Removing the Veil of Death | Dr. Andy Brown

In this powerful message, we're confronted with the sobering reality of death's pervasive influence on our lives. The central theme revolves around Isaiah 25:7, which speaks of a 'veil spread over all nations.' This veil represents the shadow of death that encompasses our existence, often without our full awareness. We're challenged to recognize how deeply entangled we are in this 'veil of death,' from our daily fears to our societal structures. However, the message doesn't leave us in despair. It points us to Jesus Christ as the ultimate solution - the One who tears the veil and offers true life. Through vivid imagery and scriptural references, we're reminded that our perceived freedom without Christ is an illusion. Only in Him can we find genuine liberation from the snares of death. This message urges us to examine our lives and ask ourselves: Are we truly living, or merely existing under death's shadow? It's a call to embrace the 'indestructible life' that Christ offers, transforming our perspective on both this life and the promise of eternity.

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Transcript

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If Jesus Christ is our Savior, then he must be our complete Savior. Not just to save us from one thing, but to save us from everything. And something that we carry around with us all the time. As Paul says, we carry around with us this body of death. I want to talk to you about death today, but I don't want to be morbid. I want to be triumphalistic. And that's really my hope. And oftentimes when we think about death, we think about something that happens at the end. But the Bible gives us a different picture of death. It tells us that we are wrapped in a veil of death. In other words, our whole experience is really ordered by death. Think about it. For example, we put guardrails on the side of the road because there's a fear of death. We take medicine because our lives are ordered by death. I'll never forget when Katie and I, we were confronted with this. As you get a little older, you have to be confronted with this. You realize that you're not invincible anymore. And we took our first church after seminary, and all of a sudden someone came and said, Have you considered life insurance? And I thought, why would I consider life insurance? Well, Mr. Brown, you now have a family to think of. You know, every baby that's born is born with an expiration date. I know that's challenging for us to think about, but it's just true. I can remember I carried a fear when my wife was pregnant. I carried a fear, and that fear was that I was going to lose my wife in childbirth. The reason for that was that my uh granddaddy lost his mother during the Great Depression. She gave birth to him during right before the Great Depression, and she died in childbirth. And so that was a fear that I had. And when Adelaide was born, our first, I'll never forget that. Katie labored for so long, she no one ever let me forget either. While she's laboring, I'm eating a steak sandwich. But anyway, we had a great time. Well, I had a great time. She uh she, of course, was laboring, and it was an intensive labor, your first one, and and uh I'm speaking like I know something about it. I really don't. But watching her labor, and I'll never forget, I'll never forget sitting there, and uh the nurse was there, the doctor was there, the baby was having trouble being delivered. And all of a sudden the nurse kept saying things like, the oxygen level is low. Do we need to go upstairs for the C-section? And the doctor saying no, and I'm watching, I'm holding my wife's hand, and I'm watching the doctor say no, the nurse say yes, no, yes, and I'm thinking, somebody's gotta make a decision here. And all of a sudden, I remember the team coming in and thinking about okay, let's make the preparations for whatever we need to do next. But all of a sudden, my fear shifted in that one moment from losing my wife to losing my baby. Thankfully, neither one of those things happened. Both are doing just fine. I got a teenage daughter now. Lord, pray for me. Amen. Hallelujah. But you get to experience all these things in life. But here's the truth. If Jesus Christ is going to be our Savior, he can't just simply save us from one moment. He has to save us from every moment. Because, like it or not, our whole death, our whole life is ordered by death. Would you take your Bible, please, and join me in the book of Isaiah? And I hope that you're ready this morning. We're going to look at one verse in Isaiah. And as we look at this one verse in Isaiah, you're going to see that Isaiah chapter 25 at verse 7. It's very poetic in the way that it writes. The Bible is beautiful, by the way. I know that those of you who read the Bible and it's uh you know this. The Bible speaks in such uh evocative language, it speaks in such a way that just draws us in. And in this section of poetry today, Isaiah is talking about the salvation that God is going to deliver for us in those days and on the last days. It's listen to this. It's a salvation that's going to happen on the mountain. Don't miss that. It's a salvation that's going to happen on the mountain. And I won't be so bad to get into verse 8, but we'll just have to save that, all right? We'll have to save verse 8 for next Sunday, which, by the way, it's Easter Sunday. Don't forget that. But Isaiah chapter 25, look at verse 6, and we're going to focus on verse 7, but I want you to see verse 6 again. On this mountain. And I love the way that Isaiah just drops that. It's like an earthquake that happens on this mountain. The Lord of hosts, he's going to make for all the peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of food rich, full of marrow, of aged wine, and well refined. Now look at verse 7. Here we go. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all the peoples, the veil that is spread over all the nations. And then if you go ahead and peek ahead, which I know you're already doing, it's okay. You're looking at verse 8. You see what that veil that's covering the nations is. The veil is death. Notice the way the Bible speaks. It talks about death as a covering. It's this covering that's cast over all the peoples. Is there anyone in the room today that would admit that they are claustrophobic? Anyone? Everyone, right? No one likes tight spaces. If you know, one of the things that, well, I shouldn't say this. I'm sorry, Titus, but one of the things that I like to do is at night, Titus and I, we have a little game. He doesn't like it when I squeeze him too tight. So guess what I like to do? I like to squeeze him real tight, you know? My none of us like to be constrained into one place. But this is this is what the picture of the Bible gives for death. This morning, as I was leaving my house and coming here, uh, you know, what happens when the spring comes? You you want to leave the doors open, but what happens if you leave the doors open? Well, flies come in. That's exactly right. And so there was this fly that I he was at the door, and I'm thinking, here's my chance to let this little fly go free. Guess what he chose? He chose death. He chose to stay inside. He thinks that death, he thinks that inside my house is freedom, but there's bodies everywhere of flies that have tried to think that this is the habitat that they want, but realistically, this is not the place that they want. All of us, we think that we're living. But the Bible confronts us with a different reality. And he said, the life that you think that you're living is really no life at all. And this is the reason, for example, don't miss this. This is the reason why Jesus lived 33 years on this earth. He didn't, the gospels don't just give a picture of the birth of Jesus, and then all of a sudden, here he goes to the cross. The Bible presents this Jesus coming and seeking and saving lost ones, healing the blind, calming the sea, curing disease, casting out demons. Here is this God who lives to not just save us from one moment, but from every moment. Here's this God that comes to us and lets his life be lived in and through us because here's what the Bible says our entire existence is marked by death. It's not just one date that we'll all experience, it's a way of living that's tangled up. It's a way of living like being in a sleeping bag that not only someone has zipped, but they've zip-tied it. It's this way of living that's really not living at all. And so write this down, point number one, and then we're gonna flip around to a few scriptures. All of these points we're gonna anchor in scripture because I want you to see how the Bible paints this glorious picture of the veil of death and how Jesus Christ delivers it from us. So write this down, number one. This is the truth. We live entangled in the veil. Your existence is entangled in the veil. And I love, by the way, the way that the Bible speaks. And of course, the uh the Bible begins with a marriage. Remember in the garden where a man is presented a woman? And then how does the Bible end? You know, don't you? It ends at a wedding. And by the way, what's at that wedding? It's a feast, remember? The marriage supper of the Lamb. And we used to have this tradition, and it's not very popular anymore, but remember before the man would uh would would be given his wife, remember, the that veil would be there and the veil would be lifted. All of a sudden, here this bride is adorned in beauty and splendor. The idea there is that there was one way of living, but now once you get married, you enter a whole new way of life. It's the death of one life, it's the death of two lives, really, in a wedding, and it's the life of now one that's joined together in holy matrimony. And the way the Bible's painting this picture, it says that there's a there is a a covering that is cast over everyone. Just as salvation is available for everyone, everyone also is entangled in the cores of death. The veil, the Bible says, that is spread over all the nations. And so as we read that, we're supposed to feel like we're constrained. We're supposed to feel darkness, we're supposed to feel like someone has wrapped us up in a sheet, and we're trying our best to get out. Because all of us right now live entangled in the veil. Yeah, go with me if you wouldn't mind to Psalm 116. Go backwards to Psalm chapter 116, and listen to the way the Bible continues to paint this portrait. Psalm 116, and this is verse 3. Listen to what it says. Verse 1 says, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Now, where do we cry to the Lord with pleas of mercy? Where are we crying to him? From within the veil. We're crying to him, we're screaming for help within the veil. We are underneath the sheets, we are in the covers, we are wrapped in