Going to Numbers chapter thirty-five, Numbers chapter thirty-five. And the tenth verse, Numbers thirty-five and ten. Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When ye become over Jordan to the land of Canaan, then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the slayer may flee thither with killeth any person at unaware, or by accident. They shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer, I want you to notice those two words, the avenger, the manslayer, that the manslayer die not until he stand before the congregation in judgment. and of these cities which ye shall give six cities shall ye have for refuge ye shall give three cities on this side Jordan and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan which shall be cities of refuge these six cities shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them that every one that tilleth any person unaware may flee to the earth and if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. Now, I read that last verse not in connection with my subject, but you see we're living in a day where the word of God is being disobeyed even when it comes to government. Today they're trying to rule us, and I'm very surprised that the Baptist Convention this past week put in their plea that capital punishment be dropped from... to courts or from punishment in the land. This Bible typically says, and this is God's word, that the murderer shall die. The one who murders another, and God says the murderer shall die, and I shall not pity him. That's found elsewhere in the Bible. So it shows how we're departing from the word of God. And today, when you stop to think about it, I didn't intend to make this comment But I understand there are about seven institutions costing the United States government and the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money to operate seven large institutions that are full of men who are all murderers. According to the Word of God, those institutions shouldn't be in operation if the Word of God had been carried out. God says, a murderer shall die, and I shall not pity him. And here you have a case in point, a text indicating that a murderer is to be put to death. Now, lest a man be put to death who is innocent, we have the story that I want to speak on this morning. For instance, it's this. Here are two men, and they're working, and one of them accidentally kills his fellow workmen. Well, naturally, the relatives are going to come into the picture, and the relatives of this lame man are going to think that possibly the other workmen killed him intentionally. God says, well, we've got to take care of that situation. So the man who has killed the other by accident is to flee to a city of refuge. And God selected six cities in Israel, so there would be one within fairly good distance, near enough so they could go to. And they should think up the nearest city of refuge and all the children of Israel were educated as to these six cities. So if you kill someone by accident, unless you be accused of that as intentional and be put to death, you are to flee to that city of refuge and your case would be reviewed. Now that's the story we have here. So the cities of refuge were for the innocent, the man who killed another unintentionally by accident. But you know the Lord Jesus Christ is a refuge, not for those who have sinned unintentionally. not for those who have sinned by accident, but those who have sinned willfully, deliberately, and intentionally. Then let me say this morning, your being a sinner, your being lost is no accident. Your being lost this morning is deliberate. It's intentional. You can't say you're innocent. You are guilty. You know you sinned against God. You know you ought to be saved. You know that's the wisest thing to do. And every moment you delay, you're measuring up wrath against the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God. After a person has become accountable and knows he's lost and Jesus Christ died for them and he refused to accept him and experienced the new birth, the longer he delays, he's increasing his guilt. and yet Jesus Christ still stands as a refuge for the guilty. Those who are deliberately sinning and willfully pursuing their path of unbelief, still the city is available for such people. How marvelous is His grace of God? The cities then provided in the Old Testament were for innocent people. Today's cities, or Jesus Christ, is a refuge for the guilty. We're all guilty. Christ died. for the ungodless. You know, God appointed these cities. He didn't leave it up to the children of Israel or Moses or in the elders of Israel to select these cities. God himself called out the names of each one of these cities. For God knew exactly the area and he knew which city would be best. Now others may have differed with God's selection. But God selected six cities and he named them to Moses. These are the ones you ought to use to be saved of refuge that the manslayer may flee to the earth, flee to. You know today men are trying to erect or trying their best to make their own refuge, ignoring God's selection of the only refuge for the human soul. Jesus Christ is God's choice. