Living, dying, buried, rising, coming

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 It's just beyond anything that we could express in human languages of how our hearts feel today as we gather here on this most solemn, sacred morning. This morning represents the time that when our religion was made real, because it was the rising up again of Thy precious Child who came to redeem the whole human race. And we are here this morning in celebration of that great supreme triumph, Lord, that made us more than conquerors of both death, hell and the grave. And we thank Thee that, after all these years have passed, we still gather early of a morning on this Easter morning to worship Him, because we believe that He shall come again.
And we would pray that You would forgive all of our sins and our trespasses that is recorded against us, as we humbly confess our wrong, and accept His atonement for our sins. Heal the sickness that's in the midst of us, Lord. Help us as we read Thy Holy Word, which is the foundation of all the truths that You have left for us to live by and to believe.

2 And we pray not only for this group that's gathered here, but all around the world, for we are looking with eager eyes and longing hearts for His return. We stand today in darkness, in a chaos, that when, most anytime, that some fanatic might just blow-up about something, and turn a little button, and the whole world could be blowed into bits. As it has been told us by great authorities that the war will only be a few hours long if it ever happens again. And, oh, as we're standing today on the very brim of another war. Then, the church is standing on the brim---that most glorious resurrection---for we shall be caught up together with the sleeping saints to meet the Lord in the air, and forever be with Him.
We have come to worship Thee, Lord. And receive us today. Bless the reading of Thy Word, the singing of the songs, the preaching of the gospel; receive the prayers of the penitent. Hear prayer for the sick, and get glory unto Thyself, for we humbly ask it in the name of Jesus, Thy Son. Amen.

3 To you who would like to take where we are to read this morning, for our Scripture...
And we're sorry to know that we do not have the seating room for this fine group of people who has come early this morning to worship with us, from different churches and from different states, and even different nations, has gathered this morning here at the Tabernacle, for this most glorious worship of the Lord.
I wish for you to turn to the book of Psalms, Psalms 22. I know this is rather an unusual place to read, for an Easter service, but God is unusual.

4 And now after this service, we will adjourn in about one hour, so that you may go for your breakfast. And then Sunday school service will start at nine-thirty. And then immediately after the Sunday school service, there'll be baptismal service here at the pool. And then this afternoon, at six o'clock, prayer cards will be given out for healing service for tonight. And if you have any loved ones that's sick and needy, remember to bring them out tonight, for this will be the last time we can have this for a while, anyhow. I'm leaving in the morning, at five o'clock, for Los Angeles and through the West Coast for a series of services.

5 Now in Psalms 22 , we shall read.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me,... from the words of my roaring?
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted and thou did deliver them.
They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, ... despised of the people.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, and they shake the head, saying,
He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, ... all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd; ... my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of the earth.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
They parted my garments among them, ... cast lots upon my vesture.
But be thou not far from me, O LORD: ... my strength, hasten thee to help me.
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee.
Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye ... seeds of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye ... seeds of Israel.
For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction ... neither has he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him.
For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.
All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he has done this.

6 May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word. I want to take for this occasion this morning, five words, and around those five words try to express what's on my heart, to you worshipers this morning. I want these five words: Living, Dying, Buried, Rising, Coming.
And I think the poet well expressed it in the song, of what I would want to say, when he wrote this song:
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me.
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
Rising, He justified freely forever.
Someday He's coming, oh, glorious day!

7 There never was a life ever lived like His, because He was the God manifested in the flesh when He was born. He was the expression of what God the Father is. And God the Father being love, then Jesus was the full expression of love. He was love from the very first time that His little baby hands stroked the pretty cheeks of His mother. He was love.
And I think today that that's where many is failing to recognize that He was love. "God is love, and they that love are borned of God."
"God so loved the world, that is, the unlovable, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but would have everlasting life."

8 He expressed His love when He was here on earth in so many different ways till it is undisputable that He was the most loving creature that ever lived. And I think, in His life here, He was expressing God. And the only way that God can be expressed to the people is through love.
And well did He do this when He caught one of the most vilest women that there was of His day, perhaps. They found her just guilty, and no way out, when she was found in adultery. And they drug her up before Him, and said, "What do You say do for her?"
And when He turned to her, and said, "I don't condemn thee. Go and sin no more." Instead of being... throwing her out to the streets to be drug out like a bunch of wolves over her, to stone her and take her life, His tender, kind, loving heart stooped way down into the sin that she was in, said, "I don't condemn thee. Just go and don't sin no more."

9 And when He was on His way down to the grave of Lazarus, I think there's another great time that He expressed what God is to the human being. Not only is He a God that can forgive the lowest sin that could be committed, and take the guilty and make them guiltless, by His pardoning love. But after death has laid us in silence, He's still concerned about us. I think He well expressed that on the road down with Martha and Mary, when He come to the house where death had shut out the life of a lovely person. And on His road down to the grave, yet, being God, knowed that He would raise Him from the dead, knowed that it had been told Him that in His very Word laid the power to raise him from the grave; yet, when He seen Martha and Mary and those who loved Lazarus, crying, the Bible said He wept. What was it? His great loving heart! When He seen that man, and His friends were in trouble, He was troubled with them.

10 I'm so glad to know that He can be found amongst the brokenhearted. In our sorrows He's not one that would leave us. He stands by us when all has failed, and the last hopes of earthly reaching has come to its end; He is still God and loves us. He was the expressing of God.
And, oh, how I believe that He longs for His people to be so anointed with His Spirit, that we could go to each other in trials and in troubles, and give the expression of His sympathy, as it pours from our hearts that's been borned of His Spirit, to reflect in the church the love of the living God. That well expressed what He said... or the poet said, "Living, He loved me."

11 He showed what He did to the whole human race, the way God represented Himself in Jesus Christ. He expressed His opinion to the human race, to forgive and to love those who were unlovable. And I wonder, on this Easter morning, how short we fall in that. We could love those who love us, but He loved those who did not love Him.
He was the greatest, the first representation of love that ever hit the earth and was despised of those who lived on the earth, to whom He loved. No man could ever love like Him; and no man was ever hated like Him. They hated Him and despised Him and rejected Him, but it did not stop His love. They laughed, when He was hanging on the cross, after that life that He had lived and had done nothing but good things, forgiving the guilty, healing the sick, and just things that were good. When He was last breath on the cross, with the vulgar mocking spit of them who stood by, hanging from His sacred face He cried with a heart full of love, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

12 He could understand. Being God, He understands. That's why He could love us when we're unlovable, because He's God and He understands. "Living, He loved me." Never a life lived like it, because it was wrapped in love.
"Dying, He saved me." A death, when in the garden of Eden, God Jehovah required. The penalty of sin is death, and there could be no alteration. It could not be any other way taken care of because God is supreme, and He is infinite, and the Judge of all heavens and earth. The penalty of sin is death, and there was no one who could pay this penalty for another. For every man, though he might die for another man, but he was guilty to begin with. There was none of us that could help the other, because we were all guilty. "We are borned in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world speaking lies." And there was not a ray of hope, nowhere. We were condemned to death, by God, and every creature that ever moved on the earth was under this condemnation. There could be righteous men rise and do great things, but he was a sinner to begin with.

13 There was only one way for it to be paid, and that was the death of God Himself. So God, being a Spirit, could not die, but He came down in a body of flesh and expressed Himself in a life of love; to take all that goodness that He was, and give it willingly as the supreme sacrifice, that He might take the guilt of the guilty. All of us being sinners, and not a way in the world for us to ever be saved. He came not only to be seen on earth, but He came to die as a sacrifice.
Abel expressed it when he offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, when he brought the little lamb, with a piece of grapevine wrapped around its neck, to a rock. There laid the little fellow upon the rock, pulled its little chin back and, with a rock, pounded its little throat; and it bleating and dying, and the blood squirting out, this little white rock become bathed with blood. Abel expressed Calvary there.

