Gooding, David: 6 - The Book of Genesis

Of Genesis in chapter seven. Book of Genesis chapter seven. Genesis seven and verse nineteen: and the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. Fifteen cubits upwards did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both fowl and cattle and the beast and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was in the dry land died. Every living thing was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground. Verse twenty four: And the waters prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days. Chapter eight now, please, and verse five: and the waters decreased continually until the 10th month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made, and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. And he put forth his hand and took her and brought her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came in to him at even tide, and lo, in her mouth an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. He stayed yet other seven days and sent forth the dove, and she returned not again unto him anymore. The Lord give us true understanding of his holy word. I suggested to you last week that the third creation story in the book of Genesis is concerned to give to us the history of man, not just the first man, Adam, and his wife Eve, but the history of man, that is mankind, that is that new creature that at this time appeared on the face of the earth, the like of which, as far as we know, had never been before. We are told in chapter five, I suggested, how God made him, what he was as first created. And then subsequently we he have indicated to us that he fell and became something other than he was originally intended to be. In particular, I called your attention to chapter six and verse three, which first now again I would like to read to you, just to remind you of what we found last week. And the Lord said, my spirit shall not always abide in man forever, for that he also is flesh. We noticed that that verse is a little bit difficult in the Hebrew and uncertain of meaning. Rather, the most likely meaning of the first half of the verse is, as I have read it, my spirit shall not always abide in. We notice secondly the reason that God gives, namely this, because that he also is flesh. That is, the verse is commenting upon man's constitution. One way of looking at man is thus to describe him, he is spirit, he is flesh. You cannot have true human life without spirit. You cannot have true human life without flesh. To have a to- full man, a total human being, you must have both spirit and flesh. And what God is saying here is that he is about to judge this world. My spirit shall not always remain in man, for that he also is flesh. We noticed last week too that when God sent his judgment upon the world to destroy man, that is the whole race, he did not use the judgment of fire as he subsequently did with Sodom and Gomorrah, but he used a flood, the effects of which we have just read in chapter seven and eight. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life expired. Because if you get a human being and you put him in water, that is precisely what happens. You are for a while still left with the flesh, with the human, uh, carcass. The breath of the spirit of life is removed. And because the breath of the spirit of life is removed, then gradually the flesh goes to corruption. And at the conclusion of our study last week, I made the suggestion to you that that vast judgment was not only a serious physical judgment in its own right, but was used of God as an object lesson. For just as if you remove the breath of the spirit of life from a human person, then you are simply left with flesh that subsequently goes corrupt. So when man sinned and fell, at the deeper level of spirit, he became alienated from the father of spirits, and therefore he died in the very day he ate of the fruit of the tree, he died. He didn't die physically that day, he died spiritually that day. But then if a man become out of touch and alienated with God at the level of his spirit, you will find that man is quite impossible of going on as if nothing had happened and remaining the kind of creature that God originally intended him to be. Again, something goes wrong with his flesh. Man becomes carnal, not having the spirit, and in a moral sense this time, his flesh begins to go rotten. You cannot have a full, total human being as God intended, except that human being walk in spiritual fellowship with God. But perhaps you think I am being unusually fanciful, perhaps I'm always fanciful, who knows, but unusually fanciful at this juncture. So I'm going to step aside now just to give you some further evidence that my interpretation may be right. We'll look at one Peter chapter three, if you don't mind, just for a brief few moments. One Peter chapter three. Ah. And we shall begin at verse eighteen. What I would like you to notice in this passage is simply this, that here is a passage in the New Testament that discusses Noah and his flood, and says that Noah and his flood is an illustration of baptism, it's an illustration of our salvation, and of that more anon. But for the immediate point, will you notice that this passage in Peter that talks about Noah and his flood turns on two technical terms. You will find them reoccur. I'm just going to