James Merritt - How Great is Our God
You don't need to remember the name, but as a pastor, you would know it. There was a great professor of Old Testament named Robert Dick Wilson. He taught at Princeton University back in the first part of the 20th century; way brilliant, Old Testament scholar. Well, another name you wouldn't know, but you would if you were a preacher, is Donald Gray Barnhouse. Back in the 1950s and the 1960s, Donald Gray Barnhouse was one of the greatest preachers in America and he was the number one Presbyterian pastor in America, pastored the largest Presbyterian church. He went to Princeton University.
Well, 12 years after he graduated from Princeton, he was invited back to preach in chapel. He was really excited until when he got up to preach, he noticed there on the front row set Dr. Wilson. And I mean his adrenaline gland went into overdrive. He began to sweat, he got nervous, he couldn't believe it. The most revered professor in that school was sitting there listening into him preach. Well, when chapel ended, Dr. Wilson immediately got up, walked over and extended his hand to Dr. Barnhouse. He said, "Donald, it was really great seeing you again," but he said, "I just want you to know if you come back, I won't be coming to hear you preach".
Dr. Barnhouse said he almost fainted. He wanted to crawl under the floor until Dr. Wilson said this. "I only come to hear any of my students once. And I come to find out one thing, are they little Godders are big Godders"? He said, "I want you to know I'm glad to learn you are a big Godder". I had to ask myself when I read that story, an honest question that I want to ask you. Am I a big Godder or a little Godder? I'm asking you to get very honest with yourself and ask yourself this question, how great is your God? How great is your God? In fact, let's kind of put it to the test. Let's just get practical.
Does the way you pray, does the way you handle your finances, does the way you respond to pressure, does the way you stand for truth, does even the way you express your worship, does it reveal a big God or a little God? When you thought about God a moment ago, did your thoughts really glorify Him or did they grieve Him? Did your thoughts of God inspire Him or did they insult Him? Or let's just bring it down to earth. Does your trust, does your giving, does your giving show that you trust God enough to give God your tithe, 10% of what God gave you this week? Does your God, is He big enough for you that you say, "You know what? I believe You can do more with 90% than I can do with a hundred. I'm gonna trust You and give you my tithe".
You say, "Why are you so emphatic about this"? It's because it's something a man named A.W. Tozer said that I totally agree with. A.W. Tozer said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us". I believe that is true. What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about... As a matter of fact, Tozer went on to say, "Whatever you think about God will determine your spiritual future". I'm convinced as I look back on my own ministry, that everything that I've done that had anything to do that was worth anything was driven because of my thoughts about God.
See, here's the problem and I've seen it happen too often. For too many of us, it's for some reason the older we get, the smaller our God seems to become. We don't have childlike faith. Little children, when they come to God, it's so refreshing, it's so wonderful. I mean, they really have a big God and they believe in a big God, but we get older and we get more cynical and we get less trusting. We get more hoarding and our God begins to shrink and our faith begins to shrink. And too often, I see that rather than having great faith in a great God, we have little faith in a little God. So you say, "Well, how do you go from being a little Godder to a big Godder? Because I'll be the first one to tell you, it's easier said than done".
Well, here's the good news. There was an ancient Jewish king that lived about 2,500 years ago, his name was David. And David wrote a song that powerfully reminds us of the inexhaustible grace of God. The largest book in the Bible, the longest book, is the book of Psalms and it's in the Old Testament. I want you to turn to Psalm 139, turn a Bible, your iPad, phone, whatever you're using, We're gonna learn today why the greatest knowledge we can ever have, the greatest knowledge, is to know just how great our God really is and why we can always trust Him. So I wanna say three very simple things today.
Number one, I can trust the God who is omniscient. Now, boys and girls, that's a big word, I'll tell you what it means in a moment. But I can trust the God who is omniscient. Now that word omniscient is really easy to know if you kind of break it down. It comes from the Latin word, omni, which means all and the Latin word, sentia, which gives us the word science, and it literally means all knowing. And what you're gonna see in a moment is David said, "You know what? God knows everything about everything and everyone all the time". Now I wanna ask you a question. Have you ever been around anybody that's a know-it-all?