14 When the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, came to take the place of guilty sinners, and was mashed and bruised, and scoffed and made fun of, and died a death that no creature could die except God Himself, and His bloody locks hanging from His shoulders, dripping to the ground, expressed what a horrible thing that sin is, when He had to die to redeem men from a life of sin. Nothing could die like that. Nothing could stand that death. It said that when they pierced His side that there came forth blood and water.

15 It's been some time ago, I was speaking to someone about this. And it was a scientist that said, "There is only one way that that could've happened. And it was not because of the Roman spear that He died; and neither was it the loss of blood that He died, because there was still blood in His body. What He died of, was not because of the Roman spear or the nails that was drove in His hands or the thorny crown they placed on His head. But because... He died of grief, because He came to His own and His own received Him not. He died of a broken heart. When He knowed the very creatures of time that He would die to redeem had spit in His face, and He was rejected of men."

16 David, eight hundred years before it happened, cried with the very voice that He cried at Calvary, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
What a terrible thing that sin does; it separates man from God! He was the sin offering that had to be offered for our sins. And He was separated from the presence of God. Sin had separated Him. God placed our sins upon Him, and He was separated from God, and that's why He cried, "Why hast thou forsaken Me?" And because He was forsaken and had taken this place, and seen His people, that He was come to be their Saviour and to offer them life, they had rejected Him. And it grieved Him so, till He was so broken-hearted until the blood and water and the chemicals of His body separated.

17 Men will never know what that was. That's the reason there could be no one else could ever die like that. I don't care how much that you could be tormented, how that they might put your feet in stocks, or saw you by inches, or burn you by inches; you could not die that death, because your make-up is not like that. He had to be God. He had to be more than man. And to think that God died. He died of a broken heart, with such grief for the world, until a chemical reaction taken place in His body that could not take place in you. You cannot suffer like that. There is no way for you to have that kind of a grief. So there is only one could do it, and He did it.

18 There hanging, that precious life that knowed nothing but love and doing good, hung there between the heavens and earth, lifted up there, stripped naked, embarrassed. Think how you would be, stripped naked; you wouldn't know embarrassment to what God would, hanging there. I know the crucifix has a little thing, like they had something around Him, but they never did that; that's just put on the cross... or the artist put it there. They stripped His clothes from Him. He had on a robe and they tore it off of Him and gambled for it. He was embarrassed to the utmost. Yet, being God, had to stand, and sinners spit on His face. Yet, being the very depths of mercy, had to die before the public, stripped naked. Such affect it took upon Him, till it separated the water and the blood. No wonder... I think the poet well expressed it when he said, "Mid rendering rocks, and darkening skies, my Saviour bowed His head and died. But the opening veil revealed the way to heaven's joys and endless day."

19 Sure, He had to do it. The veil hung between man and God, and that opening veil revealed the way to heaven's joys and endless day. Calvary means something, means more than we can express. Sure.
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me.
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
It's been condemned now. Sin has no more hold. When He screamed at the cross, "It's finished," sin died! Now it's dead. It's done with. It's powerless. It's lifeless. Think of it, people. That sin, the enemy to human beings, is dead and lifeless; it has no more effect. It can't. When the sun shut off its vision, the stars would not shine, the earth turned black, it was all being redeemed.
Now it's dead, it's buried, it's lifeless. It has no more life in it, then it must be buried. What was buried? The body of God was buried, for it was the sin offering. It was the burnt Lamb; it was burnt up by the fires of iniquity. That sinless Lamb that knowed no sin, that God who knowed no wrong; His life had been given, and there hung the sin offering. "Buried, He carried my sins far away." He must be buried. The body, the sin offering must be buried.

20 That's why many, after a while, will walk, one by one, to this pool to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Why? Something has took place. That Spirit that came out of that body when He screamed, "It's finished," has condemned sin in our bodies. And we must bury it, to be remembered no more. I'm so glad that it is.
When anything is buried, it's hid, it's out of sight. "And buried, He carried my sins far away." God can see our sins no more, for they are buried. They are buried where? In the Sea of Forgetfulness. Think of a Sea of Forgetfulness! God cannot remember them no more, because they are both dead and buried. It cannot be even remembered no more. They're out of God's memory.

21 He was also, in this "buried," He represented in the Old Testament. They had two... They had a sin offering at the cleansing of the sanctuary. And that sin offering was that they taken two goats, and one goat was killed; and the other goat, had the sins that was placed upon the dead goat put upon the live goat.
Remember, Jesus was a sheep. He was a Lamb, but in this case He become a goat. He was righteousness because He was God, the sheep. But He become a goat---sin---that He might be the sin offering for me and you; from a sheep to a goat.

22 Then Jesus was represented in both the animals, both goats. For the one, He died. He died for the atonement. The second, the sins from the atonement was put on the scapegoat, and the scapegoat took the sins of the people and went far into the wilderness to bear the sins of the people. What was it? It was the death and the burial of our Lord Jesus. Dying! "Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away." He took the sins of the people upon Himself, and carried them plumb down into the lowest of hades. He was the sin offering. He had the sins of the people. He died for them. And also the sins was placed upon Him, and He took our sins far away, so far that God could never see them no more. Think of it! Oh, the church could scream, "Hallelujah for such a Saviour!"

23 Not only is our sins forgiven, but they are buried in the Sea of Forgetfulness, to be remembered no more. "Buried, He carried our sins far away." No more can they be remembered, for they are gone. They are out of the eyes of God. They are paralyzed. They are divorced. They are put away. God don't remember them no more. What the church ought to rejoice this morning, to know that our sins will no more be remembered. They are put in the Sea of Forgetfulness, into the grave of beyond any resurrection. They are dead forever, and forgotten about. They are as if they had never happened. "Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far away." He carried them so far till they went into the Sea of Forgetfulness. Oh! We know that those things are most surely believed among us, and they are most surely the truth. They are God's truth. All those great things were beyond human expression. We could never express our gratitude for such things.

24 But, oh, that Easter! "Rising, He justified freely forever."
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me.
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
(That was all right.)
But, rising, He justified.
What was that raising up? It was God's receipt, that the bill has been paid. "Rising, He justified freely forever." Oh, what a Saviour, rising! What had God done? A man can suffer, a man can die, a man can be buried. But Easter was the greatest of them all, for it was God's endorsement: "My laws has been met, My requirements has been met by Him." He rose Him up from the dead! "Rising, He justified freely forever." Blessed be His Holy Name!

25 No wonder it brings emotions! No wonder the human heart cannot contain it! Oh, with our conquering faith we can stand yonder and say, "We are justified forever, freely," because He died and was buried, and God raised Him up again on Easter morning. Then, God showed that it was accepted, all the things that He did. Everything is freely paid, you can go free now! "Rising, He justified freely forever." Oh, no one can never know, can never think of that great day when He rose up; and the angels saw it; in the heavens of heavens, the angels sang the praises of God, and rejoiced while the Old Testament saints in paradise shouted, "Hallelujah!" "Rising, He justified..." The heavens shook, the earth shook, paradise shook, and hell shook. When He heard a great voice come forth, up from the grave He arose. "Rising, He justified freely forever." Oh, my!

26 Then the saints that die in Him can sing this, when we look at that amazing grace yonder, what He did. See, God's sealed endorsement, "A little while and the world will see me no more, yet you'll see me, for I will raise from the dead and be with you, even in you, to the end of the world; as a confirmation, and a verification that what God said is true, and what I say is true." Jesus said, "I will come in the form of the Holy Spirit. I will make My abode with you, and live with you forever." Then the saints who has that resurrection hope in their hearts, can sing this song:
On that bright and cloudless morning when the
dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home
beyond the sky,
(with a perfect assurance, with the seal of God,
with a written receipt from God Himself),
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Oh, what a Saviour! Oh, no wonder He said:
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me.
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
Oh! Rising, He justified freely forever.

