He became a curse!

“If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God." Deut. 21:22-23

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Galatians 3:13-14

PRAISE THE LORD!!

CULT TRAINING - Marks of a Cult

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 29th

"Thou art my hope in the day of evil." — Jeremiah 17:17

The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be "As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day," yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer's sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the "green pastures" by the side of the "still waters," but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, "Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen." Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God's saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God's full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.

CULT TRAINING - Scientology

I have one word: creepy

Signs of the Second Coming - False Teachers

Thought this sermon would be appropriate since I've been posting on cults.

This was preached by Pastor Jack Hughes at CBC:

Thomas Brooks “Precious Remedies against Satan’s Device”

This was a great quote sent from Pastor Tim:

"Ah! the time, the thoughts, the hearts, the souls, the duties, the services--which the inordinate love of this wicked world eats up and destroys! Where one thousand are destroyed by the world's frowns--ten thousand are destroyed by the world's smiles! The world, siren-like, sings to us, then sinks us! It kisses us, and betrays us, like Judas!"

by Thomas Brooks “Precious Remedies against Satan’s Device”

Noho/HOLLYWOOD - Follow-Up 4-24-10

FREE BUSINESS CARDS!

It's a good idea if you are street witnessing to have some way to offer people to contact you if they have questions, want to have a bible study, or visit church so that you can begin to disciple them. VISTAPRINT offers FREE BUSINESS CARDS! I just ordered some and I'm getting 250 and only had to pay shipping which was about $6.

CULT TRAINING - Jonestown

Even though this cult met a tragic end and is no longer active, I believe that much can be learned about how these cults are designed to DESTROY people, families, children and ultimately lead to eternal destruction. I understand that we should be kind and patient with people trapped in cults, however when it comes to those that propagate the false doctrine, the false teachers themselves need a strong, scathing rebuke!

A chilling documentary about Jim Jones can be viewed HERE.

Not many wise...

"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13

AMEN! Aren't you glad the Lord uses nobodies? Unwise, weak, lowly, nobodies; that all glory should go to His Son!

CANCEL JOEL OSTEEN

SAD NEWS JUST IN FROM TONY THE LAWMAN...ALL of Dodger Stadium is private property... we would not even be able to get close to the event!! CANCEL THIS EVENT! We will meet at the CBC lot at our normal time 4:30.

Sorry guys.

EVANGELISM NEWS FLASH!!!

This just came in from Kareem our on the ground "News Evangelist"...

This Saturday night at Dodger Stadium JOEL OSTEEN will be appearing to bring hope. CBC Evangelism will be going to bring the GOSPEL!! The only TRUE hope for a fallen world!

Please meet at CBC Parking lot at 3:00 SHARP!! The doors open at 5:30 pm so we want to get there in time to take advantage of the crowds & lines!

CULT TRAINING - Mormonism

I've been collecting several DVD's to watch about different cults. There are many good resources out there to inform you about the TRAPS these poor souls are in.

"Jesus Christ/Joseph Smith" is a really good DVD on the truth about Joseph Smith the founder of Mormonism. You can watch clips from the DVD HERE.

This video below "The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon" is excellent!

Law & Gospel

"I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law. The law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man's heart unless you first send the needle of the law to make way for it. If men do not understand the law, they will not feel that they are sinners. And if they are not consciously sinners, they will never value the sin offering. There is no healing a man till the law has wounded him, no making him alive till the law has slain him."

C.H. Spurgeon

Crash Course 4 Follow-Up

Interview with...

CULT TRAINING - Jehovah's Witnesses

I may start to try to find info on different cults since we seem to run into more and more false teachers when we go out to witness. Its good to know your enemy and how they deceive people so you can counter it with the TRUTH of scripture... and when I mean enemy it isn't the poor deceived JW's themselves, but their damning doctrine of demons.

DEAN'S MAGNET EVANGELISM

2017-06-06: Updated the outdated links on this post.  Dean still regularly and consistently goes out on Thursdays with a couple members of our team, as well as others from various churches.

Do you feel like you are the only one in your church interested in evangelism?

If so we invite you to join Dean at the Noho Subway Station every Thursday night from 5-8:00 p.m. Before you come out please listen to HELL'S BEST KEPT SECRET (audio download link) also I ask you to please read and agree with this STATEMENT OF FAITH.

