Gooding, David: Loving His Appearing

Now, a number of scriptures will introduce us to our evening meditation. Uh, let's begin to read them in, first of all, the prophecy of Isaiah. Prophecy of Isaiah and chapter fifty. Isaiah fifty and verse four: The Lord God hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me. Therefore have I not been confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Behold, they shall all wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. And in these verses we recognize the voice of our blessed Lord Messiah. Notice again, will you please, verse eight, where he speaks of his confidence, that in spite of all cruel and crude opposition of those that spit in his face, that God would justify him. That is to say, in our modern terms, vindicate him. Then shall we read from the Gospel of John and chapter eighteen. Gospel of John and chapter uh eighteen. Beginning with verse thirty three: Pilate therefore entered again into the palace and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Sayest thou this of thyself? Or did others tell it thee concerning me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Mine own nation and the chief priests delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find no crime in him, but you have a custom that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will you therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? They cried out therefore again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plated a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple garment. And they came unto him and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they struck him with their hands. Meaning, as each one came to him to offer mock respect, they slapped him across the face. And we remember the words of the prophet. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. We are in the presence of the sufferings Christ was called upon to suffer, when, as we have read, he stood for the truth in our godless and fallen world. The sufferings involved in standing for the truth. Now let us read on in the ep- uh, epistle, the first epistle of Paul to Timothy. First epistle of Paul, apostle to Timothy in chapter six And verse twelve. Fight the good fight of the faith. Not just faith, but the faith. For we too are called upon to stand for the truth. Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. I charge thee in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and of Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession, that thou keep the commandment without spot, without reproach, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in its own times he shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in light unapproachable, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power eternal. Amen. And finally, in the next epistle, the second epistle to Timothy in chapter four. Chapter four and verse one: I charge thee in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, preach the word. We too are called not only to stand for the truth, but with great diligence and perseverance to inculcate it, and to preach it at every opportunity. Well, listen, shall we, to verse two. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts, and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside unto fables. But be thou sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy ministry. For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure is come. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day, not only to me, but also to all them that have loved his appearing. The Lord be with us and speak to our hearts as we meditate on his word. It is, of course, a delight to be with you, for from past experience I know that I can speak from my heart without undue inhibitions. We were not a people that would make a man an offender for a word. The more religious among you will know that today is Epiphany Day, we'll say, which in the Western church is the festival devoted to the remembrance of the story of the visit of the wise men to our Lord, and how God revealed to them through that star in the east that here was born a king of the Jews. In the Eastern Church, of course, Epiphany, the festival of Epiphany, is related to our Lord's baptism. In the sense, I suppose, that by that public baptism by John, our Lord was shown to Israel. It was the time of his showing officially unto Israel. But tonight we are to think together on the epiphany of the Lord Jesus, as it is mentioned and taught in our New Testaments. There are two occasions, or perhaps one more, where the epiphany of our Lord is spoken of as happening at his coming into our world, at his first coming. The word, as you know, means a shining forth. There are several words used of our Lord's first coming and of his second coming. We can think of the term the apocalypse, if you like, the revelation of our Lord, when he shall be revealed from heaven, where the idea is that the heavens have concealed him, like a curtain or a veil would conceal someone. And at a certain