Now in every congregation to
which we preach, there are three classes of people always present. Regardless if it's a small congregation
or a large congregation, there are three classes of people there.
There are those in the congregation who have faith, saving faith,
living faith. in Christ the Lord, and they
know that he is their Redeemer. They can say with David, The
Lord is my shepherd. He is my shepherd. They can say
with Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth. They can say with the Apostle
Paul, I know whom I have believed. I'm certain of this. My confidence
is in Christ. My faith is in Christ. He is
my shepherd. He is my redeemer. And I have
committed unto him the keeping of my soul, and he's able to
keep it. He's able to redeem it. If you'll
notice that all of these testimonies, their faith and their assurance
is Christ, not their feeling. Job didn't say, I know that I
feel saved. David didn't say, I've had an
experience. He said, the Lord is my shepherd.
The Lord is my experience. The Lord is my feeling. They
did not base their assurance and their confidence on their
works, but on Christ. It is always Christ. So there
are those here this morning who have confidence in Christ, faith
in Christ. They have assurance, and that
assurance is Christ, Jesus, the Lord, my Redeemer, my shepherd,
my Savior. But there's another group of
people always present, and those are the people who have faith,
but they don't have this confidence. They have faith, but they don't
have this assurance. I've met people who believe the
Bible, and I'm sure they believe the Bible. They could say, yes,
I believe that's the Word of God. I believe that's the Word
of God. I don't doubt that that's the
Word of God. From Genesis to Revelation, I
believe it's the Word of God, a miraculous book written and
preserved by God's own hand. And I believe that I'm a sinner.
I boast of no righteousness. I boast of no goodness. I'm a
sinner. I know that I'm a sinner. And
I know that I cannot, through works of the flesh or deeds of
the law, justify myself before God Almighty. I know that. I
believe that. I believe that Jesus Christ is
God's Son. I believe he died on the cross.
And I believe that those who trust him and lean upon him and
live for his glory will be eternally saved. But I have no assurance
that I'm a child of God. Oh, sometimes, preacher, I feel
like that God has spoken to my heart and I have a saving interest
in Christ. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes
the heavens are brash and darkness is about me and I have no communion
with God at all. No fellowship. I have, I believe,
I have some faith but I have no assurance that I'm a child
of God. Well, you're in good company. You're in good company. Many of the greatest of God's
people have been people without assurance. John Newton wrote
Amazing Grace. We're most familiar with that.
He wrote many hymns, but Amazing Grace is one that we're most
familiar with. Amazing Grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. T'was
grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. How precious Did that grace appear
the hour I first believed? Well, we're familiar with that
hymn, but did you know that John Newton wrote this hymn also?
And this is one that most people here have never heard, and even
some who have heard it do not know that John Newton wrote it.
Listen to these words. Now, this is the same man that
wrote Amazing Grace. This is the same man that talked
about that grace that relieved his fears. This is the same man
who talked about when we've been there 10,000 years. Listen to
this. "'Tis a point I long to know. Often it causes me anxious thought. Do I love the Lord, or no? Am I His, or am I not? If I love
Him, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly can they be worse who
never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain
and prayer a task and burden prove? Every trial give me pain
if I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild. I'm filled with unbelief, filled
with sin. Can I call myself God's child? If I pray, hear, or read, sin
is mixed with all that I do. You that love the Lord, tell
me, is it this way with you? Yet I mourn my stubborn will. I find sin a grief and a thrall. Would I grieve for my sin if
I didn't love Christ at all? Could I joy His saints to meet,
choose the way that I once abhorred, find at times His promise sweet
if I didn't love the Lord? Lord, decide my doubtful case. Thou who art the people's son,
O God, shine upon this work of grace, if indeed it has begun. And Lord, let me love Thee more
and more, if I love Thee at all, I pray. And Lord, if I haven't
loved Thee before, help me to love Thee today." And that's
the way. There are people who listen to
us preach who believe. They believe the Bible's the
word of God, they believe that they're sinners, they believe
that Christ died on the cross. But they do not have assurance.
