The Good News

I want you to follow with me as we read verse 14 down to verse 17 of Romans, chapter 1. Paul said, “I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to them that are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed…”—verse 16—“…of the Gospel…”—or the “Good News”—“…of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek….”—or “to the Gentile”—“For therein…”—that is, “in this Gospel”—“…is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”

Paul says three things in these verses that I want you to notice. And they’re going to be my points. In verse 14, Paul says, “I am a debtor.” In verse 15, Paul says, “I am ready.” In verse 16, Paul says, “I am not ashamed.” Three things: “I am a debtor”; secondly, he says, “I am ready” or “eager”; and then thirdly, he says, “I am not ashamed.” Now, what is it that Paul is a debtor to? And what is it Paul is ready to do? And what is the message that Paul is not ashamed of? He uses it twice. And I want you to notice it. It’s called the Gospel. In verse 15, he says, “I am ready to preach…”—or “herald”—“…the Gospel.” There it is. Then, notice verse 16. “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel.” This time, it’s “the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

I want to talk to you this morning about the Gospel. And by Gospel, I mean “good news.” Now I don’t know if you’ve been listening to the news lately, but I haven’t heard much good news. Have you heard any good news lately? I mean, every time you turn the television on or read the paper, go online to get your news, you see bad news, you hear bad news. And that’s pretty much what we’re inundated with.

But this morning, I have good news. And that good news centers in a person; His name is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is the Gospel; He is the good news. His death, His burial, and his resurrection are the best news in the history of mankind. Jesus died for your sin, Jesus rose again from the dead, and Jesus has the power to save and forgive sin and to give you eternal life. Is that good news or what? That’s good news. And this is the message that Paul gives. He says, “I’m a debtor, I’m ready, and I’m not ashamed.” So three strong personal statements Paul makes about his desire to preach the Gospel.

Now, I want to look at each one of them individually, and I encourage you to write some points down as we go through this passage. First of all, Paul says, “I am a debtor.” Go back with me to verse 14. “I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise.” So Paul says, “I am debtor.” Now, what is Paul a debtor to? Did Paul spend too much on his credit card, and now he’s in debt, and he can’t pay his bill; right? He took his Visa on a shopping spree, and he bought too much and now he’s a debtor. You go, “Yeah, amen, pastor; I can identify with that.” Well, sorry, that’s not what Paul is talking about. You thought your debt was Biblical? No, it’s not.

Well, what is Paul a debtor to? Paul was saved by the Gospel. Jesus Christ had changed his life, forgiven all of his sin and given him a hope of heaven. And in that Gospel that Paul has received and by which his life has been transformed, Paul is now under an obligation. I could change the word “debtor” to the word “obligation.” If you’re taking notes write that down. “I have an obligation.” That’s what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, “I am obligated. I am responsible. I have a debt. I owe an obligation to share the Gospel with other individuals.”

You know, if you were taking a walk in the afternoon down the street by your house and you saw one of the neighbors eating their dinner in the dining room, but upstairs flames were coming out of the windows, what would you do? “Oh, nothing. I don’t want to bother them. They’re eating dinner. I wouldn’t want to interrupt them. I just think I should leave them alone.” You know as good as I do that you would actually pound on the door. “Fire! Fire! Get out!” You’d probably try to open the door, or you’d yell, “Fire! Run for your life!”

You know, we have the Gospel, and so often, we forget that people are on their way to hell. And we don’t warn them. We don’t declare to them, “Hey, Jesus can save you. You’re under condemnation. You’re on your way to destruction.” And we don’t warn them. And we have an obligation. Far more important than letting a neighbor know their house is on fire is that we let others know that there is a heaven and that there is a hell and that Jesus Christ is the way to save us from eternal destruction. So we, like Paul, are under an obligation. We, as Christians, have a debt to the whole world.

Now, notice he breaks it down in verse 14. He calls them “the Greeks” and “the barbarians.” Now, the Greeks are the ones who—not only as far as they’re being Greek in their ethnic background—spoke the Greek language. In the mind of the Greeks, there were the Greeks and the barbarians. What were the barbarians? People who didn’t speak Greek. So, if you didn’t speak Greek, you were a barbarian. The word “barbarian” comes from the word “barbar,” and the word “barbar” means just basically “blah blah.” And that’s true. “What did you just say?” “Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah….” So what did they do? They just called them “barbar.”

