Ephesians chapter two. Second chapter of the book of Ephesians. And verse one, very short verse. And you hath ye quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinned. That's all I want to read this morning. And you happy quickens who were dead in trespasses and sins. The apostle is writing to these Christians in Ephesus, and he's reminding them of their prior estate, what they were before they were Christians, before they were born again. He goes on to tell us in this verse or in this chapter how they were born again. By grace, I say, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. but he's likening it unto a quickening. You hath ye quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. I think seven times in the New Testament you have scriptures bearing on the subject of quickening. Colossians, three, thirteen, and ye being dead in your sins, hath he quickened together with him having, forgiving you, all trespasses. There you have the forgiveness of sins associated with this quickening. In fact, verse five of the very same chapter where we read from, you'll find reference to quickening. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, thy grace ye are saved. And in John five and twenty-one, as the Father raises up the dead, and quickeneth those them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. Now I want you to notice in that verse you have the Father and the Son. Now you have the Holy Spirit in connection with quickening. In John six, sixty-three, it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing. So you have the Father quickening, you have the Son quickening, and you have the Holy Spirit quickening. That's why you and God engage in this wonderful work of quickening souls. In Romans four, seventeen, God who quickeneth the dead. But now here's a quickening that has to do with the body in Romans eight and eleven. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. What does it mean to be quickened? It means to be made alive. And that same mighty, majestic power that in a day to come is going to quicken our bodies into life is the same power that demonstrated when a soul is saved today. We think of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God by his mighty power quickened Christ, raised him from the dead. In a day to come, everyone who is born again, everyone who is a born again Christian will be quickened, changed into the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ. That will take an act of power, God's mighty power, when saints of all ages will rise from the dead in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. Their bodies will become like and have the fifth glorious body as the soul that he will bring with him shall enter into those thickened bodies and so shall we be forever with the Lord. And so you have this word trickling and what I'm trying to get across to you is this. Trickling is an act of the triune God. It's the act of God the Father. It's the act of God the Son. It's the act of God the Holy Spirit. And when a body is quickened, which it won't be on the resurrection morning, there you have a demonstration of God's majestic power, and the same thing takes place when a soul is saved. You wouldn't think it, would you? When a soul passes from death unto life, it's hard for you to believe that God was at work right then. This past week I saw a soul pass from death unto life. I've seen thousands of them I presume in my life. And yet it hasn't even dripped my soul the way it should, that when you see a person pass from death unto life, God has wrought. God has acted. God has worked. And God has quickened that dead soul into life. It's an amazing thing to think that God has quickened one. He has put forth this mighty power, that same power that created the universe. The mighty power of God is employed because we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good work. Think of that as amazing when you consider a soul being saved and you witness, and that soul experiences a demonstration of God's mighty power. But in this text, then you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. You know, man is a corpse in the sight of God until he is Christ. Not a very pleasant, commendable word to use, a corpse. But friend, that's true. If you're not saved, you're just a corpse before the Lord. A corpse is not a very pleasant thing. Even Jacob, I think it was, who said after he looked at his loved one long enough, he says, bury my dead out of my sight. And you can only stand a corpse so long. And then you're ready to bid them goodbye. Farewell, no matter how deeply devoted you were prior to that. The time comes when a corpse becomes loathsome and you've got to bury. And God looks upon you if you're not a Christian as a spiritual corpse, dead in past matters and in sin. How did that happen? God in the beginning said to Adam and Eve, Concerning sin, In the days are we to say it off, Thou shalt surely die. The bone of you disobey me, and the face of that forbidden fruit, you shall experience death. Now, what was he talking about? Physical death? No. Because Adam and Eve lived a long time after that, and begat sons and daughters. He was referring to and speaking of spiritual death. Now, Adam and Eve did begin to die physically from that very moment. You may laugh at a big tree, limb off a tree. And for days those leaves will remain green. You'll see them start to wilt. And then finally they'll dry up and drop off. But there was enough light, enough sap in that limb to keep those leaves green for days. But when that limb was severed from the tree, death set in. The process of death began. And the moment that Adam and Eve sinned against God, the process of death began in their body. And eventually they did die. But let me tell you