Applying The Blood of Jesus — Randy Krahn

Praise the Lord. Dan just shared my message. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we're grateful for your many blessings. We're thankful that you speak, that the Holy Spirit is global, and that you're infinite, and you're eternal, and that you want to teach us, and you love us, and you know exactly what we need to hear in the time in which we're living.

And we just invite the Holy Spirit to open up our ears and our hearts, Lord, that you would help us to receive with meekness your word, that it would be implanted, that it would bear fruit, and that we would grow spiritually, that we wouldn't just come to meeting, we wouldn't just do church, but Lord, we'd be knit together and become a family in Christ, joined heirs with Christ, and that the love of God would permeate through us, through our love for you, and for one another would become evident.

I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So we sang about, are you washed in the blood, about the blood of Jesus. I was thinking when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, before they came out of Egypt, they were, an angel of death was going to come over the land, and it was told to Moses that they were to prepare for the children of Israel to go into their homes, and they were to prepare a lamb, or a bird, or whatever it was that they could afford, or two families, and they were to take the blood from the sacrifice, and they were to put it on the doorposts of the house, and on the lentils, that the blood would be applied on the house.

The Passover Blood and Jesus’ Sacrifice

And they were to be obedient in how they were supposed to do things, but the blood needed to be on that house. And when the angel of death would come to destroy all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, wherever the angel would see the blood, death would pass by.

And this is a picture of what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. On his part, the lamb was slain, the blood was shed, and there's provision for everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord, whoever would come to him in sincerity, who would not cast it out.

And so the blood of Jesus Christ is a fundamental part of being born again, being a Christian. It's a fundamental part. Without the blood, without having the blood applied to the doorposts of the house, then there's no salvation from the angel of death.

And there is a part in obedience to taking the shed blood of Christ and saying, you know what, I'm going to have the blood applied on the doorposts of my house. And Joshua went in a generation later with the children of Israel, the same children's children of the ones who perished in the wilderness.

And he said to them, he said, choose you this day who you want to serve. Do you want to serve the Lord? Or are you going to get all excited about the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and the Hittites and all of their gods?

Are you going to get all excited about their gods? And are you going to serve them? Or are you going to choose to serve the Lord? You're going to serve Yahweh. You're going to serve Jehovah. And they said, we will.

Yes, we will. We're going to serve the Lord. And Joshua said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. But the Lord showed me you will not. Your hearts are going to go astray after their gods. You're going to learn their ways in the generations to come.

And we need to take seriously to the things that we've heard, lest we drift away. Because there's a people, even sitting in the pews today, who honor God with their lips. But their hearts are far from him.

And the blood is not applied. They're lukewarmed out. Perhaps they were fervent at one time. But they're not pursuing that righteousness, which is by faith anymore. They're not in love with Jesus. And seeking to establish their own righteousness, so that they can have a label in the church of being an elder, or being righteous, or being a pastor and being righteous, or being a godly family and being righteous.

They have not attained to the righteousness, which is by faith. I want to read something in Galatians in chapter 5. The blood of Jesus Christ alone is your righteousness. Full stop. And when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell you, because the blood is applied on the doorposts of your house, the Holy Spirit can live there.

Because you are holy, because of what Jesus did, when you accept Christ, and there's forgiveness of sins, and you're born again, then you can invite the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of you. And you can become a vessel of honor, sanctifying, and useful to the Master, which is a process, prepared for every good work.

Without the blood applied, the Holy Spirit cannot live here. Without the forgiveness of sins, without what Christ did, without the shedding of that precious blood of that perfect spotless Lamb of God, there is no righteousness.

Not imputed nor otherwise. In Galatians, they had started well, they got born again, they began well, and then they became hindered from obeying the truth. Having received the righteousness of Christ, having received forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of the cross, they now sought to speed up the process.

I'm guilty of that in my early days. Seeking to become holy, desiring holiness, because the Scripture says without holiness, no one will see the Lord. And I wanted to see God. I wanted to know Him. I wanted to know His ways.

The Fear of the Lord and Righteousness by Faith

But that's where the fear of the Lord comes in. You see, there's a big difference between seeking to establish your own righteousness and learning the fear of the Lord. Because learning the fear of the Lord and a righteousness by faith are very much tied together.