I got myself in trouble first service talking about languages, so I don’t want to do that again this service, but I only speak English. I don’t speak any other language. So when I hear a foreign language—I love the sound of Spanish, by the way. My son speaks fluent Spanish. I love the way it sounds, but I don’t understand Mandarin or Cantonese. I don’t understand Japanese. There are a lot of languages that to me are just “barbar.” They just sound like “blah blah.” And so the Greeks spoke Greek and the barbarians spoke other languages, so they were called barbarians. And then he classifies them as being “wise,” Greek, and “unwise,” barbarians. So you have the cultured and the uncultured. Now, the Jews also divided mankind into two groups: Gentiles and Jews. In the mind of a Jew, even today, basically, people come in two categories: there are the Jews, and there are the Gentiles.

But do you know, as far as God is concerned, there are only two kinds of people? Those who are saved and those who are not saved. Now, we’re all brothers and sisters in that we were created by God. But not in redemption, not in salvation. We really don’t belong to God unless we’ve been born again. Jesus even told the religious leaders of his day, “You are of your father, the devil. And the lust of your father you will do.” Now, that would not be politically correct today to say to someone, “You’re a child of the devil,” but it’s true, by the way. You’re either a child of God, or you’re a child of the devil. That doesn’t mean you’re doing horrible, terrible, Satanic things, but it means you have not been born into God’s family by salvation. So, two classes of people. And we need to keep that in mind. Either people are saved, or they’re not saved. They’re going to heaven, or they’re not going to heaven. If you’re not going to heaven, you’re going to hell. There are only two destinations. All of humanity is on one of two roads. “There’s a broad road that enters through a broad gate and leads to destruction,” Jesus said. He said, “There’s a narrow gate, and there’s a narrow road that leads to life.” And all of humanity is on one of those two roads. You either go through the broad gate down the broad road that leads to destruction, or you go through the narrow gate, and you’re on the narrow way that leads to life. You’re on one of those two roads.

Now, ask yourself this morning, “Which road am I on?” Are you on the broad road to destruction, or are you at the narrow gate to life? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Now, that statement is very, very exclusive, but guess what? It’s true. And we reject it in our culture today because it’s so exclusive. But it’s true! There’s only one way to get to heaven, and that’s through Jesus Christ. He says, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” And He died on the Cross and was buried and rose again from the dead, in the Gospel, to prove that He is the way for us to come to God.

The Bible says in 1 John 5:12, “He that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life.” Either you have life, or you do not have life. We, as Christians, are under obligation. I want you to understand that as a Christian today, you have a responsibility to tell your family, your friends, your neighbors, and your coworkers the good news about Jesus Christ.

The second thing Paul says is in verse 15. He said there, “I am ready.” Now, the word “ready” means “eager” or “I have a desire.” It speaks of Paul’s boldness. So you might know that you have an obligation or a responsibility, but the question this morning as a Christian is, “Are you eager?” Do you get up in the morning and say, “Lord, let me share the Gospel with someone. Lord, open the doors for me. Let me take advantage of this opportunity. Lord, give me a heart for the lost and let me go out with the good news. Lead me to someone who is hungry today for You and needs You. And give me compassion and motivation”? Paul was ready. Paul was eager. Paul had a desire. Do you?

Now, what was it that Paul was eager or ready to do? Preach the Gospel. The word “Gospel” literally means “good news.” Now I want you to notice that. Good news. Underline the word “news.” It is not good views. You know, a lot of preaching in churches today is views. It’s not the Gospel. It’s psychology or philosophy or man’s ideas or man’s opinions. What the Gospel is, is news. And we need to proclaim that news; nothing more, nothing less. We shouldn’t add to the Gospel, we shouldn’t take away from the Gospel, and we shouldn’t substitute the Gospel with self-help or self-effort programs or man’s ideas. I believe the greatest need in the world today is for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of Jesus—that’s the greatest need in our world today. And God has entrusted it to us and we need to be ready and eager. The Gospel is not a creed. It’s not a code of conduct. It’s not a ceremony. We don’t preach baptism. We don’t preach communion. We don’t preach confirmation. We don’t preach reformation. We preach the good news about a person; His name is Jesus Christ.

