“But,” you say, “the dead must mean some terrible class of persons, some very wicked people.” Where do you put yourself, then? I ask. I know no worse person than myself; and I will tell you why. I know the evil of my own heart, and the gravity of my own sins, and I do not know other people’s. But is there any real beating of your heart towards Christ? Have you ever met Christ? Has your life been marked by love to the Saviour because you have known His love? Ah! if you have known His love, you are out from among the dead. You are among the living; for you have heard the voice of the Son of God. All depends on whether or not you have heard the voice of the Son of God; that decides whether you are among the dead or among the living. Life manifests itself. A living child takes food, it may be sick, of course, but that is a temporary thing, a dead child has no desire at all. If I go to talk to an unconverted person about Christ, there is no interest. If he does not speak out, and say he dislikes the subject, yet the moment he can escape he does so. I remember very well the only time a young man spoke faithfully to me about my soul when I was unconverted. It was at the bottom of my father’s grounds; and I sent him to hell in my heart, though my lips said nothing. I was angry beyond description because he dared to speak to me about Christ. Utterly “dead in sins,” I showed my state to God, if not to man for courtesy’s sake.