Gooding, David: 4 - Delegated Authority

Gospel of Matthew, beginning in chapter nine and then reading on into chapter ten. Matthew nine verse uh thirty five: And Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them because they were distressed and scattered as sheep not having a shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he send forth laborers into his harvest. And he called unto him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. Now these are the names of the twelve apostles. Verse five: These twelve Jesus sent forth and charged them saying, go not into any way of the Gentiles and enter not into any city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Verse twelve, and as you enter into the house, salute it, and if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, as you go forth out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Verse twenty three. But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next. For verily I say unto you, you shall not have gone through the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his lord. Verse forty: He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. And God give us good understanding of his word. Already we have spent three weeks together considering the twin topics of the authority of our Lord Jesus and its corollary, the discipleship of his people. And in the early stages, we enjoyed learning again some of those elementary lessons that every disciple learns about the nature of our Lord Jesus' authority and how his authority it is that brings us salvation. But then we observe that those who will bow to that authority and become his disciples are asked to follow him along the path of discipleship. And as in our imaginations we trod that path with his early disciples, we found it lead us into deeper and deeper experiences. Until last week, the Lord Jesus was expecting us to bring him into the very inmost parts of our lives, as individuals and as churches, that he might deal with those deep-seated and hidden weaknesses and diseases that Mar our spiritual life and need his correcting power. And perhaps you might think, well, that's then the end of it. Now, when we have followed the Lord Jesus along the path of discipleship into those deeper experiences of his salvation, well, that's that then, surely. No, that isn't quite that. For the path of discipleship is not finished. When we have followed the Lord into the deeper levels of his salvation of us, there waits yet another division of this lesson, a still further mileage on the road. For if we have as disciples learned of the Lord's power in our own lives, then he will expect us as his disciples to go out and tell other people of our Lord and his salvation. And so it is, is it not, that here in this chapter ten, after having taught his disciples what it means to be a disciple and the glorious wealth of his salvation, our Lord now gathers them together and commissions them to go out and to preach that gospel to other people and to make of other people disciples. It is an interesting order, isn't it? It is not that, first of all, we learn to take the gospel to others and then eventually qualify until we become profound teachers of the word. It is the other way round. If we have truly learned the lessons of discipleship and the further reaches of discipleship, then the next advanced lesson will be that we in turn must go out to make disciples of others, and we are falling short in our discipleship if we in turn do not go out and try to make disciples of others. And therefore here our Lord, uh, so we are told, called his twelve disciples together, and for this purpose, for their task of making disciples of others, he delegated to them his authority. Of course, here in the first place, he is talking of the famous apostles, the famous twelve disciples. They had divine authority delegated to them in an extent we never shall do. Nevertheless, I fancy we may learn the lesson, for if we are going to be effective in our, at our level in making disciples of others, we shall only do it as we discover what it means to have the authority of the Lord Jesus delegated to us. If we're going to have his authority delegated to us, perhaps first of all, we better observe the nature of that authority. They have not been wanting, have they, priests and prelates, evangelists, popes, who've got it into their head that they are equipped with tremendous authority, and they have turned themselves into spiritual tyrants. That wouldn't do, would it, if it happened to us. What is the nature of this authority that Christ will delegate to his people to exercise in bringing others into salvation and the path of discipleship? The introductory verses tell us that when our Lord saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they were distressed and scattered. Like sheep, distressed, frightened by this and frightened by there. And like sheep will, when they're frightened and worried, scattering all over the place and not know where they're going. How many people there are like that? Distressed, frightened, having no certain hope nor sure destiny, and worried about this and worried about the other, and scattered. And instead of making calm progress down the path of discipleship to a well-defined goal, are scattered all over the place. It is true, of course, of the unbeliever, isn't it? We were as sheep going astray. What a marvelous thing it was for us, salvation, when