(John) in the Beginning the Word — Willie Mullan

The Gospel of John: Purpose, Authorship, and Geography

And it's being entitled, Jesus, is going to follow right through the Gospel of John, and we'll trace it out on the map behind me, every footstep that the Master took of John, John's Gospel, chapter one, and I'm going to try to get through the first twenty-eight verses this evening.

John one and then Psalm one, right down to verse twenty-eight. All the great scholars are unanimous that John the Apostle was indeed the writer of this Gospel. They're all unanimous that the son of Zebedee, John the brother of James, a follower of Christ the Apostle, the one whom Jesus greatly loved, was the writer of this Gospel.

And all the great scholars are unanimous that this was the last Gospel of the four to be written. There's a query about the date. Some of the scholars think A .D. 90, some just disagree a year or two with that, but for our class that sort of thing doesn't matter.

And the purpose for writing the Gospel is very plainly told to us in John, chapter twenty. John, the last two verses of the chapter, they are very important ones. John twenty, verse thirty, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.

That's why the Gospel was written. You see, John didn't write a complete history of all the deeds and doings of Christ like the other Gospel writers. John doesn't touch on Bethlehem or the angel coming to Mary or the details of Christ's early life at Nazareth or coming and getting lost at Jerusalem.

No, he wasn't just putting those details in. He was just picking up some of the great things of the great sermons, the great signs, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. So he was writing a Gospel to prove that Jesus was the eternal Son and that ye believing might have life through his name.

There's the writer, the date is 1890, the last Gospel to be written, and there's the purpose, and we start now in the first twenty-eight verses. You'll notice that verse twenty-eight reads like this, "'These things were done in Bethlehem, beyond Jordan, where John was baptized.'.

You see, that's the first point that we find in this Gospel, geographically speaking. Of course, we find that the Lord Jesus was away off in the glory with the Father before he came, and if we were to trace the light of coming down from heaven, we would find in Luke's Gospel that the angel came to Mary here at Nazareth.

And you remember that this is where the miraculous conception took place. Don't think the conception took place at Bethlehem, because Mary just made it to Bethlehem and no more when the baby was born.

The conception took place away off in Galilee, in Nazareth, and then Mary and Joseph came down the long road to Bethlehem. You can understand the chart, or the map, I'm sure, without me going into details.

It's a full-size, proper map of Palestine, and Palestine proper is on the west of the Jordan here. And it was divided in those days into three great districts. Galilee and Samaria was in the center, and Judea was down at the bottom of the land of Palestine.

So that the Lord came, and the great, wonderful conception took place in Nazareth, then Mary and Joseph took that long journey. Now, I drew the red line for you to follow down and pick them up, but they didn't come that way, because Joseph and Mary being Jews, they had no dealings with the Samaritans, and the Jews wouldn't bounce through Samaria.

So Jews coming from Galilee down to Judea usually crossed the Jordan up here, came down a valley on that side of the Jordan, and down here at Bethlehem, they usually crossed back into Judea and came down to Bethlehem.

And then we find that from Bethlehem, our Lord eventually got out to Bethlehem beyond Jordan, and that's the first point that John touches on in his wonderful gospel that is geographically speaking. That's why I'm trying to get down to that point tonight, because that's the really starting-off point of John's gospel.

The Eternal Son Revealed in John 1

But the first twenty verses can't just be bypassed. We've got to look at them. These first twenty verses, they divide themselves into two subjects. The first one, the revelation of the Son. You get more details here about the eternal Sonship than you'll get anywhere else in the book that I know of, in these first twenty verses.

But you have not only the subject of the revelation of the Son, you have the subject of the mission of the servant. John the Baptist began his mission here in this first chapter and in these first twenty verses.

But we'll go into it detail by detail. Let's begin at the first verse. In the beginning was the goods. Now, that's a complete statement. We need to ask questions if we want to get the truth. When John writes these three words, in the beginning, in the beginning of what, is what you need to ask.

In the beginning of anything that ever had a beginning. That's the idea. It's the same phrase as you'll find in Genesis chapter one of the very first verse. Have a look at it again. The book of Genesis, in fact, your Bible opens with these three words.

Genesis one, and verse one, in the beginning. You have the same phrase. In the beginning, God created, God created the heaven and the earth. Well, that's a tremendous statement, because that takes us away back to a different path.

