The things, I guess, about the
only thing that's real good about not seeing you so often is the
privilege of seeing so many new faces. And it's delightful to
see that God is adding to his kingdom here. And one of the
things that's not so good is to see the kids grow up and I
don't recognize them. But it's a delight for Shelby
and I to be with you again today. And I trust the Lord will be
pleased to bless our meeting together. I want you to turn
with me, if you will, to 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter chapter 4. Traveling back and forth and
up and down this country, I preach to a lot of people. And most
of them, most of the people I preach to are very, very religious people. Most have been religious all
their lives. They'd made a profession of faith, usually when they were
small children. And they lived with that profession
of faith. They, for some reason, either
because they got scared, scared of going to hell, or because
they had a horror picture that scared them, or a picture that
told a sad story, or Mama and Daddy talked them into making
a profession. They walked down in front of a church and they
knelt down at an altar or a mourner's bench or something of the kind,
and some religious deceiver asked them if they wanted to go to
heaven when they died. And they said, yes. Said, you
don't want to go to hell, do you? No. Well, you know that
if you sin, you go to hell. You've sinned, haven't you? Well,
I don't know. Well, did you ever tell a lie?
Well, yeah, I did that. Well, the scripture says all
liars have their part in the lake of fire. You don't want
to go to hell, do you? Oh, no, no, no. Well, if you
will believe on Jesus, everything will be all right. Would you
like to believe on the Lord Jesus? Oh, I think so. Well, repeat
after me. And then they start to say a
prayer called the sinner's prayer. And to get done, whoever was
leading them a little further down the road to hell, said to
them, now everything's all right. You're saved now. Don't let anybody
ever tell you otherwise. Next month will be a year ago
I buried my mother, who made such a professional
face as a little girl, and died and went to hell. Now I want you to hear me. Salvation
is not an easy thing. Nobody, including you and me,
nobody has ever been saved by walking the church aisle, kneeling
at an altar, and saying what folks call the sinner's prayer.
Nobody. They've only been made two-fold
more the child of hell than they were before. Nobody has ever
been saved. People these days think that
all there is to being saved is saying, I believe in Jesus. Believe
in even the right doctrine. That's all there is to it. If
that's all there is to it, you tell me how come Judas is in
hell? Simon Magus, the Octopedes. Our Lord said, strive, agonize
to enter into the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will
seek to enter in, and shall not be able." True saving faith. Our Lord Jesus
Christ describes it as such a rare thing as this. He said, When
the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? It's a rare thing. It's a rare
thing. You and I in our day-by-day walk
with folks in this world, family, friends, and otherwise, meet
with very few people who know God. Very few. The way of truth and holiness
is so plain that the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not
err therein. And yet because of the sin of
our hearts, because of the hardness of our hearts, it's no easy thing
for us to enter into the way. In fact, it's absolutely impossible
unless God Almighty steps in our way and puts us in the way. Now look with me at 1 Peter chapter
4, verse 18. If the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly in the center appear? Now that
word scarcely is a poor translation. When I say that, I ought to caution
that with these words. I believe the King James translation
you're holding in your hand is the best there is. I have great,
great regard for this translation. I don't even consider using other
translations. But it is a translation. And
the word scarcely, particularly in our day, is not used as it's
used in this text of Scripture. If we were translating that in
modern English, we would translate it this way. If the righteous
with difficulty, with difficulty are saved, where shall the ungodly
in the center be? If Don Fortner and Henry Sword
land in glory, it's going to be with great difficulty. It's
going to be with great difficulty. Nobody, nobody won't into glory
with ease. You shall through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God. The righteous are saved only
with difficulty." Now, in light of that, I want to answer a question
from the Scriptures. What does it take to save a sinner? What does it take? What will
it take to bring you to glory? What will it take to give you
everlasting life before God Almighty? If you will be saved, give me
your picture. I want to show you from the Word
of God exactly what it will take for God to bring you to heaven.