Get equipped and on fire for the Lord so that you will then be able to take that "flame" back to your church!

The Supremacy of Christ and Truth in a Postmodern World

This is VERY moving, the music alone is haunting.

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 20th

"That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death." —Hebrews 2:14

O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil's power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God the Holy Ghost, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer's death, thou mayst be strengthened for that dread hour. Living near the cross of Calvary thou mayst think of death with pleasure, and welcome it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell. The distance between glorified spirits in heaven and militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not so. We are not far from home—a moment will bring us there. The sail is spread; the soul is launched upon the deep. How long will be its voyage? How many wearying winds must beat upon the sail ere it shall be reefed in the port of peace? How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the answer, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord." Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there. Like that ship of old, upon the Lake of Galilee, a storm had tossed it, but Jesus said, "Peace, be still," and immediately it came to land. Think not that a long period intervenes between the instant of death and the eternity of glory. When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. The horses of fire are not an instant on the road. Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? and now it is but a Jacob's ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.

Heckler's Corner

Sometimes when you are open-airing you get someone who walks by and heckles you. And even in the blog world you have people that are like "blog hecklers". They show up and shout something out.

The plan is when I get a comment on the blog that I would deem heckling (which is extremely rare) I'll try to answer how I would respond in a open-air setting to their comments. Now understand not all hecklers should be responded to because it's a distraction of the preaching of the gospel, however some heckling could draw a bigger crowd to then share more of the good news.

In the future I would kindly ask if you are going to heckle me please don't use suss words (mild or abbrev.), blasphemy, URL’s (website addresses), incivility, or failure to give the name ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ capitals, your comment will be deleted immediately.

"Bullhorn Twotails" wrote a comment for THIS POST: (Sentences in bold/italic were "edited" to remove inappropriate content)

Fantastic! Cops who stand-up to nuisance makers!! Why would anyone on their day out want to be serenaded by loud-mouthed, deluded loonies?
The 'evangelising' youngster in the clip (as far as I could make out, given the poor sound...) was courteously asked to move away to another spot. He refused; reckoning, no doubt, he had a captive audience as people walked in & out of the entrance...
Why should his 'right' to pollute a quiet afternoon with his mindless preaching trump other people's right not have their peaceful afternoon disrupted by a lunatic??
We've heard it all before. It gets more & more tedious every time. Don't you crazies realise that you're all a laughing stock.... and that your silly beliefs will be your own undoing?

If Jesus ever lived (which is very doubtful), he's long since dead & buried. (Blasphemy deleted) Yo!

My Response:

Sir because God, judgment and hell is real that is why we will proclaim that Jesus Christ died on a cross for your sins and rose again from the dead, so that you can be forgiven by the very One whom you have blasphemed. As far as being a laughing stock... well, you're actually agreeing with scripture when it says "the message of the cross is foolishness... to those who are perishing". Sir; come to your senses, you are perishing, TURN AND LIVE!

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 17th

"The precious blood of Christ." — 1 Peter 1:19

Standing at the foot of the cross, we see hands, and feet, and side, all distilling crimson streams of precious blood. It is "precious" because of itsredeeming and atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ's people are atoned for; they are redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God, made one with Him. Christ's blood is also "precious" in its cleansing power; it "cleanseth from all sin." "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Through Jesus' blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean, removing the stains of abundant iniquity, and permitting us to stand accepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The blood of Christ is likewise "precious" in its preserving power. We are safe from the destroying angel under the sprinkled blood. Remember it is God's seeing the blood which is the true reason for our being spared. Here is comfort for us when the eye of faith is dim, for God's eye is still the same. The blood of Christ is "precious" also in its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its after-action, quicken the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as that which streams from the veins of Jesus. And "precious," unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. It is written, "They overcame through the blood of the Lamb." How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of Jesus, fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be death: heaven's gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! we shall march on, conquering and to conquer, so long as we can trust its power!

THE JMAC ATTACK!!

Lately I've been running into SEVERAL False teachers and have been on the fence about how to handle them. In the past I've tried to "be nice" and spent a lot talking with them....which usually leads to frustration. But for some reason lately (and this is what I'm still working out) I've just been blasting them as false teachers. Please pray for me that I use wisdom and am lead by the Spirit. This Q&A question for John MacArthur really helped me.