Because when we fear God by faith, we put to death the deeds of the flesh and live. When we have a healthy fear of the Lord by faith, we deny ourselves and bear our cross and suffer with Him. But if we don't have a fear of God and we're walking in pride and we do the very same things, then we begin to boast and judge and look down on others.

And then it never goes well with us. We just feel the death on us. We can just have the hell on us. And you know what? We can know nothing against ourselves. But you want to know what? You're not justified by that.

We're not justified by our outward works. We're justified by faith in Jesus Christ. And He said, who has bewitched you? He said to the Galatians. They were walking in witchcraft. To God, it was witchcraft when Paul exhorted them.

Because when you're walking in pride and you're walking in rebellion and you're seeking to establish a self-righteousness that does not come by faith in Christ and Christ, the shed blood of Christ alone, you deceive yourself and become not only a Pharisee, but as Brother Zack calls, a Pharisee of Pharisees.

And we need to rid ourselves and cleanse ourselves of all the filthiness of our flesh and spirit. And some of it can include self-righteousness. Not just smoking, drinking, and drugs. Some of it can include self-righteousness.

Because the scripture says there's no non-righteous, no not one. All of our righteousness. I'm talking about what Christ has done. I'm talking about our righteousness. Our effort to stop smoking. Our effort to stop drinking.

Our effort to stop using. Our effort to stop lying. Our effort to stop swearing. Our effort to look good. Our effort to put on some kind of garments that are not the righteousness of Christ. Having some other kind of beautiful wedding garments on that are better than the ones that Christ gave us, perhaps.

And then the Lord sends his servants to say, how did you get in here not having on a wedding garment? Well, my garments are much better, you know. No. Joshua, he was a priest. And the Lord looked at Joshua when Satan was accusing him and he said to him, you have filthy garments on.

It was true. And he needed to have a clean robe, a new robe, a washed robe. It doesn't matter whether you're a priest or whether you're a good brother or you're a righteous brother, whatever it looks like.

We need to have on the righteousness of Christ. Because our best attempt is not going to measure up to the standard. How did you get in here, my friend? That's the last thing you want to hear when you stand before the Lord and you have to give an answer of the things done in the body, whether they're good or bad.

And you start telling the Lord, well, I took in 30 fosters and I went up to the creek and I had church at my house and I did all these things. And he says, I don't know you or where you're from. Well, what do you mean?

I was doing all this for you. He said, no, no, no, no. You did these things for your God. No, no. You're my Lord. No, no, no. You, you, you did this for your Lord. No, Jesus is my Lord. No, no. You have another Lord.

And his name is S-E-L-F. You did it for yourself. You felt good about yourself doing all these good things. You never did it for Christ. Never did it from love for Christ. And then you have all this self help and all this self goodness and all this stuff.

That's the most dangerous thing. You can start thinking you're in a good way because you're a good person and you can never come to know the life that's in Christ. And so the Galatians, they started off well, but then they became hindered and they started to observe things.

They started to observe religion. They became religious, very good religious folk. And Jesus was not happy with the direction they were going in purifying themselves by their own self efforts. And he goes on here and we're in Galatians 5 now.

And he goes on to say this, stand fast, speaking to the Galatian church in the liberty, in the freedom by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. That yoke of bondage is don't taste, don't touch, don't handle.

That yoke of bondage is in legalism by our own self efforts to make yourself holy. It does not bring life. It does not bring joy and it will not give you peace. And so you'll put in all this effort and you'll be tired.

Man, I've been doing all the right things and I'm just worn right out. We have to come to the end of ourselves, the end of our self efforts and say, Lord, here I am. I tried my best to keep your laws and I can't keep them.

Have mercy on me. I don't want to sin. And a good fear of God is going to kick in and a brokenness is going to come and settle over our spirits. And then all of a sudden grace is going to come on the scene.

The power of the Holy Spirit will rise up. And what we could not do because we were weak in the flesh through what the law says we needed to do, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit.

He's going to condemn sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What is the righteous requirements of the law?

It's summed up in this. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law hangs on those two things. So you don't have to worry about every jot and tittle. What you need to worry about is this love.