If you're one of God's ransomed ones, I trust that the message
will cause grace and gratitude and love and praise to spring
forth from your heart to God Almighty for His great grace
to you. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter
1. Salvation has got to begin with somebody's will. It's got
to begin with somebody's will. The whole world says it begins
with your will. The whole world says that. You
can go to any church in this town, any church in this county,
any church in the surrounding counties, and sit down. I don't
care what the denomination is. I don't care what name it is.
Sit down and listen to the preacher. Before he gets done this morning,
he'll tell you salvation depends on your will. That's where it
begins. The Word of God says your will's got nothing to do
with it. That's what the Word of God says. The Word of God
declares that salvation begins with God's will, and it begins
in eternity with God's sovereign purpose of grace. In the Scriptures,
it's called election and predestination. Now, that's where salvation begins.
If you would go to glory, you're going to have to go to glory
because God won't take you there. If you would be saved, you must
be saved because God's chosen you to salvation. If you would
enter into life, God must be the one who gives you life, and
that's by His sovereign prerogative. You see, by nature, we're all
lost, doomed, damned, guilty sinners, worthy and fit for nothing
but hell, nothing else. I passed by a church building
some years ago. I'd seen and signed before. and
had a sign on it that said, we can't spell church without you. You ain't that important. God's
been spelling church a long time without you. And he'll be spelling
it when you're in hell if you go to hell. The church and kingdom
of God doesn't depend on you and me. Salvation is not something
that's up to you and God's not sitting around wondering if you
might pretty please let him save you. Oh, no. Salvation is in
the hands of God Almighty, and He gives it to whomsoever He
will. And blessed be God, He wills to give it to somebody.
Look here, Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath... I love that word, don't
you? He hath blessed us. Well, the Lord's blessing me
today. He's been blessing me every day, all my life, and He
did it before the world began. He has blessed us. With what?
With all spiritual blessings. All of them. Folks, I asked you
if you got the second blessing. Yeah, I got the second, third,
and the hundred. I got them all. But I got them from eternity.
It was done back yonder in eternity. How did He bless us? In heavenly
places. In Christ. Well now, how does
God bless? The Lord bless you if? The Lord
bless you if you do this? The Lord bless you if you do...
How does God bless sinners? What does it say here? Look at
the next word. According as. according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. So all the blessings
of God, all of them, all the blessings of God flow to sinners
through the mediation of Jesus Christ the Lord according to
God's electing law, because he chose him. He doesn't bless you
in any way because of something you do. He doesn't bless you
in any way spiritually because of what you are. He blessed the
sinners because He chose them in Christ from eternity. Look
at it now. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him. Now I hear preachers preach on
that all the time, so God chose us so we'd live a holy life.
Well, God causes believers to walk in holiness, but that's
not what this text is talking about. He said that we'd be holy
and without blame before Him. Now that's just a step or two
more than you can do. What you talking about? He's
talking about God chose us so that at last He would present
us in His Son, robed in His righteousness, washed in His blood, without
the slightest smell of sin on us, with no evil consequence
of it. Look at the next verse. In love. Folks think predestination is
a hard doctrine. The most loving doctrine in the
world says so right there. In love. In love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us from eternity accepted into
the Lord." So that's where salvation begins. People look at that and
say, well, that's not fair. God choose to save somebody. You don't sound so strange coming
from human beings. You sound strange. I just think
about Hannah sitting there talking to her. Hard to believe she's
nearly 15 years old. I'll tell you what, honey. I'll
guarantee you if your daddy from before the time you were born,
had the ability to control every thought, action, and intent of
your heart, absolutely, to the day you die, it built it. I don't
even question that. Control everybody around you,
everything around you, absolutely, absolutely, because he wants
the best for you. Oh, what a good daddy that is.