27 Sins are pardoned. All these sacrifices could have been mythical; all these sacrifices could have failed. But on Easter morning, when He rose up, God proved that He accepted it. No wonder it brings the human heart to a "Hallelujah!" No wonder it makes men stand in the face of death! Makes the people call those things which were not as though they were! But why? "Rising, He justified." How do you know He has raised? Cause He has risen in our hearts, justified freely forever!

28 Forty days later, when He was standing, talking to His children, gravitation begin to lose its hold. The work was finished. The penalty was paid. He had the receipt in His hand. It was God's receipt. He had the children, the church, the believers. All sin was conquered. The path was made clear. He couldn't stay on earth no more. What holds us here? Gravitation. Gravitation begin to break, and it lost its grip. Why? It was all over then. What happened? He begin to rise from the earth.

29 "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," come forth the uttering of His lips. "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name they shall cast out evil spirits; they shall speak with new tongues; if they should take up serpents or drink deadly things, it shall not harm them; if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover." "Because I live... Gravitation has broke away from me. Sin had a hold, and I died for you. God has proved it, and give the resurrection receipt. And because I live, you live also! Someday I will return."

30 Someday He is coming, oh, glorious day! Then when... Living, dying, buried, rising, coming: the hope of the church today!
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me.
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
Rising, He justified freely forever.
Someday He's coming, oh, glorious day!
What was it? Five things in five letters, J-e-s-u-s.
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me.
Buried, He carried my sins far away.
Rising, He justified freely forever.
Someday He's coming, oh, glorious day!
We are looking for His second coming!
And some of these bright and cloudless mornings
when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of that resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their homes
beyond the sky,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there."
Why? I've got the receipt. He rose! How do you know? He lives in my heart. He lives in the heart of His believing church.

31 Think of it, friends. The pool will be ready just in a few moments, with warm water, for the baptismal service, as soon as we return. Let us bow our heads just a moment.
I wonder today, if there be one in our midst, or many who has not yet appreciated this sacrifice enough to accept it, and you would like to be remembered in prayer, that God will speak strangely to your heart, that you will accept His sacrifice, the cleansing of your soul.

32 And remember that today we celebrate just not a time to wear new hats and wear new clothes, which is all right---it's a symbol of something new; God did something new---which is all right. It's not only that. Easter doesn't mean that: hunting Easter rabbits or bunny eggs, and little white chickens, and so forth; that isn't the idea, brother.
Easter is a triumph; it's the victory that God gave over the earth, that He raised His own Son from the dead, that whosoever believeth in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life.

33 The resurrection can be in your own life. If you haven't got it, would you raise your hand to Him this morning, while you have your heads bowed, saying by this, "God, remember me, that that resurrection life may it be had in my heart." Will you raise your hands and say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham, as I raise my hand"? The Lord bless you. The Lord bless you. Is there another one will raise your hand, say, "Pray for me, brother, I want to accept this resurrection life"?
On that bright and cloudless morning,
(think of it now while you're singing)
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When the chosen ones shall gather to their
Home beyond the skies,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
(Now if you're not sure, make it
right, now.) ... called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
Let us labor for the Master from
(This is the new saints.) sun,
Let us talk...
Now, you that are Christians, wants to make a vow to God, to labor more the coming year, raise your hand to Him.
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.

34 Dear God, You seen every heart in here, and You know the motives and the objectives. And I pray for mercy. God, grant it that mercy shall be shown to these people. They have come this morning for this hour of worship. They've come to this place to hear Thy Word, and as we have spoken that.
When You lived, there was never a life like Yours. Dying, You were the only one who could die in that manner. When You was buried, You carried our sins far away; having the sins of the people upon You, You took them to the Sea of Forgetfulness. But, rising, You justified freely forever. And we stand today waiting for Your coming.

35 God, bless them. Help us. We realize we don't have much more time, for it's just at the door. And any... In one hour from now, according to the scientists, the nations could be no more. And we pray, God, as we stand this Easter morning upon the threshold of His coming, the hope of the church. Many thousands are laying yonder in the dust of the earth, waiting for that hour, their souls under the altar, crying, "How long, Lord? How long?" I pray, God, that You will speak to us. And let us remember that no matter what we ever do here on earth, it's so little. And the only thing that we can do now, is wait for Your coming, and tell everyone. The message is urgent. May we get it to the people quickly, that You may come at any time. Before these bombs that they're speaking of, and these missiles, that can be showers of thousands of them laying over the earth in one minute's time... before that happens, You've promised to come, Lord, get Your people. It'll be that way, Lord. So most any minute, there could be a resurrection, an Easter for the church; a resurrection from this sinful life, unto the life eternal, through Christ. Hear our prayer.

36 And today, as we go on into other services, into the Sunday school teaching, O Lord, speak again, and may many hearts be strangely warmed. And may they come by the dozens into this pool this morning, this Easter morning, to be buried with the Lord Jesus, accepting His sacrifice. No matter what church they belong to, or what religious sect they have fellowship with, that means nothing. But have they accepted that sacrifice? Are they confessing that they're not no good, that Jesus was the only good one? He died for us, in our stead. And He took our sins and buried them, and we stand alone in Him. Our churches cannot bury our sins, our own life cannot bury our sins, but Christ buried our sins in the Sea of Forgetfulness. God, grant now that these things will be glorious in Thy sight.

37 Then tonight, Lord, may You come in the power of Your resurrection, and shake this little place like it has never been shaken. May signs and wonders appear. Repeat it like it was a couple Sundays ago, Lord, when the sick and the afflicted was so marvelously healed. We pray that it'll be again tonight for Your glory, Lord.
Forgive us of our trespasses now, Lord, and may this be a real Easter for some of us, a real Easter for all of us. And some of those who have never known what the Easter blessings was, may it be today that Christ rises in their heart, with a new hope, with a new life. Point them to Calvary. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

38 [Gap in the audio.] How many of you love the Lord? Just raise up your hands. Oh, my, that is wonderful!
I hear you got the baby to be dedicated, Brother McDowell. You'll be back for the Sunday school service, can you? Okay, that'll be fine. That's when we'll dedicate the babies, and so forth, at that time, if you don't mind, if that's all right.
And so now we're going to dismiss the audience for a few moments, so you can go to your places and have your breakfast, then return back again. We're happy that you were here.
And now let's just stand up. Same song that we had a few moments ago, "On that bright and cloudless..." How many has got that hope in them, let's see you raise your hand. Stand up. Amen.
On that bright and cloudless morning
when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When the saved of earth shall gather
over on the other... (6 minutes more)

Living, dying, buried, rising, coming

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Sister McPherson made her way through that little door to come out here on the platform, and her memory still lives around here, I'm sure.
I taken a little vacation, about three days and went down to Florida fishing. I'm trying to rest up my voice a little bit. So I had quite an experience down there. I thought maybe I might just kind of pass it on to you tonight.
We'd been fishing back in the Okeechobee swamps, and I'd caught a nice string of fish. And there was one of the Brothers that was with me that... Brother Evans from Tifton, Georgia. He had a brother that lived down there near the swamp, and he fished in the swamp all the time. He'd been after me some time to go down. So recently I was at Brother Theo Jones' place. And that morning I was to have breakfast with Brother Evans.

2 While I was getting ready to leave the room, I saw a vision of Brother Evans trying to hide a sack of fish from the game warden. So I said, "Brother Evans, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but where you fish at is kind of like bayous, isn't it?"
He said, "That's right."
I said, "You and two of your boys and another fellow was down there just recently, and you had sack full of fish, and you was afraid that the game warden was going to catch you, and you hid them fish five times before you got out of there."
He said, "That's right, exactly."
So, his brother had been fishing a week or two before that... or a month or two (pardon me), and he got bit by a ground rattler. That's a little different rattler from the diamondback you have here, but he's very poison. I guess the boy's body's swollen twice its size, and they had him under medical treatment. He was a sinner, not a Christian. So, he had an awful time. He come back out, and his leg's in casts from where the snake had... They thought they might have to amputate that leg it was so bad.

