In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the passage from Philippians 2:5-11, which talks about the humility and exaltation of Jesus Christ. The preacher emphasizes that Jesus, despite being in the form of God, humbled himself and took on the form of a servant, even to the point of obediently dying on the cross. The sermon also highlights the importance of following Jesus' example of humility and obedience in order to experience exaltation. The preacher references other biblical passages, such as Revelation 5 and John 19, to further illustrate the exaltation of Jesus and the significance of being on trial before him.

Shall we turn to scriptures, beloved? I think I want to start, I think I want to start where Jenny took us in Philippians chapter 2. And she read these words. In Philippians 2, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Revelation, Revelation, chapter 5. John gives us a glimpse by the Blessed Spirit into the fulfilment. I beheld, verse 11, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing. Here it is. And every creature which is in heaven and on earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying, Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four living creatures said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. Amen. And as I have already said, there in that seventh chapter of the Revelation, we get a glimpse into the way in which this thing is fulfilled. God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. And then he goes on cataloguing them, heaven, earth, anywhere. Praise God. Beloved, learn a lesson. That what God has determined is going to work out. You've already got the prophetic fore view of it and it's like a promise in advance. A prophetic statement is a promise in advance. It's already done in the heart and mind of God. But there's no escaping it. There's no getting away from it. There's no undoing it. And the fact that yet he takes time till it be accomplished is his grace to men. Lest you should be left out of it. And lest someone over there should be left out of it. And someone over there and someone under there. A brother and sister here from Australia said they were upside down people. Well, all right. Praise the name of the Lord. He's moving to the fulfillment of this. But as we go back into Philippians chapter 2, we find a reason for this. And the reason is this. Verse 8. Speaking of Jesus being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death. Even the death. The death of the cross. That's why he was exalted. And I want you to notice in this chapter. We were thinking about the cross last night. And I had no intention of coming back onto this. But it must have been God's intention. Sometimes he stands a woman on her feet to prod a preacher. Or brings revelation through this, that and the other. But will you notice that the cross here in this chapter has only reference to Jesus Christ as a man. And not to sin. There's no talk of sin in this chapter at all. It isn't the cross and sin. It's the cross and a real man. All right. Let's start in case you missed the point. Here it is. Let this mind be in you. Verse 5. Which was also in Christ Jesus. Who being in the form of God. Thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But being found in fashion as a man. Made himself of no reputation. And took upon him the form of a servant. And was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself. I want you to see it's the man. Humbled himself. And became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. And because the man had to take this way to exaltation. So must you. And this is the reason why people are not exalted. This is why they don't know resurrection power in life. This is why though the Bible shouts it out in a book like the Ephesians. That we are seated together with him in heavenly places. People have no knowledge or experience of it in their lives. And they come to a place of hyper dispensational teaching. And they come to a place of positional preaching. You don't really have it. It's your position in Christ sort of thing. And nobody has a clue of it. Nobody experiences it. You think when you meet them. That they are wiped all over the ground. And the devil is getting them down everywhere they go. They are under every burden that they can possibly find. Gloom steeps their life in stygian blackness. They don't know where they are. If occasionally they get their eyes above ground level. They only see blades of grass. They never see the glory of God. They never know the wonder of all this great thing. And the secret is beloved. And the trouble of it all with you. Is that you've never died the death of the cross. There's no way to exaltation. But by death man. And the great trouble with you really is your mind. You just simply can't think it. You can't imagine it. The bible says something. Your mind tells you it's not true. Or it's not different. You wouldn't be so blasphemous to say the bible wasn't true. It's your mind. And that's why the Lord starts off. He says let this mind be in you. That thing called the mind. Is not the machine the brain wherewith you think. But it is the sum total of the thoughts you think. Your mind. It is the stored up kind of computer. Into which you've been tucking information. In which you've been programming your life. It's right isn't it? Yeah that's right. The mind. It's been