read the passage and to emphasize them. I shall do so without comment. But please would you notice the two technical terms upon which the passage turns. uh One Peter three eighteen: because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit, in which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient when the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved through water, which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. For as much then as Christ suffered in the flesh, arm ye yourselves also with the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. That you should no longer live the rest of your time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but that you should live the rest of your time in the flesh to the will of God. Verse six: for unto this end was the gospel preached even to the dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. And I'm well aware that those verses contain some notorious difficulties, and I haven't come down like another David to see the battle. I merely quote the passage at this stage in order to point out that when Peter talks about the past, then he too uses these two basic terms of flesh and spirit. He observes that our Lord was done to death in flesh. That must mean this physical flesh, mustn't it? Not the nasty evil principle. He was done to death in flesh. Now, but that's not the only mode of human existence. It is then added he was made alive in spirit. We are told that the gospel was preached to the dead that they might be judged according to the men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. And I merely quote it at this stage as further evidence that we are on the right track in the early chapters of Genesis, when we observe this statement, my spirit shall not always abide in man because he is flesh. God is commenting upon human constitution. Then let us remind ourselves how wrong man went. According to chapter six of the book of Genesis, he went wrong not only on his own initiative, but because of the interference of certain spirit beings, allusion to whom, of course, is made in Peter chapter three. Evil and malevolent, you, uh, supernatural spirit beings had their part in the ruining of man and man's constitution. Then also Genesis observes, quite apart from that inrush of evil spirits, there came to be certain freaks of constitution. There were giants in the land in those days. They are mentioned with awe, perhaps with disapproval. They were obvious exceptions. They weren't normal human beings with a normal, uh, stature and constitution. They were giants. Then we are told that morally man corrupted himself. The earth was full of violence. The thoughts of his mind were only evil continually. And that repented God that he had made man, and he determined to destroy man. So then tonight we come to consider, first of all, as our major topic, one, the judgment that overtook man, and secondly, the salvation that God provided for him at that time. I point out to you, therefore, in the first place, that God's judgment was to destroy man. Not I will destroy men, that is some men, and leave others. Not just I will destroy the wickeder men and leave the better men. Not even to perform some operation on some men and take away the horrible, nasty part out of them and leave the good part of them. Nothing so partial. The judgment was a complete and utter destruction of man. The whole Genis was to go. As though the whole experiment had been a failure, and that this new creature must be finished forever. I want us to mark how sweeping is that judgment. Because the, the judgment that came in Noah's day is meant to be a vivid illustration of God's judgment upon all of us, even those of us who have descended from Noah and his sons and live to this present. Noah's flood, says Peter in one Peter three, bears a certain analogy to baptism. And I want us to dwell upon that fact now for a moment. Baptism. Yes, baptism is a burial, isn't it? And just as in God's day, Noah's day, God drowned the whole lot, destroyed man. So baptism is a burial in water. And when any man or woman gets baptized, they are first saying this, that they have accepted God's judgment against themselves. That's why they're being buried. There are folks around, you know, who don't get baptized, and they'll quote you the reason that they don't feel good after being baptized. As though baptism were a claim to being very good. Well, we admire their conscience, but actually they've got the thing wrong, haven't they? Baptism isn't a confession of being good. Far from it. Baptism is an admission of being utterly bad. It is saying that I have heard the judgment of God, the end of all flesh has come before me, and I have submitted to it. And I allow my whole person to be buried under the water. And if you know, sometimes I think those of us who are younger, and those of us are older too, I don't know, need to be reminded of what we did and what we said when we were baptized. Because there's a curious notion going around, it's gone around for a long time. But when Paul says in Romans chapter six, our old man was crucified with Christ, that Paul is talking about some old nature, some nasty principle, some not too pleasant a piece of our constitution. You know, the nasty piece of it. I suspect we should all of us agree that, uh, before we got converted, we