Preparing for the Perfect Storm

Or if you prefer, the passage
is there in the bulletin with a few spaces for notes. Find ourselves in Luke chapter
12 this morning. This ongoing discussion that
Jesus has been having. Been through a number of storms
in my a day, not what I would call earth-shaking or world-shaping
events, but I’ve been through some doozies. I lived through
the blizzard of 1982. I shoveled my driveway in the
blizzard of 2003. I lived in Texas where the thunderstorms
that come through there are really power-packed. They make ours
look wimpy and without the mountains, the echoes from the thunder seem
to just pick up intensity as they go across the plains. I’ve lived in California where
we had several 100 year floods in the four years that I lived
there. Lived in Arizona where they had several 500 year floods
in the three years that I lived there. I’ve lived through some
doozies, but I’ve never lived through the perfect storm. There
was a storm that came to the coast of the United States in
1991. It was known as the No Name Storm. Because in late October
and November, essentially, they’re months of transition. Cold weather
is coming, warm waters are still surging up the coast of the United
States, the Atlantic. All these cold air masses begin
to come down from Canada and they begin to converge against
the warm air masses and the warm waters of the Atlantic. And it
has a tendency to produce what is known as a nor’easter. And
sometimes they can produce some pretty substantial storms. That was the case in October
of 1991. A cold front came swooping down from Canada. and it came
colliding into two other additional storms, one that was stalled
on the coast as well as the warm water, essentially what had become
a tropical depression downgraded from a hurricane moving up the
coast. It was stronger than any storm
recorded in history. It hit off the coast of Gloucester,
Massachusetts and became known through the writings of one as
the perfect storm eventually turned into a movie. It was so
called because it was three storms really, as I mentioned, that
collided and combined into one far beyond the intensity of many
of the hurricanes that have hit the United States. Some boats
encountered hundred foot waves. One described it in these terms.
He said we had an old hurricane that was beginning to die out
in the Atlantic, Hurricane Grace. At the same time, there was energy
coming across the Great Lakes. You had an old frontal system
that was around the New England area. And basically what happened
is that the energy from these three storms combined over time
in the Atlantic. And as time went on, the energy
caused the old hurricane essentially to regenerate itself. And it
basically became another hurricane. It’s known as the no-name storm
because they generally don’t count hurricanes that far north
because they never happen. Hurricanes are constituted much
further south near the equator. And as they move towards the
United States, that’s when they’re named, not as they’re exiting. It produced, as I said, 100 foot
waves, 65 mile an hour sustained winds along the coast, 100 mile
an hour winds near the eye of the storm, incredible seas and
incredible destruction, the likes of which this country has seen
only on few occasions. To chronicle it, North Carolina’s
coast was lashed with winds of 50 miles an hour for five consecutive
days. In New England, peaks gusted
at nearly 80 miles an hour. But even more damaging than that
was the surf that this storm produced. Coastal flooding, tremendous
seas, high tides, waves of 10 to 30 feet were common from North
Carolina all the way to Nova Scotia. In New Jersey, the greatest
tidal departure of winter storms on record occurred during this
particular event. A record high tide of 7.8 feet
occurred in Ocean City, Maryland. In Massachusetts, 25-foot waves
reached the shoreline. And all along the coast, these
treacherous waves broke and did damage. Beach erosion, coastal
flooding were severe. Hundreds of homes and businesses
were knocked from their foundations and destroyed. Sea walls, boardwalks,
bulkheads, piers were all reduced to rubble. Numerous small boats
were sunk and the total damage of what some called the Halloween
storm was dated in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But you know what? compared to
God’s storm, that’s just a spring shower. Jesus wants His people
to know that there’s a storm coming and that no earthly storm
can even compare in any way, shape or form. Jesus had been appealing to His
own apostles, His disciples, to be ready. To be ready for
the end. Whether it was a personal end
or whether it was the judgment of God, And no doubt, our merciful
Savior looked out beyond the crowd, beyond those that claim
to be His disciples, His true followers, beyond His apostles
whom He knew to be true. He looked to the crowd. He looked
to this ragtag bunch of people, many of whom did not believe
Him. And He made an impassioned appeal to prepare for the storm
of the century, to prepare for the storm of all storms, The
perfect storm. God’s storm is the perfect storm. If you would look, beginning
in verse 54 of Luke chapter 12. He was also saying to the crowds,
when you see a cloud rising in the West, immediately you say
a shower is coming. And so it turns out. And when
you see a south wind blowing, you say it will be hot today. And it turns out that way. You