Our father's just that way. He controls everything. Absolutely. The only difference is that he's
absolutely good. And your daddy and my daughter's
daddy's not. Absolutely good. He controls everything in sovereign
predestination. to bring the children of his
love whom he chose from eternity with him into perfection of absolute
righteousness and everlasting glory. That's called election
and predestination. Now, if you've got a problem
with that, you've got a problem. That's where salvation begins. It begins
with God's choice. Now, I'm telling you this. If
God leads you to yourself, you're going to hell. If you can find a way to get
there, you're going to hell. If you can find some way to hide
from God, you're going to hell. Unless God steps in your way
and stops you in your mad rush to destruction, you're going
to hell. Salvation's of the Lord, and
it begins in His eternal purpose. Election is God's choice of a
people, saying, I will be their God and they shall be my people.
is God's arrangement of everything. Everything. All the more I think about this,
the more glorious, bigger it gets in my eyes. Everything. Everything. For the accomplishment
of that purpose of grace to His people. But God's election never
saved anybody by itself. God's election cannot save anyone
by itself. You see, there's something else
required if we would enter into glory. Because we have broken
God's law, all of God's law, because we break it continually,
because we came forth from the womb seeking life, because we
are wicked, because we live as rebels with our fist in God's
face from the day we drew our first breath, there must be some
way by which we can be reconciled to God. If God would save people,
he's got to satisfy his justice. He's got to have blood atonement.
Turn to Romans chapter 3 for a moment. It takes the effectual blood
redemption of Christ, the satisfaction of divine justice by an infinitely
meritorious substitute to bring a sinner to God. Without the
shedding of blood is no remission. Now if this preacher says God
cannot do something, you better understand I say it with absolute
awe and reverence. But there's things God can't
do. The Scripture says God cannot lie. He can't do it. He can't
do it because it's totally contrary to His character. And I'm telling
you that God Almighty cannot and will not save anyone, election
and predestination notwithstanding, without blood atonement. There
is no other way whereby God Almighty can be both just and the justifier
of the ungodly. No other way whereby He can be
both a just God and a Savior. The Son of God came into this
world and died at Calvary because there's no other way for God
Almighty to take you to glory. No other way. Look here in Romans
3 verse 24. The Apostle says, We're justified
freely. I love that word. You remember
when the Scripture says, They hated me without a cause, so
met our Lord? It's the same word. They hated me freely. They hated
me without any cause in me. And this is what He's saying
to us. You and I who are justified, who stand just before God, we're
justified without a cause in us by His grace. through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth in his eternal
purpose, in his word, and now finally, as he set him forth
in the gospel, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. The
word is the word that's often translated, The mercy seat in
the Old Testament, you remember the high priest would come in
once a year on the day of the atonement and the mercy seat
covered the broken law. And over it was the sheriff looking
down, or the cherubim looking down on the mercy seat continually.
Inside the Ark of the Covenant was that broken law. And that
high priest would come in with blood once a year to make atonement
for the people and sprinkle the mercy seat with the blood, covering
the broken law, covering the transgressions. And then he'd
step out and say, the Lord bless you. Bless you on what basis? Blood atonement. That's it. Christ
was sent forth to be a justice satisfying sacrifice. That's
what he's talking about right here. Through faith in his blood. To declare God loves you. That's not what it says, is it?
I had somebody wrote to me the other day and asked if they could
send the folks in our congregation a free God loves you piece. You
who get the bulletin will know what I wrote back to them. Nonsense. Nonsense. Everybody tells us
God loves you. To tell people God loves them,
tell them they're going to be saved. If God loves you, you're
all right. The message of the gospel is not God loves you.
That's not it. The only way you'll ever find
out God loves you is if you meet Him at the mercy seat. That's
the only place where He reveals His love. Nowhere else. He sent
forth His Son to declare His righteousness. You see, God Almighty is and
must be righteous. To declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins. Now how can it be right for God
to forgive sin? That's what the gospel is all
about. He said the soul that sinneth it shall die. How can
he both kill the sinner and save him? How can he both punish sin
and refuse to punish sin? How can he both pardon iniquity
and say I will not pardon the guilty? How can he do that? Only
one way. is that it takes our sin and
puts them on somebody, a substitute, a mediator, a surety, who is
of infinite worth and able to satisfy God himself. And that substitute, that surety
must himself be God. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
comes into this world. And he went to the cross to counsel
him. That man who is God. That man who is God. And God made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin. He took all the sins. of all history. And that's where Christ began. And there's more to that than
just, He took our sin dead. Taking the dead never broke anybody's
heart. He took our sin dead. He said, are more numerous than the hairs
of my head. He said, my sin has taken hold
of me. He took our sin. God made him
to be sin. And you know what he did with
him when he made him sin? He dealt with him as the greatest
sinner who ever lived. He set a weightful sword against
one that is my fellow smite and slavish. And justice sunk its
sword into the heart of God's own son. And blessed be God,
he swallowed them. That's right. He paid the price. He satisfied
justice. You can't do that. If the whole
world went to hell, the whole world can't satisfy God's justice. But here is a man who is God. And he is of infinite worth,
and by his sacrifice he put away sin. And you know what God did? He took his righteousness, his
whole life of obedience, all of it, his perfect obedience.
