The Suffering of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Bro. Lee Vayle

March 21, 2008

	Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word of truth
which we have been hearing in song and prayer unto You. We are here
because You are here, and the only reason we have any hope is because we
have believed unto righteousness through Jesus Christ our Lord. We have
been saved by grace through faith, and that, not of ourselves; it is
surely a gift of Almighty God. 

	We’re not here to socialize, but to lift up Your holy Name and trust
that some good will come of this service where our hearts are drawn
closer to You and our lives reflect Your Spirit more than they have
reflected before, knowing that there’s just a very short time ahead of
us before the Resurrection and the Rapture.

	So, we pray, Lord, that whatever You want to have said tonight, your
blessing to our hearts and to our lives, that You will give it to us,
knowing that we have to rely upon You as never before, because life is
going fast away, and the body and the mind does not hold up as it used
to hold up. But, by grace we know that the inner man, our souls, fed by
the revelation of the Word of God through the revelation of the Holy
Spirit, can give us more than what we need. In fact, we already have
more than what we need. So, Father, we commend ourselves into Your hands
tonight. May Your Name be glorified. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

	You may be seated.

1.	Well, it’s really nice to be back here.  When I sat back there
while you were singing, I was thinking of all the good times I miss by
not being here. I suppose the least I could do is to get up in the
morning feeling better, but I go to bed at night feeling better than I
get up in the morning. So, by the time I’m all ready to get up for the
day, I’m ready to go back to bed for the rest of the day. It’s
not…and my eyesight is worse than it was…not so much worse, and I
think my hearing is down some. Everything is…what you say, ‘down’,
but, unfortunately, when you get a certain age, your various imbalances
and hormones—they either get you too thin or too fat. And the pants
I’m wearing tonight fit just perfectly, but…

	What is it? Everybody says it’s three years since I was here. Well,
if you say so, that’s fine. I thought it was two. 

	But the pants fit perfectly now. I think the coat may want to get a
little bit small; so, I think everything kind of works together for
good, but not always the way you feel good about it.

2.	Now, this is not the message that I was planning to bring, because
there’s a message yet that I have to bring, and I must bring very,
very shortly, because I want to sort of take up some loose ends and
qualify some things that were said, because I don’t want to leave this
earth having said things which would be misconstrued, or not necessarily
misconstrued, or misunderstood—very properly misunderstood, but have
been given a wrong slant, some that… Not that it interfered with the
true doctrine, but it didn’t line up with all of it. So, that service
is coming later on.

3.	Now, needless to say, I’m like Bro. Branham, that there is no home
like your own home church, the people you live with. I remember a
certain lady that didn’t have the best of marriages, because she had
married a man with children, and she had children. And you know how it
is: they used to say, “Your children and my children are fighting our
children, so we better have a little showdown here.”

	Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but it was some interference. They
had no children together, and you know, she did have some problem. But,
when he died, she looked at me, and she sort of, not ashamed, but sort
of shyly said, “You know, you can’t live with a man twenty-five
years without loving him.”

	And that’s the way it is with the church. You simply cannot help but
love the people that you are with. And so many of you mean so much to
me, not just the older ones that I knew many, many years ago, but
everybody coming in. And you’ve been sort of brought up in a way which
has been more Baptist and Presbyterian than Pentecostal. Now I don’t
regret that, but there are people who feel sensitive about that. They
like to have a little more emotion. Now, when I was in Pentecost we had
a lot of emotion, but, tragically, the… Here’s where they went
wrong. When the Lord anointed, (And people were happy, and they shouted
and they praised the Lord.) they considered that, if they would do that,
then the same anointing would come back. So, they shout and they praise
the Lord and many times there was no anointing that came back; and other
times there were anointings that did come back, and so they got out of
line. 

4.	Some time, I… If we’re all available, I’ll talk to you about
the gifts and explain them to you and show you how Bro. Branham was so
right in what he said, and how we can even have gifts today, and, not
that we want to take them off the shelf, but there could be gifts in the
church. Bro. Branham said, “As long as there’s a Bride on earth, a
true Bride, there’d be a true gift of tongues.” Well, if there’d
be a true gift of tongues, then there are all the other eight gifts in
there, which are special gifts. There’s a series of gifts that are
special in three different ways, and we’ll go into that some time. 

5.	I feel so good about being here, but not seeing is very, very
difficult. I can’t seem to make that connection I can make with you,
and I can look around. I’m praying that my eyesight is coming back. It
was coming back beautifully under drops that were very good; and then,
the FDA stepped in and said, “Sorry. The pharmaceutical company
doesn’t like that; so, you don’t get your drops that can heal your
eyes;” so… We’ll meet them a little later on, no problem. But, if
I go blind, then… Samuel went blind; and I don’t think David had
such good eyesight; and Eli was blind, and he fell over backwards. He
got too fat. He fell over backwards and died. I’m not quite that fat,
yet. But who knows? 

	But you know eyesight is a very important thing; and, if you people
here have problems with your eyes, don’t neglect them. You eat the
nourishment that your eyes require, or take eye exercises; get the drops
that are good. I don’t say that the drops we have now are the
world’s best, though they come from Russia. The ones that came from
Florida must have something other than what the others had, because they
knocked the blind spot out of my eye. I was seeing good, and then, those
drops went away and more drops were no good. So, I’m sort of sitting
on a log and waiting for the current to come in and to take me out a
little further.

6.	Now, we’re going to take you into a message tonight that actually,
I don’t know exactly where I’m going to end it. I have been thinking
on this subject, but I never thought it through. I don’t know just
where it goes to, just where it ends, but it will give you a little
thought—provocative, I hope—that makes you to think a little more
deeply on the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I’m going to
have to have Bro. John come up here, (He’s a good reader.) and I’m
going to have him read Isaiah 53, and then, we’ll have him read into
Luke 22 and I’ll sort of find the verses. So, there’s a mike here. 

	[Bro. John (JM): Okay.] 

	Yeah, read the whole chapter, because I think we’re going to have to
have it all. 

(1)	Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD
revealed?

(2)	For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out
of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

(3)	He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised,
and we esteemed him not.

(4)	Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

(5)	But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.

(6)	All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

(7)	He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth:
he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

(8)	He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare
his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for
the transgression of my people was he stricken.

(9)	And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his
death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his
mouth.

