Jesus Died and Lives for You.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. [0:01] If this is your first time here. [0:03] My name’s Steve, one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:07] And just as we begin, I want to say Happy Easter, [0:11] that this is the day that we celebrate the fact [0:14] that Jesus rose from the dead, that he is alive.

[0:18] Never again do our sins need to be paid for through his death. [0:23] But once for all, Jesus has paid the price. [0:26] And I want you to understand that Jesus is coming again, [0:31] as the book of Hebrews tells us that there was a atonement needed for our sins. [0:36] And Jesus made that sacrifice. [0:38] He had no sin of his own to pay for.

[0:42] Therefore, Jesus could substitute himself for us, [0:47] bear the penalty for my sin, for your sin, for all sin, for all time. [0:53] And as he paid that price, [0:55] he paid for it forever. [0:58] Therefore, if you trust in Jesus, [1:01] no more sacrifice needs to be paid for your sin.

[1:04] No more judgment from God will be laid on you. [1:08] And Jesus is coming again, but he will not come again [1:11] for the same reason that he came last time, [1:14] because he came last time for the purpose of dying on the cross, [1:19] for the purpose of rising again. [1:20] But he will return as the risen Savior,

[1:23] as the king who is claiming the kingdom [1:26] that he has purchased by his death and his resurrection. [1:30] So if you trust in Jesus, understand that that is the hope of your life, [1:36] is that as he returns, if you trust him, he won’t be here to judge your sin. [1:42] But if you do not trust him, friend, [1:44] I do want to be very clear this morning that he is coming to judge your sin.

[1:49] And when we read in Romans, Chapter five, starting in verse five, [1:54] I want you to understand that what we’re seeing is the definition [1:57] for what is legitimate hope. [2:00] But in that legitimate hope, there is a need for us to believe. [2:05] There is a need for us to trust. [2:07] And there’s a need for us to depend on Jesus for everything,

[2:11] including the changed life that faith in him brings. [2:15] A pastor by the name of Tim Keller once put it this way. [2:17] He said that if Jesus rose from the dead, [2:20] then you have to accept all that he said. [2:23] If he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? [2:29] The issue on which everything hangs.

[2:31] Now, listen to this is not whether or not you like his teaching, [2:38] but whether or not he rose from the dead, [2:42] because if he rose from the dead, then Jesus has all authority. [2:46] Jesus certainly has the authority to tell you anything that he wants about anything. [2:51] And it’s authoritative. You must obey. [2:55] And if you don’t, it will be to your detriment.

[2:58] But specifically today, I want to talk about that issue of why [3:03] the resurrection is so important and is so vital for you [3:07] to personally have any hope in your life for the future. [3:13] Easter is a time when our culture focuses. [3:15] On the death and resurrection of Jesus, unlike any time of the year. [3:19] And often we hear the story.

[3:21] And maybe you even enjoy the story because it’s a pretty good story. [3:25] I mean, it’s a story that has great drama. [3:27] It’s a story that has great intrigue. [3:29] You have a sacrificial savior and that sacrificial savior on the cross dies [3:35] for others, and then he rises from the dead. [3:39] But then we hear that story.

[3:41] And quite often after Easter is over, [3:44] maybe we even watch a few television specials about it. [3:47] But very soon, life kind of just returns to the mundane. [3:50] And you forget that story for the rest of the year. [3:54] Or maybe you hear the story and you ask yourself the question [3:57] after saying, what a great story you ask yourself, you say,

[4:00] how does this relate to my every day? [4:04] How does this apply to my actual life? [4:08] Because someone who rose from the dead. [4:11] Is a great story. [4:13] But if you can apply the hope that that resurrection brings [4:18] to your everyday life, then it’s more than a story.

[4:24] It is a life changing event [4:27] because we live in a world that wherever your allegiances may lie in this life. [4:34] It doesn’t give us much reason to hope. [4:37] Those who are hopeful about the future sometimes seem to be living [4:40] a pipe dream compared to what we see day in and day out in this world. [4:44] But the gospel of Jesus Christ has a different claim.