hypocrites. You know how to analyze the appearance
of the earth and sky, but why do you not analyze the present
time? Why do you not even on your own
initiative judge what is right? For while you are going with
your opponent to appear before the magistrate, on your way there,
make an effort to settle with him. so that he might not drag
you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer,
and the officer throw you in prison. I say to you, you will
not get out of there until you have paid the very last cent.” Here was Jesus walking and working
and talking with His own apostles, many of whom were fishermen by
trade. This was a largely fishing related community that he was
appealing to. Everybody knew the imagery. They
all were amateur weathermen. And Jesus seizes that moment
and he seizes those images and he drives the point into their
mind that, you know what, a far greater storm is on the horizon
and you better get ready. I beg you to get ready. Note right there in verse 54,
Jesus changes the audience. He, as I said, had been talking
to the apostles. And since chapter 11, He has
been moving in various contexts, changing all the time those whom
He was speaking to. Flip back, if you would, all
the way back to Luke chapter 10. And I’ll take you just on
a tour of what I call the black words If you have one of those
Bibles that converts the words of Jesus to red, don’t think
for a moment that the words in black aren’t important. That
little device is a device that I wish were never created. It’s
handy sometimes. But you know what? Sometimes
we can ignore the words in black as if they’re unimportant, irrelevant. Jesus says, don’t do that. There’s
some important data here in the black words. Look at verse 38
of chapter 10. As they were traveling along,
he entered a village and a woman named Martha came to him, welcomed
him into her home. Here he had the audience of one
initially. It broadened eventually, but
what Luke does is paint the picture of Jesus ministering to the individual. Look at Luke chapter 11, verse
1. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place,
after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord,
teach us to pray. And the transition there is from
this intimate home setting to one that was supposed to be private,
that suddenly the apostles turn into a mini retreat. Look at verse 14 of that chapter.
Suddenly we find Jesus. He was casting out a demon. It
was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke.
The crowds were amazed. The crowds are ubiquitous. They
always seem to be around Christ. They’re always thronging around
him. It’s almost unnecessary that Luke should point out that
the crowds were watching. But he does. But some of them
said he cast out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. Others
detest him. There was this big division. Look at verse 37. Now, when he had spoken, a Pharisee
asked him to have lunch with him and he went in and he reclined
at the table. And now we’re back into another
intimate setting. It proved to be anything but
a pleasant experience. Verse 53 says that when he left
there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be hostile. So it pictures
Christ in transition. Crowds still following him, and
we come into chapter 12. In chapter 12, verse one, it
says that under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people
had gathered together, that they were stepping on one another.
There’s your context. Now there is such this crowd
gathered about Christ that they’re literally mauling one another.
Verse 13. Gone is the intimate setting
of the Pharisee’s home. Now he’s in this screaming throng
and somebody suddenly, verse 13, yells out from the crowd,
Teacher, tell my brother to defy the family inheritance with me. and somewhat of a curtailed setting. Finally, we see in verse 41,
perhaps still with the crowds milling about, gathering about.
In verse 41, Peter says, Lord, are you addressing this parable
to us or everyone else as well? We don’t know if he whispered,
but it certainly seems more intimate than what was yelled to him from
the crowd. And then we find ourselves finally
in verse 54. Jesus dealing with all these
varied settings. And it says that He said to the
crowds. Jesus didn’t want to leave anyone behind. Jesus knew
that there was a storm gathering on the horizon and He took this
occasion When he could have just pressed onwards, when he could
have just ministered to his apostles and left the work to them. He
laid hold of this moment. And he appealed to the people,
prepare for the perfect storm, get ready. What I want to give
you this morning is twin motives, two things, two motives for securing
peace with God. Two motives for securing peace
with God. First of all, we are urged to
seek reconciliation with God because of our tendency to analyze the physical realm. We have this tendency, this expertise,
really, to analyze the physical realm And Jesus, in essence,
says that if we analyze the physical realm, and we’re so good at it,
aren’t we? Why on earth? Why on earth don’t
we apply the same reasoning power to the spiritual realm? Look
back at verse 54. He was saying to the crowds,
when you see a cloud rising in the West, immediately you say,
a shower is coming. There’s an old saying, red sky
at morning, sailor take warning, right? Have you used that one?