He walked on this earth in perfect compliance with God's will and
God's law from the time he entered his mother's womb to the time
he went back to glory. He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. And that's what it takes for
you to get to heaven. You've got to be as good as God. God
won't take the best you can do. He won't take your sincere efforts. We've got to keep the law. We've
got to live by the law. They bring the law down here,
down here to your level in the mud, so you can meet it. So just do the best you can.
God won't accept that. No, He won't. God demands perfection. He demands absolute obedience. A preacher, I can't do that.
I know you can't, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You sure
can't. You can't do anything good. You
never even thought anything good. Your best thought is full of
sin. It's you. It's you. But the Lord God has taken the
sins of the people, laid them on His Son, and He took His righteousness,
and He made you to be the righteousness of God. And now God takes old Rick Williams
and he says he's holy without blame, without fault,
a chaste virgin. That's how the book describes
it, isn't it? That's exactly right. But I know Rick Williams,
not like God does. You see, God knows you mean Christ. And he'd never touch you without
Christ. Exactly right. What does it take
to save a sinner? Turn to Romans chapter 8. It
takes God's election. It takes Christ's atonement.
And I asked Rick earlier to read Psalm 107 specifically with regard
to this next point. I'll tell you what it takes to
save a sinner. Everything that is, has been, or shall be. Everything. It takes the whole machinery
of divine providence. Everything. Romans 8, 28, most
everybody quotes a little bit of it. Nobody much knows it.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Now, you don't have to guess, though, what that means. He tells
you the next line, "...for whom he did foreknow, whom he did
love from eternity, and foreordain. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, holy and without blame before
him, that his Son might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom
he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he
also glorified." Now, this is what God does. From eternity, from eternity,
he looked on this sinner and he said, I'll be his God, he'll
be my son. And from eternity, he predestinated
everything that comes to pass, exactly as it comes to pass,
and in providence. He brings it to pass. What's God doing in this world?
And we get frustrated with politicians, doesn't matter whether Democrat
or Republican, it doesn't matter. Doesn't matter whether liberal
or conservative, doesn't matter a flip. I mean, it doesn't matter
a flip. We get all upset with being out
of shape, what's going on in the world. Don't get too bent
out of shape. God's saving his people. That's
what God's doing in this world. He raises up nations and puts
down nations for the saving of his elect. He calls a man to
be king and makes him a pauper for the saving of his elect.
He puts Joseph in prison, has him falsely accused, and finally
he sets him on the throne because that's the way he'll save his
people. God does everything for the saving of his people. When
the Apostle Paul thought of this thing, He summarizes his whole
doctrine in Romans chapter 11. He gets down to the very last
part of chapter 11. He talks about God casting off
Israel, calling the Gentiles, sending blindness to this people,
sending the light here, taking the gospel away from these folks,
sending the gospel away. He says, Oh, the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his ways, past finding out, he said, for all and through him and to him are
all things. Blessed be his name. What does it take to save a sinner? Everything that comes to pass.
Everything. I look back on my past life with great shame. I look upon my miserable sin
and failure thus far in my pilgrimage here walking with Christ, I say,
with horrible shame. I look upon my failures as a
pastor and a preacher with terrible terrible shame. I repented of
myself, my sin. I repented of everything I had
before God. But I'm going to tell you something.