had a bit of nastiness about us somewhere. And the notion goes in people's mind that what Christ did for us when he died was that this nasty bit was put to death. Our old man was crucified with Christ. And consequently, if you listen to some, some folks will tell you that, uh, what you ought to do as a Christian in the Christian life is to recognize that this old nature, this old man was put to death. And then, of course, the preachers will tell you out of the side of their mouth that he isn't dead really, but that's the way I think he is. That you don't have to tell yourself, look here, my good man, the old nature is dead, it's dead, it's dead, it's dead, it's dead. And if on a chance the old nature were to poke his head up inside you, then you have to be strong and address him, take it down, you're meant to be dead. You are dead, really. I don't quite know how you poked your head up, but you're supposed to be dead anyway, and I sort of reckon you're dead. That misunderstanding, you may think I parodied the thing rather crudely, but that misunderstanding is the cause of a lot of heartache in younger Christians. And sometimes it puts them in a situation that they find utterly unreal. This old man that's supposed to be dead, and they're supposed to reckon as dead, they find him very much alive. And it seems like acting a lie when temptation surges up inside them, and the old nature with all its greed and anger and revenge and spite and jealousy is really fighting a hard battle. It seems like acting a lie to say it's dead and pretend it's dead when it isn't. So then let us get ourselves out of that difficulty. God asked no one to act any lies or make any pretence. This old man that's dead, who's he? The nasty part? Oh no, friend. You've misunderstated God from the very beginning. There isn't a, a nasty part and a nice part. It was all nasty. Wasn't it? Tell me, when you got baptized, which part of you did they baptize? The nasty bit. And left the not so bad bit standing on the side, I suppose. Who said when I was baptized, what are you getting at? When I was baptized, I went under complete. Yes, that's right. The whole lot of you, nasty part and good part, if there was any, the whole bang shoot went under. Yeah. So it was in the days of Noah's Flood. God didn't just use a, a, a, a court, try to cauterize, you know, to singe out some of the bad corrupt spots and leave the good. It was total sinning. That's what we're saying in our baptism. I, as a responsible creature to God, have sinned. It may be that I was led to it by urges inside me that I couldn't control, by the fact that I have a fallen nature, but, uh, whatever it was that led me to it, the sad fact is that I have fallen. I have sinned. And God's sentence has gone out against the sinner. He must die. What part of him must die? Well, the whole part of him must die. You're coming through Belfast one of these days, and you get caught up in a traffic snarl in the middle of the city. Can't get by. The driver in front looks as if this is his first run out after his tailgate came off, and you can't get by the man at all. And you're getting steamed up and steamed up, and at last, uh, coming down the short road, you get the chance to get by him, and you put your foot down, and the old policeman gongs you. Sir, you were doing sixty and built up air. We're so sorry, Sergeant, uh, you know, yes, sir, you're told you're also true, but I have a very important appointment, and you know, that chap in front of me so exasperated me. I'm afraid I lost my patience a bit. I lost my temper a bit. All right, that'll do as an explanation for why you didn't. But you know as well as I do, it won't be the temper that the magistrate will summon. It will be you. And it won't be the temper that pays the fine, it'll be you that pay the fine. And if it had have been a more serious crime and the penalty was death, it wouldn't have been the temper that would be hung, it would be you that would be hung. And it's no good appealing to the judge and saying, but look here, my good fellow, it wasn't really me, it was my temper. He would say, yes, I know your temper is a very ugly thing, and on the whole you're a decent chap, but your temper was so bad. But look, you were responsible to control the temper, and you didn't control it. And therefore we must execute you. And man went wrong because he lost control. As created spirit and flesh, his spirit was in fellowship with the Father of spirits, and therefore controlled him. But let a man break that fellowship with God, man will find that he hasn't his power perfectly to control himself anymore, and the old flesh gets out of hand. Man lost his control. And God's answer? Not just the nasty bit done. The whole thing executed. Well, let's remember our baptism again. We have said in our baptism, yes, God, you're absolutely right. I let my passions get out of control. I have sinned. I accept the death sentence. Here, look here. There. But let us now move on from considering the, uh, judgment to considering the salvation. And let us notice in the first place that when God saved Noah, he did not save him from the flood. He did not save him from the judgment. He saved him through the flood. Well, you can say, now you're splitting hairs, my dear sir. What difference does it make? A lot of difference. Earlier on, God had taken a