we returned to the shepherd and the overseer of our souls, who guides us in life and overlooks, looks over that, inspects, is the foreman of, if you like, our souls, guiding us as how to spend them and how to direct them for their maximum profitability. It can happen to the Lord's people to get scattered and distressed. If you notice some of the epistles, not least that which Peter wrote, people can come become distressed by false doctrines and absurd and bizarre notions and quarrelings and strifes, or their faith assaulted by grievous and perplexing suffering. Let me get it into my heart, if I'm going to be a someone who helps disciples, that it isn't a question of domineering. It is a question of rallying, of giving enough pasture so the sheep goes to it, and giving it a sense of security, so it loses some of its distracting fears and isn't so worried, and then giving it a sense of direction, and that confidence that there is green pasture on before. Having said that, as we get down to the details of chapter ten, it is a chapter that's not very often read, isn't it? Let's notice why it isn't often read, because it's a difficult chapter. There are some problems in its interpretation, and now I'm going to vex you, I hope not distress you, by mentioning some of the problems that beset us when we read this chapter. Here is our Lord Jesus, and he is briefing his apostles. He's about to send them out on missionary journeys around Palestine, and then they're going to come back to him and report all that they have done. And we know from other passages in the word of Go- in the Gospels that they went out, did these twelve, and they preached and they healed, and then they came back to the Lord Jesus triumphantly telling them what they'd done and how much they'd enjoyed. It's a marvelous thing, isn't it, to see folks when they've been out on some venture for the Lord, and the Lord has blessed them. Oh, there's no other joy on earth like it, and they come back with great glee, don't they? Of course they do. What they miss. Who never venture anything in the work of the Lord. And the disciples came back, but my point is this. As you listen to our Lord Jesus briefing these men, you will find that he says a lot of things, warns them that they're going to experience persecution, for instance, which as far as we know, they never did, uh, suffer in all that missionary journey. And the question arises then, why did he warn them of the persecution that they in fact didn't suffer anyway? Let's repeat that and get it into our focus so we understand. He sent them out, as you notice, in, uh, verse, uh, five and six. These twelve Jesus sent forth and charged them, saying, go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Why did he tell them so? You'll notice at once how very different this is from the commission he gave them after he rose from the dead. Matthew himself records it in chapter twenty eight, that after the Lord Jesus rose from the dead and assembled his disciples to the mountain, he told them that time, go you therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. They were to go to the very ends of the earth after he rose from the dead. Not on this occasion. On this occasion, this missionary journey that they accomplished while our Lord was still on earth and before he died, they were strictly forbidden to go to the Gentiles. They were simply to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, no more, no less. You say, well then, Mr. Preacher, why are you bothering us with that tonight? Because it doesn't apply to us then. Well, more of that than not. It was, do you see, the mission that they went on before the Lord Jesus died. Now here comes the problem. Why then does he tell them in verse seventeen, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you, yea, and before governors and kings shall you be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles, verses seventeen and eighteen. Why did he warn them of that? Because there is not the slightest evidence that on that first missionary journey they were persecuted in that fashion or brought before any court. We read nothing of it. As far as we know, it didn't happen. And that kind of thing didn't happen, as far as we know, until after the resurrection. And they were commanded to go to the Gentiles and were brought before the councils of the Jews and beaten very often and sometimes stoned to death and brought before the councils of the Gentiles and similarly persecuted. Why did he tell them about that persecution then? And look at another curious thing. When he says, uh, that they're going to find persecution of that sort, he tells them in verse twenty three that being persecuted, they are to flee from one city to the next. For verily I say unto you, you shall not have gone through the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. But then, on that first missionary journey, they went out and came back. And of course, the Lord hadn't gone, let alone come again. So how do you fix it all together? And there are some critics, aren't there, that say that Matthew has simply got it all wrong, and he's got it all muddled up, and he's put a lot of verses from here and some more verses from there and taken some other verses from somewhere else and put them all together and made an Irish stew of it. But of course he hasn't, has he? So first of all, let us, uh, uh, notice what the Lord Jesus is doing. And