In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of the "Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus" as a key to overcoming sin and living a victorious life. He uses an illustration of a glove and a watch to explain how different laws operate in our lives. The speaker emphasizes that just as the law of gravity pulls a watch down, there is a law of sin working in us that naturally leads to wrongdoing. However, through the power of the Spirit, we can be set free from the law of sin and death and live according to the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. The speaker encourages listeners to understand their identity in Christ and to rely on the power of the Spirit to live a life pleasing to God.

Please, to the eighth chapter of the Book of Romans, and let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Our Father, we're grateful this morning that we have a Savior that's adequate, and Father, we thank you this morning that that Savior is able to make himself real to us in all of our circumstances. And Lord, as we wait on you today with this congregation, we know that there is no life apart from you, and Father, we are waiting on the life of Jesus to manifest himself in our mortal bodies, as well as in our spiritual lives. Now, Father, even control the atmosphere today in every way, and Father, hope and see the glory of God. Now, Father, we know that your ways are not our ways, our ways are not your ways, and Father, you'll have to conform us. And Father, many times we're so ignorant of your ways that we're not even willing to cooperate. We're not even, we do not even know how to cooperate. So, Father, in this light, we look to you to work in us this morning, that which is necessary, whether we realize it or not, to carry on and be what you want us to be. In the name of the Lord Jesus that we pray, and for thy sake, Lord, do we ask this today. Amen. In these morning services, I've really just been talking to you about God's provisions in reality, because we do have to have some kind of understanding of the provisions of the Lord. This gives us information whereby the Holy Spirit can give us revelation. There's a sequence by which most people have to experience the reality of God. One is desperation, which is a need, and the other is, after desperation, a need is there. Then there is revelation, and then after revelation comes appropriation, and then after appropriation comes a demonstration. This is really the sequence of action in the Bible. It seems that all of the Saints of God went through the same sequence, and we'd have to go through it. There comes a drastic need in our lives, by some measure or another, and then after that drastic need, God penetrates with revelation. Revelation is nothing but the truth of God made real to you. When you get revelation, then there is an appropriation, which is an act of faith. Then after that act of faith comes a demonstration from God. This is so beautifully put in the Bible. I want you to pray, especially for me, these next few days. I have been asked by Broadman Press to write a book on faith, and it is almost completed. Next week we're supposed to finish it. I deal with the subject of faith constantly, all the way through it. One chapter in it is the progression of faith from all of these steps. It's a little more detailed in the book. It's supposed to be finished far, or the draft is supposed to be finished so I can submit it next week. You pray that the Lord will be on top of that and working in that, as the writer that's doing the writing, is finishing it up this week, and he and I together go over it next week. So the Lord may just have his way in that particular book. But in that study, I've been watching very closely this progression. The Lord always starts out, it seems like, in a man with a need. Your need is an indication that God wants to do something. If you ever see that your need is that indication, it would really help you out. And this morning I'm just talking to you. I want to lay down a principle, and it's the principle of the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It has made you free from the law of sin and death. Now that's the second verse of the 8th chapter of the book of Romans, but I just want to talk around this a little while because we need to get some help from it. And if you'd like, you might turn with me to one of my favorite passages of scripture in the book of 1 John, the 4th chapter, and I believe it's the 17th verse. And look at that verse for just a moment. And this will help us to get out of the sense world into the spirit world, and let God speak to us. Here is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because . . . Now watch these words, and these words are so fascinating and so powerful. Because as he is, so are we in this world. Oh my, what a statement. Can you think about that this morning? Now just think with me for a few minutes, and what I'm doing is getting your attention at least, I pray, and I pray the Holy Spirit do more than get your attention, on the truth. As he is. As he is. Now it does not say as he was. And it does not say as he will be. It says as he is, right now. Now you think something beautiful. You go back to the life of Jesus. Now I know we take these verses that Jesus taught during the days of his earthly ministry, and we see him, we think that we're talking about as he was in that day, as he was. But no, it says as he is right now. We are right now. You say, Brother Man, I just can't understand that. No, you can't. You say I can't comprehend it. No, you can't. But it's so regardless of what you comprehend. Now the strange thing about God's word is this. It is so whether you believe it's so or not. And then when you see and believe it's so, it means you act on it. Then it becomes so experientially