Well good morning. Good to see you all. Before we come to pray and the Word of God for today I do want to thank the organizers of the conference. I'm very privileged and very thankful to the Lord for the opportunity to minister God's word to you on this occasion. So brethren, let's pray and let's ask the Lord's blessings upon our time.

Let's pray. Our Father, we are so grateful for all of your mercies which are mediated to us through the wonderful Lord Jesus Christ. We are thankful, O God, that for many in this place we know Him in truth, but more importantly, O God, we are known of Him. And we thank you, O God, for all of the salvific realities which are ours in Jesus Christ. We are thankful that we can know you by the power of the Gospel through the influence of the Holy Spirit.

And we're asking, O God, now that you would come upon us by that Holy Spirit, the blessed third person of the Holy Trinity, O God, that you would not leave us to ourselves, but you would as we considered in the last hour rend the heavens. Come O God, save sinners, and sanctify your precious saints. We ask all of these things in that magisterial name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. In his very helpful book entitled the gospel call and true conversion published by Reformation Heritage Books author Paul Washer writes the following and says, he writes, According to God's eternal plan and good pleasure, Christ, the Son of God, who is equal with the Father, willingly left the glory of heaven to come to earth in order to carry the sins of his people upon himself to the cross.

Washer says that this is what Jesus did at Calvary and there he was forsaken of God and yet on the third day God raised him from the dead and this as a public declaration that the demands of all of God's justice against us has been satisfied." Well, our brother Paul goes on to write that this is the good news of God and Jesus Christ our Lord and yet having considered this Paul says we must now turn our attention and ask what is a person's biblical response to that good news message in other words Paul writes how should the evangelist direct desperate people when they cry out saying, what must I do to be saved? Well dear brothers and sisters here this morning, if you are acquainted with Paul Washer's book, you know that he answers his own question really well. You know that he responds properly when he says that if people, if men, women, boys and girls, if people are going to be saved, they must repent of their sins and believe the gospel. Now, if you are familiar with your Bibles, you know that beyond a shadow of a doubt our brother Paul Washer has answered the question very well as far as what we must tell sinners that they must do if they cry out saying what must I do to be saved?

They must repent and believe the gospel. Amen? That's exactly what they must do. They must repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for life and salvation. Dear Brothers and sisters here this morning, you know that if people do not turn from their sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for their soul's salvation, they will be damned for all eternity.

However, if they do this by God's great working in their hearts, they will be eternally saved, legally justified, and fully pardoned of all of their sins. Praise be to God. Well, it is my distinct privilege then this morning to speak to you about this vital subject of repentance and faith under the title of two things most needful. This morning we're going to consider these twin graces in a pivotal passage in the New Testament which is found in Acts chapter 20 and verse 21. And I ask you please to turn with me there in your Bibles.

Acts chapter 20 and verse 21. Here is the Apostle Paul in this immediate setting, was summarizing to the Ephesian elders the very heart and core and soul of the gospel message that he preached throughout his ministry. Luke records his words which say, Acts chapter 20 and verse 21, he writes that Paul said that he testified to Jews and also to Greeks. Note the language. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now really, brethren, this particular passage before us now is vitally important for all of us, each and every one of you here today, It's vitally important for all of us to understand whether we are Christians or not. Dear friends, I say that if you're saved here this day, this text should be a true encouragement and a help to you on many levels. And if you're not saved, dear friend, this very verse can be the verse that will lead you out of the broad road that leads to destruction into the narrow way that leads to life. Now as Paul begins here to speak to the leadership of the church at Ephesus, that's what he's doing here at Miletus as we're told in verse 17 of this chapter. He's speaking to the leadership there at Ephesus, a church which by the way Paul planted on his third missionary journey as he's speaking to these elders in this one-day pastors' conference, if you will.

He begins in verses 18 to 20 of this chapter by speaking firstly about his manner of ministry. His manner of ministry. Now you might wonder, why did Paul begin again this one day pastors conference with these elders about speaking with reference to his manner of ministry? Why speak about himself? Well it seems that Paul did this because he knew that he had detractors on every side who were against him.