this, the process of death didn't begin and grow worse in reference to their soul. They died instantly right then to God. They died spiritually. Distance came in between them and God. But that's what death simply means. Death means distance. It means darkness. It means dread. And that's exactly what dripped Adam and Eve when they sinned against God. for they went and hid themselves behind the trees of the garden. Because they were afraid. Sin brought death. Sin brought distance. Sin brought bread. Sin brought darkness. That's true of everyone today who is not a born-again Christian. They're exactly in that condition. You remember the prodigal? Here he is in the far country. The father said when the boy came back, this my son was dead. that he's alive again. Now, was the boy a corpse? Was the boy literally, physically, dead in the far country? No, he was having a big time in the far country. Having a wonderful time in the far country for a while. And then he got among the hogs. But the father said, this, my son, was dead. As far as all intents and purposes are concerned, as far as the father was concerned, as the fellowship and communion, that boy was dead. The boy was at a distance. He was away from his father. There was no fellowship. There was no communion. The boy was in sin. He was doing things the father could not countenance. The father was not sympathetic with. And the father said, His father, as I am concerned, to all intents and purposes, my boy's dead. Yet he was alive physically. And that's exactly it. To all intents and purposes this morning, if you are not a born-again Christian, you are dead. in trespasses and in sins. As far as God sees you, there's no fellowship, there is no communion. You're a corpse in the sight of God. You know, a corpse cannot speak. You can look at a corpse all you like. It won't speak. And that's true of an unsaved person, as far as God's concern. You can't glorify God. You may be able to sing like Caruso. A friend, if you're not born again, you can't please God with one note. Not one note reaches his ear if you're not a born-again Christian. You're dead as far as God's concern, and your mouth is shut. The Bible says that in Romans The law was given that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world becomes dirty before God. Man by nature is a corpse. His mouth is shut. He has nothing to say. But when it comes to God's people, he says, My sheep hear my voice. That's a different thing. But the unsaved person, he can't speak for Christ. He has no testimony. He can't sing for the Lord. He's a corpse as far as God sees. Another thing about a corpse, it can't see. You can hold the prettiest pictures possible over the face of a corpse, but those eyeballs are dead. The glass seemed cold. They can't see. It reminds you of the little girl that two of her companions were in front of a store window one time, and a curiosity passed her by, having to notice them. man given to curiosity and he stopped he thought there's something unusual going on here he stopped and he noticed that the girl in the middle with the attention of the two on either side and they were saying well can't just see it can't just see it she said no i can and they would describe it they described it and then they said can't just see it no i can't so he come to find out the little girl in the middle was blind and the two on either side were trying their best to explain what was in the store window, and of course they were using the expression, can't you see it? They meant can't you imagine it. But the little girl is blind hardly expected to see it. Friend, do you know no matter how I try to explain God's way of salvation, sometimes I can try and picture to the best of my ability as God enables me. I try to picture Jesus Christ on the cross suffering and beating and dying. I try to picture him and his loveliness and his duty and glory, and they still can't see it. They can't see God's salvation. They still think they can do the best they can and get to heaven. If our gospel is hid, it is hid to them that are lost. And the God of this age had blinded the minds of them that, believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them and they should be saved. I've tried in my life time and time again to point people to Christ, and they'll keep saying I can't see it. I can't see it. How do you expect a blind person to see? And if you can't see the simple way of salvation laid out in the Bible, you're spiritually dead. That's why you can't see. A corpse can't see. A corpse can't handle anything either. His hands are still. You can't work for the Lord all the time. You're a corpse. I had a big revival one time in Greensboro, North Carolina, right across from the cemetery. And I said, I got just as many dead people in this tent as they're across the street there. They're dead in the cemetery, but you folks are dead in your sins. And I get just about as much response from you as I do those tombstones. You know, people who are not saved, they can't work for the Lord, and they can't give to the Lord. Their hands are just as still as they're thought. Their feet can't move either. You know, there's a verse in the Bible that makes it very plain. It's over in Psalm one thirty, one fifteen, I think it is. He's referring to idols, a wooden stone. He says, eyes they have but they see not, ears but they hear not, mouths that they speak not, hands that they handle not, feet, and they walk not, and they that make them are likened unto them. That's the spiritual cross. Saddest and most tragic of all is their heart is cold. Their heart is cold. Cold is a piece of ice and hard. That's true of the heart of a cross. There's no life in it. Then, as far as God sees you this morning, you're dead in trespasses and in sin. Your