Am I walking in love? And we continue on from here. He goes on to say this. Indeed, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. Last night we were at the table and we were talking about circumcision.

If we become circumcised, Christ is going to profit you nothing. Why? Because circumcision is outward righteousness. Circumcision is outward righteousness. So when you get born again, he circumcises our hearts through faith.

That's what baptism is. It's dying to what we're held by, the flesh nature, and then no longer living for the flesh, no longer living for the lustful desires of our sinful passions. But what happens is we come to church, we get in a meeting, we get around others, and we put on a good righteous role.

Not the righteousness of Christ, we put on a good show. And we come in and people who have discernment can see that it's an outward righteousness. It's a circumcision. It's not life. It's not a righteousness by faith.

And if you become circumcised and you try to put on an outward show, Christ will profit you nothing. You'll be miserable. You'll want to commit suicide. You'll say, what's the point in serving Christ?

You'll become disillusioned. You'll be done with it all. But if you can just die to what you're held by and say, you know what? I cannot do this. A weight will lift off of you. The peace of God will settle on you.

And the joy of the Lord will be your strength. It'll cause you to mount up with wings as eagles. So you'll be able to run and not be weary. You'll be able to walk and not faint. Many people, many church people never come to this because they're clinging and hanging on to this circumcision.

Circumcision is not for us in the New Covenant, brothers. Allowing God to circumcise our hearts through faith, that is for us. Becoming holy because of what Jesus did and waiting, as verse 5, which I'm going to get to, our righteousness which comes by faith in Christ.

He says in verse 3, I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is indebted to keep the entire law. So if you want to become righteous, you are indebted to keep the entire law. Because if you break one point, then the accuser is going to be there and start buffeting your mind, telling you, hey man, hey, you blew it there.

You know what? You had two pieces of bacon and you said the Holy Spirit only said to eat one. And you had two pieces of bacon. Now you sinned. Now you're unclean. I've had this before. I've been sitting in a meeting and brother said, well, the Holy Spirit told me I could eat one piece of bacon.

I ate two and now I feel the condemnation. I said, well, it's not about the Holy Spirit telling you to eat one and you ate two. We have liberty in Christ, but we're not to use the liberty as occasion for the flesh.

And we're not to allow the enemy to beat us up after we make a decision that we realize was a wrong decision. We just repent. We humble ourselves. We say, Lord, I choose the fear of the Lord. I want to learn from this and I want to make good decisions next time.

And we move on. We move past that. He goes on from there and he says, you have become estranged from Christ. Someone who's estranged from their wife, they're separated from their wife. Someone who's estranged from Christ is someone who's separated from Christ.

When we seek to establish self-righteousness, dangerous thing. And it's so fine line because we want to be holy because God calls us to be holy. We want to walk in purity and uprightness, but it can't be by self-effort.

It has to be by waiting for the righteousness of faith. It has to come from the inside out and outward in righteousness is circumcision and inside from the heart out righteousness is by faith. It's permanent.

It's a true work of the Holy Spirit. It has to be a true work of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it takes away something. Takes all boasting away. Because it's when something that I white knuckled through, I have something to boast.

And I said, I did this for you and not for you and this for you. And what have you done for me lately? You seem to me an unfaithful stream. But if we say, Lord, I can't do this and I'm going to wait for you until my change comes.

And all of a sudden he does it through cries, loud cries and tears. And all of a sudden he does it. Then all of a sudden I can only boast in him. I can only boast in the grace and the power of God. I can only boast in the cross and what Jesus did for me.

And that's where testimony is born. What Jesus has done for me, what I did, I ended up making a mess up. What he did is beautiful and it's eternal. So he goes on from there. You attempt to be justified by law.

That's outward circumcision. That's doing it by my own strength, by my own efforts. You have fallen from what? Grace. For by grace you have been saved and we are being saved through faith and this not of our self efforts.

It's a gift of God lest anyone should boast. So where is boasting then? Excluded. There's no boasting except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and except in the finished work of Jesus. And we have to wait for that work to happen in our life.

And we just keep coming to him and say, Lord, give me your Holy Spirit. I need your grace, the spirit of grace. As Brother Alene shared, we need the grace. Teach me to fear the Lord. Teach me how to deny ungodliness and worldly passions.