[4:48] It claims to have concrete hope for us, [4:52] for the future, no matter what happens in the world today. [4:57] And today, I want to tell you why you personally [5:01] need to believe that Jesus died for your sins [5:05] and why he rose for you and why that fact [5:10] the fact that he is alive today changes life into one that has hope

[5:16] in each and every circumstance. [5:21] And I believe providentially by God’s grace that Romans, [5:23] chapter five, verses five through eight help us understand that. [5:27] So join me in reading God’s word. [5:29] Starting in verse five, it says, and hope does not put us to shame [5:33] because God’s love has been poured into our hearts

[5:37] through the Holy Spirit, who’s been given to us. [5:40] For while we were still weak at the right time, [5:43] Christ died for the ungodly, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, [5:49] though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. [5:53] But God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ.

[6:00] Died for us.

[6:04] Friends, there’s three things that I want to show you in this passage. [6:08] There are a reason for you to have hope. [6:13] And the very first thing is going to seem very strange [6:15] because it seems actually to rip hope right out of your life. [6:19] Because, number one, this morning, we are all weak and ungodly.

[6:25] I want you to understand that that’s terrible news.

[6:29] But if you believe that in light of what Jesus has done, [6:34] it is the news that can change your life for the better. [6:40] The fact that you are weak and ungodly [6:42] can possibly be the admiral that you give today. [6:47] That could be the only way for you to have hope for eternity. [6:52] But I want to be honest with you this morning, that sin puts us in a hopeless situation.

[6:58] Why could having hope put you to shame? [7:02] But what he said in verse five, he said, the hope that we have [7:06] does not put us to shame because of the source that it comes from, [7:10] because God has poured the Holy Spirit into our hearts. [7:13] If you have faith in Jesus, that’s true about you. [7:16] But what he’s saying is, is that if you have a different type of hope,

[7:20] then you can be put to shame. [7:23] Because there’s a different type of hope that you can have [7:27] that will prove to be fruitless. [7:29] It will prove to not work out for you in the end. [7:32] Have you ever in your life had hope about something that didn’t work out?

[7:37] Do you ever in your life put your hope into something saying, man, [7:40] if this will happen, then my life will be better. [7:43] And then the opposite of what you needed to happen happens. [7:46] Well, that’s what Paul’s talking about there, the opposite of what he said. [7:50] He’s saying if you have a certain type of hope, [7:51] then you won’t be put to shame because that hope will go your way in the end.

[7:57] It will work out for you. [7:58] It is concrete. It’s going to happen. [8:00] But if you put your hope in any other thing.

[8:07] Then you will be put to shame in the end because it won’t work out. [8:11] It won’t go your way. [8:14] It won’t be the way that you need it to be for you to have everything work out for you in the end. [8:21] And the reason for that. [8:24] Is because you are weak and ungodly. [8:27] There’s four things that many of us do with our sin,

[8:31] three of which are totally feudal and only one that’s true [8:36] because we live in a world because of our weakness, because of our ungodliness has great evil. [8:43] You need not look far in the news. [8:45] You need not look far in your own life to see evil, [8:49] to see things that cause pain, to see things that cause hurt, [8:54] to see things that cause you hopelessness.

[8:59] And one way of dealing with that is denial. [9:02] This is what many choose. [9:04] And in denial, you often may say, well, well, shouldn’t we just focus on the good things in this world, [9:09] on the happy things in life? [9:11] Shouldn’t we just ignore those unfortunate things that come around and just just be a people marked by positive vibes?

[9:19] There’s a second way. [9:21] And that’s false hope. [9:23] You see, this is where many go as well. [9:26] And it’s the false hope that that I’m strong enough to rid my life of evil. [9:31] I’m strong enough to rid my life of pain. [9:33] I’m strong enough to rid my life of sin.

[9:37] And I’m going to build a life of hope. [9:39] You see, in false hope, you attempt to build your life on the things of this earth, replacing God with false gods. [9:49] There’s a third option. [9:51] That third option is the other extremes, hopelessness. [9:55] This is where a few do go. [9:58] And false hope sees me in hopelessness.

[10:01] You believe that there’s no hope for your life, that there are no better days. [10:07] And friends, I’ll be honest with you that sin can take you there and sin will leave you there. [10:14] Because, quite frankly, you just are in a place where you feel like being honest about the state of your life because you are weak and ungodly. [10:24] But the problem, first, with denial, is that while I agree that there are many good things to focus on in this life, [10:33] you have to understand where those good things came from. [10:37] There’s a source of all of those good things.