There's no man or no scholar can put a date on that phrase, in the beginning. You see, in the first verse of Genesis, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And in the second verse, you find, and the earth was without form.

Well, you see, God never created anything without form. Something actually happened between your first verse and your second verse of Genesis, and it was this. It was the rebellion of Satan. And you see, when God created the heavens and the earth, everything was absolutely perfect.

Quite what God doeth is perfect. And then the devil came in to take control, and God tumbled the whole creation upside down, and the earth was without form in the second verse. Now, there's nobody can tell how long it lay like that.

And then God started to reform the six days that we talk about, of the six days of creation, which were nothing of the kind. The creation was done before that, and that's the reforming. Now, the date in John's Gospel goes back to the first verse, in the beginning.

Now, you can say that millions or billions of years ago, if you want to. God only knows when that was. But here's the thing we must underline in John's Gospel. Now, watch it carefully. In the beginning.

That is, that time when everything or anything that ever had a beginning began. That's the time we're thinking about. In the beginning of everything, watch, the Word was. That's a tremendous thing. You see, the Word had no beginning.

The Word was. The Word was there. When anything that ever had a beginning began, the Word was. So, that settles the eternality. Or, properly, it should be the eternity of the Words. Now, why was this phrase used here, in the beginning was the Word?

Why was that used? It's very wonderful. Let's go down the chapter a bit, and we'll get the sense. You see, verse 14, John 1 verse 14, and the Word was made flesh. You see, that's something, isn't it? And dwelt among us.

Now, what does he say? It's in a parenthesis, but it must be watched. And we beheld his, his glory. So that without any stretching of any text, the Word is a person. His. The Word is a glorious person.

The Word became flesh, and we beheld his glory. So that the Word here is a glorious person. Then it goes on further, doesn't it, in John 14 verse 14, we beheld his glory. Then it goes just a little bit more, the glory of the only begotten of the Father.

This glorious person was the only begotten of the Father. So this is the Eternal Son we're looking at, the Eternal Son. Now, if you get your first phrase right now, way back when everything that ever had a beginning began, the Eternal Son was.

That's very wonderful. That truth is eternality. But here's something that you wouldn't see in your English Bible, and I've pointed out for you because there are people who argue about it. See, that little word, was, in your first phrase, in the beginning was the Word.

Now, that is a Greek word, and you can look this up if you've got a Greek New Testament, or if you've got a Mexican at home, and find out if I'm right. It's the word eto. It's got three letters, R-T-O.

And it's a Greek word that means always existent. You see, in the beginning, the Eternal Son was pre-existent. He pre-existed before anything that ever was made began. Of course he did. But here's a different word.

Do you see this one in John 14? And the word was made flesh. That's not the same was at all. That's not the same was. That word is another Greek word, and it's spelt like this, E-G-E-N-E-T-O. Egineto is the word.

And that word, egineto, means to bring into existence. Now, that's very wonderful, because in the first phrase, you have one who is always existing, and that particular word is used. In the second phrase, the word was made flesh.

That is, he's being brought into existence now as a man. It's very wonderful, because, you see, once when I was arguing with Russell Ike, and I very definitely would take any one of them to the first phrase of John, and point out to them that the word was in the beginning.

He was existing before anything that began ever had a beginning. But Russell Ike immediately did this. Verse 6, he said, "'There was a man sent from God.'". He said, do you see the was there? He said, was that man pre-existent?

He was, too. But I just happened to know what he didn't know. I knew it was a different Greek word, and I said, well, now we'll look that up in the Greek New Testament and see if it was even words. And he just was trapped.

It wasn't. This man here wasn't a pre-existent man. He was actually being brought into existence as the servant of Jehovah now. There was a man sent, and it was the different Greek word that was used.

Try and remember that, because it's very important. And if you have any troubles about it, or doubts about it, or find anything to the contrary, come and tell me. But I know you won't, but I'm only pushing you on so that you'll find out for yourself.

Two different Greek words are there, and this one in the first phrase is, "'In the beginning was the woods.'". So that shows the eternality of the Son. And then look at the second phrase in the first verse, "'And the wood was with God.'".

