Gooding, David: 5 - The End of Hostility

It is delightful, ladies and gentlemen, to see you here so fresh, fresh as a lark, as we say in English, uh, on this bright Saturday morning. The little sheet of paper that you have possibly been given this morning is there just to guide us as to where we are in the study of this book as a whole. In our previous two sessions, we have been considering the purpose of God in creation. That's what we've listed in column one on the sheet that you have been given. We mean by that, what purpose did God have in creating our universe? What purpose did he have in creating our world? And then, of course, because it affects each one of us, what purpose did God have in creating us individually? What is life about? What purpose is there in life? And when death eventually comes, is that the end of everything? Or has God got a future for us? The answer we found, the general answer we found as we studied the chapters here in column one, is that God's purpose in creating our world and we in it was so that God eventually might give us the opportunity of becoming his children. We enter this world as God's creatures, simply because he made us. But while we are in this world, God gives us the opportunity, through Jesus Christ, God's son, to become something more than a creature of God. All men and women are creatures of God. God gives us the opportunity to become the children of God. And so we spent quite a bit of time in our last two sessions thinking of that process by which we become children of God and know God as our Father. The Bible sums it up in these words: to as many as receive Christ as personal savior and put their faith in him, to them he gives the right of power and authority to become children of God. That is God's purpose, then, in having this world. And in column one it goes on to tell us what God's purpose will be when this world is done and God brings in a new heavens and a new earth. But now we begin this morning our study of what is here, column two, And that will be about the role of Christ in history, in the history of this world. And it starts off by calling our attention to the Jews. That's what nowadays we call them Israelis, but to the Jews. And the difference between Jews and Christians, or as the Old Testament puts it in the New Testament, the difference between Jews and Gentiles. Now, I have a number of friends who are, uh, will take and read the New Testament, you'll see, even some of them who don't believe it. But what they can't make out is, why is the Bible so full of talking about Jews? Why on earth do we want to know about Jews for? And what's that got to do with anything? It is a fact, of course, that the Bible, you will have noticed, is in two parts. There is the Old Testament, and there is the New Testament. And the New Testament was written by Jews, of course. It is their sacred book still. The New Testament is the Christian part of the Bible, yes? So it's the Old Testament that tells us why God chose out the Jewish nation and for what purpose he did it. So let me just remind you of that and fill in a bit of history. Why did God choose the Jews? The Bible tells us that when God first made people, men and women on this earth, they knew that there was one true God. Indeed, the Bible says still, that if you consider the earth and its marvels, and the heavens and the stars, something will be awakened in your mind. Who watch carefully the stars and the a- and so forth at night particularly, but then the wonders of creation by day. There will arise in your heart this thought, there must be a God who started it all off. That's what the Bible says. That through creation, God shows us his exceeding power and godhood. This is a supernatural power. That's a very important lesson, of course. And God says we all know it, even if we deny it. We know there's a God, for God has revealed that much to us, not only to us, but in us. The great philosopher, European philosopher Kant said, the heavens above me and my moral sense within me tell me there is a God. But then the Bible goes on to say that a lot of people didn't like that idea that there's a God. Indeed, they not only let it go, they sometimes suppressed it. And when people don't believe in God, the Creator, then they get into all kinds of intellectual difficulties. When people didn't like to retain the knowledge of the one true God, then they had the sense to see that they didn't create themselves. And they didn't create the universe. I think we all agree, don't we? You didn't happen to create the universe? No, I, I think you didn't, perhaps, no. I didn't either, you know. I wasn't there even to help the business. Oh. So mankind had the, uh, the sense to see that they didn't create the world. Well, if you're not going to believe in God, then who did? And the ancient world began to invent all kinds of gods and goddesses. They deified the sun and started to worship the sun as though that were a god. And