You say, "Yeah, I'm married to one". Have you ever been around anybody that's kind of a know-it-all? Well listen, with God it's not an act. God really does know it all. 1 John 3:20 says this, "God is greater than our hearts and He knows everything". See, God's just like your teenager. Say, "What do you mean"? You can't tell him anything, he knows it all, just like you're a teenager. Understand this, God's knowledge is not just intellectual, it's personal. God doesn't just know everything about you, God knows you. He knows you better than you know you. And by the way, that may be a frightening thought. Have you ever thought about that? God knows me better than I know me. God knows you better than you. That could really kind of be scary.
I was reading the other day about a prosecuting attorney who was trying a case in a small town where kinda everybody knew everybody. When he called as his first witness, this elderly woman who lived in the town all of her life, she had to be... Not only did she know everything, she was the biggest gossip in town. And so he puts her on the witness stand. And so he said, tried to kinda get things going, he said to Mrs. Jones, he said, "Do you know me"? Tried to build credibility, "Do you know me"? She said, "Why yes I know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a little boy". He thought that was great. He was kind of smiling until she said, "Frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me". She said, "You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people, you talk about them behind their backs, you charge way too much money for your services, you're not a very good lawyer, and you don't have the brains to realize you're never gonna be anything but a two-bit paper pusher. Yeah, I know you".
He was stunned, he didn't really know what to say so he turned to the defense attorney. He said, "Well, Mrs. Jones, you know the defense attorney"? She said, "Oh yeah, I know him. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a kid. As a matter of fact," she said, "I used to babysit for his parents. He's also been a big disappointment to me. He's lazy, he's got a drinking problem, he cheated his way through law school, he can't find any woman who will marry him, and he's the most crooked lawyer in the state. Yeah, I know him". Well at that time, the judge took the gavel and came down with a thunderous boom. He said, "Silence, I want both counsels to approach the bench". When they got there in a very quiet voice with a fire in his eyes, he said, "If either one of you ask if she knows me, I'll throw you under the jail for contempt of court".
I got news for you. God knows you. He knows all about you. Let me give you an example. David said, "God knows who you are". He says in verse one, he says, "You have searched me and, Lord, You know me". By the way that Hebrew word for search is a very fascinating word. It's a word that literally means to dig, it means to pierce through. In other words, God can dig to the very bottom of your heart that you think nobody knows and nobody sees. And God says, "You know what? I can see right through you".
God has x-ray vision that can pierce the hardest heart. He's got microscopic vision that can peer down into the very inner core of our soul. I mean, down in the bottom of your heart where you think your wife doesn't see you, your kids don't see you, your mom and dad don't see you, nobody sees you, God says, "I see you. I see where you're clean, I see where you're dirty. I see where you're right, I see where you're wrong. I see where you're good, I see where you're bad". God says, "I know who you are". But then it gets worse or maybe better. God says, "I know what you think. He says, You know when I sit," David said, "when I rise. You perceive my thoughts from afar".
Now think about this. I don't know what you're thinking right now, God does. God sees your thoughts as if they were up on some kind of a highway billboard. God can read your mind just as easily as you can read your email. Listen to this, God not only knows what you're thinking, are you ready for this? He knows what you're about to think before you even think it. He knows your next thought before it even comes into your mind. The very second your thought... Right now, your thoughts are being broadcast in stereo into God's headphones. That's why you cannot keep a secret from God because He knows everything.
David said, "You know who I am. You know what I think". And then David says, "God also knows where you go". He says in verse three, "You discern my going out and my lying down. You are familiar with all my ways". That married man that was on that business trip that was in a hotel last night a thousand miles from home and slept with someone he wasn't married to, he said, "Nobody knows". God knows. Whatever you might have been doing last night, you shouldn't have been doing or wherever you were you maybe shouldn't have been, God knows where you are. When you lie down, when you get up, when you sit down, or you stand up, God says, "I'm always watching". He sees you when you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake, He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake. No, He does know.
And by the way, God knows every place you do, or every place you go. He knows everything you do. He knows every step you take. God knows the what, the when, the where, the how of everything you do at any given moment. And here's the problem. Unlike the rest of us, God never takes His eyes off of you. God never takes His eyes off the steering wheel of your life. God always has you in His sight and you're always in His mind. He knows who you are, He knows what you do, He knows where you go, and He knows what you say. The psalmist said, "Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely".