Questioner

We were having a discussion this morning on the occult. And, I wanted to know, if a Jehovah’s Witness came up to you and said that, that their religion was the right way, what would you say?

John MacArthur's Answer:

I’d say, they were wrong. First of all, it would depend on the situation. When the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to my house, and want to teach me their stuff, I won’t let ‘em. I won’t let ‘em do that. But, I confront them as false prophets. I don’t know whether that’s what everybody ought to do. That’s what I do. I just say, "You’re false prophets, propagating damnable lies, representing Satan. And, I won’t hear them. But, on the other hand, if you’d like to hear the truth, I’d be more than happy to tell it to you." It’s a shock sort of thing. You try to do what the Lord would have done, or what Paul would have done. But, you see, these people go along, and if everybody just sort of treats them nice, and, I know there’s a balance. You want to be loving and sensitive to them, but they need to be, sometimes, struck with what’s going on, what the reality is because no one really ever says that to them. And, you have to realize that they’re people just like us. And, they have all the same emotions and the same doubts. Only, their doubts are greater than our doubts because they don’t have the truth. And, the Lord can’t strengthen their faith because they don’t know the Lord. So, it’s all human. It’s a human system. And, they have doubts. And, sometimes, if you can be very strong in confronting them in a loving way, but very strong, you might be able to push them out of it, so I won’t let them propagate to me. But, if they want to hear what I say, I let them do that.

John MacArthur on Charles Spurgeon & Worldly Preaching

Are you ready?

Get ready for it Christians!

Evangelist Arrested for Preaching Near Liberty Bell from Repent America on Vimeo.

The Power of God in George Whitefield's Life - Steve Lawson

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 13th

"My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels." — Psalm 22:14

Our blessed Lord experienced a terrible sinking and melting of soul. "The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear?" Deep depression of spirit is the most grievous of all trials; all besides is as nothing. Well might the suffering Saviour cry to His God, "Be not far from me," for above all other seasons a man needs his God when his heart is melted within him because of heaviness. Believer, come near the cross this morning, and humbly adore the King of glory as having once been brought far lower, in mental distress and inward anguish, than any one among us; and mark His fitness to become a faithful High Priest, who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. Especially let those of us whose sadness springs directly from the withdrawal of a present sense of our Father's love, enter into near and intimate communion with Jesus. Let us not give way to despair, since through this dark room the Master has passed before us. Our souls may sometimes long and faint, and thirst even to anguish, to behold the light of the Lord's countenance: at such times let us stay ourselves with the sweet fact of the sympathy of our great High Priest. Our drops of sorrow may well be forgotten in the ocean of His griefs; but how high ought our love to rise! Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord's feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His feet for ever.

Encouragement from MacArthur & Piper

This is very encouraging for those who day in and day out slug it out on the street for the souls f men. Keep being FAITHFUL!!

ONE PAGE GOSPEL CHEAT NOTES

This is a one page gospel presentation for those who are learning to share the good news. The goal is to use the SWORD in evangelism. I find that I can get into a bad habit of explaining the gospel... but not using many verses when sharing. I hope this is helpful.

Seven Miles - Matt Chandler

You can get an update on Matt Chandlers condition HERE.

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 11th

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint." — Psalm 22:14

Did earth or heaven ever behold a sadder spectacle of woe! In soul and body, our Lord felt Himself to be weak as water poured upon the ground. The placing of the cross in its socket had shaken Him with great violence, had strained all the ligaments, pained every nerve, and more or less dislocated all His bones. Burdened with His own weight, the august sufferer felt the strain increasing every moment of those six long hours. His sense of faintness and general weakness were overpowering; while to His own consciousness He became nothing but a mass of misery and swooning sickness. When Daniel saw the great vision, he thus describes his sensations, "There remained no strength in me, for my vigour was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength:" how much more faint must have been our greater Prophet when He saw the dread vision of the wrath of God, and felt it in His own soul! To us, sensations such as our Lord endured would have been insupportable, and kind unconsciousness would have come to our rescue; but in His case, He was wounded, and felt the sword; He drained the cup and tasted every drop.

"O King of Grief! (a title strange, yet true
To Thee of all kings only due)
O King of Wounds! how shall I grieve for Thee,
Who in all grief preventest me!"