time in the future, God will draw the veil aside, and the very heavens shall burst asunder, and what was hitherto hidden shall then be revealed. But when the scripture uses the word epiphany, it is not so much that something has been hidden and now will have to be unveiled. It is more as if you were walking a very dark night through moorland country, without any signs or stars to guide you, and all of a sudden a searchlight was switched on, with all its dazzling power of light, exposing everything. So it is rightly used, not only of our Lord's coming, but of his second coming. It is used of our Lord's first coming in those delightful words in two Timothy one. Our blessed Lord, we are told, which was given us in Christ Jesus, that is the promise and the appointment to our service, given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal, but has now been manifest by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel. Whereunto I was appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher, for the which cause I suffer also these things. Oh, a delightful passage, isn't it? In a world haunted by the shadow of death, there has burst in upon us, says Paul, the appearing of our Lord Jesus, with the result it has exposed death for what death is. He has abolished, put out of action. He's put out of action, uh, uh, death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel. The radiance of it comes down shining surely into our hearts today. And it has relevance to this practical thing, doesn't it? Did you notice how Paul immediately refers to his witness for the Lord and his suffering for Christ? What nerved that man of lion-like courage to carry the word of God into the synagogues, into the temple, if need be, before the rulers, before the Sanhedrin, before Nero himself, that lion, hungry lion, hungry for a few more victims to devour. Who gave him the courage? And here he tells Timothy, nervous Timothy, subject to stomach ulcers, perhaps, and other such things of a nervous disposition. He says, ah, don't be afraid, Tim, my boy, for the ministry to which God has called you was given you in times eternal, knowing all about you and all your personality and all your diffidence and hesitance. The purpose was given you and is made now real by the appearance of our Lord, who has exposed death for what it is, who brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel. That glorious deliverance from the fear of death is what stood by the martyrs all down the centuries. And who knows, but what it may be called from, from us, before our time on earth is done. But tonight it is particularly the phrase, the appearing of our Lord, as it is applied to our Lord's second coming, that is to engage our thought. And I want to ask what exactly then we mean by the term the appearing of our Lord. And then what the significance is of his appearing. And what were the issues at stake and shall be the issues at stake at his appearing. And then I want to ask what it means for us to love his appearing. And finally, what it will mean for us in practical ways, if indeed we do love his appearing, what will be its practical implications? The appearing then of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. He's shining out upon this godless world. What will it mean? Oh, the first thing it will mean, my brothers and sisters, it will mean the vindication of our blessed Lord Jesus. Oh, what a wonderful thing that will be. When the God, the God of heaven vindicates the Lord Jesus and the stand he took for truth. We read of it just now, didn't we, in the gospel. How eventually, in the trial of the whole world, he stood before Pontius Pilate. When Pontius inquired whether he were a king, as Caiaphas had accused him of being, his answer was, in so many words, yes, a king, but not in the sense that you understand it. For my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom, not from hence, testifying that this world is not a closed shop. There is another world. There is another kingdom. He had been born, and not only born into our world, note the double description. He had come into the world. Born of the virgin. It was the conception that was miraculous, the birth was normal. Born into the world, therefore, truly human. But more than that, he had come into the world. For this cause I came into the world. God incarnate, second person of the Trinity, coming into our world to bear witness. There is another world. This is the truth of the matter. It It ra- raises a very fundamental question, doesn't it, of our existence. What is our planet? What is the significance of human life upon it? And amidst all the roaring of the waves, as the leaders of this nation and that nation and the other nation strive for power. What is the truth of the situation? Standing before Pontius Pilate, representative of his mighty majesty, Tiberius, emperor of Rome. I says, yes, I am a king. Come to bear witness of the truth. There is another world, Pilate. And then he was given over to the soldiers for some moments, as mockingly they arrayed