Now dear friends, if you are familiar with Paul's ministry, you know that at many points evil men came against him in order to stir up much trouble and so as to give something of a defense of his life and his labors. To the pastors from Ephesus he says to them specifically in verses 19 and 20 of this chapter, two main things, namely that he served the Lord not with just some humility but he says that he served the Lord, notice the words, with all humility and with many tears and trials which happened to him by the plotting of the Jews. And then secondly, he says in verse 20 of this chapter, that he served the Lord by keeping nothing back that was helpful for the church, but rather he proclaimed it to them and taught it to them publicly and from house to house." Now having stated that he proclaimed that which was helpful or perhaps better translated that which was beneficial both publicly and privately to these people which by the way is something that every true elder, every true shepherd is to do for their people, we asked now what exactly was at the core of Paul's proclamation that he says was very beneficial, was very helpful to people?

In other words, what was his main emphasis in that which he set forth to others? Well, Paul gives us the answer here to this question when after speaking about his manner of ministry, he goes on next to speak in our verse about the message of his ministry now dear friends here this morning what do we have in verse 21 our text under consideration listen what we have here is the Apostle Paul setting forth what the primary focus of his apostolic gospel preaching was all about. Here we have him expressing the two great complementary exhortations which were contained in all of his gospel preaching." Now when Paul begins here by saying first in 21a, that is to say the first part of verse 21, that he testified to Jews and also to Greeks which is to say all people everywhere you should note that the verb here testifies signifies that Paul was preaching the gospel to them very earnestly and very emphatically as one writer correctly notes. My dear brothers and sisters here this morning the point is that unlike much of the so-called conversational preaching that goes on in our land in many pulpits in America, Paul tells us here that when he preached the gospel to others, he did it very passionately, he did it very pointedly, and he did it very powerfully by the animation and the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God.

Now with reference to the first part of the message that Paul proclaimed with great earnestness. He says first here that it was about repentance toward God. Repentance toward God. Now it makes sense that this was Paul's starting point in his message. And I say this, dear friends, because before people are to hear or really should hear about Jesus Christ as the only savior of sinners, they must first hear about the truth concerning themselves, which is to say that they have sinned against the holy God, right?

That must be the starting point in all of our evangelistic endeavors. Now brethren, please hear me when I say that before people will ever come to embrace the good news of the doing and the dying and the rising of Jesus Christ our Lord on their behalf, they must first understand that there is a God in heaven with whom they have to do and that his holy wrath and justice is against them because of their sins toward him now of course of course dear ones for many living in our day such a starting point as this would be absolutely foreign to them. I mean, brethren, for unbelievers to hear such things about themselves would be that which would go against their senses. I can recall, for example, how it was before I was converted. That I used to think that God and I were in a wonderful relationship.

I used to think as an unsaved man that God was pleased with my life and that we were buddy buddies. And this is because I was absolutely ignorant of the holiness of God and that according to his own word his face was dead set against me because of my unrighteousness before him. Of course this is what was true for all of us before we were converted, right? Dear friends, as you know the Bible says for example in Romans 3 in verse 23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You all are familiar with your Bibles.

You know that according to Romans 6 in verse 23, for example, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. That is to say that all of us have earned from God his eternal damnation for our violations against his holy law. And so here then, if you're taking notes, here then is why Paul preached repentance toward God as the very starting point of his gospel message. Dear ones, to state the matter another way, I've simply stated, since we've all rebelled against our Creator, and since, as Isaiah the prophet says, all we like sheep have gone astray, and we have turned everyone to our own way which by the way is the essence of sin, we must all, each and every one of us from the youngest on up, we must all express repentance toward the Lord if we would be made right with him this is the starting point for every single sinner before they would be saved well naturally then we need to ask the question which is what exactly is repentance toward God all about Now as you know you see it behind me this is a conference on repentance. We've been talking about repentance a time and again so I trust you're all very familiar about what repentance is and so again let me just summarize.

What is repentance? Well, positively speaking, based upon the word itself in our passage and in many other passages in the New Testament, the word repentance or to repent means to have a change of mind with reference to how we have lived before the Almighty God. Repentance is, as Dr. Joel Beekie rightly said, an about-face. It is a hundred and eighty degree turn.