heart hasn't beat one warm thought in affection and devotion to Jesus Christ for having saved you yet. Oh, you respect him. You fear him. But elsewhere in the loving Because he has saved you from your sin, there's no such life or forsaking power within your heart. Your heart is cold and dead. There are other things you prefer to Jesus Christ. Plenty of them. You're irresponsible to the love of Jesus Christ. It's only after you're saved, then you love him because he first loved you. So man is a cook. He may go through all the motions. formalities of religion, but still then, you're a corpse. There are a lot of corpses today sitting in churches all over our land. And I'll tell you, we've got preachers who are good in bombers, too. They can make poor corpses look real. They pat people on the back. They tell them if they do the best they can, especially if they give their tithe and a little extra. Or he'll make a good-looking corpse out of them right away. You do look at some corpses in coffins and you can hardly convince yourself that that person's dead. They're so lifelike. We've got some good undertakers around. They make a wonderful job of corpses. And some of these spiritual corpses or spiritual undertakers can get a whole of a sinner and clean them up. Put a little paint on them. Gender-critic meanness. Turn over a new leaf. Put a new suit on them. Why you'd think he's leaves. Think there's a real change there. The trend, he's still a corpse. There's no spiritual light in him. He hasn't been born again. He's cleaned up all right. But he's just been involved. He hasn't been quickened by the Spirit of God. He hasn't been quickened by the power of God. How sad and how tragic is he. A man not only is incapable of doing anything for the Lord, he's helpless to do anything about himself. Just like a corpse. What can a corpse do nothing? because man's dead in trespasses and in sin. He's helpless. Like the old lady up in Canada, of course, they use these. They don't use them down south, not to my knowledge. Moths. That's quite a common sight up in Canada. Ladies have their moths where they put their hands in the cold winter weather. Beautiful moths, some of them. Mostly made of some kind of fur. And they hold their hands in their moths on cold days. One old sister... She'd worn her so long all the hair wore off on the one side where she had the closest to her body. One day she decided, of course, she was a little off in the upper story. She went in and bought a bottle of hair tonic and took the hair tonic on this old dead skin, hoping she could grow some hair on it. But then she couldn't get any hair out of that skin. The skin was dead. And you know you can shake all the hair tonic of religion they like on you, but you're just dead. You can't get any response. Dead. and you're helpless to do a thing about it. That's a sad thing. Just as helpless as that dead skin was to produce any hair. There's got to be light there. So man is a court. You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. You know there are three illustrations in the New Testament on Christ raising people from the dead. The little girl of twelve, Jarius's daughter. You can use these as an illustration of spiritual resurrection. Here's this little girl and she had just died. In fact, they could hardly believe it. And there were only a few in the house permitted in when Jesus Christ went in and the little girl had just passed away. She was still warm. She looked like a doll. You could hardly believe it, but she's dead. Life was planned. It reminds one of many today, they look genuine, they look real. They tell you they're Christians, but there's something lacking. They can deceive you. I've been deceived many a time. People telling me they're Christians. They look like that little girl. They look very lifelike. They look as though they're about to speak any minute. But no, death, reign, death. Just professors. The Lord Jesus had one with him, Judas by name. And you know, Judas lived such a good life. Before the disciples, the other eleven didn't have any idea that he was a traitor. Even John, who was closest to the Lord, didn't suspect Judas. The other eleven for ten and a half years, had no idea that Judas was an empty professor. And Christ the whole year before, he denied the Lord or sold the Lord, betrayed the Lord. The Lord said, haven't I chosen you, twelve, and one of you is a devil. One of you is not genuine. He looked real. He went along with the other colors, used their same language. And yet Christ saw a corpse among his followers. But Christ knew him, although the others did not. It reminds me of an old lady who had a five-dollar bill and she went to the grocery store and the grocer took it. And the grocer, he had to go to the doctor and so the doctor got the five-dollar bill. And the doctor went to church and so the church got the five-dollar bill. And the church secretary took the money to the bank. and the seller at the bank detected it to be a condescence. And I passed through all those hands that took the man in the bank to detect that it was a hypocrite. Then you may pass counsel among others if you're a Christian. You may pull the wool over other eyes and make them believe that you're a child of God, that you're going to heaven. But I'll tell you that's one place where you'll be found out, and that's when you get to the bank. no one passes there who's not genuine the foundation of God stand assure the Lord nor them that are his and you can't pull the wool over his eyes he knows whether you're genuine or whether you're not whether you've been quickened or whether you've been involved he knows the truth so you have the little girl who looks so genuine but she wasn't real she wasn't alive then you have the young man remember