death. He is, we love him because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. He has inclined his ear to me. And then look at verse 2. Since he's heard me, I'm gonna call on him as long as I live. Now look at verse 3. The snares of death encompass me. The pains of Sheol or the grave, they lay hold on me. Look at this. I suffer distress and anguish. What's the psalmist saying? He's saying that my life is a life that looks like living, but in reality, I have this fear that I can't escape. It's like you have this pain and you go to the doctor, and I don't know about you, but it's like it's always the worst. It's always the worst. Or especially with young mothers, right? You have this newborn baby and something's not right, and you just are certain that something's wrong, and the doctor, you get there, oh, it'll be all right. What do you mean it'll be all right? It's not gonna fix my child. We all live with this fear. This fear that encompasses us, this fear that controls us, this fear that grips us. Our attitudes are determined by this, our dispositions are determined by this. And the way that the Bible is speaking, it's like death is a snare that has a hold on us. But what a what a way to speak, the snares of death. And notice this again, this language, it encompasses me. There's no escaping. I look to the left, it's there. I look to the front, it's there. I look to the right, it's there. Behind me, it's there. I can't escape this. And I was thinking about what's a we usually don't talk like this. We usually don't say the snares of death encompass me. But what does it mean? It means, for example, I remember my dad, uh, and for those of you who you'll understand this, back in the 1900s, back in the 1900s, they had seatbelts in cars that were automatic. At least the the the uh this one here, whatever this is, whatever this part that goes here. You had to still do the lap bar, but uh they had they had seat belts that would be automatic. How many of you have ever been uh encompassed in the snare of a seatbelt? Anyone? Those things get a hold of you, right? So I'm not ready to get out yet. I'm in control here. My dad, he had a 1992, I'll never forget this little white car, 1992, Ford Festiva. My dad, we lived about 45 minutes from the airport, and that's what my dad did. He worked at the airport or he worked around Atlanta. And my dad, he there's only one reason for my dad to drive this little piece of junk car. And the reason is because it got like 45 miles to the gallon. And even back then, my dad, we gotta save fuel, we gotta save. And so I can remember my dad, it was the car was a death trap, it really was. It was a five-speed, and that car you would get to go and real fast, you know, like 80 miles an hour in this little, this little this little uh wind-up car, it looked like. And a 18-wheeler would come by you, and when that 18-wheeler would come by you, the whole car would shake. And that car, it had a seat belt, and that seat belt was one of those things, if you try to get out too quick, it had a delay. And for those of you who've experienced it, you just have to experience it. It would like you'd have to you'd open the door and you'd expect the thing to release. Well, sometimes it wouldn't. And all of a sudden, guess what happens? It's like the same thing that happens when your seatbelt locks up. You know what I mean? It's like, I'm in control here. And this is the picture that the Bible's giving us the snares of death. I'm encompassed by them. I think that I'm in control, but I'm really not. The pains of death. And all of us have experienced the pains of death that they lay hold of us, and we really suffer distress and anguish. You know why? Because we're covered by the veil of death. Go with me if you wouldn't mind to Psalm 18. Go backwards to Psalm 18. And at Psalm 18, we're gonna look at verses four through five. And you know me, I'm probably gonna start at verse one just because I want you to see it. But Psalm 18 says, look at this. Look at the way that this connection here. I love you, Lord. You see where he's crying from the psalmist of David? He's crying from a world that's death is all that we know. It's an existence where it's it's described in the Bible as darkness. He says, I love you, oh Lord, my strength. You see what the psalmist is realizing? He's helpless. He's hopeless. Verse 2 the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Look at verse 3. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. Now, those enemies, the greatest enemy, according to the Apostle Paul, is death itself. The last enemy to be vanquished that we all face is death. And by the grace of God, death no longer has power over us. By the grace of God, death no longer has dominion over us. Death has lost its power, it's lost its sting. Look at verse 4. The cords of death, do you see this? The cords of death, what do they do? They encompass me. And then it keeps getting richer. It says, the torrents of destruction assailed me. The cords of the grave, the cords of Sheol entangled me. The snares of death confronted me. And so what does he do? He, in his distress, he calls upon the Lord for help. And then look what happens. From the mountain, from the temple, he heard my voice, and my cry reached his ears. He's not a God that's just unmoved and unconcerned, aloof from us, so far away that we can't reach him. No. Instead, heaven bows down and reaches