One of the great scholars, in fact five or six of them, have translated that phrase like this. And I think it's a better translation. "'And the wood was face to face with God.'". You see, and I think that's lovely, because we're talking about the Eternal Son.

And He was the only begotten of the Father. And way before the hill to the Lord of Judah earth received its fame, He was younger, face to face with the Father, who was God. Now, we're going to talk to the boys in a moment who believe in this oneness doctrine, who don't believe in the Trinity.

Well, how could you be face to face with one another if there's only one? This oneness doctrine's all wrong. You're going back to Unitarianism. There is an Eternal, and way back yonder, they were face to face with one another.

That brings out the personality of the Savior. That leaves it beyond any dispute. He was a distinct personality, and there are personalities in the Godhead. There is the Father, and the Son, and if we had to prove it tonight, we could prove the Holy Ghost is a person in the Godhead.

So that the second phase brings out his personality, face to face with God, who was the Father. And then John was very particular about this. He didn't want you to get the idea that the Father was God and the Son wasn't.

He said, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was face to face with God. And then he has a complete statement, the Word was God. The Word was God. That brings out his deity. So that you have no problems at all.

Never let anybody upset you in these tremendous fundamental doctrines. The Word is perfectly plain. Way before anything that ever had a beginning began, the Eternal Son was. And he was face to face with the Father.

There were personalities there. And the Word, hallelujah, was God, existed as God. It's the same word there, it's the same. The Word existed as God. Now, you've got that, haven't you? Beautiful verse.

And we're at the second one, the same. You'd almost think he was saying it over again, and yet he's not, you know. The same was in the beginning with God. You see, this one, who was the Eternal Son, who was in the Godhead, who was a distinct personality in Jacob's deity, this one is the unchanging one.

He's the same. Let me get the hold of this. He was the same way back yonder, let me tell you this. He's the same today. And blessed God, he'll be the same for all eternity. He's the same yesterday, I am today, I am forever.

Yes, he's the same. Well, my friend, if you could change him, he wouldn't be God. You see, when he took upon him the form of a servant, he became what he had never been before, but he didn't cease to become what he had always been.

He was still God. And man, he's the same. You see, that brings out his unchangeability. You've got his eternality in the first phase, you've got his personality in the second one, you've got his deity in the third one, and you've got his unchangeability in the fourth one, and you're at the third verse now.

Creation, Life, and the Light of Men

Look at that verse. All things were made by him. You see, that proves that he was before all things. There's no problem about his pre-existence now. Before anything began that ever had a beginning, for he began it.

He was. Well, he must be there if he's going to begin the thing. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. You're looking at his ability now. It was the blessed eternal Son, the second person of the Godhead, who threw the squires into the squire, whose special it was done, who commanded and executed fast.

Why, he laid the foundation of the earth, he will set, and the heavens are the works of his hand, so that you're gazing at his ability. Now, you come to another phrase, verse four. John pictures like this all the time.

They're short phrases. Only him was life. That's a tremendous one, isn't it? You're looking at his productivity now. You know, there's no life apart from him. Well, if he made everything, then it was he who created the vegetable life.

That's a form of life, you know. Vegetable life is a form in itself. Vegetable life is unconscious life, but it is life. It grows, it develops, it grows forth above to land the fruits and so on. But it's life, it's a form of life.

It's unconscious. You can tread on it, you can cut it down, it won't squeal. It's unconscious, but it's life, and it came from heaven. Then, of course, there is the animal life, a different form of life than vegetable life.

Animal life is world-conscious life. Vegetable life is not world-conscious. It's got no consciousness. But an animal has got a world-consciousness. Yes, if you're kind to an animal, it will respond, and if you treat it, it will remember.

So, it's got a world-conscious life. Then you come another step along under human life. Yes, our Lord Jesus was the producer of all kinds of life—vegetable, animal, human. Yes, the human is not only world-conscious, but God-conscious.

Yes, the flower is not world-conscious, the animal is world-conscious, but the human is not only world-conscious, but God-conscious. Then you see there's still another kind of life, that spiritual life.

Our Lord Jesus produces that, because when you have the Son as your Savior, you have eternal life. And if you haven't got the Son, you haven't got life. That's what the book says. He that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son has not life.