the young man the seventh of Luke Here's a young man, the only son of his mother. The father had died, and the son of God came along, and he saw this funeral procession. He saw the weeping mother as she was following the coffin or the beer, as they called them in those days. The Lord Jesus moved with pity and compassion as he saw this weeping mother following her only son down to the cemetery where they were going to bury. The Lord Jesus said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. and he arose and he gave him back to his mother. You know, I see in that a picture of myself. I was followed by a weeping mother and a weeping father too. I was going my merry way with my proud. But the Son of God, he saw me on my downward path and he had mercy upon my parents as well as on me. He saved my guilty soul and he gave me back to my parents. That's just exactly what happened on this occasion. This young man, the young girl, you'll notice she was dead in the house. Only a few saw her condition. This young man, he's out in the street. He's halfway between the home and the cemetery. His condition is out in the open. You know there are people today like that that say, well, I'm not in the church, you know, like the little girl. I'm not a church member. I don't go to church, but you know I'm just as good as those who do. I'm out in the open. I'm not good enough to go to heaven, and I'm not bad enough to go to hell. Well, where's he going? The only two places. But you meet lots of people like that. Well, I would like to say I'm good enough to go to heaven. I'm not like some of those people that say they're going to heaven. And I'm not bad enough to go to the other place. I'm just one of those middle of the roaders. But remember, friend, the middle of the road that you're traveling on is the middle of the broad road that leads to destruction. That's the sad thing about him. And one of these, the middle of the road is, well, he was dead, and that's exactly two of you. You're dead in trespasses and in sin. No matter what place you take on that broad road, whether you get on the clean path of the broad road or whether on the other extreme, the dirty side of the broad road or in the middle, you're on the broad road that leads to destruction. You are dead in trespasses and in sin. This young man was being borne along by some of his companions, all pallbearers. What about you? That was true of me. I was being carried along by some of my companions, my buddies. They were my pallbearers, bearing me along by their influence, bearing me on to a lost eternity. My mother used to say to me many a time when I'd come in from a night of punch, she said, My son, your companions... will take you down to hell, but they'll never get you out. They'll never get you out. How many today the reason they're not Christians is because of the buddy, the companions, the gang. Oh yes, here you are on the beard of death. You're a corpse. You're being born along by a crowd of businessmen. There you're Paul there. You're being carried along by the pleasure crowd. And here they are carrying you, going with you down to hell. Always will be carried on along by a religious crowd. People who are just church members and they've never been born again. They're the religious crowd. But they've never been saved. And you're going along with them. And they're assisting you down the broad road to Jesus and the structure. This young man has been carried along by his companions. You know the Lord Jesus about this procession. There came a crossroads. The Son of God stopped this funeral procession. Maya must have been wonderful to have been there. As he saw this weeping mother, maybe some of you are being followed by weeping relatives. Maybe some of you are followed by a weeping mother, a weeping father. And irrespective of their love for you, their desire to see you saved, you go right on your downward way, your chosen self-chosen way. In spite of all that's being done on the happy half of others who love you, who have you saved, you still keep going on your way, followed by those who have a real concern for your soul. The Lord Jesus saw this procession and He stopped it. My, I'm glad He stopped the procession where I was involved. I'm glad He stopped me at the age of nineteen. I sometimes... think back over my life and I shudder what might have happened to Lester Wilson had the Lord not stopped me. Where would I have been likely in hell long before now had he not stopped me on my mad career? But he stopped me at the age of nineteen and he spoke to me. Young man I say unto the arise and in that case the young man arose and he gave him back to his mother. That's exactly what the Lord wants to do with you this morning. He wants to stop you on your downward road. Let me tell you something. He's either going to stop you and save you or he's going to step back and let the procession pass. Make no mistake about that. Do you want the Lord Jesus to step back and let you go right on your way? Or do you want him to stop you and save you? It's entirely up to you. On this occasion he stopped the procession. And how happy this young man was eventually, and how happy the mother was. Then he heard the voice of the son of God, and he arose from the dead. Jesus Christ quickened them and gave them back to his mother. Then the third case of all people being raised from the dead in your Bible is the case of Lazarus. I want you to notice it. The girl was dead in the house. Only a few knew it. That's like people in the church, but they're dead in sin. The young man, he was out in the open. Here's the worldly young man. He was halfway between the house and the cemetery. Those middle of the roaders. But here's Lazarus. He's already in the tomb, and he's been there dead four