Now, I don’t want you to turn there but write this down so I can quickly relate it to you. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. If you can turn there quickly and follow me, you can do that. But here’s the Gospel in a nutshell. Paul says, “For I declare unto you the Gospel….” And here it is. Three points. Number one, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” What’s the Gospel? Number one, Jesus died for our sins.

Now, notice the Gospel has to have some bad news in it. It’s kind of a bad news-good news. You can’t fully appreciate or understand, or be impacted by the Gospel until you first understand why you need the Gospel. And you know why you need the Gospel? Because you’re a sinner. I’m a sinner. We’re all sinners. The Bible says it like this, “Everyone has sinned, and everyone has fallen short of the glory of God.” The Bible says, “There’s no one righteous; no, not one.” Now, some of you are saying, “Speak for yourself, preacher boy.” At my former church, there was a woman there for years. I don’t know why she stuck around, but she actually told me that she didn’t sin. She’d come up to me all the time. “Pastor Miller, I don’t sin.” I’d say, “Well, I’m going to pray for your husband this week.” I can’t imagine what it would be like to live with somebody that doesn’t sin. We all sin. Even after we get saved, we still sin. We still stumble. We still fall. But we’re “growing in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.”

But the first point is that we’re sinners. And here’s the important thing. “The wages of sin is death.” So what Jesus did—and this is so important for you to understand in communicating the Gospel—Jesus paid our debt on the Cross. The essence of the Cross is what is called the “substitutionery death of Jesus Christ.” Jesus died in your place; He substituted Himself for you. You should have died, but He died for you. So the Bible says, “There’s now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” So we pass from death to life, spiritually dead to spiritually alive. So Jesus paid the penalty for our sins; He died in our place. Not just to show us He loves us, not just to give us an example of sacrifice. He literally paid a price for our sin. He was the sacrifice for our sins. That’s why he cried on the Cross, “It is finished.” Paid in full. Now, all that’s left for us to do is receive that free gift of salvation.

The second point of the Gospel—write this down—is that He was buried. Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and He was buried according to the Scriptures. Now, why does Paul, in sharing the Gospel with us, tell us that Jesus was buried? Quickly and simply, I’ll just make it clear. So that we understand that Jesus actually died. He didn’t just swoon; He didn’t just pass out; He physically, literally died. You can’t have a resurrection unless you have a death. So Jesus, full-on, physically died, and He was buried.

And here’s the third part of the Gospel. Three days later, He was raised again according to the Scripture.

So here’s the Gospel. Christ died for our sins; He took our place. He was buried, and He rose again from the dead. That is the good news. And that by believing and receiving Jesus Christ, you can be forgiven of your sin and you can have eternal life. That’s why it’s such good news. Paul was eager to preach not a plan, not a philosophy, but a person. And it’s the person of Christ, and it’s the historical fact of His death and resurrection on the Cross.

Let me point out the third thing that Paul says about the Gospel in verses 16 and 17. He said, “I am not ashamed.” So, number one, “I am a debtor,” and so are we. Number two, he was ready, and so should we be ready to preach the Gospel: Jesus died, Jesus was buried, Jesus rose. But thirdly, notice verses 16 and 17, “I am not ashamed.”

Now you know that you can understand that you are not a debtor, and you could be ready to do it, but you could be holding back because of fear. “Well, I want to share my faith. I want to tell other people about Jesus, but I’m afraid.” “What are you afraid of?” You know, if they kill you, guess what happens? You go to heaven. “Now I’m not afraid they’re going to kill me. I’m just thinking they’ll kind of mangle me or mess me up, and I’ll have to go through pain.” If they kill me, I hope it’s just quick and swift, and I’ll go right to heaven. Maybe they’ll reject you. Is that the worst that can happen?

