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We began on, on, on Friday evening with the verse which, by your leave now, I repeat in your hearing, Hebrews chapter seven verse nineteen, The bringing in of a better hope by which we draw near to God. And in these last few moments, I want just to call your attention once more to the remaining occurrences of that idea in the Epistle to the Hebrews. We mentioned them, talked a little about them indeed on Friday. I just want to mention them again, say one or two more things about them, and then leave it there.
Should not be able to expound them in the detail of their context as they deserve to be expounded. You must forgive, therefore, the arbitrariness of some of the things that I shall, uh, uh, say. But now, for time's sake, uh, and because I do want to hear your contributions, my remarks will be brief. Let's read together the, uh, remaining occurrences of this idea of something better. Chapter ten and verse thirty four. For you both had compassion on them that were in bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye yourselves have a better possession and an abiding one.
Chapter eleven, verse fifteen: And if indeed they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return, but now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly. Wherefore, God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Chapter 11, verse twenty four, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel.
Now, in our thinking this weekend, we've concentrated on the fact that we have a better high priest than the Jews did in their temple at Jerusalem. Indeed, we have a better high priest, we have a better place in which to worship God, the more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, the most holy place in the heavens. And we be- have a better covenant that's founded on better promises. We come to God, we come on better conditions. And then we rejoice in the sacrifice of Christ. The heavenly things themselves are cleansed with better sacrifices than ever Israel knew.
Now let's think of these other better things. First of all, a better possession. That is talking about our personal possessions. Better possession, in contrast to our own material possessions. In chapter eleven, a better country. Not now our own personal goods and chattels, but our native city, our native country, our culture. And in Christ we have a better country, that is, a heavenly.
Chapter eleven, verse thirty five has a startling concept. It talks not only of a resurrection, but of a better resurrection. And finally, as we saw on Friday, twelve twenty four, the better message, the blood of Christ that speaketh better than that of Abel. We have a better message for the world. And it's around those ideas that I want to say a few words. We were talking last night, especially in the second part of our session, about the great danger that beset some of the Jews who had heard the gospel, who had been illuminated, saw that Jesus was the Christ, saw that his sacrifice was the one sacrifice, saw the truth of salvation, but then were under pressure and were in danger of going back.
And here at the end of chapter ten, the writer, uh, spells out what some of the pressures were that were on them. They were, uh, when they first made their profession of being Christians, subjected to a great conflict of sufferings, persecution of one kind and another, and many of them were imprisoned, and many of them lost their personal possessions. I've often wondered to myself, would I be a Christian now if, when the gospel first came to me, the decision as to whether I should accept it or not would have involved me in this kind of thing.
For some people, it still does, doesn't it? It did, of course, notably for Saul of Tarsus. When the light from heaven shone on him and the Savior talked to him, then it became evident to Saul of Tarsus that salvation was not by his works, by his merit, but was a complete gift. You didn't have to pay anything for it. And in that split second, it became evident to him that salvation would cost him everything he had. For now, to let go his Judaism, his merit, his Phariseeism, and all the righteousness in which he had excelled, uh, by keeping the law, and trust only to Christ.
But to take his stand with the Jesus whom the nation had crucified. Well, he saw at once that he would lose everything. If he was married, he lost his wife, of course. He lost his status in Judaism. He very nearly lost his life on several occasions. And he had to decide then, then. God is more merciful with some of us, isn't it? He let us find the Savior before he began to face us with the challenge of sacrifice for the Lord. But our Lord's words come ringing through, don't they?
They are repeated here, do you see, in verse thirty eight and thirty nine. My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw shrink back unto perdition, but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul. Two people, two groups of people, the believers and those who shrink back. Ah. And the issue at stake? The saving or the losing of the soul. And here come echoing the words of the Lord Jesus that he spoke in this context while he was here on earth, how that he must go to Jerusalem and be rejected by the authorities and be crucified and slain.
And he said, you see, whosoever will keep his soul, his life, shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall keep it. What shall it profit to man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul, his own life? And so here now come echoing his words. We either take our stand as believers and pay the price, whatever that price turns out to be, whenever the Lord allows us to have to face it. Or we say, no, it's too much, and go back and save our lives in this world.
