In this sermon, the preacher explains the structure of the Bible, comparing it to a book or a sermon. He states that the Bible has an introduction, which is found in the first three chapters, where we find a logical outline of God's plan for his people. The preacher then focuses on the four doctrines found in the passages they have read together. The first doctrine mentioned is the gospel, which is summarized as "Come, Take, and Use." The preacher emphasizes the invitation for all to come and partake in the water of life freely.

He doesn't like flower introductions, but we're terribly glad to have him back. He was with us about two years ago, and we automatically tried to book him for a year from that date, but he was called to Africa, and so we had to let him go, and we're very, very happy to have him back now, and we believe the Lord is going to bless his ministry to us. And so, I'll give it to Mr. Wilson now, and you're all set till 5.30, Mr. Wilson. Thank you. It's a very great privilege and a joy to be back again at Ebenezer. Since we were here last, we had the privilege of going back to Africa, going up the Zambezi, visiting all the stations there from the Copper Belt right up to the border of Angola. Unfortunately, I didn't have any visa to enter Angola, although I'd like to have done that. Fighting was going on at the time in the southern part of Angola, and I was advised that it wouldn't be proper or right to attempt to cross the border on account of the fighting. But we have been in contact with the believers over there. Just the day before yesterday, we received some very, very distressing news. The area in Angola where we lived in Biye, there are four mission stations there, and a very large work has been going on there for many, many years. And we just received news yesterday that all four stations have been leveled to the ground by the enemy. And Capango, where we spent the last 20 years of our service in Angola, have been bombed by Cuban military forces, and some of our dear friends there have been killed. One is a brother called Mateos, a man that I've known for over 50 years, and he was one who lost his life. The news came through Charlie Shorten and his wife Betty. At the present time, they are in Rwanda, and they are having the greatest difficulty there on account of conditions in the country. One of the difficulties they have is in finding food. At the present time, owing to the conditions of the country, nobody is putting a hole in the ground. And for that reason, food is very, very difficult to find. I don't want to say anything more about that, but I just want you to pray that God will look in mercy upon that country. The work has been going on there for many years, and up until the time of this emergency, there were about 400 New Testament assemblies in Angola, and approximately about 40,000 baptized believers in assembly fellowship. So God has wonderfully blessed the work in that land. The only missionaries we have there today is George Wiseman and his wife, Ina, at Beulah in Shortly Land. And there are two young women with them. That is Marjorie Beckwith and Doris Pittman from Quebec, from Sherbrooke. And then at the coast, we have Charlie Shorten from London, Ontario, and his wife, Betty. Betty was commended by an assembly at Niagara Falls and also by Tenafly in New Jersey. There are two girls on the frontier, Emily Rowntree and Eva Warrick, and they are living at a place called Kazombo on the Zambezi River. But actually, it is more Zambia than Angola. They haven't been interfered with at all, and they are carrying on a very valuable work in that area. The only reason I mention this is that it is a very big burden on our hearts. Please do pray for the Christians and also for those that are carrying on the work under very difficult circumstances. I understand that the subject of the meeting this afternoon is the greatness of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I just want to read one passage of scripture, the last paragraph in the Bible, Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. And for the context of what I want to read, we will read from verse 7. Revelation 22 and verse 7. Behold, I come quickly, blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then said he unto me, See thou do it not. For I am my fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God. And he said unto me, See not the sayings of the prophecy of this book. For the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He which is filthy, let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Now this is the passage I want to speak about. Verse 13 through verse 16. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandment, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the spirit and the bright say, Come. Let him that heareth say, Come. Let him that is a thirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He which testifyeth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. And may God have his blessing to the reading of this very, very precious portion of his word. It has often been said that a man who writes a book or preaches a sermon must always have three things in mind. First of all, he must have an introduction. And in his introduction to his book or his sermon, he tells you what he wants to say, and gives an outline of it. And then in the major portion of the book, we get the development of what he has said in the introduction. And then at the end of his book or sermon, he gives a conclusion and an application of what he has already said. Now this is the way that the Bible is formed. The first three chapters of the book of God's book, the Bible, we find the introduction. And all the great themes and doctrines that we find later developed in holy scripture, we find outlined for us in Genesis 1 to 3. And then from that point on, right through to the book of Revelation, we get the development of these great themes that we find in the introduction to the Bible. And then in Revelation chapters 20, 21, and 22, we get the conclusion and the application. So that what we find in the Bible, we find a very logical outline of the mind of God for his people at the present time. And what I want to do this evening is to look at the full, full doctrines that we find in the passages that we have read together. Here we get the conclusion to the word of God, and we also get an application. And when we look at it, we find that all the great doctrines of holy scripture, we find it here condensed, so to speak, an epitome, a summary of all the great doctrines that we find in holy scripture. Now the first one I want to mention is the gospel. We get a lovely outline here of the gospel, reduced to its simplest term. If we wanted to find the doctrine of the gospel, we would need to turn over to the epistle of the Romans. And in that great doctrine of the epistle, we find the gospel gone into in detail. It's not so much the preaching of the in the epistle of the Romans, but it is the doctrine of the gospel. And anyone who presumes to preach the gospel of God's grace today, they should study very carefully the teaching that we find in the epistle to the Romans. But when we come to the end of the Bible, here it's reduced to its simplest term. And there are three great words here where we find the gospel introduced. We read in verse 17, the spirit of the blight say, come. Let him that hears say, come. Let him that is a thirst, come. On whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Now the three words that we find here that bring the gospel to its simplest term, it's the last blast of the trumpet of redemption. The first word is come. And we find it here twice. Come, come. You know, the very first word often that a child learns when its mother is teaching it to walk, it puts those little feet on the floor and holding out her arms, she said, come. And it's a word that we have all known from our very earliest days. And then those little feet, they come to the mother and she puts her arms around it and folds it to her bosom. The first word is come. And the second word is take. Take the water of life freely. And the third word is whosoever will. So here we find the gospel reduced to its simplest term. Now I don't know whether there are any here this afternoon that have never obeyed the injunction, never obeyed the invitation, except that the invitation that we find here, my beloved friend, here, God, before the page of inspiration closes, it is this great invitation. Come and take. And it's addressed to whosoever will. Just the other day I was speaking with a brother that has very strong meanings to what he calls hyper-Calvinism. And I'm going to discuss this here this afternoon. It's not my purpose at all. But he had the idea that it's only certain people to whom the gospel is addressed. And the vast majority of people in the world today, there's no opportunity that ever can accept the gospel because they have not been chosen by God himself. And they would push this to an extreme, hyper-Calvinism. And then there were others that would push it to the other extreme and say that it entirely depends on man, that it's his responsibility whether he accepts the gospel or not. Now I'm not going to argue the point here this afternoon. But let me say, on the one hand, I hold to God's sovereignty. On the other hand, I hold to man's responsibility. And these are two great truths that are taught in Holy Scripture, and any intelligent believer should hold both of them in equal balance. God's sovereignty, man's responsibility. We can never, never reconcile them down here. But I believe that in the coming day we'll be able to understand this great mystery in connection with the gospel. But as far as I'm concerned, I haven't the slightest compunction of standing anywhere on the housetop and shouting at the top of my voice, whosoever will, let him come and accept the gospel of God's grace