us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And notice the way it says the cords of death. Now we understand that. We're all wrapped up and tangled up, tripping over. It's everywhere. We're constrained. The torrents of destruction assailed me. And I love this phrase, the torrents, that's water language. My family and I, one of our favorite places to vacation, is the outer banks in North Carolina. And the outer banks, if you've ever traveled to the Atlantic side of the ocean, then you understand that that Atlantic is different. I know many of you Gulf people, you think that it's not as pretty, but anyway, we can argue about that later. But the Atlantic over up there, especially in the Outer Banks, one of the farthest places east in America, the ocean is just different there. Matter of fact, it's called the graveyard of the Atlantic because of how many ships have gone down because of the sandbars that constantly shift. And I can remember one time we were taking a tour and we were going and seeing all the wild horses on the outer banks, and that ocean that was there was just raw. Because there weren't jetties to uh control the surf to make it safe for us to go and play in. It was there was no jetties out there. It's a wildlife preserve, and so everything is just raw, an unimaginable ocean. And what happens if you if you're there, and this is what I love most, it may say something about me. This is what I love most about the ocean is I like to face the wave and see if the wave can't take me down. And that's one of the things that makes the ocean so scary, right? It's why when our children, we don't just, if we're good parents at least, we don't just throw them in and say, do your best. We we take them and we hold them and we lift their feet and we say, wee with them, right? We do all of these things because there's a real danger that's there. They, because if not careful, that rip current can pull them away and knock them over and give them sandburn and all of these things that can happen. And this is the picture that the Bible's giving us here. The cords of Sheol entangle me, the snares of death are all around us, the torrents of destruction, they assail me. In other words, death is what we know. Go with me to Isaiah. Go back to Isaiah. Isaiah, and this is chapter 25, verses 15 through 18. Actually, this is 28, 15 through 18. I'm sorry, 28, 15 through 18. At 28, verse 14 says, Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. Are you hearing this? Where are we crying to the Lord from? The place that's the shadow, uh the valley of the shadow of death, the place of shadows. Hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers. You rule the peoples in Jerusalem. Because you've said, look at verse 15, we have made a covenant with death. And you think, well, I had made a covenant with death. I don't want death, but yes, you have. You all prefer, we all prefer death over life. And you say, Well, why is that? It's because we're bad off. That's why. It's because the world that we inherited is a world that is filled with death. You entered a world, my children entered a world where they would have to go visit a graveyard, and so did you. This is the world that we've inherited. We've made a covenant. The Bible says, humanity, you and me, we've made a covenant with death and with the grave or with Sheol, we've made an agreement. When the overwhelming whip passes through, it won't come to us, for we have made lies our refuge. We made lies our refuge. When the it says it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter. In falsehood, we've taken shelter. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, listen to the salvation note. I am the one. It's me. I've done it. I'm the one who is laid as a foundation in Zion. Look at this language, folks. A mountain, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. Whoever believes in me will not be in haste. In other words, whoever believes in me will have the calm assurance that there is a salvation waiting for you. You see, here's what the Bible's telling us, and it's telling us time and time and time again. Death isn't something that just happens to us. Death is something that we know, and our whole expression is determined by death, and this is the world that Jesus Christ comes to. He sees what it means to live. I love C. S. Lewis and his imagination. My favorite color is blue. And C. S. Lewis said, we don't really know what the color blue is, because we See a shadow of what God intended blue to be. When we look up at the creation, we don't see God's good creation. What do we see? We see a world that's marred with sin. We see a world that has pollution. We see a world that has smog. We see a world that is not, you have to do perk tests and you have to test the water now because you might not be able to drink it and all of these things that happen. It's a world where we have a, it's a world where we fool ourselves into thinking that it's good, but in reality, the good, the good in the world is the good that God is bringing to the world. And the way that He'll bring good into the world is by a salvation ready to be revealed at the end of time. It's a salvation that you and I get to experience right now. It's a love that we get to not just imagine, but to experience all through Jesus Christ. And he comes to where we are. And where are we? We are in the veil of death. We are entangled in the