But of course, without the Savior, we are lost. Now that for us may be commonplace. We've heard it for a long time, but you try and imagine, if you can, how this would appeal to a Jew. Jews were brought up in the Old Testament to believe that if they obeyed the law of God, God would bless them with sheep and oxen and houses and farms and prosperity. Do you see? If they obeyed, for God was teaching them like children, like you do your children. Do that for mommy and you'll get the chocolate. Do you see?
It isn't the best method of education, perhaps some people think, but anyway, has been known that some mothers in times of stress have used it, you see. Yeah, and the child gets the idea called obedience is a jolly good thing. You get chocolate. Yes. And God, in his mercy, when the race was young, taught his people, obey and I shall bless you. And in those days, the blessings were good homes and farms and crops and things, yes. Then you read, as you get on in the Old Testament, how things began to change a bit. Ah. The psalmist in the book of Job tells you that, uh, they looked around sometimes and saw that it was the righteous that suffered, and the, the old rogues got away with it and got beautiful big Mercedes Benzes.
And he said, how on earth is this? Ah, that was because, and then they had to learn that this world is a fallen place, you see. And actually, in this ungodly world, God cannot reward good immediately, always. And at the same time, when somebody does something wrong, immediately punish him. Why not? Well, because all God would get by that's a lot of cupboard lovers. Here's a bit of gold. And I like gold. And if nobody were around, I might be tempted to pocket the same.
Of course, I should use a lot of it for a good cause, but I just say I pocket this bit of gold. Ah, but I happen to know that the gold is wired up to a very powerful electricity, uh, electrical voltage, and the moment I touched it, I should be dead. Well, I wouldn't take the gold. And you would be wrong to conclude that Gooding is very moral man. He doesn't pinch that gold. No, the reason I don't pinch is not because I'm moral, because I know that pinching that would be lethal. Oh, so now that you can't have it like that, and God himself has got to allow it that some people cheat and get away with it.
And some people are good and don't appear to get rewarded. Hasn't he? So that now, as we grow up, our decisions are real moral decisions. Ah, so the Jews said, yes, you read the Old Testament, ah yes, well, this world is an ungodly place, you see, and we have to suffer the moment. One day the Messiah is coming. And when the Messiah comes, he's going to put it all right. And the good will be rewarded, and the evil will be punished. And then the Lord Jesus came, and Peter said, he's the Messiah. And John James said, ah, he's the Messiah.
And being good businessmen, they thought they'd get in. No, they said, you know, when you sit on your throne, as you're going to, of course, now shortly, um, um, we'd like to be on the right hand and on the left. And they thought that now presently Jesus Christ was going up to Jerusalem, and he'd sit on a big throne, and all the wicked would be punished, and all the good would be rewarded. Call the chariots they would drive, but that's beside point. It was only a small thing. They would be really triumphant and reigning. And instead of that, the Messiah was crucified. Well, then he was raised from the dead, and the gospel went out, and lots of these Jews, some of them any rate, some thousands of them, came to trust the Messiah, and they said, well, there's a Messiah, you see, and now we've trusted him, and surely we shall be the ones that are blessed and successful and triumphant.
And found that instead of that, the nation continued in its rejection of Jesus and following the Messiah, if you please, meant that you suffered more than you did before you were converted. And you can understand how some of them said, well, that's how we, we thought that the Lord was coming only a little while now, and of course trusting him, and he's the Messiah, isn't he, that, uh, you see, and now we're worse off than we were before. Oh yes, we can't stick this. And they were tempted to go back, some of them.
We've got to be very careful how we preach the gospel these days, haven't we? There are folks around that say that if you're a Christian, you will succeed in business definitely. God wants you to have the biggest Mercedes-Benz and the best houses. You only have to act by faith, and God will bless you. There's a very different message we find here. Persecution, prison, loss of your goods. What would sustain them? Knowing you took it joyfully, knowing that you have a better possession and an abiding one.
And so as we go from this weekend, we shall need the Lord to write that on our hearts and persuade us of that, can't we? That we do have a better possession. Mm-hmm. May the Lord do it for us, to show us what this possession is, whether he allows us comfortable homes and material goods to use for his glory, or whether he challenges us by asking us to surrender them. They're his anyway, but not yet the time of his reigning. Our Lord is rejected by this world.
