The 7 Wonders of Heaven | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

Amen. Revelation chapter 21, Revelation 21. And we're going to, we've been in a little bit of a series, which is unusual for us. We're going to talk about heaven today. Everybody say heaven. Specifically the seven wonders of heaven. Colossians 3 says we are to set our affections on things above. So we are to be thinking about heaven. Somebody said that you're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good. That could be a bigger lie if it had to be. The truth is we're so earthly minded, we're no heavenly good. Christians for the most part don't have a heavenly perspective. And the reason we don't is we don't understand it or we lack imagination. When it comes to it, we don't talk about it enough. All the old timers talked about heaven. They talked about heaven all the time. They sang about heaven. All the hymns mentioned heaven, or many of the hymns mentioned heaven. They were looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. We're kind of a little bit different. We say, you know, I want to go to heaven, but I don't want to die to get there. Like I want to go to heaven, but, but I haven't been to Hawaii yet. I want to go to heaven, but I haven't been to the Bahamas yet. I want to go to heaven, but I need that new house first. I want to go to heaven, but you know, I need that new car. I need that raise or I need and on and on. And then we say in our mind, well, I guess when I'm old and sick and exhausted and have nothing left to give, then maybe, yeah, then maybe I guess I can go to heaven, but we're going to work on changing that today. There's seven wonders that you read about in our world. There are the seven wonders in nature, the seven manmade wonders, the seven wonders of the United States, the seven wonders of the ancient world and the seven wonders of the modern world. This is just to name a few. The original seven wonders of the ancient world would be the Colossus of Rhodes, the great pyramid of Giza, the hanging gardens of Babylon, the lighthouse of Alexandria, the mausoleum of Halle Carden something, the statue of Zeus at Olympia, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the wonders, just wonders of our ancient world. Just something about them that just bring it all. Seven wonders of our modern world would be the great pyramids of Egypt, the Taj Mahal in India, the Grand Canyon, the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building in New York City, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Great Wall of China. And I say all of these things because the idea of something reaching the category of a wonder, it speaks of the grandeur, how grandiose the design or the size or the scope that a

thing is. And so I want to look at heaven. The seven wonders of heaven all come from Revelation chapter 21, which the Apostle John is writing or he's experiencing this revelation on the island of Patmos. He's in the later years of his life. He's imprisoned or banished to this island. And as he's there, he receives not just a revelation of our future, but he receives a revelation of heaven. And there's touches on it, but chapter 21, he gives us a lot of detail and we're going to look at some of that together. Let's read verses one and two, and then I will reference the rest of chapter 21 as I speak, but I won't read them because I went too long last service. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The first wonder of heaven would without question be the fact that a place even exists, that heaven is a real place and that the idea that it exists in any way, shape, or form is a wonder. It's a real wonder. It's a real place. It exists. You and I will have resurrected bodies and we will walk on in heaven. Our feet will need something material to walk on. We won't just be spirit. We will have a real body. Jesus is the evidence of this. We know that He was raised from the dead. He ascended to the right hand of the Father and in His body He ate. He had conversations. It was a real body. And so you and I will have a real body in heaven called a resurrected body in a resurrected heaven and a resurrected earth or a new heaven and a new earth. It's a real place. Everybody say it's a real place. Revelation 13 and verse 6 the Bible says that Satan or that the beast opens his mouth and he blasphemes God, God's dwelling place and the people who live there. So notice the three things that the devil slanders is God, God's people and God's dwelling

place which is heaven. The devil hates heaven. He hates God of course. He hates us as God's people because we took His place. But he hates heaven because he was forcibly evicted out of heaven. He lost the keys to his own house. Now you and I are here talking about a place that he will never enter again. And so he's bitter at God, bitter at God's people, bitter at heaven and he likes to lie, to discourage the idea that heaven is a real place. There's over 550 references to the place that we're talking about today called heaven. And Jesus said in John 14, in my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you, a place. Second Corinthians 5, 1, now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven. Thousands of scriptures that reaffirm heaven is a real place. I grew up in a small town in southwest Kansas by the name of Liberal, Kansas. I'm guessing no one in here has ever been to Liberal, Kansas. If you have, I'm sorry. But I grew up on 807 in a house on 807 North Clay. Now you've never been there, but it exists. I can tell you everything about it. I can tell you every detail about the church next door. I could tell you about the church down the street. I could tell you about the cracks that are in the sidewalk when I would ride a skateboard, how I would do this or do that. Or I could show you the crack that I tripped over and broke my collarbone when I was in fifth grade. I could walk you through the alleys. I could tell you anything you want to know about any of the neighbor's house because I climbed on every single one of their roofs.

