Adrian Rogers - He Holds the Keys
Find the last book in the Bible, the Book of Revelation, the golden clasp. And if you're here, for the first time in this, series, you're getting here at good time because we still have really not pulled out of the station. We're still in chapter one, trying to get set. And we'll pick up speed as we go along. But take this wonderful book, the golden clasp to the Bible, "The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ," that's the title of the book. A title is very important.
I told my children, I've told this, them this several times when writing a book, if you will give me a good title for this book I'll pay you one hundred dollars. You talk about grandchildren getting excited. And my grown children. And that particular book on kingdom authority, my daughter Gail said, "I've got, papa, how about 'getting an upper hand on the underworld?'" I said, "I like that. You've got a hundred bucks". And so, that, that's good title. I can't take credit for that. But nobody can get a better title for a book than God gave this one, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which means literally the unveiling, the unfolding of Jesus Christ. And beloved, we're not here to study prophecy as much as we are to love and worship and get acquainted more and more with the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen?
So every book, needs a title. And also, every book needs a target group. Uh, now you don't just write a book to, "To whom it may concern". You think of a target group. Well, who's the target group? "Which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants," you see that in verse one. The word servants, Greek word doulos, which means bond slave. Are you a bond slave of the Lord Jesus Christ? A bond slave was a person who was not, captured ah, against his will, but a person who willingly submits himself to another person, becomes his slave, a bond slave, a doulos. Are you that? Well you see, if you're not a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, this book was not written to you, nor will you understand it. It's to show to his servants. Now you're going to have to be a slave of the Lord Jesus to understand this. Now, being a slave of Jesus is not so bad because the master is responsible for the slave's care, his upkeep, his protection, his health and all of that. It's wonderful to be in the care of such a loving master.
Now I'll tell you a good secret about being a servant, a slave. You know things other people don't know. Joyce and I have a dear lady who helps us once a week, so I don't have to do so much ironing. She, she comes in and she's a dear friend. Joyce and, Isetta fellowship a lot together. And uh, but sometimes Isetta will come in, as she did this week, and I had Joyce in my arms putting a big one on her and she walked in. Well, you don't get to see that. But a servant does. Somebody who lives with you to serve you.
Friend, when you become a servant of the Lord Jesus, did you know that you'll have a lot of intimacy with the Lord Jesus, you'll understand this book. So, the title of the book, we see the target area of the book and then we see the subject of the book. Every, every book must have a subject: "Things which must shortly come to pass". That's what it's about. It's about things that are going to happen in the future. Now you say, "Well, that's two thousand years ago. I thought you said it's things that are still going to happen, and yet it says, 'things which must shortly come to pass'". Well, you need to understand the word shortly. It's a word that we get, some English words from. Have you ever heard of a tachometer? What does a tachometer do? Well, it registers speed revolutions, per second, minute, or whatever. Have you ever heard the word taxi? What does a taxi do? Well it gets you places in a hurry. What this means is, things that are rapidly going to come to pass.
You see, history at the end, it picks up speed. Have you, have you noticed, and I believe we're living in the end times, have you noticed how things have just picked up speed in the last several years? Have you noticed how everything just seems to be coming at us? It's like drinking from a fire hose and looking into the end of a loaded cannon all at the same time. Things are happening in the world today, friend. Pick up your Bible with one hand, the newspaper in the other hand you can tell that we are living in the closing shadows of the end of an age. And so that's the, the subject of the book, "Things which must quickly come to pass". And the child of God ought not to be in ignorance in these pregnant times in which we are living. And so also, we're going to find out who the author of the book is. Look in verse four, "John to the seven churches".