Maybe not. But certainly if you’re living
in Colorado and you see those puffy clouds and you feel the
temperature drop and you see those puffy clouds forming over
the mountains, you know what’s coming. If you’re on the plains,
we don’t get much rain here in Fort Collins, so you’ve got to
go east about 60 miles. And you know what’s coming. A deluge
in Texas, which was an interesting experience for me. I’ll never forget the
day that I walked into the 7-Eleven. Clouds were gathering. It was
a beautiful day. I walked into the 7-Eleven. It was a beautiful
day. I walked into the 7-Eleven. It was a beautiful day. I walked
into the 7-Eleven. And the lady looked to me and
she said, it’s coming up a cloud. I said, what? It’s coming up
a cloud. I knew it was some form of a
question or a statement, and so I said, yes, I suppose so. What she intended to communicate
to me is one who speaks perfectly, is that it was preparing to rain.
And if she had said, it’s preparing to rain, I might have gotten
the message, but I didn’t. And later on, I learned that day
what coming up a cloud means. It was one of those Texas storms
that nearly washes the coat right off of your back. That’s exactly
what Jesus says. To them, a cloud rising in the
Mediterranean Sea meant an almost certain storm. Remember, we even
read several weeks ago when Elijah communicated as much. In 1 Kings
18 in our Sunday school, we learned that it came about the seventh
time that he said, behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming
up from the sea. He said, go up and say to Ahab,
prepare your chariot and go down so that the heavy shower does
not stop you. Ahab knew what was coming. This
wasn’t just a miracle. This was a tendency in that area.
It was known as an ombros, a heavy rain, a thundershower, we might
call it. Josephus, in his antiquities,
describes essentially what the children of Israel faced. He
uses the same word, ombros, to describe this scene. showers
of rain also came down from the sky and dreadful thunders and
lightning with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts were also darted
upon them, nor was there anything which used to be sent by God
upon men as indications of His wrath.” That’s how He described
a simple storm. We have this tendency, don’t
we? We have this tendency to want to play weatherman all the
time. We want to be in the know. We want to be able to walk down
and communicate to just any old buddy, you know, what the weather
is going to do today. I just happen to be the only
one that knows that it’s going to rain. Don’t we love to play
that? Don’t you know people that just
amateur weathermen everywhere they go? You know, for the apostles,
so many of whom were fishermen for this community, Weather was
a very important thing. It’s very important to know what
the weather’s like before you’re going to go out on the sea. They didn’t have the Internet.
They didn’t have weather forecasters, they couldn’t tune in to the
weather channel and find out all the details of everything
that possibly could happen in our area. They didn’t have Doppler
radar. Perhaps what they did have was
achy bones, which is surely one of the best indicators. But he
says, you know what? You’re so good at predicting
the weather. So are we. We’re so good at predicting
the weather. And then he mentions another
little illustration, the wind. When you see a south wind blowing,
you say it will be a hot day today. That’s kind of absurd. I mean, from our own Western
ears, But for them, a south wind meant that it was a wind that
was going to be coming up out of the desert and it would be
hot and dry. It was called a desiccating wind. It would rob the plants of all
their moisture. That’s exactly what happened,
Jesus says, you can predict the weather, you can predict the
wind, these winds that would blow in off the desert, but you’re
hypocrites, really. You apply this so-called science
to earthly things, but when it comes to the spiritual realm,
you’re hypocrites. You see the facts, they’re laid
out before you, and what Jesus is referring to here is a general
rejection of himself, not total. The apostles had received him.