in you. There's another verse like this, that our old man is crucified with Christ. And in reality, it's original, it says our old man was crucified with Christ. And when Jesus died on the cross, your old man, which gives you a lot of trouble, died too. You say, Brother Man, in my personal daily experience, my old man is not crucified, dead, with Christ. Well, that may be true in your daily experience, but in the Bible it's true. And when you see you agree with the Bible by the act of faith, then it becomes true in you. And a lot of our preachers preach a dual nature message and said, well, we have two natures, the old and the new, which is absolutely right. And that, boy, it's a battle from here till you get to the graveyard. I beg your pardon. They shut it down too quick. They said, well, it's a true story about the old Indian who said that since he got saved he had a war going on in him, like two dogs fighting, the black one and the white one. And someone asked him after he said, I have like two dogs fighting in me, a black one and a white one, and they're always fighting. And someone said, well, which one wins? He said, the one I say sycamore to. Well, that may be a beautiful story, but that's not theology. You do have two natures within you. And when you get saved, you do not get the old nature eradicated. The Bible doesn't teach eradication of the old nature. But it does teach death of the old man. And, my friends, when you believe it so, actively believe it so. Remember, I'm using this believing in the context of the messages that I brought on faith. When you believe it so, it is so, but when you cease to actively believe it so, it's not so anymore. So it's very beautifully put, if you just see what I'm trying to say. And all I'm really doing is talking to you on principle and just giving you some verses to get you with me so I can say something to you. Amen. And that is this, that our old man is crucified, and here are the two natures, and you get saved, and they are warring against one another. And you get in a good revival meeting, and you get to feed in this new nature, the Christ life, and my, it gets strong and powerful and mighty, and you have some measure of victory for a few weeks, and you're back, going back again. But until you learn that this old man, this old man, is crucified with Christ, and reckon him, count him, act on that basis, then you'll never have what you consider a consistent revival. Because you see, you just feed in one nature, and you're, and the other one is just, is not in the position that God says he's in. And so here you go, and here you are, your old nature is here, and after a few weeks he raises back up. Now as long as you actively believe that the old man is crucified, God, by his grace, holds that old man in death. And the new man is alive, and he has complete control over your life. Now the Bible thing I want you to see, is the Bible says that that old man is crucified. Now your sense world, your environment every day, tells you he's not. But now which one are you going to believe? You see. Are you going to take God at his word, or are you going to take the sense world at its manifestations and believe it? Now which one are you going to go with? As I said the other morning, the issue is, which one is real truth? Boy, that's had me so under conviction this week, I haven't rested at all. I mean, the Lord has just really said, now son, which one will you believe is true? And here's what he's saying here. As he is, so are we. Where? In the world to come? No. He even tells us right now. He said, in this world. Now I usually preach a whole sermon on this, and I'm not this morning. So are we. Where? In this world, right now. I'm not waiting till I get to heaven to enjoy heaven, brother. I'm enjoying the Lord right now. Now as he is, he's victorious, isn't he? He's an overcomer, isn't he? Isn't he? What else is he? What is he this morning at the Father's right hand? He's seated in the heavenly places. He's an overcomer. He's victorious. He's seated in the heavenly places. What else is he this morning? Well, as he is today, so are you right now. That's hard to believe, isn't it? But it's still true because the one you believe, which one will he believe? It's amazing! It's amazing! You see, John, 1 John 4 says, you are of God, little children, because, children, and have overcome them. He didn't say you're going to overcome. He said you have overcome. John says you already overcomers. He said, Brother Manly, I'm not an overcomer. Yes, you are, you don't know it. And since you don't know it, you aren't. But if you ever know you are, then you are. You see, this is why I can't agree with the Pentecostal folk who say you ought to seek the baptism of life. This is why they have so many false experiences, seeking the baptism. Get down and pray for the baptism. That's stupid. You tell them I said so. Excuse me, Edgar. You say, Brother Manly, haven't you ever done that? I have. You say, well, what's the matter with you? How stupid. Edgar, I was trying to get in a room I was already in. What I needed was my eyes open. Amen. To pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the spirit like that is to pray, would be the same identical prayer. And it's foolish for him to do that and foolish for you to pray that because he's already done that. What you need as a lost sinner is to have your eyes open. And when you see that, it's already settled, God's side, judicially, historically, positionally, it's settled. When you see it, you accept it, and then it becomes reality in you. And when you act, you don't throw your will open to anything. You throw your will open to reveal truth, and you won't get a demonic experience. But when you get down and start seeking the work of the Holy Spirit, and you are sincere, you are honest, and