him in a robe and slapped him across the mouth. And he hid not his face from shame and spitting. And Pilate took him and scourged him. Which wasn't a civilized thing to do, was it? As the iron bits and bones in the leather tongs ripped his back. When our Lord then refrained from answering Pilate's question, he said, will you not answer me? You may have been silent in front of Caiaphas, but me? Don't you know, young man, that I have power? I could crucify you, or I could release you. How this world is obsessed, is it not? By power. Christ of the bleeding back replied, you would have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto you, that's Caiaphas the priest, hath the greater sin. And we pause to think, don't we? Is it true? That Pilate had been given power by God? That the very power that Pilate used to nail God's son to a tree was given him by God. Power. That's true. Didn't, of course, justify Pilate in using the power he had that way. Given him by God. You say that's a mystery in this world, isn't it? Why does God allow the little Pilots of this world, not to speak of the emperors like Tiberius, to use their power to the destruction of hundreds of thousands, God's own dear son included. Can you believe there's another world? What is the truth about it? Is there a king, God, sitting upon his eternal throne? How can you believe it? That the very power of these kings is given them of God. Yes, but in those next few hours, there was going to be a demonstration, a speaking of the truth about our world. Let me back off a moment and follow Pilate's thought and questioning. When our Lord said, I'm a king, you know, Pilate, yes, not in your sense, but in the real sense, I'm a king, and for this purpose was I born, and for this I came into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. And with the sarcasm of a well-trained politician, Pilate said, what is truth? The philosoph- philosophers have been arguing about it for centuries, haven't they? What is true? The truth about this universe, the truth about you and me. What's the truth about it? Well, if you want to see the truth, come with us now, as Pilate is allowed to use his God-given delegated power to put Jesus Christ upon a tree. Look, pray to him for a moment and see what the truth is. The truth is there is a God who made us. And the truth is, that when rulers with God-given power would take that power to crucify the very Son of God, then God loves them. Still! Why was it that not at that moment Michael was not sent with his thunderbolts to obliterate our planet? Because the truth is that the God who made us is loyal to his creatures. You see, in biblical language, truth is not merely accurate fact. Truth is. When old patriarch Jacob re- uh, resuming his life, spoke to God about the difficulties that were now confronting him, that as a result of all his iniquitous ways, now Esau was coming, as Jacob thought, to devour him. Jacob made his earnest prayer to God, and he said, oh God, I'm not worthy of all the truths that you have showed me. What does he mean? Well, not just all the doctrine you showed me. He means of all the promises that God had made, and God would be loyal to Jacob. That is truth. It's accurate fact. Speaking truth. They're not only truth, but loyalty, loyal behavior. That is truth. And we each one may worship the living God in our hearts this evening as we contemplate it, the truth about our world, the truth about us. Yes, there is a God Almighty. He sent his son into the world, allowed him to be crucified in that great act of rebellion, to demonstrate to us the truth. And we can know the biggest of all the things in this universe, the truth of God, and we can put it in the simplest of terms, Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Son of God shows me so. But the day of the appearing is coming. And what shall that do? Why, the first thing is it shall vindicate the Lord Jesus and the stand he took for the truth. You know, one of the lovely things about the prophet Isaiah is this, that in the so-called servant songs, God allows us, so to speak, to come right inside the very heart of the Lord Jesus, and to discern his feelings and what was going through his mind at the time when he stood so valiantly for the truth, that he hid not his face from shame and spitting, and bore the lash and bore the cross for the sake of God's truth. And what was going through his mind? Says our Lord, I hid not my face from shame and spitting. I had been like a scholar in the school of God, morning by morning he woke my ear that I might learn as one that is taught. And having been taught the truth, I stood for the truth and hid not my face and sh- from shame and all the opposition and vituperation and the blasphemies and the insults that came my way. While they were pouring it upon him and slapping his face, the Messiah in heart was saying, but he is near. He is near, that justifies me. He was not thinking of justification in which we sinners think of it. How can we be right with God? How can we be forgiven our sin and be