3 Then while we was out there, his Christian brother was fishing along by the side of me. And I had a big fish on the line---just a small pole---and I was walking him up-and-down the bayou trying to land him. And when I got him wore out and up to the edge of the weeds, why, Mr. Evans said, "Just a moment, Brother Branham." And he pulled off his shoes and rolled up his trouser legs, said, "I'll catch it for you." And he run out.
And as he started out, a big old rusty rattler grabbed him. And he let out a scream and run back to the bank and said it felt like that the bone in his leg had just turned to ice, it was aching so hard. Well, if anyone knows what a snakebite is, you get sick right away.

4 So I thought, "Well, if I had to pack him those two miles---he's much larger man than I---how was I going to get him out of that swamp?" And it just come to me then this Scripture, "And they shall tread on the heads of serpents and scorpions." And I said, "Just a moment, Brother Evans." And put my hand over on the place where the two fangs had went in and the little blood oozing out of the holes where the rattler had bit him. I said, "Heavenly Father, Your Word... in Your Word, it says that they shall tread on the heads of serpents and it shall not harm them."
I no more than said that till... He must have been standing by somewhere. And He heard the Word quoted, and all the pains left immediately. We fished the rest of the day, went in that night, and his brother said, "You get to the hospital just quick as you can." Said, "Because, oh, it might break loose anytime."
And his Christian brother said, "If God has cared for me this far, He will take me the rest of the way through." And he's never had any ill feelings of it yet.
The Lord Jesus did that. It pays to be a Christian. The sinner was bitten and almost died. The Christian was bitten and did not even have to have medical attention. Goes to show that every word in God's Book is true---every word, every chapter, every verse, every line is the truth.

5 Now, they have been so nice to us here at the Temple. They told me just to do as the Lord led me. You couldn't want any better than that, could you? And so I said, "Well, we'll... Some nights we'd talk to the congregation, and try to build their faith, and then start their prayer lines, and pray for the sick; and just whatever the Spirit says to do, we will try to do that."
Tonight, I thought, being tired and just got in, I'd just speak to you awhile tonight from the Word, not keep you long, and just so we can get this meetings started.

6 And then, if... I believe that Los Angeles is ready for an old fashion revival. I've always believed that God had never turned Los Angeles loose yet. He's still got His hand here. There's so much goes with this. And like this Temple here that was built upon prayer and tears and sacrifice. God just can't forget those things and men and women today who are laboring to keep it that way. Let's put our shoulders with them, the visitors, with me. Let's do everything that we can to get in the sick and the afflicted and the sinners. If we will get the sinners saved, a revival will start breaking through, for that's the main thing.
God heals the sick; we know that. We're not worried about that. He will do that. But to get sinners saved is what we want to start with.

7 Now, just before we read the Word, let's speak to the author, as we bow our heads, if you will.
Most gracious Father, it is a grand privilege to know that we can begin this service tonight just in Scriptural order. For in the Scriptures we read that music went before the battle. They played the songs, and then the ark of the covenant followed, and then the fight was on. And tonight, after the most lovely music has been played, and the songs has been sung, now we shall bring the Word. And then may the battle be on. We pray, O God, that the angels of God will take their positions, in every corner, and at every aisle, and at every seat in this building. May there be such old time conviction until there cannot be one person walk in this building a sinner and go out the same thing. May whosoever comes in unsaved, may God save them for the glory of His kingdom.

8 We pray also, Lord, that You would remember those that are sick and needy, them that are afflicted and needs Thy power of healing so graciously in their bodies. They want to work for You. And they have, no doubt, made many promises, and consecrated themselves to Thee; and in their consecration, that they have made great promises that they would do certain things. Hear their prayers, Lord. May this be a time of visitation to them.
Bless the Temple and all that it stands for, and its workers. And we pray, Lord, that You'd send an old time revival like used to be when its founder lived and walked in and out of this building. There is such a thing as she being able to hear tonight and to look in upon this scene. I'm sure that would be her heart's desire: to see another revival in this city to which she loved and labored with the people. Grant it, Lord. And we will close our eyes, and bow our heads, and give Thee praise, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

9 Just from a quotation of the Word here that come on my mind, I would like to read a very familiar Scripture known to the---I would say---the least of the little kindergarten school: John 3:16:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And then in the twenty-second Psalm, and the eleventh verse, I would like to read this:
Be not far from me; for trouble is near; and there is none to help.
And I'd like to take for a text tonight, five words and just dwell with them a few moments. One of them is "Living," and "Dying" is the second one. "Buried" is the third one. "Rising" is the fourth one. "Coming" is the fifth one. "Living, Dying, Buried, Rising, Coming." That's enough to keep me here until in the morning, but... and then not nothing like justify the text. But we will just speak on each one for a few moments.
I think that these words that David wrote here when he wrote this twenty-second Psalm, begins with the crying of Christ at Calvary. "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"
The reason that I chose this: Easter is just past, and the people are still feeling the impact of that great day of when God proved that Jesus was His Son, by raising Him up on the third day according to the Scriptures.
And in living, He was loved. The poet expressed it when he said,
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever:
Someday, He's coming---oh, glorious day!

10 And when He lived, He loved, because He was God; and God is love. And there can never be anyone who could love like Jesus loved. From the very first time His little baby hands stroked those pretty cheeks of His beautiful mother, He was love from that till He forgive His last enemy on the cross. He was God's expression of love. No one could love like Jesus. God, being manifested in a little tiny baby, come in order to take away the sins of the world.
And when you just speak of the word "Jesus," there's something about it means "love." That's what the world needs more today, is not a Jesus of some past tense, some Jesus of some high ethics, but a Jesus of love, that can be expressed in the church of the Lord Jesus, especially as its members, one to another, ought to always greet one another in love.

11 In traveling, I think if there's any great thing that I've seen missing in the church today, one of the greatest hindrance in the church today, there's... keep a revival back, is the lack of that godly love that Christ expressed when He was here on earth.
It's easy for you and I to love somebody that loves us. But Jesus didn't have that kind of love. He had God's love, and God loved His enemies. For God so loved the world... When the world was unlovable, God still loved the world.
It's a different, even in the expression in the words, the phileo love, like we have one for another. But the agapao love is a Divine love.
And if there's anything that I believe that would start a revival in Los Angeles, would be a time that we could all break down our different barriers and come together as Christians in love---that's the Pentecostals, the Baptists, and the Presbyterians---and all together we could be expressed to the world that we have love one for another.

12 Jesus prayed that prayer that we might love one another as He loved us---as He loved us! And He loved us so much that He died for us. No one could love like that unless they... with the natural love, because it would not hold out. It won't express itself. It'll do as long as there's friendship connected with it. But when the friendships turn, then the people begin to say, "Well, he did so-and-so. She did so-and-so. They backslid, they..." Real godly love goes after that backslider till it finds him. Godly love goes and stoops to the lowest of hell to pick up a man or a woman that's fallen.
That's what we're lacking today. We have a fine cultured church, educated, fine dressed, fine buildings, nice choirs, beautiful music, some of the best the world's ever had. But we are dying for some of that godly love.

13 Jesus expressed it well when He found the prostitute, drug before Him guilty of an adultery. And they drug her before Him, and said, "Now, the law requires for her to die. What do You say do about it?"
I tell you, He showed Himself what He was when He turned with these words, "Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more." What more love could be than to take a wayward person like that, and see who He was, and freely forgive the woman of her wrong.
He expressed it again greatly when He was dying at Calvary in His last words at the cross, and His enemies' spit hanging on His face, He cried, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
No one could love like Him. You can't manufacture that kind of a love. It's the gift of God that comes by the Holy Spirit, the only way you'll ever be able to have that love. "Though I speak with tongues of men and angels and have not that kind of a love, I am nothing. Though I have faith to move mountains..." The Bible said...

