In the Bible the number three is associated with divinity or with the Godhead. If you keep your eyes open for it, you will find it over and over again throughout the Scripture. For a quick example: In Revelation Jesus describes Himself as the One who is and who was and who is to come. How many is that? Three.

In the description of time God is described in three ways, the One who is, who was and who is to come. When something is purely a divine act, we find very often that it is repeated three times. I will give you two quick examples. Turn in your Bible to Numbers 6:24-26. This is a wonderful text. This is a text that you should know so that you can read it anytime you are tempted to be discouraged.

This is the blessing that Aaron and the priests were to give to the children of Israel. Numbers 6:24-26: "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. And the Lord lift up His countenance upon you (or the Lord look upon you with favor-margin) and give you peace." Did you notice what kind of a blessing that was? It is a triple blessing and every blessing is double. Very interesting, is it not?

The same thing happens in the New Testament. Turn in your Bible to II Corinthians 13 and you will find here a benediction that the Apostle Paul gives to the Corinthian church. It is a triple blessing. II Corinthians 13:14. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion (fellowship) of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen." A triple benediction.

Very often when you are reading your Bible if it is something that is purely divine--nothing human in it--it is triple. As I was studying my Bible, I found out that there were three times that God says, "It is done." Now when God says that something is done, is it done? It is done.

Let us read a verse about that. Ecclesiastes 3:14. "I know that whatever God does it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it that men should fear before him." That is a text of Scripture that is well worth a little bit of study. When God does something, you cannot subtract from it and you cannot add to it. You will get in trouble either way.

I want to study with you this morning the three times God said, "It is done, it is over, it is finished." We cannot study this in depth because each one of these is very involved so you will have to study part of it on your own, but it is very interesting to study and we will go clear from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation.

We will start in Genesis 2 and look at the very first time that God said; "It is done." We will notice the numbers involved. Turn to Genesis 2:1-3. "Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made."

It says, God ended it. This was the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh day. Notice the numbers. It was the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the seventh day and God was done. He ended it. It was all finished.

And God instituted the Sabbath as a memorial of what he had done, of what he had made. It is so awesome when you try to comprehend it. We cannot comprehend it, but we can try. During those six days God had done something that had never before been done. Now, I believe God had created trees and plants and many other forms of life. There is no question about that. The Bible talks about the heavens and those that dwell in them.

So there are other worlds out there that God has made and other beings and other created things. God made trees and other forms of plant life and other living creatures. But when God created this world, He created something He had never created before. He created a being in His own image.

Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. Incidentally, if you study the book of Malachi carefully, you will find that it took both Adam and Eve together to be the image of God. That is something interesting to study. But God had finished His work. He had done something that had never been done before. The whole universe is still waiting to see what the outcome and result of this is going to be.

I have pondered many times the foreknowledge of God. I am going to get into some deep theology now, so please do not get confused. We do not believe that God takes away your freedom. God gives every human being freedom. But even though He gives you your freedom--do not ask me to explain this, but I know it is true--God has foreknowledge about what is going to happen, even though He gives you the freedom to decide whatever you are gong to decide.

When it says, He was finished, it means more than we usually comprehend. It does not simply mean that He had finished creating this world. This world was the last world that God created. The universe was complete when this world was created. This was the crowing effect of creation when He was gong to create a being in His own image. God knew something that nobody else knew.

God knew that this time something was going to go wrong. Now something had already gone wrong and so let us get right into this second time that God said, "It is done. It is finished." We will spend most of our time this morning on the second time that God said, "It is finished." We will look briefly at the third one. We have looked at the first one.

Turn in your Bible to John 19. This is the chapter in Johns gospel where Jesus is crucified. Now Jesus is hanging on the cross. Notice the numbers again. Jesus speaks how many times while he is hanging on the cross? How many times? Seven times. When He comes to the end of the sixth time, just before the seventh time, here is what happens.

Here is the sixth time He speaks. Remember the first time it was at the end of the sixth day, God finished His work and at the beginning of the seventh when it was finished. This time is at the end of the sixth saying of Christ, the beginning of the seventh; the end of the sixth day, Friday, and the beginning of the Sabbath and here is what happens the sixth time Jesus speaks.