I mean that's incredible to me. God not only knows what I'm saying and what you're saying, God already knows what you're going to say before you even say it. David said, "God knows my heart, He knows my mind, He knows my deeds, He knows my words". And that's why David goes on to say this, he said, "You hem me in behind him before, you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too lofty for me to attain". In other words, what David said was God's mind blows mine. I cannot believe how much He knows. God knows you north to south, He knows you east to west. He knows you inside and out, but here's the good news. Even though God knows you, He loves you, He wants you, He wants to have a relationship with you. How great is your God?
We can trust the God who is omniscient. But then David says this, he says, "I can trust the God who is omnipresent". Remember what the word omni means? It means all. Present means to be where you are. So listen to the question David asks in verse seven. He said this, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence"? I don't know if you like to read philosophy or not. I love to read philosophy. My favorite philosopher is Yogi Berra. Yogi Berra was a catcher for the Yankees. He's my favorite philosopher. Yogi Berra was brilliant. Yogi Berra once said this, he said, "You know, I've noticed something". He said, "Everywhere I go, there I am".
I got news for you. Everywhere you go, there God is. You cannot get away from the presence of God. Listen, let me tell you how God is different from us. God never has to go anywhere because God's already there. You ever thought about that? He never has to go anywhere because He's always there. Because wherever anywhere is, God is already there. That's why David said, "Death cannot take you away from the presence of God". He says in verse eight, "If I go up to the heavens, You're there. If I make my bed in the depths," that is if I'm put underground, "You are there". David said, "When you go to your grave, God is waiting on you right there to take you to heaven so that when you get to heaven, you will still be with Him".
Death cannot take you away from the presence of God. Distance cannot take you away from the presence of God. He said, "If I rise on of the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast". David said, "I don't care how high you fly. I don't care how far you swim. I will still be with you". You know every time I get into an airplane, it never fails. We get above the clouds, I'll look out and I'll see those clouds out there and I think about a verse in the Psalms, Psalm 104:3, and it says this. "He makes the clouds His chariot and He rides on the wings of the wind". And every time I fly on airplane, I think, "God, You are right here on the wings of the wind".
David said, "God's everywhere, death can't take you from the presence of God. Distance cannot take you from the presence of God". David said, "Darkness cannot take you from the presence of God". He says this in verse 11. "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the darkness will not be dark to You. The night will shine like the day for darkness is as light to You".
See, God not only has x-ray vision, God has infrared vision. He doesn't need night goggles in the dark 'cause His eyes of light can pierce through any darkness and that's why nothing can hide you, nothing can ever take you, nothing can ever come between you and the presence of God. And I was thinking about this and I thought, how can I say this in such a way that my people will finally understand how great our God is? And it hit me. God is so high, you cannot get over Him. God is so low, you can't get under Him. God is so wide, you can't get around Him. He is always with us because He is omnipresent. You understand what that means? Listen, that means you can never leave God behind because God will never leave you behind.
Think about that. You can never leave God behind because God will never leave you behind. So you're watching me now, you're in a nursing home or you're at home by yourself because your spouse just died and your kids live a thousand miles away, and maybe you live way out in the country and you feel like you're so alone. Listen to me, you may be lonely, but you're not alone. God is always with you everywhere you go. Listen, think about this. Everywhere you go today, God will be right there behind you encouraging you. He will be right there beside you protecting you. He will go before you guiding you. I can trust this God 'cause He's omniscient, He knows everything. I can trust this God because He's omnipresent, He is everywhere.
But then David saves the best part for last. David says, "I can trust the God who is omniscient and I can trust the God who's omnipresent. But most of all I can trust the God who is is omnipotent". He is omnipotent. Now again, what does that word mean? Well, the word omni means all and the word potence means powerful. So what that word literally means, boys and girls, is this, God is all powerful. He's all powerful, He's omnipotent. Let me tell you what that means. God can do anything. Let me stop, I wanna teach you a little theology. I've heard people say, "Hey is God so great God can do anything"? Here's what I always say, "Well yes and no". God can do anything, but He can't do anything that would contradict His character. He can't do anything that would contradict who He is. He can't do anything that would contradict His truth. For example, let me tell you some things God can't do. God can't lie. God cannot lie.
