Passing God's Final Exam

Scripture Reading

I am reading the word of God from Matthew Chapter 7, beginning at verse 13 and concluding at the end of the chapter verse 29.

Our Lord is completing His sermon on the mount..

Enter in at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in that way, because narrow is the gate, and hard is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

He shall know them by their fruits.

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Even so, every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit.

Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.

Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of heaven.

But he that doeth the will of my Father who 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 demons, and in thy name done many wonderful works.

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you depart from me that work iniquity.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and do with them, I will liken him unto a wise man who built his house upon a rock.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.

And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and do with them not shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it, and it came to pass.

When Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine.

For he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

Examination of Our Lives

It behooves us to examine our lives in the light of what our Lord tells us.

If he comes to the end of his sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus does what every faithful preacher ought to do.

He calls for a decision because it's impossible to be neutral In this sermon.

Our Lord has been telling us the truth and we have to make a decision.

A lot of people would like to be neutral, but it's impossible.

Jesus says there are two ways and you've got to choose one.

There are two trees, but only one bears good fruit.

There are two houses, but only one stands, and this decision is serious.

Our Lord does not end his message on a flippant, careless, shallow note.

When the Lord finished this sermon, the people were astonished because he spoke with authority and he finishes the message by saying this is the most serious decision you will ever make.

Be careful which way you choose.

One of them leads to destruction.

Be careful which tree you are, because one of them is thrown into the fire.

Be careful which house you're building, because one of them is going to fall and utterly be ruined.

You've got to make a decision, says Jesus.

And you'd better make the right decision.

You see, in this closing section of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus is warning us not to fool ourselves.

There are multitudes of people in the hospitals today who fooled themselves, but the disease finally caught up with them.

There are multitudes of people in prison today who were fooling themselves, but the law finally caught up with them.

And Jesus is warning us here against that deadly sin of self deception.

It's bad enough that a person should try to fool others.

It's bad enough that a person should try to fool God, but our Lord is warning us here that if we aren't careful, we'll start fooling ourselves, and that is the way that leads to destruction.

The Narrow Path and Its Challenges

It's so possible for us to know the language, Lord Lord.

It's possible for us to be wrapped up in religious doings, casting out demons and performing miracles.

And then at the judgment hear the Lord Jesus say, I never knew you not I used to know you, but I've forgotten you.

I never knew you depart from me.

Ye that work iniquity our Lord is saying to us, it's time for examination.

It's time for us to sit before the God of the universe and take His word, the mirror, and examine our own hearts.

Is it possible that here, in a morning service in the Moody Church, there is someone who is so deceived that he feels he's truly born again and going to heaven, and yet actually he's not?

Yes, it is possible.

In fact, sitting among the disciples who were listening to this message was the treasurer of the group whose name was Judas, and he was deceived.

The Lord Jesus gives to us three illustrations, two ways broad and narrow, 2 trees, good and corrupt, 2 houses, one on the sand, one on the rock.

And in giving us these illustrations, the Lord is helping us to examine our own hearts to see whether or not our decision for Jesus Christ is real and authentic, or whether it is counterfeit and artificial.

Now let's examine our hearts today and let's ask ourselves three questions using these three illustrations that the Lord gives to us.

Let's ask ourselves three questions about this decision that we made for Jesus Christ.

Question 1: Did It Cost You Anything?

Question number one, this decision that you made for Jesus Christ, did it cost you anything?

You see, in verses 13 and 14 of Matthew Chapter 7, the Lord is saying there is a price to pay if you're going to be a Christian.

Now I know God had to pay a price.

There's no problem there, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that Jesus Christ had to pay a price no one can deny.

This is the blood, This cup is the blood of the new Covenant shed for the remission of sins.

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

He must needs go to Jerusalem.

He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.

He paid a price.

The Holy Spirit paid a price.

The Holy Spirit has been down here in this world now for almost 2000 years, convicting and convincing and converting and being resisted and being repelled and being grieved.

I have no question that God paid a price for me to be saved.

Jesus paid it all all to him I owe.

But the Lord is saying here, did you pay a price?

