What is Saving Grace?

I would like you to turn in your Bibles this morning.

Isn't that a sweet phrase?

Turn in your Bible.

What we confess together with that statement and your activity

is that we are a people who have been drawn out of darkness into light

! by the Bible, by the truth,

that God has given to us.

And we, in this broken and very difficult world that we live in,

may rely upon every word that God has given to us

for comfort, for counsel, for encouragement,

that our hearts might, for one thing,

be resolute in our pursuit of the glory of Christ

and also confident in our eternal end.

And I trust this morning that as you take your Bible in hand,

you do not take it for granted.

And that one of the things you're actually doing,

I didn't even look at my watch to know how much time I have to do this,

but, oh, we've got time.

And one of the things that you're actually doing is you're engaged in prayer.

This is not the passive part of the hour.

It is every bit as demanding that you be engaged in what we do together

as during our corporate singing.

And by the way, the most important singers are not on stage.

They're here.

They're God's people.

The people who are up here, John and whoever the musicians are,

their heart's ambition is to help you lift up Jesus.

Do you understand that?

They're not here to entertain you.

They are here to stir your heart with a desire to see the Lord Jesus exalted.

And that's one of the reasons why one of the standard questions

that John and I ask each other is not,

how did the musicians do?

Did the pianist come in on the right note?

I mean, that's John's business, but not.

I always, how did we sing, right?

How did we sing?

Because the truth of the matter is,

is that when people who are filled with the Spirit

are touched with the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ,

it happens to come out.

Agreed?

Agreed?

Okay.

So here we are.

We're at this very active part of the service,

and some of you are thinking,

I thought I could kind of sit here and just kind of brain dead

and float through,

and 45 minutes from now I can think about leaving.

You have an active part in what happens next,

both in being a Spirit-enabled listener,

and that means you need to say to the Holy Spirit,

will you please help me?

Secondly, I might miss some of the important things that you have,

and I want your help to hear the things that are valuable,

and I need to remember.

Secondly, that you would remember to pray for me as I preach.

Do that.

Pray for me as I preach.

I don't care if you do it out loud.

It won't put me off,

because we are dependent upon the work of the Holy Spirit.

So I want you to look in John to chapter 4, verse 39,

and kind of back up with me just for a moment,

and it helps to kind of frame the passage.

Let me have you, as you are in John chapter 4,

John 4 · chapter mention

to turn back just for a moment

to the very beginning of the book of John

and remind yourself that John is a different gospel than the rest.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called synoptic,

and they give us kind of a synopsis.

They give us an overview of the life of Christ.

John is different in that while it gives us much about Christ,

it is not focused primarily on the historical

or the chronological details of Christ's 33 years here on earth.

It is focused primarily on driving home this point.

Jesus is the Son of God and the Savior of the world.

And John gets right to that task immediately

in John chapter 1 where he says there in verse 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

Boom! You got it?

No hesitation and no waffling.

It's like, well, he was a pretty good person.

Bang! He is God.

Not only that, but the Scriptures roll on with power,

and you come down to what it says there in verse 14,

and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Talking about the incarnation.

God the Son for all eternity taking on human form.

And John, as he continues in explaining the matter of who Jesus is,

he says, here is God the Son who came to earth

and took upon himself human flesh.

Why?

Why?

We understand from what John the Baptist says right there in chapter 1,

when he saw Jesus coming, he said,

Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

And so John chapter 1 lays out for us in clear, clear vocabulary

John 1 · chapter mention

who Jesus is as God the Son, the Savior of the world.

Chapter 2, then, gives us a very interesting picture

of Jesus in two rather different settings.

One is the wedding feast at Cana,

where he privately, and known primarily,

just to his mother and disciples,

turns the water into wine and demonstrates his power over nature.

And then chapter 2, the latter part of it,

guess what he does?

He cleanses the temple.

I mean, I want you to imagine,

in contemporary vocabulary,

someone walking into the Supreme Court

and throwing all those 12 out on their ear.

That's, in essence, what Jesus did when he cleansed the temple.

Chapter 3 gives us...

Now, by the way, Jesus came to be what?

Say it with me.

The Savior of the world.

He came to save lost mankind.

Chapter 3 gives us our first picture

of Jesus interacting with an individual

who desperately needed Christ.

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night,

and he had some little curious spiritual questions,

and Jesus nailed him with,

You know what?

You have to be born again.

