Well, once again, it's indeed a privilege to stand here and open God's Word. As we've heard already, it's such a blessing. I just read an article, and in fact, it's going to be in next week's bulletin, about a young preacher that preached. And he went to an old man in the church and said, what do you think of my message? He says, it was not good. He says, what do you mean it wasn't good? I articulated well, and I expressed myself, and I read the scriptures. And the old man says, you miss Christ. He says Christ wasn't in the message or in the verse. He says Christ is in every verse. It's your job to find him. Well, let's look today here in the book of Acts chapter 8 again, Acts chapter 8. And we'd like to entitle our message this morning. What's a Christian before the Savior saves him? What's a Christian before a Savior saves them? And here in the book of Acts chapter 8, we have an example of someone that has a real bad reputation among believers. And his name is Saul, Saul of Tarsus. And it tells us here in the book of Acts chapter Verse one, and Saul was consenting unto his death. Now that's the death of Stephen. And we'll find out just, if we go back, we just see that they laid their coats at a young man's name whose name was Saul, and he consented to the death. And I look at that, he was in charge of this. He wasn't gonna get his hands dirty, but he was in charge of the stoning of Stephen. It says, and Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time, there was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So as a result of what had taken place there, the great persecution, the gospel was spread out. Now I'm gonna jump down to verse three, and we'll come back to verse two and read that. It says, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church. entering in every house and hailing men and women, committed them to prison. So here we have this very offensive, very terrible guy that is raising havoc in the church. He's causing great problems among the saints. And as a result of that, God has moved the gospel out to other areas. Well, in verse two, it says, a devout man carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. You know, I've had people say, well, we can't mourn when someone dies. You better not say that. Boy, if you had any thought at all about the person who just passed, it's incumbent upon us, it's part of our nature to mourn. But we are encouraged not to mourn as those who have no hope. We mourn the loss of our friends. We mourn the loss of our family. That's just part of our nature. Well, we find that in scripture. And yet we're not to mourn as those who have no hope. Now, if you don't have any hope, there is great lamentation and great mourning. I remember hearing of a funeral there in Florida. My daughter's father-in-law passed away, and the screeching and yelling and moaning and groaning that went on in the family was just so unnatural to her. You know, we mourn, but not as those who have no hope. All right, I would like to look at a little bit here about Saul, but I would like to look at some other passages of scripture that share with us what people were like before the Savior saved him. The Bible is full of those illustrations of what we were like. before the Lord came and saved us. Our very nature, our thoughts, all of us had great problems before the Lord saved us. Well, just go over to the next chapter if you would, the next chapter here of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 9. It'd be a while before we get over there, but I do want to read this because it tells us some more about Saul, how unfriendly he was to the church, how unfriendly he was to the people of God, how he shook his fist at God himself. It says, and Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter. Now that breathing out threatenings and slaughter means he'd live for this. This was his entire life was swallowed up in what is this slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. And he went into the high priest and desired of him to letters to Damascus and to the synagogues that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And so we know the account that he went down to Damascus with that very purpose In verse 3, it says, and as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. Well, in the rest of that chapter, we find out how God dealt with this man who was of such a terrible character and is such a punishment to the church and had many of our brothers and sisters in Christ imprisoned or even killed. This man, well we followed out, God in his great mercy saved this man by his grace and his grace alone, God's grace. Well travel with me just a little further if you would here in the book of Acts chapter 22. In Acts chapter 22, if We're studying the book of Ephesians Saturday morning, a friend of mine and I. And before we got started on that study, we wanted to see who that writer was. Paul, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Well, we kind of went over the same tray whole. And we find out this guy is not a good guy from our estimation before God did something for him. And then he is a changed man before God. Notice with me here in the book of Acts chapter 22, and there in verse 19, it says here, and I said, Lord, They know that I imprison and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and they lifted up their voices and said, away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out and cast off their clothes and threw dust in the air, the captain commanded him to be brought into the castle. Now here we find that the Apostle Paul, his life has been threatened. Why? Because he has been preaching the same Christ that Stephen preached. Now if you follow that out in Acts chapter 9 and then several times we find the Apostle Paul here in the book of Acts shares with them, here's what made the difference. I just didn't change my heart. I just didn't have a new thought. Get a new leaf. I didn't turn over a new leaf. I didn't get religion. I was saved by the grace of God. And