14 I was speaking here a few days ago upon the Scripture, "Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few there'll be that will find it."
And a young man who was riding with me in a car, said, "How many would you say would be saved in this generation?"
I said, "Eight, ten."
"Oh," he said, "Don't say that, brother."
I'll say, "I will lengthen it to fifty, and that's as many as I can go."
He said, "Fifty people?"
I said, "Jesus said when He was on earth, 'As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.' Days of Noah, there was eight souls saved." Now, remember a generation fades out each day, ends that generation. Take fifty a day for six thousand years and see what you've got.
And he said, "Well then, Brother Branham, I'd like to ask you this question: All the people that's claimed to have the Holy Sprit, and so forth, won't they come in the resurrection?"
I said, "If they had the Holy Spirit. But what we've been putting to much emphasis on, is on other things instead of on the real thing, the love of God."

15 Paul said, "All these things could happen... I could have all wisdom, all knowledge, and yet have not love, it profits me nothing. I could speak with tongues like men and angels, and still not have it." And we put so much emphasis upon these things, upon great healing revivals, and miracles being worked.
Did not Jesus say, "Many will come to me in that day, and say, 'Lord, Lord, have not I cast out devils in your name? In your name, have I not done many mighty works?' I will say unto them, 'Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I did not even know you.'"
What a disappointment that will be. But look what a surprise it'll be when He said, those who didn't even think they deserved to be there... "When were you hungry and we fed you? When were you naked and we gave you clothes? We didn't know when you did this."
He said, "Insomuch as you've done it unto these, you've done it unto me."

16 Oh, how the world needs something today. I will give you a little expression to clear that up. In Ezekiel the ninth chapter, I believe it is, when the Holy Spirit was sent forth to seal the people that would go in that day, He said, "Go through the city and put a mark upon the forehead of those that sigh and cry for the abominations that's did in the midst of the city." Then to the slaughtering angels, "Go after them, and utterly destroy everything that doesn't have this seal."
Now, you take it in your own mind, and go through Los Angeles tonight, and you mark, in the name of the Lord Jesus, every person that's so concerned about the sins of the city until they cry and sigh, day and night, for the abominations done. Bring me eight here tomorrow night.

17 All right. You see where we go. We let other things come in to take up the place of the real thing. It's love we're leaving out. Living, He loved me. He died for me when I was a sinner. When I was unlovable, He loved me anyhow.
My prayer is for the church that we can have such love till we will love people whether they love us or not. That's what the church needs today is to express a love, even to a man that could spit in your face, and you could still with, not from a hypocritical standpoint, but from your heart, pray for that man's soul. That's the kind of a revival we need here in Los Angeles with that kind of a love manifested.
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me...

18 Most wonderful life that was ever lived on earth had to die when He was yet in His youth. For God had spoke, and His judgments had to have justice. For it is written, "The day you eat thereof, that day you die." God's justice required death.
And there was no one of us could die for one another. No man could do that. He was the only man could die that kind of a death. For we were all born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world speaking lies. We were guilty from the beginning. So how could a good man die for another man when he was guilty himself? There could not be any of us take that kind of a position. So it had to take His death.
And God came down and was manifested in the flesh in order to die a death. God could not die in spirit, because God is eternal, and spirit doesn't die. But He was God. And He had to unfold Himself, and come from glory to a manger, and take on the form of sinful flesh in order to die to secure His church... or to redeem His church, to reconcile them back to Himself.
Oh, brother, sister, there's nobody could explain that, what God did when He died for us; His flesh was put to death.

19 In the Scriptures in the Old Testament, at the sin offering, when they got two goats, and these goats... And Jesus represented both of them... or they represented Him, rather. And one goat was killed, and the other was... the sins of the nation was placed upon this goat called the scapegoat. And that goat had to go out into the wilderness to die and to be out there alone amongst the beasts and so forth.
Jesus had to be that goat. I want you to notice: He was a lamb; He was sheep. But He was made goat for you and I, that we being goat might become sheep. We, being sinners guilty of death, subject to death, and all sold out under condemnation, yet, Christ become me, that I, through His grace, might become Him, a son of God, seated at the right hand of God in glory.

20 The love that He had: how He expressed it, how He had to make Himself what He was to die to save us. In His death when He died at Calvary... There was never a death could be like that death. We are told that when the Roman soldier pierced His side, there was water and blood came out of His side.
And I've asked a chemist one time, what taken place when that... And this fellow, being a Christian, said to me, "That was not... Jesus did not die because that the spear touched His side... or pierced His side." Said, "Jesus had been dead a long time before that. But He died from grief. The sword never killed Him, or neither did the driving of the nails. But it was grief that killed Him. When He looked out upon the ones that He had loved, and the ones that He had worked His miracles on, and the ones that He had expressed His love towards, and had fed, and see that they turned Him down."
You and I might be grieved. We might grieve. But we could never grieve like that, because we're not made up of that kind of material that we could have that much grief.

21 For the fullness of God dwelt in Him. In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God was expressing His love through human flesh, the tabernacle in which He lived, in His own Son, what He thought about the world.
There He hung there on Calvary's cross, not as you see Him on a crucifix with a little rag wrapped around His loins. They stripped Him naked. They embarrassed Him to everything that they could embarrass Him to, and hung Him there on Calvary. He was disgraced, and despised, and rejected, and spit on. And there He hung, dying, the God of eternity, the one that made the cross He was hanging on. No wonder the rocks rent out of the mountains. The rocks cut out, because the rock of ages was being erected. No wonder the poet said,
Mid rendering rocks and darkening skies,
My Saviour bowed His head and died.
The opening veil revealed the way,
To heaven's joys and endless day.
What did it do when He died there that like that? It opened the veil. It let us look past the curtain of time, let us seen a hope there.

22 When I see Him bruised, and mashed, and spit, and barbs and nails drove through Him, what did it do? It opened the way, that me, a guilty sinner... I know that He paid the price there.
I'm not justified by anything I could do, none of my goodness ---I have none, and neither do you. But it's through His sacrifices, through His death we are justified by believing on Him. There's where our justice stands. Not what I do or what you do, but what He did for us. If that ain't the gospel story, I don't know it. Oh, give me that and take all the rest of it away. See that one who died for me.

23 How could I be just? I cannot justify myself; I'm a sinner. But when I look upon Him and come singing,
Nothing in my arms I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling...
There's where I'm justified, by my faith, believing that He died in my stead and took my place at Calvary.
That's alone where I stand on the platform when demon powers are around, and I see death hanging on the people, and... The devil's got them bound and possessed, and some of them in straight jackets and guards around them. What do I stand on then? I look to Calvary, and know that there Jesus Christ paid the price. I feel religious.

24 There He did it. That person's got a right to be free. Satan don't hold them no longer. If you could get them to see, not their aches and their pains, or some preacher praying for them, or some holy church---that's all right; that goes with it---but the main thing is see what Christ did for you. You're free. Christ died for you. Amen. That's the gospel.
Mid rendering rocks and darkening sky,
My Saviour bowed His head and died.
The opening veil revealed the way
To heaven's joy and endless day.
There's where He died.
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me...
How could I be saved? Get rid of sin. He was the sin offering for me; so He died. Now, if sin is dead, then buried, He carried my sins far away. He was a scapegoat that went out. And the scapegoat took the sins of the people on him and went out into the wilderness to die. Go out there and took the sins of the people and took them far away.
So did Jesus. He took the sins of the people and carried them far away, so far that He put them in the sea of God's forgetfulness. If sin is dead, bury it.
That's why we have baptisteries. When people believe that story, they come confessing their sin that they're tired of it, they've divorced it, they've separated from it, and they're tired of it; so it's dead. And sins has no more power upon that believer, because he stands justified in the death and burial of Jesus Christ. Therefore, he walks to the altar, makes his confession, says, "I'm sick and tired of sin. I want it no more." Then we bury it.