and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal savior. So the first great doctrine we find here outlined in its simplest terms is the gospel. Now the second is the word of God itself. And there are three terms that are used in connection with it. First of all, we're told that we're not to put a seal upon it. Secondly, we're not to take away from it. And thirdly, we're not to add to it. You know, one thing that is done very often in the world in which we live today is to put a seal upon the word of God. Some would take away from it, and others would add to it. You know, the very greatest blessing that we have among us today, apart from God's salvation, is the fact that we have God's word in our own language. I do thank God for men who give their lives many years ago to take the word of God and translate it and put it into our language. And wherever you find anyone today in the English-speaking world or the French-speaking world that does not possess a Bible, they do not possess the greatest treasure that God has given to us, apart from his salvation on his well-beloved Son, the word of God. You know, I believe that the greatest task of missionaries in the world in which we live today is to translate God's word into the language of the people. We have been engaged in this work for many years, and we do thank God that in Angola today, in the four main languages in the country, we have the whole Bible translated from Genesis to Revelation, and the people have been taught to read it. I believe that if no missionary is able to go back to Angola today, that the greatest treasure, the greatest work that the missionaries have done is to leave the whole of the word of God from Genesis to Revelation translated into the language of the people. I suppose most of us here this afternoon know David Long. David has translated the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation into the Choctaw language. And our dear brother Albert Horton, possibly known to quite a number here this afternoon, has translated the whole Bible into the Low Valley language. These are treasures that have been left to the people, and I believe it's the greatest task of the missionaries today to give the people the word in their own language and teach them how to read it in a sense that God will use. Unfortunately, there are many putting a seal upon it today. They may have a Bible, but they never open it, they never read it, and they don't understand it. They put a seal upon it. And then there's others that would take away from it. That is the work of the liberal theologian. Anything that he doesn't like, the great foundation doctrines of Holy Scripture, he would take it from the word of God. I would use a theological knife and cut out sections of the word of God that he doesn't agree with or may offend, may disturb his conscience. And then there are others that would add to it. I've been speaking just recently with some friends out in California, and they're very greatly troubled by some of the things that are happening out there. Those people in Salt Lake City that have gone out to the western states and have done a tremendous lot of propaganda, the Mormons. And they put the Book of Mormon on the same level as God's precious word. Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, she does the same thing with her book, Science and Health. And there are others in the Christian world today who put tradition alongside of God's word. It's absolutely unique. It's God's breath. It's inerrant. And we need to heed the great expectations that we find at the end of the Bible connected with the word. First of all, don't put a seal upon it. Don't add to it. Don't take away from it. So the first great doctrine here is the doctrine of the gospel. And the second doctrine is the doctrine of the inerrant, inspired word of God on three exhortations connected with it. A third great doctrine here that's mentioned three times in this final paragraph and the conclusion of the Bible is the imminent return of the Lord Jesus. Behold, I come quickly. Behold, I come quickly. Surely I come quickly. I don't know what you feel about the world in which we live today, but I can help it for you that the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is very, very near at hand. Possibly during the time that we're here, we may have an opportunity of speaking a little bit about the reasons why we believe that our time down here is very short. Things are heading up rapidly for the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I believe that we should have our heads up, realizing that before long, he's coming back again to receive us to be with himself. Now, the fourth great doctrine that I want to look at this afternoon is the Passion of Christ. And we find here five great double titles of our Lord that I want to speak about, and I want to concentrate on the greatness of his name. Five tremendous double titles, and right in the center we get the human name, I, Jesus. And in the center of these five double titles, covering the whole ground of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we get this lovely name, Jesus. Jesus, the very thought of thee, with sweetness fills my breast, but sweeter far thy sense of faith are in thy present breath. Many years ago, when I was home on my first travel from Africa, I spent some time in the city of Detroit. There was a brother there at the time, a medical doctor who was very much interested in Bible study. His name was Dr. Cameron. He was a Scotsman, and I came to know Dr. Cameron very well. He was quite a deep student of the word. And one day I was in the doctor's office, and he said to me, I have discovered rather remarkable things about the Passion of Christ in the Bible. I said, what is that? He said there are 365 different names and titles of the Lord Jesus in Holy Scripture. Well, I said, Dr., that's remarkable. Doesn't that mean that there's a name or a title of the Lord Jesus for every day of the year? He said, that's correct. Well, I said, why don't you sit down and compose a little book or a diary and put one of those names and titles of the Lord on every day of the year? I said, it would give some food for thought and for study. And if we only studied one of those titles every day of the year, it would practically cover all the great truths concerning the Passion and Word of the Lord Jesus. Dr. Cameron said, well, that's an idea. Now, that was in 1930. That's over 45 years ago. Seven years later, when I was on my second furlough in 1937, I came back. And again I came to Detroit, and I went to visit Dr. Cameron in his office. And he was sitting behind a big desk, roll-top desk. And he opened the drawer, and he pulled out a very beautiful compiled little booklet. And he pushed it across the desk to me. He said, there's your diary. I have kept it from that day to this, and I've enjoyed looking at it. A different name or title of the Lord Jesus for every day in the year. Now, it would be utterly impossible in the course of 25 minutes from now for me to all of these 365 different names or titles. But I do want to say, beloved brethren and sisters, it's a most exciting study. Looking at the names, the great names of our Lord Jesus Christ that we find in Holy Scripture. It would be utterly impossible to look at them all. But I want to concentrate on these five double titles, and this lovely name, the name of Jesus, right on the center here, for a few minutes this afternoon. Now, before we do that, it might be as well to say that in most of the books of the Bible, there are a galaxy of names of the Lord Jesus. If we were to look at the Pentateuch, for instance, I think there's about seven of them all together, just to mention one or two of them. You remember he's called, first of all, the seed of the woman. We get that in Genesis chapter 3. And then when we come over to chapter 49, you remember Jinkis, in that blessing that he gave to his son, later there were the heads of the twelfth class of the children of Israel, we get there Shiloh. That is the man of peace, Shiloh. The chapter shall not depart from Judah, nor the law differ from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. Lovely, lovely title of the Lord Jesus. And then a little further down, we read that he is the shepherd and the stone, the stone of Israel. Going over into the end of the Pentateuch, you remember Balaam and those things that he said, those prophecies of Balaam that he said at the end of that chapter. We read about the star, the star that would come out of Judah. You know, these are lovely, lovely titles. There's quite a number of them. There's a galaxy of them in the first five books of the Bible. That is the Pentateuch. If you come over into the prophet Isaiah, we find exactly the same thing. And again, it was occupied all the time. If we're to look at the tremendous names and titles of our Lord in the prophet Isaiah, when you come over into the New Testament, we find exactly the same thing. Remember, in the four gospels, one of the first names of our Lord is Emmanuel. What a lovely title that is. God with us. It's taken from the prophet Isaiah, Emmanuel, God with us. We're told there that he's the son of Abraham, but he's the son of David. We come over again into the gospel according to Mark. Under Mark's gospel there, he is the servant of Jehovah. It's a title that's taken from the latter part of the prophet Isaiah. We come into the gospel according to Luke, and there he is the son of man. And then into the gospel by John, and there he is the son of the living God. And so we could go on and on. Practically every book in the Bible has a beautiful, beautiful name or title of the Lord Jesus. Three hundred and sixty five of them altogether. But here at the end, there's five brief double titles of our Lord, and then the human names right in the center. Now let's think about them just for a few minutes. The first one is the Alpha and