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. God did not leave it up to man to select his own Savior. God did not leave it up to man to choose his own refuge, or his way of getting to heaven. Christ is God's choice. Christ is God's selection, and woe be unto any man or woman who tries to get to heaven any other way. Christ says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So these cities were divinely chosen, divinely appointed. And it would be no use for man going to another city. He would certainly be put to death. He had to go to one of these six cities. You know, people today say, well, I think if you work, if you do the best you can, That will say, therefore they have a city of words. Others they talk about, well, if you join the church and try and be faithful to your church, that's enough. I don't find that in my Bible. That's another city that man has selected, and he thinks it's just as good as the other city that God has chosen. And then being a good person, a moral person, a respectable person, and engaging in good works, and being a member of the church and maybe holding an office in the church and being active in the church. If you've not been born again, you're in a wrong city. That's not the city of God's choice. That's the city of your choice. That's the refuge that you have selected and it finds no freedoms or does it find any support in the Word of God. As we try to emphasize time and time again being a born again Christian and being a church members entirely two different things. So many people walk down the island, they join the church and you think, that's it. Then the jails are full of people who did that, did that. The sons are full of people, guns and pilots and everything else. They did that. They joined the church. Did it do them any good, not a bit of it. Something more than that is necessary. You've got to be born again. And that's the point we want to emphasize. These cities were selected by God. And it's not a case of what men think. It's what's written in this book. If we can only get that across to people today, a lot of folks say, well, I think this, I think that. Friend, it doesn't amount to a raw pin what you think, unless what you think is based on this book. Then it don't matter what Lester Wilson thinks. It's what this book says. And I've got to base all my preaching and all my arguments on this book. Christ says, preach the word. Give them my word. That's what you've got to do. Not your thoughts or theories or arguments. My word. Because the Bible says we're born again by the word of God. And so it's the word that comes. Not what you think. Not what I think. What this blessed book says. I want to say this too, that in reference to this scene, money didn't enter into it. In the case of money, man couldn't buy himself off. No, God is a just God. Fred, you can't purchase salvation by money. You've got to come by way of the cross. There's no other way. Let us describe this scene. For instance, here are two men in their chopping wood down in the forest. One fellow, he's not watching the axe head. It is gradually slipping from the handle. And as he brings a blow with the axe, the head flies off and catches his fellow workman right across, above the ear, right across the head, sinking deep and causing instant death. The man drops in his tracks. Immediately the fellow kneels at his side, and then he thinks he's dead. First of all, he'd like to go to the palace and tell them, and no, I can't trust their judgment. They'll think I killed him intentionally. Where's the nearest city of refuge? I think. Ah, the nearest city of Hebron. Quite a few miles, but I've got to go. And so he's the manslayer, and he starts off. Someone sees him running, and it happens to be a relative of the slain man. He runs over to where the men were working, and he sees his relative dead in a pool of blood. He thinks to himself, this was intentional. This is deliberate murder. He has slain my cousin. I'm dead. And so the avenger of blood he takes out after the man slay. Now the race is on. If this fellow can catch that fellow before he gets inside the city of refuge, he can kill him and he will not suffer for it. But if this fellow first one is able to get in, if the manslayer is able to get inside the city of refuge before the avenger catches up with him, he's safe. The race is on and it's a serious race. There's no playing around now in this situation. This fellow who had accidentally slain his workman, may have had clothing on, comfortable clothing, but now he's running. He's running for his life. And he sees the garments he has impede his speed. And it begins to shed them. He's thrown them off. They're hindering them. Yes, and I know some people and they're wearing certain garments that are impeding their coming to Jesus Christ or hindering their coming to the Savior. What about that garment of respectability, that garment of self-righteousness, that garment of human respect, that garment that you have woven so carefully, and you pride yourself in and you love others to look at it and draw your attention to what you've done and all the good you've accomplished. Oh, yes, you like that, don't you? You're depending upon that. You're good to your fellow men. and this wonderful garment that you have woven. Maybe it's a garment of profession. As a child, you join the church, and that's your church profession. That's your garment. You put it on Sunday morning about nine thirty and you take it off about twelve thirty. That's all you need it for another week. And you've worn that robe of profession so many times, putting it on and putting it off, you've worn it out more by putting it on and putting it off, you did by having it on your back. That's