counted righteous by God? That's how we sinners have to talk, isn't it? He never sinned. When he used the term justify, he meant what we mean in modern English by vindicate. He is near that vindicates me. Blessed Lord, as he stood valiant for the truth upon which our very salvation would depend, amidst all his suffering, inside him, in his heart, was going the affirmation, God stands near me and will vindicate me. In one sense, he was vindicated on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to convict the world of sin because they did not believe in the Lord Jesus. Marvelous vindication. So that Peter could say to the crowds on the day of Pentecost, this that you see is God's Holy Spirit poured out. Not merely poured out after Jesus ascended. It is the fact that what is happening now is that Jesus of Nazareth has received from the Father the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is pouring it out. If therefore Jesus is pouring out the Holy Spirit, who must Jesus be? Marvelous vindication of our Lord. Ah, but one day, all the wonder of it. One day shall come the appearing. And as that great light bursts onto our darkened world, it will be shown without any argument. Where the truth is. The appearing of our blessed Lord Jesus. For it is written that appearing will be staged. Who shall stage it? One um Timothy chapter six tells us that the blessed and only potentate, the king of kings and the Lord of lords, the almighty creator of the universe, how does he contain his impatience to this point? But one day he will stage the appearing of our blessed Lord Jesus and show the vindication of his son. My dear brother and sister, we're called upon to love his appearing, don't we? Does your heart not respond from its very roots? I, from time to time, to express the wonder and the majesty of it, love, use the lovely words of Francis Ridley Havocall. Oh my Savior, thou art coming, oh my king, in the thy, in thy beauty all resplendent, in thy glory all. Well, may we rejoice and sing. Coming in the opening east, herald brightness slowly swells. Coming, oh my glorious priest. Hear we not thy golden bells? And Francis has caught the imagery of scripture, hasn't he? The high priest gone in, in his robes of white, and now coming out adorned in the garments of glory and beauty, and the bells tinkling as he walks out into the open on his skirt. Hear we not the golden bells of his coming, and listen to this. All the joy to see thee reigning, thee our own beloved Lord, every tongue thy name confessing, worship, honor, glory blessing, brought to thee with one accord. Thee, our master and our friend, vindicated and enthroned, and to earth's remotest end, glorified, adorned, and owned. My brethren, we should have had to have hearts of stone, shouldn't we? Not to feel the wonder of the thing. So it shall be. Our chief and first word will not be, Lord, where is this mansion you've been talking about? Give me the key of it, do. Don't keep me waiting at the vestibule of heaven at the receptionist desk. Give me my key to my many, my room among the many. Well, you do that, my brother, my sister. But shall not our chief joy, who have loved his appearing, be to see the blessed Lord vindicated throughout the universe and throughout our world. Vindicated. What shall he do when he comes? At his appearing. Well, there are many things that our blessed Lord shall do. He shall come to take his church home to glory. Many other things you could think of, couldn't you? But what will his appearing be for? Well, he who stood for the truth in front of Pontius Pilate, will, when at his appearing, he will nail the lie. That's what he'll do. And two Thessalonians in chapter two says that explicitly, doesn't it? Two Thessalonians chapter two. For the mystery of a lawlessness doth already work. Only there is one that restraineth now until he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to naught. The old English translations say by the manifestation of his coming, but the word manifestation, as you know, is by the appearing of his coming. He shall bring to naught this lawless one. And who and what shall he be doing? Well, he shall have been spreading the lie, Josie. The lie. He's sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, exalting himself above all that is worshipped. Does that sound grotesque to you? Well, wait a moment. This is, of course, the full flowering of the original lie spoken to our human forebears in the Garden of Eden. It wasn't, was it, that Satan tempted Adam and Eve to some grotesque evil vice. What was it then? It was the notion that you can live a beautiful, enjoyable, self-contained, satisfying life, with all its aesthetic beauty, and all its intellectual challenge and enjoyment, and all its culinary delights satisfying the desires of the body and the flesh. You can live all that, by ig- and ignore God and still enjoy it to the full. That is the lie. He pointed to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. My dear, said he, don't you see how beautiful it looks? Oh, lovely. And