Now John, about 90 years of age, is on the island of Patmos. He has a vision and he has a commission, to write this book. As a matter of fact, the publisher came to John and says, "John, I want you to write this book". Actually, as we're going to see in a few, Sundays, God gave him the outline of the book. Uh, huh, God's never given me directly an outline for a book. I have to kind of work at it a little bit, but God gave John the outline of this book. John is the one who is commissioned to write a book. So, he is the author. And then every book needs a publisher. Well, who is the publisher? Well, look if you will, in this, in this, chapter. The publisher is, is the Trinity publishing company. It says, in verse four, "From him which is, and which was, and which is to come: and from the seven spirits which are before the throne: and from Jesus Christ". Three times he uses the little preposition there, from, from, from, from. It's from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Now normally, when the Trinity is mentioned it's God, it's father, son and Holy Ghost. But here, it's father, Holy Ghost and son. Why is that? Well, this book is particularly about the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's left last for emphasis right here. But the, every book has to have a publisher. And so Trinity publishing company, father, son and Holy Ghost, have, published this book and given it to us. And I'm so grateful that we can hold in our hands the very Word of God. Aren't you? And so, that's the publisher. Now, every book needs a, dedication. And who's, who is it dedicated to? Well, notice what he says here in the last part of verse five, "Unto him". Unto whom? The hero of the book. "Unto him," unto Jesus, "Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and to his father: to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen".
Every person who writes a book writes a dedication in that book. I've dedicated books to my wife, and to my parents, to my grandchildren, to this congregation, to those editors who've helped me, or whatever, heh, heh. But John says this book is dedicated unto him, unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Some years ago, one of these paddle wheel steamers was going down the Mississippi, and, eh, two little boys were on the wharf, and one of them said, "Look, look. Do you see there? There's the captain. There's the captain. Hey look! Everybody! There is the captain. I see the captain. Do you see him? Everybody see him? That's the captain". And somebody said, "Why are you so excited about the captain"? "Well," he said, "I fell in the Mississippi one time, and the captain jumped in and pulled me out and saved my life. And ever since then I just love to point him out".
That's the way I feel about Jesus. I tell, I love to say, "Look, there is Jesus". I tell Jim Whitmire, "Jim, let's sing about Jesus". I tell our teachers, "Let's teach about the Lord Jesus Christ". Let our fellowship be in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want this to be a Jesus church, don't you? I want it to be unto him who loved us and washed us and made us kings and priests. And I want to tell you three things about his grace this morning. Uh, first of all, let's just think, well, four things really about the Lord Jesus Christ. And the very first thing I want you to think about when we think about the Lord Jesus Christ is the grace of our risen Lord.
Look if you will in verse, four, "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: grace be unto you". Grace be unto you. And then fast forward, down again to verse five, "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him," here's three things he does, "That loved us, and that washed us and hath made us kings and priests".
Now let's look at those three things that our Lord does because of his grace. First of all, he loves us because of his grace. Now if you have a Bible that says, "And he loved us," and some translations give it that, but a better translation is, is in the present tense, not the past tense, "He loves us". He loves us. When did he start loving you? He never did. He never started loving you. He has always loved you. He loves you continuously. He loved you before he swung this planet into space. He loved you before, time began. Uh, you've been in the heart and mind of God before the foundation of the world. He loves you! Now come up close, I want to tell you something. He doesn't love you because you're valuable. You're valuable because he loves you. You're valuable because he loves you. Why does he love us? By sheer grace. That's why we call it grace. He just loves us. "For God so loved the world".
And I'm so glad that he loves everybody. "Wonderful things in the Bible I see, but this is the dearest, that Jesus loves me. I'm so glad that Jesus loves me". Say to yourself, "Jesus loves me. He loves me". Now don't get the idea that you can make yourself lovable. Ha, you can't. You can't. You know, sometimes we get the idea that if we can just clean ourselves up, then maybe he would love us. Well, if you're going to look at this passage of scripture, it says he loves us and then it says he washed us. Doesn't say he washed us so he could love us. When a little dirty child comes in the house, the mother, doesn't, wash that child so it can love that child. The mother, love, loves that child so the mother washes that child. Isn't that true? God doesn't change us so he can love us. he loves us so he can change us. The love comes before the washing. He just loves us by his grace.
And so I want you to understand that. Uh, ss, some years ago I read about a, a man who put a want ad in the paper for his dog. His dog has strayed and he described the dog. And it went something like this, "The dog has bare spots where there's no fur because the dog has had a terrible case of mange. And the dog limps because it was hit by an automobile and the hind leg was broken, and so the dog limps. And also, in the other joints the dog has arthritis. And also the dog is blind in one eye". And then he said, "He answers to the name 'lucky'". Well, what, what made him so lucky? He had somebody loved him enough. And on it said, "Reward offered". He had somebody, that lucky dog, who loved him enough to pay a price to get him back.