just stored up. With this thing of self, self, self, self. What they taught me as a child. What I've learned since I've grown up. What I've been taught in this setup. Or that background. Or something like this beloved. And your mind's too great. You can't get it low enough. You can't get it down. There's no death of you. Because you're living so tremendously. In all this stored up. Psychological mix up. This mental stuff that keeps pushing up. Pushing up. Pushing up. And there you are. Isn't that true beloved? Let this mind be in you. What was your mind Jesus? Oh I'm going to the death. In order that I can be exalted. You got that mind? This is the only way for man. Why do you think the man Christ Jesus went that way beloved? You and I have got to see beyond. We've got to see beyond the sin problem. Now the sin problem is a tremendous one. We've all had desperate trouble with it. We've got to see beyond the sacrifice of the cross. We've got to see beyond this. We've got to see that the cross and man must be one. Do you see that? You must see this. That the man Christ Jesus went to the cross. But it wasn't till he was on the cross that there was any sin involved in it. On the cross. It wasn't until the man got on the cross that he became the sacrifice for sin. Do you see? That was placed on him. The man came to show us the only thing that could happen to man. Now let's go back. We'll go back into John chapter 20. Beloved, will you open your heart and receive the news? If you'll receive the news, you'll have a testimony. You'll be able to make a confession. And let's go back. I think it's 19. Sorry, I said John 20. I beg your pardon. In the 19th chapter. When Pilate is before Jesus. Jesus is before Pilate, but it's really it's Pilate before Jesus. I expect you've discovered that. I got so used to saying it that way, I misread scripture if I'm not careful. Pilate was on trial. You understand that? You're all on trial. It doesn't matter what position you may hold. When you meet Jesus, you're on trial. And it's what you do with him. Whether you have authority from this source or that source. All authority is abnegated when you get to Jesus. It doesn't matter what it is. You face Jesus just as you are. Jesus told Pilate this. He said, you could have no power against me at all. You've been robbed of all your power. Everybody has. You have no power of office or throne or judgment or anything. You can do nothing. When you meet Jesus, you are the one on trial. And power had to be given to Pilate to do what he had to do. Do you understand this? Glory. Jesus then, by men's standards and understandings, stood before Pilate. And he scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto him. That's right. He didn't say, Behold the sacrifice for sin. He said, Behold the man. Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself. Became obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. Therefore, God hath highly exalted him. Glory be to the name of the Lord. And the only way to exaltation is by the cross. The death of the cross. And when a man or a woman will come there. And they'll go to the cross and they'll die the death of the cross. Everything will happen. When Paul wrote to the Philippians, you will know this, beloved. That he was writing to born again Christians. And he wasn't dealing with the sin question. He was dealing with the man question. The life question. The person question. The me problem. That's right. You will also know that he never rebuked the Philippian church. You won't find one rebuke in the Philippian letter. He had to reprove the Corinthians. But when he wrote to the Philippians. Oh, it was a lovely letter that he wrote to the Philippians. It was absolutely tremendous. And he talked to them on this basis. Here then is the reality. The man and every man or woman in the church of Jesus Christ. Must know that there's only one way to exaltation. And that's the cross. But people don't think so. They think it's power talk that gets them there. They think it's glory sermons that get them there. They think it's all other kinds of things. And Jesus only knew one way. And he took it for you and for me. And lo, it is available to us. It is made here ready at hand. Wherever Jesus is, everything is at hand. He moves out at the beginning of his ministry. Coming up from Jordan with the Holy Ghost upon him. In a new great dispensation of messianic ministry. Signs and wonders to Israel. And he starts off by saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Hallelujah. Praise God. It's at hand. It's not far off. It's here. And blessed be the name of the Lord. It's all here beloved. I want to tell you here in this room tonight. The cross is here. The death is here. The resurrection is here. The exaltation is here. The throne is here. That's the faithfulness of the Holy Ghost. It's here. Everything is here. Amen. Bless God though we refer back into history to know that we are well founded in fact. We rely more on the mystery that the Spirit of the Lord has brought this thing into the churches. That we may live this marvelous life that God wants us to live. Exalted. God hath highly exalted him. Highly exalted him. Amen. Amen. Amen. Jesus lived under a high calling all his life. You know it. You've read it in this third chapter of Philippians. In the third chapter. Oh he says in verse ten. That I may know him. And the power