And then, you know, I believe there's another phrase you can bring in. You know, He's the producer of abundant life. You know, in Him was life. All kinds of life was found in Him. You can't find life anywhere else.

Life is found in our Lord Jesus. The Eternal Son was the producer of all kinds of life, so that you're looking, in that phrase, at His productivity in Him of life. Then, another short phrase. Do you see how John preaches?

Verse four, And the life was the light of men. Now, I want you to take your time with this one. I think it's just as clear as the rest, but if you take your time, you'll get it. You see, those two words, the life.

Now, they shouldn't be written the way they're written in the English Bible. Dr. Bullinger and Dr. Schaeffer, Dr. Ironside, Dr. Fink, and all the great scholars, they're all unanimous that those two words, they are a title of our Lord Jesus.

It should be a capital T and a capital L. They're talking about the life, talking about Him, Him. He is the life, you know. You see, He's the Word. That's the first thing God drew. Then, He's the life.

And, in a minute or two, you'll see He's the light. Those are all titles, of course, of Christ. And, you know, if He's the expression of everything that's of God, that's why the word lupus was used, the Word.

And, if He produced everything that is of life, and if He's the only light there is, then He must be God. So, John's proving He's God. And, John has done it terribly well. Although John only used short, simple, one-syllable phrases to do it.

Certainly well done. If you're a scholar, and you want to gather this together, watch this. Do you see this? I'll emphasize something for you. In the beginning was the Word, and. The Word was with God, and.

The Word was God. The theme was, in the beginning was God. All things were made by Him, and. Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and. The life was the light of man, and. The light shaneth in darkness, and.

The darkness comprehended it not. In five verses, you've got six rounds. You see, He just works in short phrases. They're not conjunction phrases. He's just introducing each time a new, a new phrase. It's wonderful, you know, to see John working like that.

It must have been God that took the mind, and He has given such deep, tremendous, sublime, wonderful, magnificent, marvelous truths in these phrases, and yet they're just one-syllable phrases introduced by hand all the time.

It's really wonderful. But this one that we're at now, and the life. That is, the Son, the Word, if you wish. The life was the light of man. You know, we're looking at His sanctity here. You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son, the Word, came down and became flesh and took upon Him the form of a servant, you know, this world, this world saw something that it had never seen before.

It saw a perfectly sinless man, never one thought out of place, never one word out of place. For thirty-three and a half years, He wandered in and out of all men. He never said one word out of place.

He never lost His temper. They saw something that was mental and temperamental, perfectly sinless, something they'd never seen before. He was the light of men. That was the sanctity. What a life that was.

You will never see that again. Only in Christ was that seen, and that was what life should be, was the light of man. And yet, here's something that comes in behind it. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.

John the Baptist as Witness to the Light

Now, verse 5, 6, 7, 8, they're parenthetical verses. Let's just keep them for a moment. Watch this. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, that all men who might believe, he was not that light, you can see light in the capital L here, but was sent to bear witness of that light. You know, friends, this is tremendously pathetic.

It's really a tragedy. Look, here is one who came down and took upon him the form of a servant, and lived like no other man will ever live, perfectly holy, spotless, sinless, harmless, timeless, pathetic three and a half years, and in another half a century, somebody did tell them the light was here.

How dark the folk were. That's pathetic, isn't it? That's really pathetic. The greatest bridge of light that ever came across this earth, slumber in the one who was the light of men, and just the heart to send a man to tell them the light was here, and the darkness comprehended it not.

How dark it was. Terrible. And the folk will know better in this generation, mind you, not one bit of it. For if our Lord Jesus Christ appeared in Mervyn, and lived like he lived for thirty-three and a half years, believe me, they would hound him out of the town again.

The darkness is deep, you know. We'll see more of that just in a moment, but those are parenthetical verses. We're not just going into them. See, verse 9, "'That was the true light.'". Well, here's a tight phrase for you.

Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. You've seen the three phases, haven't you? The Word, with a capital W. Then I told you the Light, with a capital L. And now you've seen the Light, with a capital L.

You see, our Lord Jesus is the Word, the Light, the Light, and of the Light, the maker of all. For he made Adam, and from Adam we all came. He lighted every man that came into the world. That's a tremendous one.

