In this sermon, the preacher discusses various instances where Jesus displayed his knowledge and power. He mentions how Jesus knew all about Nathaniel before they even met, and how he knew the history and details of different individuals' lives. The preacher emphasizes that Jesus is willing to work with others and involve them in his miracles, as seen in the examples of filling water pots and distributing food to the multitude. The sermon also focuses on the story of Lazarus, highlighting Jesus' statement that Lazarus is sleeping and his intention to awaken him.

We're turning again this evening to John's Gospel, Chapter 11, please. John's Gospel, Chapter 11. Last Tuesday, we looked up the first ten verses. We made up the introduction to this wonderful chapter. And we're going to try to go through from verse 11 this evening, right down to the end of verse 44. From verse 11, right down to the end of verse 44. And this portion brings before us the mighty miracle of bringing Lazarus back from the dead. And we're going to talk about the might of the miracle. Very closely connected with this, of course, is the mourning of Mary. And I've just got a few things to say about the mourning of Mary. For tears have wept. And then I shall go from that to the mistakes of Martha. I think I must underline these for you this evening. Because Martha's saints, as she was, she made mistakes. And they're recorded for our learning, of course, that we may do without making them. And of course, in this wonderful portion, we have not only the might of the miracle, and the mourning of Mary, and the mistakes of Martha, but we have a wonderful picture here this evening of our marvelous master. And that's where I'm starting tonight, drawing the picture for you of our marvelous master. There are the headings, our marvelous master, the mistakes of Martha, the mourning of Mary, the might of the miracle. And we're commencing now at verse 11. These things said he, that refers, of course, to the things that we dealt with last week. And after that, he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of his sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleepeth he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest and sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And again, just now, I want to underline for you the marvelous knowledge of our wonderful Lord. You see, when these disciples said, Lord, if he sleepeth he shall do well, it is perfectly clear to all of us that no one had brought a message of the death of Lazarus. You see, the master standing there, he just knew that Lazarus was dead. By what wonderful knowledge, you know, there are modernists who say that Christ was limited in his knowledge. I think they want to go over John's gospel very carefully, and they will change their miserable opinion. I believe, of course, as I've taught you before, that John's gospel was written for one purpose. Do you remember it? All right, go to the end of John, chapter 20, and you'll see it again. This is why John's gospel was written. John, chapter 20, verse 13, Of many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I believe that John's gospel was written to bring before you the glory and the beauty and the majesty and the wonder and wealth of our wonderful Lord. This gospel brings out the glory of the Son of God. And here's a study for all you young students. If you take all the twenty-one chapters sometime, and you go through them like this, you can find in every chapter the knowledge of Christ. You can find in every chapter the power of Christ. You can find in every chapter the grace of Christ. You can find in every chapter the glory of Christ. You can't miss it. Supposing we only took the knowledge. Let's see how much you remember of the chapters. In the first chapter, you remember that he knew all about Nathanael before he'd ever met him. Why, the first moment that Nathanael walked into his presence, he looked him up and down and said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. And Nathanael nearly jumped out of his skin. And he said, Whence knowest thou me? And Jesus said, The Father shall call thee whence thou was under the fig tree. I saw thee. He knew all about it. He knew all about the deep, dire need of the King of Galilee marriage, and the idea that was in his most heart. He turned and said, What have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. He knew the whole history of the woman at the well in chapter four. He knew what he would do when he was going to feed the five thousand before he ever texted Philip. He knew how many years the man had lay at the beautiful, at the pool of Bethesda. You remember the whole story. We went into all these details last week. Chapter by chapter, you can find the unique knowledge of our wonderful Lord. And here it's coming out again. Last week when the messenger came from Bethany and said, He whom thou lovest is sick, the Lord could reply immediately, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. He knew the end of the thing, how it would end. I'm now standing there without a messenger coming or going. He said, Roderick is dead. Nobody came and told him. But he knew. There are no limitations here. Praise God. His knowledge was never limited, because he was God. He knew the end from the beginning. It's quite correct what you find in the last chapter of this very gospel, when Peter looks into