When Luke records our Lord's statement, he puts it this way.

Strive to enter in at the narrow gate.

Our authorized translation uses the word straight Strait.

There is a difference between Strait, which means narrow and confined, and STRAIGHT, which means not crooked.

A straight gate is a narrow gate, a confining gate.

We hear about a straight jacket, which is a jacket that has belts on it that can find the person.

Our Lord is saying when you enter into this experience of salvation, you go through a narrow gate.

I am the door by me.

If any man enter in, he shall be saved.

But that door is not 5 miles wide.

Oh, it's big enough for the biggest Sinner.

But when you go through that door, you don't bring anything with you.

When you go through that narrow gate, you're walking on a narrow road that leads up to life, and you don't bring anything with you.

You can't bring your sins with you.

You can't bring your reputation with you and you can't bring anything of the world with you.

We have today an easy kind of believism that says, oh, you can be saved any way you want to sign a card, lift your hand, walk an aisle.

Jesus says, wait a minute, nothing wrong with signing a card.

Nothing wrong with lifting a hand or walking an aisle.

But when you take that step of faith that leads into salvation, did it cost you anything?

You see, the Broad way that leads to destruction is crowded.

It's popular.

It's the popular way, it's the easy way.

There are religious teachers and there are groups today that don't say a word about sin or repentance or conviction.

They say nothing about the death of Jesus Christ.

The blood of our Lord Jesus Christ to them is something to be forgotten.

It's a slaughterhouse religion.

They don't talk about the confinement of conversion.

And my friend Jesus is saying to you and me, you were born on the Broad road.

You're already there.

There's none that doeth good.

There's none that seeketh after God.

They are all together, gone out of the way.

They are together, become unprofitable.

There is none righteous. No, not one.

All of humanity.

Rich and poor, educated and stupid, Jew and gentile, black or white.

All of humanity is on the easy, popular Broad road that leads to destruction.

And running right down the middle of that Broad road that leads to destruction is a very narrow road that leads to life.

And very few people are on it.

Christianity has never been popular.

Salvation has never been the popular thing.

Heaven help us.

When it does become the popular thing, it shows there's something wrong with the message.

Jesus preached eternal life and was crucified.

Stephen preached eternal life and was stoned.

Paul preached eternal life and was beheaded.

The Old Testament prophets preached the word of God and were sawn asunder and thrown into deep wells and driven off into caves.

This decision you made for Jesus Christ, did it cost you anything?

When you walk through that narrow road that leads to life, did you lose something?

Did you lose some friends?

Did you turn your back on the world?

Was there a price to pay?

A very handsome and wealthy young man came running up to Jesus one day and said good master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?

And this young man had everything that would make him a prime candidate for church membership in the average church.

He had morals, he had position, he had status, he had money, he had religion, he was able to say, and he wasn't lying.

All these things have I kept from my youth up when Jesus quoted to him some of the commandments.

And then Jesus said to him, all right, if you really want to enter into life, if you want to go through this narrow gate that leads to the narrow way, sell all that you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me.

And he went away sorrowful.

He wouldn't do it.

He wanted to walk through the narrow way, the narrow gate, carrying his bank books.

You can't do it.

He wanted to come through the narrow gate onto the narrow way, bringing with him all of his records of his reputation.

You can't do it.

Everybody who walks through that narrow gate and goes on that narrow way comes as a lost Sinner.

And I say it again, my friend, that decision you made for Jesus Christ, whenever it was and wherever it was, did it cost you anything?

You're on that narrow road that leads to life.

Is it costing you anything?

Are you discovering it's a lonely road.

Are you discovering that it is a confining road.

That there's some things other people are going to do and you can't do it?

It's worth it.

It’s worth it.

It cost the Apostle Paul something to get on that narrow road.

He was storming down that broad road breathing destruction, not realizing that he himself was headed for destruction.

And then he saw a light and he heard a voice.

And God said to him, Paul, you can't come in carrying your righteousness.

Oh, Paul, I've seen all of your certificates.

I know that you're a rabbi.

I know that you're a teacher.

I know that you're a member of the council.