(10)	Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall
prosper in his hand.

(11)	He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear
their iniquities.

(12)	Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul
unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Amen.)

7.	Now, we want Luke 22, and I think about verse 42 or something like
that. Let’s see what you start with. [JM: What verse, Bro. Vayle?]
Let’s see 42, where it comes in; he comes to the Garden of Gethsemane.
[JM: You mean when he came out and went to the Mount of Olives? From
there? Yeah. [JM: Where he is praying?] Yeah. [JM: And then, saying,
“Father, if Thou be willing...”] Yeah. [So, do you want me to just
start reading there? … Okay.]

(39)	And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives;
and his disciples also followed him. 

(40)	And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter
not into temptation.

(41)	And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled
down, and prayed, 

(42)	Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

(43)	And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening
him. 

(44)	And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was
as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 

(45)	And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he
found them sleeping for sorrow, 

(46)	And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into
temptation.

	Thank you. Beautifully read.

8.	Now, in this Good Friday message, taken from Isaiah 53 and Luke 22,
you’ll notice that Jesus was in a great quandary and in great sorrow
and very great pressure, and he called unto the Father, “If it be
possible, let this cup pass from me.” And he sweat great drops of
blood in his depression and in his sorrow—his travail at that
particular time. Now it seems to me that we look at this trial that
Jesus went through where he went to the Garden of Gethsemane, and he
prayed to the Lord that what was about to happen would not happen; and I
think, while not wanting to, we look at that as though Jesus wished to
escape the scourging and the trial and the crucifixion that was to
follow, which he knew was inevitable. And I think that is true to a
measure, but it is not what is really true. For instance, to think that
Jesus really wanted to escape the judging that he would be called
“Beelzebub,” and he would be crucified and cast out, denied, and
repudiated, and buried—who knows where, that to me is not so.

	When Jesus was with his disciples, he said, “The day is coming when
you’re going to be hated of all people for my sake. You’re going to
be cast out from amongst the people and from the temple. There will be
people that will put you to death, thinking that you do God a
service.”

	So, that could not have been a part of his prayer of request that that
cup be denied him.

	Now, consider scourging. Already, Jesus had warned his disciples that
they would be scourged for his sake; and furthermore, when God met Paul
on the road to Damascus, He told Ananias the great things that Paul must
suffer for the sake of Christ. And you will notice that Paul was
scourged five times, thirty-nine stripes, which is forty times five,
less five—195 stripes. We don’t know exactly how many stripes that
Jesus had. 

	So, it could not be that Jesus was wanting to be absolved from the
striping. Otherwise, where was his manhood, and what was he trying to
convey to his own disciples that they should be scourged, and he prayed
the Father and he would be free. That does not align at all with
Scripture, because, as I say, Paul, the great apostle and prophet to the
Gentiles, was scourged five times whereas Jesus was scourged only the
once.

9.	Then, think again of crucifixion, as Bro. Branham said, “the
cruelest type of death,” and there’s no one to argue that. The two
thieves, one on each side, were crucified, as were hundreds of people
before Jesus. So, crucifixion was very common, though very terrible. If
you think that scourging was bad, though it was, because in the days of
Rome, if a man brought a complaint against another that seems, oh, sort
of justified, and that person, against whom the complaint came, was
brought to justice, the judge would say, “Well, I really can’t put
any fault to you or anything that is wrong, but you must have done
something suspicious; so, therefore, we will scourge you and let you
go.”

	So, you see, scourging was very, very common. And crucifixion was very,
very, common. They pinioned the hands and the feet, and, as the body
sunk, you couldn’t breathe. Your breath was cut off, so you’d kind
of rise it a little bit, as your strength allowed, and then sag down.
And, who is to say that the pain and the sorrow that those two thieves
had was any less than what Jesus had? There’s nothing in Scripture
that says that the nails that bit into his hand, and therefore were
sorer, and the feet had the nails in them, and therefore, they were much
sorer than the others. And then, take in consideration that as Jesus
hung upon the cross of Calvary where he was nailed, he was able to talk,
but he didn’t much. The others were able to talk. For a while they
threw slander in the face of Jesus by saying, “If you’re the Son of
God, come down from the cross and take us with you.”

10.	Well, if he were the Son of God and came down from the cross, it’s
a cinch he wouldn’t take them with him, because they were worthy of
punishment whereas he was not. But just consider for a moment there,
that as Jesus hung upon the cross, the same time they were, and they
were all men, he said, “Into Thy hands, I commend my spirit.” Well,
his spirit left him to go to God. And then, It said, “He cried with a
loud voice, and they gave him vinegar and myrrh on a sponge, which he
did not take. And then, It says he gave up the ghost. He had already
told his disciples that “I can lay my life down, and I can take it up
again.” And you’ll notice that he had the power to discharge his
life, which he did, and that would end his suffering. 

	Now the others did not have that power. And you’ll notice that,
because it was not possible to have someone hanging upon a tree after
dark—as the Scripture says, “Cursed is everyone who hangeth upon a
tree”—and it was the beginning of the Passover, the preparation and
all, they could not allow those thieves and Jesus to remain on the
cross. So, they set out to see that they were dead, and they broke the
legs of those two men hanging on the cross. But, when they came to
Jesus, he was already dead.

11.	So, as we look at this, it cannot be said, as I see it, under any
circumstance, that Jesus said, “Let this cup pass from me.” It could
not have been ‘that’ cup—not as I understand it—because, as I
say, hundreds had been scourged, hundreds had been crucified. And, when
he was with the other two that certainly did not represent him, (but
represented the world—one of which took him and one of which turned
his back on him) here he was, able to discharge his life when they
weren’t able to. So, why was it that he said, “If this cup can pass
from me, let it pass from me”?

	Now, we know categorically that he bore our sorrows, which are aches,
and he bore our sorrows and our pains, our aches and our pains; he bore
our iniquity: “By his stripes, we are healed.” But, where do you
find in the Gospels themselves what is spoken of by Isaiah. It says that
“his soul was made an offering for sin.” Now, when it comes to his
body, it’s graphically told in the Scripture that almost all things
are purged by Blood, and they are. And without the shedding of Blood,
there is no remission of sin. So, it was very vital that his Blood be
shed. It had to be shed for the remission of sins, which were past. Now,
when you come to God, you’re advised under Paul that that Blood remits
your past sins. The songwriter also said, “Cancels sin;” and, of
course, we later on understand, there’s power over sin.