your garment. But I want to tell you one thing. If the Spirit of God ever convicts you that you're a lost sinner on the way to hell, you'll throw that garment away. You'll dispose of it because it's hindering you from coming to Christ. Oh, how many cling to those old garments? You know what God says they are? They're filthy rags. All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Outside of the blood of Christ, outside of the person of Christ, your robes are filthy rags. Fender hindering you from coming to Christ. Throw that old garment of profession away if it didn't bring peace into your heart and power into your life. I don't care what church you joined. I don't care the sentimental surroundings. If you were not born again and you joined the church as a child, friend, throw it away and get the real thing. Come to Jesus Christ. Don't go to hell with that old garment. This fellow certainly was ready to dispose of his old guard. But now his path to that city goes right through the little town where he lives. My, this is going to be hard. How can I pass my family on the way to the city of Reckon? And as he's approaching a little town, some of his children are out in the street, and one of them notices daddy coming. And calls the mother, mother, daddy's coming, he's running, he's running fast. And she comes out, and by this time... He said, in front of the house, she said, what's the trouble, John? What's the trouble? Oh, he said, I accidentally killed a man, killed my mate, working in the forest. I've got to go. Don't you see the avenger of blood way back there? If he gets me before I get inside the city of refuge, you'll be a widow, and the children will be powerless. And with a hurried kiss, he goes on his way. His wife and children have to stand aside. What a fool had He lingered with them, or put them before His salvation. What about many women today who are putting their wives and children, their husbands and relatives before Jesus Christ? They put their family in the comforts of their home before Christ. Many of them are going to lose their soul by doing that. Putting relatives and home and all that goes along with security and the social life. putting it before Jesus Christ. There will be found out in a soon coming day, the poly of that action. But he doesn't go only two or three blocks, and he meets some of his old boys. The old companions used to hang around the bar, and they swore them down. They said, John, what's the hurry? What's the hurry? Come on in, let's have a drink. Why is I haven't got time for a drink? What's wrong? What's wrong? Oh, he said, and the man's there. See that man away back there? He's gaining on me. I've got to go. Boys have no time for a drink. Come on, man. You can get one. You'll be able to have a few minutes and then beat him to it. He is. And he goes in. He's not enjoying it. He realizes somebody's coming close. Death is getting very near. But he couldn't turn down the game. He couldn't turn down the boys. The result was the Avenger comes up and he quickly asks, did you see that man that came up here running? Yes, someone said he went in there. And in he goes and he drops him in his clacks right in there. What a fool. Some of you are doing that this morning. Why is it you're not a Christian? Why is it you're not born again? You're putting your companions, your pleasures, your good time before Jesus Christ. You're caring as time for something that you love to do. Son, little entertain. The boys are so hard to go against. My mother said to me time and time again because I did this. She said, My son, your companions will laugh you into hell, but they'll never laugh you at you. companions, companions. Unconverted companions and pleasures, dear, these are the things that are so hard for the sinner to turn from, to accept Jesus Christ. Possibly, I could tell you an incident I wasn't going to, but it's come into my mind. It may take a little time. Dr. Peter Wolfe, one of the great preachers of not too many years ago with holy meetings out in the Midwest, He said he was asked if he would take the funeral of a young girl on Monday. He said yes, I'll be glad to. He's a visiting minister at the church. So he went on out and when he arrived at the little farmhouse where the coffin was and the corpse, he went in, he thought, well, I'll take a look at the corpse, the one whose funeral I had to take. He walked over and he said, I stood there shocked. He said, I never saw more beautiful cocks, the cocks of an eighteen-year-old girl. Hard to believe she's dead. While I looked, he said, I felt a tug at my coat sleeve, and I turned around and I looked into the face of the mother. He said, Dr. Vidawope, I'd like to talk to you off to one side. So we went into another room. He said, He said, Doctor, I want to crank you with the circumstances surrounding my daughter's death. He said, she said a week ago yesterday morning we sat in the church and the preacher preached a searching sermon. And on the way home we were riding in the buggy, but these were back in horse and buggy days. We were riding home, my daughter was silent for a while. She said, Mother, I was almost saved this morning. The mother said, oh, Maryam, why didn't you get saved? That's been the prayer of my life. Why didn't you trust Christ this morning with a thrill of me? Well, mother, you know there's a dance at Colwell on Wednesday night. You know my best is already. All the plans were made. And