you want God to do something for you, and you just open your will, my dear friends, and you are willing for anything to happen, your will is open, and you can have a demonic experience. You should never leap into the dark, always into the light. And Beloved, this is the light, the word of God, and the Holy Spirit will make it real to you. I'm not making fun of any kind of groups. I'm just pointing out some fallacies in some areas of which I know people have gotten mixed up in. Of course, see, I've seen people get baptisms and have different tongues and all this, all kinds of experiences, and everything, and six months later they'd come up and start telling future events, and now they're over in rusk. And boy, they'd tell these things were going to happen. Of course, that's not like Baptists. Baptists, they're so staid and soft in their ways, they wouldn't, Brother, it takes a brick bat or something over their head to even get them to wake up to even want God. Amen. They're in just as bad shape as the other bunch. I'm not blaming one group more than the other or anything, I'm just simply saying, folk, it's unwise to open your will to anything but reveal truth, the truth of God. And the Bible says, As he is, so are we in this world. Now, what will you believe? Will you believe your senses, or will you believe God's word? If you believe your senses, you'll stay in defeat. If you take God and his word and believe, act on his word, then my friends, you are going to have this experience to become real in you. It's going to become really real in you. Now, let's turn back to Romans, the 8th chapter, and talk about the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Let's read the first verse there, Who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Boy, I love this. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. And you can read on and on and on. Now, the universe is set up on laws, and these laws operate. Now, my friends, you don't have to do anything to lose your temper. Just let yourself go, right? Just let yourself go, and you'll naturally lose your temper. Won't you? Just let yourself go, and you'll just naturally do wrong. Right? You know why? Because there is a law working in you. Now, I have a watch here, and I can turn that watch loose. Just operating under a law, the law of gravity. I don't have to throw it down. I can just turn loose, and that law will just pull it down, just like that. It's as natural as naturalness can be. Right? It's a law. It's an absolutely law. Now, every man, woman, boy, and girl in this world has the law of sin and death in their bodies. Every one of them. And my dear friends, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, did not only come and die on the cross of Calvary to pay the price that you might be set free from that law of sin and death. That's not all Jesus did. The dying on the cross of Calvary was the price that was paid, not the procedure that was made. He died on the cross of Calvary, beloved, to pay the price for sin, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life, not in heaven now, and in heaven, and what the law could not do. You see, you read that again. It says Jesus came down in human flesh, and not only did he die on the cross to pay the price for sin, but he died on the cross and was resurrected in order to overcome the law of sin and the law of death. Whereby, right now, you can stand without any condemnation. Any condemnation by the law, any condemnation by God, you can stand before God as perfect as Jesus, through the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's saying something. Now, here's what I want you to see, that every one of us this morning that's been saved by the grace of God, whether you are experiencing it or not, you have the law of life in Christ Jesus in you. You have that law. Now, you know you've been paid for and your sins are forgiven, but it may be this morning that you do not know that there is a law working in your person, and that law is there for a purpose. And that law is there not for just one purpose, but many reasons, but that law is there to set you free from condemnation. That law is there to set you free from sinning, where sin should be an exception and not the normal. If we sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Of course, if a man says he doesn't have sin, he's a liar, and the truth's not in him, the Bible says. But, beloved, it should be the exception when a child of God. And then not only that, but this law, not only, and where we have victory over sin, but this law is there to operate over death. That doesn't mean you don't die, but it means that right now, you've got a dead body on. Now, you just don't know it. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? You see, your body, as far as God is concerned, is nothing but an earthen vessel that's dead. Dead. And who's going to deliver that earthen body and give it daily life? The law of the Spirit that's in Christ Jesus. This is a law. And one law or another is working in you this morning. Now, when you got saved by the grace of God washed in the blood of the Lamb, you got the life, the law of life. It's Jesus. And he's working in you this morning. Now, you may not be having victory over sin, and over condemnation, and over death. For instance, this morning, I'll deal with the death part in just a moment, if you take your body and it gets weak enough, you'll start going to the ground. You know, why? The law of gravitation overcomes the law of life. And that law of gravitation pulls you down, and you may be a person, as far as you're concerned, alive, but there's a sickness in you. In other words, you're not healthy. First thing you know, you'll be lying down, and maybe permanently. But you see, there's that law working in you. But there's also a law of