I've seen your obedience to the law.

But Paul, you can't bring all that with you.

And that's why in Philippians 3, Paul wrote those things that were gained to me.

I counted loss, for Christ's sake.

Yeah, and I do count all of these things, all of my righteousness, my reputation.

I count all of these things, but refuse garbage that I may win Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is through God by faith in Christ.

When you made that decision for Christ, did it cost you something?

If it didn't, it may not have been an authentic decision.

Now he moves to the second picture.

In verses 15 through 20, he talks about two trees.

He gives us these illustrations, the Lord is helping us to examine our own hearts to see whether or not our decision for Jesus Christ is real and authentic, or whether it is counterfeit and artificial.

Now let's examine our hearts today and let's ask ourselves three questions using these three illustrations that the Lord gives to us.

Let's ask ourselves three questions about this decision that we made for Jesus Christ.

Question 2: Did It Change Your Life?

That decision that you made for Jesus Christ, did it change your life?

Did it change your thinking, your loving, your doing?

Did it change your life?

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new.

You made a decision for Jesus Christ.

It may have been kneeling by your bed when you were a child.

It may have been during the reckless days of your youth when you got sick of your sin, but whenever you made that decision, did it change your life?

See, our Lord immediately says beware of false prophets.

Why?

Because there are religious teachers in this world, as there were in Jesus day, who want to lead you into the wrong path.

You see, the narrow gate that leads to the narrow way is presided over by the Holy Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit of God takes the word of God and shines the light of the Word of God on this gate.

I have been immersing myself in recent months in Pilgrim's Progress.

I wish every Christian would read through Pilgrim's Progress once a year.

Do your soul good.

And here is Pilgrim, broken, bent with the burden of his sin.

He has a book in his hand, which is the Bible, and because the book is in his hand and he's reading the book, the burden gets greater.

There are many people who are dancing their way through life with no burden whatsoever, not realizing how lost they are.

But here is the Pilgrim looking at the book, and the more he reads the book, the more convicted he becomes and the heavier the burden is.

And he meets evangelist and evangelist says to him, what do you want?

He said, I want to flee the city of destruction and I want to get rid of this burden.

He said, Do you see that Yonder gate?

He said no.

Evangelist said.

Do you see that light?

He said yes.

He said Follow the light.

It will lead you to the gate.

And he got to the gate, and he went through the gate, and he saw the cross.

And when he saw the cross, his burden came tumbling off down into the empty tomb.

Now the Holy Spirit of God, through the light of the Word, is presiding over that narrow gate.

But there are many broad gates that lead into the broad road that leads to hell.

And there are many false teachers who preside over these gates and they're saying, oh, there's no need to pay a price, There's no need to become a fanatic.

There's no need to turn your back on the world.

There's no need to believe in Jesus as long as you believe in some kind of a God.

There are all kinds of false prophets who want to lead you on to that broad road.

That's why Jesus says Now, since you have made this decision and you're on that narrow road are you like a tree that is producing good fruit?

If you're believing lies, you produce bad fruit.

Everybody's producing some kind of fruit.

Each one of us is a tree, and each one of us is rooted in some kind of spiritual soil, either that which the devil provides lies or that which the Lord provides truth.

And when you made that decision for Jesus Christ, and you went through that narrow gate into that narrow way, did your life change?

Did old things pass away and all things become new?

Did you find yourself rooted and grounded in Christ?

Did you find when a false teacher came along, you said, wait a minute, that's wrong.

I detect that one of the marks of God's children is the Holy Spirit within gives you discernment, and you test the spirits to see whether or not they are of God.

Religious people, people who are just, well, church members, moral people, they believe anything but those who really know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Those who are the trees planted of the Lord, those who have their roots deep into the Holy Spirit of God, those who draw upon the nourishment of the word of God, they have discernment.

Now this is a serious thing because if we are not producing good fruit, it means that we are not truly saved and that tree is going to be cut down and cast into the fire.

I'm constantly amazed at the people who tell me that they believe in the religion of Jesus, which is a religion of forgiving everybody.

But there's some people that Jesus will not forgive.