25 When sin is buried---anything is buried---it's dead first. Then it's buried. It's put away from sight. That's why we bury people, to put them away from the sight, the contamination of their bodies, hide them from us. It's a gloomy thing to see what death does.
And when sin is finished, when sin lost its grips, and it died in the death of Christ at Calvary where He condemned sin, then the sinner who accepts that---justified by faith---can scream, "Hallelujah, for God's carried my sins far away. He put them upon my sin bearer, Jesus Christ." He represented both the animals: both dying and taking the sins away.

26 Then as I said a few moments ago, He become... We become... we were goats. He become goat for us. He become sin for us. That's the reason He had to be punished the way He was, because all of our sins were placed upon Him. And there He had to bear them away in His own body to Calvary: a reproach, a disgrace, sinfully hanging there, naked, stripped, bleeding, bleating. When He rolled His precious head around, the bloody locks dripping from His shoulders...
I believe it was Billy Sunday said there was an angel sitting in every tree, saying, "Just pull Your hands loose from the cross and just motion Your finger; we will change the scene."
The Jews paid Him the greatest compliment could be paid, not knowing what they were doing. They said, "He saved others, Himself He can't save." Sure not. If He saved Himself, He could not save others. But He gave Himself that we might be saved. That's the story.
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away...
They're done; they're finished. God's sea of forgetfulness to be remembered against us no more. Oh, can't we shout, "Hallelujah," to that. Sure, it's all over. Christ did it. Oh, my. Sure we can.

27 Now, here comes the greatest of all. "Rising, He justified..." All these great things He done was wonderful. They're superb. There's nothing could be added to it. But yet, a man could die, yet a man could suffer, yet a man could love, but when He rose, God wrote the receipt at His resurrection that He had received it: God's justice had been met. Oh, thanks be to God. Rising, He justified...
God proved by the resurrection that He wasn't phony, He wasn't fake. That was His Son. And He raised Him up, the Spirit, the Eternal Spirit, Jehovah God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who raised up that dead form in the grave there, had been dead for three days and buried, and God raised Him up on Easter morning to justify...

28 There when we come, brother, come into God, there's not one thing... He that cometh must come boldly to the throne of grace. You mustn't come wondering.
When you come into the prayer line, you mustn't come wondering, "Well, if this minister will pray for me, perhaps, maybe he's got healing power." Brother, sister, healing power is in God. It's in the cross, in the finished work at Calvary. When you come, come to be justified. You are justified when you confess your faith, that "By His stripes I was healed. I'm going to make a stand. The doctor says I'm dying. I got tumor, I got TB, or whatever it is. But tonight I stand, because I believe that He loved me, and died for me, and saved me, and buried my sins far away."

29 And God justified us by believing on Him when He raised Him up from the dead. He accepted everything that He died for. "He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace up on Him, and with His stripes we were healed." And He raised Him up and wrote the receipt.
That was God's receipt. When the earth began to quiver and shake, and the sun begin to dark... or light the earth on that Easter morning, heaven shook; hell shook; paradise shook; the earth shook; something was taking place.
I can hear the angels in glory screaming, "Hallelujah!" I can hear them in paradise, the old saints of the Old Testament crying out, "Glory to His name." Certainly. Something had happened when up from the grave He arose.

30 He brought out the triumph over the grave, death, hell, sickness, every barrier, everything that stands in the way of perfect freedom for the Christian. Everything that you have need of was taken care of. It was done been suffered for, done been accepted, done bled for, done died, done rose; and God justified Him. He justifies you to believe it. Up from the grave He arose, proved that He was God.
Buddha made some great statements. Buddha died and is in the grave twenty-three hundred years ago, still there. Mohammed made a lot of great statements. But he died, and he's in the grave, and been there for about ... nearly nineteen hundred years. He's in the grave, no speaking afterwards. They might have been great men. Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, many of those great men, Poets and authors, and gods and what-more, they might have been great in their stand.
But when God raised up His Son on Easter morning, it proved it. And He sent the Holy Ghost, and we've got the receipt of it now. I can hear His scream from eternity, "Because I live, ye live also." Amen. That's right. "Because I live, you live also." Amen.

31 For "He was wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes we were healed." You don't have to die before your time comes. Because He lives, you live also. When death shall smother out my breath, I will still be living. "He that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me has everlasting life and shall never come to the judgment, but has passed from death unto life. "I am the resurrection and life," saith God. "He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Whew! I anchor my soul right there. No wonder the poet wrote,
On that bright and cloudless morning
When the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to
their home beyond the sky,
When the roll is called up yonder,
I'll be there.
Why?
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever:
Someday He's coming---oh, glorious day!

32 I can see my shoulders stooping, my arms, where there used to be muscles, are getting fat and, oh, I'm... See, I'm dying. I don't know how long it'll be before He will call me. But I've got eternal life in here, because He died for me, that He might redeem this that I've offered to Him. Some glorious day He's coming. I believe it with all my heart.
I'll stay at the battlefield by His grace. I'll preach, pray for the sick until death shall set me free, and then go home, a crown to wear. For He paid for it, gave it freely. God justified my belief when He raised up Jesus. Then I have a crown waiting.

33 Forty days after He had visited His disciples, He's standing there on the mountain. You know, gravitation is what holds us on the earth. When we're on the earth here, it's gravitation holds us. But you know what? God took a notion for Him to come up a little higher. Gravitation begin to lose its hold.
God, I hope that I can be that way some of these days, don't you? When this old earthbound condition... Sometimes I've been in meetings, I thought it was going to take place at any time, just feel it breaking loose around you. One of these days it'll do it.
No matter; they could put you in a grave, and put a tombstone on top of you, and seal you up. That won't have one thing to do with it. "The trumpet of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise." Someday He's coming---oh, glorious day. Yes, He's coming.

34 Gravitation began to lose its hold. His feet begin to rise, earth began to peek through. But beyond that, "I will come again," He said, "and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also." I'm so glad that I can sing that song with a true heart tonight.
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever:
Someday He's coming---oh, glorious day!

35 Brings me into this little thought. I don't know whether I said it ... told this little story that I read out of a book one time, about a man here in America. His name is Greenfield. He's been dead now about seventy-five years, I guess. He died, oh, I guess he's... Maybe longer than that. But before he died, he dreamed a dream that he'd went to glory. When he got up there, he went to the gate, and said to the saint, "I am Danny Greenfield." He said, "I'm an evangelist. I come to take my position."
He said, "Just a moment, sir; your name has to be on the book here." He looked over the book and he said, "There's no Greenfield ... Daniel Greenfield here."
He said, "Oh, you must be wrong, sir." He said, "I was an evangelist in America."
Said, "Nope. It's not here."
Said, "What can I do?"
Said, "If you wish to, you might appeal your case to the great white throne judgment."
So he said, "That's all I have left."
So he said it seemed like he was passing through the air for a while, begin to get lighter and lighter. After awhile as it got lighter, he got slower till he stopped. He couldn't see just where the light was coming from, but it was all around him. And said he heard a voice that said, "Who is this that approaches My throne of justice?"
He said, "I'm Daniel Greenfield." Said, "I was up at the heaven gates, and the gatekeeper turned me away, and said I'd have to stand before Your judgment. And I appeal my case to stand here, Sir."
Said, "All right. I will judge you by My justice then." He said, "My justice requires perfection." He said, "Did you ever lie when you was on earth?"
He said, "I thought I'd been a honest man and had been truthful." But said, "In the presence of that light, I seen a lot of times I told things that wasn't right."

36 Look, friend, we may go to church every Sunday. We may be very religious. Oh, sure. You might pay your tithes, and you might just be as good a person as Los Angeles has got. That may be true. But I tell you: There's a lot of things going to stand before you if that's all you got, when you stand at that white throne judgment. No wonder few there'll be that'll be saved.