life. Now, you watch this watch. Let's go back to that law of gravity. That law, if I turn that watch loose, it goes down. The law of gravity pulls it down. But now you watch this watch. I'm going to take this watch, and I'm going to let the operation of the law of gravity operate on it, and it drops. But it didn't hit the pulpit. You know why? There's a law now that's operating on this watch that's stronger than the law of gravity. And you know what that law is doing? It's holding that watch up. And it's doing something for that watch it couldn't do for itself. Right? It's holding it up. It's holding it up. Now, see, the laws of the Bible says do and don't. Do and don't. And they demand. Now, I'm talking about the judicial, moral laws of the Bible. They say do and don't. And the law of death and sin in you is working against you. And the law says do this and don't do that, and that law of sin and death is working in you. And what that law could not do, what the demands of God could not do, Jesus Christ came into the world and took upon himself a body and lived it out, died, and was resurrected. And then he himself comes within you and gives you the law of life in Christ Jesus. And that law of life is like that law holding that watch up. And that law is working in you. To do what? To keep you from sinning, to keep you from dying, and keep you from being condemned. Whereby the do's and the don'ts of the Bible are practically lived up to. To where there is no condemnation in your life. And it's the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus that's working in you to do this work. For what the law could not do, Jesus himself came and took up his abode in you. The law of life in Christ Jesus to set you free from all the other laws. The law, the moral laws, sets you free from judicial laws, sets you free from the law of sin and death, where, my dear friends, you can have victory over sin, where you can have victory over death, where you can have victory over condemnation. And it's not you. It's the law of the life of Christ Jesus in you that's giving you this victory. That's why it's so erroneous to teach a person to get saved, and then when they get saved, tell them just now, the next thing is, go out and do the best you can. Amen. Try your best. Read your Bible and pray. And witness. And be faithful to church and give your time. Boy, that's about it. And your spirituality is marked off on how many And that is absolutely ridiculous. Amen. Now, if the law of life in Christ Jesus, I'm sure you could put down a good report on the training union report. But you get in the cart before. For you see, God knows you. And he knows you for what you are. And do you know he's not upset this morning at your failure? As far as the failure is concerned? You know what God expects out of you? Failure. Because he knows what you are. The only thing that God has a problem with is you bringing your life to submit to him where he can work that law of life in you. That's the only problem. Because the rest of the problems, folk, he knows. And he can handle because he's already made provision for it. And of course when you bring your unbelief, the sin, and unbelief is nothing in this world but the lack of you submitting, committing, acting on his revealed truth. Which means to him, obedience to him. And when you bring yourself to him, when you get to him, then he can handle any other sin. He doesn't expect you to do it. He expects to enter you and do it. Now I'll give you another illustration along this line. I won't get to bring this message. And it's on the records out there. It's entitled, The Overcoming Life. And I think you can get it on a cassette, too. In fact, I know you can if you don't want a record. It's The Overcoming Life. It's a chapter, Romans, it's an exposition of Romans 7. And I believe it's the key to a lot of truth that some of us need. But I want to give you an illustration that I give in there. And I understand that it is to be one of the best I've ever used. If I had a glove up here this morning, and I put that glove right there, and I'd say, now glove, now let me assume that I'm taking the position of God in relationship to commanding a man to do something. And so when God tells you to read your Bible in the Word, and tells you to witness, and tells you to do things, of which he does, right? I'm going to tell this glove, I say, glove, pick up that watch. Now there's a glove. I'm going to say, pick up that watch. Now that glove there right by itself, right there, you can see it with your imagination. Can that glove pick up that watch? I say, now glove, pick up that Bible. Can that glove do it? No. You know why? That glove in reality is dead. It's nothing. Now it's hard for you to see this, but Brother and Sister, it's so. Now you watch it. If I would take this hand, take that glove and reach over and slip that hand in that glove, and get that hand in that glove, that glove's on my hand, I could say, glove, pick up that watch. That glove could move over and pick up that watch. I'd say, glove, pick up that Bible. That glove could reach over and pick up that Bible. Now what's the difference? It's still a glove. You know, there's something in that glove now that's got the ability. And my friends, if you are saved by the grace of God this morning washed in the blood of the Lamb, you have him who has the ability to perform. And when the law says, do this, do that, without the law of life in Christ Jesus operating in you, friends, you cannot operate. Now because you have a human body, mind, motion, will, and song, you can get up and go through the activity of performing. But folks, you still haven't learned the lesson that as far as God is concerned, it's not what you do for God, it's what God does through you. And the whole sermon on the Mount becomes alive when