they deified the moon god. They deified the storms, they were so powerful. The storm god. And then they deified the god of chance. It's a very funny god to worship, the god of chance, but a lot of people still do, don't they? I've seen them cooing up for a prayer ticket to help, uh, ask the help of gods to fill in the football coupons so that they can win a big prize in the lottery, you see. And they say that, um, it's the God of chance that rules everything. The Greeks had a name for it, called Atuki. And some people worship the god of fate. They said everything is already determined, and we human beings have no choice. What is going to happen is going to happen. And when I was about thirty years younger, there was a, a, a, a song people sang all around the streets, and it went, Que será, será, what will be, will be. Of course, you're all too young to know about that, but, uh, you see, uh, uh, this was people trying to hide behind, well, I'm not really responsible for what I do, you see, what is to be will be, and that's that, and nobody can stop it. So people got worshipping their man-made gods. Some worship the god of sex. Greeks called her Aphrodite. And nowadays you'll find a lot of people, they don't believe in the one true God of heaven. But they worship a lot of other gods. Some worship the god of money. The ancients called him Mammon. So what did God do about it? Mm-hmm. Sometimes I go to places like Russia, where for years, of course, it was almost a criminal offense to believe in the one true God of heaven. Um. And I get the chance to talk to them, these atheists, about the true God, you see. So I tell them these stories of the ancient world, how people came to worship the sun god and worship the moon god and worship the god of love and the storm god and all that kind of thing, you see, and nonsense it was. And of course the atheists, uh, think that was absolute nonsense too, you see. And now they've got beyond that superstitious stage, or have they? I say, but if you ask an atheist what began this universe, what started it all, and what controls it, and what one day will bring it to its end. The atheist will say the same thing as those ancient old idolaters, actually. You go into an atheist's home, you won't find a God in the corner. Some people do have a God shelf in the corner, you know, but you go into an atheist's house, he won't have a God shelf in the corner. He'll tell you he doesn't believe in God. Would you ask him or her, so what set the whole thing going, please tell me? And what controls it? You as an atheist don't control it, do you? No. And he will say, well, the thing was brought about by the Big Bang, and then by the weak atomic power and the strong atomic power, and e- electromagnetism, and sundry other such things. And what are they? They are just the powers of nature, that's all. And the atheist is doing exactly the same as the old idolater. He doesn't like to believe in the one true God, as he's an atheist. But he knows he didn't make the universe and doesn't control it, so what does control it? He comes up with the same idea as the old idolaters. It's the forces of nature that control everything. And who are they when they're out? Well, they're just impersonal forces. They have no purpose in their heads. They don't have any heads. They've got no brains. They don't care anything for you. They're just impersonal forces. So the modern atheist, for all his pride in his modern science, is no better than the old idolater who defied the moon god and the sun god and the rat god and all those other kind of gods. Do you see? Mankind bowing down to the forces of nature. Because that is really stupid, isn't it? Talk about that. Let's think about ourselves for a moment. And the sun up in the sky. I want to tell you, I am myself, my little self, infinitely more significant than the sun up in the sky. I know we depend on the sun for warmth and light, and therefore for life. How do I know myself more important than the sun up in the sky. Well, I know the sun is there to start with. The sun doesn't know I'm here. But the sun is only so much stuff, it's gas. So much stuff. Enormous quantities of it, of course. But mere stuff. And you know, and I know, that as human beings, we're much more important than mere stuff, aren't we? You are a person. And instinctively, we know ourselves as persons superior to mere stuff. And we are indeed. For we were made by a God who is personal. We are more important than all the powers, the impersonal forces of nature. We are persons made in the image of God. You say, why are you telling us all this? Well, I'm telling you all this to explain why God chose the Jews. When mankind was hopelessly lost in all the nations of the world into idolatry, defying the go- the forces of nature, worshiping the sun god and the moon god, and goodness knows what else gods. God had to start again. The first thing God had to e- establish, or to reestablish, that there