I want you to notice three verses to start with in particular. Verse fifteen: Verily I say unto you, it should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city, the first verily. Verse twenty three, the second verily. For verily I say unto you, you shall not have gone through the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be come. The second verily. And the third verily, verse forty two. and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. Let's look at these three verses a moment that help us to take our bearings. Three veralies. It's always important to notice what our Lord says, but when he prefixes what he says with his solemn word amen. Then we must pay special attention, must we not? And be prepared to get hold of it with both hands. It is blessedly true, it is solemnly true, and we are to take hold of it. We remember how important it was for us and our salvation when we heard him say, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life. And like drowning men and women, we caught hold of it and staked our eternity upon it because he said verily. Now, as disciples going out to preach his word in a hostile world and with a very difficult task, here are three other verilys that we shall need to get hold of and grasp for dear life if we are going to do our task efficiently as disciples taking the word of God to others. Verily. Then notice these three verses, they not only have the verily in common, they have something else in common, don't they? Each of these verses points us off to the great coming day of the Lord's second coming. And the judgment that then shall follow. Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment for that, than for that city. And immediately our minds are taken off right into the coming future when the Lord shall come and reign and eventually sit upon the great white throne and execute judgment. Verily. The reality of that coming day of judgment. The second verily says, you shall not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of Man be come. The reality of the second coming of Christ. And the final verily, again his second coming, and oh, praise God, the day of reward. Why, if we've only given a cup of cold water, verily, we shall not lose our reward. If we are going to be efficient as disciples taking his word to the world, then we shall have to take hold of these three great verities and keep our eye on that coming time, the judgment and its solemn effects. The wonder and certainty of the Lord's second coming. The glory and encouragement of the day of reward. And you will say to me, but those apostles went out on their journey, and they went round Palestine, and they came back and told the Lord the things they'd done. But you say, they were miles off the Lord's second coming in the day of judgment. They went out and came back, and still the day of reward hadn't come. Never mind. For all I know, you'll go out and come back on all your many journeys of preaching the gospel, and you'll come back at ninety three and a half, and still the Lord won't have come. What difference will that make? I'll tell you something else. If you haven't kept in mind the fact that he's coming and preached in the light of it, if you haven't kept clearly in mind the fact of the coming and eternal judgment and preached in the light of it, if you haven't kept in mind the coming day of reward and worked for the sake of it, then there will have been something missing in your preaching. He gave them authority. One element in the authority with which they preached was this, that they preached as men who stood on the edge of the second coming. They preached as men who stood on the edge of the day of reward. And it was real to them. And hence the authority that marked their preaching. Not you, of course, in Apsley Street, no, of course not. But oh, alas, how Christendom has lost its nerve, hasn't it? Over some of these things. Let's ponder them together till they burn into our hearts. For it's a blessed thing to serve the Lord, but it's something more than an afternoon tea party. Let's think for a moment then, the first division. The first verily. And we ought just to notice that there are some things that he told them here that no longer apply to anybody. Look at verses, um, um, nine and ten. Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses, no wallet for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff, for the laborer is worthy of his food. On this occasion, when they went out, they were not to worry about supplies, about money, about finance. How would they finance their gospel campaign? Well, they needn't worry, because whatever a town they arrived at, they could expect to be put up. Why? Well, because they were coming as the servants of Messiah. And they were coming to Israel in the name of Israel's king. And I'll tell you something about the King of Israel, our blessed Lord. Before he was rejected and crucified, if he wanted to mount a gospel campaign or something in your town and you got a donkey or a goat son, and he wanted it, he just sent down the road for it. You'll find a couple of chaps at your gate starting the thing up or loosening the donkey from its tethering, and everyone ever said, hi, what are you going to do that with my donkey? They said, oh, sorry, the Lord hath needed him, and that would be the end of it. You're protesting that, look, I've insured that, and no, so you might. Messiah would