At Corinth, so we're told by Paul, the Corinthians got a very curious thing into their heads, and Paul had to rebuke them. He says, gentlemen, you have reigned as kings without us. You are triumphant, you're reigning. But at the moment we are the oskaron of the earth, he says. Would to God you did reign, because then we should reign with you. Actually, the time for reigning hasn't come. The time for reigning will be when the Lord Jesus returns, then we shall reign with Christ. But now is the time for suffering with Christ, not for reigning with Christ now.
And the Corinthians had got it into their heads that now is the time for reigning, while the apostle that brought them to Christ was suffering all kinds of privations and persecutions. No, no, not now the time for reigning, now the time for suffering. And the question is, what are we going to do? It's possible to gain the whole world and lose your own life, but as believers, where is our treasure? Suffering for Christ now means treasure then. God give us then this, this sense in our hearts of the better possession.
I suspect when the, uh, some of the, uh, Jewish Christians heard this, it seemed a little thin gruel. We come to believe in the Messiah, but can't we have something substantial? Do you see? You keep telling us we've got to live by faith, but why can't we have something real? Why should we now be called upon to live by faith? And of course, the writer, as you know, now comes in with chapter eleven and points out that all the great worthies down the Old Testament days have always been required to live by faith. We haven't got the time to begin to think about it.
But let's come, uh, to the verse sixteen where he's talking about Abram, the great ancestor of the race, who the greatest example of living by faith other than Christ. And he sets us an example for another thing. Not merely the willingness, if the Lord shall show us, to give up possessions here, knowing that we have an eternal and better possession, but the willingness to give up city and country. Do you see, because we have a better country, that is a heavenly.
Well, now, of course, that's bad enough to ask us to do it, but you ask a Jew to do it. I've been brought up, there was no country like Israel, and no city on earth like Jerusalem. Surely Jerusalem was the city of the great king. So what now? Oh, there were some who held it in their heads that, uh, well, of course now Jesus, uh, was risen and glorified, and the gospel would go out, and the Gentiles would all come and become Jews, and Jerusalem would be their headquarters. And when they discovered that, no, that wasn't going to be like that, God was going to allow Jerusalem City to be destroyed anyway and overrun by the Gentiles.
And trust in Messiah would mean their being willing to let go Jerusalem. That was a bitter pill to take, wasn't it? Mm. And it raises a very big question. What does call God call upon us as Christians to do in relation to our native country and culture. Well, these folks, it's clear what they were required to do. And you'll see, uh, Abram is cited to them as an example, the very founder of their race.
God called him out of his kindred and out of his country, and he became a pilgrim in this world, not having any permanent city anywhere. Because he had a better country and an abiding city. And the writer then brings home the exhortation in the last verses of chapter thirteen, doesn't he? Verse twelve, thirteen, and fourteen: wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate, that is, outside the gate of Jerusalem city.
Let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp. What does that mean? Well, in Jewish rabbinical thought, Jerusalem City was the counterpart of the camp of Israel in the desert. When they were in the wilderness, they had the tabernacle, and all around it the Israelites were encamped. And so the Jews came to think upon Jerusalem City. There was the temple in the middle, and there was the city of Jerusalem around it, and Jerusalem was the camp with the dwelling place of God in the middle. So camp was one of the terms that they used.
And they thought of Jerusalem like that as a very special holy city, therefore it was the camp surrounding the very dwelling place of God. Now the writer is pointing out to them that when Jesus Christ died for us, they threw him out of that city. He suffered outside the gate. Let us therefore go forth to him, he says, bearing his reproach. Go forth not out- merely outside the gate of the city, but outside the camp. You can see the religious and cultural connotations, can't you? Why should we do that? For here we have no abiding city, but we seek one to come.
You know, uh, you are aware of it, of course, I don't have to tell you that we English have been very stupid in many things. Not least in this, that sometimes when we've gone abroad as missionaries, as well as the gospel, we've stuck on English culture. Shouldn't, should we? And some of us have been very bad, and we're stuck on English politics. Mm. And when I go to Spain, even to this day, sometimes when the Spaniards get to know you and know your English, they'll say, what about the rock? And I say, well, I don't mind who owns the rock.