days. And his old sister says, Lord, by this time he's taken. He's taken. There are some, and they need to be covered. Their life needs to be cloaked. with the sepulcher of night because it's not fit to see them in the daytime. Oh, there are many women who live in the dives in dens of the midwifery, and their life is a stench by this time he's stinking. Young men and young women, I was told even this week by a young lady professed to get saved here a couple of weeks ago. She told me where she worked. right here in town in the big store with cut rate prices, especially on pharmaceutical goods. I'm not going to tell you where it is. But she works there. She said, do you know, Mr. Wilson? She said, when I go in to have my little break, she says, the language I have to listen to, the cursing and the swearing and the filthy story. She said, it's just awful. I said, you mean by more or less elderly people? She said, no, eighteen-year-old girls on up. She said, that's the atmosphere. The filthy atmosphere. It almost shocks you. You think of these things as well, and yet that's mild compared to some places that are dens and iniquities. Houses of vices, spares of most suffocers. Just like Lazarus in the tomb, dead, poor day by this time, he's stinking. He's stinking. So you see the three stages. The girl just agreed they're last. The young man had been dead a few hours. Lazarus's been dead, poor day. But you know the amazing thing about it is, three times over, the Lord Jesus said he loved Lazarus. Three times over, Jesus loved Lazarus. You know, it's hard to take in that the Lord Jesus loves those kind of people I'm talking about. Yet he loves the ungodly. He loves the very people that we shun. The very people we don't want to associate with. Yet he loves the ungodly. For such he came, for such he died. Yes, he loves the wicked. He wants to save them. He knows they're not happy. He knows where their sins are taking them. And Jesus loved Lazar three times over. You know another thing. He didn't call the girl by her name. He didn't call the young man by his name, but he called Lazarus by his name. He said, Lazarus, come forth. Lazarus, come forth. He singled them out. Why, you know, sometimes the Lord has to single a person right out, doesn't he? He calls them by their name. I couldn't have been singled out any more than if the preacher had called my name when I was under conviction. I knew God was speaking to me. I was being singled out, it was my name who was being called, and he said, Lazarus come forth. Lazarus came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes. Here you have the three cases of the Lord Jesus raising people from the dead. You notice he deals differently in each case. With a little girl, he just raises her so gently. takes her by the hand and he speaks the quickening word and she opens her beautiful blue eyes she shakes back please how lovely is the conversion of a child it's like the breeze that comes in through the open window and fans the face of the sick patient but I tell you the storm gets a little rougher the wind blows a little stronger well the Bible speaks of the new birth as the blowing of the wind the wind blow up where it listed Well, cannot tell whence it cometh and withers goeth, so is everyone that's born of the Spirit. And how gently the Spirit of God wins his little girl to Christ for a little boy. For the wind blows a little stronger when they're older. They get to the young man's stage. But when they get to Lazarus stage, it almost takes a hurricane to wake him up. Christ without a voice, Lazarus, come forth. I never think of this incident without... recalling preaching something along this line fifty eight years ago up in Raleigh, North Carolina. J.B. Johnson. His wife had gotten saved in the meeting. It was a lovely case of conversion. J.B. was hired. He was a contractor. He had one boy of about four years of age, which is the apple of his eye. I haven't mentioned this text, but I said, God may have to speak with a loud voice to reach some of you people. I was visiting in the home two or three days later. J.B. said, Mr. Wilson, it looks like God will have to speak with a loud voice to reach me. And he said it in kind of a bragging way. It wasn't a week until his little boy became a polio victim, a bad one. God did speak with a loud voice. He was playing on the... long chairs. He fell off one of the chairs and he started crying. Father ran out thinking he'd just fall off the chair. Come to find out, he was badly crippled with polio. God spoke with a loud voice. It may take the death of a loved one. It may take a serious illness as far as the individual himself is concerned. It may take something else. But God is going to speak then. God is either going to let you alone and let you go your own self-will way, or he's going to speak with a loud voice before he'll give you up. He wants to say, he deals differently in each case, gently with the little girl, just die. A little louder with the young man, but oh, how loudly he spoke the loudness. Again, the longer in one sin, the more difficult it is to reach him. how difficult it is to reach old people. You know, C.H. Spurgeon said one time when preaching through his audience at five thousands of metropolitan tabernacle in London, he said, I want all those who were saved under twenty to stand up, and thirty-seven hundred stood up who were saved under twenty. Then he asked how many were saved up to thirty, and a few more hundred stood up. Finally said, how many were saved between sixty and seventy stand up, and five stood up. Five saved between sixty and seventy, showing the older you get, the harder you are to reach. How gently it was that he raised and quickened the little girl. A little louder with the young man, but Lazarus