Repentance is that of us recognizing our personal guilt and defilement before the Lord. It is us seeing ourselves in truth and then turning from such things by God's doing to him with deep contrition, with a sincere desire to find mercy and grace with him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now of course having to find a repentance like that for you in your hearing and as many have done before myself this morning, Essentially this is how the great historic confessions of faith have defined repentance as well. This is the case and so in just quoting one of them, namely the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, There the Reformed Baptists say with many texts of Scripture to support what they say. They write that repentance is quote an evangelical grace.

It's a gospel-driven grace whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sins, does by faith in Christ humble himself for it." How? With godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrence, praying for pardon and strength of grace with a purpose and endeavor by the Spirit to walk before God in a well-pleasing way in all things." Now really, brethren, this is a wonderful definition of what repentance is all about. And again, we've been hearing these various notes sounded throughout this weekend, but I think the Reformed Baptists Hit it right on the point. Dear friends, to state the matter another way, repentance is, as John Calvin rightly said, a true turning of our life to God that arises out of an earnest and pure fear of him. It is, as the great Puritan Thomas Watson said, first a sight of sin, second a sorrow for sin, third a confession of sin, fourth a shame for sin, fifth a hatred of sin, and then finally, sixthly a turning from sin.

And so having spoken then positively of what repentance is about let me just say a few things negatively speaking. And so briefly you should note firstly that Repentance is not merely Remorse for our sins now pastor Jeff did a phenomenal job last night dealing with all of that Thinking negatively here what repentance is not simply stated as RC Sproul rightly says repentance is not merely Attrition that is sorry. I just got caught for this thing or that thing, not just attrition, but it is godly contrition. It is saying with the church there in Corinth that we have sinned against God. So Paul could commend there repentance as godly sorrow.

What vehemence, what clearing of yourselves that you would seek to get right with God. So firstly, not merely remorse or attrition, but rather contrition. But secondly, in this regard, negatively speaking, you should note that biblical repentance, and listen closely, is not merely reformation of one's life. Like, oh, I'll turn over a new leaf. You know, I've really been a bad boy or girl before the conference, or a teenager.

I was really rebellious before this conference, but now I'm going to turn over a new leaf. I'll pull myself up by the bootstraps. Friends, this is merely reformation of one's life, but reformation of one's life is not true biblical repentance. No, because true biblical repentance desires to be made right with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And then thirdly, if you're taking notes, you should note that true repentance is certainly not unscriptural Roman Catholic penance, which by the way such a thing can be found nowhere in the Word of God.

And so again, we have from our passage, we've been considering it throughout the conference, what repentance is all about. Dear brethren, this matter of repentance was what Paul was solemnly declaring in every place to both Jews and Gentiles. Doing what? Calling men and women to throw down their weapons of warfare against God and to cry out to him saying with David of old as we considered it last night from Psalm 51 against you you only have I sinned and done evil in your sight well not only was the preaching of repentance, the very heart, the very soul, the very core of Paul's apostolic gospel preaching, and I say this because he goes on next in our passage to tell us in the second part of our verse for today, note the language in your Bibles, that he also testified, again solemnly declared what? Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we ask them, what does it mean to have faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, is it simply acknowledging that Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again? Is it simply that, dear friends, of us understanding the Gospel, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, etc.? Well, I say that this is not all that it is, And this is because, biblically speaking, faith in Christ means that we put all of our hope, yes, all of our confidence in Jesus' finished work alone on the cross of Calvary as our only grounds of acceptance with a holy God. Our dear ones, to have faith in Christ is, as one famous preacher rightly says, to rest the whole weight of our guilty souls upon the finished work of Jesus or as the hymn writer correctly said, It is to say to Jesus in truth, Nothing in my hands I bring.

Simply to your cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress, Helpless look to thee for grace, Foul I too the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Now again, these various thoughts with reference to what faith in Christ is all about is essentially how the great historic confessions of faith have described this matter as well. They are for example in answering question 86 in the great Westminster Shorter Catechism concerning the question of what is faith in Jesus Christ?