who made it lovely? Not Satan, anyway. God made it lovely. God is no dull. Art? Well, God is its author. Color, he made it. Do you want to know his ideas on dress? Well, listen to his son. But Solomon, in all his glory, couldn't touch these beautiful flowers here in front of us, could he now? A lovely universe. But you can enjoy it, says Satan, without God. But what about God? What did God have said? Oh, we don't bother nowadays about God's word, you know. Enjoy it all without God. And she saw it was good to make one wise, intellectual, fascination, glorious. Uh, you don't find it, you don't like doing crossword puzzles? Or atomic physics or something? That isn't in your line? What do you like for intellectual challenge? I don't know what you like. Hope you like something. Goodness me. Peeling carrots all day and all eternity can be a bit boring. Hope you like some intellectual challenge. Yeah. You can have it better without God's word, said Satan. And you can find satisfaction in life. What's wrong with the appetites of the body? Nothing. They can be, uh, indulged to an extreme, of course we know that. Nothing wrong in them per se. But why then don't you go into satisfaction, said Satan? Ignore God's word. In other words, ignore the truth. That is the lie. As though this world were all there is. There's no God out there. There's no other kingdom. Multitudes. Multitudes, and never more than now, have swallowed that lie. That lie will eventually come to its harvest. If you sow a pansy seed in the ground, you mustn't complain if the end you get a full, full pansy. And if you sow an acorn, you mustn't complain or think it grotesque if one day you get a mighty oak tree. And if you sow independence of God, you mustn't be surprised if one day we'll get the harvest, a worldwide political figure who will bring peace and safety, so that all the nations rejoice and say peace and safety, and build a world not only without God, but in the end anti-God, and man sets himself up as God. Don't say it can't be done. If you haven't read your philosopher Feuerbach, well, don't read him then. But Feuerbach was one of those philosophers that inspired Karl Marx. Feuerbach's philosophy was this, that when we say that, uh, God is love, we're not saying there's a God out there. All we're saying is that human love is an absolute, and that's what we call God. If you say God will save us, pray, said Feuerbach, notice what you're saying. You're not saying there's a God out there that can save you. God is simply the label you put upon the human race as a whole. If you say God will save us, you mean the human race will save us. Of course, each individual man and woman is weak. We need a savior. But the whole human race, mankind, spelt with a big M, that can save. For man, said Feuerbach. Man is God. Man's God is man. We know what it led to under Marxism, don't we? And we know what it cost our fellow believers to stand for the truth in those many countries. It's coming again, my brothers, my sisters. The end of this age will arrive at the point of the deification of man. He won't be a grotesque monster. Anybody who objects will see the oldest, curious dinosaur of a survival from a pre-scientific age, positively anti-social. Now man has solved his problems. And as the prophecy of Daniel eight says, he shall cast down truth to the ground. For what he will not tolerate is anybody who dares to get up and say there's a power beyond him. There is a God in heaven. Don't say it is grotesque. We've had enough of totalin- totalitarian dictators in this last century to show how real a thing it is. This is where the age is moving to. Oh, what a lovely thing it will be. When the Lord Jesus appears, and by his appearing, by that very act, will expose the falsity of it and destroy the man of sin. How it is, what then does it mean for us to love his appearing? Yes, it will mean, surely, our heart's devotion, as we ponder what our blessed Lord Jesus suffered for us in his witness to the truth. What will it mean on our part to love his appearing? Well, you heard Paul, did you not? Writing to Timothy. And here he says, I charge you in the sight of God and of Christ Jesus, who shall judge the quick and the dead, and by his appearing, his kingdom. He shall judge us. You say he'll judge the world, he won't judge us, will he? Well, listen to the end of the paragraph. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day, and not only to me, but also to all them that have loved his appearing. Rewards there will be, but it will be a righteous judge, and the crown will be given. It is said to be a crown of righteousness. He will award us righteously, justly, according to the way we have stood loyally for him and for the truth. You would love his appearing, Timothy? Then what must you do, Timothy? Preach, says Paul. Preach. You say, why the emphasis on that particular activity? Because the thing at issue is the truth. That's why. That in this context is the interest of the whole universe. We stand to witness to him who stood before Pontius Pilate, witnessing for the truth, and died on Calvary's cross in consequence. To love his appearing is to stand with him for the truth. And it will mean, my dear senior brothers and sisters, and you middle-aged ones, and for all I know a lot of our younger ones as well, it will mean preaching. You don't have to do it all from a pulpit. Will bear the words of a curmudgeonly old man. But then I grew up old. I grew old in Ireland. I wasn't old when I came. But do preach the word. Do not see what the issue is. This is the issue. You're loving his appearing, are you? Then you're looking for the vindication of him who witnessed before Pontius Pilate the good confession about the truth. And if you love him, you will be standing for the truth and disseminating the truth. Preach it in season and out of season, when you've got opportunity and when you haven't. Why? For the time will come, he says, you'll see, when they will not endure the sound doctrine, but having itching ears will heap to themselves teachers after their own lasts, and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside unto fables, myths. Oh, my dear brethren. The time will come, but hasn't it come? We've had debates enough on Radio Four, let alone all the other media of recent times, of how we should treat the fundamental truths. Do we believe in creation? Do we believe in the resurrection? Do we believe in the second coming. Now, many of the leading theologians have said, but you see, not literally, but they are myths. In the technical sense of the term, but myths, not historical events. The virgin birth is merely a story made up by the church to make the point that Jesus is somehow special. The resurrection of Jesus, well, it didn't literally happen. It's a story made up by the church. It tells you that, uh, if you stand for the truth in the end, well, if you get beaten down, well, uh, truth will somehow prevail in the end. A myth, not a fact. Christianity? Oh, but we wouldn't like to say now, would we, that we have the truth. Well, we used to. We used to unashamedly announce him who said, I am the truth. No man cometh to the Father but by me. But not now. Archbishop, chief of the Muslims, plus the Buddhists, plus Uncle Tom Copley and all, and we all have something to contribute to finding the truth. Don't you dare say that yours is the only truth. That could well soon be an offense against the state, even in England. In order to keep people from fighting each other, how clever the devil is, isn't he? He gets Christians so departing from the commands of Christ that they take to the sword and the bomb and the semtex and fight out their dis- disbel- their their dis- disputes in Christian doctrine by the sword, till the whole thing becomes the scandal it has been. And then Satan says, well, you know, I thought you Christians were for peace. You are, aren't you? Yes, of course we are. Well, then you'll see, do you know what has caused all this fighting? It's the doctrine. Really? Yes. So get rid of the doctrine, and you'll get peace, won't you? And you'll all be nice and live happily ever after. What a cunning tactic of the enemy it is, isn't it? We shall be called upon, my brethren, to stand for the truth. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. I think I would like to nudge Paul and say that Paul, do you know, my dear, of course you're a first century man, aren't you? And you are notorious for having preached long sermons. You preached in one place, didn't you, Paul, till midnight, and a chap fell down out of the window and broke his neck. Hm. We, we use it as a joke now, Paul. Forgive us, you know, but we do because we see things in a different light, you know, today. It's not that people won't endure it. I fear that in many circumstances they can't endure it. You say, what do you mean? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I speak of some kind of an educ- as a some kind of an educationalist, but there has been a colossal wrong perpetrated on our young people in schools in this last thirty years or forty. In science, brilliant. In the arts, criminality. As children have been brought up to believe that they shouldn't be taught to spell, that they shouldn't be taught to analyze a piece of English or any other language into its logical thought flow. They can't be expected to listen too long, can they? Their attention span is what? Well, it used to be said it was ten minutes. The last broadcast I heard was two and a half. You say, but they're young folks. Oh, yes, I know. Do you know in Paul's day and before, the Greeks, the ordinary Greeks, would sit in a theatre on hard stone seats all day long and listen to three whole tragedies played out on the stage. There was no scenery, of course. There were no pictures, just words. Of some of the profoundest drama ever written. Three plays, each after the other, plus a fourth one, a satire play. And nobody said then, but they can't take it. What's happened? What kind of thing have we done to the minds of young people that now, all in genuineness, they can't stretch their