his eyes almost in the last breath and says, Thou knowest everything. So he does. You remember he taught these very disciples that so many sparrows were sold for so many farthings, and yet not one of them falls to the ground, not even a sparrow falls to the ground without my father's hee, and he whose eye is on the sparrow. He knows every detail of everything. Friend, learn this this evening. The marvelous knowledge of our wonderful Lord. And then I want you to notice this. This follows on closely. Verse 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sake that I was not there to the intent ye may believe. Now I think that this brings up the wisdom of the servant. I think the other was the knowledge of the Son. But we must remember that the Son became the servant. And remember it was of the servant of God, out cold-heartedly for the glory of God, that he abode two days where he was. Why all this took place at Bethany? It was God's will that his Son, who was then his servant, would abide at the place. You see, he was just an obedient servant. But I want you to watch this. You see, through his obedience as the servant of Jehovah, Lazarus was allowed to go down into death, that he might experience the power of Christ's resurrection. And it was well that Christ abode where he was. But wait a minute. He didn't only stay where he was in obedience to the Father, that Lazarus might experience the power of his resurrection, but he stayed where he was, that Mary and Martha might see the glory of God in his wholehearted affection for them in their hour of need. But still further, he was staying where he was, not only that Lazarus might have an experience and that Mary and Martha might get a blessing, but that the faith of his own disciples might restrain him. It's quite fair, isn't it? Why can't you see the wisdom of the servant? He says, I'm glad for your sake. Well, you wouldn't have thought that these fellows were connected with this thing at all, would you? You would have thought that this was the hour of Lazarus' pain and Mary and Martha's concern and darkness and loss and sorrow. But he was working all things together, as always, for good to them that love him. And he was glad that he abode there for their sakes, that they might come and see demonstrated the mighty power that belonged to him in the resurrection of Lazarus and that their faith might be strengthened. Well, it's one of those cases again where he works all things together. You know, I went to visit the gentleman yesterday who got struck with a car the other day and lost a very valuable eye. Got the eye cut clean out of him and his jaw broken in two places. And I found him way down under the juniper tree, wondering why and how and if and all the rest of it. Why, all the questions that are usually there. And the first thing that he said to me as I stood by the bedside, he said, Why did this happen? So I said, Look, drop the word happened. I don't think that things happened. I believe that God works all things together for good. We always talk about happen, but God works all things. I told him the story of Joseph. You remember how his brethren threw him down into the pit and we'll call that the bitterness of brethren. It's to be experienced before you really know how bitter it is, the bitterness of brethren. And then he went down into Egypt, and you know all about the wickedness of the world, don't you? They told lies on him and sent him down into prison with his character blackened. Oh, that's the wickedness of the world. And then down yonder, you remember how he told the different men their dreams, and when one of them got out, he forgot all about Joseph. And that's the forgetfulness of friends. And you take the bitterness of brethren, and the wickedness of the world, and the forgetfulness of friends, and God works them all together for good. And I sat quietly by the side of the bed, and I said, Did you ever see a woman baking a cake? And she takes soda. You just have a mouthful of it. And she takes flour, and have a go at that. And you won't take it either. And she takes salt, and maybe just a touch of lemon, and if you take them individually, you'll spit them out, you won't taste them. But when she begins to work them all together, the production is good. Friend, have you got the hold of that? That our wondrous Lord can take death, and disappointment, and sadness, and sorrow, and so many other things that we could name, and He works them all together for good. Yes, for them that love God. That's the wisdom of God, and it was the wisdom of the servant. They thought, Oh, the servant was just a body. This is marvelous wisdom, isn't it? All right, let's move on from here. We're looking at the knowledge of the Son. He knew Lazarus was dead, and we're looking at the wisdom of the servant. I am glad for your sakes I was not there. Nevertheless, let us go on today. Then said Thomas, which was called Edimus, unto his fellow disciples, let us also go that we may die with him. For Thomas thought that our Lord Jesus would be stoned to death when he went back into Judea. Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. This marked that in passing by. Now, Bethany was nigh on to Jerusalem about fifteen furlongs off, not quite two miles away, and the Holy Ghost has been very particular to put it in, I believe, for this purpose. Because this mightiest of miracles was being wrought away at the end of the ministry of Christ, and it was being wrought on the borderline of Jerusalem. So that all that were against him in there would again be challenged by the power of the Lord. Verse 19, And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, and will not deal with anything about Martha just now. But I know that even thou whatsoever thou wouldst ask of God, God will give it thee. This is the first word our Lord Jesus said to her. Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Sometimes the Lord just gives us a little word, and it's to draw out the very grace that he has placed into our hearts. He just looked at her and said, Thy brother shall rise again. And Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection of the last day. You see, she had the common knowledge of all Jews. This is what the Judaizer thought at Jerusalem, that there would be a resurrection at the last day. This was her persuasive theology just at that moment. But here's what the Master said. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. You see, he's wanting her to get away from her persuasions and theories. He's wanting to turn every affection of her being looking full into his wonderful face. And that's a wonderful thing, you know. So he said, I just want you to see me, Martha. I want you to get the hold of this. Never mind about theories. Never mind about your persuasion. I want you to get this. I am the resurrection and the life. Never mind about the last day. I am. He's turning her attention upon himself. And you know, that's always good preaching. If you can get the congregation to look full in the face of our wonderful Lord, my many things on earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. But I want you to get the hold of exactly what he said. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. Now, I want you to face this. Why did he put resurrection first? Why did he not say, I'm the one that gives life and then brings them out? He said, Martha, I want you to get the hold of this, dear. I am the resurrection. You know, friends, I want you to get the hold of that. He was trying to let us see that personally, and actually, and eternally, and doctrinally, and dispensationally. He was, and is, and ever will be, the resurrection. Let's try to get the hold of the depth of this. Supposing we look at the case in the spiritual way first. You know, when the Lord came first to us, he'd get the hold of it over again tonight. At that time, we were dead, spiritually dead. We were in the horrible pit of spiritual death. And I will need to be upbringing us. Remember that getting new life is, first of all, passing some test. He's putting it in the proper order. You see, actually, and impressionally, and doctrinally, this is the proper order. And dispensationally too, because he's coming back again, isn't he? Well, when the Lord himself descends from heaven, with the shouting, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, the dead, right west, dispensationally too, he's wanting her to get the hold of this, you know. Martha, I want you to see this. I want you to see that I'm the resurrection. You don't need to wait, you know, for the last day. I'm there at all times. I'm there. The Lord Jesus said this, I am the resurrection, I'm the life. Lovely. You know, it's a wonderful thing to go through the scriptures and you'll find this, that death could not stay in his presence. Oh, no. And you can't find me anywhere where it did either. I want you to get the hold of this. Jesus never stood at a deathbed while somebody died. And the very existence of death would be in contradiction to what he really, eternally, actually, personally was. Nobody ever died. And I'll tell you this, every time that he came into contact with death, death departed. He walked into a wee room one day, there's just a wee loft there, she's twelve, she's dead. One of the greatest pictures in the Bible is, he took her by the hand, just a weak, tiny, cold, lifeless, childish hand, and he took it in his and he squeezed it and said, Arise! And she's coming into the city and here is a funeral procession coming up and he stops the procession and shuts the coffin and the dead arose. Let me tell you this, he had to die on the cross before the other two or they wouldn't. He was right! Right! Right! It was a wonderful time. Never mind about your theories. Never mind about your Jewish persuasions. Never mind about your pharisaical theology. I am the resurrection and the life and there are no problems after that, brethren. None at all. Straight forward now. I want you to get the hold of this. Let's get on with it. Verse 25, Jesus says unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. That is spiritually. Now he's going to put Martha dead up against it. He's made a revelation and he's made a declaration and then he says this. This is an interrogation. Believest thou this? That's right. Now comes out her confession. She says unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. She actually didn't answer the thing at all. You know, what I want you to get the hold of just here is, these sayings of the Savior. Martha, really marvelous. Did you see the knowledge of the Son he knew when Lazarus had died? Though nobody told him and he's quite a bit away from the spot too. Did you see the wisdom of the servant? My, there was gladness in his heart that he'd obeyed the Lord, that