that's what made the difference for me. Before, I was a murderer. Now, I'm a preacher of the gospel, and he suffered the exact same kind of thing that Stephen did. He was killed for his faith and his belief. Now, as we follow through the scriptures, we find that there are many examples of people of who God saved. He saved Saul of Tarsus, and you know, I can't help but think that there were many people in the church of Jerusalem that just said, he's unsavable. There's no need in this world to pray for him. I mean, I would love to have lightning come down from heaven and kill that man before he kills any more of our brothers and sisters. But God in his providence, God in his goodness, God in his grace, God in his eternal love before the foundation of the world, loved that man. and reveal Christ to him, and reveal the truth to him, and gave him the new birth, and that's what made all the difference in the world. Now, there's another illustration I'd like to look at is found in the book of Luke chapter 18. We've been here many, many times in the past, recent past, older past, but here in the book of Luke chapter 18, we find that there is an individual that shares with us his own thought about himself. before the Lord shares with us, he went to his house justified. In the book of Luke chapter 18 and verse 13, it says there was a publican standing afar off. This is his confession. This is what he knows about himself. This is what God revealed to him about himself. He did not come and brag about all the good deeds that he had done. He comes here and he shares with us, he would not even lift so much as his eyes into heaven, but smote his breast and saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's who this man is. He is a sinner. And you know what? That's exactly what we read with regard to Saul of Tarsus or the Apostle Paul. He was a great sinner. He is one that is going to say, I am the least of all the saints. I am the least of all the apostles, and I am the least of all. And besides that, O wretched man that I am." That was his estimation of himself. Grace of God made all the difference. Now notice in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. What was the difference? God gave him grace. God revealed his son to him. That's the only thing that will cause us to be justified or to be able to stand before God and say, we're in love with each other. We find out that God loved the church before the foundation of the world. And he loved the church with an everlasting love. And besides that, he loved everyone that is in the church. from eternity and with an everlasting love. And I mean by the church, not what is visible. I'm talking about that group of people that Jesus Christ has purported to save before the foundation of the world, and he's in the business of saving them now by his precious blood shed at Calvary. The effects of that great transaction on the cross is still effectual, and when it stops being effectual, this world will be wrapped up. It's still effectual, and if somebody is going to be saved, or we'd have it wrapped up right now. So he went to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalted themselves shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. What did that man say? God be merciful to me, a sinner. That's who the Savior comes and saves, sinners. Travel with me just a little further over to the book of John chapter 4. In John chapter 4, we're introduced, we know her as the woman at the well of Samaria. Do you know her name? Don't even know her name? We know her as Sister Tilly. Lord saved her by his grace. Here in the book of John chapter four, verse 16, we read this. They've had quite a conversation. You know, the most intriguing thing about this is Jesus must needs go through Samaria. He had an appointment to go to this very well at this very time and intercepted this very woman. And it was all on purpose. Everything God does is on purpose. If you've ever been saved, it was on purpose. It's not by mistake. It's on purpose. So he is here at the appointed time, at the appointed place on purpose to meet a woman that he has loved with an everlasting love and his purpose to meet him. Now, he brings up a subject that she does not want to discuss. It says there in verse 16, Jesus said to her, go call thy husband and come hither. And the woman answered and said, I have no husband. Did you notice what Jesus had to say about it? Now, he's omniscient. There's nothing hid from God. He knew her heart. He knew her lifestyle. He knew all about her. And to a lot of people, they did not want to go down to the well when she was there. Why did she go at the time she went? Because she didn't want to be ridiculed by other women that came down to the well. She went down there alone and she was surprised when there was somebody down there. And particularly somebody that was a Jew that asked water of her. So they have a conversation and he says, go call thy husband. And she says unto him, I have no husband. And Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, in that saidst thou truly. What did he bring up to her? The same thing that was brought up to Saul of Tarsus, the same thing that was brought up to that publican. God be merciful to me, a sinner. Here is a lady that people want to avoid because of her reputation. And here the God of heaven comes down in her presence and reveals himself to her. And she goes and tells everybody in town, let me tell you about somebody that told me everything ever I did. What did he tell her? You're a sinner and now saved by grace. Who are they that the Savior saves? Let's just look at another one over here in the book of Luke chapter 8. In the book of Luke chapter 8, there's an interesting woman that we find a number of times in the scripture. Luke chapter 8 verse 2, In Luke chapter eight and verse two, we read this. Well, let's read verses one and two. And it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. That's the gospel, the glad tidings, good news to sinners that he came to seek and