I remember as a young Christian that my friends laughed at my bumper sticker I put on my car. I was so devastated, I didn’t want to follow Christ anymore. “They laughed at my bumper sticker! Lord, why’d you let that happen to me!” And then I remembered, He died on the Cross. He gave His life for me, and I’m freaked out because my friends laughed at my bumper sticker! What’s with that? “Well, they might not invite me to their parties anymore. They might not like me anymore.” So what. I’d rather walk a lonely road with Jesus than be without Him in the crowd; wouldn’t you? I’d rather walk alone with Jesus in this world, and die and go to heaven for all eternity than to put my stock in my friends and be rejected by God and spend eternity separated from Him.

So Paul says, “I’m not only a debtor, I’m not only ready, but I am not ashamed.” And many times, we, as Christians, are ashamed. Why? Because Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that “The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness.” You know, an indication that you’re perishing is that you think the Cross is foolishness. And I’ve heard a lot of the new atheists say, “Why would God give His Son to die on a cross? How barbaric is that? Why couldn’t God just forgive guilty sinners? Why did He have to let His Son die on the cross?” And they forget that not only is God love and wants to forgive us, but God is holy and God is righteous. And His law has been broken, and it must be satisfied. And to uphold His righteousness, the law had to be paid for. But to demonstrate His love, He paid it for us and maintained His righteousness. So God is able to maintain His righteousness and still forgive us who are guilty and deserve to go to hell, and He can take us to heaven because the debt has been paid. So we owed a debt we could not pay; He paid a debt that He did not owe. And our sins can be forgiven and we can have eternal life.

But we don’t need to be embarrassed by the Cross or those who think it’s foolish. Paul went on to say in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “For the preaching of the Cross is not only to them that perish foolishness, but unto the Jews it’s a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles, it’s foolishness.” We don’t need to be afraid of preaching the Cross of Jesus Christ or ashamed.

Now I want to ask and answer from this text the question, “Why was Paul unashamed?” And this is where I want to unpack verses 16 and 17 very delicately for you, answering the question, “Why was Paul unashamed?” Why should we be unashamed? Reason number one, because of the Gospel’s source. Notice it’s “the power of God.” It’s the Gospel of Christ. We are preaching a message that comes from God. Don’t forget that: It’s not man’s ideas, it’s not man’s philosophies, it’s not man’s views, it’s not something that’s concocted by some human being. This is the good news that comes from God. And salvation is God’s plan, it’s God’s idea. And if that doesn’t embolden you or give you confidence to preach and to share the Gospel, I don’t know what will. God’s message; it’s a message that comes from God. As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We are lost, we are ignorant and we are dead and we need God’s power.

And that’s my second point: The Gospel contains power. The word “power” in verse 16 is the Greek word “dunamis.” Does that have a familiar sound to it? We get our word “dynamic” or “dynamite” from it. Power. Dynamic power. Do you know the Gospel—and the Gospel alone, and the Gospel only—has the power to change lives? How many of you here this morning have been changed by Jesus Christ? You were lost and you’re found. You were blind and now you see. Things you used to love you now hate, and the things you used to hate you now love.

I’ve got a file in my office of letters that have come to me from people who have been saved by the preaching of the Gospel. One of them I was reading this week came to me from Tehachapi State Prison. And this guy was a hard-core criminal. He was in Tehachapi and he started listening to my tapes and to my audio messages and he came to know Christ. He was sending a letter to thank me. And he just went on and on and on about how his life has been transformed in prison. He said, “Yeah, I don’t want to be in prison, but I’m happy now. I’ve got peace like I’ve never had before. I’ve got purpose. And God has forgiven my sins and I have the hope of heaven.” He just went on talking about the transformation.

Some of you were into drugs and God set you free. Some of you were bound by alcohol, and God set you free. Some of you were into sexual immorality, and God has changed your heart and set you free. Some of you are still married today because Christ came into your heart and transformed your life and saved your marriage; amen? And where would you be, and where would I be right now if it weren’t for the good news of Jesus Christ? You know, a lot of the friends that I ran with in high school are in prison right now. Many of them are in prison right now. Who knows where I would be had I not come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

You know what the Gospel does? It changes lives. Because God takes out that heart of stone, and He puts in a new heart. You become a new person. The Bible says, “Old things pass away, and all things become…”—what?—“…brand new.” You become a new creation in Christ.

