Address—M.W. Smith
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198.
Lauren, except our people song, power, and praise, to thee belong. We would all thy grace record holy, holy, holy, Lord, rich, and glory without his stoop. Thanks to all thy people's hope thou was poor that we might be rich in glory. Lord with thee, when we think of love like this joy and shame our hearts possess.
Joy, that thou shouldst now custody. Thus shame for such returns from us.
Yet we hope the day to see went from every hindrance free when to serve, when to thee in glory brought, we shall serve thee as we ought.
Or next and.
All right.
Praise something.
We want all I grace pray alone.
I wonder if you'll turn with me.
To the 13th chapter of Hebrews.
There's just one verse there I want to read.
And the subversive is well known, I'm sure, to each of us here.
Ya.
Hebrews 13.
Verse 8.
Jesus Christ.
The same yesterday and today.
And forever.
Very familiar words, and yet I wonder.
How much?
Will you think of them?
And how much we enter into what it means.
The speech from Jesus Christ.
And we think of him down here in this world.
As a humble man.
As a one cent of God.
And as we read.
In John's Gospel.
The one who created all things.
But in this little verse.
We have some wonderful clothes and I want to connect you with some others as we go on, but it says Jesus Christ the same.
Now when it says the same.
I think if we were to turn to the Old Testament, we would find that as one of the titles.
Of Jehovah.
It won't take time to turn to Exodus.
Where Moses.
Go to see the burning Bush.
And as he comes near to behold that sight where the Bush is burning and not consumed.
That comes out of voice to him.
That tells him that the ground he stands on his holy ground, he is in the presence of Jehovah, in the presence of the Lord.
And he tells Moses that his name is I am that I am.
The ever existing one.
That was the name of the one that he was here speaking to.
And it is the same as we have here. Jesus Christ the same.
If we were to turn to Malachi, we would find there.
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I, the Lord change not.
The unchanging.
One, the one who from the very beginning to the end, is always the same.
And are you and I change?
And how much we have to admit that we change.
Yet he is ever the same.
Then he might turn to Psalm 102. Let's look at that.
In the end of the 24th verse.
You find him being spoken to here?
Thy years are throughout all generations.
Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hand.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure Ye all of them shall wax old like a garment, and a vester shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and it should be with a capital S thou art the same, The title of Jehovah the Lord.
And thy years shall have no end.
And now we turn to the New Testament, and we find Jesus Christ the same with a capital.
How wonderful it is to think that the one with whom we have to do.
Is the one who was the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
The one who guided his people.
All through those, you have many, many years of their existence as a nation.
He guided them. He kept them. He provided for them.
And we find them constantly changing.
And he had to recall them to himself time and time again.
But he was always the same.
And that was a burden of what he had to say in Malachi, in the last message that came to the people of Israel in Old Testament times.
All they had departed from God.
And the Lord is speaking. Reverend Lee marveled that they departed from him.
And he says, I the Lord chained not.
Therefore your sons of Jacob are not consumed in Malachi. 3 I think is about the.
Second verse, maybe a little bit more than that.
But at any rate.
The people in the in that day.
Or ever turning their backs upon God.
And yet, oh, how he loved them.
And how he loves you and me.
And how we have here Jesus Christ, the same yesterday.
Yes, and today.
And forever.
Now when you turn with me to Luke 24.
And we might look for a few moments.
At what we can connect with the yesterday of our verse.
Luke 24 verse 13.
And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called e-mail.
Which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongers, and they talked together of all these things which had happened.
And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
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But their eyes were beholden that they should not know him.
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another as ye walk, and are sad? And one of them whose name is Cleopas answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and has not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
And he said unto them, What things?
And they said unto him, concerning Jesus of Manhattan.
Which was a prophet mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people and.
Chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and if crucified him.
But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel, and beside all the day of the third day since these things were done.
Gay and certain women also of our company made us astonished which were early the sepulchre and when they found out his body that came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it Even so, as the women had said, but him they saw not.
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ, who suffered these things, and who enter into his glory?
And beginning at Moses, and all the prophecy expanded unto them in all the Scriptures of things concerning himself.
And they drew nigh into the village, whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day as far as bent, and he went in to tarry with them.
And a kind of classes are set and meet with them. He took bread and blessed it, and break and gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.
Here we have.
I think that to most of us, here is a very touching scene.
The Lord Jesus had been down here in this world.
And he had a little company about him.