He says this in John 19:30. "So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished. " That was the sixth time Jesus spoke. Then it was over. The seventh time He spoke was immediately afterward and it is recorded in the gospel of Luke. Immediately after He said, "It is finished," which Ellen White says He proclaimed in trumpet tones with the sound of victory--like creation week was all done at the end of six days.

Then He said privately to His Father in heaven, "Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit." That was the seventh time. Then He died. Have you ever pondered what this means? This was the second time God said; "It is finished." It is over. What is it that was finished? What it was that Jesus was talking about when He said it was over, it was finished?

We have to go back several thousand years and look at the great controversy story. There was a being that God made perfect, as the covering cherub who was the highest angel in heaven. In fact, God Himself, speaking of this person, described him like this: "You seal up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." He was full of wisdom and he was perfect in beauty.

But this highest angel in heaven chose to rebel against the government of God. This happens often when people are in the hospital. Some of you here have visited people in the hospital and when a person is just going through agony because of sickness or surgery and do not have pain medication, the devil tempts them. And they say, "Oh, God, if you are so loving and so kind, why am I going through this?"

Have you ever met somebody who feels that way? Let us just think that through a little bit. Many times people ask me, Why does God allow this such and such to exist? Now let us think this through. What would have happened if God had destroyed the devil. When the devil rebelled against His government, rebelled against His law--the first commandment says "You shall not have any other Gods before Me," and Isaiah 14 says that the devil wanted to be like God, which is contrary to the first commandment.

When the devil rebelled against God's law, what would have happened if God had said, All right, you will just be out of here? You will be destroyed. Could God have done that? Ellen White says that God could have destroyed the devil and his sympathizers as easily as a person takes a pebble and casts it to the ground. How old do you have to be when you take a pebble and cast it to the ground? Could you do it when you are three? I think some people could do it before they are three.

Why did He not do it? There are several reasons why He did not do it. One reason why He did not do it was because ever after that man would be afraid of God. Suppose that you come on the scene of action thousand of years later and you have some questions. You talk to one of the angels and he says, "Listen, do not ask any questions around here because if you ask any questions, you will be out of here. You will be gone. You will be destroyed."

You would not ask any questions. You would be scared to ask questions. People would serve God from fear and not from love. But there is a deeper reason than that why God did not destroy the devil. God would not and could not--and I say that reverently-destroy the rebellion by force. Why not? Because, friends, the use of force is contrary to the principles of Gods government.

Compelling power is found only (that is the word Ellen White uses, only, remember that) in Satans government? Maybe I should just say something for you to think about for now. We will mention it quickly and then we will get off of it and you can think about it later. Ellen White says in the book, The Desire of Ages, that in Christs kingdom every weapon of coercion is banished.

So, if I decide to use force to get my way, what have I done? I have put myself in Satans government. I am in Satans government. I am on his side of the great controversy, immediately, whenever I do that. Compelling power is found only in Satans government. I do not know about you, but I have thought about this a great deal. Personally, I am very happy about the way Gods government is run. I like the whole idea of it. Because everybody is free.

Do you like to be free? Most people like to be free. When I was a boy, they used to sing a song called, "Dont Fence Me In." I do not remember that much about the song, but l know that whoever was writing it did not want to be penned up. He wanted to be free. Gods government allows everybody perfect freedom and the principles on which His government operates are the principles of goodness and mercy and love.

You see, Gods government is moral. I have tried to figure out for a number of years, what that means. I am still trying. I want to understand more about it. If I am going to imitate Him, anything that I do in the way of administration or government must be moral. It must never be arbitrary. The devil is the arbitrary one.

So because Gods government is moral, the principles of truth and love must be the prevailing power. And when this rebellion began, God decided something. The more I study it, the happier lam about the decision God made. Let me read it to you from the Bible and see if you are happy about it. Look in Nahum 1:9. This is the decision that God made when the devil rebelled.

Notice what God decided. Nahum 1:9. "What do you conspire against the Lord? He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time." Do you like that idea? God decided something. He decided that He was going to place the entire universe on a basis of eternal security so that this would never happen again and affliction and pain and trouble and strife and war and death would never happen again. Rebellion would never happen again. That is what it says. God decided that.

God does not use force that is contrary to the principles of His government. Only the devil uses compelling power to force people to serve him or worship him. So, how is it going to work out? Well, in the councils of heaven a decision was made. The decision was made that Lucifer would be given time to prove that his principles of government and his philosophy were better than the Lord. Those are the councils that the devil said; "I want to be part of the central council." And God said, "No."