of his resurrection. And the fellowship of his sufferings. Being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained. Either were already perfect. But I follow after. If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren. I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do. For getting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This was the thing that Jesus responded to all his life as a man. Oh there were calls to Jesus on every side. From this man. From that woman. They didn't even have to open their mouth. Though many did. And bless God when some of them did they opened them wide. And kept shouting. Till they got what they wanted. But the calls of Jesus. Whether they be for healing. Or whether they be for deliverance. Or whether they be the tauntings of demons. Masquerading in synagogues. Or what it be. These calls were many and varied and continuous. But all the time beloved in his heart. He was hearing the call of God. The great high call. It sounded above everything else. It was the call from on high. He heard it clear. He listened attentively. He went all the time toward it. The mark. Praise God. You see. And that high calling of God. Meant his exaltation. Amen. He thought it. He held it. He moved toward it. He counted everything else but done. And he left everything. And everybody for it. What a marvelous thing it is. When you hear the call of God. Exaltation. Exaltation. And somehow. Mistakenly. Or twistedly. Purposefully. Or accidentally. We seem to have lost the way. I am the way said. And they followed him. Till they found that the way and the cross became one. And then they ran away. And then they left him. Any way but that way. They left him then. But beloved. He didn't take men and women to the cross to be tormented. He takes men and women to the cross. So that they should lose their torments. He didn't take men and women to the cross. So that they should suffer. He took them to the cross so that they should lose their sufferings. And then partake in the fellowship of his. He took men and women to the cross. Because he didn't know anything else to do. And there was no other way to go. And you've come to Jesus and you've said. Oh Jesus. Thank you for dying on the cross to save me from hell. Thank you for dying on the cross to shed your precious blood to wash me. Thank you for dying on the cross to bear my burden of sin. Thank you Jesus Christ. Oh you've been through long lists. And your ever ready mind has exhausted all that it knows. And quoted all the lovely texts. Until you've sunk right down there. With nothing to say. And said you believe it all. But what's wrong with me? That's right. Just one thing. The cross. You've never never gone to the death. Now there are lots and lots of things in our lives that we are very glad are dead and buried and finished with. It's rather like old King Saul of old. You know. He was sent by God to destroy the Amalekites. I hope you know the story. And off he went. And he did all sorts of things. Everybody thought he was doing marvellously. Until old Samuel the prophet got on his track. Samuel had anointed him. Samuel moved in the realm of responsibility. And he went after Saul. And when Saul's the king saw Samuel. He said. Oh I've done everything that God said. And Samuel said. What meaneth the bleeding of these sheep then in my ears? What's this? Who's this chap? Oh he's Agag. Oh I see. But he's the king. Oh I have preserved the king. And we've destroyed all that's vile. We've destroyed all that's low. But we've saved these sheep. We've killed all the commoners. But we've kept the king. That's right. And this king Agag. He was a wonderful fellow. He could play the tune alright. He sees Samuel there. And he comes stepping ever so delicately. You know he's not going to put a foot wrong now. He's not going to be killed if he can help it. Shall I crucify your king? He's not going to be killed if he can help it. He'll not go to the death. The vile. The low. The common. The awful. The bad. The rotten. The putrefaction. Everything. Let that go. But oh. And Samuel said to Saul. He said God has taken the kingdom away from you. When you were small in your own eyes. You were exalted to kingship. Here then is the great secret leakage. Where people do not know. And they can't find the way through. Because they've never come to the place of the death. Never. Now. Isn't this the tragedy? You look back. You look around. Oh God. The man. Christ Jesus. Went to the cross. And that was that. Have you ever realized. That the one that God wants. Is the new man. And it was the new man that had to die. Jesus. It was the new man. That sacrificed himself to God by a cross. Having slain the old man. He'd done him. He'd done away with him. He slew the old man. That's what the cross is all about. But oh. Beloved. He offered himself. This new man to God. By the cross. Have you ever seen this beloved? Have you seen. That it's from this great universal. Death. Darkness. Nothingness. That God raises everything. Go back to Genesis. This is quite consistent. The cross is consistent with creation. Philippians is consistent. With Genesis. I go back to Genesis chapter one. This is where God started. In the beginning. God created the heavens. And the earth. And the earth. Was without form. And void. And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was moving. Upon the face of the waters. And God said. Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day. And the darkness he called night. And the evening. And the morning. Were the first day. God said. Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters. Let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament. And divided the waters which were under the firmament. From the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening. And the morning were the second day. And God said. Let the waters under the heaven. Be gathered together into one place. And let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth. And the gathering together of the waters called he seas. And God said. And God saw. That it was good. There it is. Right up out of primeval darkness. And desolation. Emptiness. And formlessness. When everything was like that. That's when God began. And it's like that beloved. With this glorious thing that God wants to do. When we sang that hymn earlier. Come oh my God. Fill all this mighty void. Praise God. The cross is God's way of making everything void. And empty. Formless. So that he can do something new. And glorious. And real. It all comes from this beloved. Have you seen this? The inner self will not let go. It clings to itself. Whilst pleading the justifying blood of Jesus. And justifies itself. And the mind goes round and round and round. And pleads ignorance. And I'm stunned. And I can't understand. When all God is wanting is obedience. The old man loves to choose his own way. He loves to make fear his plea. When it's unbelief that's his trouble. That's what he loves to do. Anything to contradict the truth of scripture. Anything to find another way. And there is no other way. But the cross. Will you believe it? Will you see this great man? This Jesus? Have you got your eye on him? Glory, glory, glory. Glory. The death of the cross. Amen. Oh, what a relief. Oh, when all the struggles are over. Oh, when all the excuses are finished. When all the long, long years of prayers. That when you add them up. Aye, they add up to God's unfaithfulness to you. See. Why this? Why that? Why the other? Why I sometimes have heard testimonies of men that have said, they've come to a place, they've said, oh, you can't do this to me, God. I haven't done it in the public meeting. I've been in public meetings and I thought, dear, fancy a man talking like that. Oh, wasn't he honest and frank? I thought he was nearly blasphemous. If not quite. This self-justifying principle that will not go to the death. This argument, these pleas. Oh, glory. It seems that we've quite forgotten the cross. Quite forgotten it. It's the answer, beloved. I do not at the moment just propose to add the scriptures together that make it to come to that. I just want to say that this is what I've found myself. I've never found any trouble with anybody else. I've always found the trouble with myself. Yes. I don't know whether you have. I've always found the trouble as being myself. What have you discovered? Haven't you? Don't you think anybody else is wrong then? Don't you think there's any trouble anywhere else not that can trouble me? If I'm right. Amen. Praise God. What a glorious thing it is when you see this that God does. This is the only way upon which you can live. It's the only way that you can go through. It's this blessed and glorious life that God gives. And I want to say to you, beloved, that if you go down to the cross, if you go there and die, you'll come out all right. Amen. For this is the power of God. This is the power of God that reaches every situation. Everything. And then when you've taken the precious cross or the benefits of it regarding sin and everything else Oh, when that's happened, beloved, there's still yourself. Yourself. Bless God. Have you come there? Exaltation lies beyond the cross. Exaltation lies from the grave where you lay. Exaltation, beloved, is there. Hallelujah. And then you're in a place where no one can touch you. He's on his road to exaltation and he meets some women and they want to fall at his feet and grab his feet and say, Don't you touch me. Well, he'd walk to bed and anybody could touch him. They could touch his robes. They could touch his heart by a plea. They could do all sorts of things. He says, Don't you touch me. Untouchable. Amen. Glory. Sweetly, wonderfully, all gods, I ascend to my Father and your Father. I ascend to my God and your God. Amen. The ascended life. Glory, glory. Untouchable. Do you feel like that? Have you got that life? Nothing touches you that ought not to touch you. This is what God means by holiness. The root of holiness or sanctification is separation. I don't mean the exclusiveness that says, Now we must wear black clothes and grow long beards or whatever it is the ladies do. I don't know what they have under this great thing. And sort of dispose myself sandal-wise to this, that or the other. And wear a big thong around my neck or a silver chain with a cross hanging on it or something like that, beloved. It has nothing to do with that. That's not separation. That's exclusivism. And it's a delusion. Separation, beloved, and the root of all sanctification is that you're in this place. Untouchable. Amen. Why? Why? Because you have gone through the cross. Why? You're so untouchable. You're so untouchable, beloved, you see, that you come into a room and there are the disciples, you see. Oh, I see you're