The writers go on to correctly answer it by saying that faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation as he is offered to us in the gospel." Now, dear ones, it's good for us to pause at this point and ask the question, how is it that Jesus Christ is offered to us in the gospel. Oh, dear ones, it's just good for us for a moment to think about this question. How is it that the Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us in Holy Scripture? Well, as I'm sure you know, no doubt, Jesus is presented to us in Scripture as the altogether lovely Savior who willingly and who joyfully receive sinners to Himself. Dear friends, as you know I am sure Christ is presented to us in our Bibles as the one who gave Himself, the just one, for the unjust ones that He might bring us to God.

Dear friends, as I'm sure you know, Jesus is presented to us in Scripture as the one who alone can do helpless sinners good. Praise be to His name, Amen? He is the one who can do helpless sinners good. And if you're converted here today, you know that he's done that very thing for you. Amen?

Praise be to his name. He is the altogether lovely one who receives sinners. And can you imagine it that when his detractors came against him what did they say? Look, he received sinners. Yeah, that's why he came.

Find something else to be critical about with reference to my ministry. He receives sinners. You better believe he does. Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21, you shall call his name Jesus. Why?

For he shall save His people from their sins. He came into the world as the Savior of sinners. He's presented to us in Scripture on every page as the altogether lovely one who invites us to Himself for the salvation of our souls. He who died the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God." So here then, we have in our passage for today, the biblical response. Yes, the biblical demands of what Paul preached everywhere whenever he preached the gospel of Christ.

Here as he was reviewing to the Ephesian elders there at Miletus at this one day pastors conference. His three year ministry among them. He says to them, listen closely, that whether he preached in a synagogue or on the street, whether he preached in a pious home or in a pagan home when anyone asked the Apostle Paul, What must I do to be saved? Paul answered them by saying that they must turn from their sins against God and they must place all of their hope in the crucified and risen Christ whom God sent into the world to be a propitiation for our sins." Well, in view of such a weighty proclamation that came at the end of Paul's gospel preaching when the man was broken before him as he preached the terrors of God's law and the perfections of Christ who fulfilled God's law in view of this weighty proclamation. Repent toward God and put all your faith in Christ.

Dear friends, I must speak to any of you here this morning who are not true Christians. You're here today and you haven't been reconciled with your God through Jesus Christ the Lord. Dear friend, what can I say to you But simply this, listen, if you're ever going to know God in truth and have all of your sins forgiven by him, then you must repent of your sins against God and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the cross of Calvary stood in the place of sinners and was punished in their place so that guilty sinners believing in Him could go free? Dear friends, let me state the matter another way and say, listen closely. My dear non-Christian friend here this morning, whoever you may be, you know who you are in the theater of your own conscience.

Listen to me. You who have not been born again, you who don't know Jesus and truth, listen my dear friend. If you don't repent and believe the gospel, you will be damned for all eternity. I don't know how to make it any more simple than that. That's as simple as I can say it.

Listen, there will be some of you from this very conference who having heard the word that you must repent this gospel demand and you must fly to Christ by faith and be saved. Listen, if you don't respond to the message now, this day, it could be that you may never respond to that message and be saved. And hell will be only hotter for you, my friend. You were heaping upon yourself wrath for the day of wrath if you don't heed the demand of the gospel which is to repent of your sins. Say, Lord, I'm done with my sin.

I'm done with the hypocrisy. I'm done with living in my fornication, living in my idolatry, living in my adultery, living in my waywardness against you. I am done, oh God. You have seen all of these things. I am done.

You stack arms. You say, Lord, I am done. I am vile before you, O God." And then you turn to this glorious God who in love sent His Son into the world, sinners to save, and you cry out, O Christ, watch me, cleanse me, make me a new creation. O God, save my never-dying soul. My dear non-converted friend here today, listen, the Bible says today is the day of salvation, not tomorrow.

Tomorrow is promised to no one. Today, the Bible says, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Listen, if you won't be saved today when will you be saved? We don't just host conferences and preach the gospel. Just to host conferences and preach the gospel.