37 And he said, "I thought I'd told the truth." But said, "I seen a lot of things I told wasn't just right." He said, "Yes, I told lies."
He said, "Then, did you ever steal?"
He thought, "There's one I can answer." But said in the presence of that light, he saw a many little shady deal. He never thought of it in natural life.
See, we're just on the negative side. We're looking with shaded eyes. But when we stand there in His presence, the glasses is going to be pulled off. We will see face to face with Him then. That's when it's going to be terrible.
Then he said, "Yes, I--I guess I did steal."
He said, "Daniel Greenfield, My justice requires perfection! Was you perfect when you was in your life?"
He said, "No, Lord. I wasn't perfect."
Said he was waiting to hear that great blast, "Depart from me, you worker of iniquity."
Said "he heard a voice. It was the sweetest voice he ever heard in his life." And he turned to look; he said "he saw the sweetest face that he ever saw." Said, "No mother could look or talk like that." Said, "As He walked up close to him, He put his hand upon his shoulder, and He said to Him, 'Father, that is true. Danny Greenfield, in his earthly journey, he wasn't perfect. But there's one thing he did when he was in earth: he stood for Me. Now while he's here in heaven, I'll stand for him. All of his sins, put it upon my account.' that He had paid for it at Calvary."

38 Brother, sister, that's the one I'm going to depend on. I'm not going to depend on whether I'm a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Pentecostal. I'm not going to depend on whether I shouted, whether I spoke with tongues, whether I prayed the prayer of faith for the sick. I'm not going to depend on that. I'm going to depend on my faith yonder---where He loved me, and died, and saved me, and rising He justified. I will stand for Him upon the basis of that while I'm here on earth. At that great judgment morning, I believe He will stand for me at that day. Who would stand for you at that day? Could your pastor? Could your church? Think of it while we bow our heads just a moment.
Dear God, that is a solemn question that we must answer just now. Who would stand for us? Would it be our friends? Though they might be ever so loyal, and would try as hard as they could to stand for us. It might be our beloved pastor, who we love with all of our hearts, and he would stand and scream for us. Yet, he has to scream for mercy too. Oh, there could be no one stand that day but Jesus.
And dear God, I've just tried to speak of a love that You gave to Your church. It seems like that they've caught up with the miracles of the Bible, they've caught up with the membership, and the evangelism, and the missionaries and... But Lord, let them catch up with love now, that'll set the church afire with a real agapao love, with a real sacred love, that could turn the cheek, or the one that would be willing to lay down his life, if it would mean to save others. God, give us that love in our hearts as we wait on Thee.

39 While we have our heads bowed, I wonder tonight, how many in this big audience of people tonight, would just like to stand up to your feet and say, "I'm going to stand right now for Jesus. And by doing this, Lord, I want You to stand for me on that day, because this may be the last chance that I get to ever stand for You. I've been in many meetings. I'm a member of a church." Maybe you are; maybe you're not. Whatever the case is, would you just say, "Lord, I will stand right now, and please stand for me on that day." Stand up to your feet right now, while we offer prayer. Just raise up. That's right. God bless you. That's just fine. All right.
Living, He Loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever:
Someday He's coming---oh, glorious day!

40 There's a chaplain sitting out here tonight that was in a great meeting of science the other day. You all seen, I believe it was Look Magazine this month, how that general said that this next war will just only be a few minutes. And right now, it just takes one of them to blow their top in some of these (Excuse that expression.) but some of these arguments they're having, just set off one bomb. There we are out there in the ocean with these submarines to rise up. There they are, all different places to send those bombs. Here they come this way. Here they come that way. The world can't stand it. She could go in the... Before that clock strikes another two minutes, this entire thing could be over. Don't you take a chance. If you're not sure you're right...
I wonder if our Sister would give us a chord on this. Do you believe that God would hear my prayer for you? Come here. Let me just ... under them lights out there, walk down here just a minute, will you? Come right here, let's stand here and pray together. Come right on now, if you will. Don't sit down. Just move right up here and stand here. Say, "I've been a church member, I'm not ashamed, I will come right up here and stand here. I want to come. I want to be honest." You'll see a revival start, if you can just see the Spirit of God get into the people. God bless you.

41 If He will hear my prayer to open the eyes of the blind (No doubt you'll see that done these next few days.), make the poison of the snake bite, through prayer, just stop it dead still. I've seen those who had passed beyond mortal life, the doctors had closed their eyes, and folded their hands, and walked away, see them rise back to life again. What? Through prayer. Prayer means something.
We will wait for you in the balconies. Come right on down. Let's stand here and have a prayer together. Would you come right down? Let's pray together. That's what we want to do. How many like to have that love? If you haven't got a love in your heart tonight, that you sigh and cry for the abominations that's did in this city...

42 Listen friends, I'll take any student here to discuss that. The Scripture said that the Angel of God could only seal those who wept and cried for the abominations did in the city. All that has read that say, "Amen." There it is. Just those who sigh and cry for the abominations of the city. "Oh," you say, "I've been a Pentecostal a long time." That's good. So have I. But, brother, what about that spirit of concern about the lost world if you're about the Father's business. You say, "Well, I get a blessing every night."
And if that good, humble, sweet, meek spirit isn't on you... What is the fruits of the Spirit? Love, peace, joy, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, patience. Don't take no chance. In the morning may be too late. A hour from now may be too late.
Why don't you come now before there's any healing service, before there's anything. Come right down, say, "Lord, I want to get right. I want a Spirit in me that'll make me love. I want a Spirit in me that'll make me appreciate what Jesus did for me, insomuch that my heart will be tender and loving, and I can forgive the people from my heart, not because it's a duty."

43 Now, there's some of you in the balcony should be coming down. Walk out. You might be that many steps between you and heaven. I don't say it is; I hope it isn't. But it might be just that much is all you need.
What would you give tonight, if Jesus... If you'd hear something take place, and a rock would go off down here somewhere, one back here, and the radios would be screaming, people be running into the streets, and the atomic bombs a falling the... It's too late then.
You know what would happen? The church would... The gravitation would take ... leave it's hold loose. That church would be raptured just as certain as I'm standing in this pulpit. The graves would open; the dead would come out; they'd go to meet the Lord Jesus. Church members by the tens of thousand, yes, by the tens of millions will be left behind. Better come, be sure that you got love in your heart.

44 While we bow our heads just a moment while we're waiting as others are coming down, let the personal workers get around now also, and you who are coming around to pray with us. Come on, sinner friend; come on, backslider; come on, lukewarm church member; let's go to heaven together. You've come right up here now for this prayer.
I want to pray for you. I want to be sure that I've done everything that I can do, because I'm believing that this week is going to be a... is going to be in this coming week, is going to be a great time around this Temple, if Jesus tarries. And I'd like to see every sin cleaned up, like to see all the old gloomy devils took away, and the church of the living God could stand on their feet with real divine love. There'd be a shaking through this city like's never been known before: lame, blind, halt, everything would take place.

45 Are you finished? You sure now? This is... You're sure that your sins are so under the blood, and you have such a desire in your heart for the sins of this city that you nightly, nightly you can weep to God, "Oh, God!" And through the daytime, you look and see the people living the way they are in sin. It brings tears to your cheeks and sorrow to your heart as you look and just see how sinful it is.
Is that the kind of a spirit that's in you? That's the only kind that's sealed by the Holy Spirit. That's exactly what the Scripture says. The ones that were sealed with the Holy Spirit had that kind of a spirit in them. And what is the fruit of that Spirit? Love, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, patience, peace, a peace with everyone. Whether they disagree with you, that's all right. That's the kind of a church we want. That's the kind of people we want to be.