He cannot forgive someone who doesn't ask for forgiveness.

He cannot save someone who will not ask for salvation.

He cannot wash that heart clean that is not broken and convicted over sin.

And here you have two trees, and one of them is rooted in that which is of God.

The other is rooted in that which is false satanic.

And both trees are bearing fruit.

Ah, but the tree that belongs to God bears good fruit.

I don't have to tell this intelligent congregation that the New Testament teaches that when you're saved, good fruit starts to come from your life.

It starts with your lips.

A mouth that used to be filled with things that were not godly starts to be filled with things that are godly someday.

Take your concordance and go through the book of Romans and see what it says about your mouth.

It starts in chapter 3, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

The mouth of the sinful person is like an open sepulchre.

But then you get saved, and with your mouth confession is made unto salvation.

And then the mouth starts to bring praises to God.

There's a change, the fruit of the lips giving praise to God, says Hebrews chapter 13.

Has that happened?

Some of you may remember Park Tucker many years ago.

He used to speak in the Youth for Christ meetings.

He was a chaplain in a boys school when he gave his testimony.

I can never forget one statement that he made.

He said this when I got saved.

I lost 3/4 of my vocabulary.

It's a good thing.

It's a good sign.

Fruit not only fruit from the lips, but fruit from the life.

Character changes.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love.

The unsafe person is selfish and grasping, but the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and long-suffering, and God begins to change the character and people say, I don't know what's happened to him, but I'm sure glad it happened.

That decision that you made for Jesus Christ, did it change your life?

Is the fruit that's coming forth from our lives God's fruit now?

Our Lord warns us here there's no middle ground.

He says Either the tree is good because it's saved and therefore it produces good fruit, or if the tree is bad, it produces corrupt fruit and the tree that's bad is going to be cut down and cast into the fire.

Jesus said that Jesus the the the one who preached love and forgiveness.

He said there are some people who think they are saved, who are going to be chopped down and cast into the fire.

Question 3: Has It Withstood Life’s Storms?

Now this leads us to the third illustration our Lord uses.

He's talked about the Strait gate, the narrow way, and the question we've asked ourselves is this decision I made for Christ?

Did it cost me anything?

He's talked about the true and false prophets and the good and the bad tree.

And the question we asked ourselves was this decision I made for Christ, Did it change my life or do I have to pretend to be a Christian now?

He talks about the two houses, and the question he asks is this this decision that you made for Christ?

Is it standing up in the trials of life?

He's not talking here about final judgement.

He's not talking here about when people stand before God to be judged.

Oh no, He's talking about judgement here and now.

The rain comes down and the floods come up and the wind begins to blow.

You see, God has laid down a principle in His word that we dare not forget.

It's this.

Whenever you profess something, you will be tested.

It's always been this way.

God said to Abraham.

Abraham, I want you to leave or of the Chaldees, I want you to go to a land I'm going to show you.

And Abraham said, All right, Lord, I'll go.

He got to that land and discovered there was a famine, and Abraham went down to Egypt.

You see, his heart wasn't really in the land.

His heart was someplace else.

God said, Abraham, I tested you.

You failed.

He went back to the land and God forgave him.

God calls someone to do something, and then he tests him.

This is true of salvation.

When a person professes faith in Jesus Christ, whether it be walking an aisle in a big meeting, whether it be privately in a living room, makes no difference.

When a person professes faith in Christ, that profession is going to be tested not for the sake of God.

God can see every heart.

God sees your heart the way you cannot even see your face.

You look into the mirror with all the lights that you have, and we have so much equipment now to make us beautiful.

We have electric brushes and we have all kinds of moisturizers.

It's amazing any of us are homely, all of the things that are available today.

And yet you look into the mirror and you say, I see my face.

I want you to know God sees your heart clearer than you see your face.

God doesn't test us so that God can find out how real that profession was.

He tests us so that we can find out how real that profession was.

The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it?

And so here comes a person that says, I'm saved, I've been born again.

And I want you to know that when he makes that profession, the storm is going to come.

Can you remember after you made your decision for Jesus Christ, the storm you had to go through?

