge him based on his own standards. And God's standard is his son, in case you haven't figured it out. It occurs to me that I've heard the same story time and time again. Are you a good person? Are you a righteous person? You said that you're a good person, but are you a good person by God's standards? After all Jesus said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Every one of us who are saved recognized by believing the Bible that we fell short of God's glory and needed a Savior. That's how it happened. We learned by reading what the Bible said or having it read to us, as it may be, that we've fallen short of God's glory and we need a Savior. We need a savior more than anything. And that motivated us to place our trust in Jesus Christ because he on the cross, when he died and was buried and rose again, he paid the penalty for our sin. We all had that same experience. Every one of us who are saved today had a similar, well, actually the same experience. In 1 John 5, verse 10, it says, he that believeth on the son hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his son. And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He that hath the son hath life. And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. You see, when you refuse to accept what the record, the record, it's the Bible, what the record says about you, you're calling God a liar. The very one that you're going to face as you try to convince him that you're good enough. That's probably not gonna work out as well as you'd hoped. So what does the Bible really say about you? Well, the Bible tells us that you were born a sinner. Although you had no choice in the matter, you are what you are. Romans 5 and 12 tells us, wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Granted you did not choose this, it was your inheritance. You inherited this from grandfather Adam. Now here's the question, is God going to let you pollute heaven with your sin because it wasn't your fault? You think that's gonna happen? 1 Corinthians chapter six. Tells us very clearly, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Unrighteous people are not gonna go to heaven. It's just, you know, I can't say it any clearer than God already said it. So the answer is a very clear or very resounding no. God is not going to allow you to pollute heaven with your sin, but, but he loves you anyway. And he sent you a savior. So you are what you are. And that is a sinner. Don't start whining about it now, because if it hadn't been Adam, it would have been you. Every one of us have chosen to sin. We all have. Ecclesiastes 7 and 20 says that there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Isaiah 64, six tells us that we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses, that's that good part that we're hoping on, that we're bragging about, and we're trying to talk God into accepting. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Romans 3 tells us, starting in verse number 10, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understand it. There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They're together become unprofitable. There is none good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Turn on the TV, that's what you're gonna hear. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they have not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes. And verse 23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If I quoted you every verse in the Bible that declares that you're a sinner, we would be here all day and maybe all night. But the fact is that you know you're a sinner. There's nobody ignorant here. We know what we are. We're sinners. We've all chosen to sin. It's not enough that we were born sinners. We've chosen on our own to sin against God. We know we're guilty. You know you're guilty. It's too late anyway. You're already condemned. John 3.18 tells us, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Some just don't believe that they're bad enough to be sent to hell. And I can understand they're thinking that perhaps, but it's just not how it works. James 2 and 10 says, for whosoever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. So do you really need to be saved? Yes, yes, and again, yes, you do. You desperately need to be saved. Acts 4 and 12 says, neither is there salvation in any other. was none of the name unto heaven given among men, whereby we what? Must, must be saved. You need to be saved. You can't count on your religious upbringing and the religion that you started with or somehow found along the way. You need salvation and no one comes through Jesus. He's the only one can help you. So what is this being saved? Is this just a term used by uneducated hicks who need a crutch in life? Well, I definitely am less educated than many people, and I certainly do need to lean on Jesus a lot, so maybe that's talking about me. To learn what it really means to be saved is the greatest and the best education you're ever gonna get. Most of you have been taught salvation by whatever religious background in which you were born. It's that way. You Catholics have been taught that you must earn your salvation. That's their doctrine. I've read it. I've heard it from the lips of my Catholic friends over and over and over again. You must earn your salvation. How's that working for you, by the way? Most of you Protestants have been taught that you must believe in Jesus, but You then have to live good enough to keep it. And there's nobody who can tell you what good enough looks like. You ever have anybody tell you what good enough is? What is said, they say, well, you just do the best you can and hope it works out. If you don't already know that it's worked out before you leave this world, it's just not safe to die. I'll just put it that way. You stand before God, an already condemned sinner, and still you hope you are good enough. I know you're smarter than that. You must be smarter than that. How'd you stay alive this long if you're not smarter than that? Matthew chapter seven records what multitudes, multitudes, what they're going to hear. They're hoping that their good works is enough, but this is what they're gonna hear from Jesus. It tells us right here. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, Jesus said, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils. We put on the Benny Hinn show, Lord, come on. And in thy name done many wonderful works. Look at all the good stuff I've done. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. The will of the Father, to which Jesus is referring here, is that you be saved. Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3, 9, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. But as longsuffering to us we're not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That word repentance means that you are going to have to change your mind. You say, well, I don't understand how I'm not good enough. I'm as good as anybody else. Sure you are, that's true. But you're gonna have to change your mind about being good enough, because you're not. You're not gonna make it. So in the words of the Philippian jailer, I like what he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. That word believe, that's a Greek word, that's a pistou, means to put in trust with. It's not hard to understand, it's really quite simple. Quit trying to tell God how good you are because you're not good at all, you're not. We've read it over and over again. You're either gonna reject what the Bible says or you're going to change your mind. I recommend that you change your mind. And you need to turn it over to Jesus and let him handle it. That's how I got saved. Pastor Turk showed up on my doorstep and he showed me in his old wore out Bible what Jesus did for me. He showed me how the Christ paid my debt. Because I can't live, because I can't be good enough, because I never have been good enough and never will be good enough, because, because of love. When I trusted Jesus to handle it for me that night, He saved me right then and there on the spot. And I've never been the same, never have been. Changed my life, he gave me life that I didn't have. You can be saved too, same way. Romans five and verse eight says that God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Are you a sinner? Do you understand that? Do you have any problem admitting that to the Lord? Lord, I know I'm a sinner. I know there's nothing I can do about it. Jesus, who knew no sin, God in flesh. Jesus isn't just a good man. He's a God man. Jesus, who knew no sin, gave his life for you. He died at your place. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, for he, God the Father, he hath made him, Jesus, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus told those who were listening to him that they weren't good enough. He said, except your righteousness is going to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Now I know that the scribes and Pharisees, they've got a bad rap in the Bible. I know that every time Jesus talked to the Pharisees, he was straightening them out, putting them on the spot, proving that they were hypocrites, But the truth is that as good men go, you're gonna have to look a long way to find one better outwardly than those Pharisees were. Paul was a Pharisee. He said he was blameless. He was concerning the law. There wasn't a person on the planet who could look at Paul and point to his guilt in the law. I know that Paul was a sinner. He admitted it. And he did so without reservation, but are you better than Paul? Are you better than Nicodemus? He was a Pharisee. Both of those guys had sense enough to get saved. I'm finished, I just wanna remind you that If you will put your trust in Jesus and Him alone, not your works in Jesus, not being good enough in Jesus, I'm talking about Jesus period, nothing added. If you will turn it over to Him and let Him handle it, your chances of going to heaven will go from zero to 100% just like that. The moment you put your trust in Him. This world, has set you up. Satan has done a number on you. He's been pouring religion over you since you were a little kid. He knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. It's all about how good you are. What a liar. He didn't even spell his name right when he told you that. Satan has been pouring religion over you and stuffing it down your throat since you were a little kid. And our politicians have learned that if you tell the same lie often enough and long enough, that sooner or later people will start believing it. And you did, didn't you? Yeah, when you were a little kid and didn't know any better, You believed in Santa because mom and dad love you and they told you that. If you be good, that's what it takes. I forgot to remind you that you can't be good. You have no hope of being good. We aren't good. Jesus is. And wasn't it amazing to be able to have that blindness moved away and to be able to see the truth? To give up on trying to live good enough or be good enough or work hard enough and understand that Jesus loved you enough to handle the whole problem for you. What a gift. and the experience of God sending a messenger to show us the truth and just rolling back the blinders and allowing us to see it. I can't be thankful enough that the Lord came and found me. You know, there was one thing that Jesus told us. He said, and to save that which is lost. I didn't even find Jesus. He came and found me. And showed me the truth. We were reading about Pilate in his Bible class this morning and Jesus said, He told Pilate, I've come to bear witness of the truth. And Pilate said, what is truth? Jesus is truth. He is the truth, the way, and the life. Let's stand together. I realize we're not a big crowd today, but it would be pretty easy for somebody in this crowd to have never put their trust in Jesus yet. It would be pretty easy for that to happen. If that's you, I got a question for you. Do you believe your Bible, that it really is from God, that it's God's Word? Do you or don't you? Yes or no? Well, the Bible says that Jesus is enough. I've showed it to you from the scriptures. The Bible says that Jesus paid the debt. There's nothing you can do because you're not good. You're a sinner. Sinners have no power. The Word of God says, your Bible says that if you will trust Him, He will save you on the spot. This could be your spot. You don't have to come down here. You can if you want to, but you don't have to. You don't have to get in the water. You should do that after you get saved, but you don't have to. It's up to you. But all these things are good, but there is nothing desperately that you need more than to trust Jesus to do the job for you that he died to do, to save you from your sins. That's the best thing we have going for us. That's the best message we have to give you. I want you to put your trust, bow your head with me right now. Let's just join in prayer together. And those of you that know the Lord, you can pray that the Lord would just roll back the blinders and reveal himself to anyone here that might not know him yet. Right now, just go to the Lord in your heart and trust him. Lord, I know I can't do it. I know I'm a sinner. I know that all those things you said about me in the book were true. but I also believe with all my heart, Lord, that you died for my place, that you paid for my sin, and I'm handing the reins of my life, and not so much that, Lord, but I'm handing the solution to my problem, my sin problem, over to you. I'm trusting you to get the job done for me, Lord. In Jesus' name, thank you, Jesus, for saving me from my sin. God bless you. We're going to have an invitation.