Teach me how to say no to sin and how to live holy and righteous and godly in this present age. Because in my flesh dwells no good thing. All my righteousness, even those things Paul said that were gain to me, these I have counted as a dung.

We got a new puppy this week and that puppy is so beautiful but all it does is put dung on the floor. And you know what? It's a picture of your righteousness. Apart from Christ, apart from the grace of God working in your life, all your righteousness God sees is piles of dung.

We can say, well what about Job's righteousness? You know what? God had to take Job through some things so that Job came to the end of himself. God said, notice my servant Job, he's righteous. Righteousness is by faith.

But he had to sift something out of Job called self-righteousness and Job had to come to a place where he was accusing God and Job had to get a revelation, I am vile and you are holy. He had to loathe himself.

Even Jeremiah had to come to this place where he realized that he was vile and God is holy. Righteous Jeremiah. What about righteous Lot? What about righteous Rahab, the harlot? Where does this righteousness come from?

It comes from the righteousness of Christ through faith in Jesus Christ, through faith in God and in the God of Abraham. This is where our true righteousness comes from. Seeking to establish their own righteousness.

They miss the righteousness of Christ. That's religion my friends. We can get stuck there. We can camp there and we can say, I did all this for you. No, you did this for your God. You did it to look good to others.

You did it for self. You did it for reputation's sake. Jesus, he became of how much reputation? No reputation. Why? Did he ever sin? Absolutely not. But he was found in the form of man. Men are sinners and they just accused him of all kinds of things.

Just all kinds of things. Where's your mother? Who's your father? They would say all kinds of things to him. They would accuse him of lying. They would accuse him of heresy. They would accuse him of this.

They would accuse him of that. Who did that? Who were those accusers? They were the self-righteous. The self-righteous were the accusers. So when you find yourself accusing people in your heart, as Brother Dan shared, bring those thoughts captive because you're on the Pharisee camp now.

Because somehow you are taking credit for your righteousness saying, man, you know what, I've done all these things. Look at this fella. He's supposed to be somebody. No, no. We might discern those things so we can pray about those things or to go privately and confront those things.

Unless they're a leader, we could do it publicly also. But we have to be careful lest we also be tempted and become proud. Because that's what's going to take you down. Pride is going to take you down.

Waiting for the Hope of Righteousness

So we come into this next verse here. Verse 5. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait. What are we waiting for? For the hope of righteousness which is by faith. For in Christ Jesus, there's neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.

It doesn't avail anything. It doesn't profit you anything. But faith working through love. Faith working through love. So just love people. Love people the way you want people to love you. And when you have convictions about things, say, God, help me to be obedient to that.

I can't do it. And all of a sudden, you can. A righteousness that comes by faith. Because our self-effort and a whole list of rules will only produce something. Rebellion and pride. And the end of that thing is destruction.

It's a falling away from the faith. But we want to stand and He's able to keep us from falling. And so the humble shall hear of it and be glad. I could go on from here, but we'll go into Psalm 25. We need to be humble and we need the fear of the Lord.

This is how we're going to grow spiritually. And this is how we're going to have a righteousness which comes by faith. Psalm 25. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Don't lift up your soul to an idol or any other God.

Oh my God, I trust in you. When the answer isn't coming, brothers, sisters, when you're not hearing clear, you don't know what to do, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding.

Wait on the Lord. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies triumph over me. You don't know what to do. Bad reports come. Your flesh wants you to do all kinds of weird things. Wait on the Lord. Wait patiently for Him.

And He's going to come. He's going to come and settle you. I think of this Psalm. I think it's Psalm 91. A thousand may fall at your side. We've seen it even this week. People passing, people dying. Ten thousand at your right hand.

It shall not come near your house. Why? Because we are under the shadow of His pinions. We're under the shadow of the Almighty. He is a strong tower for us. The righteous run into Him. The righteous run into it, this strong power, and they're safe.

It has reference to being in a plague. But you know what? When the enemy comes to come and buffet us and to come and take us out, spiritually speaking, to discourage us, to draw us back, to run. Run into Him.