attention span beyond five minutes? If you were as old as I am, but then you will be one day. But if you're as old as I am, you'll remember the times when even on BBC, the church service had a sermon and it lasted Fifteen whole minutes. Not now, of course. A one and a half minute bit of speaking, then some music. Another two minutes bit of speaking, then some music. Why's that? Difficult to get a thought flow too well there. A- a- another two minutes and some more music. Why? I'll tell you, because the young people's attention span. Oh la. I have a friend who's a lecturer in university somewhere. You know what he does? He makes his students attend to what he's saying by offering them every now and again a Mars bar if they can answer a question. I say, where has education come to? There was a learned discussion the other night on BBC Four about the lecturers who are little having little, uh, uh, multiple choice questions on a li- a little device, you see, and students, that's to keep them awake, he said. How nice, what students? Young men and young women that are going to be leaders in society. What have we done to their brains? Veins. And they can't listen to Holy Scripture being preached too long, because poor young things, they can't take it in. It's the preacher's fault very often, of course, but my brothers, there has been a criminal act perpetrated on the brains. What a field it is for the sowing of that confusion of religions that is now becoming popular, and the letting go of the truth. And if God leaves us to a time when there shall be persecution for standing for the truth. Oh, God help us if by that time we haven't got a grasp of the faith. Yes? For the Lord is coming. And we have to face him. And the righteous judge, at his appearance, will award his crowns accordingly as we have kept his commandment loyally to him. I close with a story. King David in middle life, I suspect, grew portly, like many of us have had that tendency. But not only portly, somewhat self-indulgent. It is the danger of the middle-aged. They fought their battles, haven't they, in life? Now there's come to their turn to rest the feet up. Not too much hard study anymore. Tired at the end of a day, aren't they? Be easier in prison, wouldn't it, when you hadn't other things to distract you? Anyway, beside the point. He grew, you know, and the people got discontent with him, we'll say. And there arose a son of his by the name of Absalom. I have to say this about Absalom. He was, what is the word? Cool now, I think. He was cool. Oh, hair. You should have seen the hairstyle. Oh, that film star. Beautiful it was, you'll see. Mm-hmm. Moreover, he was really down to earth, practical. He stood for justice. Mark that he did. You know, he pointed out the king was getting old and feeble, and he didn't care for anybody, and all the wrong things that were being done in the kingdom. If I were king, he said, I'd see that, uh, justice were done. Mm. He used to go up to the people as he stood by the court door as the prince with his chariots. Oh, he got some chariots. Can't stop to tell you about them. They were superb jaguars, and I don't know what they were, you'll see, but anyway, he was that, you'll see. And he would go up to the people waiting for the judge to come, you'll see, and said, you know, yeah, yeah, what, what, what is your case? Whatever the man said, he said, that's a very good case. You can't say that to everybody, can you? But he did. Fortunately, the others didn't overhear him, you see. Yours is a very good case. Now, if only I were a king, you'll see, I'd see you got justice. Mm. And then you take the man by the hand and kiss him. Pa. Don't know what you'd think if you went to the court downtown and the judge was now going to ascend the bench, came out and kissed all the defendants. But he stood for justice. And hundreds of them fell for him. And he led the rebellion against the king. And then the king came back. He appeared again. And the rebel was slain. But then there were a lot of questions asked. They had to be, didn't they? And there were a lot of red faces. Why did his own countrymen up in Hebron, David's own countrymen and relatives, side with the rebel? There were some difficult moments when David came back out of exile to be their manifest king. And the Lord is going to appear. You'll keep the commandment, Timothy, won't you? Said Paul. Without compromise. Oh, Timothy, in view of the coming lie that shall prevail. Preach, Timothy. See that all in the church are rigorously taught the faith. Fight the good fight of the faith. For in the final battle, it will be truth that is at stake. Fight the good fight of faith. Keep the commandment without compromise, so that when the Lord appears as the righteous judge, you will be able to say, I have finished my course. I have kept and propagated the faith in loyalty to the Lord, and the righteous judge shall then give us the crown of righteousness, that we've been straight down the line for him and his truth. The Lord bless our evening meditations for his name's sake.