A few ragtag rabble had received him. Those, some of whom that
he healed and ministered to had received him. Some who heard
the word preached received Christ, but not most. The signs of his coming were
so clear and intelligible, it didn’t require any exceptional
discernment to see them, especially for those who were raised in
the so-called community. Who knew the Scriptures? Who
knew the prophecies? They could determine the rain,
but they somehow missed the greatest event that had ever come. The Pharisees missed it. The
Pharisees blew it. It’s an interesting phenomenon
in the Gospel of John. Do a simple little search sometime
on just a little phrase, you do not. You do not. And it’s a characteristic phrase
that points to the scribes and Pharisees. Listen as I just course
through them. In John chapter three, John records
that he said, you do not accept our testimony. That was the tendency
of the day and age to criticize, to parse words, to challenge
everything that Jesus said, but anything but except. John 3,
verse 12, you do not believe. John 5, verse 38, you do not
have His Word abiding in you and you do not believe whom He
sent. John 5, verse 42, you do not have the love of God in yourselves. John 5, verse 43, you do not
receive Me. John 5, verse 44, you do not
seek the glory that is from the only God. These were all characteristic
of the Pharisees. All of these statements, just
a general rejection of Christ. And that’s what he says is going
on here. John 5.47, you do not believe. John 7.28, you do not
know. John 8.45, you do not believe. John 10.25, you do not believe.
John 10.26, you do not believe. Jesus says, you’re insincere,
you’re phonies. Their insincerity, pardon me,
consisted in the fact that even though the signs of Christ’s
coming in his kingdom were so equally plain that the simple
could receive them, they pretended not to see them. The prophets
for many years had laid out in clear prophecies. Jesus had come
performing miracles. The political situation pointed
directly to Christ. The preaching of John the Baptist
was meant to clear the way. And they missed it all. They missed it all. So Jesus
says it’s hypocrisy if you pretend that you don’t notice the signs
of the time. The unambiguous proof that Christ
is who He claims to be, it wasn’t because they couldn’t see the
signs. It’s because they persisted in their unbelief. They were
unwilling to discern the signs. The scribes and Pharisees neglected
the duty of examining everything carefully, holding fast to that
which was good, They had everything laid before them. Christ came
first and foremost for them. And they rejected Him. They refused to see the prophecies
that were there. They refused to embrace the Messiah.
But they were good at predicting the weather. You know what? It’s no different
than our day and age. We have many people that have
made a life study of their own body. Health. They nearly break themselves
trying new things and new vitamins and new supplements. Nothing
wrong with vitamins. There are those who are able
to diagnose almost instantly a computer problem. God bless
those people. Nothing wrong with diagnosing
a computer problem. But can you imagine the ability
to diagnose the impossible, a computer glitch, and be completely unwilling
to examine your own heart and life and to rid yourself of the
virus of all viruses? I’ll never forget the day when
I first moved to California. I think I was there a week. My car was rather important to
me because not only was it my vehicle, it was my home for the
first week. As I waited for the dorms to
open and to secure a roommate and a place to stay, a detail
which I had forgotten before I arrived, moved to California
and traveling around in my car and one day it began acting up,
doing funny things, chugging, halting, doing everything but functioning
as a vehicle as it’s God given function. I remember it was a
Saturday and I drove into the Nissan dealer, Nissan that I
drove, pulled into the dealer and the dealer said, yeah, no
problem. We can fix this. See you on Monday. Problem was
I had guests in town. I had places to go, things to
do. I needed my vehicle. I chugged
out of the parking lot, not knowing what to do. And there before
me, the glorious sign appeared. Chang’s Automotive since 1945. Pulled into Chang’s. Mr. Miyagi came out. I don’t know.
I don’t know if it was Mr. Miyagi, but Mr. Miyagi came out. He said, I look, jumped in my
car, drove down the street, came back. raised the hood, and he
said, fuel filter. Instantly able to diagnose my
car. And there are others like them.
Others that are good at many different things. And all the
while, completely unable, or better yet, completely unwilling
to diagnose their own hearts. John Rogers, the Puritan, speaks
of the rejection of Christ. In these terms, he said, disallowed
was he indeed of men. They called him the carpenter’s
son, a Samaritan, a winebibber, a deceiver. They would have no
other king but Caesar. With them, Barabbas was more
welcome to live than he. What was the cause? They looked
for one that should come as an earthly prince to deliver them
out of the hands of the Romans. But his kingdom was not of this
world. They looked for one that should have upheld their customs
and laws and traditions. They rejected him first out of
ignorance and blindness, but after out of malice. That was
the problem. That’s why people don’t want
to look at their own hearts. Because they hate Christ. They hate Christ. They hate God’s word and they
hate anything to do with it. The question is, do you? Have
we made an active attempt this week to mortify the very sins
that sent Christ to the cross? Are we willing to diagnose our
computer problems and our lawn problems and our car problems
and all the other difficulties of life? Are we willing to get
on the phone and to talk about everyone we know about our health
issues as if they may know something that we don’t? And yet, all the
while, we leave those sins untouched that are right at the core of
our being. That’s what Jesus is after. And He’s urging and
pleading that we be reconciled to God because of this ability
that we have to analyze the physical realm.