Run to the Lord and find safety, surety in Him, in Christ. Indeed, verse 3, let no one who waits on you. I have here in my margin, who waits on you in faith. We can just wait knuckles. I'm waiting. Nothing's happening.

But just say, Lord, I'm trusting. I don't know what it's going to look like, but I'm not going to panic and I'm not going to do something dumb. I'm waiting on you for an answer. Help me, Jesus. Help me.

I'm waiting for your salvation. Crying with loud cries and tears. Jesus, save me. Jesus, help me. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. We go through many afflictions. Many are the afflictions of the righteous.

We need salvation in every one of them. Right? Maybe you don't got victory over anger. Maybe it's got you and you're not getting the victory. You need to humble yourself and say, Lord, I've got to get victory over this anger.

I can't do it. I keep messing up. I don't want to be like this. And you cry out with loud cries and tears to him who can save you from death. That's when you'll be hurt. And all of a sudden, something will happen on the inside.

Your circumstances won't change. They'll still make you frustrated, but you are not going to respond according to the flesh. You're going to respond from love. You're going to correct in love. You're going to speak to the situation in love.

And that's what we need the Holy Spirit to do. Indeed, let no one who waits on you be ashamed. Let those be ashamed who deal terribly, treacherously, without cause. Show me your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths.

We need to know the ways of the Lord. I was reading in Psalm 34, I think verse 11, it says, then I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Show me your ways. Teach me your paths. We need to learn the fear of the Lord.

It can be taught. Who is the man or the woman who would love life and see many days? I'm going to teach you the fear of the Lord right now. Guard the door of your tongue. There's poison in it. Be careful that you bless and not curse.

No man can tame it. Ask the Lord to give you grace over your tongue. I will teach you. Keep his lips from speaking evil, your tongue from speaking deceitful things. Then your life will be long in the earth.

God will preserve your life, not just naturally, but spiritually speaking. You'll be a blessing. Don't just give someone a piece of your mind. Bring thoughts captive. As Dan shared about putting on that turban of salvation, that helmet of salvation, having a clean mind, right?

Having a clean turban, having a clean mind and a pure heart, not lifting up your soul to an idol, to another. The Lord is able to help us through the power of his grace, not by self efforts. Yes, there's going to be some suffering, some self control involved, but the power has to come from him.

Otherwise it will never be eternal. It won't last. You are the God of my salvation on you. I will wait in faith all day. We had the trial a few weeks ago, a month ago, and I shared it from here. And the Lord delivered us from our fears.

He delivered us. Some brothers said, well, let's fast. I don't like people asking people to fast for our cause. I don't want people to be afflicted because of us. But you know what? They come alongside and some brothers said, you know what?

We're going to, we're going to use it as an occasion to pray for our brother. And you know what? The report came a month later, approximately a month later, the Lord delivered us from all our fears. He spared us.

He helped us. And it was because we waited on him. We didn't act upon the thoughts that came in our head. We had all kinds of thoughts. And we started to call a lawyer and we started to do certain things.

And then we just decided we're going to just leave it all now. And we're just going to trust the Lord. We're going to wait on him. And whatever happens, we're going to trust him. And he saved us from all those fears.

He helped us. We're grateful to the Lord. There's many afflictions and many trials come and we have to be tested. How do you know whether you're battle ready? Unless you're tested. You say, well, I want to walk in love.

I know I need to walk in love. Love is first what? Patient and kind and gentle. Doesn't envy, doesn't boast, is not proud, is not self-seeking, what's in it for me. This is the way of the flesh. But the other, the way of the, of love is the way of the spirit.

Notice the very first thing is love is patient. You want to become like Christ, then you're going to go in a situation where you need to learn patience. If you don't learn it, you'll run. And many people, they receive the word with gladness, but then when temptation comes, when trials come, when the heat gets turned up, they immediately stumble.

They run away. They get out of the furnace and they never overcome. They never learn God's ways in allowing the Lord to do a miracle for them and allowing the Lord to do it. They run. They try to solve it on their own.

I've been there. I've done it. But now as we grow spiritually, we want to just rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him. Rest in him. Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindness, for they are from of old.