[10:40] From the joy of springtime to the beauty of a sunrise to the laughter of an infant, or even the sensation of romantic love. [10:50] Those things don’t terminate on themselves. [10:52] You have to look past those things. [10:54] To where do those things come from? [10:55] And all of those good things come from a good God.

[11:01] Every good and perfect gift that you have in this life comes from God. [11:06] But the fact of the matter is, is that when you are weak and ungodly in this life, [11:12] that term ungodly is so important because it means that you’re living the opposite of the life that God would have you live. [11:21] That you see those good things and you just focus on them and you don’t look past them to the God that created them all. [11:29] Even more than that, you disobey God in the way that you treasure them and oftentimes you make those things God. [11:34] And if there is a God and he is good, then you have to somehow deal with sin.

[11:42] Denial doesn’t make it all go away. [11:45] The problem with false hope is that no matter how strong you think you are, you are never perfect. [11:53] No matter what you build with your life, you are never completely satisfied with what you gain. [11:58] False hope is always accompanied by insecurity. [12:02] It’s insecure because at a deep level, everyone knows that you aren’t living up to your own standards. [12:10] That leaves us with hopelessness.

[12:13] Hopelessness though is a shameful place to be, is it not? [12:17] It is exactly though where sin will put you. [12:21] Unless God intervenes. [12:25] And that is option four.

[12:27] Option four is real hope. [12:29] Hope that won’t put you to shame. [12:32] Hope that is concrete. [12:34] Hope that is secure. [12:37] Because this is what we all need and this is exactly what God wants us to have. [12:43] But it begins in a very strange place.

[12:48] You see real hope is going to begin for all of us in admitting that you have sin. [12:56] But admitting your sin this morning, understand that admitting your sin can open a door of hope in your life. [13:03] Because there is a hope that will never put you to shame and that comes directly from God. [13:08] To have it though, you need to start by admitting your need for salvation. [13:14] Because when we find ourselves in those other three categories, what we are actually exposing in our lives, [13:19] down deep to the very core of who we are, is that we need to be saved from the life that we are building apart from God.

[13:29] And unless you get to the point of admitting that you are weak, admitting that you are ungodly, [13:35] you can never understand how great the hope of God is. [13:40] Friends, understand that your sin deserves death. [13:44] That your ungodliness brings a cost that must be paid. [13:51] And that is exactly what God delivers us from. [13:55] To get justice from our sin and to give us the hope that we need.

[14:00] Number two this morning, understand that Jesus died for you. [14:06] Jesus died for you. [14:08] I mean, can you imagine someone coming into your life and saying, I’ve got great news for you. [14:13] And it begins by the fact that you are a terrible person.

[14:17] That’s a very strange way to begin good news. [14:22] But in order to understand why Jesus’ death was necessary, and in order to understand why Jesus’ death is a good thing for you, [14:30] you must begin by the very reason that He died. [14:34] Because without a reason, He’s just masochistic.

[14:40] Without a reason, He just had a death wish. [14:44] But there was a great reason for which Jesus did what He did. [14:48] There is a reason for which Jesus went to the cross. [14:52] And the good news of the cross of Jesus Christ is that Jesus died for you. [14:58] Verse 6 declares that Jesus died for the ungodly. [15:02] And then verse 7 explains why that is the most stupendous and outrageous thing that anyone would ever say about a good God.

[15:14] Verse 6 clearly tells us that Jesus died for the weak and ungodly. [15:19] Do you know who that is? [15:20] Well, that’s you and that’s me. [15:23] But then verse 7 explains why that’s so monumental in your life. [15:29] Note what it says. [15:30] It says,

[15:31] If for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. [15:38] And maybe you just passed over that verse. [15:39] I don’t really know what that verse is saying. [15:41] What that verse is saying is that you didn’t deserve Jesus to die for you. [15:45] That’s what that verse is saying. [15:47] That verse is saying that you would probably look at life and say,

[15:51] Man, that’s a good guy. [15:52] Somebody ought to help him out. [15:55] He’s innocent of all of his crimes. [15:58] He didn’t do anything to deserve his death. [16:00] So somebody should stop that. [16:02] Somebody should go and take his place.

[16:04] Maybe somebody that’s guilty. [16:06] But the Gospel is the opposite of that. [16:08] But God, in His great love, volunteers to do it for us. [16:12] That we are weak. [16:14] We are ungodly. [16:15] We are not righteous.