Who firmly believed that this was the Christ of God? And they said so in so many words, Thou art of Christ.
The Son of the living God.
And they counted on their Old Testament scriptures.
To reveal him as a woman who would come to restore Israel to its former glory.
He was promised in the Old Testament.
Come and to set up a wonderful Kingdom.
Yes, he would restore Israel to his glory.
And that's what they had counted upon.
But now?
They have just witnessed his crucifixion.
And they saw him put into the tomb.
All their hopes are dashed to the ground.
And now here's two of them.
They're going away from the center that God had put in the earth at that time. They're going away from that place.
Back to their own village.
So much to say? Well, it's all over now. We might as well go home.
And they were walking along the weary miles.
I suppose somewhere around 8 miles to their own home.
They're going along the way.
And the subject of the conversation.
Is there disappointed hopes?
They encountered.
That the one whom they have followed for something over three years.
They had believed in him, they had trusted him. They had witnessed his many miracles, his power.
And now it's all over.
Oh, what a sad picture it is to think they would find nothing at the end of all this time, the time of privation and the reproach for them. And there was a path of reproach to be associated with Jesus of Nazareth.
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Oh, but you know, as they're walking along, here comes a stranger.
And walks along with him. So what are you talking about?
For the one that came to go with them.
Was none other than Jesus himself.
And I believe himself here carries with it the same thought as we have in Hebrews 13 and eight Jesus the same himself.
Going with them.
And they're going away from Jerusalem.
But the subject of their conversation, the Lord Jesus himself the very same.
Is going along with them.
Going along with him in a wrong path.
Oh, they're in the wrong path.
But he is going along with them for the purpose.
Of restoration.
What a wonderful thing it is. And you know, I believe it's so with us sometimes, you know, we get discouraged and we go off into the wrong path.
Does the Lord leave us alone and say now when you come back again, you can have my company?
No, he goes along with her.
But, you know, sometimes with us, it's like it was with them.
The Lord Jesus chose to withhold recognition of himself from them.
They didn't recognize him? No. And you know, when we get into the path like that ourselves, sometimes we don't recognize that the Lord is with us, going along with us.
But is.
Oh, it's so wonderful to think of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to think he would go along with us even though we're not going on in accordance with His own precious word.
And so the Lord Jesus goes along with them, and he draws out their hearts.
He said. What are you talking about? Why are you so sad?
And so they tell him.
And what a wonderful words those are.
That, he says to them. Oh, foolish ones.
A slow heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
All their own scriptures had told them not only of the glories.
Of Christ's coming Kingdom.
And his own personal glories in that Kingdom.
But their scriptures told them of his rejection.
You told him of his suffering, of his death.
But you know, they were like we are. Sometimes we like to believe the things that are pleasant to us.
Not the things that are unpleasant.
And so it was even with a godly Jew that he would take.
The scriptures which spoke of the glory of Israel's Kingdom.
And they rejoice in that, for when it came to the truth Speaking of the Messiah.
How that he was despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
And where they have to own, we hit us. Where our faces from him.
Oh, they couldn't understand it.
And when the scripture said, they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod across the cheek.
They didn't understand that, but their scriptures were plain.
Oh, foolish ones.
Slow. Hard to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
And then he says these wonderful words.
That none other could ever, ever utter.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?
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How could anyone say that Christ ought to suffer as he did?
Order to be blasphemy for me to tell him that he ought to do it.
No, oh not Christ, who have suffered these things.
It was necessary for him to suffer these things in order that you and I might enter into the good of the salvation that he is wrought out for us. He ought to suffer these things.
And afterward to enter into his glory. All the sufferings come first, and the glory follows that.
You saw beginning at Moses.
And in all the prophets.
You spawned it under.
In all the scriptures the things.
Concerning himself.
Oh, what a wonderful.
Walk and conversation that must have been.
To listen to the Christ, the Lord of glory.
Opening up the scriptures.
Oh, you know, there are many times that we sit under the sound other word by this one and that one.
And we marvel at the opening up of the scriptures to us.
But think of what it must have been.
To listen to the Lord himself.
Expound the scriptures.
Through these two.
Well, they go on.
Then they come to their house.
And they wanted to go in now, he says. I'm going on.
Oh, but you know the love of their hearts for that stranger, as they thought.
Oh, it drew him to them, and they desired his company.
All the affections of their hearts were stirred up.
And that's what the Lord wanted, even though He was hidden from their recognition.
Yet in all of it.