the Omega. I don't think I need to tell anyone here that this is the first and the last letter of the Greek alphabet. We know that the New Testament was originally in the Greek language. That is, the original language of the New Testament was the Greek language. And the first and the last letter of the Greek language is Alpha and Omega. Now I would suggest that this is the grammatical title of our Lord. It's what we would say He is the A under Z. Do you say Zed here, or do you say Zee? I've been living in the United States, and I don't understand that letter, the Zed. That's what we would call it when we were young. But over there they say the A under Zee, or the A under Zed. The first and the last letter of our alphabet is A and Zed. Now at home, I have an unabridged Webster dictionary, great big thick volume. I don't know how many words are in it. I've never counted them, and I don't know how many that are there, but it's one of the volumes that I have. But you know, every word in that volume in Webster's unabridged dictionary could all be comprehended inside these two letters, the A and the Zed. And it's exactly the same with God's precious word, the grammatical title. Not only is He the living word, but we believe all in the written word is about Him. Again, if we were to look at Holy Scripture along this line, the grammatical title of the Lord Jesus, in the Pentateuch there we find Him typically. All those great types, illustrations, pictures, in that portion of Holy Scripture, it's all about the Lord Jesus. Not only about His person, but also about His work. In the Pentateuch we find Him typically. We come over into the book of Psalms, and there we find Him poetically. This little book that we wrote a couple of years ago, the Messianic Psalms, there are 16 of them all together, and we get a complete outline of the person and work of the Lord Jesus poetically in the book of Psalms. Some of the great, great pictures of Christ, some of the most beautiful language in our language today, we find in the book of Psalms, there we get Him poetically. Come over into the prophets, and there we get Him prophetically. In the prophet Isaiah, we find Him there. We find Him in Ezekiel. We find Him in Zechariah. Many, many lovely prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus. And then coming over into the Gospels, we get Him historically. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John. Four historical pictures of the Lord Jesus. Four historical accounts of His life here below. We come over into the epistles, and there we find Him doctrinally. In the fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul, the Apostle James, the Apostle John, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Jude, there we get our Lord Jesus Christ doctrinally. And then when we come over into the book of Revelation, there we get Him finally as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And let's all head it up in this lovely, lovely title at the end of the book. He is the Alpha and the Omega. The grammatical title, the Bible is all about Him. A wonderful exposition of God's beloved Son. Not only the Son of Man, but the Son of God. And thank God He is our Savior at the same time. Now the second title is the Beginning and the End. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I would suggest that in this title we get Him creatorially. The creatorial title of the Lord Jesus. He is the Beginning and the End. You remember the first verse of the Gospel according to John. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The beginning, He was the One who threw the galaxies into space. It was that hand that was responsible for creation. The beginning and He also will be the end. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he uses the expression, Then cometh the end. On the Apostle there in five great slaughters, he speaks about the end of the world as we know it today. The One who was the creator at the beginning was the Lord Jesus, and the One who will be the end, who will wind creation as we know it today, and who will bring in the new heavens and the new earth is the Lord Jesus Christ, is creatorial title. You know, today these are things that are being denied on every hand, and our blessed Lord and God Himself is being politely bowed out of His own creation. And there are people who tell me that we came up from the slime. God completely ruled us, and to come up from the depths of the ocean and to end today, we have man as we see Him. You know, I remember when Frank Borman, when he circled the moon for the first time, and when he was on the dark side of the moon, that dear man, he opened his Bible and read these words. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And I could feel my spine tingling when I heard those words. And I bowed my head and I said, Amen. In the beginning, God, the triune God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, a plural word linked to a singular verb. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There are a lot of people who don't believe that today. But you know, as a boy, I learned a thing that has remained with me through life. Now, it may sound a little bit amusing, and I'm not here to amuse anybody or to entertain anybody, but there's a tremendous truth behind it. What I learned as a boy, and by the way, I attended a Presbyterian school in those days. That's over 70 years ago. And there was a dear old man at that time who was the manager of the school. He was a Presbyterian minister called Dr. Workman. And I learned a thing at that time that has remained with me through life. This is what it is. First, he was a tadpole beginning to begin. Then he was a frog with his tail tucked in. Then he was a monkey up a vineyard tree. And now he's a doctor with a PhD. If you want to believe that kind of stuff, you're perfectly welcome to it. I throw it out completely. And when I read my Bible, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. I'm not able to answer all the questions. I don't think anybody can. We have to accept that by faith and what God says in his word. But when God says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And in the first chapter of John, verse 1, we read, In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. I bow my head just as a simple believer, on a simple faith, without any question or any reserve. I accept that, and I say, Amen. He was the beginning, and he will be the end. And on that day that's described in the last chapter of the prophet Isaiah, and also in the last few chapters of Holy Writ, when the heavens and the earth shall pass away, the one who will be responsible for introducing the new heavens and the new earth will be our Lord Jesus Christ. The beginning and the end, his creatorial title. Have you ever studied carefully what Colossians chapter 1 has to say about the creation? There are some tremendous words there. They're so deep, they're so profound. Five different prepositions that are used in connection with it. No time to go into it here this afternoon. But again, let me say that we have absolutely no reserve when we accept what the Word of God says about the creation that we see around us today. By the way, I have never at any time ever met a pagan African in the middle of Africa that would deny the fact of God as a creator. The first thing we do when we learn their language, if you go into a tribe whose language has not been committed to writing, and you go in among that tribe, the first thing you have to do is find out their name for God. One tribe will call them Suku. Another tribe will call them Zambi. Another tribe will call them Kalunga. And you say, who is Suku? Who is Zambi? Who is Kalunga? And they'll look at you with astonishment. Why don't you know? That's the one who's created all things. Look above your head and you see the sun and the moon and the stars. And look around you and you see the trees and you see the grass and the rivers. And then look at yourself. Look at your body. Who created it? Why, of course, it was Suku. I have never, never met a pagan African that has never heard the gospel, never read the Bible, has never seen the Bible, that would deny the fact of God as a creator. But oh, thank God, the Word of God makes it so plain that it was Christ. Christ who was the one who was the beginning and the end. It was he who created all things by the word of his power. And he will be the one who will draw creation as we know it to an end and will bring in the new heavens and the new earth. His creatorial title. And then the next one, the first and the last. This is his mediatorial title. Oh, he is the first begotten from the dead. Not only is he the only begotten son of the Father, but it is titled in Deity, the only begotten, the monogenes. What a wonderful word that is. The only begotten one. It's only used by the apostle John. And it indicates the complete essential deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten. But then he's called the first begotten from the dead. The first one to rise from the dead with a glorified body was our blessed Lord. The first begotten. And he is the first fruits. The first fruits not only of all creation, but is the first fruits of the new creation. And then he is the last. He's the last Adam. And just as the first Adam failed miserably, the last Adam, with the scepter in his hand and the crown upon his head, he will reign over our renewed creation in the coming day during his millennial reign. He is the first and the last. One again would like to pause here and go into this mediatorial work of our blessed Lord. It's central to the passage. All thank God he is the savior. He is the mediator between God and man. He is the first and the last. And then we get his messianic title. We read that he is the root and the offspring of David. Now the root of David, that means he had an existence before David was born. It was from him