But secondly, He said there were two motives for securing peace
with Christ. Not only the ability to analyze
the physical realm, but the tendency that we have to secure peace
in earthly conflict. Watch this. This is amazing stuff. Why do you not, verse 57, even
on your own initiative, judge what is right? For while you
are going with your opponent to appear before the magistrate
on your way there, make an effort to settle with him. So that on
the way they may not drag you before the judge, the judge turn
you over to the officer, officer throw you in prison and you rot
until you paid the last penny. It’s a common illustration that
Jesus used. He had used it on at least one
other occasion. I personally don’t believe that
Matthew chapter 16 is a parallel to this. But in Matthew chapter
five, you have these words. Matthew chapter five, in the
midst of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus presents it as an axiom. Make friends quickly with your
opponent at law. Somebody sues you, take them
out to Starbucks, is what he says. Somebody wants to go to
court with you, man, have them over for dinner and fix things
quick. That’s what he says. Make friends quickly with your
opponent at law where you were with him on the way so that your
opponent may not hand you over to the judge and the judge to
the officer and you’d be thrown in prison. These are words that
Jesus said probably with frequent. The duty is clear. The duty is
clear. I mean, he says he’s not telling
us here in this context to go do this. That’s not the point
of the illustration. The point is our tendency is
we’re very good. We’re very motivated to make
peace with our earthly opponents, aren’t we? We should be. And if we’ve wronged some man,
if we’ve wronged our neighbor, it’s only wise to try to avert
the severe consequences that may come with that. It’s only
wise to go to him and to appeal to him and say, you know what?
Look, I did it. You’re right. I ran into your car. How can
I? You know, let’s avoid the insurance company where it’ll
cost me three times what it does. Let me pay for this. I’m being
sued, I know, I know I’m wrong, I know I’m going to get it. Let
me settle out of court. The man is wise, said Matthew
Henry. He’s not going to let his quarrel
go to an extremity. You know what Jesus is talking
about? He’s not talking about earthly quarrels here. He’s not
talking about some petty lawsuit that you’re facing. Remember
what I said at the outset, he’s talking about the storm of the
century. He’s talking about the very judgment of God. Matthew Henry said, we have by
sin made God our adversary. God is the one who’s against
this. God is the one who’s suing us. We have provoked his displeasure
against us. He has both right and might on
his side is to no purpose to think of carrying on the controversy
with him either in court or in battle. Christ, to whom all judgment
is committed, is the magistrate before whom we are quickly to
appear. And if we stand a trial before
him and insist upon our own justification, the cause will certainly go against
us. Isn’t that true? That’s the image
that he’s presenting, that we are quickly going to court. The
court case is already filed. The trial date is set and you
are due to appear. And if we insist upon our own
justification, the cause will certainly go against us. The
judge will deliver us to the officer, the ministers of justice,
and we will stand before God and be cast into the prison of
hell and the debt will be exacted to the utmost. Matthew Henry
had it right. This isn’t about some feeble
little court case. It’s about the tendency that
we have We make things right with our earthly brothers. We
make things right with our earthly opponents. Isn’t it absurd to
think that we don’t want to make things right with a holy God? That’s His plea. J.C. Ryle said it this way, peace
with God is the first priority in spiritual matters. You have
countless throngs of people going to church this very day going
through the motions of religious activity who have not made peace
with God.” Ryle says that’s the starting place. Peace with God
is the first priority in spiritual matters. Until this is done,
nothing is done. We’ve got nothing worth having
in Christianity until we have peace with God. Peace with God
is the principal thing which the Gospel of Christ offers to
the soul. Peace and pardon stand in the
forefront. of its list of privileges. And
they are offered freely to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ. So often, he says, we will seek
a plea bargain. But somehow, for some reason,
people have their heels dug in. They know that God is against
them. They know in their hearts that they’ve sinned and they
have their heels dug in and they will not be reconciled to Christ. I love the way Charles Spurgeon
urged these things upon his students. His students were in seminary.