No, we're praying that God would convert you this day. You remember as our brother opened the conference, He said that every year there are reports that God has saved sinners, amen, from this very place because we're praying for months on end. Our church praying, oh God, save sinners. My friend, if you would ever be saved, don't scratch your head anymore wondering, how do I get saved? There's no guesswork here.

Don't wait for some so-called heavenly zapping from above. No. Paul said, repent and believe the gospel. That's what I preached for three years everywhere I went. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

And of course that's what Jesus preached as well, we know it. Mark 1 and verse 15, the time has been fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. What did Jesus say? Repent and believe the gospel. There in Acts chapter 19 as Paul speaks, you can look at it in your Bibles, about the apostle, rather, John the Baptist.

What did he do? He preached repentance and he told people that they were to believe, verse 4, believe on him who was to come after him that is on Christ Jesus. Jesus preached repentance and faith. John the Baptist preached repentance and faith. Paul preached repentance toward God.

God the offended party. God is offended by you, my dear non-safe friend. Outside of Christ you are stinking in his nostrils. What a thought! What a thought!

As I said before I was saved, I thought that God was pleased with my life. And then I read my Bible and saw that it was altogether a different story. I used to think we were like this and I found out we were like this. And why? Because of my sin, because of my lies, because of my theft, because of my waywardness.

So that the prophet Isaiah could say that God's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from your God so that he will not hear." The barrier between my God and myself was my sin. And then as I kept reading the Bible, I found out that in love, God sent his son into the world to be my sin-bearing substitute. The hymn writer said, and when I think that God is son not sparing sent him to die I scarce can take it in that on the cross my burden gladly bearing, he bled and died to take away my sin. Can you believe the gospel message?

And my dear non-Christian friend here today, whoever you might be, if you would come to know this God, if you would be reconciled to him, you must repent and believe on Christ alone for life and salvation. Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Dear young person, Today is the day of salvation. And so as I begin to close, I want to do so by speaking to those of you here this morning who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. You who are the people of God, you who have been radically transformed by the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

What can I say to you my dear friends from our passage this morning? There are four things if you're taking notes and the first is this. Rejoice Because God in grace has granted you the gifts of repentance and faith so that you might be saved. Second, resist the temptation to fall into sloppy, broad, evangelical evangelism when you preach the gospel to the lost third. Resolve to be one who regularly repents of your own sins and believes on Christ all the way till you get to glory and then fourth republish the gospel message as far and wide as you can so that people might be saved.

And so first rejoice dear Christian. Rejoice. Rejoice because God in grace has granted you the gifts of repentance and faith. Listen, if you're saved you've repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But repentance and faith are not those things which are innate within us.

No, for we're told in Acts 11 and verse 18 and Philippians 1 and verse 29 that God has granted these gifts to us. And so, we're then as boasting, Paul could say, not in ourselves, but God. God has given us specifically, his people, his elect, the ability to repent, the ability to believe because apart from him we could never have done this friend I say rejoice, rejoice that you can repent that you can believe, praise God that he drew you to himself and that you could turn from your sins and trust in the finished work of Christ alone for salvation. Secondly, then, dear believer, I say in view of our text 4 this morning, resist the temptation to fall into sloppy evangelism or what is known as easy beliefism so that you begin to use language in your evangelistic appeal to the lost such as, accept Jesus into your heart and you'll be saved or pray this so-called sinner's prayer which I can still find nowhere in my Bible. Resist the temptation to fall into sloppy, broad evangelical evangelism.

When you preach to sinners that they are lost and on the broad road that leads to destruction, that the only way to get out of the broad road is to fly to Christ that they might be saved. Don't go up to them afterward and say, now dear friend, listen, if you pray this sinner's prayer and you repeat after me, you'll be saved. The amount of blood that will be upon the hands of the so-called ministers in our day who have deceived the masses with such a False message as this will be incalculable. Come up to the front, pray the prayer. Accept Jesus into your heart.

No, we don't accept Jesus into our hearts. He gives us new hearts. The beauty of the gospel is not that we accept Christ rather, but it's that He accepts us. It's not little Jesus, big sinner, I accept you into my heart. It's small sinner, big Jesus, Oh Jesus, receive me as it were into your heart.