	Now, in another place… Well, going on, It says the high priest, once
a year, has to take that blood in, not only for the people it
represents, but for himself. Now that’s a very great thing right
there. He takes that in for himself, and he offers the blood. And, if he
has been correct, he is able to come forth; and we know that the sins of
the high priest and the sins of the people have been forgiven for the
past year. But, what about the coming year? Well, the coming year, they
were right back where they were. There was no consciousness of God
enabling them to overcome sin. 

12.	Now we realize that God did enable them by the Word and by the law,
and especially he enabled them by giving them phylacteries, where there
was a band around your head and a little box. And in the box there was a
Scripture. And, as you bobbed up and down, “bong, bong, bong,” that
told you that Scripture. And they bound them around their wrists, so
that every time their hands moved, “tick, tick, tick,” that’s the
Word. You think the Word, you do the Word by your hands, and it’s
bound around your ankles. Maybe some of them had skirts with
pomegranates and bells, like the high priest. I don’t know. But
anyway, they bound them around their ankles. And that reminded them all
the time: you’ve got to walk right, and you’ve got to do right, and
you’ve got to see and think right; you’ve got to hear right. 

	And, of course, it wasn’t something they could put around their
tongue—which would have been a wonderful thing, because the tongue is
the enemy of all. And Peter said, “If any man speak, let him speak as
the oracles of God.” So therefore, if we have a conversation amongst
ourselves, it should always be upon the Word of Almighty God.

13.	So, the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for the remission of sin. And
It says the sinner would bring his complaints and his sins once a year
to the high priest (more than once a year), because, if he sinned, what
he had to do was to bring an offering of a kid or a young bullock or
something the Scripture wanted him to have, and he would place his hand
on that head of that animal, signifying that the animal life was taking
care of his sin, which was in his life, and the animal was slain. That
meant that that life of sin was forgiven, because the priest sprinkled
upon the altar, and so on.

14.	But, when it came to the blood of Jesus Christ, you will notice that
the heavens must have a better service rendered than just the blood of
bulls and goats, and the people would have to be sprinkled by something
better than bulls and goats. So therefore, the blood of Jesus came
through the sprinkling of the heavens, which demanded something very,
very great. And so, we see not only the people being cleansed by the
Blood, the souls being set free, the bodies also meriting help by reason
of the stripes of Jesus Christ, but we see, therefore, that this Blood
was far greater in its power than any blood of bulls and beasts. As Bro.
Branham said, “The life of the beasts could not come upon the man,
because it was inferior.”  See, the beasts cannot have a conscience;
only man can have a conscience, because he knows right from wrong. Now
we realize that, in animals, if you train them, they know right from
wrong in the sense that they’ve learned to obey. But that’s out of
the picture entirely, because animals don’t have souls; they have
spirits—spirits only.

	But, when Jesus shed His Blood, there was a sprinkling also in the
heavens, because the heavens themselves had sin ever since the time
Satan was kicked out. Even though Satan was kicked out, there was no
real remedy for the cleansing of heaven. 

15.	But, go a little further. When we’re talking about the blood of
Jesus being shed, it is also called the Blood of the Covenant. Now I
know of no covenant that was made between man and God at that time. I
don’t know of any. The only thing I can think of that this covenant
is, “I will write my laws in their hearts and their minds.” And, of
course, that will be, then, obedience and living in the Word. Now the
Blood of the Covenant, at the time of Jesus’ death, not only allowed
us freedom of our past sin, but it gave us a covenant, and that covenant
had to do with the Father and the Son concerning us. And he said, “All
that the Father has given me will come to me, and in nowise will I cast
them out.” And he said, “I’ll put them in my Father’s hand, and
my Father is greater than I, and no man can pluck them out.”

	So, now we have an irrevocable covenant of security because of that
shed Blood. I know it’s not the same as the sealing of the Holy
Spirit—it embraces the Holy Spirit to a degree, because the Word is
written in our hearts and minds. But it’s called the Blood of the
Covenant as well as it’s called the Blood for the Remission of Sins.

	Now you can see that, in that aspect, this would not be what was
perplexing Jesus. This would be great triumph to the Son of God to give
his life and shed his blood as the prophets had—as many people had.
But now, this is different: Where they were part of the Word of
redemption, he has become the whole of it. He ‘is’ the lamb whose
life is shed. He ‘has’ the Blood which flowed in his veins:
“Created blood of God,” as Bro. Branham said. But Jesus himself
‘was’ the blood of God. Why? Because God was actually in him; and
so, therefore, as he, being the life that God was using, he was
definitely the blood of God; and that’s what Acts tell us.

16.	So, as we find him, then, as this accepted sacrifice, it gives us
access to Almighty God, because there is no other way of having access.
Bro. Branham said, “The only place of worship is in the Son,” and
that is because of the Blood, whether people believe it or not. And this
is strange, because we realize that, though the atonement is limited,
Jesus died for the whole world. That means every single person: That’s
the seed of serpent; that’s the seed of Adam. He owns it all, He
bought it all, and they are responsible to him, and none can say they
are not. In other words he owns the whole world by reason of purchase
price, which was the Blood. He gave his life for it. Even as
Nebuchadnezzar said, “God ruleth in the armies of the heaven and
earth, and none can say, ‘Nay.’ They cannot tell Him what to do, or
what He cannot do.”

	So, Jesus has procured us; and therefore, having procured us, if we are
sheep, then he stands for us. This way he becomes our mediator; and the
mediator is to bring you in; not to keep you out, but to bring you in.
And, when you are brought in, the Blood does not give you the power to
overcome sin; it’s the power of forgiveness of sins and of the
covenant between God and the Son as to how they are going to effect a
perfect salvation in the plan of God. And it’s all by grace, which you
see there.

17.	So, the next thing to realize is that, not only is he a mediator,
but he’s an intercessor. And by an intercessor, he is able to hear our
prayers and be an advocate for us—like an attorney. And he helps us
when we cannot help ourselves. 

	Now John makes a remarkable statement. He said, “Now, if we know that
He hear us, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of
Him.”