They do not sleep the sleep of peace. They do not walk with
that confidence in Christ that bubbles over with fellowship
in the Lord. I think I can help you this morning,
if you'll listen to me. There's another group always
present when we preach, And those are the people who have no faith,
and they know it. Consequently, they have no assurance.
Some are rebels. Some are rebels. They rebel against
God. They rebel against His law. They
rebel against authority. They're rebels by nature. They're
born that way. They're that way by choice. They're
that way by practice. Some are indifferent. They have
just never really faced the matter of death. They never really faced
the matter of judgment, this matter of eternity, this matter
of standing before a holy God, this matter of being cast into
eternal hell. But I don't know a better time
to seek the Lord than now. I don't know a better time to
have my spirit and my heart humbled if I'm a rebel, if I'm indifferent,
if I've just never faced this matter before. This is a good
time. Our Lord said today is the day of salvation. Now is
the accepted time. I'm going to give you four things
this morning. Those who have faith but no assurance,
those who can cry with a centurion, Lord I believe, help my unbelief. And then those who have never
settled a matter of Christ's right to reign in their lives,
Christ's right to be King, Christ's right to be Lord. I'm going to
give you four things that that I think are essential. These
people in the second chapter of Acts, verse 37, after hearing
the apostle Peter preach, they cried, Men and brethren, what
shall we do? What shall we do? Well, the first thing I would
say is this. I take my place before God as a needy sinner. I don't care
who you are, whether you're an old man here, an old woman, whether
you are in your middle years, or whether you are a teenager,
or whether you're just a little child. All have sinned and come
short of God's glory. I would take my place, first
of all, before God. I would take my place, not before
men, before God I'm talking about. as a guilty, needy sinner. James M. Gray put it this way,
Not have I gotten, but what I receive. Grace hath bestowed it, since
I have believed. Boasting excluded, pride I base. I am only a sinner saved by God's
grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows,
loving his Savior to tell what he knows. Once more to tell it
would I embrace. I am only a sinner. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. I can promise you one thing.
God Almighty will meet you and God Almighty will judge you and
God Almighty will deal with you on the ground you choose to stand
on. Now that's so. And I can give
you so many examples of that in the Word of God. The rich
young ruler came to Christ The ground on which he chose to meet
Christ was the ground of his morality. And Christ met him
on that ground and dealt with him on that ground and judged
him on that ground and sent him away empty. The rich young ruler
came to Christ and he said, Good Master, what good thing shall
I do that I might inherit eternal life? That's the ground on which
I choose to stand. I'll meet you on this ground.
You tell me what good thing I should do to inherit eternal life. Tell
me what good thing I should do and I'll do it." Christ said,
keep the commandments. If you want to enter into life,
if you want to inherit life on the ground of your morality and
your righteousness, keep the commandments. Why? He said, I've
kept these. And Christ said, well, go sell what you have and
give it to the poor and prove that you've kept these commandments.
For the whole law is summed up in these, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbors thyself. And
you cannot love your neighbors yourself when your neighbor is
hungry, and you are filled, and your neighbor is naked, and you
are clothed, and your neighbor is cold, and you are warm. Now
prove that you have kept the commandments by selling everything
you have and giving it to the poor." And he went away empty.
Turn to Luke chapter 18. In the 18th chapter of Luke,
here are two men who went up to the temple to pray. One of
them chose to meet God on the grounds of his righteousness,
on the grounds of his merit and his holiness. Two men, verse
10 of Luke 18, two men went up to the temple to pray. One of
them a Pharisee. This was a religious man. This
was a moral man. This was a law-abiding man. This
was what we'd call today a church man, a very religious person.
And the other was a publican, that is, an admitted offender,
an admitted sinner. And the Pharisee stood and prayed
thus with himself. This is the ground he chose to
stand on. This is the ground he chose to
meet God upon. Lord, I thank Thee that I am
not as other men. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
even like this publican. I'm a religious man. I fast twice
in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. Now here's another man, a publican,
a sinner, an admitted offender, who would not so much as lift
his eyes to heaven. He was standing afar off, and
he cried He smote upon his breast, he cried, God, I'm not looking
for justice, I'm looking for mercy. God, be merciful to me. And the definite article is there,
it's not a sinner. You check the better translations
and he's saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He's saying,
God, let your blood be propitiation for me upon the mercy seat. God,
I'm the sinner, the chief of sinners, the greatest sinner.