here tonight, Thomas. Look, reach forth your finger. Put it into my hand. Reach forth your hand. Thrust it into my side. Thomas says, I can't, I can't, I can't. My Lord and my God. And he never put his fingers into the nail prints. And he never thrust his hand into Jesus' side. He believed. Untouchable. Glory. That's the root of sanctification. Risen. Ascended. Exalted. And enthroned. You know, one of the great men of India is a man named Bakht Singh. And he hasn't written a prayer book, but he always prays one way. God saved me from ever getting that way. He starts off by prefacing his prayers something like this. Our risen, glorious, ascended and enthroned Lord. Something like that. That's the way he starts his prayers. He's got this great truth of this sin. When God lifts you up out of it. He didn't just raise Jesus Christ from the dead. He lifted him up out of it all. That's exaltation. And it was from the place of exaltation. In Acts chapter 2, I'm going to text you a memory to remember it. Being by the right hand of God exalted. And having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He has shed forth this which you now see and hear. It was the risen, ascended, glorified and enthroned Lord, but to use Daryl Bach Singh's phraseology, I'm sure he won't mind, that gave the Holy Ghost. And nobody else could minister. This is the trouble. There's so little ministry of the Spirit of God. Ministry in some realms, superficial things take place on people. No man can minister the Holy Ghost in the depths that reaches a man till he comes out so gloriously new that he's completely a changed man unless he's there in the exaltation of the Lord. He's got to be an ascended man. When he's ascended, he can live in the holy places. He can live in the heavenly places. And this is what the Lord wants us to understand. But you can only come after the cross, beloved. That's all. Is this mind in you? What is the mind that's in you? Father, I know there's only one way back. Praise God. There's only one way back. He's praying this. He says, And now come I to Thee, Father. Now come I to Thee. Hallelujah. In process, he was going to be made sin. He was going to be this, that and the other, despised, rejected of men. He was going to be beaten up as we were thinking this morning. Beaten very small. That was all going to happen. But it was this, Now come I to Thee. Amen. Now come I to Thee. How did he come to Him? Up. Up. Beloved, Before you can go up, you've got to go down. It's the death before it's the life. That's the revelation of the Scripture. Too many, as we were thinking together last night, are bypassing this. And that's why, beloved, you can't get through to where you want to be. It's a miracle. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. It's the bringing you into line with the true Son of God. Do you realize this? And that's what the Lord wants to do for us all. Everything. Jesus. Jesus. There's no one else like Jesus. No one at all, beloved. For He took us right through there. He became man for this. And beloved, you've got to come this way. The death. You've got to get your mind right. You've got to admit you've been wrong. You've got to admit that you've been thinking wrong these last years. You've got to. That takes a bit of doing. Doesn't it? About the hardest thing for a person to do is admit that they've been wrong. And moreover, been wrong for years. Or perhaps been wrong all their life. It's a hard thing to do. Will you let this mind be in you? Will you? Glory, glory, glory. God will do tremendous things in you if you'll let Him do that. He's got to get into that mind of yours. Amen. For it's what you think in your heart, that's what you are. That's what Jesus said. As a man thinks in his heart, so is He. That's what He is. Yeah. Do you believe that? What you think in your heart. If you think in your heart, secretly, this is the way. If you think in your heart, this is the thing. If you think in your heart like this, it means that your whole life, your whole personality, your will, your affections, everything. When a man thinks in his heart, he doesn't merely coldly reason it out with his intellect. When a man thinks in his heart, when Jesus is speaking about thinking in your heart, He's speaking about the thing you do with all your power and your will. That's what He means. You're doing it with affection. You're doing it with your love or your lust. When you think in your heart, that's why you are there. That's why it is. Amen. I love this blessed plainness of the Christ. I see that He is the ever-opening way. I see this to be the secret and the key. Every time. It's the answer to you, brother. It's the answer to you, sister. Will you believe it? If I was rude enough, I'd point at you. I needn't do it. God, the great prophet, speaks in your heart and points to you. When God spoke to David, He said, Thou art the man. He did it by the prophet. When He spoke to Saul, He said the same thing practically. Always the Lord pinpoints it. He never misses. He never misses. He puts His finger right on the spot on all the struggles. Sometimes. Sometimes. It's got to be dealt with. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I want to tell you, beloved, that Jesus Christ disposed with sin on the earth. He never took any to heaven. Before Jesus Christ lay in the tomb, He dealt with everything on the cross. He never took any through the tomb. None. No sin there. Hallelujah. Do you see that? Lying in the tomb is just the act that presages the resurrection. Jesus not only hung on a cross, but He had to lay in the tomb still, motionless, cold, dead, voiceless, alone. Shut off from everybody. Seal Him. Glory be to God. Because we always think of, Oh, hallelujah, God broke the seals. You see, we bypass the real secret. Shut Him there alone. But you won't come there. You won't go there. You collect unto you many friends, many counsellors, many this, many that. In our human weakness, God forgives us that we are so insane. And so God had Him shut up in there. You must see what God has done about this great crucifixion of Jesus Christ. You think of that great verse in Isaiah 53. And it says this. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. And you think of Pilate. And you think of these horrible soldiers. You think of these people that demeaned and defamed Jesus. And in your heart, you nearly secretly hate them. That they should do this. See Him led off, you know, like a lamb to the slaughter. And you think it's all horrible. But I want to tell you something. It wasn't the soldiers that led Him to the cross. It was the Holy Ghost. See? See? It was the Holy Ghost led Him to the cross. Yes. That's the truth. You've got to get your eyes off men. What men did? What men did? What God has done took the man led him to the cross. And we sing that hymn. And I know you've sung it many a time. Was it the nails, O Savior, that bore Thee to the tree? Nay, it was Thine everlasting love. Thy love for me. For me. Oh, bless God! Well, why keep singing about it if you don't get on to it? It was God who had His Son crucified. It was God who gave Pilate the power to do it. It was God that had His Son nailed on the cross. It was God that dealt with all the things that had to be dealt with and then got down to the essential thing. He dealt with sin. He ended the system of blood offerings. He dealt with all of it. Alleluia! And then He sweetly went through to God His Father. Amen. And God had Him sealed up in a tomb. And we always think, Ah, these stupid soldiers. Oh, you know. An angel came and rolled the stone away. Well, I mean, when you really know God, that's fantastic. Really childish to think like that. We know God could have gone... That's that. That would have finished that. We make it so tremendous. It's just like a tomb. God open your eyes. God had to deal with all these things, beloved. But He was basically coming to the point where He showed us that a man has to be brought to death. The great death. A man has to be taken off a cross and laid in a tomb and sealed up there alone. He hadn't even got the company of two dead corpses. One on His right hand and one on His left. Not even that. He was laid in a tomb. Alone. Amen. Nobody to whisper anything to Him. Nobody. Nobody. Loving women, sentimental in their love, were going to come and at least anoint His body with ointment and they were going to do this and they were going to do the other to Him. Oh, their intentions were good. God bless all these well-intentioned women. They're not half as bad as the silly men, some of them. Yeah. They say, come here. I'll lay my hands on you. Whoa. Revive everything instead of regenerating them. That's the trouble. Bring them into a state of revival so they come up to surface for about another month and then boom, they're down again. Oh, I'm terrible, brother. Didn't last more than a fortnight. You see. You see, that was God. God pushed Him in there. Sealed it all up. Hallelujah. Sealed it all up. Oh, dear Odin. It was calamity. It was the end of everything. And then, you know what happened. They went down there and they found that He was alive. And let me make this point again. I just must because I love it. It's one of the most endearing things I know about Jesus. That He went and walked with a couple of them along the road and they started to talk with Him and they seemed ever so surprised. Tell me another story. Aren't thou only a stranger in Jerusalem that thou hast not heard these things? You know, He said, What things? What things? I have no understanding. That's life. You always know when a person's got resurrection life they've stopped griping and groaning. What things? Must be only a stranger. And He was the one that had suffered. That's it. Yeah. Hallelujah. What things? It's like this. When a man really dies, this definitely comes to life, he says, Sin? What sin? It's all gone. But all this terrible 20 years, eh? It's gone. What are you talking about? I'm a new creature. I'm not trying to shake off the grave clothes. See, nobody can see the difference between revival and resurrection. Very few people do. That's why I said before, I don't go in for prayer meetings about revival. If you want to see revival, come to Lazarus' tomb. You come to Lazarus' tomb, there's a man that had been alive. Now he's dead. What's he in need of? Revival. This is the whole thing. He stands outside the tomb. He says, Take the stone away. First step towards revival. You roll the stone away. You see? And he says, Lazarus comes forth. Lazarus comes forth. And he's like this. You understand what he says? Let him go. That's what they say. They say they're born again. But they're forever going to get the bonds taken off them. The grave clothes taken off them. This bond is broken. This