So it comes from God, it has power to change lives and then, thirdly, look at its purpose: it brings salvation. Now what do we mean by the word “saved” or “salvation”? The word literally means “to be delivered.” Delivered from what? Delivered from sin. In what sense are we delivered from sin? We’re delivered from sin’s past penalty. Jesus paid for our sin on the Cross. We’re delivered from the present power of sin. We don’t need to be bound by those sinful habits we used to have. Jesus Christ can set you free.

If you’re like a kleptomaniac and you’re stealing things, you know that Jesus Christ can change you and set you free? Maybe you’re bound by pornography, but Jesus Christ has the power to set you free this morning. Maybe you’re a habitual liar. You know, Jesus Christ can take your heart out and give you a new heart. And “as the mouth speaketh, it comes from the heart,” God can change your speech. Maybe a filthy speech. Maybe you’re cussing and swearing all the time. Do you know that Jesus Christ can change your heart so that purity comes out of your mouth? “From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

One of the first changes I saw in my life when I got saved was my speech. I remember I was on a job site one time driving a nail and I hit my thumb. “Oh, praise Jesus. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” And then it hit me. “I’m saved! I didn’t cuss!” And it was like one of the first things, like “Ah, this is amazing! My language is changed!” Because God changes your heart. You fall in love with your wife or kids, or your values change when you become a Christian. What an awesome thing it is; God changes lives. Salvation’s power.

And then, thirdly, we’re saved from future sin. One day we’ll be in the presence of the Lord. So salvation has a past—I’ve been saved;—it has a present—I’m being saved;—and it has a future—one day I’ll be in the presence of the Lord free from sin altogether.

But notice, fourthly, salvation’s scope—or the Gospel’s scope—it’s to everyone. Why should we not be ashamed of the Gospel? Because it’s for everyone; to the “wise and the unwise, the Greek and the barbarian.” The educated, the uneducated. The religious, the irreligious. It’s for the poor, it’s for the rich. It’s for the Black, it’s for the White. It’s for every color, every race, every creed, every nation, every people. Same Gospel all around the world. It doesn’t change. It’s the whole church’s job to take the whole Gospel to the whole world; amen? You know, if you go to China, you preach the same Gospel. You go to India, you preach the same Gospel. You go to Mexico, you preach the same Gospel. You go to Africa, you preach the same Gospel.

You ever thought what a challenge it would be to have one gift that would be every human being’s need in all the world? What one thing could you give to every human being on the planet that would be suitable? You know what that one gift is—and only one gift is? Eternal life through Jesus Christ: the Gospel. That’s the only thing. That’s the one thing perfectly suitable and needed by every human being on planet Earth. And we, as the church, have been entrusted with this message. We, as the church, need to be ready to preach this message. And we, as the church, need to be unashamed as we proclaim the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and its power to save every one who believes. Its power to change Nicodemus, its power to change the demoniac of Gedara. It has power to change—last Sunday, we saw Zacchaeus or the woman who was in sin at the well of Sychar. It doesn’t matter where you’re at—demon possessed or highly wealthy and influential—God can save you.

But I want you to notice, fifthly—we’re not done yet—verse 16. It’s reception. Why should we not be ashamed to preach the Gospel? Because it’s received by simply believing. Notice it, verse 16. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; it’s the power of God to salvation to every one that…”—does what?—“…believes.” Notice it doesn’t say “behaves.” Aren’t you glad? “It’s the power of God to every one who behaves. Be good and you’ll get to go to heaven.” No. It’s “believe.” I can do that. Faith is the hand that reaches out and receives the free gift of eternal life. You know you go to heaven by believing? You don’t go to heaven by behaving. Now you’ve been saved, so you should behave like you’re saved. But the way you behave doesn’t earn you or merit you eternal life. So salvation is “by grace, through faith. It’s not of yourself; it’s a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

You know, you exercise faith every day. Right now I’m exercising faith standing on this platform. I didn’t come to church this morning and make sure the boards underneath this thing are strong enough to hold me up. You right now are sitting on that pew by faith. How do you know that pew can hold your weight? You just sat down. You get in your car by faith. Why’d you get in your car? Because you believe it will start. You believe it will bring you to church. You got in your car by faith. You started it by faith. You drive it by faith. When the light turns red, you put your foot on the brake in faith that it will stop. I’ve seen some of the cars you guys drive; it takes a lot of faith to drive them suckers. I’ve seen some cars in the parking lot. Man, that takes a lot of faith to drive that thing. You get in an elevator by faith. You get on an airplane by faith.