I climbed every tree because we grew up in the day where mom and dad didn't care. You left first thing in the morning. You didn't come back until the street lamps came on at night. And so there's not one square inch of that block. I could not tell you. I could draw it for you. I could say, this is what's happening here. This is what's happening here. Here's the secret passageway. If you want to get from this side of the block to that side of the block that nobody really knows about, there's not. My point is I've been there. I've been there so I can tell you about it. And that's what the Bible here is doing. John is saying, I've been there and I'm going to tell you about. Just because you haven't been there doesn't mean it in no way exists. It's as real as Los Angeles. It's as real as China. It's as real as the Swiss Alps. You name it, heaven is a real place. It's just that we have no map. We don't have a map to get there. If you say, well, I want the map to get there. There is some detail in the Bible about its location. I don't have time for that today. But you and I don't have a map. Alexander the Great, one of the five great military leaders in history, had conquered the known world. He wanted to have one last final conquest just to feel the thrill of another battle, another fight.

And so they set their sights eastward to find an empire that they weren't sure existed. And so they began to make their way towards the east. The Himalayan mountains are in this area of the world. And as they're on their way, they would send their scouts two weeks ahead of time because they needed to search out the area and then they would come back and report. Well, when the scouts came back, they were discouraged and they had the maps out and they're turning them around. And they're discussing the problem with the map and they're beginning to argue and debate all the military leaders are Back and forth and finally the general steps up and he says to those who are staying there Gentlemen, this can only mean one thing. There's only one explanation for this those mountains that we've come in contact with Are not on our maps. He said gentlemen We've simply marched off the map and today we're marching off the map There's no longitude for heaven. There's no latitude for heaven. You cannot find it Geographically, but it's important to understand that heaven is a wonder Because it exists and it is a real place We should be in awe of the idea that heaven is a real place number two We can read about in verses 3 and 4 of Revelation chapter 21 and it's the wonder of heaven's perfection Those verses described to us that will live in the presence of the perfect one John places a great emphasis on us and God being in the same place together You have to imagine in heaven that Jesus meets you the second that you enter and he begins to talk to you about The place that he's prepared for you. Let me show you the place that I have been preparing for you God in his tabernacle or his dwelling place is with men So one of the great wonders of heaven is that all of us who have messed up made mistakes? We've not been perfect. We've not been completely holy But we'll be in the presence of a perfectly Holy God for all of eternity the fact that God would even want to live with us in any way shape or form is a wonder Not only is heaven perfect because we'll be living in the presence of the perfect one heaven is also great because we'll be living in a perfect environment that verse

Ends with talking about the no mores of heaven It begins to list all the no mores there will be no more tears no more death no more pain No more sickness. No more cancer. No more heart attacks. No more strokes. No more Alzheimer's There will be no more ambulances. There will be no more hospitals. There will be no more funerals to attend There will be no more graveyards to go visit all the things in this life that brought you sorrow Brought you pain in heaven all of those things will be no more You'll be in the presence of the perfect one and on top of that you will be a in a perfect Environment the old hymn says it's a foretaste of glory divine It's just a foretaste where we're talking about even the imagination Even if you give yourself just a little permission to begin to imagine it that is a foretaste It's not the full taste, but it's a foretaste meaning that if you can imagine any spiritual Experience any moment with God any any profound or deep encounter with the Lord? Maybe it was when you got saved. Maybe it was when you got baptized. Maybe it was during a sermon Maybe it was in in a place where you were going through the biggest struggle of your life and God was faithful Maybe it was in a car. Maybe maybe it was during some worship song you name it Think of the most profound Spiritual experiences you've ever had on this earth. Those will be commonplace in heaven We get to taste those things here, but in heaven, they will be completely normal So the second great wonder of heaven is the wonder of its perfection The third wonder of heaven is its size. We can read about that in Revelation chapter 21 verses 15 and 17 Heaven is laid out. It's described as a perfect cube. I'll go ahead and interpret the cubits there It's 1,400 miles long 1,400 miles wide and 1,400 miles high That means that there are nearly two million square miles Just in the width and the length of it not discussing its height if heaven is laid out in stories and if each story Was a mile high there would be 1,400 stories so that equal is about 1 million nine hundred and sixty thousand square miles by Comparison New York City is three hundred and five square miles