I give it to you tomorrow if you want it. Why should I dispute with them political things about the rock? I don't have a continuing city here, do you? We're called like Abraham to leave it. For the gospel's sake. And for the gospel's sake, let me be prepared to say farewell to my culture and my politics and my city, so as I can take the gospel to the other chap, yes. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come, and all the wonder of that great city to which we move, to which every believer belongs, even the Spaniards belong, you know, they're believers.
They belong to it equally as I, and I don't have precedence over them. It's their city as well as mine, that great eternal city, and the Bible tells us that when one day we walk round it and God shows us the glories of that city and says, what do you think of it then? He will not be ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared for us a city. Oh, what should I bother about London for when I got a city like that? Yes. So now an abiding possession, that's my personal goods. An abiding city. This is nation, politics, and culture, isn't it?
Now we're talking about a better resurrection. Some people interpret this as though it meant that those that have a better resurrection are merely those that are saved, and those that have not such a good resurrection are those that are lost. Well, I suppose that's one way of looking at it, but to to to rise, uh, and not make heaven to be lost. Well, dear me, that's not just an inferior resurrection, is it? Anyway, the fact is indicated in scripture. All believers, of course, shall be taken when the Lord comes. But some are going to have a more abundant entrance into that eternal kingdom, aren't they?
Than others. Every believer shall be in the heavenly city because our entry to that city is by the blood of the Lamb. Every believer, as I hold it, eternally secure. But in that city, differing rewards according to our faithfulness. Differing positions and attainments of glory according to how we have or have not progressed here in the life of holiness. And if that city is real to us, we shall desire not merely to be sure of getting in, we we do need to be sure of getting in through faith in Christ, through his blood.
But if that city becomes real to us, we shall say, yes, and I want, by God's grace, the maximum possibility when I arrive there. The maximum reward. An abundant entrance into that eternal city. A better resurrection. All of us who trust the Savior, when we rise to meet him, we shall be like him. Thank the Lord. What there is of us. And some will have progressed a long way, won't they?
And have an abundant entrance. And some will be saved. That so as by fire. A better resurrection. And finally, a better message. You can imagine these Christians, can't you, these early Christians, they got Jewish blood in their veins, and to see their homes ravaged and furniture stolen and their loved ones put in prison by evil men. Enough to make a blood boil, isn't it?
And call down vengeance from heaven. I have to confess, when I go to the, uh, I'm behind the iron curtain, and I haven't gone far, and I've only gone to the easy parts. So say, I, I, I get the feeling I should explode if I kept there too long. She will say, when you see the injustice. Ah. Now, in Old Testament days, when in time of the Maccabees... when the Jews were persecuted, eventually they raised an army under the Maccabees, and they fought their way to freedom. And they recaptured the temple and the city, and they cleansed the temple.
And then they went around, uh, and anybody that wasn't circumcised, they gave them a chance. And if they didn't, they just cut their heads off. That's one way of solving it, isn't it? And they felt they were executing the, the justice of God and promoting true religion, anyway. Our Lord was going on one of his journeys through Palestine at one stage, and he sent two apostles in front of him to find a night's lodging, and they went into a village of the Samarit and, and, and, and knocked on the door and said, have you got some rooms? Yes, they said, I've got some rooms here, but who are you? Oh, you're pilgrims going up to Jerusalem. Wham from the door.
In the fa- in our Lord's face. Said John and James, Master, would you that we call down fire from heaven and consume them? Mm. That someone should insult their Lord was insufferable. Our Lord had to rebuke them. He said, you don't know what spirit you're of. I came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. Wasn't that a mercy? He went on to Calvary, he died at the cross, rose again, went back to glory, and a few years later, one of his servants called Philip went to Samaria. And multitudes of the Samaritans found the Savior and got converted. Good job John hadn't burned them up too soon, wasn't he?
If you see what I mean. Ha. So now, says the writer, finally you'll come to this glorious city already, a member of it, in fellowship with God and with his people. Now consider how wonderful your message is. We've come to the blood of Jesus that speaks better than that of Abel. When Cain over a religious difference, murdered Abel. Abel's blood cried from the ground for vengeance. We have a blood of Christ. It speaks better things than that of Abel's. A savior who prayed God's mercy on his very enemies.
Oh God, fill our hearts with the wonder of that better message, that our voice may be loud and clear in our community as to what the gospel really is and really involves. And now you are, as usual, so wonderfully patient, and there I cease. What I've tried to do this weekend, amongst all the many details, is to fasten on our hearts, by God's good grace and help, this glorious notion that in Christ we do really have something that is far better.