And that was not arbitrary on the part of God, either. I found something very interesting just a short time ago. Ellen White was describing that whole situation where the devil was saying, I want to be in the central planning board with the deity and God said, No. Ellen White makes a very interesting comment about that. She said that as a created being, he was not qualified to be in that council. It was not arbitrary and God just shut him out.

So, in the council of heaven the decision was made to allow Lucifer time to prove his claim that his philosophy and principles of government were better than the Lords were. He said my principles of government will result in greater liberty. Have you ever heard that? Incidentally, it is something quite similar to that by which socialism gained over half the world during the past one hundred years. The idea that you would have more liberty, more freedom.

It is the devil, friend, who tells you that you will have more liberty if you break the law of God. Have you heard that? I do not want to be a Christian because there are so many restrictions for Christians. Have you ever heard that? That is a bald-faced lie. Do you know what Jesus said about that? Jesus said, The one who sins is a servant of sin. (John 8:34.) What is sin? It is breaking the law. (1 John 3:4.) In this verse Jesus used the Greek work doulos. Do you know what doulos is? That is a slave in bondage, or a bond-servant.

Jesus says that the one who lives in sin, the one who practices sin is a slave of sin. He is not free. And the devil goes around all over the world telling our young people, If you sin, then you are going to be free. And he is not free. The devil is not free and his angels are not free and the other sinners are not free. It is just like a person in a concentration camp saying to somebody on the outside, "Oh, you ought to come in here. It is a lie!"

Well, the devil led the human race into rebellion against God and how did he do it? He said, "You are going to be like God. You are going to go up." But instead of going up, we went down. When the devil led man into sin, then God did something that I am very excited about. When the devil does something and it looks like he has God in a corner, God always pulls out some kind of operation that the devil did not figure on. Do not think that God cannot do that yet in these last days. Do not think that God does not have some things planned for this world that nobody knows about yet--not even the devil.

And so, God put the plan of salvation into operation. For four thousand years Christ was working for mans uplifting and the devil was working for mans ruin and degradation. Finally, Jesus came to this world to save sinners, to save people who had deliberately chosen to live a life of sin. It says, "You shall call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21.

Let me just reiterate a few of the devils charges so you will understand some of the things that were at stake. You see, first of all the devil said that Gods law could not be obeyed. That is the first thing that he said. Also the devil said that justice was inconsistent with mercy. You could not be just and merciful both. That is the second charge the devil made. A third charge that the devil made was that if Gods law was broken, it would be impossible for a sinner to be pardoned. And a fourth thing that the devil charged was that if God would forgive a sinner, he would not be a God of truth and justice.

The devil had been making these charges for four thousand years when Jesus came. I want to tell you, friend, that when Jesus died on the cross, that was the focal point of all eternity because all the beings of all the worlds in the universe were watching what was going on in this great controversy. Was it true that it was impossible to keep Gods law? Did Jesus keep Gods law? Was He a man? Yes. Jesus proved that it is possible to keep Gods law.

Have you tried to figure out why it was that they were so cruel to Jesus when they took Him to the different trials? Jesus, by the way, went through seven trials. Once before Annas, once before Caiaphas, twice to the Sanhedrin, twice to Pilate and once to Herod. If you read the account in the Bible, you will know how cruel they were to Him, scourging Him twice, spitting on Him.

Why was all that taking place? The devil was inspiring people to do that. What was the devil trying to do? The devil was trying to get Jesus Christ to break His Fathers law just once to upset the plan of salvation. The devil said, "You cannot keep Gods law perfectly." Everyone who was born into this world, the devil would tempt until they would break the law and then he would say, See, it cannot be done.

I do not understand it, but Jesus consented to come to this world. God told the devil, You can do anything you want to do, but the law can still be kept and Jesus proved it. And the devil did everything he could think of to inspire evil men to do everything they could think of. He put into their mouths vile speeches, taunts and sneers. Then he got physical--spitting, slapping, hitting, shoving, scourging, crucifying and constant ridicule and accusation to try to get Jesus to sin.