In that three hundred and five square miles. There's approximately eight point four million people That means you could fit New York City and all of its inhabitants in one level level, one level of heaven and you could do that 6,500 times. So on each level you can put approximately 54,600,000,000 people per level and again we know there are at least three levels. It describes the walls of the city made of jasper 200 feet thick. Heaven is a wonder because of its incredible size. Number four, heaven is a wonder because of its beauty. Revelation 21 verse 11 through 14 and then verses 18 and 19 give us a description of this beautiful place. In just great detail it's described. We know that anything God creates is beautiful beyond description. We can look at the sun, the moon, the stars and they all declare his glory. We can look at the mighty oceans or the winding rivers of our world. We can look at the majestic mountains or we can look at the luscious green valleys. We could talk about the rainbow in a sky after a spring rain or we could talk about how snow freshly fallen is like a blanket over the ground. All of the things that we're talking about are just the handiwork of God and he is a masterful God in everything he creates. Our minds simply cannot comprehend all the good things God has in store for us but we can ask him to begin to reveal these things to us by his spirit. We love him and he loves us and he can stir up the imagination just like the devil can use fear and worry and your history and trauma to stir up the imagination. God in his grace and in his love can fill up the imagination and begin to give you a picture of the greatness and the beauty of heaven. John describes this place that's brilliant in color that the foundations are made of 12 precious gems and these 12 precious gems are so precious and are so so beautiful in color that's what the foundations of heaven are made out of. It says it's the city called the New Jerusalem so we don't know if heaven is just one big city or if Jerusalem is the capital city of heaven. We know Hebrews 11 mentions a country so it's possible that what we're hearing about is just the capital city but it's a city meaning it speaks to us of all the things that a city encompasses. People think well I don't want to go to heaven because I'll just die and be in an eternal church service and people think heaven is boring and then they think hell is fun like hell is just one big party. No it's just the opposite hell there's no partying in hell there's sin in hell but only the pain and the grief and the darkness of of that sin. In heaven there's none of that pain it's all pleasure it's all his goodness anything in heaven that God has reserved for us is is good and it's a city. Think about

cities we know that each city has a culture it has its music it has its own food there are things about cities when it comes to their entertainment their art and now think about this that you and I only use they say approximately 10% of our brain so now imagine you're in this city the new Jerusalem and you think about the Beethovens of our world and the box of our world and they could only use a small now imagine the music in heaven not just with your imagination imagine the culture of heaven you're not going to be riding on a cloud board stiff somewhere with nothing to do there will be all kinds of beautiful activities and things to do and people to see in heaven it's a wonder because of its beauty we'll eat great meals together over a thousand scriptures talk about the meals in heaven that there will be a feast it talks about the marriage supper of the lamb can you imagine the cuisine in heaven could you imagine what the steaks are like in heaven and you say well I don't know if there is a steak in heaven well if there's not a steak I know God replaces it with something better so I don't know what that's like but I can't wait there are 12 gates of heaven that are in those verses that are mentioned three in the south three in the north three in the east three in the west and each gate is made of one single pearl pearls are produced by pain the oyster develops an irritant a piece of sand or debris gets in there and be As a result, it wounds the oyster, and the oyster to resolve the wound begins to cause a protective layering to circle and cover that thing that's wounding it in order to protect itself from the pain. So it is when we think about these great pearls that come from the oyster that are an invaluable gem, just a great gem of great value in our world. So it is when we look at these great pearls, 12 of them, that give us entrance and access to heaven. We are reminded of the pain and the wounds that Jesus endured on Calvary's cross to give us those gates, to give us access, to give us assurance that when we have Jesus, heaven is our home. No doubt the fourth wonder of heaven is its beauty. The fifth wonder of heaven is its holiness. Revelation 21, verses 22 through 26, we get a read about the holiness of heaven. We know something on earth about the joy and the love and the power of heaven. We have the Holy Spirit who gives us what the scripture calls the fruits of the spirit,