commandeer it. You can't do that nowadays. You can't walk down to Belfast City Hall and see a nice Rolls-Royce out there, Belfast One or something on it and the flag, and decide you need that to do very well for your gospel mission and just go inside and say, the Lord needs this, I'm going off with it just for the moment, I'll bring it back again. No. And pray don't expect to. Why can't you? Well, our Lord tells the reason, uh, when finally he countermanded these instructions, didn't he? The passage is Luke chapter twenty two, if you wanted, uh, to see verses thirty five um onwards. And he said unto them, when I sent you forth without purse and wallet and shoes, lacked you anything? And they said, Nothing. And he said unto them, But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a wallet, and he that hath none, let him sell his cloak and buy a sword. For I say unto you that this which is written must be fulfilled in me. And he was reckoned with the outlaws. For that which concerneth me hath fulfillment. You see, he is now countermanding the previous instructions. Now they are to take a purse. Now they will have to pay their own way, and they must not expect the nation to support them. Why not? What's made the difference? Why? Because the king himself has been outlawed. He was reckoned with the outlaws, and if the nation has officially outlawed the king, then the king's messengers can no longer expect the nation to support them. And what a weak and miserable thing it is when Christians ask the world to pay for Christians' gospel campaigns, isn't it what? Of course, it's still for those that do acknowledge the king. Hey, what? You acknowledge the king? Ah, well, he's still, still a right, hasn't he, to come and get your donkey, dama, or bicycle, or whatever it is. For he's a king. Ah, but now let's come, as I say, to our verily, for these things remain. At least the basic principle remains. He said, you know, whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words as you go forth out of that city, that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. A solemn thing. Yes, but they must get it into their heads, for it is very soft. The eternal implications of their message, and what it will mean for anybody to reject. Sullen to preach a word like that, isn't it? But notice something more. He didn't say, whosoever shall not receive me or refuses to hear my words, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that man. He says, whosoever doesn't receive you, nor hear your words. The judgment of that man will make the judgment of Sodom- Sodom and Gomorrah look small in comparison. Now, we better pause there, haven't we, because that's tremendous and could easily be distorted, could it not? Who am I, and what is my word? Could it possibly be true that the eternal destiny of that man walking down the street depends on my word, what he does with my word. Well, just a moment. First of all, our Lord was talking about twelve apostles, and I'm sure it must be a much more serious thing for somebody to reject the word of an apostle than it is to reject my word. My words might be wrong sometimes. The inspired apostle, the apostles were inspired. There's a big difference, isn't there? And I have to remember that I could be mistaken in things I say. I'm not an inspired apostle. Therefore, you have the liberty and the right, uh, to disagree, at least to criticize what I say, uh, remembering what the Paul said about prophets, that the prophets prophesy two or three and let the others criticize. We all know those people, don't we, who get up over some passage that has perplexed learned and godly men for centuries, and they'll say, this is a difficult verse. Well, we all knew that. Got about a half a dozen different commentaries on it myself, on my shelves, let alone yours. This is a very difficult verse, they say, but I prayed about it, and the Lord has shown me. Well, there's nothing new to say about that, is there? End of, end of conversation. My good father, if the Lord has shown you, you won't need to say so. It will become apparent as you expound the verse. We must make due allowance, therefore we must not take this and exaggerate it out of its context. To reject an apostle is to reject the Lord Jesus. As lower down the chapter, our Lord says, he that receives you receives me, he that rejects you rejects me. You don't reject what Saint Paul says without rejecting the Savior. If any man thinks himself to be spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write, says Saint Paul, are the commandments of the Lord. Oh, la, where shall we get in the path of discipleship if we allow ourselves the attitude, nowadays more prevalent than ever, that that was only Paul who said that. He that rejects you, says the Savior, rejects me. There is, is there not, a a a sense in which it applies to us, even us humble creatures, and how awesome is the responsibility. You see, the authority doesn't rest in me or you either. It rests in the Lord, but he delegates us the authority. The authority is not in my word in itself, it's in his word, but he gives me to speak the word, and his word becomes my word. I go and speak the gospel to somebody? A solemn thing that is, because if he rejects it... Just you imagine just a moment, if you will, the final judgment. Have you thought of it? Here comes Mrs. Crombie. Before the great white throne. His sins are read out. Then the Lamb's book