that David sprang. That indicates his deity, his preexistence. He's the root of David, but he's also the offspring of David. And one day as the son of David, he will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. Again, one would like to pause for a little while and speak of the relation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the nation of Israel. We're living in a most exciting day. I don't know what you feel about the events that are taking place in the Middle East today in relation to the nation of Israel. And again, it would open up a tremendous field for investigation and also for exposition. That is the relation of our Lord to Israel. Now I'm perfectly aware of the fact that people today would say that God is through with the nation of Israel. They're in the condition of apostasy today. That away from God they have crucified the Messiah and that there never, never will be a restoration. That is not the teaching of Holy Scripture. God has a wonderful future for the nation of Israel as unearthly people. I believe that what we're seeing in the Middle East today, the stage is being set for that time when Christ shall come on the nation today that's in the low am I condition. That away from God it's true. Anyone that would go over to Israel today would see that most of the people that are over there today are atheistic. Many of them are communistic in their views. We were over there last September and to have a law today that it's against the law for anyone to preach the gospel in Israel or to try to influence anyone to change the religion. If you were to walk into the street in Israel today and stand up and preach the gospel of God's grace, you could be arrested and put in jail for it because it's against the law. Get away from God at the present time. Now I thank God as a godly remnant and I believe that God is working among them. But one day when Christ comes back again they shall look on him whom they pierce and they will mourn for him as one mourns for their only son. And in the words of Isaiah 53 they will say he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was laid upon him and with his stripes we were healed. And they will get down at his feet and they will acknowledge their sin and true repentance and a nation will be born on the day he is the root and the offspring of David. God has a glorious future for the nation of Israel and things are opening up at the present time and developing at a tremendous rate. We're living in an exciting day and I'm awfully glad that I'm allowed to see what is happening. The root and the offspring of David. But the final double title here is he is the bright and morning star. This is his advent title. You know he's coming back for Israel as the son of righteousness that shall arise with healing in his wings. But for us he is the bright and morning star. I wonder how many of us here this afternoon have seen that lovely lovely object in the heavens. It comes up at the darkest hour of the night. It comes up at the weakest hour of the night. It comes up at the sleepiest hour of the night and it's around about three o'clock in the morning that it comes up. Sleepy heads who lie on their bed till six o'clock will never see the morning star. But you know I have it already in here. It is already risen in my heart. The bright and morning star Peter tells us in 2 Peter chapter one that it is already arisen in the heart of the believer. I'll never forget the first time I saw it. I remember many years ago in Angola I was living at a place in the Songo country doing pioneer work opening up a new tribe. There was a Portuguese official, an administrator who lived about 150 miles away at a place called Navagaya. It was the local administration and the Portuguese administrator he sent a message to me that he wanted to see me about some things in connection with our work. Now it was practically a command. In those days there were no roads in the country at all, nothing but the little nine inch path and I started off on a bicycle. It was the only means of transport we had in those days and I rode the 150 miles on the bicycle and I arrived at Navagaya. I transacted my business with the administrator and then he showed me a place to sleep. But at about three o'clock in the morning there was a scout come in with some news from our home over there at a place called Chitutu and it made me very very much disturbed and perturbed and it meant that I had to get up out of bed and start for home. I got up, dressed, started on the bicycle and after about 10 miles it broke down and I had to abandon it at the roadside and I started to walk. I walked all the remainder of that night until the morning and in the morning I met some of my men and they were sleeping beside a fire on the bank of a river called the Jamba and I asked the boys if they would like to, a volunteer would like to come with me and we went through the night until we arrived home. Oh they said you better come in here and have something to eat and as soon as the sun comes up well we'll go and I said no I have to get, I have to get going and there's a boy sitting beside the fire there called Machingango and he picked up his axe and he put it over his shoulder and he said Tatuyenu, let's go. We crossed the river in the dugout, a river called the Jamba. It was one of those rivers infested with crocodiles and hippos. We got safely across to the other side and then we started to walk through the night. About midnight he pulled himself away, I was holding onto his belt in the dark and he pulled himself away from me and he threw his axe at something and I yelled at him, I said what is it? Oh he said it's a leopard, it has just killed an antelope and it's been eating it but he said I have chased it away and he yelled at me to come on and I went forward again and grabbed him by the belt and started on again through the night. About three o'clock in the morning I saw something come up over the horizon, it looked so bright almost like the headlight of a motorcycle but there were no vehicles in the country at that time at all. I said to Machigango, I said what's that? Oh he said that's the Mutumbo. Now I had never heard the word before, Kutumbuka, that means to jump and Mutumbo means the jumping one. I said what is it? Oh he said it's that star that comes up just before the dawn and he said if you watch where it comes up, he said that's where you'll find the sunrise. He said we call it the Mutumbo, the jumping one because it comes up so quickly and we went on and on. I'll never forget that first time I ever saw the Mutumbo. It came up over the horizon, it's usually the planet Venus when it's not a Venus. Sometimes it's the evening star but often it's the bright and morning star and we went on until daybreak and then the morning star it sank and the sun came up and looking right away across the trees, we're standing on the edge of a precipice and looking across the trees I could see a little place that I called home. The term that we use is my home and the smoke was coming up in the trees and all that I held dear in this life at that time it was there in that little house built of sun-dried brick and a glass roof. We started off again and at three o'clock in the afternoon I got home and when I arrived there I found that all my fears were dissipated and I pulled off my shoes and lay down on the bed and I slept right around the clock for 24 hours. I'd walked about 140 miles without stopping and without having any food so you can imagine I'll never forget the first time I ever saw the morning star. I was in Newport News in October last October and I happened to mention the morning star I was speaking in 2nd Peter chapter 1 and I happened to mention the morning star and that I was interested in astronomy and a dear brother there after the meeting he said are you really interested in astronomy? I said yes. Well he said I have a brand new telescope at home. I have never used it. He said if you can use it you're welcome to it. And after I arrived home there was a big parcel arrived with the United Parcel Post and I received the telescope. I'm looking forward to someday when I'm able to go home and a nice night in the summertime when there's no clouds in the sky and I'm going to take my telescope and have a good look at the bright and morning star through the telescope. You know he is first of all the Alpha and the Omega in relation to the word. Secondly is the beginning and the end in relation to creation. Thirdly we get that title the first and the last in relation to redemption his mediatorial work. He is the root and the offspring of David in relation to the nation of Israel his messianic title but he's the bright and morning star. His Athen title in relation to you and the nation. And right in the center we get these words I Jesus. Now to me that is absolutely delightful. The human title right among this galaxy of double titles I Jesus. I do love that name but there's one little word I want to say in closing. My dear brother, sister if you're ever speaking to him in prayer or you're ever speaking about him either in the ministry of the word or the proclamation of the gospel don't forget to give him his title. He is the Lord Jesus. Now it's becoming quite common today in Christendom people who profess to have a superior brand of Christianity and in speaking about him will say dear Jesus, precious Jesus, loving Jesus. You will never never find these exaggerated adjectives in the Holy Scripture. He is the Lord Jesus. And when you pray to him don't forget to give him his title. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the apostle Peter in his great Pentecostal address this is what he said that same Jesus whom you crucified has been made both Lord and Christ. And every intelligent believer today in speaking to him reverently they will use that title the Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless this word to each one of our hearts and these delightful delightful titles connected with the greatest name among mankind today may it be a blessing to each one of us for his name. They say there's nothing like stopping when you're hungry and I just wish we could have kept on but maybe it's good to stop and whet your appetite for tonight. We're going to sing two verses of 268. Maureen if we may. It's a very old and beloved hymn. Loved with everlasting love led by grace that love to know. Spirit breathing from above thou has taught me it is so. Oh this full and perfect peace. Oh this transport all divine in a love which cannot cease. I am his and he is mine. We'll sing verses one and three. Let's stand. It's good to be with you tonight. We've been here once before when we had a social when you had that go down. It's good to be here again. Our brother made me feel 10 years older. We're really building a relapse. Christina she's far too long anyway. Thank you brother. But we kind of know you because some of our people um used to attend here and we feel at home and I hope you do too. Oh Shall we together please in the gospel according to look hmm in the gospel according to look I would like to read two short paragraphs the first paragraph from the book and the last one in Luke's gospel chapter 1 verse 1 Luke chapter 1 verse 1 for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us. I want you to notice especially that little clause the things most surely believed among us. I want to use that as my text tonight. Even as they deliver them on the onto us which from the beginning were eyewitnesses of the word. It seems good to me also having a perfect understanding of all things from the very first to write unto thee in order most excellent theophilus that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. I shall read the last paragraph in Luke's gospel chapter 24 in verse 50 and he led them out as far as the Bethany and he lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came to pass while he blessed them he was parted from them and carried up into heaven and they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. Think about his blessing to the reading of these very precious portions of his word. I thought I'd like to take these two little paragraphs tonight and occupy a short time in speaking about them concerning the person and work of the Lord Jesus. The gospel according to Luke has been called the most beautiful book in the world. Now the man who said that was a skeptic. His name was Ernest Renan. He was a literary critic, a man who had studied literature for a lifetime and after that lifetime of study, this is what he said, he said the gospel by Luke is the most beautiful book in the world and I would say amen and I thank God for the man who wrote it. His name is Dr. Luke. The amazing thing about the two books that he wrote, the gospel by Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, that he never mentions his own name, keeps himself completely in the background and I think that is true of any man that knows anything at all about Christ or about the ministry of the word. You may remember that one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is he shall glorify me said the Lord and he shall testify concerning me and I think any preacher that stands up before an audience he has to keep that in mind. To keep himself completely in the background and speak about Christ. He shall glorify me and he shall testify concerning me. In the Acts of the Apostles, there are three passages there, they are generally called the we passages. Now the reason for that is that in these three passages there is a change of pronoun. When Luke is giving an account of the development of the church that we find in the Acts of the Apostles where he was actually present he uses the term we but where he was not present he changes the pronoun and he uses the pronoun they and the only time that we can find where he is present is the time that he uses that pronoun. Elizabeth, a delightful character, is called the beloved physician and apparently he had a friend who was a Roman official. I think Dr. Harry Ironside suggests that he may have been a governor of a Roman province. His name was Theophilus and apparently this official was very much interested in Christianity and the origins of it and so Luke sits down to write and he addresses him in this little paragraph at the beginning of his gospel as most excellent Theophilus. But the amazing thing is that in the Acts of the Apostles where he writes a second book he drops the term most excellent and he just calls him Theophilus. Dr. Ironside has suggested that in the meantime what Luke had written to him concerning the person of Christ it had led this dear man to put his faith and trust in the Savior and so his title is dropped in the Acts of the Apostles and he is just simply called Theophilus. 56 years ago I went to Portugal. I was there studying the Portuguese language and after we had some fluency in the Portuguese language we had to go to some lectures to teach us how we should address an official and we were told that in addressing any official over in Africa it was the custom in Portuguese to bow your head and say vossa excelência your excellency. Now anybody like me that was brought up in a democratic environment it was a little bit difficult for me to do that because some of the men that I had to address as your excellency were living an immoral life. They were living a life that I would be ashamed to tell about and for me to address a person of that kind as your excellency I found it a little bit difficult but I had some dear friends over in Africa. Some of them never had a shirt on their back. Some of them never had a shoe on their foot but they were members of the family of God and I had no difficulty at all in bowing my head to someone like that and addressing them as your excellency. The people of God are the excellent of the earth. They are the artists of the sea of heaven and we thank God for them and thank God we have friends of this character in every part of the world. Now Dr. Lutz in writing to Theophilus first of all he addresses him as most excellent Theophilus and he tells him that his object in writing his gospel is to speak about the thing most surely believed among us and the certainty of it. Now I thought I'd like to choose five good subjects from his gospel the gospel according to Lutz and I want to speak about them tonight. Now the first one is the virgin birth of Christ his virgin birth. The second one I want to look at for a moment or two is his virtuous life. The third one I want to look at is his victorious death upon the cross and the fourth one is his victorious resurrection and then finally his visible ascension to God's right hand. These are great basic fundamental doctrines and I do believe today that every true believer or as a matter of fact every person should understand these great fundamental doctrines of Christianity and they're beautifully lined up for us by Dr. Lutz in his gospel. Now the fifth one is concerning his birth the virgin birth and again let me repeat we find also his virtuous life we find his temptation in the wilderness and how he gloriously overcame every temptation that satan had for him in the wilderness and then we read about his victorious death upon the cross and again let me say that all our hopes for time and for eternity are firmly based on what the Lord Jesus did when he died for you and for me upon the cross is the carrying of death and then his victorious bodily resurrection that also is a fundamental doctrine and then lastly his visible ascension to God's right hand. It's not so well known very often it's not mentioned at all but there are about 16 passages in the New Testament dealing with the ascension ministry of the Lord Jesus. It is one of the great fundamental doctrines and of course it goes into some details about it. Now let's consider these five things just for a few minutes this evening. One time wouldn't suffice to go into them in detail any one of them could well occupy an hour and I'm certainly not going to do that but I do want to point out that every true evangelical believer understanding the teaching of the word of God these are things that God has given to us to have and to hold. The whole facts today in the day in which we live and don't you and writing to Theophilus he learns a lot from it. First of all his virgin birth sometime ago in another part of the country after giving an address on the virgin birth there was a friend came to me and he said I think he said that the length and length of Christ is important but he said what importance is it whether he was born of natural generation or whether he was born of a virgin. Now I want to point out here tonight the importance of the birth of Christ and the beautiful beautiful way that Luke, Dr. Luke tells us the Bible the virgin birth of Christ. If he was not virgin born I would close my Bible tonight and I would go home and I would never stand up on a platform again. Every doctrine in Holy Scripture is indissolubly linked with the virgin birth of Christ and I want to go into some little detail in a moment or two why that is so but first of all the beautiful language that Luke uses here connected with the person of Christ and also his virgin birth in Bethlehem. The only two accounts that we have of it in the Gospels is that given by Matthew and that given by Luke. In the Gospel according to Matthew the background there is from the standpoint of Joseph that is the natural father that is the reputed father of our Lord and in the Gospel according to Luke apparently the source is merely the virgin. I'm taking the two together to get two beautiful accounts of the birth of the Savior. I think it was Dr. Sir Robert Anderson many years ago he said this, he said the whole of Christianity is a standard fall with the last verse and the last sentence of