had been so long dead by this time he stinking. He had to speak loudly. Very few old people are getting saved. Sad to say they get set in their way in their very tracks. All have sinned. All three of them were corpses. All those difference in their state is all three were corpses. Remember, friends, all are in their sin. A nice, respectable, moral young lady who does nothing out of the way. Her moral standards are high, her principles are high. No one has to think thing wrong to say about her. Everybody commends her. Her fine personality. She's a member of the church. She sings in the choir. She teaches in the Sunday school. Oh, yes. All that. Right from that young lady over to the violinist sinner you can mention. To a Stalin or a Hitler or Castro. of all sin. If she hasn't been born again, she's a sinner. Just as much as that man over there that's committed every sin in the book. Out of Christ, they're all sinners. Some have been like the young lady, and they've ended up like Lazarus. Some have been like that little girl. And they grew up, they were fine when they were young. They grew up and they got into sin. They got out with the wrong company. And they started that downward road. Things got worse and they ended up being like Lazarus. But the Lord is able to save all sons. You know, all would be, would remember the day that the Lord spoke to them and pricked them. A little girl would never forget it. She would tell you that day when she opened her eyes, she saw Jesus standing over her. You see, I remember that day, I was twelve years old. That's when I got saved. That's when the Lord tricked me. The young man could take me the very spot in the road going down to the sepulcher. That's where the Lord crossed my path and met me. Lazarus could take me to the tomb and say, it was right in there where I heard his voice and he called me for. I know there are rare cases where some people can't remember the exact time they were saved, but the majority of people can tell you. I know when I was saved, I know the very deep... almost the very minute when I passed from death unto life. When did you get saved? I'm not asking you when you joined the church or when you turned over a new leaf. When did the Lord save your soul and when and how did it happen? That's the point. All three of them will remember how grand it is to be able to say, I was saved on such and such and such and such a faith. I found the Lord. I met the Lord. And he put away my sins. That's the point. How wonderful are his dealings with names? All by his voice. He talked to the young girl. He talked to the young man. He talked to Lazarus in different forms. How do we say today, Verily, verily, I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life shall not come into judgment but his path from death unto life. That's it. He says, I am the resurrection of the light. He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life. He that hath the Son according to first John five thirteen. He that hath the Son had life. If you have Christ you've got life. If you haven't Christ you're the corpse. And think of a corpse at a feast. Suppose when you were invited to a feast you were shown your chair and when you got seated. If you look beside you, here was a corpse propped up beside you. Would you enjoy the feast? That's like an unsaved person taking the communion. A corpse at a feast. A sinner who's never been born again. Yet he takes the bread and the wine. A corpse at a feast. You think the Lord likes that? He certainly does not. There are three things here. There are obstacles. Connection with the girl with mockers. They were those who mocked them. Jesus raised her from the dead. Today you're going to get mockers. People will mock and laugh at this. Connection with the young man. It was the passing parade. It was the passing procession. Jesus had to stop it. That was the obstacle in that case. When they got to Lazarus, it was the stone. He said, roll your way, the stone. In each case there was an obstacle. The mockers, the passing parade, and the stone. Let me tell you there'll be obstacles to your getting saved too. There'll be the crowd who will land and sneer and point upon at you. There's always a scoffer. The passing parade has caught the others. Life is always going on, the passing parade. That's the obstacle. That's why you're not saved. With others, it's unbelief. It's a stone of unbelief because it was something they could remove. He says, roll your way with stone and don't have unbelief. That's the main obstacle why some of you are not saved as more. Unbelievable. You know, the young girl needed food. Soon as Christ raised her from the dead, he says, give her to eat. The young man needed love. He says, give him back to his mother. Lazarus needed liberty because he was bound hand and put with grave clothes. And these are the three things you need, then, this morning. You need food for your soul. You need the love of God and the love of Christ in your heart, and you need liberty because you're bound with the rags of sin, bound with the chains of the naked. All this is for you in Jesus Christ. You happy quickens who are dead in trespasses and sins. He'll do this and much more. You'll say, Lord, I'm just a lost and guilty sinner. I want you to come and take me just as I am. I'm, of course, and I want to be a Christian. with life. I want to know I'm safe. I know I want to know I'm going to heaven. Lord, save me. Save me now. Shall we? Our Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, will come to be. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We thank thee for it. We know it's a sharp-edged, two-edged sword. It cuts both ways. It is the divine truth of God. We trust we are any here this morning who are just spiritual corpses.