Their hearts, as they say later, did not our hearts burn within us?
Yes, they want him to come in.
And eat a meal with them. You know, eating a meal with with others is a wonderful thing, to sit down together and have a little fellowship, a little conversation together.
It's something we enjoy.
And they wanted to enjoy that.
With this wonderful stranger.
Well, the Lord.
Takes his right place here as I sit down to the table.
It wasn't his house, but nevertheless he took his right place as the head.
And he is the one who gives thanks.
You took bread and blast and break it, and gave to them.
Always, he's now made known to them.
They're restored in heart.
They found the one.
That whom they've been talking about.
Their hearts are opened up to him and now he's known to them in the breaking of bread.
Wonderful it must have been to go on that way with him and as the the part we didn't read.
Those weary miles had walked in dejection as they were going home.
They retrace their steps.
And I'm sure it was a with a different feeling.
I'm sure it was with light steps as they go back to the place.
That they should never have left.
They go back to Jerusalem, to the others of their company.
And.
In the.
36°.
They're back in the in the company.
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Of those that they had left before and they're telling them what has happened to them.
36 verses of Thus speak, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified, and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see, For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have.
And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his side, his hands on his feet.
And while they had believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have you here any meat?
When they gave him a piece of a broiled fish of a honeycomb, and he took it, and he'd eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I speak unto you, while I was yet with you, that all these must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me, that opened either understanding, they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, And thus I behold Christ to suffer and arise from the dead.
The third day.
Well, I believe that brings before us.
Jesus Christ, the same today.
The same one.
Who spoke to those two on the way to a mass?
Ulrich called them to himself.
Is the one now we find in the company of his own people.
That little company? There weren't very many.
I suppose there were not more than 120 there. If we can make the first chapter of the Acts as a as a guide, excuse me, as a guide to it, there were 120. They were gathered together there.
But here?
He's in the midst of his own.
And he says, Peace be unto you.
Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to hear the words of the Lord Jesus saying, Peace be unto you.
It's always not enough to know that the Lord Jesus died on Calvary's cross and that he was buried.
That has happened to countless numbers of people that have been born into this world.
They have died and been buried.
All is true. The Lord Jesus Christ died in respiratory death on Calvary's cross.
But how do you and I know that God is satisfied with the work that He did there? What was different about that death than any other death?
We spoke last night.
That he died, that he laid down his life, that he entered into death in order that he might destroy him. It had the power of death.
In order to deliver those whose all their lifetime were subject to *******.
We find in the end of the fourth chapter to the Romans.
That he was delivered for our offenses.
Though he was raised again for our justification.
And when we speak of him.
They're being raised from the dead, and then cometh glorious words, therefore.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
All the very effect of the Lord Jesus has been raised out of death.
Is a thing that gives you and me peace with God. We know that he is satisfied with the work of the Lord Jesus, because if he hadn't been, Christ would not have been raised out of death.
And so now the Lord Jesus stands in the midst of his own.
A risen man.
And he says, Peace be unto you.
Or would you know they thought they had seen a spirit?
They were terrified. They were frightened. Oh, they thought that there was a spirit standing in their midst.
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And so he says to them, Why are you troubled, And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
He knew their thoughts. He knew they didn't understand.
Oh, he's about to open up to them the glorious truth of having peace with God through the through him risen, risen out of death.
Always said, Behold my hands and my feet.
Oh, in his hands, on his feet.
Where the nail mark.
The evidence that the one that they saw in front of them was the one who hung on Calvary's cross.
Some of them at least.
Has seen those hands on the cross, those feet there pierced with the nails.
They knew what they looked like now, he says. Behold my hands and my feet.
To handle me and see.
Yeah, they could handle him. They could feel him.
And they would know that this was not a.
Your spirit has not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
There was a man standing in bodily form in front of them.
How wonderful the sight that must have been.
And yet you and I by faith.
You can see the very same one. We can see them up in the glory, a man up there in the glory.
And so the disciples.
Were told when they saw the Lord Jesus going up into heaven.
The angels that stood by said this same Jesus.
We just take enough from you shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go up.
A man in bodily form is up in the glory. He's up in heaven.
This same Jesus.
Behold my hands and my feet. It is I myself.
Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Has thus spoken. He showed them his hands and his feet.
Oh, what an evidence it must have been before them that the one that they had mourned, the one that they had thought was gone forever.
They see him now before them.
No, but rejoicing it should have caused in their hearts.
And so.