As we kneel before our now ascended Saviour's throne, let us remember well the way by which He prepared it as a throne of grace for us; let us in spirit drink of His cup, that we may be strengthened for our hour of heaviness whenever it may come. In His natural body every member suffered, and so must it be in the spiritual; but as out of all His griefs and woes His body came forth uninjured to glory and power, even so shall His mystical body come through the furnace with not so much as the smell of fire upon it.

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 10th

"The place which is called Calvary." — Luke 23:33

The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of consolation is built with the wood of the cross; the temple of heavenly blessing is founded upon the riven rock—riven by the spear which pierced His side. No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the soul like Calvary's tragedy.

"Is it not strange, the darkest hour

That ever dawned on sinful earth,

Should touch the heart with softer power,

For comfort, than an angel's mirth?

That to the Cross the mourner's eye should turn,

Sooner than where the stars of Bethlehem burn?"

Light springs from the midday-midnight of Golgotha, and every herb of the field blooms sweetly beneath the shadow of the once accursed tree. In that place of thirst, grace hath dug a fountain which ever gusheth with waters pure as crystal, each drop capable of alleviating the woes of mankind. You who have had your seasons of conflict, will confess that it was not at Olivet that you ever found comfort, not on the hill of Sinai, nor on Tabor; but Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha have been a means of comfort to you. The bitter herbs of Gethsemane have often taken away the bitters of your life; the scourge of Gabbatha has often scourged away your cares, and the groans of Calvary yields us comfort rare and rich. We never should have known Christ's love in all its heights and depths if He had not died; nor could we guess the Father's deep affection if He had not given His Son to die. The common mercies we enjoy all sing of love, just as the sea-shell, when we put it to our ears, whispers of the deep sea whence it came; but if we desire to hear the ocean itself, we must not look at every-day blessings, but at the transactions of the crucifixion. He who would know love, let him retire to Calvary and see the Man of sorrows die.

Spurgeon quote for the day! 4/9 "Where the IF lies"

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."—Mark 9:23.

"Then the next trial is, that we cannot get troubled sinners to see the difference between their faith and its fruits. "I would believe in Christ," says one, "if I were as holy as So-and-So, who is a believer, but then you see I am a sinner." Now mark, dear friend, that the person of whom you speak in that fashion does not think himself to be one particle more deserving than you are. If you talk to that good man he will tell you that whatever holiness you can see in him is the work of grace, and that at the first he came to Jesus just as you must come, that is, as a sinner. Faith produces holiness; but when we come to Jesus, at the first we come as unholy persons, and as such he receives us. Suppose that I have a number of bulbs which I am told will produce most remarkable flowers; if I believe the statement I shall take care to have them properly planted. The gardeners are beginning to put such things into pots, that they may have hyacinths and other fair flowers in the winter and early spring. Suppose that I resolve not to plant my bulbs, because I use my own eyesight, and come to the conclusion that as I cannot see a hyacinth or even the beginnings of one in any of the bulbs, therefore there can be no use in planting them. Why, everyone would tell me that in this matter I must go by faith, and plant my hyacinth in order that I may in due time see it bloom. "That bulb will yield a beautiful blue flower," says one. I answer that it is a brown, dried-up sort of onion, and that I shall throw it on the dunghill, for I can see no bud or flower in it. What a simpleton I should be if I talked so! Though I cannot see it, yet there is, closely compacted and quietly hidden away within that bulb, a slumbering thing of beauty which will wake up at the call of spring. Even so, if thou believest in Christ, there is a holy life packed away within thy faith, and it will gradually develop itself. Even within a feeble faith there are the elements of ultimate perfection. If thou dost truly trust Christ, thy preparation for glory has begun. As the king was hidden in the oak so is Christ hidden in true faith. Do not, however, expect to see all this at the first: look to the root now and the growth will follow. You are not to come to Christ because you are healed, but to get healing; your faith must be a sinner's faith before it can be a saint's faith. Trust Christ while yet you are foul, lost, and undone, and he will wash, save, and restore you."

C.H. Spurgeon- "Where the IF lies."

GO!

