Nothing But The Blood (part 2) - [Hebrews 9:15-22]

Simplifying Hebrews Through Four Theological Words

We live in a complex, complicated world, and many are cashing in on selling simplicity. Simplify your life. When I was a kid, the only thing you simplified were fractions, radicals, and equations. But now people have made a cottage industry of simplifying.

Simplify your personal journey, simplify your possessions, simplify your time commitments, simplify your goals, simplify your negative thoughts. I like this one, simplify your debt, simplify your screen time.

And I thought, well, how do you do all these things? And so one website gave me 25 things I was supposed to do to clutter up my life with more simple things. Set monthly goals, carry a bottle of water everywhere, declutter your closet, write emails on paper, pack an on-the-go kit.

My favorite one, invest in a Crock-Pot. To simplify. What does the word simplify even mean? It means to reduce something to the basic elements, the basic essentials. It means to make simple. It means to be simpler, to take something that's difficult and complex and diminish in its complexity.

If you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Hebrews found in your New Testament towards the end of your Bibles, we're going to talk about simplifying the book of Hebrews today as we continue where we left off last time.

The book of Hebrews is a complex book. Why? Well, because we don't even really know the author. Of course, we know the divine author, the spirit of God, but we don't even know the human author. The book of Hebrews is very difficult because it assumes that you know the Old Testament and that you know it well.

And we are far removed often from the Old Testament. The Greek itself, the book of Hebrews written in Greek is very, very difficult. One writer said, of all the writings of the New Testament, none is more saturated with overt references to the Old Testament.

The author so filled his discourse with Old Testament thoughts and passages that they permeate every chapter. And so Hebrews is so important, but it's difficult to grasp. So today we're going to look at how to simplify, not make it simplistic, but to simplify the book of Hebrews so that you understand it at its essence and therefore understand Christianity.

Bible scholar Robert Deffenbaugh from Dallas Seminary wrote, I confess I'm a coward. I've been preaching for nearly 40 years and I somehow avoided preaching on the book of Hebrews. I'm not alone in this.

I know other preachers who have also avoided Hebrews. One writer said, I almost dropped the bottle here. Like, what is that? I'm simplifying my life and I cannot get rid of these bottles. One writer said, when it comes to read the letter of the Hebrews, we come to read what is for the person of today, the most difficult book in the whole New Testament.

And even Spurgeon, before he grew in the faith, he said, I have a very lively or rather deadly recollection of certain series of discourses on Hebrews, which made a deep impression on my mind of the most undesirable kind.

I wish frequently that the Hebrews had kept the epistle to themselves, for it sadly bored a poor Gentile lad. Here we have this book that's complex, but so essential, I mean, I can say literally without hyperbolic exaggeration that the book of Hebrews, the Lord Jesus showing himself in the book of Hebrews as high priest, changed my life, changed the way I think about who God is.

I think about trying to live faithfully or to walk by faith. And as you walk by faith in the Lord Jesus, then in fact, you do live faithfully, but Jesus is the faithful one. I mean, this book has changed my life on how to read the Old Testament.

You read Hebrews chapter one, and he, this writer of Hebrews, reads the Old Testament in a Christological way. He sees Jesus in the Old Testament. Everything about this book screams Jesus, not just as king, not just as prophet, but it's changed my life to understand Jesus as high priest.

So we really need to understand this book. And so in Hebrews chapter nine, this morning, we're going to look at four words, four theologically packed English words that summarize the book of Hebrews, and in fact, summarize all of Christianity.

We'll look at three last time, essentially only two, so we're going to have a little bit of review since I've been gone for two weeks. By the way, thank you for praying for the trip in Ohio. It went really well.

I was very, very pleased in the Lord's work there with my friend, John Tucker. Very, very wonderful to see what preaching does in a church. Four theological words, jam-packed so they can understand the book of Hebrews.

And the word that we looked at last time was blood. Take a look at chapter nine, verse 14. We're about halfway through chapter nine, and you see this theological shorthand term blood. When you sing nothing but the blood of Jesus, we're not talking about platelets and corpuscles, and red cells, and white cells.