veil of death. In other words, there's no freedom here. There's only freedom in one place. We fool ourselves if we really think that this is freedom. There is no freedom in this world. There's only freedom in Jesus Christ. Second, let's learn this. Not only is the veil entangling us, the veil is growing within us. Oh, it gets worse. It's not the veil is something external that we can break. No, it's within us. Go with me, if you wouldn't mind, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 4. And Ephesians chapter 4, listen to the way the Bible tells this story. Ephesians chapter 4 at verse 18. It says, they are darkened in their understanding. In other words, the veil is covering them, and it's not just affecting their vision, it's affecting their minds, it's affecting everything that they experience. That experience that they have is clouding all of their imagination. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God. Alienated from what? The life of God. Why? Listen, because of their ignorance that's in them. It's a darkness that is in us. It's a darkness that's around us, but it's also a darkness that is in us. Why is that darkness there? It's because our hearts are hardened. It's because our hearts are hardened. Look if you wouldn't mind again to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture at verse 14. This is Paul talking about how Jesus Christ comes and he removes the veil. It says at verse 14, their minds were hardened. Why is that? Because darkness is growing within them. The cords of death are growing within you. Their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same, notice the word, veil remains unlifted. The same veil remains unlifted. And then look at this hopeful passage here. It's only through Christ that it's taken away. In other words, true freedom is found only in Jesus. Only through Christ is it taken away. And then it says this when one turns to the Lord, the veil is what? The veil is removed. When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed at verse 16. Now the Lord is a spirit at verse 17. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is. Notice this phrase. There's freedom. You need saving. You need salvation. It's a salvation that only Jesus Christ can give. And then it says, and we all with unveiled faces, after Christ sets us free, we are beholding the glory of the Lord. And then this is our experience. We are learning to see because He's given us eyes to see. Now the darkness is now all that we knew, but now we have a light to see through the darkness. It says, beholding the glory of the Lord, and we're being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. In other words, Jesus Christ is our only hope. Jesus Christ is the only one that can save us. Jesus Christ comes to us as we are with this veil that's growing within us. And you know what he does? Number three, write this down. Christ, Jesus himself tears the veil. Jesus comes to where we are because we could never get to where he was. Jesus Christ comes to where we are, and only he can tear the veil to set us free. And knowing what he knows about our world, knowing what he knows about our experience. What's he say? He says, I've come to give you life. And it's like telling someone who has never been born a slave. It's like telling them that they're enslaved. And he did this to the Jewish people, remember? And they said, We've never been a slave. And we're all thinking as we read that, did you forget about the Exodus? Did you forget about Pharaoh? Well, what's he talking about? He's talking about the fact that they think that they're free, but they're not. You think that you're living without Christ, but you're not. Jesus says, I have come to give them life, but not just any life, life more abundant. Christ has come to where we are. The way that the Bible speaks is he tears the veil and sets us free. He comes to where we are. If we can use this image for just a moment, he comes to where we are. The world has already zipped us up in its body bag of death. Jesus Christ comes and he unzips or he tears the veil and he breathes life into us. And he does this not from a distance. Listen carefully. He does this not from a distance. He does this with the power of his indestructible life. Go with me, if you wouldn't mind, to these passages of scripture. Hebrews chapter 10, all the way to the back of the Bible. Hebrews chapter 10 at verses 19 through 20. Listen to the way the Bible speaks about Jesus. Remember what Jesus has done now? Jesus has come and he has torn the veil. Jesus comes and rips open the veil so that you and I, so that light can pierce into our darkness, so that he can free us from the snares of death, so that even though we die, yet shall we live? Because he promised that that would be true. Listen to what he says in Hebrews 10, 19. Therefore, brothers and sisters, since you and I have confidence to enter the holy places, how do we enter the holy place? That's beyond the veil, by the way, in the temple, beyond the veil in the Holy of Holies. How do we enter the Holy of Holies? How do we enter that holy place? Only by the blood of Jesus. His flesh, when it was torn, you know what he's doing? He's tearing our death. Not at a distance, but as a savior. And I wanted so bad to preach verse 8, and I'm itching to say right now, and I'm just going to, I'm going to give you a preview. What's he do with death? He swallows