Do you remember when the rain came down?

Why those first several weeks that you were saved?

The sun was shining and the birds were singing and the grass had never been greener and the sky had never been bluer.

You were walking along a primrose path and you were saying, if this is salvation, it's wonderful.

And then a cloud appeared, and that cloud got bigger and bigger, and it covered up the sun.

Sun was still there, but the cloud covered it up.

And then the cloud overcast the sky.

And then there were rumblings and thunderings and lightning.

And then the storm came down and there you were.

And Satan came and said, aha, so this is what it means to be saved.

You've lost your job.

Or the doctor tells you you have to have surgery, or your wife is unhappy with you, or your children are rebelled against you.

Oh, this is what it means to be saved.

That's what our Lord's talking about in this third picture, he says.

This decision you made for Jesus Christ, has it stood the tests of life?

You've been through the storm of persecution.

Did you stand?

You've been through the storm of discouragement.

When everything seemed to be against you.

Did you stand?

You've been through storms when Christians misunderstood you and criticized you.

Did you stand?

You went through storms where you thought you were doing the will of God and everything fell apart?

Did you stand?

What does it mean to stand?

It means to do the will of God come what may.

Now don't make this story that he gives in verses 24 through 27 more difficult than it is.

He's simply talking about two men building 2 separate houses.

That's all he's talking about.

All of us are builders.

You're building something.

Everybody's building something.

The question is on what are you building?

What does it mean to build on the rock?

It means to obey the word of God.

Therefore I say unto you, everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does them hearing doing, I will compare him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.

To build your house upon the rock means to obey the word of God, to hear it, to do it, to hear it, to do it, no matter what happens.

Obey the word of God.

Though everyone criticize you obey the word of God, though all the hosts of hell are against you.

To do the will of God means to build upon the rock.

I was reading recently about a traveller who went to the Holy Land many years ago.

He was interested in seeing how much of the word of God he could learn there.

He visited Nazareth.

He visited a house in Nazareth and he said to the man, How did you build this house?

Is this house safe?

And the man said, I went down 30 feet until I came to rock, and then I put pilings in on the rock to hold my house.

Yes, my house is safe.

When Luke tells this story, he puts it this way.

I will liken him unto a man who built his house up on the rock.

And he dug deep.

Do you know what is lacking in professed Christianity Today?

Depth.

We have a lot of emotional shallowness, intellectual shallowness.

We have people today who think it's great to be wading up to their ankles.

We don't have depth.

We don't have time for depth.

Watch these two men building their houses.

This man starts to build and he digs and he digs and he digs.

And this fellow on who's building on the rock is way underground.

And the fellow who's building on the sand is going up and he's saying that fool over there, you're digging a cave, You're going to live with the moles.

What are you doing over there?

I think I've told you this story, but I'll repeat it, of when we were building our church auditorium back at Calvary Baptist in Covington.

There are some Covington people here this morning who will remember this.

And the architect said we're going to go down and we're going to lay good footings and we're going to put down the best we can.

And they went down, boy, they went down.

As they went down, the prices went up.

And I said to the architect, one day the budget is going to be in the hole along with those footings if you aren't careful.

He said he preached me a great sermon.

In one sentence, he said, preacher, if you don't go down deep, you can't go up high.

I never forgot that it was worth the whole fee just to learn that, Preacher, if you don't go down deep, you can't go up high.

And there are people today who say, Oh yes, we're saved.

Oh Lord, Lord, they can use the language Lord, we've preached in your name.

Lord, we've even done miracles and cast out demons.

We have done amazing things, he says.

Did you obey my word?

Now that begins with salvation.

Salvation is not a suggestion.

Salvation's a commandment.

God has commanded men everywhere to repent.

He didn't suggest it.

He didn't send out little engraved invitations.

If you feel like it, repent.

God has commanded men to repent.

And the very first step in obeying God is obeying that commandment and repenting and believing on Jesus Christ.

And then taking the word of God and doing it, just doing it, obeying it.

Every time we obey the word of God, we're building on the rock.

Every time we disobey the word of God, we're building on the sand.