Well friend, we're not lucky dogs, we're blessed dogs. Are we not? I mean, that God loves us. God loves people like we are. And so the Bible says, "Unto him who loved us". And so put down number one, he loves us. And then number two, he is the one who has, liberated us or loosed us. Now notice it says, "Who washed us, from our sins". Well, you could, you could put that down, "Who washed us". But some of you have translations that says, "Who loosed us". How many here have translations says, "He loosed us"? Let me see your hand. Anybody here? Yeah, a few. Uh, he loosed us. Uh, the word is, the Greek word can mean either to, to wash or to loose. Well, actually, I think it means both. And I think it's a very significant word. He is the one, not only who loves us but has, past tense, loosed us, set us free. And it has the idea of, of using keys to set someone free. Or else it has the idea of removing pollution. he has loosed us. I'm a very absent-minded person.
Now confession is good for the soul and I'm absent minded. If I ever get a flying license, don't ever get in an airplane with me. You would not want to fly with me. I'm so absent-minded I can lose a pen when I'm writing with it. And really that's true. That is true. And what I will do from time to time is I will take, a, a felt tip pen, take the top off of it, be writing, answer the phone, put that pen in my pocket without putting a top back on it. Have you ever done that? I hate to do that. It's always the nicest shirt. And I look in there and there's that big spot right there. Now, "Oh, good night, Adrian, you are so dumb. How could you do that"? I hate for Joyce to see it. And I'll go, I'll go in there, you know, and I'll go in the bathroom and I'll scrub and I spray and I get all sorts of things.
Friend, there ain't nothing take that spot out. As a matter of fact, I said this in the first service this morning, I've already got a note up there on, a lady said, "Here's what you do. You put hairspray on it. Hairspray will take it". I got news for her, friend, it won't do it. And lady, if, if, she's not here now. But, if, if I could find you, if hairspray'd take it out, I'd pay you. I'd give you fifty bucks. It won't take it out. Now one thing take it out, and that's scissors. Scissors. You ruin a good shirt. And that stuff gets in there and it won't let go. Oh, I'm so grateful for God's triple detergent, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Friend, he is the one who says to that stain, "Let go! Come out"! And he'll make you clean, friend. Absolutely spotlessly clean. God's detergent is the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's washed us, this verse says, in his blood. "Oh, precious is the flow that washes white as snow". What is that? "Nothing but the blood of Jesus". Have you ever thought about his blood? His blood, the blood of Jesus. Friend, there's no other blood like that. His blood, absolutely unique. That's the reason for the virgin birth. Without the virgin birth, there is no salvation. Without the virgin birth, Jesus would not have been sinless. You see, his blood is sinless blood. His blood is not contaminated blood. Whose blood was in the veins of the Lord Jesus? Whose blood was poured out at Calvary? It was the blood of God.
You say, "God doesn't have blood". Huh, he did when Jesus was here on this earth. You read acts chapter 20 and verse 28. There Paul speaks of the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. God purchased the church with his own blood. Now some, some people think that in a, an embryo, a little baby in its mother's womb, somehow that the mother and the baby are sharing the same blood. That somehow maybe the mother's blood circulates in that little baby. No, not a drop of the mother's blood goes into that baby. As a matter of fact, that baby may have one blood type and the mother may have another blood type.
Well, there was none of Mary's blood in the Lord Jesus. I'll tell you something else. There was none of Joseph's blood in the Lord Jesus because, Joseph was not his earthly father. Uh, the Heavenly Father was the father. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and Mary, became pregnant, by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit of, of God! Now, the, the baby develops its own blood but this baby had none of Mary's blood. This baby had none of Joseph's blood. This baby had the blood of God. That is the precious blood, the only thing that can cleanse from sin. "Without shedding of blood is no remission of sin". And, friend, he loves us, he has loosed us. And then he has lifted us. Look at it. And it says, "He has made us kings and priests".
Have you ever seen a real live king, I mean, a real live king? Want to see one? Here I am. You say, "You're a king"? Yes, sir. I'll tell you something else. Have you ever seen a Baptist priest? Want to see one? I'm a priest. But go look in the mirror and you'll see a king and a, and a priest, or a queen and a priest. That's who you are, a, in Jesus. That's what he's done for us. He, he's made us kings and priests unto God. And so, you're somebody. Now, you may not be recognized in this world. You may be looked on, looked down on, ignored and ha, ha, ha and nobody even calls on you to lead in silent prayer. Ha, ha, ha. I want to tell you, listen, if you are saved, you are a royal blue blood. You're next of kin to the holy Trinity.