cert- certain Enoch out of this world, hadn't he? And had God pleased, he could have lifted up Noah bodily and taken him as he took Enoch right out of the world and saved him from the judgment, but he did no such thing. He let Noah go through the flood. You say, then how did he come out? How did he survive? Well, that's simple. The answer is that God provided him an ark, and the ark was of such nature that the ark could go through the waters and come out. And now inside the ark went through the waters and came out. See, it wasn't just that the ark floated upon the top of the water. It did that, for the fountains of the deep were broken up, and they lifted up the ark. But the waters that were above the firmament, please, they weren't just a few fleecy clouds in the sky. Notice the technical term. They were above the firmament. Were let loose, for the windows of heaven were opened. And upon that ark descended a cataclysmic flood of rain from above as well as from below. The wonder of the salvation was, I repeat, that Noah wasn't saved from it, he was saved through it. You know, he never would have been saved like that, would he, unless he had first agreed with God that the judgment was true, real, and necessary. There were a lot of folks in his day who said, well, no, we might have a pinch of willow here and there, you know, we don't always perhaps behave like we, uh, should, maybe, but we're not all that bad. I mean, say, you, you, I mean, you can't stand there and say God is going to drown the whole lot of mankind because they are so bad. I mean, surely that's an exaggeration. Your neighbors now are a bit better than that, sure. And many holding that light view of the matter never bothered to come anywhere near the ark. They didn't first believe the judgment. And there are many folks tonight, I fear, that are not saved for that very reason. Like the Pharisees in the time of our Lord, they had rejected the counsel of God against themselves, not being that kind. They don't accept that man is, in that sense, legally a wreck. They hold the view that man, of course, is tainted with a little evil, poor fellow, he got it through Adam. But on the whole, it isn't too bad, a little holy water here, maybe, and a little better determination there will suffice one of these days to remove the nasty bits, and when the nasty bit has been removed, hey, presto, the man will shine forth in all his excellence. Thomas Aquinas, if you read that kind of philosophy, has left his imprint upon millions in Europe, and not least in this country, who have been taught from their youth to believe that grace perfects nature, that man is indeed born with a taint of sin, but in his infant baptism that taint is washed away, and that leaves the rest of the man all present and clean. And now, if only by God's grace he applies himself to his true spiritual disciplines, there is a hope one day that he will come at last across heaven. And it is a very serious error. Baptism is not the washing away of a little spot. Let St. Peter tell you, let Noah and the ark tell you. Baptism is the complete burial of a whole lot. There are folks who lack assurance of salvation, and their reason is just this. They look upon salvation as something that shall help them one of these days so to improve that they might come up to standard and pass God's muster. That is impossible. Salvation begins when, like Noah, I believe God's judgment. I accept its rightness. I say, yes, God, you're absolutely true. If I were executed this moment and finished, that would be my just reward. Or let a man come to him, like Noah, and say, yes, God, I deserve to perish completely. And God has an ark for him. Even Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he will save that man. How? Well, you know right well. Christ saves us, not from the judgment, but through it. When Christ died, the floods of God's wrath broke on him. The gospel is not how that Jesus lived a holy life, though thank God he did live such a holy life. The gospel is that Christ died for our sins. Went through it. What must have destroyed us forever. He being God's almighty son, not only went through it, but came out the other side. The resurrection more, into a new world. When Noah stepped out of the ark, God eventually gave Noah the sign of the rainbow in the clouds. I don't suppose it was invented then. God chose to use this physical phenomenon to be his conveyor of a message to Noah and Noah's, uh, posterity. When they saw that bow in the clouds, they could remember God's covenant that never again would God flood the world in judgment. That was merciful of God, wasn't it? To make it connected with the clouds. Because, you see, after you've been through one catastrophic, cataclysmic judgment, then whenever you might have seen a little cloud rise in the sky, you'd have been knocking together your knees, wouldn't you? What a- what's going to happen this time? I- I- I knew what happened the first time. What's going to happen now? And when the skies became very black with a thunderstorm, you might have been terrified. Therefore, God used the rainbow, which does appear, of course, in the dark times, as a reminder to Noah of his covenant that there would never again be a judgment by a flood. Even a better covenant have we who have trusted Christ, for the man that trusts Christ is in Christ, may