	Now, how do we know that He hears us? Well, the Bible says that “He
that turneth away his ear from hearing My Word, I will turn away My ear
from hearing his word.” That lets you know right there: if you believe
this Word—you honestly believe it; (And we do.) you have, absolutely,
the positive reliance that He hears you—now it takes the next step of
faith, which is simply ‘faith’, “If He hears me, then He will
answer me.” When will He answer me? According to the steps that are
necessary to build your character, whereby you will be worthy to receive
this and know what to do with it. Now, that is a mouthful right there,
if you caught it, but that is honestly the truth, because God cannot
give much to those who have poor characters.

18.	You know, you’ve heard of… I don’t know if you’ve heard of
him or not, but I remember a man—years ago, he’s Pentecostal, nice
guy, but, you know, he was for the birds. He was a smoker, and you know,
the Lord delivered him—just like that.

	“Why,” he said, “this is great. Hallalujah. Why, I could smoke a
cigarette now. The Lord could take it away.”

	So, he puffed, puffed, puffed, and the Lord never took it away. As far
as I know, he died, puff, puff. 

	You see, character is not wrought, and it’s not a gift at a
moment’s notice. Character takes time. Character is like the
psychiatrists tell us: “You don’t break old habits; you build new
habits.” As Paul said, “If any man thinks himself a prophet or
spiritual, let him acknowledge the Words that I write are the
commandments of God.” That word ‘knowledge’ means ‘to
superimpose’. So, if you ‘superimpose’ something, that thing is
not in evidence anymore. You’ve just got to read what’s on top
there.

19.	So, Jesus is our mediator, and he’s a mediator because of the
Blood. Now, being the Son of God, and the Only-begotten, and knowing
that he had a mission in life, and knowing that he said that the Son of
man shall be betrayed, and betrayed into the hands of the Gentiles, and
they shall scourge him, and they shall crucify him, and the third day he
shall rise again… And there was a ring of triumph and of positivity in
his voice and in his manners, the same as Polycarp and John and Peter,
and all the great saints. He had to have this, what you might call,
genuine optimism and reliance on God in faith that he will give his
life; they will nail him to the cross; he will suffer; they will put him
in a tomb; he will certainly die, and rise the third day. 

	And he said, “You will also probably”—those that were
leaders—“would be put to the same test.” He said, “If they hurt
you, persecute you in one city, flee to the other.” He said,
“They’ll hate you in all the world for my Name’s sake.” He said,
“They’ll scourge you, they’ll crucify you, and do every manner of
things.” He said, “Look at me,” he said, “they’re going to do
it to me, and I’m perfect,” and he said, “and you are far less
from perfect, so what can you expect?”

	Well, they can expect the same thing, only worse. So, he was happy in
his soul that he would actually please the Father, to be the sacrifice,
to stay the power of sin, to destroy the power of sin, and then, mediate
and intercede so that there would be a real spiritual worship; and where
people would gather, two or three, he could be in their midst, where
there wasn’t anything too hard for the Lord to do, where He could
raise up a Bride for the glory of Almighty God, that he could be the
instrument to institute the kingdom of Almighty God. 

20.	And, if you think of the kingdom of God, remember that the earth at
that time was like it is now—five-sixths water, and only one-sixth
land, and there was a great kingdom of the heavens. In fact, I believe
that there’s a kingdom of heaven and a kingdom of God.

	Most Bible teachers, and rightly so, say there’s no difference: They
can’t see anything but that the kingdom of God and the kingdom of
heaven are alike. But I read where David said, “The heaven of heavens
cannot contain Thee.” So, I look, in my thinking, (And you can do what
you want, because this is just Lee Vayle.) but it’s a thought, that
the kingdom of God is superior to the kingdom of heaven, you know; but,
yet, they are intertwined, and they are one with each other, so that
Jesus, I don’t believe, was sweating blood over the fact that he was
going to be betrayed into the hands of the people—be taken to
Pilate’s judgment hall, (He said he would be.) that he’d be
scourged, then he’d be turned back to the soldiers, and the crowd
would say, “Crucify him;” and they would take him and crucify him,
and they would lay him in a tomb, and he was dead, and people would say,
“Well, that’s too bad, but that’s the end,” because they just
couldn’t see one rising from the dead—even after Jesus raised
Lazarus, four days, then a resurrection. Then, Lazarus had to die again.
And, of course, the Pharisees, they were a little too happy to try to
see that he died a little quicker than God wanted him to die. But, he
didn’t die; they tried to kill him. 

21.	But here it is that Jesus played the role that did not, in my
understanding, include that where he shed great drops of blood and said,
“Lord, not my will, but thine be done.” He was looking past Calvary;
Calvary was not the disturbing factor. 

	In fact, look at your own life. Wouldn’t you be happy to be destroyed
for some sake of some others, or somebody? Now I didn’t know how God
would do it, but I prayed earnestly that God would take my life, instead
of Bro. Branham’s. And I was happy as a lark to give it. If it would
have meant skewering, well, that’s all right. If it meant poisoning;
so, who could help it? But I’d have been happy. But there’s others,
there’s been hundreds that would have given their lives for Bro.
Branham. How much more would they have given their lives for Jesus?
Then, how much more would Jesus give his life for the sheep? Because
he’s way, way superior to us in his thoughts and in his ways. 

	So, I’m looking at a little deeper. How deep? I don’t know. 

22.	Where all it leads, I don’t know, but leaving you with that
thought: in the Book of Isaiah It tells you that his soul shall be
poured unto death, and his soul shall be given for our iniquities. Now,
when Jesus died on the cross, he said, “Into Thy hands I commend my
spirit.” And Peter says, (I think it’s Peter who says.) that “by
his spirit he went down and preached to the souls that were disobedient
in the time of Noah, which he did, by the spirit. But, what about his
soul? “Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nor my body see
corruption.”

	So, Jesus’ soul went to hell. 

	Well, people say, “Well, he went down there and led captivity
captive.” 

	That is true, but It also says, “Thou shalt not leave my soul in
hell.”

	In other words, his soul was sorrowful unto death, that he was in a
position, as he said on the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?” And that was the cup of sorrow, because separation from
God is death and is hell. What did Jesus suffer when he was in hell?
What did he suffer in taking upon him the sins of the world? We don’t
know. 