If I could go back to yesterday, go back to 49 years ago in Bladen
County, North Carolina, where I was born, and change anything,
I wouldn't change a thing. Nothing. Because my father has
ordained everything that has come to pass to bring me here
to declare the gospel to you now. Thank you. A preacher, you talk like God
rules everything. That's what I said. That's what
I said. I'll tell you something else
in a second. If God will save you, he'll take
the work of his irresistible grace. I don't like irresistible grace.
That's the reason I use it. God's grace is irresistible.
Irresistible. Turn to Psalm 65 verse 4. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest. That's God's election. That's
plain enough, isn't it? and callsest. Mmm, I like that. If he didn't
call you to approach to him, you never would. Is that right? Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and callsest to approach him today. Thy people, he says in Psalm
110 verse 3, shall be willing in the day of thy People, you know, people who
want to derive doctrine, what they do is when they can't, when
they can't deny it, they poke fun at it. And you folks, y'all
believe God saves people against their will? No. No, he saves
them against their will with their full consent. He makes them willing. Several
of you have commented on my wife's continued beauty since I've been
here this morning. And most folks looked at her
and looked at me, and they, how'd you manage that? I'll tell you how I did it. We
had a mid-date many times. I took her, her brother and sister-in-law,
folks sitting here this morning, actually kissed me. But I told
her, I said, I want to marry you. And she said, you don't
know what you want. You're crazy. She wasn't least
bit interested. And so I started working on it.
I showed her all the reasons why she ought to want me. I mean,
I'd take her to McDonald's and buy her a milkshake every time
I got a chance. I courted that gal best I knew
how, and all I did was show her the very best I could possibly
show her about me. We'd been dating about a year.
Took up the mountains of North Carolina at my aunt's house.
Everybody's going to bed. I knelt down on the sofa beside
her. And I said, Shelby, I love you. I sure would like you to
marry me. Why, she about jumped off the
couch to say yes. How come? I didn't drag her by the hair.
No, but I did drag her by the heart. And I'll tell you what God the
Holy Spirit does for chosen souls. I'll tell you what he does for
them. He sticks himself in your heart.
He shows you the beauty and glory of Christ. You've sat here this
morning, you've heard the gospel from your pastor all these years,
and you've thumbed your nose right at the door. Some of you
have been around a long, long time. Some of you have said,
leave this world. Maybe you've still been thumbing your nose at God.
Hang on, Heaven. Oh, there's God in the Holy Spirit
who shows you Christ. Oh, if you could just see. I guarantee you, when you see
Him, you'll say to Him, Christ is on my back. How does He call
sinners to approach Him? I'll tell you how. He gives them
life. And you've got to do it. You're
the birth. Your birth is the resurrection
from the dead. You must be born again. You must
be born again. And when He gives the sinner
life, He convicts him. The Word is convinced. He will
reprove the world. He'll convince the world. Not
everybody in the world, that's nuts. But all of God's elect
throughout the world. He'll convince you. If God Almighty
gives you life, if God the Holy Spirit gives you life, He'll
convince you of your sin. You won't have to have some preacher
tell you how to convince yourself. He'll convince you of your sin.
He'll convince you beyond the shadow of a doubt. You'll recognize
your corruption, your guilt, your debauchery, your sin. This
is what I have. God help me. And He'll convince
you of righteousness. Not yours, you ain't got any.
But you know, you know, are you listening to me? You know God
demands it from you. God demands that you be righteous. Your conscience tells you so
every day. You can say no all you want to.
God demands perfection. You say, well, I try to be a
good neighbor. You know when you utter the word, God won't
take it. You know it. Is there anybody here who doubts
that? In your heart, God won't take your best. He won't do it.
God demands righteousness. And if He gives you life, Bill
Barclay convinces you that Christ fulfilled and established perfect
righteousness for sinners. And he'll convince you of judgment.
Not judgment to come, judgment done. You were born knowing about
judgment to come, you know you're going to meet God. Now you might
try to hide it, you might holler, no God, you might suppress it,
but you were born knowing you're going to meet God in judgment.