you see this truth. I get tickled at folks saying some preachers are too negative. I don't think people have an understanding to the extent of whether they know negative or positive preaching when they heard it. My mother-in-law came to hear me preach one time, and she said, and I have a brother-in-law that's quite an outstanding evangelist, and she said, man, you and Mike are so different. He's so positive, and you're so negative. And what she was wanting me to be is one of these fellows who was never the object of any criticism. And you just can't be involved with Jesus. One of the first things you're going to be is a controversy if you walk with Jesus. He doesn't want you to rock the boat. I noticed when she had a few heart attacks and a few other things, she got interested in the fellow who rocked the boat. Pray for her. But anyway, it was quite amusing. She's a real precious person. I didn't put that in, but she really is. And she's really deep in the Lord. She's gone through some unusual things in her life, and so she said to me, she said, you're just too negative. I said, well, Mrs. Prince, tell me something. I said, what do you mean? She said, well, you know, Jesus says love your neighbor as yourself. That's positive. I said, is that what you mean? I said, would you please tell me how you're going to love your neighbor as yourself? And she said, well, well, I'm just going to love her. I said, you are? I said, just suppose that your neighbor is a wicked, ungodly, uncouth, mean, devilish woman that irritates you and upsets you all the time. She said, well, she's pretty thoughty, you know. She said, well, she said, well, she said, well, I'll try. I have to love her. I said, well, how do you try to love her? I said, you may try, but here you go. You're going to put on love. Man, you're determined, boy, I'm going to love that woman today. And I said, now, you're a very cultured woman. And I said, since you are, I said, you go out and boy, and I said, inside of you, you would really want to say something and do something. But you're too cultured. You're too much of a lady to do it. I said, now, Ms. Prince, tell me, how are you going to love your neighbor as yourself? She stuck me on the spot, so I wasn't about to let her get off. She said, well, I get down and ask God to help me. And I said, and how many times have you done that? She said, oh, many, many times. I said, has he helped you? She said, no, I end up getting upset over something. I said, Ms. Prince, I said, can't you see that what you call negative, positive preaching is nothing in this world but negative? Because everything God asks you to do, it's impossible to do in yourself. And I said, it's only there for the reason of bringing you to desperation where you'll throw up your hands and said, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this and all at once, it's Jesus. Boy, God doesn't, God commands me to love my neighbors myself, but he knows I can't. Now, I know I can't. Well, amen, I can. He is ready to let the law of life in Christ Jesus operate in you. And what happens? He becomes the love. And say, folk, when he becomes the love, you know what? He changes your disposition of such nature, that law works in you, to where you actually love that woman. And you love her, and yet it's not you loving her, it's the Lord loving her to you. And you what? Then the law cannot condemn you. You're under no condemnation. Why? Because you love her. But it's the Lord that's the source. You see? You say, preacher, I don't have any faith. And the Lord commands me to have faith. And I don't have any. You've been talking about believing God, and I just don't have a lick of faith. Well, I've just shared with you how you can get it. Same way you get love. Amen. Same way. And the law of life in Christ Jesus can operate in you, and you can have what Paul said, the faith of Jesus. Paul said, I live this life by the faith, by his faith, not my faith. He said, boy, the source of my faith is the Lord. Isn't that something? He said, I am crucified with Christ. He said, I'm dead, yet I live. But it's not me, it's Christ that's doing the living in me. And he said, since he's doing the living in me, he said, yet I'm dead and yet I live. That's something, isn't it? It's really something. And it's because this law of life in Christ Jesus is operating in you. And that law can operate in you today. If you have to make yourself read the Bible, folks, there's something wrong with your spiritual relationship and fellowship. You shouldn't just grab a book of the Bible and start reading. You should go back to the cross and say, Lord, you cleansed me. And Lord, you take over. I know that my reading of this Bible is strictly legalistic. And boy, when he takes over and that law of life starts operating in you, you can't put that Bible down. It becomes a living word. They'll just jump out and get ahold of you. When you have to make yourself go visiting, because there's a visitation on Thursday night or Wednesday night, Tuesday night, or something like that, then my friends, there's something wrong with your life. I wouldn't give you two bets for a man's Christianity to just go visiting on Thursday night. I believe that the man, if he's really walking in the Holy Spirit, will be a witness wherever he is, whatever he's doing, all the time, every time. You see? You know, why the law of life is working in him. He can't keep his mouth shut. Because that law of life is working in him in such a way that, folks, that's the greatest thing that's ever happened, is the Lord Jesus. And so this law has set us free. Now, it hasn't set us free from just condemnation, just sin and death. Boy, this law operating in you will set you free from so much that it will absolutely fascinate you. You know what this law sets you free from? A carnal