23.	But we can go back a little bit in his history. Here he is in God.
There’s no identity and no identifying Jesus. He is in God. 

	Now, then, You can take Jn 1:1 as being the first move of God, which is
perfectly fine, or you can take the birth of Jesus where God birthed
Jesus, and at the same time God gave birth to God, because God is an
object of worship, and there was no one there to worship him. And
you’ll notice the Bible says, “Blest be the God of our Father, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the God and Father. So, ‘God’ means the Son
worshipped his Father. So, I would contend, if not necessarily be
correct, that the Son was birthed from God. He was a part of God and
instantly emerging from God. There would be a definition, which would be
his body—in other words, a spirit-form body.

24.	Now God gave him the right to tune in on His, God’s, omniscience
and omnipotence. And He said, “I will see what My Son will do with
these great abilities that I have allowed him. He is My first Son, and I
will see how sons go, and I will test him right now. So, He gives him
power, and He sits back, and He watches the Son: as Bro. Branham said,
“A Father, looking over the balustrade, and He’s seeing the Son
playing around the door, like a little light,” or something, whatever
he called it, and “What will My Son do with My omniscience?”

	Well, the Son will probe the omniscience: “What is in my Father’s
mind?” I know He wants a kingdom; I know He wants His greatness to be
known. But, where do we start? Where do we start?”

	And so, the Son makes a move, and Bro. Branham said, “The Father
looks back and said, ‘He did it right; that’s good.”

	The Son has to ponder, “Well,” he said, “what will the Father do
next? I don’t want to do anything… I’ve got all this power here,
and all this knowledge that is so vast that, where will I start?”

	So, he tunes in to God, and he feels the Spirit moving him to do this,
and he said, “Let there be this.”

	And the Father said, “That’s exactly right.”

25.	And so, you see him in creation and setting up the kingdom of God.
And before there is an earth, perhaps as we know the earth and the
universe (though perhaps there is), God allows the kingdom in heaven, or
the kingdom of God, to be built. And in there, you’ll find by
Scripture, there are the pattern of the ark and the pattern of the
future, all the types and signs of salvation, et cetera, et cetera. And
here we find that the kingdom is set up so that God allows Satan and the
archangel Gabriel to be the two main ones in the system. Now then, Bro.
Branham said that Jesus was Michael. So, therefore, he must have moved
from whatever his logos was, to Michael being that logos—something
just the same as Jesus, as God was in Jesus, when he was on earth.

	Well, there was a conflict of interest, because Satan wanted to disturb
heaven and take it away from the perfect pattern that Jesus had
established by tuning in on God’s omniscience and His omnipotence by
doing them. He figured there could be something better. Now, let’s
understand this: “Thou wert perfect in all thy ways, until iniquity
was found in thee.” Iniquity is perverting the Word; iniquity is
perversion of anything. And Satan began to pervert that Word. And,
remember; he was the cherubim that sat over the ark of the covenant; he
was supposed to guard the Word. Well, he didn’t guard the Word; he
began changing things. And so, there was a war in heaven, and, of
course, Satan was cast out.

26.	Now, you see, the point I’m bringing out is that Jesus could not
stand any unrighteousness. He could not stand a deviation from the Word.
He could stand only the Word of God in Its perfection, and he, by reason
of being the tutored Son of God, before he became incarnate, was able,
here upon earth, to put the Word of God in perfect revelation, which
they turned down. They listened to Satan. And so, all this earthly
kingdom became Satan’s kingdom, because he couldn’t rule up here.
And yet, at the same time he had access to heaven. But Jesus also has
more than access to heaven, because he is the right-hand man of God.
Now, remember; he is not Godhead; he is governor. He’s King of kings
and Lord of lords. So, though Satan may approach God and be the accuser
day and night, he cannot get past our intercessor.

27.	So, when Jesus’ soul was in hell, that cost him something that you
and I cannot possibly understand. It’s the same as you or I finding
access to oxygen that has been frozen—takes a good deal of
temperature, or what they call ‘quick freezing’. And you plunge your
hand in that. The minute you plunge your hand in, then that hand’s
frozen. That hand is gone; it’s dead. 

	So, I’m showing you the power of what chemicals can do. What could
the powers of spiritual, which are sin, do to Jesus, when he was in
hell; for how long, I do not know, because he shortly went to take
those, the seed of Abraham, and take out those in the First
Resurrection. But in spirit, he preached to the souls of those that were
lost, and then, “Thou will not leave my soul in hell.” But he had to
go there.

28.	So now, I cannot swim. I’ve tried to learn to swim. My feet are
like two concrete blocks. I can no more float than a log, or you’d say
a ‘concrete brick’. I just cannot swim; I’ve tried it. There’s
no dice. I’d have to put water-wings on my feet and a helicopter above
my head. No good.

	Well, I’m just trying to show you: if, in the natural, I am horrified
by being out of my element, what would Jesus have suffered in hell,
being out of his element. He didn’t belong there. He did not belong
there. What would it have done to his soul? Here, the Bible says, “Who
is so blind as my righteous servant.” Jesus was blind to everything on
earth, everything on heaven that had a scintilla of that which was
against God and His Word. 

29.	So, therefore, I cannot possibly convey to you, nor can you, at this
time, receive what I am trying to say, because none of us has within us
the horror of sin—having not known sin, and not having had any part in
sin, because we were holy from the beginning and had led a holy life,
and now we must come down in the sin and the horror of
darkness—separation from God.

	There is no time that you or I have ever been actually separated from
God, for this reason: as Bro. Branham said, “There will come a time
when you’ll know you always were saved.” In other words there was
always that little line in there that you could go so far, but you
couldn’t go any further. 

	I remember my good friend, Rolf Barnard, who was a Baptist, full of the
Holy Ghost, didn’t speak in tongues—wonderful ministry. So, we got
him to go to Bro. Branham’s meeting, and he just sat there chuckling
and laughing, and enjoying it. He said, “That’s great; I loved it. I
don’t understand it, but I sure love it.” See?

30.	Now, here’s Jesus; and how could anyone born in sin, shaped in
iniquity, being children that are fallen, from our very birth—come
into the world speaking lies, and here we are… None of us is perfect.
We’re only perfect through the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
the Scripture says, “We have become the righteousness of God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, God, reconciling the world to Himself, through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything… Listen; everything that comes from
God comes through Jesus Christ. Everything that goes to God goes through
Jesus Christ.

