I want to be looking in the book of Genesis, chapter 28, and the Gospel of John, chapter 1. I hope that loss of one hour sleep last night won't affect any of you too much. I'll get as loud as I need to, maybe, to keep you awake. Genesis chapter 28. I want to speak for a while this morning on the Lord our ladder. The Lord our ladder. In Genesis 28 and verse number 10. And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord that stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. Look at verse 16. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. Notice again verse 12. And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Then I want you to notice in the Gospel of John, chapter 1, there is a dialogue taking place between the Lord Jesus and Nathanael. We break in on that dialogue in verse 49. Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou, thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. There is an obvious connection with what Jacob saw in his dream that night long ago, and what the Lord Jesus predicted here that Nathanael would see, something that Jesus called greater than these things. It all seems to be centered around that mystery ladder, the ladder is the focal point of both these events. Abbott's New Testament commentary said what Jesus intended by this declaration and when and how it was fulfilled is not known. I don't totally agree with that. We may not understand it to its fullest. However, I do believe that if we focus on this latter, the central point, I believe that there is certainly something wonderful about our Lord Jesus to be learned here as we compare both of these narratives. There is something of this ladder that connects and corresponds to our Savior. As a matter of fact, I think this ladder represents the Lord Jesus in at least three ways. In the first place, in this ladder, We see association, association. Genesis 28 and 12. Jacob dreamed, and behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. Now notice the heel or the feet of this ladder rest upon the earth, and the head rests in heaven, establishing a connection. Now were it not for the Lord Jesus Christ, there would be no connection, no association no link between heaven and earth. For you see, with the curse of sin upon it, by the fall of Adam and his progeny, the earth was reduced to a maverick status. It became the prodigal planet, if you will, in its relation to God. And the populace The entire human race in Adam went off, as it were, to do its own contrary thing. Falling in Adam, embracing sin, and becoming a prisoner to sin. Man began to do his own thing. It's interesting that back there in the sixties, the hippie crowd used that as one of their sayings, you know, do your own thing. And of course, that's been the motto of man ever since he fell in Adam. Man wants to do his own thing. He doesn't want to do the will of God. He's not interested in the will of God. May I say to you, when an individual is saved, They are saved as they surrender to the will of God. As they raise the white flag of surrender, throw the shotgun down that they've had pointed at God, and stop their rebellion against Him. Again, as we've often stated, when it comes to this matter of being saved, it is the fact that the sinner steps down off of his throne, and he turns his crown over to King Jesus. He cannot pray, Thy kingdom come, until he prays, My kingdom go. And so he surrenders to Jesus Christ. But in the fall of man, man became an enemy to God, and he began to create, to make, to build his own kingdom, and to rule and to reign in his own life. But the populace went off in the fall of Adam as it were to do its own contrary thing, attempting to break divine restraints and eliminate sovereign rule over human life. Again and again I must tell you that this is where the issue lies. Who is going to rule? Who is going to reign? Who is going to be the king? I'll tell you, friend, who is going to surrender their own kingdom and their own crown? Well, it will not be God. God will not surrender His crown, His scepter. Beloved, He commands all men everywhere to repent, to stack arms, to turn and fall on their knees to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And man, in and of himself, just don't have the central point. I believe that there is certainly something wonderful about our Lord Jesus to be learned here as we compare both of these narratives. There is something of this latter that connects and corresponds to our Savior. As a matter of fact, I think this ladder represents the Lord Jesus. "...to interfere." Now, friend, that's the attitude of every individual who has not surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You may not say that with your mouth, but you're like those people who speaks with their heart and says there is no God. The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. He may not say it with his mouth, but he says it in his heart. He says it by his attitude. He says it by his spirit, by the way he lives. He shoves through the crowd to do as he pleases, and he intends for no