Nicodemus was kind of at the high end of the food chain

of being an effective, religious, good Jew.

And Jesus said,

You have to have a do-over because you're not there.

Nicodemus passes from the scene.

We have no indication of his conversion at that time.

And then we come to chapter 4,

and guess who chapter 4 is all about?

I mean, it's a scuzzbag, a lowlife.

It is the woman at the well, the Samaritan,

and she was a woman who had been married five times,

and what?

She was living with a man at the time.

And so we have a picture,

Nicodemus on this side,

the Mr. Goody-goody,

and here we have Mrs. Samaritan,

not the goody-goody,

and Jesus meets her at the well,

and he allows the conversation

to drift over into spiritual things.

And that's where we are now.

In John 4, verse 39,

John 4:39

let me pick up on the passage and read it to you.

It says,

Many Samaritans from town believed in him because...

And I want you to put your finger.

You may even want to underline because...

I'll start right from the get-go here

and just ask yourself this question.

Are there people that you know have come to faith

because of your testimony?

That's a fair question, isn't it?

I mean, after all,

and this is one of the things I was thinking about

as I was meditating and praying earlier this morning

about our message,

I was thinking about how many illustrations in the Bible we have

of people who discover great news

and just kind of sit on it.

I mean, I was like,

Yeah, it's a good thing.

I'm glad Jesus saved me.

I was a wretch,

but I'm not telling anybody

because I don't want anybody to know.

Right?

I mean, every case you have,

and I was reading, actually,

in my morning devotions

about where Jesus would heal these people

who were blind

or he would heal these people who were deaf,

and he would say to them,

Don't go tell anybody.

Right?

How would they handle that instruction?

Right on.

I won't tell anybody.

I can see you,

but I'm not talking about it.

Right?

They were all over the place

talking about the wonder

and the miracle that they'd enjoyed

and in classic fashion,

here is the woman saved from her sin,

and she runs back into town,

and she lets them know who Jesus is.

Let me read the passage as we go on.

It says,

Many Samaritans from the town

believed in him

because of the woman's testimony.

He told me all that I ever did.

And so when the Samaritans came to him,

they asked him to stay with them,

and he stayed with them two days.

And many more believed

because of his word.

They said to the woman,

It is no longer because of what you said

that we believe,

for we have heard for ourselves,

and we know that this indeed

is the Savior of the world.

Now, we have in this passage this morning

a very, very interesting little conclusion

to the earlier two scenes,

one of Nicodemus

and the other of the woman at the well

who came face to face with Jesus

as Jesus dealt with the heart needs

of Nicodemus and the woman.

And one of the things

that I want you to take away

from the passage this morning

is a clear understanding

of what saving faith is.

What does it mean

to be saved

or be converted

or to be born again?

And you see,

it's a very important question

because the truth of the matter is

is that heaven and hell

rest on the outcome.

When we come to that moment

in our lives

where we slip from this place

into eternity,

I want you to know

that Tim Knoyer

has complete confidence

in how the story ends.

Not because I've been

a good person

and I have done

all these nice things

that, you know,

like helping elderly ladies

across the street

and taking care

of my neighbor's cat

and those kind of...

That's not why

I'm going to heaven.

I want you to know that.

I'm going to heaven

because Jesus Christ

is my Savior

and He died in my place

and He satisfied

the debt of my sin

and I trust in

His finished work alone.

And I want you to understand

as you look at the passage

that we're going to look at

this morning,

what John's gospel

wants us to see

is what is saving faith.

Saving faith, for one,

is knowing the truth

about our need.

Saving faith

is knowing the truth

about our need.

And since the Bible

is something

that gives us the truth,

I think it's very important

for us to allow the Bible

to be the primary instrument

of helping us grab

and get a hold

of the reality

of what saving faith is.

And so I want you

to mark that little phrase there

in verse 39.

It says here,

many Samaritans from town

believed because

of the woman's testimony.

What the Samaritan woman

had done

is that she had gone

back into town

and she'd given a report.

That word testimony

that is used there

is a word that speaks

in the Greek

of bearing witness

to something

that you are

a first-hand witness to.

You may talk about

the fact that there was

a wreck on 270

and you saw pictures of it,

but I can tell you this,

the police officers

are not going to rely

on hearsay evidence

that you had from the news.

They want to actually

hear from a witness

what happened in that event.

And what the word tells us

is this woman went back

into town and she says,

I saw it.