the verse in Matthew chapter 1 and if you were to turn over to that passage you would see what he meant. Now Sir Robert I'm not going to turn over but I want you to look at it carefully. It gives an account there of the birth of the Savior and what is said about it is most important. We read that Joseph did not know Mary his wife until she brought forth her firstborn son and they called his name Jesus. That means to say that they did not come together as man and wife until after the birth of the Savior. Sir Robert Anderson was a very profound theologian. Not only that but he was the head of the criminal investigation department in Scotland in London. A very learned man and that was the statement that he made. The whole of Christianity it either stands or falls with that last verse and the last sentence of the verse in Matthew chapter 1 and I would say amen. Now the reason for that is this you and I in this world born of natural generation our first parents were Adam and Eve and then the first few pages of the bible were told how the sin was introduced into this world by our first parents. They fell under the kin fallen creatures in the sight of God and every one of us here tonight born of natural generation we're linked to the federal head of the rich and my bible tells me that we're born in sin and shippen in iniquity every single one of us sometimes people speak about an innocent child. Do you know that a child could tell a lie before it's able to talk? You say have you ever seen that? I have. We happen to have three children. We have twelve grandchildren and we have one great-grandchild and we know a little bit about bringing up of a family and all that I can say is this looking into my own heart and looking into the heart of my children and my grandchildren I know that I'm a poor weak failing creature sinned against God born in sin and shippen in iniquity. Now the bible tells me that even though I'm a Christian there are three things that characterize me defined by far in the epistles of Romans chapter six and seven. The first thing is I have an old nature it's called the old man secondly I have what is called the flesh and thirdly the body of sin. Now these are three terms that are used of man in his natural condition and even natural form again in the word of God the old man, the flesh, the body of sin. Now what does this mean? The old man is the kind of life that I lived before I became a Christian. The habits, the things that I did, the things that I said that is the old man. Now I'm told to put it off but the matter of fact the term is used three times in the new testament put it off put it off and then you have put it off that is the old man it's just like an old dress or an old coat and you know it's characteristic of the old man on that old dress or that old coat somebody has said you never put it on again unless you want to be some dirty wife that is the old man but the flesh is something that I have inside and you know I have been a Christian now for 60 years I was brought to the Lord in 1918 and I believe truly born again at that time and the older I live the more I realize how wicked I am I have the flesh and every day when I get out of my bed I have to ask God to keep me before I go to bed at night in case I would bring some dishonor in the name of the Lord or some disgrace it's only God can keep us because we have the old man we have the flesh and then the body of sin that is the body can be used as an instrument for carrying out the dictates of the flesh now that's a human need we have that old evil wicked nature and we'll never never be rid of it until that day at the redemption of the body when Christ comes back again and we leave it all behind now when God brought his son into the world that child with a federal head of the race was snapped he's called that holy sound of his birth in the gospel according to Luke not that innocent sound but that holy sound and the child with the head of the race was snapped and God brought a super in bringing his son into the world he was not brought into the world by a natural generation but by the birth of the virgin by conception of the holy Lord and then conceived of the virgin now this is absolutely fundamental and important and let me emphasize it it's something that Luke in his gospel tells in the most delicate language i'm awfully thankful that a medical doctor is telling the story and the beautiful beautiful language and delicate language that he used is absolutely beautiful you know in the gospel according to john who read there about the incarnation john uses four words the word became flesh but Luke in his gospel speaking about the birth and about the incarnation of our Lord and about his virgin birth he uses 2500 words and he goes into more detail about it than any other writer he tells us here that he has done some very very careful investigation he was a scientific investigator just last week i was reading a book by sir robert by sir ramsey sir william ramsey who was a professor in aberdeen university many years ago that man first of all was a skeptic he believed in some of the philosophical theories that people hold today in connection with the word of god but he started to study the word of god and he decided he would go over to the middle east and investigate everything that dr luke had written and he came to the conclusion that luke was the greatest historian in human history and i believe that that is true dr luke was not a quack he wasn't a charlatan he was a scientist and a man he tells us he himself but gives very careful investigation of what he's putting down here in print that is what we find here in this beautiful little paragraph of the commencement of his gospel now in speaking about the virgin birth he tells us first of all about a symphony of heaven and reads that the glory of the lord came down and sean learned about the shepherds on the shepherd's field now i believe that that was the satanic glory that dipped down it dipped down at his birth it dipped down again at the transfiguration and it dipped down again when he went back to heaven it was the satanic glory that sean when christ was born and read the glory of the lord sean learned about the shepherds and then became a symphony of heaven glory to god in the highest and on earth peace goodwill to man now it's only luke who tells us about that symphony of heaven the angelic chorus and there is a message from heaven to man but then luke tells us of a four-fold response from that now every time i hear a hymn well sung it rejoices my heart but you know usually in singing a hymn or a chorus it takes four people to make the complete harmony you need a soprano you need a contralto you need a tenor and you need a bass and the beautiful way that luke describes it here he tells us about a beautiful sweet soprano that was mary the virgin and then he tells us of a very delightful contralto that was elizabeth the mother of john the baptist and then he tells us of one who comes in with his beautiful tenor voice that was antelio and finally we find the deep fierce heart of sinan that spoke about the death of christ on that day when the sword would pierce the heart of the virgin i would love to occupy a little time in speaking first of all about the symphony of heaven and the response of her i would be surprised to do that but just let me mention the virgin that beautiful beautiful song that sweet soprano voice of hers she speaks about god my savior i think that is wonderful a few years ago i was over in india and there was a new zealand brother there speaking about the magnificat that is the song that mary sang and this is what he said he said he had examined very carefully this beautiful soprano song that was sung by the virgin and he discovered that there were 38 different quotations from the old testament and 19 were taken from the song and the way he ended up with the question is not bad for a young woman and i think that is perfectly true oh what a beautiful beautiful response to get here of her on earth the virgin to the symphony of heaven it's only dr luke that tells us of these four songs and also the shekinah glory coming down on the symphony of heaven this is the way that luke defines the virgin birth when the angel spoke to mary and told her about the soon the birth of the savior he said that the holy ghost shall come upon me and that which shall be and he spoke about the conception the conception of the of the savior and that the holy ghost would overshadow her and that which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of god now there right at the very commencement of the life of the lord jesus he is called the son of god and then a little further down you remember the beautiful title that zechariah placed upon him he called him the day sprang from on high i was noticing that word a little while ago that it means the sunrise the sunrise from on high oh as we look at this beautiful beautiful account of the virgin birth of the lord jesus again let me repeat it's one of the fundamental doctrines very important and i believe that every evangelical believer not only should understand it but also the implications connected with it so first of all his virgin birth by secondly his virtuous life there's a large section of the life of our lord that we don't know anything about at all they have been called the obscure years 18 years of his life in nazareth we don't know anything about it at all nothing is recorded there's just one incident and it's when the lord went up to the temple with his with joseph and with mary and you remember how he remained behind and when they came seeking him they came following and you remember what he said wish you not that i must be about my father's business you know that some would say today that it was only at the baptism of our lord that he was conscious of his mission that he was conscious of his person and it has been said to that the