the love, the peace, the joy, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. All of those things we experience in part in this life. We develop them. We strengthen ourselves. We ask God to help us in those areas. But in heaven, all of these things will be in full bloom. There's no temple in heaven because the Bible says the glorious presence of God in itself will be our temple. So Jesus, the Lamb, is the temple. There's no need for the sun or the moon. It doesn't say that they're not there. It just says that there's no need for them because of the brilliant radiance of Christ illuminates heaven. There will be no night. There will be no form of any darkness. It will be a place of never-ending day because of the beautiful, brilliant light that shines forth from Christ. The gates in heaven, it says in those verses, are never closed. On earth, we have to close our gates. We have to lock our doors. We have to secure things because of all the unholy things that exist in the darkness of night. But in heaven, there is nothing but holiness. There is no sin that is there. There is nothing unholy that is there. So there's no need to shut heaven's gates. Holiness is one of the things that makes heaven such a wonder. The wonder of heaven is found in its holiness. You know, in the church today, holiness is something that is kind of a bad word. Whenever you say grace, people clap.

When you say, is anybody thankful for the mercy of God, the love of God, everybody claps. But when you start talking about the holiness, the standard, the purity, people shrink back like it's an ugly word. But the Bible says we worship the Lord and the beauty of His holiness. Holiness is a beautiful thing. The holiness of heaven is a wonder to us. One time a preacher was being criticized because every time he opened his Bible, he talked about holiness. And his peers were trying to really criticize him and discourage him and saying, why is it that every time you open your Bible, that's all you can seem to find is scriptures on the holiness of God, scriptures on sin. And the preacher said, I don't even have to open my Bible. It's right there on the cover, holy Bible. So heaven is beautiful because of its holiness. It is a wonder because of its holiness. The sixth wonder of heaven is who won't be there. The Bible says in Revelation 21, 27, that one of the reasons heaven is going to be absolutely beautiful is because of who will not be in heaven. No more murderers, no more thieves, no more child abusers, no more deranged maniacs of any kind, nothing dirty, defiled in any way will get into heaven. Those who deceive or defile will not be found in heaven. There's no violence that's there. You don't have to worry about terrorist attacks. You don't have to worry about the crazy stuff that we worry about constantly, wondering are our kids going to be okay? Wondering is our family going to be okay? Wondering when we're going to cross paths with somebody that's just out of their mind. There will be none of that in heaven. Nothing impure will ever enter there. Jesus, when he came to Thomas, he said, I want you to touch my wounds.

He says, I am. I am flesh and bone. But notice he didn't talk about blood because all of his blood had been poured out. When we get to heaven, Jesus's blood has been poured out on the altar in heaven. And what this simply means to you and I is we don't get into heaven because we're perfect. We get into heaven because Jesus poured out his blood for you and I. And the songs that we'll sing in heaven are found, the Bible says we sing about the song of Moses and we sing about the song of the Lamb. So both Jew and Gentile will be singing the songs of Moses and the song of the Lamb, which is what a song of redemption, how Jesus redeemed us, he bought us, he purchased us by his shed blood and heaven is our home because of what Jesus has done. And then on top of that, the Bible says God gave us the Holy Spirit that is our guarantee of heaven. The Holy Spirit that you receive when you get saved, when God fills you with his spirit, that is your guarantee, that's the down payment, that's the engagement ring. Isn't that good? That the Holy Spirit's your guarantee. You say, well, I can't be holy as God is holy. I can't possibly be like that, that is impossible.