This is a theological concept for death, a vicious death, a death that includes blood, but think as a Jewish person would, sacrificial death. And he says in 9 .14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

And then he moves straight in to our section, verse 15 of chapter nine. Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. Since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore, not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of the calves and goats and water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.

And in the same way, he sprinkled the blood, sprinkled with blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood and a verse we know very well.

And without the shedding of blood, there is what no forgiveness of sins. And what the writer is simply trying to do is he's trying to say the concept of old covenant where animals died unwillingly. Why would we run back to that old system when we have the blood of Jesus, the eternal son who's added humanity and he doesn't have to be killed over and over and over and over.

But here's the problem. All these four words we're going to look at today, assume something and presume something. They presume and assume sin. And we don't like to talk about that. We'd rather talk about diseases and illnesses and, and other things and, and white lies and small little boo-boos and other things.

But God is so just and so holy that when we sin, the ways of sin is what? Death. Something has to die or someone has to die. I'm afraid in evangelicalism, we have this kind of wishy-washy bloodletting of things, kind of a phlebotomy where we don't want to talk about blood at all because we might offend people.

But at the heart of the Christian message is the blood of Jesus. It is a vicarious death. It is a vicious death and it is not a death by strangulation or somehow shot with a bow and arrow. This is a, a slaughter language.

Remember Jesus in Revelation 5, he's a lamb standing as if what? Slain. The language there is butchered. People don't like that. They, they want to have some sentimental kind of Jesus without all this blood talk.

When you see the word blood used in the Old Testament, Leon Moore said it's used 362 times, 103 times to the blood of sacrifices. Yeah, sometimes there's just somebody shed their blood because they got shot by someone, an arrow.

But most of the time you'll see, at least in this 103 times, there's a, a sacrificial death involved when you see the word blood and you are a Jew, you think death. And that's what he's wanting you to do here in this passage.

See God is so holy. How many times did Adam and Eve have to sin before God kicked them out of the garden? Job even said, I abhor myself when he saw who God was. I mean, compared to other people, Job was great, but not when he compared himself to the Lord.

So the first word we looked at was blood and it's the blood of Jesus, which means his death. And by the way, have you ever heard the word bless? Bless you, right? Somebody sees you say bless you. Guess what the root word is for blessing in English?

Blood be sprinkled with blood because that's how we associate even the word to bless comes from our word or their word of blood. So if you can get the word blood down, I think you can understand the first building block here in Hebrews chapter nine.

The second word is mediator. Remember we saw that last time, obviously he's talking a lot about Jesus as the middleman or the mediator, but you can see it specifically in verse 15. Therefore, he is the mediator of the new covenant so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.

And of course, you see that therefore, and it's therefore a reason, it's drawing a conclusion from verses 11 through 14. Jesus isn't the mediator of the old covenant, he's the mediator of the new covenant.

And it's a legal word, it's a word if someone stands on behalf of another. And as I've said many, many times, we need a mediator who's pure and holy and blameless or else he would need a mediator between God and himself.

This answers the question, why did Jesus have to add humanity? Because he'd have to be our mediator and stand before the Lord. And again, does this word not assume sin? You would not need a mediator between you and a thrice holy God if you were sinless.

There'd be no reason for a mediator because you'd be accepted. But like blood, mediator, our middleman, our go-between assumes that we're sinful people. And why hide it anyway? Because the Lord knows we sin anyway.

How can you be the mediator? By dying a bloody death. Now we come to the third word where I want to expand it a little bit, and we'll also talk about the fourth. It's the word substitute. And while the word blood is used, the word mediator is used, we don't have the word substitute formally used, but you'll see it everywhere.

And this too relates to sin. Now before, well, let's just read verse 15. You can kind of get the essence. Let me read the New American Standard. For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that since a death has taken place for the redemption of transgressions.

Big picture when you think of substitution, when you see the word for, F-O-R, the just for the unjust. When you see words like instead of or on behalf of, that's language of substitution. Jesus dies a substitutionary death.