[16:16] We are unrighteous. [16:20] And what amazing love this is for a God who has absolutely no sin. [16:25] A God who is absolutely all-powerful. [16:28] A God who can speak things into existence that don’t exist. [16:32] That this God lowers Himself to become part of His creation. [16:36] Walks among us.

[16:38] Showing to us His absolute righteousness. [16:41] His unwavering holiness. [16:43] And His perfection.

[16:47] And then He goes.

[16:50] And He dies.

[16:52] See, the Bible explains to us. [16:55] That the reason that sin takes place. [16:57] Excuse me, the reason that death takes place is because of sin. [17:01] That death is the wage of sin. [17:04] But Jesus had no wages to pay.

[17:11] For Himself. [17:13] What’s so remarkable about the death of Jesus is that He didn’t deserve it. [17:17] The only crime that He ever committed by the world’s standards.

[17:23] Was that He was honest about who He was.

[17:26] Was that He admitted that He’s the Son of God. [17:31] And for that crime, Jesus Christ was crucified. [17:36] So Jesus was actually crucified for being an honest man in a world full of liars. [17:43] He didn’t sin ever. [17:46] But that’s where the love is. [17:50] God, through Jesus Christ, defined to us how amazing the love of God is.

[17:56] Is that the one who had no price to pay. [17:58] Came. [17:59] And paid the price that you owe. [18:02] God didn’t love us. [18:05] Because of who we are. [18:07] You’ve got to understand that in your weakness.

[18:09] You need to grasp onto that in your ungodliness. [18:13] That God doesn’t love you because of who you are. [18:16] God loves you because of who He is. [18:20] And that’s good news for us.

[18:25] Because God came and in His great love. [18:29] Defined that love for us. [18:31] Showed it to us in a personal way. [18:33] Came. [18:34] Paid the price for our sin. [18:36] For your sin.

[18:37] And Jesus sacrificed Himself for you. [18:40] Jesus died for you. [18:42] That is love. [18:43] Jesus died to redeem you from your sin. [18:47] And I want you to personalize it this morning.

[18:52] I want you to understand that it was your debt. [18:56] I want you to understand that it was your price to pay. [19:00] I want you to understand that no matter how much good do you think that you have done in this life to deserve the love of God. [19:07] You’ve done more bad. [19:10] You’ve never done as much good as God has done. [19:13] You do not deserve it.

[19:16] But He gives it anyway. [19:18] Because He’s a good God. [19:21] Thirdly this morning I want you to see that Jesus wants to give His life to you. [19:27] Jesus died so that you will live. [19:31] Look in verse 8. [19:33] He said, but God shows His love for us.

[19:36] And that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. [19:41] Look at the rescue involved in verse 8. [19:45] He says you are still in your sin. [19:48] You are still in your rebellion. [19:51] You were not asking for salvation. [19:54] You were headed the opposite way.

[19:56] Away from God. [19:57] And God sets out on this amazing rescue mission. [20:00] Where He comes. [20:02] He loves. [20:03] He dies. [20:04] He pays the price.

[20:07] For you.

[20:13] Jesus’ death defines His love. [20:16] But I want you to grasp on to one more key component this morning.

[20:22] His resurrection defines the victory of His love. [20:29] You see 1 Corinthians 15 verse 17. [20:32] The same man who wrote this section of scripture wrote that. [20:36] And there he says that if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. [20:40] And you are still in your sins. [20:43] What he is saying is that if all that Jesus had done was come and died.

[20:48] He would be just like every other person. [20:51] He would be no different. [20:53] No matter how smart He was. [20:55] No matter how good teaching He had.

[21:00] He is just dead.

[21:04] His death would have been useless. [21:06] He would have just been another religious martyr. [21:11] Maybe another fanatic. [21:13] Maybe a completely insane man.

[21:18] And you would still have to pay God the price for your sin.

[21:27] But then in verse 20. [21:29] He says, but in fact. [21:32] I like that word. [21:35] Fact.

[21:38] Christ has been raised from the dead. [21:42] The first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21:48] See what the apostle Paul is telling us. [21:52] Is that Jesus didn’t just die and then the story was over. [21:55] Jesus died for you in your sinful, hopeless state. [22:00] To pay the price for your sin.

[22:03] And then three days later. [22:06] Jesus rose from the dead. [22:09] Winning victory over sin and death. [22:12] Never to die again.