This week, I had a lady come in to see me, her son actually brought her in, she really needed to see me and so she came into the office. She has cancer, doesn't know if she's gonna live or die. It's a serious, serious, serious cancer. And she got saved about a year ago this past February. So she came in and I said, I'll just call her Mrs. Smith, I said, "Ms. Smith, how can I help you"? She said, "I just have to ask a question". She said, "I'm probably gonna have surgery either next month or probably in July", and I said, "Okay". She said, "So if I go under, but I don't come out of it, will I really be with God? Will I really be in heaven? And if I will, how can I really know that"?
And I said, "Mrs. Smith, it's only one way you can know. It's the only way I know. It's the only way anybody knows. It's the only way Billy Graham knows it. The only way pastor knows it. The only way anybody can ever know it". She said, "What's that"? And she said, "Before you say anything," she said, "I just don't feel good about my chances". I said, "Let me stop you right there. God doesn't deal with feelings, God deals with facts. The devil deals with feelings".
If you live your life based on feelings, this will be your life every day. Listen, don't raise your hand. How many of you felt like coming to church this morning? Don't raise your hand, you'll lie. There are a lot of people out there right now, you know why you stayed in bed? You could have been here this morning, you just didn't feel like coming. If you live your life based on feelings, you'll live your life on an emotional rollercoaster all of your life. So I looked to her and I said, "Forget your feelings". I said, "I don't mean to be disrespectful. I don't care how you feel and frankly neither does He". I said, "There's only one way you can know that if you don't come out of that operation, you will be in heaven. God has given His word and God cannot lie".
And I said to her, I said, "I wanna ask you a question. Give your testimony from a year ago last February". Crystal clear, "I was a sinner, I was lost, I grew up in church but I realized religion wouldn't cut it. I realized Jesus died for me and I realized I needed to give my life to Him. I confessed my sins. I asked Christ to come into my heart and I surrendered my life to Him". I said, "I just got one question, did you mean it"? She said, "I meant it". I said, "Let me ask you this, does this makes sense? If you meant business with God, He meant business with you". She said, "I believe that".
I said, "Okay, let me tell you what you just said. If you have that operation and you die and you don't make it and you still don't go to heaven, God lied; but God can't lie". And I said, "The only way you can know that is you have the word of God". It was so sweet, she got the biggest smile on her face. She said, "You know what? I even feel good". I said, "You ought to"! 'Cause you know you've got the word of God cannot lie.
God cannot die. God cannot do wrong. God can't tempt other people to do wrong. But anything that's consistent with God's character, God can do. I wanna just illustrate this, this is fascinating to me. Let me illustrate to you how powerful God is. David says something in this psalm that really is very surprising. He's talking about how great God is, he doesn't talk about the stars or the sun or the moon or the galaxies or even the universe. You know what David does? David said, now listen to this, he said, "If you wanna know how great your God really is just look in the mirror". What? "Just look in the mirror".
Now before I get to what David said, I want you to listen to something that George Gallup, the iconic pollster said. Here's what he said, "I could prove God statistically if I had to. Take the human body alone, the chance that all the functions of the individual human being would just happen is a statistical monstrosity". Now David was not a doctor. David didn't have any medical training. He didn't know nearly what we know today about what a finally tuned engine the human body is. But even David could see thousands of years ago when I look at my human body and I see what I can do and I see how I talk and I see how I think and I even see how I see and see how I hear, there must be a great God up there that made me.
David said, "I am not here because of Mother Nature. I'm not here because of fate, I'm not here because of chance, God formed my inward parts". Listen to what David said. "You created my inmost being". Now watch this, I love this word. "You knit me together in my mother's womb". If you ladies have ever knit, you know what a meticulous job that is. He said, "That's what my God did". He's the One that took the corpuscles and the cells and the veins and the arteries and all of that and He knit me together. He formed my inward parts. He created me in my mother's womb.
And then he goes on to say this in verse 15. "My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place". Now watch this. "When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained to me were written in your book before one of them came to be". Now listen to what David said, he said, "Your body," I love the way he put it, "was woven together". Let me just tell you what God wove together. You ready for this? Your brain, now listen to what I'm about to tell you. Your brain can store 100 trillion facts. Your brain can store 100 trillion facts. Your mind can handle 15,000 decisions a second.
Now you may think that's impossible. I used to think it too 'til the first time I went with Teresa to a mall at Christmas and I realized this really is right. That girl can make 15,000 decisions in one single second. Your nose can smell up to 10,000 different odors. Your touch can detect an item one-25,000th of an inch thick. Your tongue can taste one part quinine in 2 million parts of water. What's the point? If you're a school teacher, if you're in the educational system, be glad to talk to you after the service, send me your emails. But if you think this came together by an evolutionary accident, I just can't help you. I just can't help you. I'm sorry. It blows my mind.