mind. I mean, I'm looking at it. For they that are after the flesh to mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the things of the Spirit are to be carnal-minded as death, but to be spiritual-minded as life and peace. Now, the law will set you free from a carnal mind. And this is a great need today. Our carnal minds get in our way. Our minds get in our way. And when the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is operating in you, my friends, you're not carnal-minded, which simply means you see things as God sees them. And when you see things as God sees them, you get your eyes full. Amen. The Lord's not worried about the events of this nation today. He's not concerned. You know why? He sees the whole thing. He knows the end from the beginning, and it's going to turn out just right. It's going to turn out all right. And you're not only free from being carnal-minded if the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free, but this is another fact. If the Spirit of life has set you free, it's going to turn out all right. And you're not only free from being carnal-minded if the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free, but this is another fact. If the Spirit of life has set you free, you're free from bondage to the extent that, my dear friends, you're not condemned by any sin, our dead body of Christ being you. And I'll just go on and read this bit. And do you know something else you're free from if the law of life is working? You are free from the law of sin and death and sickness. You say, you don't get sick? I didn't say you didn't get sick. You say, well, what are you talking about? You are set free from that sickness to carry out the will of God. There's not one thing that God wants you to do. If you are allowing the law of life in Christ Jesus to set you free, that the Holy Spirit can't bodies to do. Now, I have seen some folk who have taken an illness and God put them in bed, and it took the law of life in Christ Jesus to set them free so they would be as free in that bed as Paul was in the jailhouse, in order to be a prayer warrior that God wanted them to be all the time. And I'll tell you one thing, that takes the law of life in Christ Jesus to give you such freedom and peace and joy there in a bed, never to get up, just to pray, as it does to walk around. But I'll tell you what, anything that God wants you to do, his will for your life, if the law of life in Christ Jesus is operating properly in your life, you are not bound by any that will hinder you. And that's saying a lot to a lot of people. But, folk, it's still in the book. Corrie Ten Boone is 84. Years ago, well, she was in her seventies, I guess then, God spoke to her heart one day and said, I want you to go to Japan. She said, Lord, I'm too old. She said, I'm eighty-four. I said, you're seventy-something. She said, my body just won't make it. And if you've ever seen her, she's a real tall person, and just naturally heavy. And she had been in German prison camp, I've forgotten now, for all those years. It's amazing how God just sustained her through all of that. It's something else. You ought to read her book, The Hiding Place. She said, Lord, I just can't go. God said, I want you to go to Japan. And she said, all right, Lord, if you'll show me that my body will not be a hindrance to your will, give me a promise whereby my body will not be a hindrance to your will. She said, I'll go. And she said, the Lord gave her the 11th verse that I just read to you. If the Spirit of Christ, that law of life that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in you, he shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit. She called the airport and got a ticket. And she went to Japan. And I have a friend that was there. He was a major, and she stayed in his home. And he told me about her. He said, man, I've never seen an old woman so young in all my life. He said, preacher, she literally walked you to death. He said, she went everywhere testifying. He said, I just don't see how she can do it except God must do it through her. Well, he had the answer. You could bring Bertha Smith in. Have you ever read her book? You could bring her in here today. You know how old that woman is. I'm not going to divulge her age, but she's over 80, by a long margin. And I guarantee you she can get around better than some of you young ladies. She really can. Somebody, in fact, Jack Taylor asked her that day, he said, Miss Bertha, when are you going to get you a lady to go around to you like Corrie Ten Boom? She said, well, when I get as old as she is. That's what she said. She's already older than she is. But she said, well, preacher, what's the secret? My soul, she's just alive. But it's that resurrected life living in her. I knew Charles Weigel personally. You know the man that wrote No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus? He lived to be 92. And when he was 90-something, I heard him get up and sing. Now, you know more about this than I would, but there's some pretty high notes in that thing. And he was 90-plus. And I heard him get up and sing that song and never hit a note. It's amazing. Oh, and you know what? God, he said, As thy days, so shall thy strength be. Now, folks, that's the word of God. Now, which one are you going to stand with? The word or how you feel and think, smell, taste? See, always stand with the word. It goes right on down. You know what you're free from? Let me give you this one and let you go. You're free from something else. This is a beauty. When you're set free by the law of life in Christ Jesus, you're set free from suffering. Suffering. Now, a preacher of the Bible says you suffer. I didn't say you didn't. Isaiah said you're set free from it. How in the world are you set free from suffering? Paul said, I count this suffering.