is one true God. And all other gods are not true. To do that, God chose out a man, his name was Abraham. And God revealed himself to Abraham as the one true God. And God announced he was going to make a nation from that man, a nation who should stand in the world for belief in the one true God as distinct from all the idolatry. So Abraham became the father of what we now call the Jewish race, only they weren't called Jews till much later on, they were called Hebrews. You say, but what's all this got to do with Christianity? I thought this was a, a study session for studying the Christian Bible. What's all this got to do with Christianity? Well, this, of course, in the New Testament, in Christianity, God offers us his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, as a savior. And it is a very important thing to come to b- see and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Yes? But suppose you went to an ancient Greek and you said to him, we want to talk to you about the Lord Jesus, you know, he is the Son of God. An ancient Greek would have said to you, oh, is he? Yes, indeed. Oh, yes, uh, we've heard of this kind of thing before. You know, there's old Zeus, the chief god. He has all sorts of wives, you know, and he has begotten many sons. Uh, uh, your your Jesus is the son of God? Which god in particular are you thinking about? And then you would have a job, wouldn't you? For if you don't know who God is, you'll have a difficulty discovering that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and what that term means. So before God sent his dear Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, into the world, God sent, spent centuries establishing the witness here on earth, through the Jewish nation, that there is one God. That's exceedingly important. So that when at last God sent his son, he was proclaimed as the son of God, it should be clear that this has nothing to do with idolatry, what none, not one God among many gods. Jesus Christ is the son of the true and the living God, the only God. Jesus Christ is his son. And God chose the Jewish nation, the Hebrew nation, I ought to say, to be his witnesses in the earth, when all the rest had gone over to idolatry. A protest against idolatry and a witness to the one true God. That's why the Christian gospel tells that Jesus Christ came, he's witnessed to by the Old Testament prophets and by the Old Testament scriptures. Righto, so we've got so far. Why the Jews? Then God began to teach the Jews some elementary lessons, like a parent would teach a child. If there's one God, and we have sinned against him, how can we find forgiveness? So, with the Hebrews, God arranged a system. They had a sacred building, a temple, and they had a big altar, and they offered sacrifices on the altar, sacrifice of a lamb or sacrifice of a bullock or something, and the bullock was killed and its blood shed, and its blood sprinkled on various things in the temple, and uh, God said when they did that, he would forgive their sins. But you know, it was evident even to the Jews that just sacrificing a bullock and shedding its blood couldn't really bring you forgiveness of sins, could it? You know, bullocks and cows don't know anything about sin. They don't go to bed with a bad conscience, not cows and bullocks. They're animals. It's we human beings that get troubled in our conscience about sin. We're aware of sin. How can it be forgiven? Well, not really through shedding the blood of a bullock and offering a bullock to God. The Bible explains that these were pictures only, kind of parables, when the race was young. When I was a little boy, and I was the last of six, and my parents gave us a game, you see. It was a toy shop, and in this shop it sold sweets, but they were only toy sweets. If you tried to eat them, they were horrible, do you see? And the girls were put in charge of the shop, because they have to be, they are important. And we boys were dished out with money, only it wasn't real money, you couldn't buy anything real with it. And you had to come to the girls and ask for a penneth of sweets or something. And the girls would dish them out in a bag, and you had to pay the money, you see. Well, even as kids, we know it was only a game, you, the money didn't buy anything, really. It's only a game. So why did our parents give us that game? Well, it kept us quiet of a rainy Monday afternoon, you know, or something like that, something to do. But it also began to teach us something. It wasn't real money, and they weren't real sweets, but it got across the idea that sweets cost money. And sweets had to be paid for. Began to get across in our childish minds the idea of value and cost. And in the early days of the Hebrews, God, um, was teaching them that sin costs. There's a penalty to sin. And sin demands Demands its its penalty penalty. under the law of God, which is death. It was a lesson for chil- for people in their childhood of development, but