I told God this morning, I'd get saved next Sunday morning. Well, Maryam, I wish you hadn't done that. I wish she would have taken Christ first. Well, Miriam said, Mother, I should have, I know, but I'll do it next Sunday morning. Wednesday night she went to her dance at Caldwell. The dancing room, the hall was quite warm, and it was a balcony out. And she and her companion went out on the balcony. Just then one of those, what they call Northerners, come up. When the air turns awfully cold, all of a sudden, she got a chill. Now or too later she went home. The next morning she had a temperature and with four doctors in the little farmhouse she passed away Saturday morning, double pneumonia. She said, Dr. Bitovoke, that's the story. When he said, I took the funeral with a heavy heart and as we were having the graveside service He said, that mother rose up from the chair she was sitting on. She watched the descending coffin. And he said, she cried out, with a cry, I'll never forget. Miriam, you have gone to hell and the dance did it. You have gone to hell and the dance did it. She put pleasure. She put a dance before Jesus Christ. Then that's a solemn thing to do. Jesus Christ must come first. You can inquire of him what pleasures and entertainment you can have after your stay consistent with your Christian profession. But all the men and women, the young folks that are putting these things before Jesus Christ and losing their soul because one could go on and speak of this man stopping to transact business in his speed to the city of refuge. Many are one that has lost his or her soul because of business. refusing to accept Christ because of wanting to make a few more dollars. Then! And they know if they become a Christian, they couldn't quite conduct their business on their lines. They're hardly ethical for the child of God. And so they put business, money, this world's good before Jesus Christ. But ah, this man, I love to think of him being able to pass it all and say to his family, no, I can't stop. I gotta go. To the buddies, no, boys. I can't stop. I gotta go. To business, no and no time. And as for the beautiful scenery along the road, I don't see it. It could be weeds as far as I'm concerned, instead of beautiful gardens. I've got one objective. I want to get inside that city before that man gets me. I want to live. I wonder if you've got the same desire this morning. Frain, you've broken God's law. You're under the curse. You're a sinner. Let me tell you, just like the hounds are after a deer that's been wounded and its blood is dropping here and there. Oh, the blood of the hounds are after it. They're caught in its track. So let me tell you, the hounds of hell are hot after you. You've broken God's law. All the wounds of Christ would entreat you. The sufferings of the Savior flee with you, or the howlings of hell, and the torments of Gehenna cause you to flee, ye fly to Christ before it's too late, and before death drops you outside the city of reference. Too many are dropping dead today, dropping dead in the right hand on the left. Just that little thing in here has got to stop, and you've gone. Where have you gone? Where are you in the city of refuge before you leave your last? That's the question. That's the important question we're asking you this morning. The road is clear. Back in those days, God was so gracious. He had every obstacle moved. If there was a ditch or a river on the way to that city, he had a bridge built. God says, I want nothing to hinder the innocent man, the manslayer, from reaching his refuge. The Son of God on the cross, he tore away every barrier. Adam's sin, which constitutes us sinners. God says, I'll take care of that if you're not lost because Adam's sinned. Christ Jesus, according to John, the Lamb of God, who bore away the sin of the world, and Adam's sin was the sin that plunged all the human race into sin. God says, I'll take that away. You're not going to hell because Adam's sinned. You're going there because you refuse my provision in Jesus Christ. I'll take care of that. And as for the law, Jesus Christ bore the curse of a broken law upon the cross, that you might be saved. He's taken care of that. But there are sins in your life that Jesus Christ hasn't taken away as yet by his blood. One of them is the sin of unbelief. Your refusal to come to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior, your sin of rebellion. That's it. But all your sin will be put away the moment you trust them, the moment you accept them. How wonderful that all barriers have been removed. And also every intersection had a signpost. I forget the Hebrew word that was used in those days, pointing refuge, refuge, refuge. So the manslayer would not in any way be turned aside or detoured. He would see it all marked. Refuge, refuge. And he knew which way to go. He didn't have to slow down. You know, God has had many signposts in your life, pointing you to Christ. Some of you have looked into the coffin of a little babe that's passed away. What was that signpost? Go to Christ. Some of you have been on a bed of sickness. You've been pretty close to the end when a signpost appeared. Spirit of God says you ought to be saved. Maybe you were in an accident. Another signpost. Maybe a member of your family came home and told you they'd found Christ. They were saved. That was a signpost. And the life they lived since is a constant signpost to you to plead to the Savior