Do not remember the sins of my youth nor my rebellious ways. I don't know about you, but we need to have a revelation of the sins of our youth of times past and of our rebellious ways. Otherwise, no one can ever be born again.

That's why a lot of people get these dramatic born-again experiences. You want to know why? Because they know that they're no good. They know that there's no hope doing it their way. And so they cry out to the Lord and the Lord meets with them.

And then there's people who were born in a Christian house and they did everything sort of right, but they've never met Jesus. And I say, remember not the sins of my youth. Well, I don't have any sins in my youth.

I don't have any rebellious ways. You haven't had light on yourself yet. Thus means you're not born again yet. You need to see yourself as having a righteousness the way God sees it. Menstrual rags, filthy rags.

I don't care how righteous you think you are, unless you get a revelation of your spiritual state apart from Christ, there's no righteousness. We might say that someone is righteous. God might call us righteous.

When God calls us righteous, it's always a righteousness which is by faith. It will result in sanctification and holiness. You can't have someone who's righteous apart from holiness. It doesn't make sense.

When you have the Spirit of Christ in you, when you have the Holy Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit is going to lead you and guide you into all truth. And that involves the righteousness of God by faith.

That involves sanctifying yourself, purifying yourself, and it'll go beyond the law. It'll go beyond the law. Making restitution was monetary. I remember being at places where I said, well, I spray-painted this guy's building because I was mad at him.

In pride, I wanted him to get one up on him, and I had to go and confess. I spray-painted your building. I wrecked your stuff. I'm here with a check. Yes, it was monetary, but I had to humble myself.

Making restitution is a big, big thing with God because it's humbling yourself. It's admitting. It doesn't make you holy. Christ makes you holy, but restitution makes you humble. It just takes away any boasting.

He said, what are you going to boast in? I boasted in that I had to go and give a guy a thousand bucks. I stole it from his drawer. I broke into his house and stole it from his drawer, and I had to make that right, and I got a criminal record out of it.

It makes you humble. Humility will cause you to stand. Pride will cause you to fall. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you about these things, and when the Holy Spirit speaks, don't drag your feet. Obey quickly.

Humility, Teachability, and the Fear of the Lord

Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways. According to your mercy, remember me for your good name's sake, for your goodness' sake. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he teaches sinners the way.

He teaches sinners the way. Which sinners? The world says sinners. I have written in my margin, humble sinners. He teaches humble sinners in the way. You have someone who's a sinner. I've had people as arrogant as anything, oh, I'm a sinner.

They're not humble sinners. They're not teachable, but someone who says, you know what? I'm a sinner, and I need to change. Well, that person you can teach. You can't teach a proud person. You can teach a humble person, and God's not going to teach you nothing unless you humble yourself and say, Lord, have your own way.

I don't want to be this way anymore. He teaches sinners in the way, and this confirms it. The humble he guides in justice. The humble he teaches his way. Humble sinners he teaches his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.

To such as keep his word, his covenant, and his testimonies. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my sin, for it is great. Have you had a revelation of your sin before God? Have you had a revelation that all your righteousness up till now, and your church activity, and your church attendance, and your Sunday school service is all filthy rags before God?

I think it was Ian Paisley that I was listening to not too long ago, and he had a lady there, and she was a Presbyterian, and he said that she was just a staunch individual that had all kinds of outward righteousness, and he went to visit her, and he told her it would be the last time he would be visiting her because she didn't have a revelation of her sin, and finally he said, this is the last time I'm going to visit you.

Grandma, he called her, and he walked out of the room, and she stopped him, and she said would Jesus have mercy on a sinner of a certain number of years on someone like me? And he said he led her to Jesus, and she repented, and she got born again.

Someone who was a good church person for 40 some years, nearing the end of her life, 40 some years. Wasn't drinking, wasn't smoking, wasn't swearing, was giving in the service, but never got born again.

It's night and day between religion and being born again. Jesus said you must be born again. The apostles, the brothers said you've got to be born again to inherit the kingdom of God. It says in Galatians 5, the works of the flesh are evident, and if you look in there and you say that's me, envy, jealousy, outbursts of anger, sexual morality, drunkenness, idolatry, you love anything else more than the Lord, self-righteousness, whatever it might be.