Jesus is not ashamed to call you his brother. That's what the Bible says. And you are in the family of God. You are royalty. So you just call me "Prince Adrian". But you're also a priest. You can go to God directly. You don't need any intermediary. You can go directly to God. God is no further from you than your knees are from the floor. And really, if you can't get your knees on the floor, he is no further from you than the breath in your lungs and the skin on your body. And you can go to him directly. Now, thank God for his grace, amen? Thank God for the grace, the grace of our risen Lord. No wonder Paul begins this passage saying, "Grace be to you". The grace of our living Lord, our risen Lord.
Now here's the second thing I want you to see. Not only the grace of our risen Lord, but I want you to see also as we look in this, in this passage, the, the glory of our risen Lord. Look in, verse seven. Look at it, "Behold, he cometh with clouds". Now what does that talk about? Talks about his glory. "Behold, he cometh with clouds " what clouds is he talking about? Well, he's not talking about cumulus, clouds or cirrus clouds, or whatever other kind of clouds there may be, these clouds that are moisture, dangling in air. These are glory clouds. What we would call the shekinah glory of God. It is the effulgence of God's glory, the outshining of God's glory.
You see, God's glory is spoken of as a cloud. For example, when the Lord Jesus, went up into glory, the Bible says the clouds received him out of their sight. That doesn't mean the rain clouds or the sheltering clouds. It means the glory cloud. The glory of God received the Lord Jesus. And then the angel said, "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you've seen him go". He went in the clouds of glory. He's coming in the clouds of glory. It was the shekinah cloud that led the children of Israel through the wilderness, that draped itself over that, uh mercy seat there as the Ark of the Covenant was leading the children of God, through the wilderness. That is the glory cloud. And when the Bible says, "Behold, he comes with clouds," it means he is coming in an outshining of great glory. And then this verse says, verse seven, that he's going to be seen by those who nailed him to the cross: those who pierced him.
Now remember last week when we talked about all of the attributes of our risen Lord? We talked, for example, about his dress. We talked about how the Lord Jesus Christ is dressed in a royal robe, "And gird about the paps with a golden girdle". You remember that? Well, these people nailed him. Do you know the last time they saw him, the ones who are going to see him again? You know last time they saw him was naked. Now, our artists today are kind, at least they put a loin cloth on the Lord Jesus Christ. But people didn't do that when they crucified a per, man. He was striped absolutely naked. The last time they saw him, he was hanging in shame. When they see him again, friend, he's coming in glory. Amen. Hallelujah. He's dressed with the royal robes, the robes of a priest, the robes of a king, and the robes of a judge. That's what all of this is about.
The last time they saw him, his hair was matted with crimson blood. When they see him again, his hair will be whiter than snow, speaking of his holiness and his purity, that crimson blood will have turned to pure white when they see him again. Uh, when they, when they saw him, the last time they saw him, his eyes were filled with tears of liquid love. When he comes again in glory, his eyes, this passage tells us, if you read this chapter, like flames of fire seeing right through them. As I say, not only does he see you, he sees through you. Uh, when he came, that first time, the last time they saw him, there was a huge spike that was driven through his feet, nailing him to that cross. When he comes again, those who crucified him are going to see those feet like molten brass going forth in judgment. Remember reading that last week? Uh, that's speaking of our Lord coming in judgment. They're going to see him this way.
The last time that he was here, they saw him, they put, a sword, excuse me, a spear in his side, and out came water and blood. When they see him coming in glory, there won't be a spear in his side, there'll be a sword coming out of his mouth, a sharp two-edged sword with which he would smite the nations. Uh, friend, it's going to be different when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. When he, they crucified him, his face was so battered, so bruised, so mutilated that you could not tell whether it was the face of a man or an animal. When he comes again in glory, and I can hardly wait, his face will be like the noonday sun, brighter than the glory of the noonday sun. And I say, "Even come, Lord Jesus". I, listen friend, all the people of this earth, they're going to wail because of him. They're going to see Jesus. Humanity has a date with Jesus. "'as I live,' sayeth the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God'". He is coming. Oh thank God, thank God for the grace of our risen Lord. Thank God for the glory of our risen Lord. He's coming in clouds. Amen? Amen.