the blessings might come to one and all. Do you see? Do you see the sayings of the Savior here? My, they're marvelous, aren't they? Now, we move on from the knowledge of the Son and the wisdom of the servant and the sayings of the Savior. We move on to the compassion. And it should have been the sympathizer, but the printer put the Savior. It doesn't matter. Just go down the chapter a little bit, we'll gather this up again. Verse 33, When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, for he groaned in spirit and was troubled and said, Where have you made him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. And the shortest version of the Bible is before us, Jesus wept. Now, I think that we need to take time with this because, let's get this into our hearts first. Remember, he knew the end from the beginning. Oh, he knew that he would ask for the stone to be rolled away, and he would call Lazarus out, and he would bring him back to life again for the glory of God. He knew it all. Yes, yes, yes. He entered into the sorrow of it. That's wonderful. My, I suppose, natural beings, if we were absolutely sure of how a thing would turn out, we could almost smile no matter how dark the day would be. But remember our wonderful Lord entered into the sorrow and sadness and loss and bereavement. Sometimes we pray this prayer of Paul's, where he pulled out his whole soul in the Philippian letter and cried that I renew him on the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. And, of course, the fellowship of his sufferings are the fellowship of his sufferings in life, not in death, in life. Well, here's one place where he suffered in life. You know, he felt the burden of the sadness, of the bereavement of this home. I wonder do we, I wonder do we really weep with those that weep. I wonder do we really share one another. I wonder do we enter into it. And the very compassion here brings forth how marvelous he was. And then down the chapter, he rolled the stone away in two words, Lazarus, come forth! And we see the power of the South. You know, all this brings before us our marvelous master. Do you see his wisdom? Do you hear his saying? Do you watch his compassion? Do you mark his power? What a marvelous master we have. But let's get into this other bit, because we mustn't miss this. The mistakes of Martha. Let's go back up the chapter now. Verse twenty. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. Now remember that is perfectly true. I'm not altogether sure where she saw the great truth of him being the life, as we have been talking about it, so that while his presence would have been near the bedside of Lazarus, Lazarus would certainly not have died. But the bit that we must mark is this, that she limited his power. Might she was just saying, you know, you couldn't do the thing when you were way younger. Ah, but that is wrong. The wonder of his power. You remember on one occasion when we had the talk here, I pointed out that he was at Cana of Zalemene, and the centurion's servant was at Capernaum, and there were so many miles between, and he spoke the word only, and at the precise moment, the disease left. You know, sometimes we are very much like Martha. You know, when the storm howls in our life, and the darkness deepens, and grief is written on the gates of our hearts, and our reason can see nothing but ruin, and our sense can see nothing but horror, we sit under the juniper tree and we wish that Jesus would come in through the door. But you can't trust him to do something for you. Martha would have to say, Lord, you would need to be here. That's what Martha would say, oh, if you had just been here, Lord. But she hadn't got the faith to think that he could have done it from yonder. No, she's limited the wonder of his power. But what she went on with this, verse 21, Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Now, I think that's a very sad statement to make. There are two words in the Greek New Testament, you can look them up sometime, and they're both translated by the English word, ask. And one of them is used always and without exception for the creature asking the Creator, for some blessing. Always used of the creature asking the Creator. And the other one is used for a son asking the father. But the word that Martha used here was the word for the creature asking the Creator. And here's what she said. She said, but I know that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask, you're just a creature asking God. She should never have used such a phrase. My dear friend, look, she missed the glory of his passion altogether. Over in the other chapter in John 10, remember forever this word, I am the father of them. But she was bringing him down to the level of a creature. He was no more to her than one of the Old Testament prophets at that moment. A tremendous mistake. Never let us make this mistake. Never let us think about Jesus as just a creature. Let's remember that all power and heaven and earth for all eternity belongs solely and entirely and completely in absolute. Never let us miss the glory of his passion. But watch again. Did you notice this? That when Jesus made this revelation, I am the resurrection and the life, and then these proclamations, and then put this interrogation, believe it or not, you know, Martha ran away. Verse 28. And then she had so said she went away and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, The