Resist the temptation to fall into man-made gospel presentations and tell all people everywhere that they must repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone for salvation. Thirdly, brethren, I say, resolve. I'm following my R alliteration. Resolve to be one who regularly repents of your own sins and believes on Christ all the way till you get to glory. And why?

I say because this is a mark of the true child of God. This is a mark of the true believer. Oh dear friend, please listen to me when I say that if you are not in the regular practice by the Holy Spirit of repenting of your sins and asking Christ to forgive you and others if need be, so listen, if you are not in that regular practice, I sincerely doubt that you're a true Christian. You say, really? Yes, I do.

Because the disposition of the regenerated soul is a tenderness to the things of God. I will take out your heart of stone, I will give you a heart of flesh, I will write my law upon your heart, and I will cause you to walk in my statutes so that the believer, the born-again Christian, they are a person, he or she is a person, who is regularly repenting of their sins. We've heard it over and over again, asking God to forgive them, asking others to forgive them. They can't be happy when they sin. You know what it's like?

Oh, it's such a burden when we sin against God, a sin against others. Our consciences are troubled within us. As Spurgeon rightly said, God does not let his saints sin successfully. And praise be to God for that, amen? Praise be to God he doesn't let us sin successfully.

And a mark of the true child of God is that I've sinned against God. I've done evil in His sight. Oh God, cleanse me. Create in me a pure heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Is that your disposition here today, my dear professing Christian friend.

Is that you? You say, how do I know if I'm a Christian? How do I know if I'm the real deal? Do you repent of your sins? Do you believe on Christ daily for mercy and forgiveness?

This is what a true Christian does. Therefore I agree with Martin Luther when he famously wrote, as we've considered several times already, the first of the 95 Theses, that Christ intended the entire life of the believer to be one of repentance. Fourthly and finally then for us, for you dear people of God, not only rejoice in God because he has granted you repentance and faith, Not only resist the temptation to fall into sloppy evangelism, not only resolve to be one who regularly repents of your sins as that which is produced by the Holy Spirit as a mark that you are in fact a true child of God. But lastly now I say believer, regularly republish the good news message of Christ as far and wide as you can, remembering that there are multitudes of people all around you who are perishing in their sins. Listen dear ones, may the Great Commission be for us the Great Commission and not the great omission.

May all of us, even as our brother was saying before I came to speak. Young children take the opportunities to share the gospel to tell others the good news about Jesus Christ our Lord. Spurgeon said if you know what you've been saved from, that is to say hell, you know what you've been saved for. Christian, do you know what you've been saved for? It's to preach the glories of Jesus Christ our Lord.

To tell others there's a Savior who's come from heaven. He came into the world sinners to save. And then on the cross of Calvary he made a once for all full atonement for every single guilty person who believes upon him alone for salvation. Fathers, mothers, preach the gospel in your homes. Start there.

That's your Jerusalem. Begin there. Telling your little ones around the table about their need for the only Savior of sinners. Use God's law to convict them of their sins. For as Paul could say in Galatians, the law is our schoolmaster.

Yes, it's our tutor to bring us to Christ by faith that we might be justified before him. Preach the gospel to your young ones. Preach the gospel to your neighbors. Those whom you work with, tell them as God provides the opportunities about the glorious Savior, even Jesus Christ the Lord. He is a glorious Savior, amen?

He is the most wonderful person in all the world. The glorious Lord Jesus Christ at next year's conference will be on the glory of Christ. I hope you all come. What a great theme to focus solely on him who loved us and gave himself for us. Let's pray.

Our Father we are so thankful for the examples in Holy Scripture about how we are to do evangelism, what we are to say. We're thankful for these two things most needful that Paul has set forth for us from our passage. And I pray, O God, that you would work the truth of our text into all of our hearts and all of our minds for our own good And for the good of those who do not know you, O God, I pray for every soul here this day. Bless them and sanctify them with your truth. And Lord, for those who do not know you, might this be the day of their salvation.

Grant, O Emmanuel, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ to some in this very room we pray it and plead it in your own worthy and blessed name. Amen.