And this is how Charles Spurgeon, imagine the gall, spoke to them. When we say to you, my dear brethren,
take care of your life, we mean be careful of even the minutia
of your character. How many of us can say that this
week we worked on the minutia of our character? Avoid little debts, unpunctuality,
gossiping, nicknaming, petty quarrels, and all of those other
little vices which fill the ointment with flies. The self-indulgences
which have lowered the repute of many must not be tolerated
by us. The familiarities which have
laid others under suspicion, we must chastely avoid. The roughness
which have rendered many obnoxious and the foolish which have made
others contemptible, we must put away. We cannot afford to
run great risks through little things. Our care must be to act
on the rule, give no offense in anything that this ministry
not be blamed. Charles Spurgeon was downright
rough on his students. Or maybe Charles Spurgeon knew
the God of the Bible. And maybe Charles Spurgeon knew
that God doesn’t have this tendency to wink at our little indiscretions
like we do. And thanks be to God that that debt
that is spoken of, don’t think That the image there that is
reasoned gives you cause to be able to think that you would
ever repay that debt to God. That debt of sin, remember, we
called it a ten million dollar sin, and based on our rate of
earning, we would never pay it back. Never. And he says one
day there’s going to be a judge and the judge is going to hand
you over and you will rot in prison waiting to pay it off.
If you don’t strike a deal in the here and now and thanks be
to God that Jesus Christ has paid the debt. That’s the image. Matthew 20, 28, just as the son
of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his
life as a ransom for many, it’s already paid. You don’t even
owe the debt if you just trust in Christ. You know, Paul, In
that passage that I had privilege to preach several years ago,
2 Corinthians 5.21, he made him who knew no sin to be sin on
our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
You know, in that passage, interesting passage just prior to that. I
had occasion to preach this passage at a funeral some years back. It was written in in Lou’s Bible. Lou is the one that suddenly
died, had occasion to preach his funeral, and this passage,
almost above all others, was circled in his Bible. A big box in dark ink drawn around
it. 2 Corinthians 5.20, therefore,
we are ambassadors for Christ. As though God were making a peel
through us, we beg you, On behalf of Christ, and I did that morning
what I knew Lou would have done if he knew that his last moment
on Earth was that moment. I have no doubt that Lou would
have done what I did. And I knelt down on this stage
in front of this huge audience of a thousand people, and I repeated
those words. And essentially, people, that’s
exactly what Christ did. Here he is facing all these people,
having dealt with his apostles, having dealt with all these others.
Essentially, what Christ does is say, I beg you. I beg you. Be reconciled to God. Thomas Watson said it this way.
Secure your interest in Christ. Make it your great business,
your work, your heaven to secure your interest in Christ. This
is not an age or an hour for a man to be between fears and
hopes. If you don’t have a settled confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ and the forgiveness you possess in
him. Between doubting and believing. And he says, take not up a name
to live when you are dead, Godward and Christward. Take not up in
an outward form and outward privilege. Follow God. Leave no means unattempted,
whereby your blessed interest may be cleared up. And I do the same thing that
Paul does and that Christ does, and I say that if there is any
doubt in your mind, if the week that you just live gives you
any doubt that you are not at peace with God, I beg you, be
reconciled to God through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s
pray. Our kind and our merciful God,
we see in Christ, even in this hour when His mind could have
been excused to be elsewhere, We see that what is foremost
in his heart is the salvation of souls. And Lord, he pleaded,
he pleaded with those to be reconciled and he pleads with us likewise.
Father, if our lives have told us this week that your work is
incomplete, grant us the grace to be more active and vigorous
next week in examining our hearts in drawing the sword, in putting
to death these sins that have gripped us. Father, if we have
no fight in us, if we have embraced these sins, grant us the grace
to examine ourselves as unbelievers, to cry out to Christ and to appeal
to Him to save our souls. We thank You and we praise You.
In Jesus’ name,