You ever thought about how much faith it takes to get on an airplane? It reminds me of the guy who got on a flight, took off, leveled out at 30,000 feet, and a voice came over the speaker, “Congratulations. You’re the first to fly on a fully automated flight. There’s no pilot. There’s no copilot. There are no flight attendants. But nothing can go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong, go wrong.” “Ahhh!” Freak-out. I remember the first time I flew. The pilot walked by us. “Who’s flying this sucker?” You get on the plane, hoping and praying that the pilot wasn’t drinking before he got on the flight.

You go to a restaurant. You eat food by faith that it’s edible; right? I’ll stop right there.

We all exercise faith. Why is it so hard for us to trust God to save us by His grace? He loves you. He died for you. He rose from the dead for you. Can’t you just say to God this morning, “God, I’m sorry for my sins. I believe You died on the Cross in the person of Christ. I believe You were buried. I believe You rose from the dead. I believe You’re alive and here right now, and You’re able to change my life. Lord, I trust You.” Can’t you put your trust in Him? You see, it’s just your ego or your pride, your love of self which says, “I can do it myself. I can achieve salvation. I can be a good person. I can be religious and go to heaven.” It takes humbling your heart and saying, “I’m a sinner. I deserve to go to hell, but God loves me, and He died for me and I’m going to reach out by faith and receive His gift.”

One last point and then I’ll wrap this up. Verse 17. In the Gospel we have God’s revelation of His righteousness. The Gospel reveals something to us. Why should we be eager and not ashamed? Because in the Gospel, “the righteous of God is revealed from faith to faith.” In other words, it’s all of faith; salvation is by faith from beginning to end. You are “saved by grace through faith.” “As it is written…”—and he quotes from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk 2:4—“…the just shall live…”—how?—“…by his faith.”
You know what the Gospel reveals? It reveals a righteousness from God. It reveals that God wants to give you a free gift. You know what that free gift is? It’s His righteousness. You are unrighteous. God is righteous. And so what God does is He takes the righteousness of Christ, and He gives it to the sinner who believes. So what He did was, He took your sin and He placed it on Christ, and Christ paid for it on the Cross. Then He wants to take the righteousness of Christ and give it to you, by faith. That’s the Gospel: a free gift of eternal life, your sins are forgiven, you have the peace of God, the joy, the fringe benefits of being a child of God. He leads you, He guides you, you have His purpose, you have this relationship. You were created to know God, and you have that. And then when you die, all this and heaven too. And it’s yours. All you need to do is receive it by faith.

Now the fact that Jesus died on the Cross for the sins of the world doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to heaven. But what it means is that everyone who wants to go to heaven can go to heaven if you’ll trust Him and you’ll put your faith in Him.

So this morning, again, I’m going to give you an opportunity. I don’t want anyone to leave here without being given an opportunity, right now, to trust in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we need to believe the Gospel, we need to live the Gospel and we need to preach the Gospel. But right now, this morning, if you are in this service and you say, “Pastor Miller, I don’t know that I’m born again. I don’t know that I would go to heaven if I die.” I believe with all my heart that God has brought some of you here this morning to hear this message. You’re not here by accident; you’re here by divine design. God has actually been working in your heart, bringing you to this point in time. And the Bible says it like this. The Bible says, “Now is the acceptance time.” The Bible says, “Today is the day of salvation.” And the Bible says, “If you hear God’s voice, do not harden your hearts.” So if Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart right now when you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart. Open your heart. Don’t worry about what people think. Don’t worry about what people are going to say. Don’t worry about your job or your reputation. Come humbly, in faith. Reach out your hand today and open your heart and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. You don’t need to leave here without knowing today that if you died, you’d go to heaven.

Let’s bow our heads in a word of prayer.