The devil inspired people to act worse than brute beasts to try to get Jesus to lose His patience to prove that the law of God cannot be kept. But it did not work! If it had worked, you and I would be lost, but it did not work. The devil proved that he was a liar. Jesus proved that Gods law could be kept.

The second charge was that justice was inconsistent with mercy. When Jesus went to the cross, the whole universe saw that God did not do away with His law. His law was so eternal that when it was broken, the price had to be paid, but God sacrificed Himself in Christ to pay the price so your sins and my sins could be forgiven. It was proved on the cross that you could be just and merciful at the same time. That is what the devil said could not be done.

The third thing that was proved at the cross was that the devil said that if anybody ever sinned they could never be forgiven. But Jesus said to the thief on the cross, "You are going to be with me in Paradise." He proved He could forgive sin and it was proved that God could forgive sin and He could still be a God of truth and justice. So Paul says in Romans 3 that He can be just and the justifier of the one who believes in Christ Jesus.

Every one of the devils charges was proved wrong. Well, it was done in the secret councils in heaven before man had sinned. We do not know how long ago it was. We have not been told the date on this one. The Son made one of the biggest deals that has ever been made in all time.

When God makes an agreement, all He has to do is speak. God does not need Notary Publics, He does not need lawyers, and He does not even need witnesses. God the Father and God the Son made a formal agreement between themselves. The formal agreement was that if any of the intelligences that He had made should rebel and go into sin, Christ would pay the price of sin to redeem them back.

When Jesus died on the cross, the end of Satan and his kingdom was made certain. The redemption of this world was made certain. And, friend, for you on a personal level your eternal life was made certain--if you believe on Jesus. According to the Apostle John, that is all you have to do to be saved. Just believe in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. He is the Lord of your life and the Saviour of your life. You will be saved.

All of that was made certain when Jesus died on the cross because the compact that He had made with His Father in heaven before the world was made was completely carried out. He had fulfilled it all. Well then, somebody says, If that is true, then why was not the devil destroyed right then? I am going through so much pain and suffering and so much trouble now, if that is true, why was the devil not destroyed right then?

Well, here is why. The heavenly universe was convinced right then. But even the angels in heaven did not understand all that was involved in the great controversy. What would happen if you rebel against the government of God and you set up a government that is based on breaking the law of God--which is the kind of government the devil set up? What would be the end result?

The Lord said, "The devil cannot be destroyed now." His existence has to be continued for two reasons. First of all the angels have to see what his government would develop into and the second reason is that men and women have to see the contrast between the government of God and the government of the devil. They have to see the difference.

I want to ask you a question, friend. Have you seen the difference? Have you been able to figure out the difference? And have you decided which side you want to be on? Oh, somebody says, "I have seen the difference and I know which side I want to be on." But let me tell you something. Jesus said that the devil is a deceiver and that he would deceive the whole world before the end of time.

We read that in our Scripture in Revelation 12:9 and the vast majority of the people in the world today that say that they are Christians are on the devils side in the great controversy. Do you know that? Do you know how I know that? Because the Bible says (I John 3:8), "He that sins is of the devil." If I choose to live in transgression of Gods law, I am on the devils side of the great controversy.

The disciples went out and proclaimed Christ to all the world. I was just reading a book yesterday about how the gospel came into the British Isles. Very, very fascinating. It appears that maybe even in the first century the gospel penetrated clear up to Britain, Scotland and Ireland.

As the gospel permeated the whole world, it looked like the gospel was going to conquer the whole world. So, the devil came up with another deception. God knew about this. He showed Moses about it clear back on Mount Nebo. This is the deception that Satan had not brought forward. He said that mercy destroyed justice and that the death of Christ abrogated or did away with the law. Have you ever heard of that? You do not have to keep the law anymore because Jesus died on the cross.

Listen, friend. The death of Jesus on the cross is the strongest evidence that can be given that Gods law cannot be changed. If Gods law could be changed even for a moment, it could have been changed back there in the Garden of Eden. If it could be changed, then the Lord could save mankind without Jesus having to die for our sins. If it could be changed or even lifted just for a moment, everything would be settled a lot easier.