I'm looking for mercy. Be merciful to me, the chief
of sinners. Do you boast of your goodness?
Do you choose to meet God on the basis of your goodness? God
will measure your goodness by the holiness of his Son, and
you'll be in trouble. This rich young ruler, God measured
his goodness by the goodness required in the law, and he came
up missing. Do you boast of your faithfulness?
God will measure your faithfulness by the purity of his law. You
want to stand on that ground, you're welcome. If you want to
boast of your goodness, if you want to boast of your faithfulness,
if you want to boast of your morality, you go right ahead.
God will meet you on that ground, and God will deal with you on
that ground, and God will judge you by His holy law. You who
would be saved by the law, Paul said, do you not know what the
law says? If any man would be saved by
morality, remember this, he is under obligation to keep the
entire law. Do you boast of your works? God
will weigh them on the scales of total submission. God will
weigh your works on the scales of total unselfishness. We don't
want justice, we want mercy. Christ came, the scripture says,
to save sinners. When I was pastor over here at
the Pollard Baptist Church many, many years ago, There was a man
who lived over on the old 6th Street Road, going down over
the hill there and down behind the railroad station. I'd been
over there visiting with that family for many, many, many times,
inviting them to come to church, inviting them to come to church.
The wife occasionally came, but the man whose first name was
Ed never would come, never would darken the door of the church.
Well, I was sitting over in the study one day, studying, and
the phone rang. Ed's wife was on the phone. She
said, Brother Mayhen, she said, there's been an accident. Oh,
I said, what's wrong? She said, Ed's been hurt. I said,
what happened? She said, he was operating a
burner, a blowtorch, over a manhole down on Greenup Avenue, and it
blew up. He's in the hospital. She said,
he wants to see you. Well, I said, I'll be right down.
She said, I think you'll be glad to know that he wants to be a
Christian. Well, I said, I am glad to know
that. I'll be right down. So I jumped in the car, and I
rode down to King's daughter's hospital, and I found his room,
and I went in, and he was pretty shook up. He wasn't hurt seriously. He was scared more than he was
hurt. He'd faced eternity. That gas had blown up, flame
and smoke and fire. and all the things that go with
it, and they had rushed him down to the hospital with the siren
rolling and the light flashing, and run him into the emergency
room, and he thought he was going to meet his maker. And he sent
for the preacher. So I stood down at the foot of
the bed, and he was lying there in the bed, and his wife was
standing beside him. And I opened my Bible, and I
said, Ed, your wife tells me you want to become a Christian,
you want to be saved. He said, Yes, I do. So I turned
over to Romans chapter 3 and I said, well, I said, Ed, you
know, don't you, that you're a sinner? And while I was looking
for a verse of scripture, I noticed he didn't say anything. And I
looked up and I said, Ed, I said, you know you're a sinner, don't
you? Well, he said, I wouldn't say that. Well, I said, what
would you say? Well, he said, I haven't always
done what I ought to do, but he said, I haven't really done
too bad either. He said, compared to most folks,
I'd say I was a pretty good fellow. I just closed my Bible. You might
fall out with me. Well, I said, I'm sorry, I don't
have anything for you. He said, what? I said, well,
I don't have anything for you. Not a thing in the world. I don't
believe that you can be saved. I said, Christ didn't die for
you, I know that. He said, what do you mean? I
said, it says here in the Bible that Christ died for sinners.
You're not a sinner, you told me that. It says here in the
Bible, Christ died for the ungodly, and you're not ungodly, you just
told me that. It says here, Christ came not to save the righteous,
but sinners, and you just told me you weren't a sinner, that
you were a pretty good fellow, that means you're pretty righteous.
So I really don't have anything for you. I'm sent to call sinners. I'll see you later." And I walked
out. And I say the same thing to you
this morning. If you're a pretty good fellow, I don't have anything
for you. I don't have any good news for you. The gospel is good
news to the lost. Christ said, I came to seek and
to save the lost. The gospel is for sinners. Christ
came to save the lost. Are you lost? Have you ever been
lost? Are you a sinner? Have you ever been a sinner?