to save that which is lost. That's his purpose. Preaching the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the 12 were with him. And a certain woman, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils. Now, can you imagine having this lady, your neighbor? She's creepy. She's someone I don't want to be about. I don't want to make friends. I'm not inviting her to lunch. She has seven demons. Now, I don't understand all I know about that, but you and I would probably avoid her if we knew that she had seven demons. But you know what? This is exactly who Jesus Christ came to deal with. And he cast out those seven demons. Let's look at another verse along the same line. That's been the book of Mark. Book of Mark, chapter 16. In the book of Mark, chapter 16, we have this brought up again. The same woman brought up, and we know her as Mary Magdalene. Who came to the tomb very early in the morning? Well, look here. In the book of Mark, chapter 16, in verse 9, And when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. And what does it go on to say? Out of whom he had cast seven devils. He met with her number one, first person after his resurrection. What does that tell us? Oh, what a person she was, but what a person she is. By the grace of God, she's been saved by the grace of God. She had no ability of casting out those demons on her own. I'm sure she tried. I appreciated this morning, Brother Mike was talking about grafting. My dad was like his dad, grafted anything onto everything. But that graft did not get grafted by on its own. Dad had to take care of that. He's the one that clipped off. He's the one that put it in the right place. And God took over the growth of it. But that graft didn't grow on its own. It had to have help. That's just the way we're grafted into Christ. He's got to take us. He's got to deal with us. And he grafts us into himself. And we're just the blessed recipients of it. Here is a woman that has seven devils. I cannot explain all that she went through, but I know this, that when she was liberated from those seven demons, she was thankful to God Almighty, and God Almighty had a purpose in doing that. He loved her with an everlasting love. He had her name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world, and Jesus Christ, the righteous, went to the cross to die for her sins. That's how come he could do that for her. You know, one other, while we're in the book of the New Testament here in the Gospels, would you turn with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 23? Luke chapter 23, we find here another incident. Who is it that we constantly find the Lord, the Savior, saving? We find Saul of Tarsus. There's nobody in this world that would ever go talk to him about anything because he's too mean. We find the publican, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Did that Pharisee say anything like that? Oh no, I thank God I'm not like other people and particularly this guy. He's made a confession that he's a sinner and that's sure not talking about me. I'll never forget that incident. I've probably mentioned it a thousand times about that young lady that used to attend here when she was singing that song, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And she had the audacity of asking her mother what the word wretch means. She was inquisitive. And she asked her mother what the word wretch means, and her mother was very clear and told her what it meant. And she's, oh man, I'm not that. She was honest. Because by nature, we're not that. Only by the grace of God will we ever say, as Saul of Tarsus, as the publican said, or as the woman of Samaria said, or Mary Magdalene said, or here in the book of Luke chapter 23, and there in verse 32, notice with me this verse of scripture, and then we're gonna jump down just a little bit in the same chapter. And there were also two other male factors. Male factors, that means wrongdoer, or a criminal, or an evildoer. There were two other male factors led with him to be put to death. Jesus is being taken out to Golgotha. He has a divine appointment out there to be crucified on the cross of Calvary. Now, we rejoice in the cross. We don't rejoice in a piece of wood. We rejoice in what Christ did there. We rejoice in him taking our sins upon him. I don't want a piece of the cross. I don't want even a picture of the cross. I rejoice in him who went to the cross. He's the one that laid down his life at ransom for me. He paid the awful price that I owed for my sin debt. He's the one that did that. But he went to the cross. Now, God has given on purpose. He said, there's going to be a man on the left-hand side and the man on the right-hand side that's going to be crucified with them. And they are just. They should die justly. The law has found them guilty to be put to death. Now, travel with me down to verse 39 of this chapter, if you would. And one of the male factors, which were hanged, railed on him, saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself and us. Selfish to the bone. Aren't we that way by nature? Me first. Me first. We read that and we can just see that in that Pharisee. Me first. Me first. And we're just like that by our nature. And here we have this. He's crucified. He's hanging between heaven and earth. He's not asking anybody for any mercy. He just says, get me out of the mess I'm in. railed on him. Verse 40, but the other answering rebuked him saying, does not thou fear God? Now it tells us earlier on that both of them railed on him. Both of them said, and here we have the other one now saying, but the other answering rebuked him saying, does not thou fear God seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly. For we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss. Now, how did he know that? Yeah, that's interesting. How was he able to come to that conclusion? Through the revelation of Jesus Christ. This man is very special. This man. is God. Goes on to say, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. What happened