of life is opened. Her name is not in the book. Why not? She protests that her judgment isn't fair. And says the judge, but you knew, my good woman. You did know, didn't you? When did I know? Oh well, Mrs. Smith. Don't you remember that morning? You were hanging out the linen. And over the garden fence, your neighbor Mrs. Smith told you you needed to be saved and quoted you John three sixteen. You remember that? Ah, then I don't know by what divine mechanism, but the memory will be flashed back again. And it's clear as clear as clear Mrs. Crombie sees that garden scene again and herself standing there. And was that you, the other side of the fence, talking to her? She heard what you said. She knew she needed to be saved. And she rejected this woman whose wits I was serving. And because she rejected your word. She's lost. It's a solemn thing, isn't it? Do you really believe that? Well, if you don't, there's not a lot of good preaching scripture. Therein is its authority. And then we come to the matter of persecution. The second verily. A difficult one, perhaps, to understand, room for difference of opinion as to what our Lord meant, maybe. But this at least is how it appeals to me. He guides his apostles now as to what they are to do when they meet persecution. If they persecute you in one city, flee to the next one. Wise advice. In their loyalty to the Savior, they might have said to themselves, well, no, we won't flee, we won't run away, we'll stay put, and we'll weather the storm. And you could have commended their, their courage, but our Lord has different advice. He says, when they, when they persecute you in one city, flee to the next one. Why? Well, he says, gentlemen, you see you won't have time to complete the lot anyway before the second coming. Don't stay unduly long in one place. You'll find Paul did follow that method, didn't he? To read the Acts of the Apostles. Of course, he had to sometimes. You got stoned nearly to dead in one city, you didn't always go back into it, you went to the next one. But that's how the gospel spread. For the Lord is coming again. And it's a big, big world, isn't it? Do we sometimes settle down too long in one place? Oh, well, of course, you know, some things can't move, can they? If you have an elderly parent to look after, you can't move. If you're an elder in a church with responsibilities, you can't move. How many of our dear brethren and sisters in Russia are being persecuted and would like to leave and can't? Of course, we mustn't take the thing out of its context, nor exaggerate it beyond what was intended. And here our Lord was not talking to, uh, all his people. He was talking to his specially appointed apostles, upon whom the evangelization of the world would in the first place depend. But within that context, it seems to me a thing we must not forget. We haven't all the time there is. If the door doesn't open here, having been kicked and pushed many times, or if they throw you out, well, it's a big world, there's somewhere else to go. And the Lord is coming. It would be good if everybody had the chance to hear the gospel once, wouldn't it? Before the Lord came. It is good to keep up the regular preaching of the gospel at seven o'clock of a Sunday night, of course you keep. But I have known some folks to hesitate in their hearts, and they said, you know, I made this special effort to go over to Timbuktu and preach the gospel, and I went there, you know, I went there four Sundays on end, nobody got saved, and you thought it was a waste of money? And people said, oh, no good came of it, give me down. And when they talk like that, I say to myself, hmm. And they preached this last fifty two Sundays in the gospel hall. How many folks got saved there? But they didn't give there. Curious, isn't it? God give us good sense of proportions to remember that the Lord Jesus is coming. He expects us to cover the maximum amount of ground possible. We do believe the Lord is coming, don't we? He might come before our work is Is finished. finished. And then the final verily. Verily, I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. Some people there are who tell us that we should serve the Lord without, uh, looking for reward. What marvelously spiritual people they are, and I'm delighted to hear that they can keep going with undiminished puff and zeal without any prospect of reward. They have a little unrealistic, uh, idea, however, they're fellow believers, because there's one standing in front of you who, if it weren't for the reward, might have given up a long while ago. And in his mercy, the Lord encourages us with reward, and if he holds out the reward, I'm not quite sure that it is too spiritual to say to him, no, I don't want it, for he holds it out. And oh, what a lovely antidote there is here, is there not? Uh, to that feeling that comes to us all from time to time, well, I'm not much good, and what can I do anyway? I shall never get a very big reward. Don't you be so sure of that. You can have a prophet's reward if you wanted it. Couldn't you? I just think that might be sizable, a prophet's reward. I think I should be happy to get a prophet's reward. It's unlikely, but I should be happy to. And how do you get that? Well, you get it in one of two ways, either being a prophet... or, from time to time, looking after a prophet. Whoever receive a prophet into, into his home, in the name of a prophet, so as to be a partaker of