for salvation. All these signposts. What's this blessed book? A signpost. What's the message of the Bible? Refuge, flee to Christ. Leave her Christ. That's the message of the Bible. What am I every Sunday morning when I'm here? Just a sign, folks. That's all. I can save you, but, friend, I can point you, and I try to do it as directly as I can, and as simply as I can, and as earnestly as I can, I point you to the refuge, Jesus Christ. If you miss it, I hope it'll not be my fault. I've been trying to do it for thirty-two years, telling poor sinners, there's the refuge. There's the road. Speed on it. The highways clear. Go, go at all speed. And do not delay. You're going to travel that road of faith this morning to the refuge of Jesus Christ. I trust that you will. You know the gates of the city of refuge were open night and day. Other gates in Israel cities were closed. You read that in your Bible. They closed the gates of these other cities. But not the cities of refuge. The gates to the cities of refuge were open night and day. Holidays and all, twenty-four hours a day. Those gates to the city of refuge were open. Jesus Christ opened the gate to heaven nineteen hundred years ago and has never been closed. It's open night and day. It can be saved at midnight as well as midday. The gate to the city of refuge is open. It's open now, friends. It's open now. I wonder if you're going to enter through this open gate. No, some took longer to get there than others. Maybe this man only had a half a mile to go. Maybe some less. Another may have had five or ten miles to go. Some got in quicker than others. They didn't have so far to go to the city of a... I've seen many people come to these meetings. and they've gotten saved the first time they've come the first time they've heard the gospel others took four or five times heard four or five sermons before they came to christ others have heard three or four hundred sermons and they're not saved yet taking them an awful long time to make up their mind what they want to do whether they're going to accept christ or whether they're not you can imagine one man and he's going with all his might be just about out of breath he's exhausted and he can hear the pounding of the feet of the Avenger behind him will I make it will I make it finally he reaches and he throws himself across the gate the entrance to the city he just made it the Avenger of blood had his hand up ready to drop him But he had to leave his hand in midair because the man just crossed the line. He just made it. I'll tell you, death was just about to strike down many a person just short of Christ. But the person just made it. Just like the thief. He just got in. Just got in. If you're not a Christian this morning, I trust you'll come to Christ. It may be you're just going to make it. It may be your last chance. But here's another fellow, and what does he do? Oh, he's a fast runner. He's been able to outdistance the avenger of blood. He thinks you'll say, well, if I get in there, maybe they're quite a while. I'm just going to hang around the outside. He looks back and he can hardly see the birds. Way back down the road. I'm going to loiter around here. When I get in there, I'll be in there too long. Maybe. I'm going to stay outside as long as I can and he loiteres around and loiteres around and unbeknownst to him the avenger of blood spison standing outside the gate and instead of coming straight up he goes round about and he slips up on it and he drops the man outside the gate only a few feet from salvation you know the occasion of the Bible The Bible says, and David is the speaker, David says, Abner, you died as a fool died. Your brother Moab, Joab, killed you outside of the gate of Hebron. Here's a man lying in a pool of his own blood just a few feet outside the gate of Hebron. You can read it in the Old Testament. And David says, Abner, you died as a fool. You write it too long, and you paid the price. What does the hymn say, almost persuaded now to believe? Almost persuaded Christ to receive. Seems now in this meeting this morning some soul is saying, Go, spirit, go thy way some more convenient day on the alcohol, your loitering, just outside the gate. And it may cost you your soul. You're putting this thing off. may do it to your peril. You know, the wonderful thing is that just when they get inside the city, the Bible says they were to stay there until the death of Israel's high priest. Now, the high priest may die within a week, or he may live for ten, fifteen years, but that man's got to stay in there in that refuge until the high priest dies, and then he's at liberty. Cases reviewed, found out he's innocent, he's able to go home. What about our Lord Jesus? You know, there's a lovely verse over in Hebrews chapter six. It says, By two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, that we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. Those steward and steadfast which enters within the veil, will the forerunner have for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever. I am saved as long as our high priest lives, and Jesus Christ will live forever. He can never die. Meaning I have got eternal salvation. That's what the Bible said. I give unto my sheep eternal. Night, days shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I have got salvation. long as my high priest, my representative Jesus Christ, lives. If he ever dies, I'm done, but he never will. And