If somebody were to come up to me today and say, "When was this built"? And I said, "Oh, it wasn't built". "What do you mean"? "You won't believe this. There was an explosion at Home Depot and this just came together"! People would think I've lost my mind, but your kids are taught every day, "You just happened. Just a chance. Just the luck of the..." There's a Greek word for that, baloney. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm not gonna get in all the debates, but here's my point. David said, "My body was not an evolutionary accident, thrown together by chance". "My body was a miracle that was put together by a great God". That's why David said, listen to this, "I praise You because I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that all well". He said, "Look, just look at the human body in all of its majesty and all of its intricacy".
You see the greatest... Listen, take the body as a whole. Are you ready for this? Do you know what's in your body right now, in your body right now? In your body are 30, listen, 30 trillion cellular machines that carry genetic information throughout. The genetic information contained in just one of those machines, just one cell, is roughly equivalent to a library of 4,000 books. That means if you were to catalog all the genetic information in your body, it would take a library big enough to hold 30 trillion times 4,000 books. Nah, it's not hard for me to believe at all that only an omnipotent God with all powerful hands could create this magnificent machine called a human body.
But then David goes beyond that. He says, "Wait a minute. Can we just think a minute about how God thinks? Can we just think a minute about how God thinks"? Listen to what He said. He says, "How precious to me are your thoughts, God? How vast is the sum of them? Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with You". David said, "I just can't even get my mind around yours. I just can't even conceive your thoughts". He said, "Your mind contains more thoughts than all of the thoughts in all the minds that have ever thought put together". And he said, "They're not only greater in quantity, they're greater in quality". I have a Ph.D., I don't say that to brag. I'm not trying to be arrogant. I don't mean that to say, but I have an earned Ph.D., you know that.
Let me tell you something. The greatest thought, the greatest, the simplest thought, the simplest thought that God has ever had is higher than the greatest thought that any brilliant human being has ever had. The simplest thought God's ever had is higher and greater than the most brilliant thought that we have ever had. See what God said to the prophet Isaiah takes on more meaning. Some of you are familiar with this verse. Here's what He said. He said, Isaiah, "'My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways, My ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.'"
Do you understand what God said to Isaiah? He didn't. He didn't have the knowledge we have. Let me tell you now what we know. You ready for this? Astronomers have spied galaxies 12.3 billion light years from earth. Now light traveling at 186,000 miles per second takes eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles between the sun and the earth. That means the sunlight that you see today is only eight minutes old. But the light that we know from the farthest galaxy that we see takes 12.3 billion years to get here. Here's what God said to Isaiah, he didn't know it. He said, "Isaiah, the distance between your thoughts and My thoughts is 12.3 billion light years".
We just underestimate how great is a our God. Now here's the question. If God is everything that David said He was, He's omniscient, He knows everything, He's omnipresent, He is everywhere. He is omnipotent, He can do anything, then I have one simple question for you, just one. 'Cause I wanna make this practical 'cause you gotta go to work tomorrow. You got a life to live, you got bills to pay, you got a marriage to work on, you got kids to raise, I get it. So here's my question. If God is all of that, what problem do you think you have that God can't solve? What problem do you think you have that God can't solve? I'll tell you the answer, it's none. It is absolutely none because here's the point.
What is there in my life I cannot trust God with? The answer is nothing. Matter of fact, He is so great, you cannot only trust Him for your life on earth, you can trust Him for your soul in heaven. It is unbelievable how great our God is. So let's listen to how David closes this song, we'll wrap this up, listen to this. "Search me, God, know my heart. Test me, know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and then lead me in the way everlasting". Here's what David says, "When God searches our..." By the way, I pray that prayer every single day of my life. When I have my prayer time, that's the last thing I pray. "Search me on God and know my heart".
And by the way I stop and you know what, I hate to tell you this, I'm your pastor and I hate to admit this. When I say, "God search my heart and tell me if there's anything bad in there," He's got 100% record, He comes up with something every day. I'm serious. "Search me God, know my heart". And when He does that and He sees the envy that's in my heart sometimes. He sees the jealousy that I have sometimes. He see the pride that I have sometimes. He sees the selfish I have sometimes. When He reads my thoughts and He sees the lust that I battle with sometimes and the bitterness and the greed that we all deal with, you have to raise the question.