lord only learned who he was by the study of the old testament scriptures but here at 12 years of age the lord says wish you not do you not know that i must be about my father's business he certainly knew his sonship and he knew his father it's only he up until this point that calls god his father he was practically conscious of his person and of his mission and for people to say that it was only at the baptism that he found out who he was when the holy ghost came down at the bell and rested upon him i think that it's outside the teaching of holy scripture first of all his virgin birth and then secondly his virtuous life at the inauguration of his ministry our lord first of all was baptized now we're told in the gospel according to john and the other gospels that john's baptism was a baptism of with a view to the remission of sin and our lord when he came and asked john to baptize him john demonstrated he didn't want to accept the responsibility of baptizing him he knew who he was but he refused to baptize him and i suppose the reason was that his baptism was a baptism of repentance with a view to the remission of sin but our lord he told him that it was necessary to fulfill all righteousness and then john he baptized him but coming up out of the water the heavens were open and the voice of god the father said this is my well-beloved son in whom i am well pleased vindicated by his father i thank god for him it was no confession of sin but was simply an identification with the nation of the jews that he went down under the waters of unfulfilling all righteousness when he comes up god his father he speaks this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased um there we get the the testimony of god the father concerning his son now the next time before he entered on his public ministry he went under the the power of the holy spirit out to the desert to be tempted of satan i don't think i need to tell anyone here tonight that the penitentiaion of christ and the meaning of it and the implications connected with it is a matter of very acute controversy at the present time i'm not going to enter into that controversy but i do want make it absolutely clear what i believe about it our lord when he went into the wilderness satan came to tempt him our first line believe it was more a test than a temptation god cannot be tempted with evil and he was gone you remember at his virgin birth the testimony of the angel was that he was the son of god and before we even look at the temptation let me make it perfectly clear that we believe in the complete essential deity of the lord jesus christ at his birth the son of god on the testimony of god the father this is my well beloved son in whom i am well pleased on the one hand god manifests in flesh and by the way when we speak about that his deity any passage that makes it absolutely clear to me without any shadow of a doubt is the testimony of the apostle paul in colossians chapter one in him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead in bodily form i want to repeat that again because it is most important in him dwelleth present continuous tense all the fullness of the godhead in bodily form that means to say when he was here below all the fullness of the godhead dwelt in him on the one hand god a very god but on the other hand a real man in every sense of the word apart from sin a sinless man and here our lord as he goes down to the one that gone into the desert to the tentative state and we must realize the person that lost handed on the one hand god a very god but on the other hand a real man of body soul and spirit and the two natures two natures never can be separated never can be differentiated but they're indescribably joined together when he was born in Bethlehem he was the god man on the one that was tempted in the wilderness on the one hand was god a very god but on the other hand a real man now the bible tells me that he suffered being tempted he really suffered and believe that in all points he was tempted not as we are but sin apart now the point is this at the temptation the devil did everything he possibly could to break down that dependence that he had upon god his father he took a complete position of dependence upon his father here below and what the devil tried to do was to get him to to depart from that dependence and to act independently our lord never when he was here below ever acted independently of the will of his father now the first temptation was for his body it was directed to the body the second one was directed to the soul and the third one was directed to his spirit and by the way the first words that the devil used was directed to his godhead this shall be the son of god and he used that term twice this shall be the son of god so it is directed to this godhead but then the first temptation was now let's eat strong bread and our lord he said man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of god that was directed to his appetite now the second one was directed to ambition he took him up to the pinnacle of the temple and told him to cast himself down and then the devil must misquote it the 91st psalm he says it is written that the angel shall take charge of these laced by glass by fruit against the stone but he left out a part of the part of the word you know the devil is never more dangerous than when he comes with a Bible and when he starts to cook the Bible because he left out to keep thee in all thy ways he misquoted the Bible but our lord he he said again he called it holy scripture and he said thou shalt not tempt the lord thy god and then the third was directed to his spirit that is to adoration first of all to appetite secondly to ambition and thirdly to adoration he said worship me i said i'll give you all the kingdoms of this world because they have been delivered unto me but again the lord replied it is written it is written it is written i shall worship the lord thy god and him only so where our first parents failed he gloriously overcame now i want to ask the question was there any possibility that our lord could have fought why the body stopped saying that he was the god man god manifest in place it sends the shivers your spine and for anybody to suggest that the lord could have sinned or could have fallen is treaded on very very thin ice actually it's a subtle effect on the person of christ himself oh he suffered the intent of it he certainly did but there is no danger of him falling into the he gloriously overcame in the way that he can overcome that is by trusting not only in his father but also in coping the word of god now these are things that are very very much in people's minds today and i just want to make it perfectly clear where we stand in connection with the person of christ the thing that christ created for me i believe is an attack on the person of that one manifest in place he gloriously overturned in the same way that we can overcome and complete dependence upon god and also by the quotation of his precious word this is virtuous life again one could go on to speak about the manifestation of the attributes of his god head here below i have heard people say that our lord in his lifetime here he never at any time has the cup of his godhead it was always out of his humanity you know again people who make that statement do not consider the teaching in the gospel according to luke or any other gospel our lord did not lay aside any attribute of beauty in his humanity they were all there he never acted independently that's true but at the same time they were there and they were manifested again and again and again omnipotence luke tells us of crazy miracles that he performed and they were in four spheres first of all in the sphere of he was superior to all disease secondly he was superior to the forces of nature he turned water into wine he walked upon the water he spilled the storm he fed five thousand loads of bread and peace and two fishes here we get them superior to the forces of nature it was superior superior to the forces of satan there are seven occasions in the life of our lord when he cast out demons i want to ask you do you believe in demon possession in satanic power i have lived the most of my life in a pagan environment and when i hear people talk today that people that the lord came in contact with and that he the bible says that he cast out demons that his demon possession they say it must have been just some bodily ailment like epilepsy or some form of lunacy the bible makes a distinction between physical infirmity and demon possession and anyone who has had any experience at all in satanic power today they know that there is such a thing at the present time my beloved friends can i let me say that what we have experienced in central africa among people who are possessed by demons they're becoming more and more common in the so-called civilized lands today i could give experiences that one has had in recent days of exactly the same thing certain is increasingly powerful and young people today i believe in some cases are playing the fire and if they do they have limited the glamour themselves if they get burned a little while ago on halloween there was a group of young people who went down to a church in new jersey where i live and in the middle of the night they had what they called a death mass in a church and when the minister heard about it he laughed well he said young people must have their fun actually it's the worship of satan in a in a so-called christian church at the present time this kind of thing is increasing by reach from god and as the time goes on i believe that satanic power will become more and more potent and more widespread i don't know whether you find it here in montreal or not but certainly in the part of the united states where we live we've seen it again and again just the same as we find in asian africa but our lord on seven occasions in his life he cast