The fact that Jesus had to die on the cross proves that Gods law cannot be changed at all. The penalty has to be paid every time. You see, if you would abrogate the law, that would immortalize transgression. It would place the entire world under the devils control. The cross is the very means by which Christ established the law, through the cross of Christ the law is established. Paul says, "Do we make void the law through faith? No, we establish the law." Romans 3:31

The very means by which Christ established the law Satan represented as destroying it. This is the point on which the last conflict of the great controversy between Christ and Satan will take place in our time. The issue is this: No. 1. The law that God spoke by His own voice is in some way faulty. No. 2. That some specification has been set aside. No. 3. The devil will not assail the whole law, but he will only attack the law on one point. The Bible says in James 2:10 that he who fails on one point to obey the law has disregarded the whole thing.

So, if you choose to disobey one precept of the law, you have discarded the whole thing, you are a lawbreaker and you are on the devils side of the great controversy. By consenting to break one precept men are brought under Satans power. I do not have time this morning to get into the Sabbath/Sunday controversy.

I will just mention a few books I have been reading lately, in case some of you would be interested in reading some things on this. Do you know that the Sabbath/Sunday controversy and ignoring the Sabbath is one of the main reasons that atheistic Communism got control of most of the world in the last one hundred years? Are you aware of that? I have the evidence. If people all over the world had been keeping the seventh day Sabbath, there never would have been a socialistic Communist nation.

Some of you, if your children have been taught evolution in school, you need to read the book written by one of the more famous attorneys in our country, written from the standpoint of a lawyer. The name of the book is Darwin on Trial. Or if you want to look at it from the scientific point of view instead of the lawyers point of view, you can read Natures Tiny Mystery.

If you can persuade the human race to break any one precept of Gods law, disastrous consequences will follow. Do you believe that? Do you realize that some of the most awful things that have happened in our world in the last one hundred fifty years are because people ignore the Creatorship of God? I can show you step by step where Communism comes from. It comes directly from the denial of the Creatorship of God. I did not figure that out for myself. People who were not Seventh-day Adventists, who do not even keep the Sabbath figured that out. It is well documented.

That is also where Naziism came from. It is an interesting thing that the one who claims to be the leader of the largest "Christian Church" in the world is now saying that there is substantiating evidence for the theory of evolution. Once you have accepted that, friend, you are on a downward course to absolute destruction of all human society.

Prophecy foretells that this would happen. Prophecy foretold that it would be on the point of the times in Gods law that the antichrist power would attack the law of God and that the world would be deceived. Read it in your Bible in Daniel 7:25. The warfare against Gods law, which the devil began in heaven, will be continued until the end of time. Everyone of us, friend, is going to be tested.

The question that everyone in the world has to decide is, Am I going to obey or disobey Gods law? We are all going to have to choose, friend, every one of us whether we are going to obey the law of God or the law of man. That is where the dividing line is going to be drawn. That will determine whether you will be saved or lost. Listen, friend, it makes perfect sense. You do not even have to be intelligent to figure this out.

God cannot take people to heaven that are rebellious against Him. Does that make sense? God cannot take people to heaven that He cannot trust. Every character is going to be fully developed and everybody is going to fully demonstrate publicly his or her decision. By the way, when I say that everybody is going to demonstrate publicly, is it possible for the public to know whether you keep the fourth commandment or not? It certainly is.

Your neighbors can tell, your family can tell, the government can tell, the church can tell. It is a matter of public record. Everybody can tell whether you keep the fourth commandment or not. That is where the dividing line is going to be drawn at the end of time. It is a matter of prophecy. Then what is gong to happen? Well, then God is going to speak for the third time.

The first time God finished and it was ended was at the end of the sixth day of creation and the beginning of the seventh. The second time when Jesus said, "It is finished," on the cross; it was the end of the sixth day and the beginning of the Sabbath. It was the time when he spoke for the sixth time just before He spoke for the last time before He died. And the third time God will speak will be at the end of the sixth plague and the beginning of the seventh.

Look in your Bible in Revelation 16. Now this is where the seventh vial or seventh bowl of wrath is poured out This is something that Ellen White tells us that we need to study. It is very interesting to study because it is at this time that God says, "It is done." Listen, it is coming soon and it is exciting because if you are one of Gods children, when this happens, the devil will never, ever be able to annoy you again. You will never have another disappointment again. It is going to be over.

When God says, It is over, it is over! It is very clear in prophecy and Ellen White has confirmed it that when this happens, there will be angels around the saints and the devil will never, ever be able to annoy you again. It is exciting! It is going to happen soon. At the end of the sixth plague and the beginning of the seventh, it says, "And then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven.