You're right, you can't, but he can. That's why he gives you his Holy Spirit. When you receive his spirit, you can actually learn to walk in holiness because he is holy. So we know the people that won't be there, it mentions those, you cannot get into heaven without Jesus. Jesus and heaven are interchangeable. If you have Jesus, you have the promise of heaven. If you don't have Jesus, there will be no heaven. You do not get there on your good works. You do not get there because you're a good person. You do not get there because you have a dad that was a Baptist pastor or an uncle who was a Methodist minister. You don't get there because you attend Seven Hills Church or you serve or you give. You get there one way, and that's through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He finished it and he gives you access. The seventh wonder of heaven is who and what will be there. Just about everything you can imagine that's precious will be in heaven. Matthew 6, nine, we pray in this way. Jesus said, our Father who art in heaven. 12 times in the book of Matthew, we hear that phrase, our Father who art in heaven, our Father in heaven, the one who is the source of everything we know. The Bible teaches us that source, God himself is in heaven.

Hebrews 9, 24, for Christ did not enter the holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. So not only is our Father in heaven, God, our Father in heaven, but our Savior is in heaven. Hebrews 12, 23, again, we're talking about the wonder of the things and the people or that which is in heaven. It says to the general assembly and the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. So not only is God, our Father in heaven, and not only is Jesus, our Savior in heaven, but it says our brothers and sisters in the faith are in heaven. The Old Testament saints are there, the New Testament saints, everyone who has died in faith, in Christ, are in heaven. Luke chapter 10, verse 20 says, nevertheless, I do not rejoice in this, that spirits are subject to you, but I rejoice that our names are recorded in heaven. So our Father is there, our Savior is there, our brothers and sisters in Christ are there, and our name is recorded there. What does that mean? It means that we have a title deed. We have property in heaven. We are citizens. It is our inheritance. First Peter 1, 4, blessed be God,

our Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved for you in heaven. You have an eternal inheritance in heaven. Philippians 3, 20, the apostle Paul says, your citizenship is in heaven, and that's why we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're citizens of heaven. We belong there. Matthew 5, 12, blessed are you when you're persecuted for my name's sake, for great shall be your reward in heaven. So your eternal reward is there. Matthew 6 verse 19 through 21, the only eternal treasure you'll ever possess is in heaven So when you think about heaven when you imagine heaven your father Will be in heaven God our Supernatural heavenly father will be there our Savior Jesus Christ will be there our brothers and sisters in Christ will be there your name will be there your Inheritance will be there your citizenship is there your reward is there and your treasure is There as well to sum it all up heaven is our home We're strangers the Bible says in this earth were pilgrims We're just passing through we don't belong here. We arrived here but our home is somewhere else and Heaven is that somewhere else?

That we long for a city whose builder and maker is God everything you love everything you cherish everything of value Everything eternal is there and I don't believe that any of us can even begin to imagine The place that has been prepared for us The one who knew us and loved us before we were even born all the angels the ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation Those angels that protected you those angels that defended you All of those will be in heaven all the great men and women of Scripture the Moses's the Elijah's Abrahams Sarah Ruth Mary of Magdalene Mary the mother of Jesus John the Baptist Peter Paul John all Will be there and no doubt We'll be looking forward to seeing those people that we love friends and family That have gone before us and no doubt. We're looking forward to seeing them. I love what Don Piper said He said they're not missing you He said they're expecting That great cloud of witnesses the Bible says in Hebrews 12 that surrounds us All of those heroes of the faith all of those who have gone before us cheering us on to finish our race In the book the applause of heaven Max Likado writes this you may not have noticed it But you're closer to home than ever before Each moment is a step taken each breath a page turned each day a mile marked a mountain climbed You're closer to home than ever before Before you know it your appointed arrival time will come you'll descend the ramp and enter the city You'll see faces that are waiting for you. You'll hear your name spoken by those those who love you and Maybe just maybe in the back behind the crowds The one who would rather die than live without you will remove his nail pierced hands from his heavenly robe and applaud everything