Are you without hope? The scripture says, without hope,
without Christ, without God, without strength, at your wit's
end, crying unto the Lord in your trouble. In your trouble. Grace is for the guilty. It's
by means of darkness that we reach the light. It's by means
of death that we reach life. It's by means of falling that
we rise. It's by means of going down in
the valley of guilt, utterly stripped, that we're clothed. The second thing I would suggest,
perhaps you don't have assurance because you've never been lost.
If you've never been lost, you've never been found. Perhaps you're
not a sinner. Of course you can't have assurance.
Christ died for sinners. You can't have assurance that
Christ died for you if you can't take your place before Christ
as a sinner. The writer of Rock of Ages, Augustus Toplady, said,
Lord, in my hands no price I bring. Are you still bringing the price
of good works and the price of morality and the price of keeping
the law and the price of church membership and the price of a
feeling or experience? In my hands, empty-handed, no
price I bring. Simply. simply to thy cross I
cling. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal and works know respite? No. These for sin can
never atone. For sin can never atone. Christ must save. The second
thing I would do, I would renounce all hope of salvation except
in Christ. Now I'm a believer in the church. I believe that the church is
the organization that God has put on this earth to enable people
to worship, to send the gospel around the world, to preach the
gospel to the community, for the fellowship of believers,
for believers to congregate and exhort and encourage one another,
the church. But there's no salvation in the
church. I believe the Bible is the Word of God. I believe it's
divinely inspired. I believe it's verbally inspired.
I believe the Word of God is the seed by which men are begotten,
born again. But there's no salvation in the
Bible. I believe in baptism. I believe
in the Lord's table. I believe in ordinances which
Christ gave to his church. But there's no salvation in baptism
or in the Lord's Supper. Turn to 1 John 5, verse 11. Where is eternal life? Where
is salvation? Well, if words can mean anything
at all, 1 John 5, verse 11, listen to this. In 1 John 5, verse 11,
this is the record. This is the record. that God
had given to us eternal life. It's a free gift of God. We didn't
earn it or merit it. God gave it to us. We didn't
deserve it. And this life, this eternal life,
this salvation, where is it? Where is salvation? It's in His Son. It's in His
Son. Now, if you don't hear anything
else I say ever again, I want you to go out and meet God with
these words ringing in your ears. This life is in His Son. It's in His Son. If somebody
comes to you saying, you've got to be baptized to be saved, you've
got to come to our church to be saved, you've got to become
a Catholic or a Baptist or something else to be saved, you've got
to keep the law in order to go to heaven, you've got to do this,
that, and the other, you just keep these words ringing in your
ears and in your heart, this life. is in His Son. Is in His Son. Is in His Son. It's not in your church. It's
not in your hand, preacher. It's not in the water. It's in
His Son. And he that hath the Son hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. This life is in His Son. That's where it is. Now you go
on wasting your breath arguing all your unanswerable religious
questions and all of your unanswerable genealogies and old wise tales
if you want to, but this life is in His Son. That's where it
is. Pointing to the cross, Paul the
Apostle says, that cross was my cross. I'm crucified with
Christ. On that cross I paid the whole
penalty. On that cross I endured the wrath
of God. On that cross I endured the judgment
of God. That cross is my cross." Pointing
to the death of Jesus Christ, Paul says, that death was my
death. I died with Christ. I died under the sentence of
the law, and in dying I satisfied his justice." Pointing to the
grave, Paul says, "...that grave was my grave. I was buried with
Christ." There I lay, the victim of the law's every requirement.
Pointing to the resurrection, Paul says, "...that resurrection
was my resurrection. I am risen with Christ." The
law of the grave death has no further claim on me. Guilt is
gone. I am risen, pointing to the right
hand of God. Paul says, I am seated with Christ
in the heavenlies. I am without blame. I am holy
as I stand in my Redeemer. The third thing I would do. Turn
to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew, the eighth chapter. Matthew, the eighth chapter.