it. He doesn't dab it and dab it. He takes death and he works resurrection from the inside out. We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. Look at this language. Don't miss this. By the new and living way. And why did this how did this new and living way come to us? That he opened for us through the curtain. He opened it. He opened the curtain by his own flesh. Since we have this great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and with full assurance. This is the message that Paul that Peter preaches in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. If you wouldn't mind, go with me over there. I want you to see this. In Acts chapter 2 at verse 24. Peter says this. This is the resurrection message. God raised him up. What does this mean? Raising him up. Notice this language. Loosing the pains of death. Loosing the cords of death. Tearing through the veil of death. Now notice the way Peter speaks, and I love this. It was impossible for him to be held by it. Only he can be your Savior. Only He can let you know what it means to truly live. Only He can forgive you of your sins. Only His forgiveness can guarantee a forever with Him. You can't achieve this. You can't. Doesn't matter what kind of life you live, doesn't matter how holy you are, doesn't matter how much money you give, how much time you spend, you cannot do what Jesus Christ did. And listen, what He did, He did for you. He came to you who were all tangled up, like a mummy walking around, not even able to walk. You think you're running, you're not running. You think you're walking, you're not walking. You think you're living, Jesus says, I have come to give you life. Romans chapter 6 and verse 9. And just because of time, it's going to be on the screen. Romans chapter 6 at verse 9. Listen to the way this verse says. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, notice this. He will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. You know what that means? It means that since death no longer has dominion over him, you can find your safe place of refuge in him. Because whatever is true of him is true of you. You say, well, that means I'll die, doesn't it? Well, Jesus did, didn't he? But is that the rest of your story? No. One day you'll rise again. You know why? Because he did. You know the reason that he died and rose again was to take you where he is forever. And this is my favorite verse here. Hebrews chapter 7 at verse 16. Listen to the way that the Bible speaks here. Hebrews 7, 16. It says, Jesus Christ, he has become a priest. Not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent. In other words, it's not his lineage. That's not what we're talking about. Why is he a priest? Look at this. Because of the power of his indestructible life. And by the power of the indestructible life of Jesus Christ, here's the hope that we have. Just as he is, so will you one day be. And the question that I want to ask you today, do you trust him? The question that I want to ask you today, do you believe in him? The question that I want to ask you today, have you found your refuge in him? Have you trusted him to be your Lord and Savior, not just for one moment in time, but so that you can learn what it means to truly have life this side of a grave? Because listen, all those who by faith trust in Jesus Christ, you're gonna have life on the other side of the grave. But have you learned to live a life in the power of the Holy Spirit, letting his life live in and through you, this life that he has designed and secured for you. And remember, the way that he secured it was by his own indestructible life. One of the songs that we used to sing growing up, and I loved it. It was the songwriters that uh really uh shaped a whole generation. His name is Bill and Gloria Gaither. Some of you know the Gaithers, some of you rejoice at the Gaiters. One of the things that they said, if you remember in that song, one of the things that they said, when they wrote the song Because He Lives, they said that when they had their son, they were concerned because look, we're bringing our son into a world that's filled with death and warfare and the threat of disease and all of these things. And they came up with that line. Do you remember how sweet it is to hold a newborn baby and feel the pride and joy he brings? But sweeter still, the calm assurance. This child can face uncertain days because he lives. That's what the resurrection of Christ is all about. Because he lives, you can face tomorrow. Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know, oh, he holds the future. And life is worth the living. Oh, because he lives. And I just want to humbly ask you, are you living today? Are you living? And there's really only one way for you to answer that. If you're in Christ, then you're living. Even though you're dying, you're living. Because the apostle said, remember, though this outer man decay, the inward man is being renewed day by day. But let me tell you this. If you don't know Jesus, and all your living, it's really nothing but dying. And it's my prayer for you. That you would let go of yourself justifying, that you would let go of this life that you think is good, and you would give your life completely to Jesus, you would come to him and say, Lord, forgive me of my sins and make me alive. And listen to this the Bible says, any who come to him, he will never, never be cast out.