And one of the all-time understatements in all of the Bible, we see it in verse 15, since a death has occurred. I mean, is that not like crazy to you of an understatement? We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal son.

He dies on the cross. And the writer says, since a death has occurred, but it's not like any other death. It's the death that Jesus would say in Mark 14. This is the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many.

Jesus dies, redeems us. Do you notice the language of verse 15? Can you see it there? A death has occurred that redeems. So how do you redeem out of the slave pit of sin? Well, you know the answer, congregation.

Something has to be paid for a ransom. And so Jesus is the ransom price and therefore redeems. I'm trying to think of something funny to say, but I can't say it. That's the word kradzo. When in Romans chapter eight, you cry out, Abba, Father.

How do you know you're a Christian, by the way? Because when the unbelievers, when they're down and out and they have nowhere else to go, they cry out, Oh God, how could you? How do you know you're a Christian?

Because Romans chapter eight says you cry out what? Father, help me. Who put that in your heart to say the spirit of God does. So that's my little side sermon. Might be better than the real sermon. When we are in class, we'd always try to get the professor to get off the subject because the rabbit trail sometimes were more interesting.

Redemption in the Old Testament was simply God redeeming Israel out of Egypt. Physically, and now it's got the spiritual connotation. You need more than just out of Egypt. You need to be released from your sins.

And a death has occurred, and it's a death by the Lord Jesus, as we know that he did willingly. I don't know if you've been around farms very much, but they have something or slaughterhouses, but they have something called a Judas goat.

Who knows what a Judas goat is? Some do good. The Judas goat was a train goat. And it could get other sheep or other goats and sometimes even cattle to go to the slaughter part of the slaughterhouse. And at the last second, there was an escape hatch for the Judas goat so it could get out to go get the rest of the animals to go be slaughtered.

On the contrary, the Lord Jesus in John 10 says, for this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down. I have authority to take it up again. This charge I receive from my Father. No wonder we talk about ransoming and blood together like 1 Peter does, knowing that you are ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blot or blemish, spot or blemish, excuse me.

Now, let's think about this for a second. Go back to verse 15. So that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

So the death of Jesus, of course, moves forward in its application to all of us 2 ,000 years later, to Luther 1 ,500 years later, to Augustine 400 years later, but it also the death of Christ applied to the Old Testament saints as well.

How were people in the Old Testament saved? How was Abraham saved? How was Moses saved? What does the text say right here? This death was also applied in the Old Covenant. Abraham was justified by works, true or false?

False, unless you're talking about the works of Christ Jesus. Romans chapter 4, if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. What does the scripture say? Abraham what?

Believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. How were Old Testament believers saved? By trusting in the substitute who would come. Substitution just means Jesus died in your place. And like blood, this word is attacked, substitute.

Think about it for a second. Does this kind of language thrill you in a day and age where death penalty can't be stomached? They have a death penalty, I think in Texas, do they not? Do they have it in Massachusetts?

We can't even pass a law for the death penalty no matter what people do. Jesus died as a death penalty. We can't talk that way. Sounds weird, Christ suffered the death penalty for us. Here's what we want.

We send criminals no longer to penitentiaries where they'd have to be penitent. We send them to house of correction. Personal responsibility is out for all wrongdoing. Retribution is out and rehabilitation is in place.

Psychologists even in the Netherlands have begun to think about how individuals now in society sympathize with the criminal and they begin to put themselves in the criminal's place. Does in fact the United States Constitution allow or disallow cruel and unusual punishment?

It disallows it. And most people think that crucifixion, the death of Jesus, the Son, the Father executing the Son on our behalf is cruel and unusual punishment. And therefore they think hell has no place as well.

They're redefining justice. One man says, it's high time to disregard the vestiges of a theory of substitutionary atonement that was geared to a conception of punishment which found nothing shocking in the idea that God should crucify sinners or the substitute who took their place.

It's time too to stop the mouth of the blasphemer, somebody like me, who calls it sentimentality to reject the idea of a God of retribution. And by the way, our Catholic friends are happy to oblige with a place called purgatory.