[22:16] And friend I tell you this morning that because of that fact. [22:20] He will reign over sin and death forever. [22:26] And the only hope that you can have in this life. [22:30] That will take you through every hard moment. [22:34] That will take you through every dark situation. [22:38] That will take you through every moment of this life.

[22:43] Good and bad. [22:45] Is the hope that there is a God who wins every time He dies.

[22:54] Because death cannot keep Him down. [22:58] Death does not have the victory. [23:00] Sin does not reign over our God. [23:03] Our God comes, pays the price for sin. [23:07] And then gets back up from the grave. [23:09] In order to win the victory and show sin and death.

[23:13] Who its daddy is.

[23:17] And it is Jesus Christ. [23:19] And He is the eternal God. [23:21] And He will reign forever. [23:23] And I tell you today to put your hope in Him. [23:27] You need friends to follow Jesus. [23:32] So how do you follow Him?

[23:35] There are three things that you need to do to follow Him this morning. [23:40] The first one is that you need to believe Him. [23:44] You need to believe that what He says is true. [23:46] That you are a sinner in need of rescue. [23:51] Admit that you have sinned against a holy eternal God. [23:55] And you need hope to deliver you from that sin.

[23:59] The only hope that you can trust is the hope of Jesus. [24:02] Because He died on the cross and rose from the dead for you. [24:06] He wins the victory for you. [24:09] He wants to give you a life that is marked by His defeat of sin and death. [24:14] And He wants to give you a life that is defined by Him.

[24:21] Friends I said earlier that His resurrection is a fact. [24:25] And I believe that. [24:26] And I believe that there is plenty of evidence to prove it. [24:28] It’s not that He had some kind of spiritual resurrection. [24:30] No, Jesus in His physical body got up and walked around for a while. [24:34] Talked to a few people.

[24:36] And Superman’d His way up into heaven.

[24:40] And then He said, I’m coming back. [24:42] He had 12 guys that followed Him. [24:45] Day in, day out for years. [24:48] Those 12 men went from absolute cowards to crusaders. [24:52] Who died specifically for their belief that Jesus rose from the dead. [24:57] People don’t take lies from which they have nothing to gain.

[25:04] And everything to lose and defend those lies with them to the death.

[25:11] Chuck Colson, who was involved in the Watergate scandal and became a believer afterwards. [25:17] He said the reason that he believes in the resurrection. [25:21] Is because 12 powerful men couldn’t keep the Watergate scandal a secret for three weeks. [25:32] He said the 12 men of the Bible died defending the resurrection. [25:42] And lost everything according to this world. [25:46] Because of it.

[25:48] Who would do that? [25:51] More than that, the Apostle Paul offered to take you to 500 people. [25:56] Who saw Jesus physically risen from the grave.

[26:02] You see, friends, we’re talking about a fact. [26:05] And you need to believe it. [26:08] You need to trust it. [26:10] Number one, because it’s factually true. [26:12] But number two. [26:15] Because it gives us hope.

[26:17] Over our sin. [26:19] And over evil. [26:21] But the number two, you need to belong. [26:24] Your life needs to be about what Jesus’ life is about. [26:28] He promised to gather for himself a people who are marked by hope. [26:33] Who will spread his good news around this world.

[26:37] And we do this by teaching others how to follow him. [26:41] As shown in his word, the Scriptures. [26:44] Once you have faith in Jesus, the Bible says that you belong to his church. [26:50] And that is where he calls his people. [26:52] That is who we are at Village Church. [26:55] We love God.

[26:56] And through the church, we love one another.

[27:03] You need to believe. [27:05] You need to belong. [27:07] And then Jesus told you a third thing that will begin and become the first step of obedience in a life. [27:12] Of being his follower. [27:15] You need to be baptized. [27:17] You see, God wants you to follow Jesus.

[27:20] And Jesus gave us a physical way to express what faith in him actually means.

[27:29] You see, baptism is a living analogy of the good news of Jesus Christ. [27:37] Baptism is the first step of obedience. [27:39] When Jesus was ascending up into heaven, [27:41] He said, go and make disciples. [27:44] Teach them to follow me and baptize them. [27:48] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

[27:54] You may wonder, why baptism?

[27:57] As an analogy of the Gospel. [27:59] Well, first, you see, water represents having your sins washed away.

[28:06] You see, water represents cleanliness. [28:09] Maybe this morning, hopefully, you took part in actually becoming clean by water.