You know, every single solitary soul that's born in this world, be they born in Russia, or Africa, or China, be they born black, or white, or red, or yellow, be they born under any conceivable creed that we can think of tonight—Confucius, Mohammed, or some other pagan ism—let me say this to you, that when they're born into this world, there is something that's inside called conscience that really works.

And, our Lord, keep that conscience there. Now, don't think that I'm going to say that everybody that's born is born with a spark in him. Because I'm not. I want to say this to you, that, you know, the darkness and the depth of the sinfulness of human nature has brought a conscience out from within.

My, there are folks in this world whose consciences don't work at all. They've got a feared conscience. But remember, the Lord made mine, with the light of conscience. Sometimes I'm asked, how will the poor pagans do in a day that's yet to be, when they stand before the judgment bar?

Have a look at Romans chapter 2 with me, just for a moment. 14. For then the Gentiles, which have not the law, that is, have not the ten commandments, do by nature—that's a tremendous thing, mind you, that's formless—the things contained in the law.

These having not the law are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. You know, you'll get men in pagan Africa tonight who never heard one word of the gospel, and probably never will.

And they're born yonder in the dark depths of the jungle, and at this moment probably naked. But let me say this, the Stanley Bennington, who had gone into some of the wastes where no white man ever was, told me this, that he found pagans in the center of Africa who wouldn't tell a lie, not if they were to be killed.

And they didn't know anything about the ten commandments, thou shalt not bear false witness. And he found men who would not stoop down to speak with something worse, conscience as well. I know that those, too, would be the exceptions to the rule.

But, O Lord, give a light to every man that comes into the world. Now, you're looking at his liberality there, aren't you? You're getting a great picture of the Son here, his eternity, his personality, his deity, his unchangeability, his ability, his productivity, his sensitivity.

And in verse 9 we were out of liberality. And then in verse 10, another little phrase, he was in the world. Why, that was his humility. You see, that's where we really begin here, down from his glory.

You know, he really came down. It is where the conception took place. And then on that first Christmas morning, he came into the world, he was in the world. And what humility it was. The one who made all things, the one who was God.

My, you can hardly take it in. He's lying in the manger of God. What humility. It's been a long way to be your Savior, dear. And, Mr., if you're on the seat tonight without Christ, mind you, you're rejecting something.

He ruled of the throne of glory, and humbled himself, and took upon him the form of a servant, and lay in your manger in the chaos called whatever it may have been, all that he might come to be your Savior.

You know, once when old Dr. Torrey was preaching the gospel in a wonderful way, a lady came in at the end of the meeting, and she said, you know, this is all nonsense you're preaching. She said, it seems to me that you're preaching that an innocent man has gone to the cross and died for guilty men, and that couldn't be right.

I said, I never preached that, Mrs. He said, the first truth of the gospel is this, that the God who was sinned against, and took upon him the form of a servant, and paid for the sins that were against him.

That's tremendous. That's your very first note of the gospel, down from his glory, who was in the world. Think of the humility. Now, here's another parenthesic a little bit, verse 10. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew not.

Why can't you see the blindness? You know, friends, this is tremendous. You know, he was in the world as a light, and in the moment you'll see, he was in the world as the words. He was declaring God's, and he was in the world as a light, and as the light, the darkness didn't comprehend it at all.

And when he was in the world as a light, you know, friends, they didn't even see it. Made by him. Think of the darkness, and think of the blindness, and then watch this. He came on to his own, and that word could be followed up like this.

He came on to his own things, because it's actually in the plural here. He came on to his own things. He came on to his own land. Well, this is the land that he'd chosen, chosen as his own land, as a law that he'd made.

He came on to his own things. He came on to his own land. He came on to his own people. But look what it said. Thieved him not. You see, they didn't want him. I wonder, are you following this closely to see this?

Do you see the darkness that didn't comprehend the light? Do you see the blindness that didn't know the Lord? Do you see the awe that didn't want to face it? That's just what's the trouble with a lot of folk in this meeting.

Let the devil blind you until you're like dark. Why, you're darker than some of our dear friends who are here tonight, who are physically blind. You know this, we have two blind men now, pardon me for saying this in the meeting just now.

If we put the lights out, then we do the world. That's blind and dark. But there's something worse than that about you. There's an unwillingness. What your trouble is, you don't want to say. You're not willing to give your life to him.