to him? He's being crucified because he's a wrongdoer. He's a criminal. And here he is angry for what is happening to him. Just like everybody, I don't deserve this. I don't deserve this. And he's being crucified there. And he is just as angry at that guy on the other side as he is at Jesus in the middle. And then by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit comes upon him in a very special intimate, effectual way, and shows him, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the person that is in the middle is there on purpose to lay down his life at ransom for his sin. He says, remember me, Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Who does Jesus save? He lets us know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we're quite the sinners. And we don't really recognize that fact until after we've been born again, and then we find out just what a wreck we were. and continue to be. Now there's an Old Testament incident that I would like to look at. You know, there's some kings in the Old Testament, and there's a half a dozen or less that had anything worthwhile about their lives at all. Hezekiah was one of them. My, we go over there to the book of, turn with me if you would to the book of 2 Kings. I'd like to look at one of the worst of the kings. I mean he is terrible. He is so terrible that he offered his own children as a sacrifice. In the book of 2 Kings chapter 21, now please forgive me, I'm going to use a term here. I used to really like Reader's Digest. Boy, you could read an entire book and it took you about 15 minutes. Stories were, all of the trappings were cut out and it just got down pointed. Well, here in the book of 2 Kings chapter 21 verses 1 through 18, we have, I want to say, a Reader's Digest version of a man's life. His name is Manasseh. He is the son of Hezekiah. And Hezekiah was one of the great kings of Judah. 2 Kings chapter 21. Now we read just a little bit here about this guy and we find out he's not somebody that we'd want to have as our ruler. It says Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hephzibah. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. Hezekiah tried to make some reforms in the country. He had seen the error that was going on and he tried to make some reforms and he cut down and took away a lot of the places that Israel had been going to worship. And it says here, but his son Manasseh comes along and he built them back up and he reared up altars for Baal and made a grove as did Ahab king of Israel. all the hosts of heaven and serve them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said in Jerusalem, will I put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven and two courts of the house of the Lord. Man, he's desecrating the place. He is putting altars in the temple. He's putting them in the outside of the temple. He is just a wreck of a man. He is so out of what would be a good king. And he made his sons pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantment. He's gone into witchcraft. My, he's gone from bad to worse. He set up graven images in the house of the Lord, which the Lord said to David, to the Solomon, his son, and his house in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever. Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law which my servant Moses commanded them. But they hearkened not, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom God destroyed before the children of Israel. The Hivites, the Hittites, and all of the other guys that he got rid of, this guy is causing Judah to do worse." Man, we're on a downhill slide. The Lord spake by his servants. The prophet said, because Manasseh, king of Judah, hath done these abominations and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, God of Israel, behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. Now stretch. over Jerusalem, the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, and wipeth it, and turneth it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. And they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their nations, because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger since the day that their fathers came forth out of Egypt. And then verse 16, moreover Manasseh shed innocent blood very much till he had filled Jerusalem one wanting to the other because his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Can it get any worse? My goodness, you go down through there and if you just take a little time and study what he did in all of those verses, what a man he was. You know, I'm sure that there were those that were around him that said, I wish God would call down lightning from heaven. This man has taken us down. And yet, most of them went down with him. worshipped his idols, did exactly what he brought up. Well, things are pretty bad, aren't they? But I'm thankful if you'll join me over in the book of Chronicles, the book of the Chronicles. Second Chronicles, chapter 33. Here's the rest of the story. If we read just a little further in that chapter in 2 Kings, we would find isn't there more written or whatever else is written is written in the Chronicles. So we're jumping over to the Chronicles. It's another statement about kings that were in Israel and in Judah. And here again, in 2 Chronicles chapter 33, beginning with verse one, we run into Manasseh. Another record is made of him. Here in the book of 2 Chronicles chapter 33, surely God will not be merciful to this man. He's done too much wrong. Look at what he's done. What he's done to his family, what he's done to his children, what he's done to himself. what he's done to the nation, what he's done to the religion of the land. Look what he has done. Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 50 and five years in Jerusalem. But that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heath, in whom the Lord had cast out before the children, he did that. and he built again the high places which Hezekiah and then in verse four and he built altars of the house of the lord a repetition of what we have over there in the book of kings he built altars of the host of heaven two courts of the house he's built altars to the stars he's gone to bow to the tower of Babel again. He's led the people back to that. Then in verse 6, he caused his children what terrible, terrible things people will do in the name of religion. And he said carved images, verse 7, in the house of God. And verse 8, neither will I anymore remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for their fathers, God speaking. So Manasseh, verse 9, made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err and to do worse than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed from before the children of Israel. My goodness. This guy is just about equal with the thief on the cross. This guy is just about equal with any sinner that has ever lived on the face of the earth. Now, you know, we have this idea, I may be a sinner, but I'm telling you what, I'm not like Manasseh. I may be a bad guy, but I'm not as bad as that thief on the cross. I may be a bad guy, but I'm not quite as bad as that Pharisee, because he said he fasted twice a week, and I do a week at a time. He's worse than I am. We've got this measuring stick. And we have everything measured out that we're always just a few inches taller than anybody else. And here we have one of the worst guys in the world that is recorded in the Bible for all of the foolishness he did and the destruction of the word of God and the destruction of God's people, just like Saul of Tarsus. And here we go again down that line. You know, there's no hope for this man at all whatsoever. until we read on. This man is the worst of the worst of the worst, and the God of heaven speaks to him. What a miracle that God would speak to anybody, but to speak to Manasseh. Here, let's follow this down. So in verse 10, a miracle took place. The Lord spake unto Manasseh, Oh, to hear the word of the Lord, to have God speak to us. What did he do to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus? He spoke to him. What does he do to everybody that he ever saves? What did he do to the thief on the cross? Today thou shalt be with me. What did he do to Mary Magdalene? Appeared unto her first. This is God of grace. So here we have Manasseh, and he is the worst of the worst of the worst. You read about him, and the record goes on, he is one of the worst kings of Judah. You just can't bring up many people that are like him. And yet it tells us in verse 10 of 2 Chronicles chapter 33, and the Lord spake unto Manasseh and to his people, but they would not hearken. You know what? We think sometimes because we've read the Word of God or someone has preached the Word of God that it's just not effectual. Do you know? Even God gives us His Word internally. He is going to accomplish His purpose with it. Just even internally. He has just allowed us to hear something. It's the grace of God that has allowed that to happen. As we follow this on, it tells us here, one old preacher and songwriter said, it is most absurd in theory and is false in fact, to suppose that when God speaks internally, he may speak in vain. God never spoke in vain once. His word is effectual. All right, goes on here, the Lord speaking in verse 11, wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon. And when he was in affliction, what does he do? He's the worst of the worst of the worst. And he is being afflicted by the Assyrians, Babylonians. And what does he do? It says there, he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him. And he was entreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord, he was God. Can you imagine what it'd be like to be around him now? I used, I knew you, you were, you were the meanest guy I ever knew in my life. What happened to you? The gospel of free and sovereign grace came and struck a bell with me. Goes on and says, now after this, he built a wall without the city of David on the west side of Gihon in the valley, even to the entering into the fish gate and can pass about Ophel and raise it up a very height and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. And he took away the strange gods and the idol out of the house of the Lord and all the altars that had been built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem and cast them out of the city. What a change came over Manasseh. By the grace of God, God spoke to him. God gave him humility. God alone can give us humility, real humility. God alone can give us real repentance. God alone can give us real faith. God alone can give what he did to Manasseh and what a change. He came home and said, who in the world is this? We knew him when he was taken off. Who is this now? And he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed there on peace offerings and thank offerings and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. Now there was nevertheless a whole bunch of people in there that wouldn't pay any attention. Just like he did not pay any attention to his dad until God moved on him to pay attention. He's spoken to him. So who is it that the Savior comes to save? Oh, the rascals, the sinners. Over in the Old Testament, a type and a shadow and a picture is the ring-streaked and speckled, those that are not useful anywhere else. You know, if you'll turn with me to the book of Matthew, in closing, the book of Matthew chapter 9, In the book of Matthew chapter 9, we read this verse of scripture that comes from the mouth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 9, as we think about Saul of Tarsus, the woman at the well, Mary Magdalene, the thief on the cross, the publican, and even Manasseh, terrible king of Judah, until the Lord came to him. And he went home, and his life was changed. He couldn't go back. as we heard this morning in the Bible class. Matthew 9, verse 13, we read this. Go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I've come not to call the righteous self-righteous, but sinners to repentance. May God bless you.