I saw Jesus.

I heard what he had to say

and I am giving you testimony

of the reality of who he is

and what he had to say to me.

And here is Jesus

as he ministered to this woman.

He brought conviction

to her life

and she goes back into town

and she says,

hey, I want you to meet the man

who exposed the truth

of my sinful state

and also delivered me

from sin's grip.

Not only did he expose

the reality of the hardness

and the despair of my soul,

but he also gave me hope

in that he identified himself

as the Messiah,

the one who came

to be the sacrifice

for my sins.

And what this says is this,

is that belief

or saving faith

really follows

hearing the truth

and understanding it.

And I think that's very important

because we have people

going around today

presupposing that

the fundamental responsibility

of the church

is to make people happy.

Now, I want people happy,

but people can't be happy

until they hear difficult news

about the reality

of their soul.

Over the years,

one of the things

that has happened

over and over and over again,

and spring is here,

and so it's starting the process.

I get regular calls.

People ask,

can we use the church

to have a wedding?

And my standard answer,

guess what it is?

Some of you know.

It's,

I am so glad you called

because we love the opportunity

of helping a couple

who know Jesus

establish their home

with Jesus in the center.

And I say,

it's our blessing

and our privilege,

and I would love

to have you

and your fiance

come and visit us.

Oh, I don't need

to visit you.

I've seen the church.

Really?

Yeah, I was on the web.

I thought the building

would be pretty suitable

for our wedding.

wedding.

Well, you want to do

the reception here?

Oh, no, we're going to

blah, blah, blah.

You know, I'm going to do it there.

But we just want to have

a ceremony

in a sacred place.

Hey, church is you.

It's not this place.

And I say,

well, the rest of the family

wants to be in there thinking,

oh, do I have to pay

for all those people

eating with me?

You know, I say,

no, no, no.

Just, we want to be part

of seeing your home

centered on Jesus.

Well, I'm not interested

in that part.

I just was looking

for a facility to rent

to kind of do this thing.

Well, we're not into that.

We are here

to help people grow

in their relationship

with Christ.

And here is Jesus

explaining that

this starting point

of developing

a relationship

with Christ

is coming to

a realization

of the darkness

of the soul

and the desperation

that sinners are in

because of sin

that draws them

and separates them

from God.

So what is saving faith?

I think it helps

for one

to just kind of stop

and recognize

what it is not.

For one,

saving faith

is not mere feeling.

Feelings can be caused

by so many different things.

And any of you

who know me

know that feelings

kind of,

there they are.

I was at the

ordination council.

You know,

and I had,

you know,

at 66,

I had resolved

being an older man now

that when I asked questions,

I would be kind of

just calm

and quiet

and not get emotional.

You know,

I was like,

have you ever seen me

cry at a wedding?

Never done it.

And so,

you know,

here they,

I mean,

I'm sitting towards the back

and that's a safe place

for an older guy,

you know,

towards the back.

And they said,

well,

we're going to ask

that Pastor Knoyer

asked the first question.

So I got started

and guess what happened?

Just calm,

quiet voice.

You know,

and

I was thinking

of the blessing

of being a pastor

and then

being there

as a pastor

and watching

a young man

that had grown up

in our church,

there

sitting alone

on the stage

answering questions

about what it meant

to be

a shepherd

of God's people.

And my heart

just kind of

welled up within me.

And,

and I,

I,

I was emotional.

Took me a while

to control myself

to where I could

get to the question.

So what I'm telling you

is that,

hey,

emotions are not all bad

and,

you know,

if you try to stuff

them down forever,

you know,

sometimes it's just hard

but,

but the deal is this,

is emotions

don't bring people

to faith.

Emotions may

prompt you

to think carefully

about where your heart is.

That's okay.

But at the end

of the day,

emotions are not

what save people.

Saving faith

is not sincere belief

either.

Do you realize

that there were

millions of Jews

that were put to death

by Nazis

who really sincerely

believed what they believed?

Do you follow that?

They believed that.

And,

I don't know,

some of you here

are old enough

to remember Jim Jones.

Anybody remember Jim Jones?

You heard the phrase

don't drink the Kool-Aid?

How many of you

know that phrase?

I mean,

it's like don't drink

the Kool-Aid.

Jim Jones is the one

who made it famous.

Prior to that,

there was this little ditty

called Kool-Aid.

Kool-Aid,

it tastes great.