Master has come and called for thee. Now where in the conversation before this did our Lord Jesus call for Mary? Nowhere. You know, there's a great argument that's on here among scholars. Some come out bluntly and say that Mary, that Martha, told an untruth. I don't believe that. Some say that there is a part of the record left out, and I don't believe that they're trying to cover her up. I believe this. I believe that the Lord was revealing and expounding and explaining things that were so deep spiritually that Jesus couldn't grasp it, and she believed that her sister, who was more spiritual than she, was the one that should have been there. I'll be sure I know where it's at here. You know, the Master's come, and it's you, it's you, it's you, talking about things that I don't understand. And you know, sometimes we're like that. My, when the Lord begins to take us into the depths of the deep things of God, the babes in Christ would need to run home, wouldn't they? That's the time you would need to hold on. That's the reason there are so many babes. They'll not take their time at the Master's feet. That's where Mary spent her time, as we'll see in a minute. But I believe that she was fleeing here from the probing of his preaching. He was coming very close to her when he said, Believest thou this? And she didn't really answer. But you'll notice this, that the way down the chapter, verse 39, Jesus said, Take thee away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time is pinkish, for he hath been dead four days. You know, she was resisting the very plan of his performance. You see, that is like this. You remember last week that they supplicated. They said, Lord, you remember the word, Lord, behold? And I said, one translation was, Lord, listen. He whom thy lovers protect. And they were bringing no trouble. And they were bringing no burden. And they were laying it before the Lord. And sometimes when the Lord comes to perform in his own wonderful way, to answer the very cry of our hearts, Will it exist, O Lord? Then we do. We're not prepared for his way. You know, we'd like to have it all. But we're not prepared for his way. And very often we find out in the depths of our hearts that his way is not our way. And his thoughts are not our thoughts at all. And here are the mistakes. Yes, my, she limited the wonder of his power. And she missed the glory of his presence. And she fled from the proving of his preaching. And she resisted the plan of his performance. God keep us from these mistakes. But let's get down to the mourning of Mary. Verse 32. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. And it's the very same thing over again. I know that some commentators try to get Mary out of this, but I can't honestly do it. It's exactly the same wording. Ah, but there's this difference. Mary fell down at his feet, weeping. Watch this, verse 33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, You know, friends, Tears have a great weight with God. And they have. I want to show you one or two things just about tears. Have a look at this one. It's in 2 Timothy. And it's the first chapter. Paul's second letter to Timothy. And it's chapter one. Second Timothy, the first chapter. Paul is writing to Timothy, verse two. My dearly beloved Son, Grace and mercy and peace from God the Father, Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God through my prayer for my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears. It's a lovely little phrase. You see, that teaches us this. That somewhere a way back yonder, this young man had wept openly for the great Apostle. And oh, Paul may have forgotten many things. He said, I never forgot, you see, being mindful. Let me tell you this. If we went through the Bible tonight, you would find that Hezekiah, when he's got the conscience of death, he turned towards the wall and wept in God's head. I found it. And you'll find that young Esther, when she came in and fell before the throne, it was of tears. And you'll find that when the Lord turned and looked at Peter, he went out and wept severely. My tears. Tears. I wonder whether you knew about them. Do you ever weep before the Lord, for your loved ones? Do you know anything about them? Maybe her language was all messed up and muddled. And I think it was. But there was no doubt at all about this concern. And a soul. Friend, will you leave memories like this behind you? Did you ever sob in your life for a soul? Did you ever shed one tear for your mother? Why, everywhere you meet Mary in this book. I haven't time to go over it tonight, but if we went to Luke chapter 10, you remember when the Lord came to the house of Bethany. Martha had a sister called Mary. She wept hot, hot Jesus' feet and heard His words. Everywhere you'll find Mary in this book, you'll find her associated with the feet of Christ. She sat and listened. And when we go to the next chapter, next week's chapter 12, you'll find this. That she anointed His feet and wiped them with her hair. Some of you would have bothered wiping them with your hair because you haven't got any to wipe with. Some are cracking at home. That's what they're meant to do. Friends, I want you to get a hold of this. That Mary sobbed at His feet listening. Mary knelt at His feet worshipping. Mary fell at His feet weeping. She could bring Him her love. And she could bring Him her soul to be fed. And