it was also a picture pointing forward, says the Old Testament itself, to the time when God would send his son, Jesus Christ, into our world, to pay the real cost of sin, to bear the penalty of sin, so that through his death and the shedding of his blood, we might obtain forgiveness with God. So it was a picture in advance. But there was another thing about those Jews. They had a temple. But if you'd have gone into that temple, though the ordinary people weren't allowed to go in, but if you could have got in, at first you'd find a room, and then there would be a big curtain, and behind that curtain was the most sacred place, wherein was the model, so to speak, token of the throne of God. Into that second division, nobody was allowed to come, except their high priest once in a year. Otherwise, no one could come in. Indeed, the ordinary people weren't allowed into the first bit. They stayed outside the temple. They weren't allowed in. What was God saying? Well, God is not only against the guilt of sin, he's against uncleanness, moral uncleanness. For sin not only, uh, is against the law, but sin makes us unclean. And God cannot have uncleanliness in his presence. It is said of the great heavenly Jerusalem, there shall not enter into it anything that defiles or makes a lie. So in that temple, there was always this big barrier, and the people couldn't come in to the presence of God. They had to learn how clean you have to be to enter God's presence. Do you know what? The time came when those childhood lessons by God were scrapped. It came when he sent his son Jesus Christ into the world, now to bring in the reality, the real sweets, if you might see, except my toy sweets, and pay the real money, not toy money, to give his own life's blood, not the blood of animals, so that mankind might be redeemed, forgiven, and cleansed, and free to enter into God's presence. And that's what this thing is talking about now, in this second column. It's telling us what has been going on in history, what God was doing down the centuries until the Lord Jesus came. And it's telling us now the difference Christ has made, even from those early things that God himself instituted in the Old Testament. And we're going to pick on some of those things, do you see, uh, now in this paragraph and in our studies today. So first of all, he says, do you see, uh, in chapter two, wherefore remember that you, he's writing to Greeks, Gentiles, in a place called Ephesus. Remember that before this, in earlier times, you Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision in the flesh, made by hands, you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you that once were afar off are made nigh in the blood of Christ. This is chapter two of Ephesians, verses eleven to thirteen. Let's think about that for a moment. He's talking to us Gentiles. Now, the Jews had a certain sign that marked them out as Jews. All the males, eight days after birth, had to be circumcised. Gentiles didn't have that custom, and therefore the Jews looked down upon Gentiles, uh, as uncircumcised Gentiles, and they felt themselves superior. They were circumcised Jews. So that there was that difference, and you couldn't come into their temple if you were an uncircumcised Gentile. You could come so far, but no further. And you Gentiles in Ephesus, you once were separate from Christ. What does that mean? Well, those, uh, Old Testament scriptures, they were full of promises that one day God was going to send into our world the one whom the Old Testament calls the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ. Wonderful prophecies in the Old Testament. One of them is to be found in Isaiah uh fifty three, where God promised that one day he would send his divine servant. He would be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement that causes our peace would be upon him, and by his stripes we were healed. A promise that one day God would send a savior who would deal with our problem of sin, suffer its penalty on our behalf, so that we might be forgiven, completely forgiven. A prophecy. But you know, that was written to Jews, and Gentiles didn't know about it. They had no hope that one day God would send a savior into the world. They didn't know about Christ, didn't know what he was meant to do. They were strangers from the Old Testament. And of course, there are many folks in the world today, are there not, just like that? Some of them have never heard of Christ. They don't know what he w- uh, he stands for anyway. And what does he come into the world to do, and who is he? The answer is he's God's special chosen servant, his anointed son. He is the son of God, one with God. He is God in human form. So now Paul is telling these Gentiles that before they didn't know anything about him. Now they have heard the marvelous news, and the wonderful fact is that God has sent this Savior into the world, not just for Jews, but for us Gentiles as well. For God