That is precious to us is in heaven and someday you and I get to go live in this place Just as much as the disciples are with him Just as much as they Surrounded him and ate with him after the resurrection So we finally get to be with him just as Thomas Took those fingers and touched the wounds in his side So you and I you and I will touch him We'll sit with him. We'll sing with him. We'll have conversations with him and the moment You as a Christian die Immediately the Bible says you are in the presence of the Lord. You're not you don't go to a limbo place You don't go to a purgatory You don't go to a holding tank where we pray you in The only way you get in you don't get in through my prayers You get in because Jesus Became our great mediator He is the one that bridged the gap between us and God and the Bible teaches us to be absent from the body is to be Present with the Lord Philippians 1 says it's far better to depart and be with Christ Isn't that amazing Ecclesiastes that the day of your death is better than the day of your birth Yes, heaven is a wonder because who will be there who will be there I Often wonder that their prayer that God Instructs us to pray is that it be on earth as it is in heaven All that we talked about, somehow we're supposed to capture that here. I hope you capture it in your home, I hope you capture it in your personal time with God, but I hope we as a church can in small ways know every Sunday we show up it's to say let it be on earth as it is in heaven. Could you imagine going to heaven and you show up and everybody's disinterested, no one cares that you're there, as a matter of fact you're annoyed because they're sitting in your favorite

seat. Could you imagine frustration, anger, an uncaring heaven? My point is this, we as the church need to always remember every time we gather, people are coming and every time they come they're to experience a little of heaven. Not perfect, but a little bit. A little bit of the welcome we'll receive one day, a little bit of the joy and the gladness that when we walk through those gates, just a little bit. When we'll hear those words, well done good and faithful servant, enter in, there should just be a spirit about God's house when people show up. Last week I met a young man by the name of Andrew and Andrew has been homeless for, he didn't really tell me how long, and he said I've been coming to the church for three months and he begins to talk about what the church has meant to him. He's never asked us for help, he never came and said I need this or I need that, he just comes to church and then he probably goes back to wherever it is that he lives. He said but I've been praying every day, I've been praying, I've been saying God give me a job, open up a door. He says I wanted you to know that I got a job this week and he talked about where he's going to work and that it was beyond what he could think financially. I say that because to me that's heaven. Come on, to me that's what the church is supposed to be like. It does not matter if you're an Andrew, you're welcome here, we're glad you're here. Let the broken come, let the wounded come, let the addicted come, let the homeless come, we got to be about more than Mr. Big Bucks being able to come. I'm glad you're here if you are, but heaven is a place where the spirit and the bride cry out, that's the spirit and the church cry out together, come. Every week when people show up that should be our spirit and I want to thank every person that works in the parking lot, you're out there welcoming every buddy. God bless you for being a little bit of heaven on earth. Every single one of you that greets, every single one of you that check in a child, every single one of you that serve and lead a small group, every single one of you, just a little bit of heaven here on earth. And we are excited to hear those words, well done. My good and faithful servant. Well I want you to do this with me, I'm going to dismiss you in just about 30

seconds. I'm going to ask that you don't run out, but I'm asking you stand up to your feet, close your eyes and bow your head. And I want to talk to anybody here that does not know Jesus. The reason I want you to be cautious to not move is because someone here needs to hear the good news of Jesus. They need to get right with God. Somebody here needs every Christian praying. Every eye closed, every head bowed. You're here today and you'd say Marcus, I'm not ready to stand before God. I know today that I wouldn't go to heaven because I don't have Jesus. But through this message you begin to imagine heaven. And you begin to imagine that you want to be in the place that we talked about. Not just the place, but you want to be there with the people we talked about. You want to be there with Him. And you'd say Marcus, I need to get right with God today. I need a relationship with God. I need to surrender my life to Him. Jesus is not the Lord of your life, but today you'd say I want to come home. I want to be welcomed into the kingdom. I want it to be on earth as it will be in heaven. I want to have a little bit of heaven here on earth. And that's having a little bit of Jesus here on earth. So if you're here and you'd say Marcus, would you pray with me? I want to get right with God on the count of three. Lift your hand as high as you can at all of our locations. One, two, three. Throw that hand up as high as you can. Say Marcus, thank you. God bless you. Anybody else? You'd say Marcus, pray with me. me today. I want to get right with God. God bless you. Thank you. Let's all put our hands on our hearts. Say this with me. Say, Jesus, thank you for dying on a cross, for shedding your blood for my sin. I ask you to forgive me, cleanse me, wash me. I repent of my sin. I confess it, and I ask you to forgive it. I believe that you're God's only son, and that he raised you from the dead, and I give you my life now. Fill me with the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name.