his work, he'll get the reward that the prophet gets. And if it only were a cup of cold water, says our Lord, using a very vivid example, you'll not lose your reward. Tap water is pretty abundant most times in the year at any rate. You can get a reward for tap water. For I think I've a bit more than tap water I could, I could bring to bear upon the topic. If it wasn't for myself, then for somebody else. For I've noticed preachers get thirsty, and if supplying the water for them, like some good soul has done for me tonight, is going to get a reward. But then how much do I believe it? And will it lead to an eternal difference, this reward? Why do you suppose the rewards are only temporary then? We toil for a crown that is eternally imperishable. And one final thing, seeing you look so patient tonight. Our Lord, as he sends his apostles out to preach, gives them these three verities. Each of them relates to the second coming, the judgment, the second coming, the day of rewards. That's the background against which we preach. We must preach as though we stood on the very brink of it. One other dimension he puts before. At great length, he mentions to them the persecution. Well, now, as we have seen, they didn't get persecuted the first time. They went out, and it was all glorious, and they came back very excited, particularly about the demons being subject to them, and the Lord had to quiet the excitement down a bit. So they didn't get any persecution that time, and why did he bother to tell them about the persecution? Well, for one good reason, they got it the next time. And it wasn't funny. And we aren't having much persecution now, are we? Not for preaching the gospel. So you say the pe- the verses are irrelevant to me then. Are you sure you'll never get any persecution? What would happen if England went very much to the left? Persecution is the norm. Our years of peace are the abnormal in the history of the church. Look what dear old Wesley went through, for the sake of the word of God. And there's another reason why I should interest myself in these verses about persecution, are there not? Because, you see, it is in times of persecution, as is evident if we know anything about our brethren behind the iron curtain. It is evident that when persecution comes, it sharpens up our sense of reality in proportion. Because it really makes you face to think, how is what I preach real? Or only a game? Is it real, real enough that I give my life for it? Or is it only a game? So I'm glad we don't live in times of persecution, so I don't have to make that, um, decision. Oh, my dear good brother and sister. Then are you fit to preach? Sometimes I tremble because I've preached too much, and the preaching is easy. What if I were to be put to the test, whether I would see, oh my God, what I have so goodly. And even if I go home to heaven without any persecution. Oh, pray God that he would bring into my life that sense of proportion to be active, so that even now I live with that same zeal and sense of proportion as my brethren the forstanders have, who live in countries where persecution is in. But a disciple can't be about his master, can he? All he can hope for is to be as his master. What happened to your master when he preached? Extraordinary, isn't it, if it hasn't happened to us. Don't you be afraid to speak, says our Lord. Don't you try to hide it. Why not? Because it can't be hidden. You think you're going to save your life by hiding your message? Well, sooner or later it'll be proclaimed from the housetops. You might as well, might as well let everybody know. For it will come out sooner or later. You say it might cost, cost me my life to do it. Well, it might, that is the point, isn't it? It might. Oh, you say, but I thought God is so kind he looks after the birds, won't he look after me? He wouldn't let me suffer or die, would he? Because as he look after birds? Well, yes, he looks after birds, but says our Lord, haven't you observed that some birds fall and die and the cat gets some of them? And I'm telling you, says Christ, that none, not one of them falls without your Father. My dear brother and my sister, God doesn't promise to protect you endlessly from persecution, nor me either. What he does say is he values us more than many birds, and you'll never fall unless he allows it and is with you in it. But you may fall. Yes. And you'll see, it's a serious matter we're involved in, isn't it? Confess me before men, says Christ, and I will confess you before my Father, but deny me before men. And I shall deny you before my Father. It's as serious as that, isn't it? And how easy to say the words, like Peter. I mustn't forget Peter, who said he would never deny the Lord. Whatever, putting the old thumb screws on, or tearing out your fingernails. But then that's the battle to which we're called. Let's thank God if we're not, uh, in times of persecution now. I would be the worst card, and I hope I never shall be in, in any. But don't me, don't let me allow the fact that I'm not suffering persecution. Don't let me allow it to make me easygoing. As though my Christian work were a simple hobby that I do when I feel like it, and if I don't feel like it, I don't do it. For we are in the battle, the war of the age, and eternal things hang upon what we do and say for the Savior. This is the path of discipleship. God give us the grace to follow our Lord closely until the path leads us home.