As though to show them another proof of the fact of his bodily presence among them.
He says, well, they yet believe not for joy and wondered.
I'm sure it must have been an incredible thing to them to see one whom they have seen put into the grave.
And now standing before them alive is speaking to them, showing them the evidence of His crucifixion.
They believe not for joy. And they wondered, oh, I'm sure there are many, many thoughts.
Are we going through their hearts and through their minds?
But oh, I'm sure it must have been with much, much joy that they were listening to his words.
He says, Have you hear any meat?
Oh, he would condescend to eat a meal before them in order that they might know that this was not a spirit.
You know, sometimes our hearts are slow to grasp what God has for us, to grasp the scope of His word.
Oh, he wants us to take it in and take it in by faith just because he says it. To believe what he says because the word comes from one who cannot lie.
So the Lord Jesus here he condescends to demonstrate to them that he is there in their very presence.
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And he took the piece of broiled fish and honeycomb.
And he ate it before them.
When you send them, These are the words which I speak unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me. And so again in the presence of his own here He opens up to them their understanding, He opens up the Scriptures to them.
In order they might know, they might understand that.
That all these things have happened were not things that occurred.
Well, what shall we say?
That God was God was aware of what was going to happen, and so he had told all about it. It was in his prophetic word in the Old Testament of how the Lord Jesus.
It was going to be taken how he was going to be killed, that he would rise again from the dead the third day, all of this.
As in the Old Testament scriptures.
And he opened up to them the Scriptures.
You open their understanding.
And said unto them, Thus it is written, And thus it behold Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to lay hold of the truth.
That Christ.
Must suffer.
That he must die.
And as we've already said already quoted the scripture, that he must rise again the third day.
You know, for you and me.
If there's no resurrection, there's no salvation.
We have it in the Scripture. If Christ be not raised in the dead, ye are yet in your sins.
Oh, how important it is. And so the Lord Jesus wanted to make it perfectly clear to them that this is.
Of utmost importance to them. It's a vital importance.
That he was a risen man.
Standing in the very midst.
Well, you know.
At that moment.
They didn't have what you and I have now, the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us to open to us to the Scripture.
No, we don't have that. We do have that now that they didn't have.
Gracious of God to give you and me the Holy Spirit.
Bring to us the things that that concern our Lord Jesus Christ.
And to bring before us that though he is in the glory, that though in bodily presence is there yet.
That the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of His own people down here in this world.
And some of us.
Are gathered week by week.
According to the Scripture, we are gathered around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just as these were gathered together on this occasion, and he stood in their midst, so the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of his own.
And we're brought together.
For the express purpose of remembering him as the one who died on Calvary's crops, the one who suffered for us.
And yet at the same time.
Yes, with the.
Very distinct apprehension of the fact that is no longer in the grave, that is a glorified 1.
Gone, down into death.
But death couldn't hold him, and he is now on high on the glory.
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And so we can give our thanks and our praise to him up there.
For the fact that he has died.
All you know there are those who would speak to us of a dead Christ.
But a dead Christ is of no avail to you and me, apart from the resurrection.
How much we need that?
And after he arose from the dead, he ascended up on high.
And from up on high he opens up to his own down here the scriptures through his Holy Spirit.
Now let us turn to 1St Thessalonians.
Chapter 4.
We've spoken.
Of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today.
Now let's read part of chapter 4.
Verse 14.
Or if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so them also asleep in Jesus would God bring with him?
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or go before them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remains, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
We've read these words many times with great comfort.
In the presence of death.
At all. There's this in it too.
That's the one who is coming for you and me, and none other than the Lord himself, Jesus himself. The same is coming for us.
But he speaks in the first verse that we read here, yet we believe that Jesus died.
And rose again. Again we have the resurrection brought before us.
In all its importance if we believe that Jesus died and rose again.
Oh, he's the one who first came out of death.
And now the truth is revealed to us.
Not only Christ brought out of death, but also all those.
Who have died in Christ? Everyone who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Janice died here in this world.
They're going to rise again.
Yes.
These to whom the apostle Paul is writing here, hadn't understood it.
They had been Christians only a short time.
And there were some among them who had died. Possibly some of them had died in faithfulness to Christ, died as martyrs.
And they're mourning about these.
Afraid they have missed a blessing there would come through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so God has given a revelation here through the Apostle Paul.
That those who have gone on have lost nothing.
The other day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back again.
To take his own out of this world.
And those.
Who have dined are going to be there.