But I'm all ears now to hear what you have to say. We just have nine minutes, so. Okay, I'm gonna get in fast. Right, okay, Stephen. Uh, Professor Gooding, you've created a dilemma for me. You know, I, I understand that, that in order to follow Christ, we must be prepared to give up our cultural identity, our national identity, our political viewpoint. Mm. On the other hand, we also have to work out our Christianity in a practical aspect. Yeah, we do, don't we? Yeah, and I find it difficult to see how I can, you know, sort of give up a political identity. Oh. At the same time, I feel like, you know, as a Christian, how can I help others without trying to influence political systems on a local, national, international level?
Oh. Well, could we begin, uh, by, um, taking the easier case. Uh, go back into the Old Testament, and this is before the times of our Lord, do you see? And the special conditions that result from our Lord and his coming and his claims and his crucifixion. Do you see? When the Jews were banished from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, there were some false prophets that said to the Jews, look, well, in the first place, they said God will never let you, uh, be chucked out of Jerusalem. When it happened, they said, oh, never mind, you'll be back in two years.
Do you see? So maintain your identity, uh, maintain your political aspirations, and you'll be back in Jerusalem in, in two years. Nonsense, said Jeremiah. You're going to be there for seventy years at least. What you are now to do is to seek the peace and prosperity of the nation that you are in. It's not your nation. But seek its peace and prosperity. Don't give up your hopes of the coming Messiah and what God is going to do for Israel in the future, but um, um, for the meantime now, uh, uh, uh, uh, seek the peace and prosperity of the nation you're in. So Daniel did that, didn't he? The great and famous prophet Daniel, and became a civil servant, which is sometimes, uh, a very good occupation to be in.
Uh, and he became a very eminent civil servant, first under the Babylonians and then under the Persians, and sought the peace, much to the disgust of some of his fellow Jews. Who thought he ought to be Zionist. Hmm. So I presume, yeah, as, uh, as, as good, uh, citizens, we should seek the good of whatever country we're in. And how you interpret that, uh, well, surely the Lord leaves a lot of that to our conscience. We are to seek it. But that's a very different thing, isn't it?
From, uh, if you'd ask Daniel, uh, do you say, or if you would ask Paul, it's a very different thing from being, uh, uh, uh, mixing up your gospel with your politics. And if, uh, now we come to our, our Christian, um, commission, go into all the world and preach the gospel. Well, you think of the missionaries. I cited a tiny little case of going to Spain, but you think of other cases. When I go to East Europe, I don't go as anti-communist. I don't know about you. I go with the gospel.
What their politics are is not my business. And I want to be in the position where if, uh, one of these days the authorities get hold of me and and accuse me of spreading America, American political outlooks, I can say, no, gentlemen, I do no such thing. Mm-hmm. And the great, uh, uh, great missionaries, you'll see, of the New Testament times, as you will observe, uh, uh, that that is their attitude. Yeah. So mainly from a practical point of view, as well, I'm saying, but come back at me, please, don't let me keep talking.
I shall do what Jackie says. I shall be talking forever if you don't stop me. Right. Yeah, I fully understand what you're, uh, saying. I appreciate your, uh, requirement to remain apolitical when you are moving through the Eastern Bloc, what have you. On top of that, I also see a very clear need to keep a strict separation between church and state Mm. to bring the gospel into politics. Oh, surely, surely. But if I am to try and work for the betterment of the country I'm in, Mm. you know, it's very difficult to do that unless you become a member of a political party. I see. Well, I think there, uh, our Lord, uh, leads it to our conscience, what we do. Mm-hmm. We're not to make rules and regulations for each other.
I can cite you because I've all the authority of scripture to do it now. Uh, when you've done that, you must, if I might cite the scripture, therefore let us come forth to him without the camp and without the gate. That you'll have to do. And what that means in your case, as I say, that's between us and the Lord, isn't it? Well, maybe sometime in the future I need more advice, I'll come back to you. You see, all I'm saying is now that whatever those words mean, and we must first understand them in their historical setting, they surely apply.