Now, here's the third thing I want you to see. I want you to see the gentleness of our risen Lord. Look at it here if you will in, verse 17. John says, "And when I saw him," I mean, look at him. "Oh, I've never seen anything," John said, "Like that". "I fell at his feet as dead". John just, just collapsed. He fell out. John is so overwhelmed, the glory, the majesty, the magnitude, the awesomeness of our glorified, risen, ascended Lord, John just, he just falls out! Now here's the sweet part. I want you to look in verse 17, and, "He laid his right hand upon me, saying, 'fear not: I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead: and, behold, I am alive for evermore'".
I love that. You know why I love that? Because if we just read this first chapter and we saw Jesus Christ in all of his glory, we might be afraid to approach him. We might be like John, we'd just fall out. We'd faint. We'd say, "Now, huh, whoever you are, I'm afraid of you, but I don't know whether I really want to have fellowship with you or not. Uh, you, you're so awesome, you're so other, I just don't want to, I just want to kinda shrink back from you". But I want you to notice what Jesus does. He reaches down, and he touches John. He lays his hand on him. "Get up, son. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid". I just love that. Because friend, even though his outward appearance has changed from when John first saw him, even though now he has this majestic glory, listen to me now, his heart is still the same. "Don't be afraid". He lays his hand on him. The right hand. The right hand of power. The right hand of authority.
Jesus was always touching people with his hand. Touched the eyes of a blind man and the blind saw. He touched the ears of the deaf and the deaf heard. He touched the limbs of the crippled and those limbs were straightened. I love the part in the passion play where those loathsome lepers are there dressed in their rags, and everybody is standing back. And the leper had to s, to say according, to the law that day, "Unclean! Unclean"! And people would just separate like the Red Sea separating when the lepers would come to town. Nobody would want to get near a leper with his loathsome sores. But the Bible says Jesus touched them. He laid his hands on the leper and touched them. I may be speaking through television to somebody: you think you're an untouchable. You're not. Jesus loves you, I don't care who you are, how bad your condition is. Thank God for that touch.
That's the reason I love the Gaither songs, "He touched me". That's the reason why that song has just gone across America and around the world. He touched me! I believe that John could have inspired that song. He laid his hand upon me and said, "Don't be afraid". Now, listen, listen. Folks, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, you've got a lot of reason to be afraid. Can you put your Bible in one hand, your newspaper in the other hand and see what is happening? Can you see how everything is coming to a climax? Can, friend, this is, this is a, a treacherous world in which we're living. These are dangerous days. But in spite of it all, our God says, "Look, I love you. Don't be afraid". And as we see these things unfold and we're going to be amazed as we see these things unfold.
What is coming to this earth? But I want you to remember that I am not preaching on the second coming of Jesus Christ to put you into fear, but to give you comfort. And we're the ones who don't have to go Aron, around with headline hysteria. I've said before, there are three kinds of people in this world. Those who are afraid. Those who don't, don't know enough to be afraid. And those who know their Bibles. Jesus says, "Fear not". And so, I want to move on to the fourth point. And we think not only the gentleness of our risen Lord, but I want you to think of the government of our risen Lord, the government of our risen Lord. Look again in verse 17. "And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, 'fear not: I am first and the last,'" now watch this, "'I am he that liveth, and was dead: and, behold, I am alive,'" he's talking here, here about the resurrection, "'forevermore, amen: and I have the keys of hell and of death'".
Now what does that mean, to have the keys of hell and of death? Keys stand for authority. They stand for possession. They stand for privilege, for right. That, that means the one who has the keys is the one who's in control. What do keys do? Keys open. What do keys do? Keys close. What do keys do? They liberate. What do keys do? They imprison. And Jesus says, "Look, mankind has two great enemies: hell and death. And I keep the keys of hell and of death". Now, when the Bible says here, "I have the keys of hell," it's the Greek word hades. The Hebrew word for the same subject is, sheol. And what it literally means is the realm of the unseen world, the spirit world. When a person dies, their body, death gets the body, but hell gets the spirit and the soul. Now, even the saved in the Old Testament went to, to hades.