You mean to tell me there's infinite punishment for a finite sin? The answer is yes when it's against an infinite holy God. The cross is real, sin is real. And you can either look at it as Jesus died for me, or you can look at it as divine child abuse.

And one is godly and one is full of blasphemy. I know the world thinks substitutionary atonement, bloody death is boorish and oafish and vulgar and crude. No wonder when R .C. Sproul was teaching a class, the guy got so mad at him and jumped up and said loudly about Jesus' cross, that's primitive and obscene.

And of course, only as R .C. Sproul can do, he had them repeat that very thing. And R .C. said, that's exactly right. Do you know there are people writing today in large evangelical publishing houses that say things like this.

I will attempt to set out through this essay, why I believe it is to be biblically, culturally and pastorally deficient and dangerous to teach penalty substitution. But friends, we know here at this church, do we not, that the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing.

But to us who are being saved, it's what? It's the power of God. Our sins were so bad, yet Jesus intercepted those sins. He was an advocate. It was His blood that was shed and He becomes now our mediator.

They can think it's embarrassing and reprehensible and shameful. And by the way, I don't blame them, do you? It's like Don Carson said, what would you think of a woman who came to work wearing earrings stamped with the image of a mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima?

What would you think of a church building adorned with the fresco of mass graves at Auschwitz? And Carson writes, the same sort of shocking horror was associated with the cross in the first century. Why would Jesus shed His blood, act as a mediator and be our substitute?

The fourth word and final word that summarizes the book of Hebrews as you want to look at the details, fine. If you wanna have an overview like today, that's fine. Blood, mediator, substitute and love.

What's the motivation behind all this? It is the sovereign love of God. Now, when I say the word love, you might think anything that might come to your mind. Some of you music people, it might be all you need is love, right?

It might mean the Beach Boys lead singer's last name, right? It could be anything. I don't know why I've got all these things in my mind about rock and roll, but it's hurting the youth. Is this a romantic feeling?

Is this a deep kind of affection? Is this kind of Virgil's love conquers all? Is it infatuated love, unrequited love, self-love? What kind of love is this? And of course, while agape love for self-sacrificial love that wants the best for someone might not be able to be seen in verse 15.

You understand why it's all happening from elsewhere in Hebrews and Ephesians and other verses. This kind of love grants two particular things in Hebrews 9 .5. Divine initiative in saving and promises kept.

Do you see them? Those who are called and may receive promised eternal inheritance. So if you're looking at outline big picture today, I've got four key words and it's blood, mediator, substitute, and love.

And we're gonna see two aspects of that love. Divine initiation of salvation and promises kept. I think I told you the story about my son's friend. I was taking them to a skate park and we were down, I think, in Taunton and we drove past a church and it said it was agape fellowship.

And my son and I, we would, and my family too, you drive past Unitarian Church, a universalist church, you drive past a congregational church and I'm trying to tell them what the root word is and what does it mean and Unitarians and United People for Unity and Universalists.

And I usually tell them anything that starts with a U is bad. I don't know what you do if you live in Upton, but I don't know how that works. And so my kids look at churches and we see the name, agape fellowship.

And my friend, my son's friend looked at Luke and said, it's not agape, it's agape, you idiot. He thought he knew everything. I figured I'd have to defend my son. Sometimes I just have to let him learn a lesson, but today it was defense mode.

I said, actually, there's four different New Testament words for love and there's family love, there's erotic love, there's brotherly love and there's a Greek word that talks about self-sacrificial love for others.

You want what's best for them, not motivated of anything in them, uninfluenced by what's in them. They're sinful anyway and God loves sinners anyway, not because of them, but in spite of them. And it's called agape, you idiot.

That's what I said at the end. Oh, okay. What does God's love do? It initiates and here it calls. I could say He calls. And then He rewards or He offers eternal inheritance. Let's talk about that calling for a second.

If I ask you why you're a Christian, what's the answer? It has to be that God called me. If I ask you a question, why are you a Christian and your loved one isn't? Is it found in them why they're not a Christian?

One somehow believed and the other one didn't and they get credit for that faith. No, the answer is found in the eternal counsels of God, the triune God and He, here's the text says, calls. This is the kind of call that the theologians call an effectual call, an invincible call, an efficacious call.