That is why when troubles come, some things in our lives fall apart.

They were built on the sand.

They weren't built on the rock.

Our Lord is telling us here that you don't judge by appearances.

We come to Moody Church and look around and say, Oh my, all those people are saved.

Oh, Peter said that one day.

Jesus said, are you going to leave me like these other people have left me.

And Peter said, why we believe and we're sure that you're the Christ.

Jesus said, Peter, you better be careful.

I've chosen you and one of you is a devil.

Peter couldn't believe that one of the disciples would be a counterfeit, but he was.

He don't judge by appearances.

Both men had the same desire to build a house.

Both men had the same design, A house.

Both men had the same energy.

But one had some depth.

He put his house on the rock.

That means to obey the word of God, not to obey some false teacher, to obey the word of God, not to obey our own feelings, obey the word of God.

And so this decision that you made for Jesus Christ, has it stood the tests of life when the wind is blown?

Have you stood with Job and said, though he slay me yet will I trust him?

Naked, came I out of my mother's womb, Naked will I return.

The Lord gives, the Lord takes away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Could you stand with the three Hebrew children and say, our God is able to deliver us?

But even if he doesn't, we will not bow down to your image.

Can you stand with the Apostle Paul?

I fought a good fight.

I finished the course.

I've kept the faith.

You see, when a decision for Christ is real, it isn't blown away by the tests of life.

And I've watched people these last 27 years who have made decisions.

But when the first cloud appeared, they fell to pieces.

It wasn't real.

And so our Lord concludes this sermon by saying you better test your profession.

Make sure it's real.

You don't test it by popularity.

It's the Broad road that has the crowd.

You don't test it.

By appearances, the house looked good until the storm came.

That decision that you made for Jesus Christ, did it cost you something?

That decision that you made for Jesus Christ, did it change your life?

That decision that you made for Jesus Christ, has it stood in the storms and the testings of life now?

Says Jesus.

If our answer is yes to these questions, then we don't have to be afraid.

He'll never say to us I never knew you.

He'll say Welcome enter you, blessed of the Lord, into the Kingdom that I have prepared for you.

When he finished his sermon, they were astounded.

They were astounded because he taught with authority and that's the important thing, Authority.

What authority do we have for saying there is 1 narrow way that leads to life?

Jesus.

Oh, but you people are awfully narrow minded.

That's right, We're as narrow minded as the apostles who said there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Where as narrow as Martin Luther who said, Here I stand I can do none other, so help me God.

Where as narrow as Jesus Christ Himself who said I am the way No man comes unto the Father.

But by me they were astonished because he had authority.

And I tell you on the last day, on that day a lot of people are going to be astonished.

If Jesus Christ were to come back before we have the benediction, there would be people who would be astonished, people who could say Lord, Lord, but they never knew Him.

People would say but we were religious, but they never knew Him.

We're living in an age of counterfeits, and the most dangerous counterfeit is a counterfeit Christian.

The finest thing any of us could do would be to get alone with God and say search me O God and know my heart.

An evangelist came to Edinburgh, Scotland, in order to attract some attention.

He began to criticize the preachers in the city and a preacher came to see Alexander White the great preacher, and he said, Doctor White this evangelist said that so and so was not a Christian.

And White jumped up and said the very idea of him saying that he's not a Christian.

He said, Doctor White the evangelist said that you were not even a Christian.

And Alexander White sat down and put his face in his hands and said, get away from me.

I must search my own heart.

When was the last time you searched your heart?

I searched my heart to make sure that decision we made was real gracious Father.

We trembled to think of the solemnity of this very moment to realize that we must make a decision.

Oh Lord, may there be those who will step off of the Broadway into that narrow way.

May there be those Father who have never truly made this decision for Christ who will do so.

And may there be some Father who will step out of deception and artificiality into reality.

Oh, Lord Jesus, you died for us, that we might have eternal life.

We want nothing else, nothing more, nothing less.

Oh, grant to us that assurance today may we know whom we have believed.

To that end.

Bless this hymn of response as we share together.

For Jesus sake, Amen.