If He sees all that and He knows all that and it's all real and I can't hide it and I can't cover it up, how on earth can I ever have a relationship with this great God? I'll tell you how. It's what I told a Jehovah's Witness this past Monday. We were in a furniture store and we were dealing with this guy. We were super, trying to be nice, we were very patient. He was... He just was not totally with it, but we just were real patient with him. And finally he looked at me and he said, "What do you do"? I love it when they ask that. He said, "You've been so kind". I said, "Well, I'm a pastor". "Oh," he said, "really"? I said, "Yes. Do you have a spiritual background"? He said, "Yeah, I'm a Jehovah's Witness". I said, "So am I"! He said, "What"? I said, "I'm a Jehovah's witness".
He said, "You just said you're a pastor". I said, "I am". "You don't go to the Kingdom Hall"? I said, "No, I go to church". "But you're a Jehovah's witness". I said, "Yeah". He said, "What do you mean"? I said, "Only difference between you and me, I believe Jesus is Jehovah. I'm a Jehovah's witness, He was Jehovah". We got to talking and I got to sharin' and here's what I told him, "So how can sinful me have a relationship with this great God"? Well, here's what this great God did. He came to earth in human flesh just like us. He lived just like us and He slept just like us and He breathed just like us and He died just like us. And He died on a cross so that He could lead us in the way everlasting. And it was through His Son, Jesus, listen to this, God did the impossible.
He paid for all of my sins. He accomplished the inconceivable. He did it without excusing my sins. But then He saw the insoluble. He paid for my sins, but he remained just at the very same time. And you ready for this? He didn't do it through computers, iPhones, iPads, or modern technology. You know how great God is? Can I tell you how great this God is? Here's how He pulled all that off. All he needed was three things, a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb. And that great God said one plus one plus one equals eternal life. One plus one plus one equals forgiveness for all our sins. No, let me tell you something, boys and girls, listen to your pastor today. This God is so great, He cannot be contained by the universe! But He is so small, He can live in my heart. What a great God He is.
Would you just bow your heads for just a moment and pray with me right now? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. Do you know this God? He knows you, that's not the issue. Do you know? I'm not saying do you know about Him? No, no, do you know Him? Do you really know Him? Let me tell you how you'll know Him. You ready? Be honest. When you come to know this God, your life cannot be the same. It will never be the same, it can't be. I've told you this a thousand times, I love to tell it, I could tell it every week. When I came to know this God as a nine year old boy in that movie theater 30 miles from here, I knew the kid that was walking out of that theater was not the kid that walked in, I knew something had radically changed in my life.
That great God that you know, He created you to change you. He created you to love you. He created you to come into your life. He created you to help you do and go beyond all, anything you could ever ask or imagine. But it all begins, you've got to admit, you need Him. You need Him in your heart. You need Him in your life. You'll never be good enough on your own to get to Him. You'll never be religious enough on your own to get to Him. You'll never be wise enough to get to Him and He knows it.
And if you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I'm talking to those in the room, I'm talking to you watching on the camera right now. You've never trusted this Jesus, this Jesus that is so great He could come live for you, die for you, but come back from grave for you so He could live in you and you could live with Him. And if today you would say, that's who I need, that's what I need. I need forgiveness, I need eternal life and I need it now. And whether you're a boy or girl, a teenager, college student, young, middle-aged, old, if you've never made the greatest decision you'll ever make in your life, would you be willing to make it right now? If you say, "Yes, I would," then just tell Him. You could say something like this:
You are a great God and I'm a great sinner, but You sent a great Savior so I could experience a great salvation. And You've given the greatest news I've ever heard in my life that I could have a relationship with You, that You'll take me into Your family, that You'll adopt me as one of Your children if I will simply give my life to Your Son. So Lord Jesus, I'm telling you today I'm a sinner, I need a Savior, You're that Savior. I believe You died for my sins. I believe God raised You from the dead. I believe You're alive right now. And I ask You to come into my heart and I ask You to save me and ask You to forgive me of all of my sins. I repent of my sin. I turn my life totally over to You. I trust You as my Savior. I surrender to You as my Lord. Thank You for hearing my prayer. Thank You for forgiving me. Thank You for saving me.