she could bring Him her tears and get answers. Oh, how lovely to live your whole life at the blushing feet of Jesus. How lovely. Let's get on to the last part of this. Verse 38. Verse 38. Jesus, therefore, again, groaning in himself, come up to the grave. It was a cave and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of Him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this tiny sphincter, for He hath been dead four days. I think there's something about these four days. When we get numbers, they're not placed here for fun. When we go to the back of the book, we find that one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. And do you know when our Lord Jesus Christ came down into this world to be the Savior of the world? My, from Adam to that very moment, four thousand years. From the cross. And I'll tell you this, God had tried man out in every conceivable way. He had put him under conscience, under human government, under law. And man had proved himself to be utterly caught. He was thinking in the mouthproof of God. And He ejected him. My, there are much more so tonight. And you know, the Lord had come to save. Oh, it's a wonderful picture of poor, sinful, half-damned human nature. And here it is. But remember this, when the Lord sets out to save a soul dead and corrupt and stinking, remember He's willing to take servants to live with Him. Roll ye away the stone. You know, it's wonderful in all the great things that the Lord has done in this book. You remember the first miracle. Oh yes, He turned the water into wine, but before He did, He said to the servants, Yes, fill the water pots with water. There was something for them to do. Co-workers were gone. You remember when the multitude of five thousand were over there, and the Lord had the bread here in His hand that He'd break and give to His disciples. And in between the crowd and the crowd were the workers. And you'll find that He's prepared some co-workers with Him in this great miracle. Roll away the stone. You'll see another bit of it just in a moment. And then, the first master tried to step in. Jesus rebuked the thing. He said, I knock unto thee that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it that they may believe that Thou saidst. And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. He found hand and foot with grave clothes, and the seat was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, Loose him, and let him go. Now, here's something that I think that all the preachers ought to take note of, that this man in this tomb was absolutely hopeless in himself. You know, some of the fellows that work miracles now, if they try it and it doesn't come off, they blame the fellow they worked it on if they had no faith. Well, they'll have better trouble getting faith into this fellow in the grave. He's dead absolutely. He's in the dark. Yes, here he is. He's stinker. He's corrupt. Going into corruption. And I want you to get the hold of this, that the person of Christ, and the word of Christ, and the power of Christ, were working together to bring him life. And our job as preachers is always to present and uplift and exalt the person of Christ. You must exalt the person of Christ. And you must preach the word, and you must depend on the power and shining. If you're going out preaching, if I never told you anything more than this, always uplift the person of Christ, always preach the word of Christ, the gospel of Christ, and always depend on the power of Christ, and you'll see wonders perform. You see, that was the life-giving word. But you know the moment that the Lord, by himself, by his power and by his word, through himself, brings you out of darkness into light and out of death into life, the moment that it happens, the great message to your heart is, loose him and let him go. This loosened a wonderful thing. You know, when he came out, my, he was tied round with old grave clothes. You know, sometimes I see some of them and they get gloriously saved, and you meet them months afterwards with the old stinking grave clothes on them of some old club that they were stuck in and they're on save day. They've not been set free at all, you know. Oh no, the old smelly things of the past are still there. And the Lord wants these ripped off. He wants these clothes found out in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free. Get off the old smelly things of the past. A new creature, you know, has come into life and the old things have passed away. But wait a minute. You know, this life-giving word was followed by this liberating message and it was followed by this lovely lesson. Watch. Come forth, loose him. What do you see? Let him go. Let him go where? Let him go into the fellowship of faith back to the public. The Lord wants to see you associated with those that love him and those that wept for you and those that prayed for you. Those that can take you in their arms and hug you. Those that love you. Those that will make a fist into the fellowship of the family. Were you called out? Are you free from the old stinking things of the past? Are you in the fellowship of faith? God bringing great things. Help us to go away and look them over and bring them to our hearts with power that thy blessing may be upon us that we in turn may be a blessing to those part of us in thy fear and with thy touch through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.