Gotta have some.

Can't wait.

Now,

that's for you

who are,

I mean,

look at this.

It's like for the rest

of you,

it's like over top.

You know,

it's like,

that was my generation.

You know,

it's like we sang that song

and we really thought

Kool-Aid was good

until Jim Jones came along

and he made people

who believed in him

drink it.

See,

having sincere faith

may lead to death.

I remember growing up

in India

and truthfully watching,

I remember going to

the place,

the start of the Ganges River

and Ganges River

is sacred,

holy

and it was a gathering place

for all kinds of

real,

serious,

and sincere believers

in Hinduism.

I remember looking

at one sadhu

who had sat

on a bed of nails.

I mean,

this is the real story

and he was sitting

on that bed of nails,

he slept on that bed of nails

and he had never

gotten off of that bed of nails

except for

basic functions

and he was doing this

because he sincerely believed

that that was the means

of salvation.

I saw another sadhu

who had stared at the sun

with his eyes open

and burned him out

and he sincerely believed

that his willing sacrifice

of his eyesight

was the means

of his salvation.

Sincere belief

doesn't cut it.

I want you to understand

that apart

from the reality

of the truth

of the scriptures,

there is no hope

of salvation

and that's one of the reasons

why we who know Christ

have to be involved

in letting people

know the truth

of their need.

It is the truth

that brings conviction

salvation

and draws a person

to salvation.

Let me have you see

just how clearly

this issue of truth

is hammered at

in the Bible.

You're there in John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4,

just turn ahead

to John chapter 8

John 8:32

verse 32

and here is Jesus

again speaking

on the matter of truth

and here's what he says,

you will know the truth

and the truth

will set you free.

You will know the truth

and the truth

will set you free.

Truth is absolutely

essential

to our salvation.

Turn to another passage

in relationship

to this.

You're there in John,

keep your finger

because we are coming back

but I want you to go

to 1 Timothy chapter 2

1 Timothy 2:4

verse 4.

By the way,

as I'm turning,

I'm praying.

Do you know

why I'm praying?

I'm praying,

Holy Spirit,

help me make the word clear.

1 Timothy chapter 2

1 Timothy 2:4

verse 4,

it says this,

who desires all people

to be saved

and to come to the knowledge

of the truth.

The truth.

What the woman heard

and what she had gone into town

and communicated

to the townsfolk

listen carefully

because this is important

to understand,

started with the truth

that her sin

was her greatest need.

Let me say that slowly

so you don't miss it.

What she had gone into town

and shared with the townsfolk

is that her sin

was her greatest need.

Until a person

comes to the place

that they realize

that their sin

is their greatest need,

they really haven't come

to the place

of understanding

how essential

faith in Christ is.

This morning

in my devotional reading

in the book of Mark,

I came to the passage

where Jesus

was being criticized

by the Pharisees

because he ate

with sinners.

You can think about that.

Must have been at Walmart

or Mendy's

or McDonald's

or somewhere like,

you know,

where all they are.

And so here he is

eating with sinners

and the Pharisees,

I can't believe

you're doing that.

And here's what Jesus said.

He said,

I didn't come to help

those people

who are righteous.

I came to help,

what?

Sinners.

I came to help sinners.

And so the starting point

of conversion

is really coming to grips

with the fact,

man,

I'm a sinner

and I've got a desperate need

and here's the woman.

She went into town

and says,

you know what?

Jesus told me

all about myself.

she'd gone to the well

for water

and she'd come to grips

with the reality

of her sinful heart

that had traded sex

for security.

And Jesus not only

convicted her

of her sin

but also helped her

understand

that he alone

was the only remedy

to her broken

and ruined heart.

And all we know

about her testimony

is that she went

back into town

and she said this,

he told me

all that I ever did.

Isn't that an interesting

statement?

In essence,

what she was saying

was this,

is that Jesus convicted me

of my sin

and he let me know

what my problem was.

So,

recognize this

as you think about it

in your own life

and ministry,

true conversion

involves seeing

the truth of sin.

Now,

let me explain

this a bit.

Seeing the truth

of sin

is more than

feeling bad

about sin.

Everybody smile

when I say that.

Seeing the truth

of sin

is more than

just feeling

bad about sin.

I mean,

feeling bad

about sin

is something

that happens

fairly often

once you get

caught sinning.

Why is that?

How many of you

understand that

sin always creates

unintended consequences?