The third thing I would do. I'd cast myself on the mercy
of God. Literally. Literally. Me and brethren, what shall we
do? I'd take my place before God as a sinner. Don't ever climb
any higher than sinnerhood. Don't ever claim anything more
than guilt. Don't ever hope for anything
more than mercy. That's right, just stay there.
I don't care if you've been saved 50 years, you stay right there,
sinner saved by grace. I'd renounce any hope of salvation
in anything other than Christ. I've been preaching a long time,
but my preaching will never help me. I've got to be washed in
the blood. I've got to be cleansed by the
blood. Day by day, Christ is my portion. Christ is my hope. If I die right now, I'll die
like the thief on the cross, trusting Christ. I have nothing
to claim. I have nothing of which to boast.
It's just Christ. I'm going to stay right there.
If I live to be 75 and preach another 15,000 sermons, I'm going
to stay right there in need of mercy. in need of mercy. The third thing I'd do, I'd cast
myself on the mercy of God in Christ. In Matthew 8, verse 1,
when he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed
him, and behold, there came a leper. Here's an unclean man. Here's
a dying man. Here's a polluted, corrupted
man. Have you ever seen a leper? I've seen one, but she wasn't
as far along as some of them, but I've seen pictures, moving
pictures taken by missionaries in Africa and brought back to
this country to show. We were looking at some pictures
when I was in school in Chattanooga. And they were so horrible that
one boy fainted and another one threw up and several had to get
up and leave. It's a horrible sight. Untreated,
uncured, unattended to leprosy. And this dirty, filthy, corrupted,
polluted leper came and worshipped him. Worshipped him. Now, my friends, he's worthy
of worship. He's worthy of worship. He came
and fell down at the feet of Christ and worshipped him. I
don't ask you to worship men. I don't ask you to hold men in
awe and reverence. I don't care a thing in the world
for this title, Reverend Mahan. Holding Reverend is his name. You're not to hold in awe and
reverence any human being. Put no confidence in the flesh,
but when it comes to the things of God, you better climb down
off your high horse. Let the pot sherds of this earth
strive with the pot sherds of this earth. You match your wits
with any man you want to, but when it comes to God Almighty,
don't let man strive with his maker. I warn you, I warn you. We're not playing games where
God's concerned. You can match wits with me, and
you can trifle with me, and it won't cost you a dime, but you
don't get smart with God. He can take the starch out of
your backbone real quick, real quick. This leper worshiped him. And
then the next thing, he called him Lord. He said, Lord, Lord. He didn't call him just Jesus.
Oh, the familiarity of this generation. We call our large brothers Most
Worshipful Master. We call the Lord of Glory Jesus,
Superstar. We call our large brothers the
Most High potentate, and we call God the man upstairs. Now you think about that familiarity.
But this man fell down and worshipped him, and he called him Lord.
Lord. And he said, Lord, if you will,
if you will, you don't owe me anything, you're not obligated
to me, you don't have to, but if you will, It's the other way around today.
We're going to men. We're saying, will you become
a Christian? Will you let Jesus in your heart?
Will you let God make you whole? Will you let God take you to
heaven? Will you let God save your soul?
That's not the question, old buddy. The question is, will
he, not will you. That's right. The leper said,
Lord, Christ didn't have the leprosy, the man had it. Christ
was lost, the man was. Christ wasn't unclean, the man
was. Christ had the power of life
and death, of salvation and damnation. God said, I create peace and
I create evil. I, the Lord, do these things.
I lift the beggar out of the dunghill. The Lord kills and
makes alive. The Lord maketh poor and maketh
rich. And this leper knew that, and
he said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean, if you
will. And brother, I can say this,
I'm a leper by nature, by birth, by practice. I'm unclean. And
I fall at the feet of Jesus Christ, and I worship him, and I say,
Lord, if you will, if it's in your sovereign pleasure, if it
can bring you great glory, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Cry for mercy. Oh, God said the
publican, be merciful. The Syrophoenician woman, Don
preached about it a few weeks ago, this woman came to Christ,
and Christ didn't answer her a word. And finally he did answer
her, and he said, I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And she said, I know that, Lord. He said, it's not
neat to give bread, the bread of children, to dogs. And she
said, that's so, Lord. But if I am a dog, you're my
master, and you brush some crumbs off the table, and I'll be thankful
for it. No other hope have I. If Christ
can fail, then I must fall. I look to Him to be supplied
with life and mercy and power and all. Were not the love of
God changeless, changeless and free, then thou soon would take it,
Lord, from me. And then last of all, and I close
with this, turn to Exodus 32. Now, I know a lot of people find
fault with what we call the public invitation. And I'm not defending
the modern public invitation. I think it's an abomination of
desolation standing in a place where it ought not. Salvation's
not down here at the front. Salvation's not in a decision.