interference to come from God. This is the attitude of fallen man. The inhabitants of the earth isolated themselves from God by embracing a transgression of his clearly stated law. Brother Barney mentioned it this morning in Sunday School, of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Now, I want to tell you, friends, it don't take an Einstein to understand that statement. Beloved, listen. Adam, at that time, was smarter than any of us would ever hope to be on this earth in our flesh. And Freddie was no dummy. He knew exactly what God was saying. Adam did not did not accidentally fall away from God. He deliberately fell away from God. He did what God told him not to do. As a matter of fact, much of our sin in today is the same thing. We deliberately sin against God. We deliberately break the commands of our great God. We deliberately live as if God does not exist. And friend, that's practical atheism. And many people who claim to know God live the practical atheistic life. It's a shame and a disgrace. But that's where the fall of man has brought to us. Well, what did Adam do when God said, Don't eat of that tree? Genesis 3 and verse number 6 said, They ate. They ate, and then Genesis 3.24 tells us that God drove them from the garden and from his own presence. You know, the Rocky Mountains form a major part of the great continental divide. which separates those flowing streams that flow toward the Pacific Ocean from those that flow toward the Atlantic and attempting to break divine restraints and eliminate sovereign rule over human life. Again and again I must tell you that this is where the issue lies. Who is going to rule? Who is going to reign? Who is going to be the king? I'll tell you, friend, who is going to surrender their own kingdom and their own crown? Well, it will not be God. God will not surrender His crown, His scepter. Beloved, He commands all men everywhere to repent, to stack arms, to turn and fall on their knees today and whatever may be in the future. It is sin that keeps men and separates men from God. Was it not Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 59 and 2 who made this observation? He said, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. Oh, my beloved friend, that influx of power from the glory world that enabled man to walk with God and to fellowship with God, that holy circuit was severed when Adam sinned against God. And the awful smell of that burnt cord that once connected God and man, heaven and earth, filled the atmosphere. The Bible said that the eyes of them both were opened and they knew, they knew that they were naked. Adam knew what he had done and he knew what his sin had now done to him. For he was naked, standing before God with the holy eyes of God, looking upon him in his horrible condition, his sinful state. Oh, what a great move that it was from Adam in his innocence, in his purity, to now Adam in his sinful condition. Beloved, how he moved from such a beauty to such a monster. And now, he and his wife, both in sin, and as they would have babies, every single one of those babies. would be contaminated. They would have fallen in Adam's well. And so, as we've said many times, we don't become sinners after we're born. We don't become sinners at some point in our life when we reach some age of accountability that people have imagined or something. Beloved, we come into this world sinners. We come here in rebellion against God. Every person come here wanting to do their own thing, live as they please, make their own rules, set their own goals, and they don't want God to have anything to do with their life. This is where we are, fallen in Adam. This is what brought us to such a state. The eyes of them both were open. And they knew. They knew that they were naked. And when God approached them, they ran. They ran and hid from the presence of the Lord. Oh, my beloved, if death be the breaking of that silver cord that ties man to this present life as Solomon described in Ecclesiastes 12, then sin is the breaking of that golden cord that had us tied to God. We were tied to Him. We belong to Him by creative rights. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. God owns it all. He is the proprietor of the entire universe. For He is the Creator of it all. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything made that was made. And God looked upon everything and stepped His approval upon it and signed His name to it. And He said, It all belongs to Me. Man in his sin did what Lucifer did in his, whether he rebelled deliberately against God, and he laid claim to what belonged to God. Man said, I am my own man. I am my own man, and I am the one who decides my own destiny. And I set my goals as I please, and I live as I please. This is man who has fallen in Adam. This is his attitude now. Don't talk to me about church. Don't talk to me about a Bible. I have my own Bible. I have my own religion. And I worship myself. And I am God of myself. I have set up a shrine to myself. or some church or some preacher telling me how to conduct my life. I live as I