so loved the whole world, says Scripture, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For after all, there's only one God and one mediator between God and men, that's the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all without distinction. First major lesson, therefore, that this Jesus Christ, though sent in the first place to Israel, is the Son of God and is sent as the savior of the world. Yes? What does he do for us? Do you see? Well, the verse tells us later at we read, do you see, that, uh, we both, it says, he came and preached pre- peace to us that were far off and peace to those that were nigh. For through him we both have our access in one spirit unto the Father. Let's get hold of that word. We have access to the Father. Now, in the Jewish temple, if you got inside, as I say, well, you weren't allowed, the public weren't allowed inside, the priests went inside, but then there was a big curtain. You couldn't come into the presence of God. You weren't fit enough. Now, in Christ, that's all been done away, and we have access to the Father, says Scripture. What do you mean, access? Well, we have freedom to come to God. We have freedom to enter his presence. We have access to the Father. Do you see? And we may know him as our Father, do you see? So that through the cross, Christ has made it possible. How has he made it possible? Well, the verses tell us that we, verse thirteen, now in Christ Jesus, you that once were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. What does that mean? How has the blood of Christ made us near to God? Well, the answer is plainly this. We have all sinned. And God's wrath is against our sin. According to God's law, sin must be punished. God can't look upon sin and, uh, just say, well, it doesn't matter. And God sees our sin, it stirs his holy indignation. Sin provokes God's indignation, his wrath. How could we come anywhere near God, if that is so? The answer is Christ. For the amazing gospel is that while we were still sinners, while we were still enemies, Christ came and sent by God and bore the penalty of our sin, paid it, endured the wrath of God that should have been against us, so that God might freely forgive us. And we have access in peace to God. Do you see? So far, so good. God cannot say that sin doesn't matter. Yeah? You stay the night in a hotel, and when the person comes in the morning and says it will cost you so and so, you say, I'm sorry, I have no money. But you have to pay, says the hotel. Yeah, but I haven't got any money. Yeah, but you've got to pay. Well, I don't think it matters, you say. What do you suppose the hotel would say? Oh, it doesn't matter if you can't pay. I mean, a lot of people can't pay. So it doesn't matter if you don't pay. And you know, people think, I sin like that, oh, it doesn't really matter. Let's forget it. God doesn't. God says sin must be paid for. Sin is a breaking of God's law, and it must be followed by the penalty of God's law. The marvelous gospel message is this, that when we couldn't pay, for the penalty of sin would be eternal death, God sent his son to bear the penalty, to pay the penalty for us, so that God can forgive us without saying it didn't matter. He paid the penalty so that he's perfectly just now to say, well, the penalty's been paid, now you can be forgiven and accepted. And that's the glorious message of the gospel through Jesus Christ. And it says here, he came and preached peace to us. First of all, peace with God. How does anybody get peace with God? Well, the Bible puts it this way, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It's a marvelously real thing to come and think about God, realize we have been sinners, and yet through Christ we can be forgiven, and we can be at peace with God and have access to the Father. So yes, through Christ, peace, we Gentiles, peace with God. Through Christ, access into the divine presence already here on earth. We can come in heart into the very presence of God and stand before God and know ourselves welcome. And finally, we can be utterly sure that when we die, because we have trusted Christ, we are welcomed in God's heaven, and to be absent from the body is to be present with God in his heaven, absolutely sure of it. Peace with God. But the other thing we should notice about this passage is as follows. When the Jews had lived years in their religion, and they looked out upon the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were all worshiping thousands of one gods galore. The Jews felt very superior to Gentiles. When the Gentiles were behaving in ways that were morally unclean, the Jews despised Gentiles. And then they got it into their head, you see, that they were so far better than Gentiles. The actual fact was, that though God had chosen them to be his witnesses in the earth to the one true God, they too had broken God's law. They too had come short. Only they didn't always realize that, and they felt superior to