the Bible says he liveth forever. He liveth forever, so will I. You know that lovely hymn, he sometimes sing, Jesus, lover of my soul. Written by Charles Wesley, the circumstances of that hymn were indeed. Charles Westley was standing at the window of his study one day, and he was looking out, enjoying the atmosphere and the countryside, the scenery. Then his attention was drawn to a big bird doing some darting up and down, and he noticed the reason for this. The big bird was trying to catch a little sparrow. And the little sparrow was darting and ducking as best he could as the hawk would swoop to try and catch it. And they came closer and became more interesting to Charles Westlake. And the big bird almost got the little one on two or three occasions. But as they came near his house and slept by, the little bird saw the open window. And the big bird was so close behind it, the little bird ducked in, hoping to evade. the big bird and as a duct in the window of Charles Wesley's study it lodged up under his coat. Charles Wesley put his hand over it and it dumped so hard its poor little heart it was almost like his own. And he held his hand there for a while. The big bird by this time had circled a couple of times and gone off. Charles Wesley said, I waited for a while. The throbbing died down, became almost normal. He said, I put my hand in and I took the little bird up. Little beak was open, panting for breath. And I kept it for a little while. When I thought it was all right, dangerous past, I let it go. And Steve Leopold went, that's when Charles Wesley took his pen and wrote that lovely hymn, Jesus, lover of my soul, let me through thy bosom fly. while the billows near me roll, and the tempest still is high. Hide me, oh, my Savior, hide till the storms of life are passed, save into the haven guide. Oh, receive, my soul at last. The little bird found a refuge in the bosom of Charles Wesley from the avenger. Friend, have you found a refuge for your soul in Jesus Christ? from the event death and judgment are on your track they're gaining ground every day every breath you take brings them nearer and you're slowing down in your old age you're slowing down and you know when you haven't got much further to go your pace is slackening you're not what you used to be the Avengers gaining ground Jesus Christ waits for you to come to him and make him your refuge are you going to make him your refuge this morning Whether you be a teenager, whether you be in your twenties or thirties or forties or fifties or sixties or seventies, friend, we urge you this morning to come to Jesus Christ. He's the only refuge for the soul. David speaks to them time and time again about being a refuge. God is our refuge in strength, the very present time, felt in time of trouble. Will Jesus Christ be your refuge this morning? Has the Spirit of God dealt with you about your sins and about your soul, about your need of salvation? Are you ready this morning to cast aside those garments that you have made to try and make yourself presentable to society by a good profession without Christ? Are you willing to shake your head to the boys who are trying to say, don't get saved now? Are you willing to shake your head to business deals here and there? Are you willing to shake your head at the pleasures and the entertainments, the appeals of the world? Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to give the nod to Jesus Christ? Say, yeah, I'll come to Christ this morning. I'll accept him as my Savior. I want a refuge for my soul, and I want that refuge today. And oh, the warmth of that refuge. Like that little bird in Charles Wesley felt his little heartbeat. But I'll tell you, the little bird likely felt his heartbeat too. Friend, when you come to Jesus Christ, you'll know something of the warmth, the safety, the security, and the love of that heart. He'll put his hand over you. He'll protect you until all dangers are passed. Then in a new world, he'll let you lose. When you come to Christ, Will you come right now? Will you in your heart make your decision? Yes, I want to be saved. I should have settled it long ago. I've been postponing it. I've been putting it off, but I'm going to settle it this morning. I'm lost and I'm not happy. I want the Savior. I want him this morning. I'm going to come. Jesus died for you. Will you accept him? Young or old, will you take Christ? Will you take him now? Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we commend for thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We thank you for all who have found Christ the true refuge. Remember those in our meeting who have been turned aside. We trust just temporarily. Satan is trying to allure them from the path that leads to the Savior. We trust, Father, that he will be defeated in his purpose and plan. May hearts in our service this very morning come to Jesus Christ and come quickly. Come now. Someday those gates will close and they'll be left outside to face the Avenger without hope or salvation. O God, we pray, we bless thy word and say precious souls in this meeting and will give thee all the glory in our Saviour's precious, precious name. Amen. So we sing two-twenty-sixth, a very familiar hymn, two hundred and twenty-sixth. Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Maybe you trusted Christ during the meeting, I hope you did. And if you did, I trust you'll let us know. will you come to Christ as we stand and sing.