Who is speaking? It says it is coming from the throne. This is God speaking, saying; "It is done." First it was done at the creation of the world, the creation was done. It was done at the cross. The plan of redemption was finished. It was finished in the sense that the compact of the New Covenant was carried out. But now, the entire plan of salvation for everybody in the world is done. It has all been decided.

Then it says, "There were noises and thunderings and lightenings; and there was a great earthquake. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. Then every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And great hail fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since the plague was exceedingly great." Revelation 16:18.

Many Bible students believe that this seventh vial will take about fifteen days. However, we do not preach that. We do not say that that is the way it is, but many Bible students believe that from a study of Revelation 18. You can study that out for yourself and see what you think. What we just read is not going to happen that quickly, it will be over a period of days. There is no question about that.

I have evidence that when God speaks and says, "It is done," He is going to have some messages that He is going to start speaking from heaven. Between the time the seventh vial is poured out and Jesus comes again, I have found something very interesting. God is going to speak seven limes. Interesting,

The question is when it is done and it is going to be done soon, where are you going to be? Where am I going to be? Friend, God is making a way so that affliction and trouble and strife and sorrow and disappointment and pain and death will all be over--very soon. I am glad for that. Are you glad? God says, This is not going to go on. I am going to place the universe so it will be eternally secure. Affliction will never rise again.

Friend, God loves you so much that when you and I were ruined and lost, He made a way by sacrificing Himself so that you could be saved. So when it is all over, you will have eternal life. It has been done twice before, but one time again we read in Revelation 16, it is coming and it is coming soon. The Lord is going to say, "It is all over." It is closing time.

Where are you going to be, friend, when it is closing time on this earth? Where are you going to be when God says, "It is all over now. It is done, finished."? Where are you going to be? Friend, where you are going to be then (Listen carefully) depends on the decisions you are making now. That will be the day of wrath.

Right now we are living in what the Bible calls the day of grace or the time or the day of salvation. But the day of salvation is soon going to be over. When the day of salvation is over, the day of wrath will begin. Where are you gong to be then? Where you will be then will be determined by the decisions you make now. Salvation is a choice. The Bible says, "Whosoever will, let him drink of the water of life freely." Jesus is saying that whoever wants to, can freely have life, but a choice must be made.

Are you making a choice? Are you deciding that you want to be saved? Are you saying, "Lord, I want to follow You and keep Your Law. I want to do Your will and be on Your side of the great controversy." Before we sing our closing song, let us pray that the Lord will help each one of us to make that choice day by day. Do not choose to turn your back on the only one Who can save you and go and follow somebody else. It will be destruction.

There is only one Person in the universe that can save you from your sins and He had to die on the cross to do it. He can save you, friend. If there is somebody here who is discouraged because the devil has told you that you are a terrible sinner, I want to tell you, Jesus came to save the chief of sinners. Right now there is still time. It is not done yet. The plan of salvation is still open. But there is coming a time when God will say, "It is all over."

Then you will either be saved or lost forever because it will be done. When God says, "It is done," it is done. Where you are going to be depends of the choices you are making now. Let us pray before we sing.

Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus our Saviour. Because of His love for us He could not allow us to be lost without doing everything that was possible for God to do to save us. Oh, Lord, we do not comprehend Your love, but we choose to surrender to it. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will work on our hearts. Help us to realize that very soon the time is coming when it will be done, it will be over, it will be finished and we will either be saved or lost. We will either have eternal life in a place where there is no sorrow or disappointment or pain, where every desire of the human heart will be satisfied, or else, by our own choice, we will be out of harmony with Your government, Your law, and your ways and separated from the only one who can give us life. Help us to understand the seriousness of life and to realize that the choice we make whether or not Jesus will be our Lord and Saviour of our life has eternal consequences. Lord, help us to get a glimpse of what it really means and help us to choose day by day to follow and obey the One Who loved us enough to die for us. We thank you that very soon the sin and sorrow and suffering of this world will be over forever. We earnestly pray. I pray for each person here in this worship service, that when the sorrow and the disappointment is over for all of Your children, that we may be in that group of those who are saved who will have joy and happiness forever. We pray in Jesus name, Amen.