HOLLYWOOD FOLLOW-UP 4-3-10

To be honest I thought we weren't going to have a good turn out since it was Easter weekend... I was wrong. We had 16 evangelists come out! We split up into 3 teams and blanketed out over Hollywood Blvd. I had a wonderful time just preaching the gospel. This was when I preached at the Hollywood and Vine station to barely anyone. Crowd size means less and less to me lately I just want to get the message right. Ultimately you are preaching to an audience of One.

Resolved 2007 trailer

I know this is old... but it was very inspiring to me.

Evangelism Crash Course 4 - High Schoolers April 17th

Saturday April 17th we are going to do our Evangelism Crash Course Training for the CBC High Schoolers.

THIS IS A SIGN-UP SHEET EVENT. This is not a walk in event, you must have previously signed up with Mike M. to attend. We will have two teams going to Noho & Hollywood Blvd. I've picked a small team of people who will be leading the groups.

I would kindly ask that all of our regular evangelists or new evangelists please meet at CBC parking lot at 4:30 pm so that we can figure out together where you will "GO" from there. We're trying to spread out the evangelism, so we need to work together to help train up new evangelists and keep the regulars "stoking the fire".

Not a bad problem to have is it? Trying to coordinate LOTS of evangelists. PRAISE THE LORD!!

HE IS RISEN!!

..."these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." John 20:31

"For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." — 2 Corinthians 5:21

Mourning Christian! why weepest thou? Art thou mourning over thine own corruptions? Look to thy perfect Lord, and remember, thou art complete in Him; thou art in God's sight as perfect as if thou hadst never sinned; nay, more than that, the Lord our Righteousness hath put a divine garment upon thee, so that thou hast more than the righteousness of man—thou hast the righteousness of God. O Thou who art mourning by reason of inbred sin and depravity, remember, none of thy sins can condemn thee. Thou hast learned to hate sin; but thou hast learned also to know that sin is not thine—it was laid upon Christ's head. Thy standing is not in thyself—it is in Christ; thine acceptance is not in thyself, but in thy Lord; thou art as much accepted of God to-day, with all thy sinfulness, as thou wilt be when thou standest before His throne, free from all corruption. O, I beseech thee, lay hold on this precious thought, perfection in Christ! For thou art "complete in Him." With thy Saviour's garment on, thou art holy as the Holy one. "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Christian, let thy heart rejoice, for thou art "accepted in the beloved"—what hast thou to fear? Let thy face ever wear a smile; live near thy Master; live in the suburbs of the Celestial City; for soon, when thy time has come, thou shalt rise up where thy Jesus sits, and reign at His right hand; and all this because the divine Lord "was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." C.H Spurgeon

"Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." Psalm 2:6

Isn't this enough...

..."they crucified Him," Mark 15:24

Isn't this enough to last us a lifetime?

Morning devotion - C.H. Spurgeon April 2nd

"He answered him to never a word." — Matthew 27:14

He had never been slow of speech when He could bless the sons of men, but He would not say a single word for Himself. "Never man spake like this Man," and never man was silent like Him. Was this singular silence the index of His perfect self-sacrifice? Did it show that He would not utter a word to stay the slaughter of His sacred person, which He had dedicated as an offering for us? Had He so entirely surrendered Himself that He would not interfere in His own behalf, even in the minutest degree, but be bound and slain an unstruggling, uncomplaining victim? Was this silence a type of the defenselessness of sin? Nothing can be said in palliation or excuse of human guilt; and, therefore, He who bore its whole weight stood speechless before His judge. Is not patient silence the best reply to a gainsaying world? Calm endurance answers some questions infinitely more conclusively than the loftiest eloquence. The best apologists for Christianity in the early days were its martyrs. The anvil breaks a host of hammers by quietly bearing their blows. Did not the silent Lamb of God furnish us with a grand example of wisdom? Where every word was occasion for new blasphemy, it was the line of duty to afford no fuel for the flame of sin. The ambiguous and the false, the unworthy and mean, will ere long overthrow and confute themselves, and therefore the true can afford to be quiet, and finds silence to be its wisdom. Evidently our Lord, by His silence, furnished a remarkable fulfillment of prophecy. A long defence of Himself would have been contrary to Isaiah's prediction. "He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." By His quiet He conclusively proved Himself to be the true Lamb of God. As such we salute Him this morning. Be with us, Jesus, and in the silence of our heart, let us hear the voice of Thy love.