So he says, Even so them also asleep in Jesus will God bring with him the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back again.
And the dead in Christ are going to share in that wonderful moment when he come.
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Always says this, we say to you by the word of the Lord. The Apostle Paul says it on the authority of the Word of the Lord.
What greater authority could he use in that the word of the Lord?
That we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not go before them which are asleep.
No.
They're going to share in that.
And so he tells us.
That the Lord himself think of it. The Lord himself is going to come out of heaven.
Oh, you know, he could send Michael the Archangel. He could have sent a whole host of angels, myriads of angels he could have sent to convey his own up to glory. But no, Such is the desire of the Lord Jesus Christ to have his own with him that the Lord himself is going to come to take his own out of this world.
And in the second chapter, Hebrews, it tells us that when he takes us to glory.
All those who have died in Christ, all those living on the earth, at the time when he comes going to be with him, and he's going to say, behold, I and the children which God hath given me.
There's all to say, here we are.
Everyone who has believed in Jesus.
Is going to be there.
The old I and the children which God hath given me.
Not one will be missing.
The Lord himself should descend from heaven with a shout, where the voice of the Archangel were the trump of God.
Always going to be a great.
Time and.
There's going to be that voice.
When you're going to awake, all those asleep in Jesus are going to be awakened out of the grave.
The dead in Christ shall rise first. They're going to come out of the grave.
He's going to come out of the graves, not with a body of humiliation with which they entered into the grave. And you and I, if we're left here to the coming of the Lord and now embodies A weakness and humiliation, our bodies are going to be changed into bodies of glory like His own body.
How wonderful in glorified bodies, bodies suited to that glorious place on high.
We're going to be changed.
We which are alive and remain shall be caught together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.
What a wonderful day that will be when we'll be with him, to meet him in the in the air and to see him.
To see him who died on Calvary.
And for us to see his hands and his feet, as the disciples saw on that first day of the week.
You have to see him.
Their face so marred more than any man's. We'll see that.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. What a wonderful time it will be to be with the Lord.
Ever with the Lord. Never More to part down here, you know.
We meet loved ones.
And all we'd love to stay with and we'd love to be with them forever. But to know responsibilities and other things come in and we must part.
That's characteristic of this scene that we must there must be pardons.
And along with parting, sometimes there's tears that are shed.
Their sadness in parting.
But oh, in that day.
When we go to be with the Lord is to be forever with him, then no mortar part.
And what will there be in that day?
Oh, we don't know what it's going to be like.
We don't know what we shall be.
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All that we're going to be like him.
And there's going to be no more sickness there, no more sadness.
No more tears, no more death. All these things that characterize this world are going to be a thing of the past.
And we're going to sit down and rest.
And God is going to joy over his own with singing.
What a wonderful thing that would be when God is going to enter into his rest, God is not resting. Now he's working.
He's working, striving and beseeching men to come to him, but in that day to sit down and enjoy together.
The thoughts and communion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Can we think of anything better than that?
All you know, there are those in Chelsea. I'd, I'd be. I'd be tired of singing that way all the time.
Oh, it's because they don't know our Lord Jesus Christ.
And in that day.
It's going to be that sound thou art worthy, for thou hast slain and as redeemed as a God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue, and people and nation.
There's made us under our God, kings and priests.
What a wonderful song that's going to be, and he's the one who's going to be.
The subject of our song.
Or, you know, if I were to get there by what I had done, if I was going to get there on the merit of my own works, I could tell my neighbor, oh, I'm a pretty good person. See how I got here?
That he would tell me. Well, no, he could tell me a better story than that, you know. No, We're all going to sing one song and it's going to be unto him that loved us and wash us from our sins in his own blood. To him big glory and dominion forever and ever. What a wonderful thing. You know, What? The dedication of the Temple of Solomon. There was a choir singer.
And they sang at 1 voice, sang as one voice.
The little picture of heaven.
When you and I and the millions and millions are redeemed, are going to sing at 1 Voice, and it's going to be to our Lord Jesus Christ.
I wonder if we can sing.
#203 I think it is.
Oh Jesus, Lamb of God, who has a Savior and lost distaste, A bitter cup of death upon the Cross. Most Merciful High Priests, Our Savior, Shepherd, Friend Tis and I love alone We trust until the end.
Thou wilt our souls sustain our guide, and strength will be until in glory, Lord, above thy face we see.
Grand friend.
We.
Trust.
Our mistake.
00:55:04
I can't hear you.