want to live and as I please. And I'll do so without regret. Now, there's where you're wrong. This sinful state Oh, what a great move that it was from Adam in his innocence, in his purity, to now Adam in his sinful condition. Beloved, how he moved from such a beauty to such a monster. And now, he and his wife, both in sin, and as they would have babies, every single one of those babies would be contaminated. They would be falling in Adam's well. And so as we've said many times, we don't become sinners after we're born. We don't become sinners at some point in our life when we reach some age of accountability that people have imagined or something. Beloved, we come into this world sinners. We come here in rebellion against God. Every person come here wanting to do their own thing, live as they please, make their own rules, set their own goals, and they don't want God to have anything to do with their life. This is where we are, fallen in Adam. This is what brought us to such a state. The eyes of them both were open, and they knew that they were naked. And when God approached them, they ran. They ran and hid from the presence of the Lord. Oh, my beloved, if death be the breaking of that silver cord that ties man to this present life as Solomon described in Ecclesiastes 12, then sin is the breaking of that golden cord that had us tied to God. We were tied to Him. We belong to Him by creative rights. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. God owns it all. He is the proprietor of the entire universe. For He is the Creator of it all. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything made that was made. And God looked upon everything and stamped His approval upon it and signed His name to it. And He said, It all belongs to Me. and between thy seed and her seed, and it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." And when I was a young believer, I hadn't been saved but just a short time, I went to a preacher and asked him. I came across this in my reading, and I didn't know what in the world that meant. And I came to the preacher and I said, What does that mean? And he may have known, but he couldn't seem to Tell me, couldn't seem to teach me what it meant. But later in life I found out, praise God, here's the first mention of the gospel. In the Scriptures, the pro-evangelum, they call this. The first mention in the Gospel, the seed of the woman. God said, I'll send the seed of the woman. And thank God, the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. That old serpent, the devil, he'll crush his head. He'll crush his government and authority. And he said that serpent that bruised his heel would bruise the lower part of our great God's being, his humanity. And at Calvary he did that. But thank God the Lord Jesus took the cross and beat the daylights out of the devil with it. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. You know, when David sent that stone from that slingshot toward that big old giant. And God grabbed that stone and made it hit its mark right on the giant's head. And that giant went down. You know what David did then? He ran to that giant and pulled the giant's own sword out of the shed and used the giant's own sword. And with a mighty chop, he came down across that giant's neck and cut his head off. And I want to tell you, that's what our Lord did at the cross. Remember, the devil hit the Lord with a cross and the Son of God took the cross and cut His head off with it. And blessed be the name of God! By God Himself, bruised in His Son, we're saved! Saved by the wonderful grace of God. I love the way Paul put it in Colossians 2. He said, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, Had he quiven together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, brought him out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he took it out of the way, he said, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in what? In the cross, praise the Lord. The devil is defeated at the cross. And sin is defeated at the cross. I want to say again, thank God for Genesis 3.15, the great promise of God, and how did God fulfill that promise in the fullness of time, sending His Son to go to the cross, to take care of the works of the devil, take care of our sins, praise God. And in our Lord doing what He did, that broken connection, that broken association and link was reestablished. It's like Jacob's ladder. Well, really that's not Jacob's ladder, that's God's ladder. Amen? That's God's ladder, just like that with Noah's ark, that's God's ark. Amen? Just like that's not our Lamb, that's God's Lamb who came. Behold the Lamb of God, but he makes the connection even as that ladder whose heel rests upon the earth. As our Savior in his condescension, the heel would be exposed. The humanity of our Savior would be exposed. And the serpent would strike at the heel, but he dared not strike at the divinity. He'll strike at the head. Hallelujah. In the condescension of Christ, we see God letting down his ladder. A living, thoughtless, sturdy, heavy grade, divine extension