This is not the kind of call that says, everybody believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, kind of generally. This is the one that says, with your name on it, I call you and you're coming to believe and God makes you born again.

This is amazing to me that God would call us to be close to Himself, to effectually want us near. The Westminster Confession says, all those whom God has predestined unto life and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call by His word and spirit.

Turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians chapter two. This is one of my favorite passages on the love of God and not some sentimentality, not some kind of weird love, but a sacrificial love that wants what's best.

And you know the passage, but I just wanna look at it again anyway, because to me, it's thrilling, showing divine initiative and why that's needed. Verses one through seven in the Greek are one sentence one sentence, and at the very beginning, he has some really, really bad news in Ephesians chapter two, dead and trespasses and sins.

And basically, you think you're running the show, but your life is controlled by Satan and the world and your own disobedience. And you as an unbeliever, along with me, just was satiated with all this sin, among whom also we once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind.

And we're by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Lloyd-Jones says, we were progenies of disobedience. Can you imagine that title? Here's a description of unbelievers, children of what?

Wrath. This is not God's flow off the handle again. We can't control him. This is measured judicial wrath, consistent, controlled. When I grew up, this was the exact opposite of that George Burns kind of character, Oh God, remember that?

Kind of this grandfatherly-like God that would never judge. But this is the state of unbelievers. Every unbeliever could be described by this. This is why theologians call people in this state half man and half devil.

Ecclesiastes nine says, they're full of evil. Insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. And there's nothing lovely in there. There's nothing good. There's nothing worthy. What's God going to do?

He's too pure to look on evil and he can't look at evil. John Christian said, could God help us? That's the most preposterous appeal of all. It was against him that we have done all this sinning. His law was violated.

His commandments were disobeyed. His image was ruined. His purposes we sought to frustrate. And it is under his wrath we are now. And what are you going to do? How's God going to rescue when we were sinning against him as unbelievers?

And then the writers say, I can't take it anymore. I got to know what the next verse is. It's going to be too good. The first word is too marvelous. It serves like as a missionary to a foreign land, but what's going to be the hinge here?

What's going to happen? God judges, the soul who sins will die. The way of the transgressor is hard, but God. No wonder Lloyd-Jones says in a sentence, that's the gospel, but those two words, but God, he shows up, he rescues, he saves.

No main verb, no main subject until right now. We're rich in sins. What does it say about this? Great God, but God being rich in mercy because of the what? Great love with which he loved us. Gerhardus Voss said, the love of God occupies a more prominent place than any other divine attribute in present day.

But all heresy begins with a partial truth. And you can just hear people say, well, my God's a God of love and all these kinds of things. Not understanding the other attributes. Dear Christian, do you know that God loved you while you were a sinner?

So do you think if you sin, God will stop loving you, even if you're a Christian? That doesn't make me want to sin. That makes me want to run against sin, run away from sin. Verse five of Ephesians 2, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive.

That is love and that is just like a Hebrew chapter nine, verse 15, divine initiative. Who made us alive? God did. You know, you think about those old illustrations and somebody's drowning and you come throw out a rescue line and all that stuff.

We were dead on the bottom of the sea. We were decomposing. We can't do anything. Our wills are fallen. Mind's fallen. Conscience fallen. Everything's fallen and God has to come to the rescue. And by the way, after He rescues you, who gets all the praise when you're saved?

The Lord Jesus does because we didn't contribute anything to our salvation. We were dead in trespasses and sins and yet God would find His people and save them by divine calling. But that's not all. Go back to Hebrews chapter nine.

There's an inheritance. There it is. Love behind all this grants salvation and it also grants eternal inheritance. Eternal inheritance. Every Christian here has an eternal inheritance and God has promised it.

And the word promise there, you can just think of, if you don't know the Greek word, it's an intense word. It means really, really promised. A forever promise. It is trite to say, but it is worth saying that God is the only promise keeper.