In every case,

there are some of you

sitting here

that are thinking

to yourself,

well,

the sin that I'm committing

doesn't have any

unintended consequences.

You're fooling yourself

and the reason

that you may not be

enduring the consequences

right now

is because God

is being incredibly

patient and gentle

with you

but when he

lets you experience

consequence,

he is going to

take away

all the arguments

and you're going

to come face to face

with the fact

that your sin

is your greatest problem.

It's not hard

to feel bad

about sin

when you're

suffering the consequences

but that's not

converting faith.

Adam and Eve

felt bad

after they'd eaten

the fruit.

We know that

because they tried

to sew leaves together

to make clothing.

Have you ever

tried that,

by the way?

I mean,

you know,

a little bit of vine

and maybe

a thorn

and trying to

stitch leaves together.

I've actually

tried that in India

and it's not

a good idea.

The garments

don't have any

durability

and moving in them

don't go there.

Okay,

so,

true conversion

involves coming to grips

with the reality

of your sin.

True conversion

also involves

seeing your utter

inability

to save

yourself.

Let me say that

and have you

connect with it.

True conversion

also involves

seeing your

utter inability

to do anything

to save yourself.

More than just

exposing the reality

of her sin,

Jesus had showed

her that

her hope

and deliverance

from the crushing

burden

of her shame

and guilt

was really

in his hands

and his hands

alone.

He was the only one

who could solve

the problem.

I remember still

years ago

when I hurt

my back

and,

you know,

standard thing

when men hurt

their back

is I'm alright,

you know,

I'm not taking

Advil or anything

like that

and eventually

what happened

is I started

having numbness

that it made

walking,

my left leg

was what was

giving me trouble.

Stop smiling,

Hannah.

Hannah is going

to be graduating

and leaving us

which I don't think

she should do

but she's going

out to,

where is it,

Montana,

Idaho?

I don't know.

Can we take

a vote on that?

We love you anyway.

Okay.

But here's the truth,

I had paralysis

that was

as the result

of my nerve

being impinged.

I went to a chiropractor

and I tried

the medicine

and I tried

all different

kinds of therapy

and nothing

was helping

and I was bound

to determine

that I wasn't

going to,

you know,

do anything

other than

just kind of

gut it out

and then I

started falling

because my leg

was atrophying

and I was

kind of,

you know what

a numb leg

works like?

It doesn't.

I fell twice

mowing

and I came in

and I said to

Judith,

we got to do

something about this.

Well,

ended up having

an MRI,

ended up having

x-rays

and all that

kind of stuff

and finally

went to a surgeon

and took the MRIs

and she looked

at this

and said,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

I can fix that.

A couple weeks

later,

I was actually

rolling into the

surgery and my

MRI films,

this is before

electronics were

what they are

now,

but I remember

rolling into

surgery and just

as I'm getting

ready to leave

the waiting bay,

they come in

with my x-rays

and slide them

alongside.

The doctor

walks in and

grabs those

and looks at them

again.

She had about

47,000 to do

that day and

you know,

it's like,

which one am I

doing,

here we go,

but she

looked at

those films

and she

knew what

needed to be

done and

I had been

fully persuaded

by that

recurring pain,

incredible as

it was,

and by falling

that I

couldn't solve

my problem

by myself

and I was

willing to

submit to a

good surgeon.

Until you

come to grips

with the reality

of sin in

your heart,

you will not

come to

the good

physician.

And so as

you look at

the passage

going back

there to

John chapter

John 4 · chapter mention

4,

you find there

that she

goes into

town,

she tells

them the

truth about

who Jesus

was,

and what

they do

then is

they as

well come

to grips

with their

condition and

recognize their

desperate need.

And I like

what the

outcome of

this process

is.

Number one,

the Spirit

convicts us

that we are

sinners and

we can't

save ourselves.

And furthermore,

number two,

the Spirit

comes and

helps us

understand that

Jesus is the

Savior.

Look at

verse 42.

We're going

to step

ahead for a

second.

It says there,

they said to

the woman,

it's no longer

because of what

you said that

we believe for

we've heard for

ourselves and

we know that

this indeed is

the Savior of

the world.

The Spirit

of God brings

us to the

point that we

understand that

our only hope

is in Christ

as our Savior.

Savior.

So recognize

these two

pieces.

Number one,

saving faith

convinces us

of the reality

of our sin.