bond is broken. That bond is broken. That's revival. Resurrection. Go to the tomb. It's open. You go inside. All the grave clothes are inside. That's resurrection. The other is revival. That's why we're getting so many deliverance merchants breaking the clothes off them. The bond clothes. Bandages. All day long. All the night long. It's resurrection. The grave clothes are left in the tomb. Everything. Because he died the death of the cross. That's why. You die the death of the cross. And I'll tell you this. You'll not need another man to help you. You say that's a big statement. All right. Only they know it who are in it. To others it's a mystery. You say, but I thought we were all interdependent. Hallelujah. Oh, we need that kind of help. We need that. I mean, my foot needs my hands to help it to tie its shoelaces. We all need that. That kind of help. Hallelujah. One of the most amazing things in the early part of my sort of spiritual peregrinations or whatever you want to call it. Is this. I wondered why all these people kept needing praying for. Nobody ever laid a hand on me. Nobody ever broke bonds with my past. Somehow I reckon I had a resurrection. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Well, that's the man. Jesus. Nobody. Poor Jesus. Poor Jesus. Give him to me. She says, give him to me. I'll take him away. I love him alive or dead. I'll have him. Brave Mary. She was running the risk of terrible punishment. I reckon the women are brave. Don't you, brother? Yeah. None of the men would do it. They knew too much. Very clever men. I would have you know that though Eve was Eve, the devil is a man. Well, he's masculine. The serpent is a man. See? He's masculine. Stop blaming the women. That's right. See? That's right. When the devil is likened to a human being, he's likened to the king of Tyrus. A man. Not the queen. Yeah. That's right. But bless God. Jesus was found in fashion as a man. There's hope for us. And dear Mary. She said, give him to me. I love him. I want him. Alive or dead. I love him. She didn't understand. She didn't understand. She thought, I'll take him. I'll unwind the grave clothes. And I'll put a lot more preservatives in. And I'll preserve him dead. She really felt that. And the Greek word for the tomb is really memorial tomb. That's the power of the Greek word. They were going to make it a pilgrimage. A place of pilgrimage. A shrine. To which the heartbroken disciples of the dead lord would go probably once a year. If not more. And worship. Just like they go to the tomb of Mahomet. And just like they go to the tomb of Gandhi. And just like they go to the tomb of him and her and everything else. That's what she was going to do. She was going to wind the grave clothes up. And she would have lifted the napkin and looked at his dear face. And would have said, could not this man that cast seven devils out of me have risen from the dead also? That's what she would... Well, I'll ask her when I see her. You see. But he was alive. He was alive. He was alive. The grave clothes were all inside. But she said, she didn't say, oh lord, let me take this bandage off your foot. Lord, let me do this. I'm alive. I'm alive. Glory be to God. Amen. Are you like that? Risen. Exalted. Ascended. Gone the death of the cross. If you want it, beloved, you've got to come this way. You've got to. Everything's got to go. Everything. And the Lord will do this. Hallelujah. Are you prepared to count everything that's done? Everything else? Are you really getting ready to listen to the high calling of God? Oh. They say, well, of course, in the Greek, you know, it says on high calling. Well, that's right. Kept calling him up, and he's up on high. You needn't try and fix any specious teaching around it. It's quite simple, if you'll only be simple, and it will bring out a lot of, get rid of a lot of these complications that very clever people have thought up. You're supposed to have a resurrection and an ascension and a glorious exaltation and a sitting down there. And everything is under your feet and it's gone. Amen. Can there really be? This morning, we were thinking these things that oversensitivity is not a virtue. Oversensitivity is not a virtue. Oh, it's in this area where so many people, they're so alive to this hurtful thing and that hurtful thing and that hurtful thing. And there's one thing I noticed about Jesus Christ when they pushed him down on the cross and they nailed the spikes into him. He never said, Oh, you're hurting me. He said, Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them. When they put the crown of thorns on his head and knocked it on to make sure that it hurt. He said, He said, nothing. Amen. You talk about sensitivity. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. Do you see there? Blessed be the name of the Lord. You can all have a resurrection tonight, beloved. You can all have a glorious ascension tonight. Every one of us. Nothing to stop us. Do you want to? Right out of everything else, the ascension lies beyond the cross. Hallelujah. Wouldn't it be a marvelous thing for all our places where we live or the towns, villages, or wherever we come from, if we went back like that? Eh? There'd be regeneration everywhere and not revival. There'd be absolute regeneration. That's what I find anyway. Glory be to the name of the Lord. That's right. Leave the grave clothes behind. Now let's pray.