	Now we never came from God in the sense that Jesus came from God. We
came through human instrumentality. He was born free as the Son of God.
Now we, as Christians… And, if you’re not a Christian, you won’t
follow this, but there are things in our lives that we are
horror-stricken to think about them, if we should be in it. There are
things that appall us; no way do we want a part of that.

	Now, he became sin for us, who knew no sin. That’s the one, who knew
no sin, became sin. Some say, “Well, that means he became the
sacrifice,” the sacrifice for sin. 

	Well, I can take that, too. But, on the other hand, Bro. Branham said,
“Take every Word as it is, and believe It.” So, he became sin for
us. 

31.	Well, now, what’s the gamut of sin? He was tempted in all points
like as we are, and there are about three paragraphs in a certain place
that Bro. Brian Kocourek got up from the computer from Bro. Branham’s
sermons where it tells you, in graphic words, how that Jesus Christ was
tempted, yet he did not fall.

	What about us who fall into it? See? And, what about when you’re
born-again? How do you feel, if sin begins to overcome you? And at one
time or other, sin has overcome you, and now you realize that that’s
wrong; that’s not to be ever done again—not to be thought of; and
you repent, and you come to God, and He takes that away. How do you
feel? See? 

	Paul himself knew that, and he deplored the fact that his kinsmen could
not see the righteousness of Christ, and the sacrifice that Jesus Christ
made and that he was the Messiah, as well as that prophet, because the
Messiah is a prophet. 

	The more you read the Book of John, the more you’re going to come to
the conclusion that Jesus was a prophet. I’m sorry about that, but
everybody has it all down that he was God, or this or that. But you read
over and over again that he was absolutely a prophet the way Moses said
he was; but he was more than a prophet. He became a Savior. Being a
prophet does not annul the fact that he was a Savior. And being a Savior
does not annul the fact that he was a prophet. And he was certainly a
prophet of God.

32.	Now, he, as that prophet, was sinless. He said, “Which of you can
convince me of sin? Which of you can possibly pin on me anything which
is unrighteous?”

	And, of course, they could not do it. Now, just watch a second here:
Here’s John the Baptist comes on the scene, and he’s a prophet, and
what is he doing? He is baptizing unto repentance. Now Jesus comes
along; and, if John is baptizing unto repentance, which is a change of
mind, what kind of repentance does Jesus have?

	Well, you say, “Bro. Branham explained that. He said, “That’s the
washing of the sacrifice.”

	Well, I know that is, and I have no problem with it. But It also says
that John was baptizing unto repentance. So, what does that mean to me?
It means that this one, whose mind was exactly the mind of God, was all
purity, was coming down here now with a change of mind. Now, he’s got
human eyes and human ears, he’s got all the five senses, and he’s
being barraged by it. He’s being tempted by every single thing that
you and I and all the world have been tempted of. So now, what’s he
got? He’s had a change of mind, whether he wants it or not. He’s got
a mind which can absorb these things that should not be had. What does
he do?

33.	Satan came to him, and he said, “Well, now, I’ll tell you what:
You’re hungry.”

	He said, “Now, no doubt about it: I’m hungry. I’ve been fasting
up here for forty days.”

	“Well,” he said, “these stones here, you can turn them into
bread, if you’re the Son of God. Nothing to it.”

	“Well,” he said, “I don’t deny that. I could turn them into
loaves of bread, but the Word says, “Man shalt not live by bread
alone, but every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

	So, Satan said, “Well,” he said, “any man knows one of the
quickest ways to get your ministry off the ground is by attention.
Well,” he said, “I tell you what: You’re supposed to have a
ministry, and there’s nothing better than showing the people that
you’ve got something on the ball. So, how about me taking you up to
the temple top and you jumping off, and the Bible says, ‘Angels shall
bear you up in case you bump your foot against a stone.’”

	And he said, “Yes, that’s certainly true. I could take an umbrella
and do the same thing, but the Bible says, “You don’t tempt the Lord
Your God.’”

	“Well,” he said, “I’ll tell you what: That’s fair enough,
but,” he said, “I’ve got something that you think that you’re
supposed to have, and I won’t deny the fact that maybe fifty billion
years from now you could have it, but why don’t you just look at all
this world out here—it’s all mine. Now,” he said, “I know that
God, through you, created, but you lost it. I’ll give it back to you;
just you fall down and worship me.”

	You see, everything is hitting his mind as a human being; because, when
he came down, he put aside his robes; he put aside that spirit-form
body, (Yes, he put it aside.) but he had a memory. And that memory was
in clash with the memory of man, like ours is at all times. That is why
Paul said, “Bring it under control.”

	And so, he said, “Look, you can have it all now.”

	“Well,” he said, “I don’t want it, because “Thou shalt
worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve,’” and those
three seemed to sum up every single thing at that point.

34.	But it goes deeper, because he gives his soul for our sins. Now,
look; he gives His Blood for our sins, but he gives his soul also. Now
we’re not saying the soul is in the blood, because the life is in the
blood. We’re talking about two different things. We’re talking about
one where there’s propitiation, and there is a covenant. We’re
talking about the fact that you have lost your unrighteousness, and you
have gained His righteousness, wherein you’re positioned to do so,
once you’re baptized in water and receive the Holy Ghost. And God was
in Christ, reconciling us unto Him, the Blood of the Covenant. 

	That stands there, and that’s true. But there’s a far…in my
understanding, which I have not plumbed and I have not got into full
line of thinking; and I may never have it… But in my heart and mind,
there is something far beyond Jesus praying for that cup to pass away.
It could not, under any circumstance, in my thinking, be just the
crucifixion and a simple death, and the victory of taking out the
captives from captivity, and coming back and ascending on high, and
being mediator and intercessor. It goes to the fact that he gave his
soul.

35. Now, let’s ask the question, “What was the soul of Jesus? And,
what is your soul, if you’re a child of God? You have a little portion
of God that was you. That’s the real you. The other part is
sympathetic to it and is necessary in the plan of God. But Jesus had a
larger portion. Now, if God, as Bro. Branham said, “tore that soul out
of him,” that soul, then, was a complete departure from Jesus Christ,
and left him alone without anything. He was directly in limbo. And, if
that soul was made sin for us, how do you consider, or do you conceive,
that even a part of God could be made sin?