It's based on

truth and

drives home the

point that we're

in a mess.

Number two,

saving faith is

believing the

truth about

Jesus.

You look at

verse 39,

she went into

town, she told

them the truth

about Jesus,

and in verse

40, out they

come.

Many of them,

they wanted to

hear who Jesus

was, and as they

listened to him,

they said,

would you stay

here longer

and keep

ministering to

us?

And he did,

he stayed two

days.

Now everyone

that had believed

at that moment,

and we read that

a number of them

had believed

earlier as a

result of the

woman's testimony,

they were part of

this throng that

gathered, and they

perhaps just listened

further as Jesus

was teaching, and

those who did not

believe came along,

and as a result of

listening to what

Jesus had to say,

they came to grips

with their own sin.

Look at verse 41.

And many more

believed because of

his word, because of

his word.

Now what word would

Jesus bring that

would bring salvation

to individuals'

hearts?

Number one, and I

want you to have

this pictured firmly

in your heart and

understand it clearly,

number one, saving

faith means believing

that man cannot save

himself.

Think with me.

Common question.

I don't have any

hesitation asking an

individual.

Is so, when you die,

where are you going

to spend eternity?

It's a fair question.

I mean, after all,

what it says in

Hebrews chapter 9 is

Hebrews 9 · chapter mention

this, it says, it's

appointed unto man

once to die, and

after that, what?

The day is coming

when I'm going to

give an account, and

you're going to give

an account to Christ.

Christ.

And so, where are

you going?

I get a chuckle when

I'm on an elevator, and

we're going up or

down.

It doesn't make any

difference, but when I

get ready to punch the

buttons, one of the

things I say is, my

last trip is up.

You know, it's like,

I'm a little weird, but

you know, it's like, my

last trip is up.

Okay?

And it is.

Jesus makes it clear in

the scriptures, man

cannot save himself.

And until you come to

that point that you

recognize the moral

bankruptcy of your

heart and the absolute

desperate condition of

your soul, you are not

there and ready to hear

the sweetness of the

gospel.

Number two, saving

faith believes that only

God can save men from

their sin.

sin.

Only God can save men

from their sin.

I want you to get that

clearly fixed in your

mind because there's a

lot of people running

around today that when

you ask them, why are

you going to heaven,

their standard answers,

I've been a pretty good

person.

Now, I'm glad to hear

that.

I mean, I wish there

were more people that

were pretty good.

But the truth of the

matter is, the Bible

says, not by works of

righteousness.

There's nothing that

you and I can do that

can bring redemption or

salvation to us.

Why is that?

Why is that?

We sang a very

interesting song this

morning.

It said, all my

righteousness is as

what?

Filthy is the

discreet King James

translation of a much

more blunt Hebrew word.

word.

The truth of the matter

is, our best efforts

actually have a little

tincture, a little

flavoring of self-

adulation and

appreciation.

Aren't you glad, God,

I'm as nice as I am?

And he says, yuck.

Man cannot save himself,

only God can do that.

And finally, saving faith

believes that God sent

his son to be our

savior.

Do you know that?

Do you know that?

You're a sinner.

I'm a sinner.

sinner.

I have never gotten

over.

I have never gotten

over.

The reality of the

convicting power of

Jesus that led me to

discover just the

darkness of my heart.

And brought me to

realize that the only

person who could do

anything about me was

Jesus.

And what he did for me

was Jesus died on the

cross to pay the

penalty for my sins.

Oh.

We sang that song this

morning, what can wash

away my, what?

Sin.

What can take away the

burden?

The darkness.

The depression.

The hopelessness.

The blackness of your

soul.

There is no remedy

but the blood of

Christ.

And the reason that

there is remedy is

Jesus stepped up and

took your place

and died your death.

He paid the penalty

for your sins.

And saving faith

is a

clear

truthful

grasp

of bad news.

I'm a hopeless

mess

deserving God's

judgment.

And the good news

God sent his son

to die

for me.

And there's

nothing else

that counts

but that.

we're going to do

something a little

different this

morning.

John is going to

lead us in two

songs.

By the way,

happy people that

know Jesus do what

when they sing?

I always smile,

they blow it out.

Okay?

That's what they do.

They don't just kind

of sit there.

And I'm not going to

be watching John,

but you give me a

grade, will you?

I am hoping that all

of you are not going

to be sitting there

like this.

Okay,

John's going to come

lead us.

First song,

you sing