know this, that when Christ went through that judgment, God counts it as if the man himself went through that judgment. When Christ died, God's law counts it that the man died. When Christ came through and was raised again, God counts it as if that man has been raised again. You see now what it means. He's not been saved from the judgment, he's been saved through it. The judgment has been and gone. The judgment is over and finished. And there is therefore now no more condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a wonderful basis of trust and faith and certainty. The soul that has committed itself to Christ is in. That soul may know that the judgment is forever past. But Noah not only went into the ark, he came out into a new world. It's a, a little analogy, so says Peter, it's a kind of a prototype, if you'll have it that way, of salvation, so to say. For those who are in Christ, have been joined with Christ, they died with Christ, they were buried in baptism, now they are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life. Yeah. When Noah came out of the ark, please will you notice that he didn't carry on just exactly the same as he'd done before. He wanted guidance as to whether it was safe to come out of this ark. Even though now the ark was resting upon Mount Ararat, there might have been a lot of mud about the place and treacherous collections of water in the shallows. So he needed some indication, and, uh, therefore he opened the old window and the ark, and first of all he sent out a raven. The raven, being a carnivorous affair, found plenty of corpses, I suspect, floating about the place and had to find its life eating the old stuff. Oh. That wasn't much guidance for Noah. So then he sent out the dove, the clean bird of the dove. First it came back because it didn't find anywhere to rest on all that terrible carnage of rotten flesh. But eventually, after many days, it, it was sent out and came back again with the olive leaf plucked off and in its mouth, green with its new life. Noah says, this is the time to get out. And so, for the first time in his life, as far as we know, Noah... knew what it was to be guided by a bird. You're bound to say now, what I'm about to say, me- mention next, that I'm thankful beyond all hope for those two months. The New Testament tells us that when our Lord came down to earth to die for us, he deliberately insisted on being baptized in Jordan. John forbade him, not understanding why Christ would be baptized. He's do- he was sinless. He needed not to confess any sin. The men down in that Jordan were sinners. They were confessing the rightness of God's judgment on them. Christ need not confess any such sin. He had none. Christ insisted on going down into Jordan, standing with the sinners, down in the mud. What a lovely picture of what he was to do at Calvary. He had no sins to confess, you know, and never confessed any. Worse. Please. Christ didn't so much as pick up the cross. They put it on him. He didn't take up his own cross. Christ confessed no sins. He was sinless. All sinless, he came and stood in the now. When the cloud went over him, he bore our sins and their penalty. Ah yes, but coming back to the Jordan, says the evangelist, the fourth evangelist, that when he came up out of that water, he was just coming out of the water, says John, I saw the hills and the Holy Spirit in form as a dove abode on him. And straightway he was led of the Spirit. Well, of course, yes. No sooner out out of that water than the Holy Spirit in the form of the dove led him. But all his life proved without deviation, one hundred percent of the man Jesus, led of God Holy Spirit. And salvation, it not only saves me through the judgments and brings me out into a new world and a new life. It not only guarantees that there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, but, uh, it has another big element in it. Oh, please get it. It is going to put right what the old fall put wrong. Where did man go wrong? Now we've had it, haven't we? He was made spirit and flesh. But spiritually he died. His spirit alienated from the Father of spirits, and he became carnal. He became fleshly. Salvation is not merely going to say, ah well, I'm going to let you off the judgment and now go on as before, oh dearly, no. Saved through the judgment, but now to be made a spiritual man, to be led by God's spirit. Not merely to be led to get out of him at the breaking of bread, but to be led all day long of God's spirit. It is indeed the only safe way to live a Christian life. It is the only way of living a holy life. Oh, let us rejoice in God's glory of Holy Spirit come to lead us. Not just so much power that we can switch on and switch off, but a holy person. Not as something that we are to use, but as someone who will use us. Even though we know ourselves saved and we know there is no judgment, we haven't the strength in ourselves to lead a holy life. You know, if we're not very careful to tell people about the Holy Spirit and the wonder of his coming and the wonder of his leading and the wonder of his divine resources, we shall leave people with half a salvation job. Noah then was led at that ho- that time. We are to be led of God's Holy Spirit. Noah, you will remember, the last thing we hear of him was something very unfortunate. Pounded the vineyard, that was all