	Well, I don’t believe it was made sin, but it took the place of sin
for you and me, because there could be nothing approachable unto God in
the form of sin. But the very fact that he yielded that back to God, as
a sacrifice, which would be the most humbling and horrifying thing that
anybody could ever think of, or to any depth that anybody could go,
would be to give back that eternality that he had with Him and the
association with the Father, wherein he was a part of that Father. And
he gave it up; and that’s what he did not want to give up. 

36.	Giving up his body: that’s wonderful. Others have done it, but his
was much better. Suffering: others have suffered, but his was much
greater. The Blood that he gave was literally the pure Blood, when he
gave his whole body, that was the blood of God. When he died, he died
for our justification. He rose again that we might rise with him, and he
rose also that we might be filled with the Holy Ghost. And we appreciate
that. But, do we appreciate the fact that his soul was actually given as
a price, that which he had, and that which he had given, to redeem us?

	Now, how would that be? He, then, put himself in a position without
redemption, (There’s nothing to redeem.) so that you and I could have
redemption. Now, see, the same, as Bro. Branham talked about in Moses:
he said, “Lord, if you take them, take me.”

	What about Paul? He said, “If I could, I’d give the God in me for a
sacrifice that my brethren might come in.”

37.	Now, how would you like to sit here tonight and give your soul for
somebody else? Now you might think about it, but could you do it? Could
you forfeit the salvation that lies just ahead of you? Would you forfeit
the treasures that you might have already laid up in heaven? Would you
be willing to be a nobody, not even an animal, nothing but just a little
fodder for the Lake of Fire that somebody might be saved?

	Now we get some pretty noble thoughts at times; but, when Jesus saw
himself literally as a pawn for the whole world… Remember, there are
two worlds: the world of the godly, and the world of the ungodly. But
Jesus actually bought every one of those souls, because God said, “All
souls are mine.”

	And here he was, a sacrifice, so that he paid the price and bought back
every single person in this world, so that God can do what He so desires
with the serpent seed, and He can so do what he so desires with you and
me. As Paul said in Romans, “For this cause have I raised thee up,
that I might show My power in thee.” He said, “To whom I will be
gracious, I will be gracious; and to whom I will not be gracious, I will
not be gracious.” He said, “To whom I will compassionate, I will
compassionate.”

	He said, “Just think of it: when Rebekah and Isaac brought forth the
twins, and He said, “Esau have I hated, and Jacob have I loved.” Of
course, I know you’ll look in the index, and it’ll say that word
‘hated’ means ‘loved less’. Well, that’s not really true. You
study the history of Esau, and you study the history of those that God
did not compassionate, and you’ll find that word ‘hate’ is a very
good word.

38.	So, there’s a depth to our Good Friday night meeting that we must
look at a little more carefully and see that price that Jesus did pay,
and why he prayed, “Let this cup be taken from me,” when he knew the
great glory of giving His Blood satisfied one count, but there was
something which was terrifying that could only satisfy the other
account. And that’s when It says, “The Lord shall look upon it and
be satisfied.” And that’s what preachers call ‘the satisfaction of
God’, where God looked down, and He was perfectly satisfied. Then,
that soul went and picked up all the others and brought about a
resurrection.

39.	And you know, I’ll just put it this way. I don’t have time to
finish it, because my mind’s not that good anymore, kind of like my
eyesight. What condition should the Bride be in tonight? Are we to the
place where we are strong for each other? We’re strong for ourselves;
we sow for ourselves. But, are we sowing for each other? Do you ever
stop to think what Paul said to the man that was a thief? He said,
“Let him who stole, steal no more, but, rather, let him work with his
hands that which is good.”

	Well, for what reason?

	Well, It says, “If a man doesn’t work, he can’t eat,” and It
said, “If he doesn’t take care of his family, he’s worse than an
infidel.”

	I agree with that, but that’s not what It says. “That he may have
to give to him that hath not.”

	You know, every one of you that is here tonight that is able to work,
you are told by the Word of God to work a little harder to lay up
something to give to somebody that doesn’t have it. Now that doesn’t
mean a guy that’s shiftless; you admonish him, even bring him before
the church. But I’m talking about people that don’t have anything.
And there are people that don’t have anything. Because we don’t see
them on our streets, we don’t keep praying, “Lord, give me an open
door; let me find someone to help, because I’ve got this on hand
now.” As Paul said, “We have all sufficiency for all things;” so,
there’s nobody can quail and say, “No, I don’t think I’ve got
anything.”

40.	Why I’ve had people phone me, because we give liberally to some of
these causes that we know to be good causes; and, of course, they change
names. So, one fellow phoned me the other day, and he wanted to give me
a spiel about giving some money.

	I said, “Well, sir,” I named a sum, which I won’t name to you,
which we give through the church, and it was just a part of what we give
every year to men that don’t have it, and children, and what have you.
And I said, “Well, you send me a little brochure or something.”

	You want to get me on forty-five bucks a month. I’m not giving to
anybody, unless I know the overhead is ten percent or less, because that
just means I’m getting somebody, you know, a nice deal: ten percent to
charity, and ninety percent to have a nice house and a penthouse and a
Cadillac. Phooey on that! I don’t want a penthouse or a Cadillac or
anything else. I want to serve the Lord.

	So, I just said, “Well, look here, you send me a brochure or
something.” 

	I haven’t got it yet. 

41.	No, no, but I’m serious with you as Christians. When did you ever
take to heart that saying that you should look out for your fellow man?
Let every man look not to his own, but to each other, and love each
other, strengthen each other. You know, if you don’t, the squeeze will
bring you together, and you’ll regret it. It’s good to be in
practice. You know, I think it was Kreisler, the great violinist, of
whom they said, “Why do you practice every day?”

	“Well,” he said, if I don’t, the first thing is: I know it; the
second thing is: my wife knows it; the third thing: the critics know it;
the fourth thing: the people know it, and they won’t come and hear me
anymore.