ladder to reinstate that connection that had been broken by sin. Last Wednesday evening after we got done with our studies and prayer, we found out we didn't have any water here at the church. Several of us men walked down to the well house to see what was going on. And we opened the door of the well house and smoke had boiled out. And we could smell the wiring, and we knew that a wire had burnt, that we just weren't able to locate it. And so we had to get Dixie Wellbore people up here to take a look at it, and they found the wire and found a box that had malfunctioned, and so they had to replace the box as well. But I watched that man as he and put that wire back together with that other piece where it had burnt into. And he made a connection. He re-established the connection. He said, now go cut it on. And I went in the church, and I flipped the switch for the pump, and then I walked into the bathrooms and turned the knob, sure enough, water started coming out again. Praise God, I'm glad one day when the wire burnt, in the fall of man, Praise the Lord, the Lord Jesus made the blessed connection and brought us back together. Brother, when it burnt, I'd almost smell the smoke. Brother, when man was severed from God, We've got a Savior! We've got a mediator! We've got a go-between, brother, who grabs God with one hand and takes sinful man with the other hand and reestablishes the association, the connection, praise God, that golden link. In this latter, we see association, number two. In this latter, we see ascension. I want you to listen close to this. We see ascension, Genesis 28, 13. And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The Lord is above. And we who are sinners in Adam must go up. We must ascend. For until then we are in such a low state. We are in the basement of sin and depravity. This is what is meant by us being fallen in Adam. We fell from such a high and holy estate as did the angels who sinned. We fell from the pinnacle of pure innocence, from the summit of communion and fellowship with the ultimate maxim of righteousness, God himself who is holy. I tell you, if there be a bottom, if there is a bottom to the sin pit, there is where we are in Adam, splattered upon the rocks of sin and shame. There's not anybody who's failed, by the way, who may have been able to grab a hold to the side and cling on, hold on, you know, tight, and then another one fell a little further, but he grabbed a root over here, and then another one a root over here, and some of us just splattered on the bottom. That's not the case. It's not a matter of, I'm better than that one is. At least I don't do what she does. At least I'm not involved in that kind of sin. Let me tell you, my dear friend, when we fail, we hit the bottom. Every single one of us is splattered on the rocks of sin and depravity. Every one of us, without exception. It takes just as much of the power of God to save a ten-year-old child who has been brought to the knowledge of their sin by regeneration. It takes the same power of God to save them as it does to save that old drunk who has been sinning for year after year after year, and now has grown old and feeble, but they're still drunks and they're still in all kinds of sin or whatever. Boy, it takes the same power of God To save a sinner on the pew and a sinner in the pulpit! Hallelujah! It takes the same amount of the power of God to save a sinner as it did to create the world. Brother, that's how bad off we are. I hope you're listening to me. We're on the bottom. But now look at God. How high and lifted up is He. Above and beyond. so holy, so pure, perfect, immaculate, impeccable, absolutely holy. See, I'm convinced in Isaiah 6, when the cherubims would cry, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts. I don't think that they're necessarily speaking or trying to get us to see the Trinity of God. I think that they are saying these words with the emphasis, Holy, Holy, Holy, for the eternalness and the holiness of God. And that even those cherubims must cover their face. They must cover their feet. Brother, listen, because they are in the presence of the perfect God Himself. And when Isaiah realized that he was in such presence, he cried, Woe is me. Oh, let me tell you, sinner, that's exactly where the Holy Ghost will bring you when He's going to save you. He'll bring you to a point where you'll cry, Where's me? I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I've read in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. God is holy. There's no device. that can accurately measure the height of God's holy standing nor the depth of man's sinful condition. We must ascend. We must rise up from this deep, dark pit. But then now, how can we? For we are blind and we are crippled and impotent. That fall has made us all spiritual paraplegics. Yes, we are dead, dead in trespasses and sin. I mentioned the fact that Adam sinned deliberately. He was like a man who deliberately jumped from an airplane without a parachute. He could not possibly survive. Let the doctors and nurses of