And for the reason that is given, for we do not have here an abiding city. All I want to suggest to you is that that does not mean simply, well, this world, you know, is only temporary. That is true. This world, the whole thing is only temporary. Even Gorbachev hasn't an abiding city. Do you see? Of course, uh, the whole world is temporary. One day it's going up in smoke. I don't think that's what this verse is saying. It's Paul is commenting on Abraham. God called him out of his native city and country. And the writer says, look, and all his life long he had opportunity to go back if he, if he, if he wanted to, he could have gone back to Ur of Chaldees.
He didn't. Why not? Because he had this eternal city. And we're in that kind of situation. We don't have an abiding city. I don't think that means that London, one of these days, is going up when the world goes up in smoke. The believer does not have an abiding city here. Well, I just leave that for your, you know, your pondering, whether you might decide I'm wrong. You might say that all that means is that this world is temporary. I suggest it means more than that. Abram, you see, because he was a pilgrim, didn't have a permanent city.
He could have had, but he didn't. Yeah. Sorry. Uh, you mentioned the term a better resurrection. Yeah. Right? And it seems that if a person desires a better resurrection, you know, in other words, wants a better place, Yeah. it seems that, could their motivation be flawed? Because Jesus says those who want to be first will be last. I know that's sounds stupid, but c- you know, could you have a flawed motivation in desiring a better resurrection? Woohoo. Ah, um, uh, yes, I, our Lord did say, uh, uh, those, uh, there are those that are first that shall be last.
Uh, when that is applied to the question of rewards, the story is of the men that were hired different times of the day. And in this way, the first shall be last. The men that only worked an hour got as much as those that had worked the whole day long. Why? Well, in that instance, it wasn't their fault that they hadn't worked. Nobody had employed them. And so the master allowed himself to be good and give them more than there was just. Yes? Wasn't their fault. And you see, you can apply that to the Christian life. I get converted at the age of ten, and I spend about thirty years generally twizzling my thumbs, and then I grow mad keen for the Lord, and I work, uh, uh, uh, for forty years, you see, and go home to glory at eighty.
Forty years of service for the Lord under my belt. I'll get a big reward, can't I? And here's a chap, he didn't hear the gospel till he was fifty. Wasn't his fault, never heard it. First time he heard it, got converted. He went flat out for the Lord for five years and went home to glory with a cancer at fifty-five. Well, what's he going to get as a reward? He only had five years of service. If he gets strict justice, I shall get forty years reward, and he'll only, he'll only get five. No, says the Lord, sometimes the last will be first, and the Lord will reserve himself the right to give us more than we deserve. In that sense, says Matthew twenty, the first should be last and the last first.
Ah, but now there's another question, isn't there? If you say my motive would be flawed in wanting the chief place, well, it could be, like John and James, who wanted the right and the left for very flawed and personal and selfish motives. But the correction of that is to see two things, that one, there is a sense in which reward is God's sovereign thing. We don't all start off with equal abilities to start with, and the abilities we have are by God's sovereign choice. And position in the Lord's kingdom will in part be according to God's sovereign choice anyway. But there's another thing. If I think I want reward in order that I can be the big chief sitting on a big throne and having lots of flunkies around, eternity, you know, getting out my rolls, my eternal rolls, or Mercedes-Benz, just what I wanted, and waiting on me hand and foot because I am one of the chiefs.
Then, of course, it's not my motivation is wrong, it's about my whole concept of what the reward is going to be. The reward is more service. And it's a good advice. If you don't want to work in heaven, don't work down here. Don't work for the Lord down here if you don't want to work in heaven. Because the reward is that if you've used ten talents well, you'll get whole ten cities to look after. You think of the increased responsibility, you'll have to serve more. Forgive my using such a crude thing, but who is the bigger, the pig that stands in his sty gobbling and shouting and demanding to be fed and making a hideous noise until the poor farmer comes along and empties the swill into the basin and feeds the pig.
And the pig just stands there and he's fed and waited on and attended. And the farmer comes and marks out his stye. And the vet comes and heals him when he's ill. Now, who are the, who's the bigger? We'll say the farmer is. This is the one that serves as the bigger, isn't it? And in glory, the biggest one is not the one who is served by the most people, but the other way around. The biggest one is the one who stoops lowest and serves the most. And if you're keen on serving folks like that, well, by my good brother, uh, carry on with the motivation.
That's what's going to make heaven heaven.