right, but he lost his self-control, didn't he? Got drunk. And exposed himself as the flesh, the old animal he was. Sad, isn't it? It's possible for us too, isn't it, Walt? Oh, young person, get hold of it. The old man has been crucified, that is in the legal sense. The whole thing, the whole chute is gone. As far as God's law knows it, you're finished. You've been buried. The sentence been executed on you. Now you are risen again. While legally you died with God, and that leads you to think that your old nature is finished. And Paul tells us it is possible for us as believers to walk after the flesh. He tells us that the flesh strives against the spirit. He tells us, of course, that we are not in the flesh, we are in the Spirit, but though we are in the Spirit and joined to God's Holy Spirit, that it is possible for us to neglect the leading of the Holy Spirit and to live after the flesh. And if we live after the flesh, the result will be death. Practical. In our present experience, the flesh will get the upper hand, and as always, when the flesh gets out of the control of the Holy Spirit, it will lead to corruption, sorrow, tears, maybe to physical death. Our safe way is to let him lead us. Well, now briefly, let me point out one or two other things that were done for Noah when he came out of the ark. He was safe from judgment in the sense that never again would God drown the world with water. But in the very next breath, God says, and look now, now that you're safe from ever fearing another flood, I want you to act as judge. If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. The fact that there is no final judgment for us is not meant to lead to careless living and doing as I please and letting my members go in their licentious ways because I'm sure I shall never come into judgment. Indeed not. But very reverse. I aim to act a magistrate on myself. And if I don't do that and become lax in my living, God will be obliged to intervene. He won't remove my eternal life. It still remains true, I shall not be condemned with the world, but he may have to inflict temporal chastisement. Then finally, a promise and a warning. Says God to Noah, from now on, Noah, you may be confident. Sea time and harvest will not cease. Sun will winter. Earth physically will go on regularly. And what you sow, you will normally reap. And we live still in nineteen seventy three under that good, stable promise of God. Not every year is just a good harvest of the year that went before, but every year the grain ripens, the summer comes, the seasons are regular. But what again was true and is true at the physical level is true at the spiritual level, isn't it? But whether you find it an encouragement or whether you find it a warning will depend, my dear fellow Christian, on how you live. Let us not be weary in well doing, we who know the Savior, says Paul in Galatians. For we shall reap in due season if we faint not. Oh yes. God's ways are fair, God's ways are certain. If you sow, you reap. If you sow to the Spirit, you will of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Don't be weary in well doing. You shall reap in due season if you thank God. But then, of course, it does carry a warning, doesn't it? What you sow, you reap. God isn't mocked. You sow barley, you get barley, not wheat. There's no fairy story here. You sow beans, you get beans. You sow to the spirit and seek his control in body, and be led of the spirit. Then in practical terms, even here on earth, you shall of the spirit reap eternal life now, enjoyed, blessed, happy. For God isn't mocked. What you sow, you reap. Oh, young man, you think perhaps God's ways are slow, and you can't see much profit from all your Bible study and prayer. Take heart. God isn't mocked, and he doesn't mock you, what you sow. You shall reap in due season if you thank God. But suppose I, as a believer, got lax. I said, you know, there's no final judgment for me, there's no condemnation. Suppose I got lax and I forgot to allow myself to be led of God's Holy Spirit, and instead I walked after the flesh and I sowed to the flesh in this life. What then happens? Oh well, God isn't mocked. What you sow, you reap. You sow to the flesh, doesn't Paul. You dear believers who want to sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption here in this life, and sorrow, and loss, and the loss of reward, and the loss of potential in the life to come. The Lord write these simple, old, but exceedingly modern lessons upon our hearts. Let us thank him for his salvation. Let us seek his grace to be those that are indeed made of his Holy Spirit. Shall we pray? Lord, bless thy word to us all. We do beseech thee and interpret it, not only on its theoretical side, but more importantly, on its practical side. So reveal thy truth to us, Lord, we beseech thee, that these early illustrations may help us understand more vividly the glorious depth and breadth and height and length of thy salvation. Grant, O Lord, we may be those that are truly led of thy Holy Spirit in all things, that of the spirit we may reap even now eternal life. Let us now, Lord, and in this subsequent section, when we share with one another and discuss some of the more difficult and some more interesting things of thy word, guide us and save us in all our thinking we beseech thee, through that same Lord Jesus.