46 Don't be ashamed now. Maybe before morning, you may call Him to stand for you. What would He say? "You know I spoke to you when that preacher was saying that last night at the Angeles Temple. Why didn't you come on down there? You turned down your last day."
Well, you say, "Brother Branham, I've been a church member."
Jesus said, "They will come and even say---guys like Tommy Osborn, Oral Roberts, William Branham, all the rest of them that goes out and has healing services---many of those guys will stand in that day and say, 'Lord, I cast out devils in your name. I did great works in your name.'"
He'd say, "I never even knew you."
See, those gifts are worked through faith, but love perfects. Love is what does it. Love's what melts us with God, makes us one in unity, one in heart, one in Spirit.
Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
(Can I appreciate Him?)
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever:
(Now, what am I doing? Waiting, for...)
Someday He will come---oh, that glorious day!
Say, "Let it be tonight, Lord. If it be Your will, let it be tonight."

47 All right. How many out there now, right before the audience and neighbors sitting next to you, say, "Brother Branham, I haven't got the nerve to rise up and go up there. I wish I did. I know I haven't got that kind of a spirit in me, the one that you're speaking about: the kind that Jesus had, the kind of love He had, the kind of sacrifice He gave. And that Spirit was in Him has to be in me, make me act meek, gentle, patient, love, long-suffering, gentleness. I haven't got it, Brother Branham. I've got a temper. I've never been sanctified from that. I got doubts in my mind." There's something wrong.
Sure, when the Holy Spirit comes in, it takes the place and roots all that out. Every root of bitterness is gone, then you're sweet towards every one, love everybody. That's the way you are. You say, "I haven't got that. I haven't even got the nerve to raise up, but I have got this much courage left: I'm going to raise my hand to God, and say, 'God, I can't exactly stand for You now, I haven't got that much courage. But, remember me, oh, Lord.'" Would you raise your hands out in the audience there, that hasn't come up. God bless you.

48 Now, you standing here, each one of you. I want you solemnly, with all your heart to know that you've made this consecration. Now, don't just come down the aisle just because it's... you come just because, "Well, I don't want to go to hell." Of course you don't. "But I come, Jesus, because that something touched me in my heart. I see what You did for me, and I haven't got that what You require. And I'm coming to receive it; I want it." Why do you receive a substitute. Why take a church membership, or some little excitement, or...
Now, I believe in excitement, and shouting, and speaking in tongues, and Divine healing. I believe all those things. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about God first. You can have that and not have God. Paul said you could. Jesus said many will come and saying they had it, confessing they had it. But they didn't have this, see. That's where we're lacking.

49 "I need love, Lord. I need Your Spirit in my heart to make me that kind of a person: tender, kind, gentle, humble, forgiving. That's what I want. And Lord, I'm bowing my head right before You now to say this, 'Lord, change my life right now. I open myself up,' and say, 'Now, Lord, I'm nothing, but You change me. It's got to be You. My emotions has brought me to this altar. But now it takes Your Spirit to change me. Come, do it, Lord. Come place in me that glorious longing.'" That's what it is.
I said to a man the other day, "Oh, I believe Jesus will come most anytime."
He said, "Don't talk about that, Brother Branham. You worry me."
I said, "Worry you?"
Said, "Sure, I'm making more money now than I ever in my life. My business is better."
I said, "Then, brother, you claim you're a Christian, and would fear the coming of the Lord?" [Gap in the audio.]
"It's the greatest moment I could think of---the coming of the Lord. That's the greatest thing that I can think of." That's why I'm here now, is because I believe He's coming. The most... That's the coronation of my days---that's right---when I can see Him. "When all those that love His appearing," Paul said, "there was laid up a crown of righteousness." All that love His appearing...
"Come, Lord Jesus. Yes, Lord, come now. This is the hour, if it so please Thee, Lord." That's the way to feel about it. And loving me, dying for me, buried for me; rising He justified freely forever. "Now, I'm looking for You to come, Lord. And I want to have the same kind of spirit in me that You had in You. I want that kind of a spirit; that if my enemy's spit could be hanging from my face, and with all my heart I could say, 'I forgive you for it.' And I could forgive others as Christ ... as God, for Christ's sake, forgave us."

50 All right, let us bow our head now in prayer. Billy, if you don't mind, I wish you would come here with me. I want you to take the after-service, one of you, if you will.
Now, as you bow your heads, I want you to confess to God that you've been wrong, and you want God to forgive you now, and to place in you... [Gap in the audio.]
Hear me people, just as sure as I'm standing here, He wants to do it.
Now, look. How'd you come? "No man can come to Me except My Father draws him first." Why did you get up and come? Because you knowed there was something wrong. Now, you're at the altar where all wrongs are rightened, because there's a sacrifice laying on the altar for you. What was it? A bleeding sacrifice---the Son of God---that cries, "Father, forgive them. They didn't mean to do that."

51 Now, you look upon that as we pray. Lay your hands, by faith, upon His head. Just imagine you now, you've done wrong. Like in the Old Testament, they brought a lamb, put his... put the hands upon the lamb and cut the lamb's throat. And the little fellow, as it quivered, and bleated, and died, and blood going all over the worshiper's hands, he realized that was... He should be dying, but the lamb was dying for him.
Now, by faith, lay your hands on the head of Jesus, and feel that suffering, that forsaken until blood and waters separated. Feel that suffering, and say, "Lord God, upon the basis of this, I now come as a sinner. Be merciful to me."
And dear God, as I realize my position standing here by this sacred desk, I'm standing between death and life to men and women that I will have to meet over there at that great morning. Oh, I might pray for someone, they'd get well, and forgotten. But Lord, here's souls at stake. And I've got to stand with them beyond any shadow of doubt before the just and living God and give an account for the ministry.
And here they are, Lord. They've come because they have believed, and the Holy Spirit has condemned them that they've been doing wrong, and they come now to make that right. And I pray for them. That's all I know how to do, Lord, is to say what the Word says here. And now, they are confessing their wrong. And if they are willing to confess, God is going to forgive---He promised to---and to give unto them the desire on their heart. For it is written, "He will withhold no good thing from them that'll walk upright before Him." They want to have a Spirit of love in their heart.

52 Father, we've had so much shouting; we've had so much joy; I'm afraid we forgot the main thing, Lord. As Elijah standing at the mouth of the cave, hearing the winds and the thunders, but it never alarmed him; he waited for that still small voice. Lord, speak now. Speak down into their hearts that still small voice, says, "Child of Mine, he that will come to me, I will in no wise cast out. I lay every sin you've done upon My own sacrifice, My only begotten Son. You confessing it, because you believed it. He was the only one who could help you, and He did that, and He justified every one of you by His suffering. And I proved it by raising Him up from the dead. And now, I give unto you that Spirit that was in Him, that could forgive, and could love, and could be gentle, and long-suffering, and good, and meek, and kind, and gentle, and patient." God, grant it to them just now.
And now, when I come with them, Lord, down there at that day, this is all I know to do is to bring them here and ask You to do it, and join my faith with them, that You are doing it, that it's already done, and they're believing it, and accepting it right now in the bottom of their heart. I present them to You as love gifts that the Holy Spirit has brought to Christ tonight in the name of Jesus Christ.

53 Now, with your heads bowed, and you feel really ashamed of the way that you've done. Many of you has confessed Christianity and never had a burden like you should've had for lost souls. Maybe you've went to church; maybe you've done certain things---good deeds. But now, you feel different about it. You feel like you're going out now, that God has said something to your heart, that you got more love for Him now; you see Him what He is, what He's done for you. If you do, raise up your hand. All you around the altar, say, "I feel right now." God bless you.
Oh, that's wonderful. One hundred percent as far as I could see. That's it. That's it. It's nothing, not emotional. It's coming humbly, gently walking up, listening for that little voice. "Yes, Lord. Then I receive You, Lord. Now I believe You. I believe You with all my heart. I'm going away from here tonight to be humble, gentle. I'm going away tonight feeling the burden in my heart for lost sinners. I will be praying for sinners. I will do everything that I can from this night henceforth."
Now, if the congregation will bow their heads everywhere, I'm going to ask Brother Billy Adams if he will continue the service.