But when the Spirit of God convinces you of seer and of righteousness,
He convinces you that the death of Christ and the place of sinners
is just as satisfied, just but over. And you believe Him. You
believe Him. You see, faith is not a freewill
work of man. Faith is the gift of God. It's
wrought in you. It's the operation of God in
you by the revelation of Christ in you. Oh, if God will save
a sinner, it's going to require Him intervening for you. Turn to Ephesians 2. This is what we've experienced,
isn't it? You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins? when in time past you walked
according to the course of this world? Now look at that. Everybody in this building, everybody
in this building, you all walked by nature according to the course
of this world. Some on the high road, as they call it, some on
the low road, but still the course of this world, same path. We
don't. According to the prince of the
power of the air, under hellish influence, the Spirit that now
works in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation, every last one of us, in time past." Look at
this, "...in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as others." Let me tell you something. This may
shock the britches of some of you, if that's the case, you
needn't be shocked. There's absolutely no difference. There's absolutely
no difference before God in pursuing wealth and materialism and fame,
and pursuing hermitry, adultery, and drunkenness. Absolutely no
difference. It's all the lust of our flesh.
You can quit popping your suspenses. Well, I never cheated anybody. I never cheated on my wife. I never stole from anybody. I'm
an honest man. I work hard every day. It's just
the lust of your flesh. That's all. That's all. Make yourself something. And that's the way we all want. on God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin,
hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace you saved." What does it take to save a sinner?
The purpose of God. The providence of God. The purchase
of God. And the power of God. Now I'm praying that God will stick himself in
your way. And stop you in your mad rush to heaven. and bring
you to glory. But for you, my brothers and
sisters who are here struggling with your sin, this warfare in
the flesh, sometimes you may not speak it before men, but you struggle in your soul
in wonder. whether or not you will make
it after all. Not another breath can resist
us today. What's going to keep you in the temptations that have
taken so many of us? What's going to keep you in the
trials that have taken so many of us? Faults and falls and failures
from which you have recovered have been more than enough to
destroy your best friend. For what keeps him? The preservation
of his grace. That's all. He which hath begun a good work
in you He'll just keep on doing the same thing until he brings
you to glory. He will perform it until the
day of Jesus Christ. I think our little granddaughter
I pick her up and swing her between my legs. These days, mamas are
more careful, so I have to hide from my daughter, but I pick
her up and swing her between my legs. She just holds on, just
holds on, mighty, mighty good. No, she's not but 18 months old. She don't have much grip, but
she's holding on for all she's worth. But her safety, doesn't
depend in the least on her holding me. Her safety depends entirely
on me holding her. And you, oh God it's up to you,
please Christ. But your safety in this world
and to eternity does not depend in the least on the strength
with which you hold it. but rather entirely on the strength
with which He holds you. That's called preserving grace. You'll keep me till the river
rolls its water at my feet. Then He'll bury me safely over
where my feet lie. Amen. I trust that shall put
to you. God bless you. Let's pray together. Our Father, Oh, what a privilege for sinners
such as we are to call God Almighty our Father. We thank you for your goodness,
mercy, and grace to us in Jesus Christ the Lord. I thank you
for establishing this witness in this place, for this assembly,
and for her pastor. And I ask, my God, that you will
grant your blessings upon them. Make your word effectual through
them to the hearts of many for the glory of your Son. We acknowledge our sin. We confess it to you. As best we know how, we would
hide nothing but we would lay naked our hearts before the Holy
Lord God and acknowledge ourselves to be sin. And we bless and praise you that
through Jesus Christ the Lord you're faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now we ask for these here who
do not know our God. Lord God, will you be merciful. Wherever your word has been preached
this day or shall yet be preached by faithful men declaring the
gospel, we pray your blessings upon it. calls your word today
to bring forth fruit unto God for the glory of Christ. Amen. I've asked Joe to sing one of
my favorite hymns, one of yours, too. I'm sure we often neglect
our favorites sometimes. Let's sing Amazing Grace, and
we'll be dismissed with that.