religion, reformation, and human attempt hurry to his aid. But they can't do a thing to revive him. Every bone in his body is broken. Every vital organ exploded on impact. His breath is gone. His brain is smashed. The whole man is devastated, totally depraved. It shows up in his body. It shows up in his soul. It shows up in his spirit. There's total devastation. Oh, but God has let down a ladder to us, a unique ladder, the only one of its kind. Now, we can't climb it because of those crippling inabilities that I just mentioned. But then, thank God, the Lord regenerates us. and enables us to respond, bless His name. And thank God this ladder is a living ladder, friend, who picks us up. And wronged by lifting wrong, we are brought up to God from our initial entrance into the kingdom that begins our salvation to our roots in the highest realm of glorification where our salvation is complete. Christ our Savior lifts us up from the basement of sin to the highest heaven, all the way up to God! Praise the Lord! Jesus does that. And He is the only One who can do that. In this latter, we see association. We see ascension. Third, we see access. In John 1.51, Jesus said to Nathanael, Hereafter, you shall see the heavens opened. In Exodus 28, 17, Jacob said, This is the gate of heaven. I mean, beloved, Jesus said to Nathanael, Hereafter, you are going to see the heavens opened up and angels going up and coming down. Yes, angels have access to earth. But even more important to me, I have access to heaven, both in time, right now in the present, and in eternity, in the here and in the hereafter. I have access to heaven. Friend, we don't need what this world calls a Simon Peter standing at the gate with a gate shut. He acts like the gate is shut in heaven. They do. And that Simon Peter is the gatekeeper. Where in the world do you find that in the Bible? He is not the gatekeeper and the gate is not shut, brother. It is wide open. Hallelujah. When I came to the gate in salvation, I found it wide open. And God is saying, come on in. And you know why he can say, come on in? Because of the righteousness of Christ. Because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when this day is done and I leave this world, access is still there, brother. The gate will be open and I'll pass through it from this life into that life to come. Glory to God. Because Jesus Christ has made himself as a ladder. or a bridge or a crosswalk. He spans the great gulf between God and man in order that we may in this present time come boldly to the throne of grace. That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. That's in holy prayer, my friend. Jesus is our great High Priest. And right now we have access to God by prayer. Are you availing yourself of that wonderful opportunity, my beloved? I tell you what, you can't pray too much, but you certainly can't pray too little. Don't ignore that wonderful place where you enter into the presence of God by holy prayer. You're going to need that as believers all along your Christian journey. You need it in the morning. You need it in the night. You need it when the sun is shining. You need it when it's storming. In all times, you need to be able to enter into the presence of God. And in the here and now, He has created such an opportunity for you and I. But also in eternity, praise the Lord, we're going to learn what it means, or what Paul meant when he told that church at Corinth, absent from this body, and present with the Lord. We who were at one time far off from God are made nigh and are now able to draw nigh by our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ and His imperial blood that was shed for many. Ephesians 2.13. And we are made able to rise to meet Him when He comes for us. Either by death or by rapture, we will hear Him say, Come up hither. Amen. And we'll rise to meet the Lord. We find that word access three times in the Scriptures. It's a word that speaks, of course, of our access into the sensitive presence of God. In Romans 5, verses 1 and 2, therefore being justified by faith, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Ephesians 2.18, for through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Ephesians 3, verses 11 and 12, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed through Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him. That word access is the Greek word prosego, and it means to lead towards, to conduct near, to approach, and to summon. God opens up the way to us and summons us, sends out the summons to come on in, draw now, move toward. Hallelujah. Look at those angels going up and coming down. What are they doing? By means of this same ladder, they are ministering spirits, doing a foreordained work of God and for God among mankind. And Nathanael, during the kingdom age, You are going to see us never before, the ministry of these holy angels as they ascend and descend back and forth from the new earth and the new Jerusalem. But even they must do so upon the authority of the Son of Man, Son of God. Because Jesus said, All authority, all