out demons superior to satanic power and then superior to death on three occasions he raised the dead again i've heard the statement made that if we are only filled with the holy spirit we would be able to do exactly the same as our lord did because all the miracles that he performed were performed out of his humanity and not out of his deity my dear friend don't split the deity and the humanity of our lord at all times he was god and man in one glorious fashion and i think that it's most important to realize that and to say that as we were only filled by the spirit we could do exactly the same as he did is it possible for us to raise the dead is it possible for us to lay a hand on the leper and find him i don't think so he was absolutely unique not only a unique birth but a unique person in his sinlessness here below and also in the fact that he had all the attributes of deity and he exercised them again and again here below not only the divine attributes but the moral attributes as well his virtuous life then is vicarious death again one would love to pause and speak about the lovely account that he gave of the vicarious death of christ upon the cross the gospel according to matthew speaks about miracles four miracles miracles that jesus that was performed when jesus died upon the cross he is occupied with the supernatural in the gospel according to mark we find the signs of birth he opened up his mouth it was only when he was put on earth that he opened his mouth when the high priest asked him i dare you by the living god to tell us whether that be the christ or not and he stood up and he said i am and he said one day you'll see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven and putting him at the throne of his glory and the priest said the high priest said he's worthy of death then we get the silent chapter but in the gospel according to it leap ranges 10 individuals around the cross a cross section of humanity and we find a reaction of these 10 individuals to what they saw when the lord jesus died upon the cross my dear friends here tonight every one of us has to face us to tell them and what happened to us when the lord of london bled the lord jesus christ vicariously laid down his life for you and for me upon the cross but we find 10 individuals in six different groups and we find them expressing their feelings and their reaction to what they saw when the lord jesus died upon the cross his victorious death now someone might say what do you mean by victorious death well it simply means that he wasn't dying for his own sin he had already pointed out he was holy he was harmless he was sinless but he assumed responsibility for the sin of the world and i thank god he assumed responsibility for my sin i'm standing underneath that cross i bow my head and i get down on my knees and i say thank you lord for dying for me he was frozen when he was dying friend sitting by his side said mr spurson you have preached the gospel to thousands of people you have seen many many heads of Christ now that you're going out to praise god on whether he's attended for your salvation and that dear man almost with his dying breath he said on the truth behind four little words and the friend said what are they he said the words of these jesus died for me that's the gospel that's vicarious death jesus died for me i'm the sinner but i thank god he died for me and i spent my my whole eternity my whole destiny in the coming days on what happened upon calvary's cross that is the cross and then the resurrection my gift of word is that the beautiful beautiful part of the godly resurrection of christ didn't die late it's only he who tells us about the walk to a man those two individuals two of us and another i wonder who that that other was there's been all kinds of speculation here at large i think the william lanza the man that mentioned he thought it was luke himself i question i don't think so it's possible that at that time luke was not a believer but in any case ellis has suggested that it was clear to his mouth but in any case he went with them they were going hard they had lost their hope they had lost their joy they had lost their vision they had lost their heat and they needed jesus himself and that beautiful story only told by god the letter he tells us how that he drew near and asked him one or two questions and believed that they stood still looking sad oh how graphic that is they stood still looking sad and then they asked him one or two questions and then from the word he opened up the word the things concerning himself many years ago i had the very great privilege of sitting at the feet of good men i spent six months there's just a few at times in two times for about six months of his life i was tight now at the time i'll never forget those days i had the very great privilege of sitting at the feet of mr and some of the things that he taught me many years ago but i tell you i'd like to have walked under the north road that day and heard what the lord had to say i would love to hear what he said about all the Isaiah 53 about the 22nd psalm and about all the great passages in the old testament but in any case when they arrived at their home it is made known unto them in the breaking of bread and he said lift not our hearts bring it in it while he took the best part away and made known unto us his victory is that the door dance is that the hood dance is that the heat dance i have learned within it while he talked with us by the way and a little later they got their vision that he opened their he opened their understanding that they might understand this victory it's only with the time with which it is nearly three years connected with the godly resurrection and this is what he told them this beautiful little part beautiful little paragraph at the end of this passage he loved them all as far as the darkness he lifted up his hands and he blessed them and while he blessed them he was taken up from them into heaven and believed that the point of deletion was good job and they blessed him last September i was over in Israel i beheld the privilege of going over there and spending two weeks in Jerusalem i went up to the Mount of Olives and on that Mount of Olives is a little church and it's called the Church of the Ascension and going inside that church the guide said there's a stone on the floor and there's a mark on it and they told us i think it was his prominent teeth they said that these were the marks of the teeth of our lord when he ascended up to heaven obsolete nonsense it's simply not true it's one of those stories that these people would like to tell because look here he tells us where he stood there certainly wasn't a map there just opposite the temple on the top of the Mount of it was on the Mount of Olives but it's only absolutely because of this specific place he led them out as far as Bethany and he lifted up his hands and he blessed them Bethany is in a different spot in town why do you think the lord led them up to Bethany there were four places for our lord to be executed down here first of all in Bethlehem where he lived tried to kill him in Nazareth when he opened Isaiah chapter 61 and went out with most of the enemy forces we read that they all went to the Mount of Olives and tried to push him over the precipice and try to kill him the fourth place is Capernaum and at the end of three years of public ministry our lord said they're all Capernaum Capernaum it's the 91st which has been done in me have been done in me have been done in time's garden so it is a pentagram of the in fact Capernaum suggested in Capernaum and finally Jerusalem condemned to death on our side of the camp outside the walls in a way to offend gibbets usually the fourth place is where it is rejected because the list of people killed for it is not rejected called Capernaum the first time we read of him being there we find a woman sitting at his feet learning his words second time he was there he raised a man from the dead and he went away a woman's fury and the third time he was there he reminded his head and feet to the presence of ant-man and he leaves with a whole heart filled with the order of the ant-man have you any number that he led the night to Bethany for that is a place of quiet retreat great hospitality he read the mark of fire at the Bethany and then he had brought the crowns and blessed them I wonder if he used the truth to bless him number 625 the lord bless you and keep thee the lord lift up his face upon you and he graces unto thee the lord lift up his countenance upon you and give thee peace lift up his crowns and he bless them and unto bless them it is taken up common and the last thing that they saw as he went up I think they gave uplifted hands the peace of hand and the peace of seated displeasure as he went up and sat down upon the ground at least that a prayer it is him out of their sight I think here again just as that is this is kind of how it dips down and the mountain top of the same situation would dip down again but here as he went down to heaven it came down again upside this is him out of their sight I'm sorry and the lord has turned his eyes let me say again that these are the things that most surely believe not and that's what lucid girl describing to theophilus the things most surely believe or not and I believe it had the effect of leading that dear man to the lord first of all his faith in god and the beautiful language connected with it secondly his guiltiest life which if you convince the fear of sin at the end of his life he could say it tends to be a comic that is not in a maze if you came before he could get the spot the son of god the son of man is working at night and then his vicarious death is thankful virtue of the future if the carrier is going to be favored his boundary resurrection and his miserable ascension that god has had we are blessed in law to be faithful until the lord be with us