Gentiles, and they became very hostile to Gentiles. Enmity- enemies indeed. How was God going to do with that? Well, this passage is telling us how that enmity, God is breaking it down between Jew and Gentile, breaking it down. How? Why this, when Jews come to realize that in spite of all their favored position by God and their attempts to keep God's law, they have sinned. But through Christ they can be forgiven and restored and have peace with God. And then they find we Gentiles, God offers us the same, that we can be forgiven through Christ and welcomed by God, so that we have the same Savior. And that same Savior has made peace with God for the Jew and peace with God for the Gentile. And that does away with enmity between Jew and Gentile. You say, but aren't the Jews fighting the, uh, is- the Palestinians and so forth in, in Israel at this present time? What are you talking about, about, um, Jews being at peace? But wait a minute. I'm not talking about politics. Some years ago, I was in Nazareth. And in Nazareth, there was a little, uh, church there formed largely of Arabs who had found Jesus Christ as personal savior, you see. So I joined them on one Sunday, and I got to know them. They had been saved through Christ, through his death on Calvary, through his resurrection, found peace and pardon with God, you'll see, through the Jewish Messiah Jesus. Now, I don't know if you've been to Nazareth, but Nazareth is a city like this, and up here is a very big hill. It's called Nazareth Elite. Uh, uh, it's high up, you see, and there's where the Jews lived, the Israelis lived up there, and the Arabs lived down here, you see. So when I got a quiet moment, I asked the leading Arab Christian man, I said, how do the Israelis treat you? For I knew that these Arabs had lost a lot of their property. The Jews, the Israelis had just taken it away. So it suffered loss under the Israelis. I said to them, how, how, how do the Israelis treat you? And his reply startled me. He said, they treat us well because we, we Arab Christians, teach Arabs to love Jews. Yes. And I saw with my own two eyes in that church in Nazareth, there were Arab believers that had found Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Sitting down at the little ceremony to remember the Lord Jesus, and with them there were converted Israelis who had found Jesus as their savior, and the enmities were gone. Peace not only with God, but peace with one another. You see, I, you see, I- I'm English, you see. I have to tell you, uh, I- I say it while the Irish aren't listening, you see. We English did a lot of bad things to the Irish in centuries gone by. I wasn't alive then, so strictly speaking, not my fault. But, uh, do you see, uh, uh, we English, we did a lot of very bad things to the Irish. Don't, don't admit that to them, but I- I'm telling you. And, uh, do you see, uh, in spite of that, they they treated me, uh, very, very well, I must say, you'll see. Yes. But there's a deeper sense. If you owe your salvation to Jesus Christ, and you say to me, well now my whole hope for forgiveness, my peace with God, my surety that when I die I shall go to God's heaven. My whole peace, salvation depends on Jesus Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. I shall say, that's marvelous. Ha, I'm an Englishman, you know. You're Irish? Uh, but I'm English. But my peace is altogether through Christ, you see. He loved me and gave himself for me. He loved you as well and gave himself for you. Well, how can I be hostile to you then? And the peace that Christ gives not only gives us peace with God, but peace with one another. Let an old man tell you another story. I went to Greece some years ago, and as I was traveling out by ship to Greece, I felt a little bit nervous because the Greeks at that stage did not like the English, and there were all kinds of protests around about the place, and I wondered what would become o- o- o- o- of uh, uh, this uh poor Englishman, you see, uh, among these Greeks. Well, eventually I found a dear Greek in Crete. He was uh, he'd been saved by Christ, and he used to go around preaching. He'd been in prison four times for preaching the gospel of Christ in Greece. Anyway, he said to me about Sunday, would you like to come up to my birthplace? We have some Christians out there. He said you could come on my machine. So I said, yeah, suspecting nothing. His machine turned out to be a moped, to see. And here was me in my Sunday best, blue suit, tie, on the back of a moped. Well, it wasn't so bad, uh, the first bit of the road, you see, it was on tarmac, but that soon gave out, and then it was a matter of a- a- of avoiding the potholes, but simultaneously, if you could, avoiding the rocks in the path, as you see. We went up the mountain to a little village called Enid, you see. And we arrived there, and there was a little church building made of concrete. It was a very plain affair, and the older men were sitting outside it before the service began, you see. Ha. And they were Cretans. They wore funny trousers and a big sort of a tail coming out of the seat of the trousers almost down to the ground. I don't know why they had that. I never d- like to ask. And then they had a band round their middle with a machete in it. That was a dagger, of course. But normal Cretans did, these chaps hadn't. So they looked at this strange apparition that had come in what was once a navy suit and was now, uh, more the color of the dust of the ground, see? And they looked at me and what was this phenomenon? So I quoted them that lovely verse, John three sixteen, in the, uh, modern Greek translation, and so on, you know. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And they flung their arms around my neck, English though I was, and invited me to their homes. Marvelous. Oneness in Christ. You see, I should repeat it, if, if you have been saved, come to see that Jesus Christ loved you and gave himself for you. He is God's son, that you might be forgiven. And that you now, through him, have access to God and can call God your father and be certain of a place in his home and daily have access to him in prayer. And you owe everything to Christ. Well, I do too. I don't care what your politics are, but in Christ, how can we be hostile when Christ loved us both and has united us to himself? Let me tell you one more story about that Greek place. There I was introduced into one of their rooms, and they made a special meal for us in this house. Uh, so we two, the Greek preacher and myself, we were sat at table while all others stood around and watched these two folks eat the meal, you see. And it was a beautiful tender bit of steak floating in a lot of olive oil, do you see? It was a little job to keep the flies off. You whack the flies with your knife as you put the meat into your mouth, but that was a small detail. You had to get used to the practice, you see. Aha. And they told me the story of one of the men present, uh, do you see, on that occasion. They said his wife became a believer in Christ. He was so angry that he was going to kill her. Cretan men in those days wore the machete, you see, and they didn't wear it for nothing. They found it easily, easy to knife people they didn't like, and he was going to knife her. But he took ill and was taken down to Heraklion, to the big city, and put in hospital. And the Christians in Heraklion visited him and took him gifts and helped him with their kindness, for Christ's sake. And the kindness of those believers brought that dear man to repentance and faith in Christ, and there he sat in the room with the woman that he was intending to murder. One with the believers, because he too had found Christ as Savior. It is God's purpose to unify the coming age in Christ, but more of that on another occasion. We'll leave it there, shall we? What has God been doing in history? To sum it up, what I've been arguing is this, that originally all of mankind knew and worshipped the one true God. Religion has not evolved. All men started there. Alas, many people didn't like to retain the knowledge of the one true God in their minds. So they banished him from their thinking. But then, of course, they saw that they themselves didn't control the universe, they didn't make it. And so they began to invent other gods, thousands of gods, deifying the forces of nature, stars, sun, moon, psychological powers in man, deifying them, deifying sex, deifying money, putting all their trust in chance and deifying chance as a goddess. And thousands of folks do it still, all around this world, worshiping many different gods. So God raised up a protest against it, in the person of Abraham, and made himself known to Abraham and raised a na- nation to witness to the one true God as against to all the idolatry in the surrounding nations. And they themselves were far from perfect, for they kept slipping back into idolatry and had to be pulled back to the worship of the one true God. It is the fact that God, having spent centuries doing it, when Jesus Christ came on earth to the temple at Jerusalem, there were no idols in that temple. No idols at all. They worshiped the one true God. Here's the time when God, as soon as he could, sent his son so that we might understand that this true and living God, Jesus is his son, not in the old idolatrous sense. He is God incarnate. This is God become human, and God sent him to die for us, that we might be forgiven, that we might be at peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So Christ died for us at Calvary and rose again, and has made a way for us into the very presence of God so that we can be forgiven and at peace with God and utterly certain that we shall be in God's heaven later on. But the other result of it has been that when people of whatever nationality find God through Jesus Christ and peace with God, it unites them together and puts an end to their enmity and hostility.