power has been given unto Me, Matthew 28, 18. Jesus said, Nathanael, are you blown away? by what I've said to you, that I saw you before we met, that I knew you were under the fig tree? Are you amazed at my omniscience?" He said, Son, you'd better brace yourself, because you're going to see greater things than these. Amen? Folks, I tell you, the best is yet to come for the people of God. And I praise the Lord for it, my dearly beloved. I thank God. for that living divine ladder, the Lord our ladder by whom God has restored to us and accomplished for us association, ascension, and access. by Jesus Christ. I must say to you that your fall, in a sense, will only be increased as you plunge down deep into hell. The fires of hell are not going to burn away the dross. It is not going to make you a better person until you are finally acceptable to God and He will release you. Some people have that idea. And that's a crazy idea. It didn't come out of the Bible. But rather, if anything, you'll wax worse and worse. He who is filthy will remain filthy. They'll be filthy still. Ungodly, they'll be ungodly still. They'll never change except if anything, if anything, their blasphemy will become greater. Great sinners who have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. I was recently reading some of the writings of Robert Ingersoll. You say, Preacher, why in the world would you read him? He's a noted atheist, a silver-tongued agnostic and champion of atheism. I've told you why I read other people. I've told you before. Brother McGuire told me many years ago, he said, Brother Tommy, read your enemy. Read your enemy. Read what they've got to say. That way you will know how much powder to put in your gun so you can kill him. So we need to become acquainted with our enemy. Listen, our enemy becomes acquainted with us. And he knows the weak places and how to get to us. Anyway, I was reading some of the writings of Ingersoll a few days ago. Ingersoll, by the way, is the one who called John Knox a pestilence. And he called John Calvin a famine. In beginning a lecture one night, Ingersoll said to his crowd, and I mean he was silver-tongued. Some of the things he wrote was outstanding, amazing, and really gave the atheists and agnostics and infidels some silver bullets to use against the people of God. But Ingersoll said, I'm going to prove conclusively this evening that hell is a wild dream of some theologians who invented it to terrify incredulous people. He said, That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to convince you tonight that there is no hell. There was a man in the audience heavily under the influence of drink. He stood and he said, Make it strong, Bob. There's a lot of us poor fellows depending on you. If you're wrong, we're all lost. Prove it clearly and plainly. Ingersoll died in 1899. He was 65 years old. Did he ever rethink things? Did he ever figure, well, you know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Darwin is not the champion. purported him to be. Did he ever do that? Listen to this. Died at 65 years old. Here's what he said. He said, In the presence of death, I affirm and reaffirm the truth of all that I have said against the superstitions of the world. I would say it that much on the subject with my last breath. And I suppose with that final blasphemy, Endersaw died and went to hell. Hell is the place where men and women are convinced of truth that they would not be convinced while they were here on this earth. Oh, that nobody among us would die such a horrible death. What a great tragedy that would be when the Lord, our ladder, is available to all who will come to God by Him. Our Father, in the holy name of the Lord Jesus, we bow in Your presence to praise You and thank You for providing the Lamb of God for us who has come to reconnect, who has come to open the door, who has come to join us back together with God. We rejoice and we rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. For all my trust and all my hope is in Him. I look no place else. I looked at one time into myself and I couldn't find it. I looked at one time into religion, into the Baptist church, I couldn't find it. Lord, I could only find it when you opened my eyes and caused me to see that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto the Father but by the Lord Jesus. Thank you, my great God, for that wonderful revelation. We plead with you in behalf of any among us here this morning who is still lost. They are yet in their sins, still on the bottom of sin and shame, of silver bullets, still naked with God. But Ingersoll said, I'm going to prove conclusively this evening that hell is a wild dream of some theologians who invented it to terrify incredulous people. He said, That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to convince you tonight that there is no hell. There was a man in the audience heavily under the influence of drink. He stood and he said, Make it strong, Bob. There's a lot of us poor fellows depending on you. If you're wrong, we're all lost. Prove it clearly and plainly.