Now that may come as a shock to you. But the word hades does not necessarily imply torment, though it might. You see, there is the hades of torment and there is the hades of paradise. Now in Luke chapter 16 the Bible says of a wicked, unsaved, ungodly man who died, and in hades, it's translated hell in the King James, but it's the Greek word hades, and that word is used some eleven times in the New Testament. "And in hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment". So there's a part of hades that is called torment. But Jesus also said to a dying thief who cried out for mercy when Jesus was on the cross, "Today you'll be with me in paradise".
So hades could either be torment or paradise. Now don't anybody go out of here and say, "Pastor doesn't believe in hell". I believe in hell. And I believe there is a, a lake of fire. We're going to study it when we get to Revelation chapter 20. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. Death and hades are cast into the lake of fire. There is a Gehenna hell and we're going to talk about that. We just don't have time to talk about it much today. But what I'm trying to say is that Jesus holds the keys, to this underworld, this, this mysterious world, this unseen world where departed spirits go. And Jesus holds the keys to the grave, death, that has the body. So when a person dies in the Old Testament, hades got the spirit and death got the body. Jesus is the keeper of the keys to both of these.
How did he get those keys? By his resurrection. Uh, death, that cruel monarch of terrors clapped his bony hands and laughed his hoarse laugh and said concerning Jesus Christ, "We've got him". But they didn't have him. Uh, Jesus, was taken captive, taken captive by death that he might lead captivity captive. And so, Jesus rose from the dead on that Easter morning, so long ago. And he did it in complete, confidence and calmness. As a matter of fact, there's a little part in the Bible that I really love where says that Jesus, when they came into the tomb where Jesus had been, they found the napkin that was over his face, or the winding cloth that was over his face, folded. Ha, ha. Ah, I just wonder if Jesus didn't get up and, fold that very neatly before he walked out. He didn't just l eave it on the floor.
How'd you leave your bedroom this morning? He's in complete control of this situation. And, here comes death. And death shrieks in terror because Jesus has risen. Jesus reaches up and pulls death from his throne, and the crown topples from the head of death. And Jesus throws death to the dungeon floor, ignites the star of hope in that tomb. Puts his heel on the throat of death. Reaches down, pulls the sting out of death. Breaks the crown of death. Takes the keys of death and of hell and becomes our risen, living, victorious Savior. Oh friend, listen, we've got so much to be happy about. We've got so much to rejoice in. This speaks of the government of our risen Lord. That's the reason the Bible says in Isaiah chapter nine and verse six, "And the government shall be upon his shoulders".
Years ago in Chicago there was a night club called, "The Gates of Hell". Can you imagine naming a nightclub "The Gates of Hell"? Maybe it's pretty well named. That's what some of them are: "The Gates of Hell". A young man wanted to go to that night club, so he asked a stranger on the street, "Can you tell me how to get to the gates of hell"? It just so happened on that same street was Calvary Church. And Calvary Church had a big sign out there that said, "Calvary Church". The stranger said to this young man, "Yes, I can tell you how to get to the gates of hell. Just go right past Calvary and you'll come to the gates of hell". I want to say to you with a broken heart, if you refuse the Lord Jesus Christ, if you go past Calvary, that's exactly where you're going to end up, the very gates of hell.
But Jesus has the key. You want to be liberated? You want to be set free? He loves you. He wants to loose you. He wants to lift you. If I had a thousand lives, I'd give them all to Jesus. Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. No one stirring, no one looking. If you're not certain that you're saved, would you like to be saved, would you? Would you like to know this Easter that you really do have life? Jesus said, "I've come that you might have life". Could I lead you in a prayer? We'll call this prayer the sinner's prayer. And you can pray and accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You can do it right now. Would you pray this prayer?
Dear God, I know that you love me. Thank you for loving me. And I know that you want to save me. Jesus, you died to save me and you promised to save me if I would trust you. Jesus, I do trust you. I believe you're the Son of God. I believe you paid for my sin with your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised you from the dead. And now I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me. Come into my life. Take control of my life and begin today to make me the person you want me to be. And Jesus, give me the courage to make it public. Help me never to be ashamed of you. In your name I pray, amen.