Salvation's in Christ, through Christ and by Christ. And I'm
not defending the modern invitation system, but I am saying this.
If you want faith, and if you want assurance of that faith,
you take your place before God as a sinner, a worthless, helpless
sinner. You renounce all hope of salvation
in anything but Christ. And I don't care what it is,
anything but Christ. You cast yourself upon the mercy
of God, totally and completely the mercy of God in Christ. Lord,
if you will, you can make me whole. And then the scripture
says to confess him before men. Not to come to the front looking
for salvation. Not to come to the front looking
for mercy. Mercy is in Christ. Salvation
is in Christ. But come before men in baptism and a public confession
of what Christ has done for you. Christ is my Lord. I want everybody
to know it. Christ is my Savior. I hereby
confess it. Christ is my Redeemer. I confess
Him before men. That's Scripture. Let's look
at two or three verses. Exodus 32 verse 25. And Moses
saw Exodus chapter 32, verse 25,
And Moses saw that the people were naked, for Aaron had made
them naked unto their shame among their enemies. And Moses stood
in the gate of the camp, and he said, Who is on the Lord's
side? Let him come unto me. And all
the sons of Levi gathered together, themselves together unto him. He stood right there in front
of the people. He said, Who's on the Lord's side? Who's going
to own God? Who's going to stand and confess
publicly that he is wrong, that he has erred, that he's on the
side of God? Come stand with me, Moses said.
The rest of them didn't move. They stayed right where they
were. I don't know what their thoughts were, what was going through their
mind or anything else, but they stayed where they were, and God slew
them every one. Now turn to Acts, the eighth
chapter. Acts 8, and verse 35. Here's the Ethiopian eunuch who
was going from Jerusalem back home. Verse 35 of Acts 8, Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached
unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way,
they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, Here is
water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? He wanted to confess
Christ. Philip said, If thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. He answered him, I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot
to stand still, and they went down, both of them, into the
water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. In Acts
16, verse 30, the Philippian jailer, the same night in which
he was converted, was baptized. Matthew chapter 10, let's turn
over there, verse 32, and I'll close. Matthew 10, verse 32.
And here the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking, Matthew 10, verse
32, and he says, Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men,
him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me, how do you deny Christ? Just
keep your mouth shut. Just act like you don't know
him. Just live not for his glory, but for your own selfish purposes. Whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before my
Father which is in heaven. Men and brethren, what shall
we do? I, the Lord, have slain. What shall I do? Take my place
before God as a sinner. Guilty. Guilty. I'd renounce
all hope. I wouldn't let anybody pull the
wool over my eyes and make me think salvation was in the law
or in church membership or in baptism or anything else like
that. I'd renounce all hope of any help at all except in Christ. And you know what I'd do? I just
cast myself on God and ask for his mercy. Lord, be merciful
to me, the sinner. Give me Christ or I die. And
then I'd confess him publicly. I'd tell people Christ is my
hope, Christ is my shepherd, Christ is my Lord. He's my Lord. I want everybody to know it.
Christ is my hope and Christ alone. Our Father, speak to our
hearts this morning. Humble us before Thee. Strip
us before Thee. Lay our hearts bare before Thee.
Give us the grace to confess what we know is true and what
is true before thee. We're guilty sinners. And we
seek no salvation, Lord, in what we've done, not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to thy mercy, thou hast saved
us. We seek help in Christ. Give us Christ. Give us his cleansing
blood, his redeeming blood, his great priestly work. And give
us the grace to confess it before men and walk with Christ all
the days of our lives. In his name we pray. Amen.