Terrible thing, darkness, blindness, unwillingness. That was the trouble with the world then, and that's the trouble with you now. But you know, in spite of all that, see verse 12, but as many as receive him, oh, that's his attractability.

You know, he's still attractive people. Oh, I think this is wonderful. With all the natural darkness, with all the satanic blindness, with all the freshly unwillingness, yet there were men at Paradise who wanted him, who received him.

Praise God for that. He attracted folks. Thank God there's a good crowd here tonight can say, yes sir, he attracted me. Well, I never saw anybody like Jesus yet. To me, he's the all together lovely one.

I the fairest among ten thousand. It was a happy day when I opened my life and received him. Oh, thank you. Good crowd of us here, we've received him. We were attracted by him. That's his attractability.

He didn't go on with that. And to everyone that received him, to them, gives he power to become the sons of God. That's his authority, isn't it? Oh, I tell you, it wasn't the bishop that made me a child of God, not a bit of it.

It's a great lot of potpourri you ever listen to, and I'll rub it in in a minute. My dear friends, don't you ever dare to think you're seeking God's help. Indeed you can't. If you're without Christ, you're without life, you're without the right to become the child of God.

How you become a child of God is, you receive Christ, then he gives you the power to become the child of God, and not until then. Don't let anybody bluff you that they'll sprinkle water on you and say this, I make thee a child of God and an inheritor of the kingdom.

That's the greatest lot of pagan potpourri that you ever listen to. Say I said it, it'll be on the recorder, they can hear it. I'll have to take a nod back. Don't you worry about it. I have no notion that they're going to, that's barren children, that is barren potpourri, they'll go on.

Don't let anybody teach you that. My dear friend, if you're supporting that, you ought to brush now. See, I'm just teaching the things that's in the book, and it'll hurt a few of you, but I'm not worried one bit about what happens.

I'll just go on with the teaching. You see, this is the truth we're at. As many as received him, for them give he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. And here's a tremendous verse.

Which were born not of blood. You know, you can't get this new birth, you can't become a child of God because your father and mother were believers. It doesn't run in the blood, do you know? Why, your father could be a saint, and your mother could be one of the souls in the kingdom of God, and Jesus could put a hair in Vietnam for all eternity.

It's not of blood. Blood has got nothing to do with it. Blood has got nothing to do with it. You're not born again of blood, it doesn't run in the veins. For the better. And then, watch this. More of the will of the flesh.

You know, you just can't get born again when you're rich. No, you know, you just couldn't make up your own mind and say, oh no, I think I'll get saved tonight. You couldn't. You couldn't. It's not of the will of the flesh at all.

I'll tell you this. If you ever had one thought of ever coming to the Lord and getting saved, believe me, it never arose from your darkened nature. It was the Holy Ghost that was working with you. It was God.

You see this? You can't get born again of the blood, nor of the will of the flesh. Now, watch this. Nor of the will of man. No man can do it, either. You see, friends, that's what I'm telling you. It doesn't make a matter what ritual man puts you through.

It doesn't make a matter what man says. It doesn't make a matter what man professes. Man can't do it. Unforgettable. Unbegunnable. Don't you let anybody bluff you that they can't. For they most certainly can't.

You see, here's how it happens. It's not of blood, and it's not of the will of the flesh, and it's not of men, but of God. Ah, that's the thing. Look, you see, that day when I came and received the Lord Jesus, you know, before I opened my life to him at all, you know, God had been working.

God had been…. You see, here we are seeing two ends of one thing. You see, we are looking now at the sovereign design. God convicts me. God brings the gospel before my heart. God uplifts Christ. God presents the Savior.

God gives the Word. God gives the promises. It's all God and nothing, but I'm responsible to receive them. Ah, that's responsibility, isn't it? But I'll never receive them without God working. My dear friends, I want you to get the hold of this.

If you are out for souls to get this, and you want to see man and woman face, I'll tell you this, keep your face towards God. You know, I don't need God. You know, I know pastors. I was trying to educate one of them the other day, and they go around like this.

He was telling me a little thing, and I'll not go too deep in it. You know, he said, I went into a house and found a woman, and I tried to talk her into trusting the Lord. I said, I know wisdom. I thought he should talk some little woman into making a profession, and then he would bumble and grovel.