[28:18] Well, that’s an analogy that God gave us as general revelation. [28:21] So that we will see that water represents purification. [28:25] And in this instance, it represents being made clean from your sin forever. [28:29] Never to be judged for them again.

[28:33] Being lowered into the water represents your life apart from Jesus dying.

[28:44] As he was lowered into the ground, we are lowered into the water to be washed of our sinful identity. [28:51] And then being raised out of the water represents the new life that you will live in Jesus. [28:58] Just as Jesus rose from the dead, so your new identity rises out of the water to follow Jesus. [29:10] With the potential to actually worship the God who saves with your life.

[29:18] Friends, believe in Jesus. [29:22] Trust Him. [29:23] Because in Jesus and in Jesus alone, will you find real hope.

[29:32] Pray with me. [29:35] Our Father, we come before you in this moment, thanking you for all that you’ve done.

[29:47] God, while I was still a sinner, you died for me. [29:54] You sacrificed your life for mine. I don’t deserve it. [29:59] Even still. [30:01] But you gave it anyway. [30:04] And you will continue to give it for all of eternity.

[30:10] Lord, my prayer right now for each and every person in this room is that you would give them faith. [30:15] That you would give them hope. [30:16] That you would give them the hope that is in Jesus and in Jesus alone.

[30:23] It’s in His holy and precious name, Jesus, that I pray. [30:27] Amen. [30:29] Right now, we’re going to observe some people who’ve taken the step from death to life through Jesus. [30:39] And they’re going to preach the Gospel to you by being baptized today. [30:45] So first, I want to invite Phil onto the stage. [30:48] And we do baptism maybe a little differently than you do.

[30:51] At your church, or maybe the church that you were raised in. [30:55] Here at Village Church, we ask the person that is at this time most influential to their discipleship. [31:02] To baptize those people. A lot of times it’s Village group leaders. [31:05] Sometimes it’s parents. [31:07] And this morning, Clint is Phil’s Village group leader. [31:10] And he’s going to be baptizing Phil this morning.

[31:13] Go ahead, I promise it’s not too cold. [31:14] And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. [31:20] Lowered in His likeness of His death.

[31:24] And raised to new life in Jesus.

[31:30] I’m so grateful for everything that happens in our Village groups. [31:35] In moments like this, I realize that what our church is all about is making disciples. [31:41] You see, we exist to reproduce our faith into as many people as possible in this life. [31:49] And you can’t really do that from afar. [31:51] You’ve got to come up real close. [31:53] Sometimes redemption takes place in the middle of someone’s living room.

[31:56] Sometimes it takes place in a church service. [31:58] Sometimes it takes place over coffee. [32:01] But it always takes place when lives connect. [32:04] Through the hope of Jesus. [32:06] And this morning, Miranda is going to join me up here. [32:11] And Clint leads Village group with his wife Brooke.

[32:14] And Phil and Miranda are part of that group. [32:16] And Brooke is going to be baptizing Miranda this morning. [32:20] And she wants to share a word for Miranda from the microphone right over here. [32:25] For just a moment. [32:26] We want everybody to be able to hear you. [32:28] I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Miranda since this past fall.

[32:32] And watching really one of the most incredible things, which is to watch her eyes opened to the Lord and to his gospel. [32:40] And she would like me to share this morning, she said, thank you, Christ, for your sacrifice. [32:44] She’s thankful for giving, for Christ giving her a new life, eternal life, and is blessed beyond words. [32:51] I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, lowered in the likeness of his death, and raised to new life in Christ. [33:00] Amen.

[33:12] Go ahead and stand with me this morning as the band makes its way up.

[33:18] I want you to know. [33:21] That you can be saved.

[33:24] I don’t know where life finds many of you this morning.

[33:28] Maybe you’re having the best of times. [33:30] Maybe you’re having some of the worst of times. [33:34] But no matter where you are, understand that only one hope will take you to death and past it to the presence of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. [33:45] And that is the hope that’s found in Jesus. [33:47] If you’re in here this morning and you want more information about how to follow Jesus, about how to come to him for salvation, [33:58] I’ll be right over there. There will be some in the foyer.

[34:02] Step out of your seat. [34:05] Make that next step. [34:07] And you will never regret it. [34:10] Because when Jesus saves, he saves forever. [34:13] Let’s worship the risen Savior together.