	You know, you’ve got to put into practice the Word of God, and I’ve
found that to be a very wonderful thing. I just wish I had more of the
Spirit of God to know just where to give, and how to give. I wish the
Church could come together and have visions and dreams, and have a Word
of knowledge, and a gift of prophecy, a Word of wisdom, a gift of faith,
so that the Bride of Christ would be listening in her robes, not to be
proud and say, “I did this,” or “I did that.” No, no, no. Just
to be Christians. That’s all.

42.	So, tonight, as we think of the Scripture, and we realize that Jesus
prayed, “Lord, if You could let this cup pass; nevertheless, I don’t
want it to pass.”

	It wasn’t just dying upon Calvary. It was something far deeper in the
soul and the plan of God that He suffered and died for, that you and I
will never, ever, know the depths of—we might not even know the
surface of—that price that he paid that you and I might have what we
have. 

43.	Just think; God gave us Bro. Branham. Do you realize, when Bro.
Branham talked to God, and he was a little insecure about his ministry,
and he wanted to go out there in the wilderness, you know, and come back
sort of, you know, fuzzy-faced—although he never came back
unshaven…? Now, don’t get me wrong. He didn’t shave for thirty
days, but the thirty-first day, off came all the whiskers. He didn’t
even like mustaches. He came out clean.

	But he was kind of fussing, and the Lord gave him, not a vision, but an
actual scenario of real life. When he came by the Grand Tetons, here was
a man just like Bro. Branham, and a man just like his brother-in-law,
just two fuzzy worms—just uncouth and nothing in life.

	And God said to him, “Would you want that or the other?” He said,
“Listen, Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest prophet that was
born of woman, and all he did was announce the First Coming of Christ,
the kingdom of God was at hand. You’ve been given the opportunity to
announce the Second Coming of Christ, and you’ve been given a gift of
healing and a gift of discernment. You’ve been given so much more than
John the Baptist ever had. Why are you wailing?”

44.	Why are we waiting for some big move of God, when we’ve got more
than we can handle? Why are we waiting for more than we have when the
Scripture says distinctly, (Way translation in the Book of Ephesians,
Bro. Branham epitomized it by saying:) “I have a gift: I’ve learned
to get out of the way.” And Paul says, “You have no idea what God
can do in and through you, if you let Him Who gave you the power,
exercise that power that’s within you.”

	Now, if God owns the power, isn’t it logical to believe that He knows
more about exercising that power than you and I do? So, it’s a matter
of getting out of the way. How far did Jesus get out of the way? How far
did he go to sweat drops of blood? What all did he lay down? I haven’t
got an answer for you. I’ve only brought this to make you think. And,
as I go along the road, I’ll be thinking and thinking more of it, and
someday I’ll come back and preach my final sermon. It’s not tonight,
so that I’ve got to worry about it, but that’s the way it is.

1.	Now, Bro. John, if you’ll read from Corinthians 11 here, we’ll
get ready for Communion. There’s a big Bible, and a little Bible. I
don’t know whose this is, I just borrowed it. My Bible just… [To
Bro. John:] No, just read eleven there. Just read that first part,
“This I received of the Lord…”

(23)	For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto
you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took
bread: 

(24)	And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat:
this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

(25)	After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped,
saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as
ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

(26)	For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew
the Lord's death till he come. 

(27)	Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the
Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 

(28)	But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread,
and drink of that cup. 

(29)	For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 

(30)	For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 

(31)	For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 

(32)	But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we
should not be condemned with the world. 

	Thank you. Well, as Bro. Branham said, “You don’t need anyone to
explain the Bible to you.” You just take every Word as it is given.
And Paul certainly laid it out tonight that the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, wherein he gave his body and his blood, and he also gave of
himself in a way that you and I can only look at, and marvel at, and
wonder what the depth is. 

2.	How we ought to cherish the privilege we have of coming together and
partaking together. And it must not be done in vain, and it must not be
done with light thinking. There’s only one law that Bro. Branham laid
down where a person is to be not given the Lord’s Supper, and that is
in vulgarity of behavior: sexual, especially, if there’s anyone known
in that. Otherwise, all the others, you judge yourselves and confess
your sins, and should come as you know, and forgive your enemies, if you
feel you have any.

	I don’t know that I’ve got any enemies or not. I know there are out
there, but I really can’t name them as names, as though they’re
enemies; because, what can they do? I mean, I’ve had my meetings
messed up by preachers that I would call uncouth. I see where they are
today. One reason I quit having meetings was because of jealousy; I
guess I was chicken, but not as far as enemies are concerned. And, if
anybody speaks evil of me, well, as long as it’s not the truth, (I’m
sorry.) I don’t take it seriously. I kind of laugh at it, because
chickens come home to roost. 

3.	There are a couple of preachers, and more than them, (They’re all
over the world now.) that say, “Lee Vayle believes in two gods.” 

	A brother came to my house, believing I believed in two gods, and I
didn’t say one Word, because, honestly, I didn’t want to talk
doctrine. I just wanted to talk friendly. Without meaning to, I turned
to the Scripture, and I read here where It says, “Blest be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

	I said, “Let’s analyze that or break it down, as we’re taught in
school to parse it. The one brother was twenty-six years in Oneness. 

	“Well,” he said, “that’s easy to see: one God with the Son.”

	The other fellow said nothing, but when they both got home, he said,
“Well, there’s one thing certain, that Bro. Vayle does not believe
in two gods.”

	Now he’s going to have to tell his friends that Lee Vayle does not
believe in two gods.

	Now, I’m sorry, but I’ve got to laugh at that. I never have kidded
you folks that I am nice. I wish I were loving and nice. I am, in a
certain way; but I’ve got this miserable sense of humor that gets me
in trouble, because now they’ve got to put in on the internet:
“Sorry, Lee Vayle didn’t only not die, he doesn’t believe in two
gods.” [A lot of laughter from congregation.] Well, it was nice. 

	Now, let’s bow our heads in prayer. 

	Heavenly Father, once more we come to You in Jesus’ Name, thanking
You for a little time of fellowship together, not as much as I would
have liked, to have had more inspiration and drive, but we know, Lord,
there are a few words that will come across and help hearts and make us
more sincere and devout and understanding and appreciative of the work
that Jesus Christ did, because we weren’t in his stead—he was in our
stead, and we can never be in his stead except to witness to him. And
that’s a minor, minor thing, compared to what he did. But grant us the
power to do it in all love and humility for His sake. 

	In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

The Sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ  - Page   PAGE  17