What's gonna happen to your inheritance? Are you gonna lose it? If you could lose it, would you? Kind of like if it was a Texas night in high school and you have a fumble. Did Tony Dorsett fumble a lot for the Dallas Cowboys?

Probably didn't. I'm just trying to think of some player. When I mention my children in the sermons, they get a dollar. So just, if I say your name, you get it. If not, you don't. I am not exaggerating.

If I said to you, if you found out you had a billionaire uncle and one day the lawyer called you and said, you get five million from that billionaire uncle. This is better. I'm glad for lots of reasons because all of our family are dead.

I'm the oldest in our family. I have no more inheritance. It's all done. Done and spent. Here, this is the eternal inheritance from the Lord Jesus Himself. You have an inheritance from King Jesus, the King of Kings.

You're royal children. No wonder Isaac Watt says, love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all. Think about what these readers were going through. It says in chapter 10 that their houses were plundered.

You're on the run. You got three minutes to grab stuff and off you go. They're going to try to kill you. And he says, listen, you've got an internal inheritance. It's there for you. You might lose everything here, but you have this eternal inheritance.

This is the language of 1 Peter 1. Let's go to 1 Peter 1. That's another book written to people who suffer. By the way, of course, Christians don't suffer much in this world because God is merciful, A, and Christians are mute, B.

1 Peter 1. This is 4th of July language. This is fireworks language. This is language that you could get a crusty old fisherman to say, you know what, praise God from whom all blessings flow. This is language of inheritance.

Let's start off with verse 3, 1 Peter 1. And it ties in divine love of initiation calling, and it ties in the inheritance. It could be a sister passage to Hebrews 9 .15. Hebrews 1 .3, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sounds like Ephesians 2 here. According to His great mercy. Why are you a Christian? He caused us to be born again. By the way, if you want to ever argue with someone in Arminian or semi-Pelagian or something like that, and why are you a Christian?

I just like to put my finger right on this verse and say, could you please read that for me again? What's the text say? Yes, but my denomination says, and my friends say, and my heart says, and my pastor says, but what does Peter say right there?

What's it say again? What's it say? He caused us to be born again. To a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Salvation's guaranteed. There's trouble, there's persecution, there's difficulties, there's cancer, there's issues.

Salvation is guaranteed. And he just can't get over that. And you said, well, that doesn't impress me. The answer to that, my friend, is if you're not impressed with your own sin, if you're not really thinking, you know what?

I've done enough sins in my life to deserve hell, then this means nothing to you. I mean, can you imagine the law of God? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbors yourself.

If I were to say to any sane person here, unbeliever or believer, could you do those things for the next five minutes? I don't think you could do them for five minutes. I don't think you could really love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength for five minutes.

And the thing is, he's worthy to be praised like that, and we don't do it. And therefore, there's judgment. And Jesus steps in and intercepts that judgment by the triune plan of God, because the Father, Son, and Spirit love sinners.

And you go, you know what? I used to have to go to hell, and now I get to go to heaven, based on the work of another. And Peter can't get over it. He's gonna speak well of, that word blessed there, do you see it in verse three?

It's where we get the word eulogy, a good word. You know, that whole eulogy thing. You go to these funerals, and people just get up, and they're just, yeah, you can be reminded of the common grace of the person and stuff like that, but you know, it's almost like they preach people into heaven by kind of their goodness.

Instead of just saying, I'm glad for my dad, he wasn't perfect, I'm glad for my mom or my sister, they just preach them into heaven. They say so many good words, they think these good words and the eulogies are gonna get them to heaven.

But this is actually a really good eulogy, and this doesn't get anybody to heaven. This is the one who got people to heaven. He speaks well of God. He can't stop but saying, God, you're great. Your mercy's great.

You caused us to be born again. You did it all. So different from the Boston College professor that says, it is the Godfather, not God the Father, who makes you an offer you can't refuse. And the thing is, every unbeliever refuses that because they're dead, because they hate God.

And so what does God have to do to a sinner he loves? He has to give them a new nature, and now they say, I love God. We needed this. I could go so far to say, if I went to hell right now and preach the gospel, if you'll simply repent and believe in the good news, you can get out of hell.