Gooding, David: 4 - The Fourth Journey to Jerusalem

So then what I've been trying to do today, gentlemen, is to draw out the major lines of thought, or some of the major lines of thought, that link, uh, the end of chapter, uh, that link chapter eleven and twelve, and then again the story of the arrest, crucifixion of Christ in chapters eighteen and nineteen. In this final thing, I come back to chapter twelve to comment on the second half of that chapter that we haven't considered today. We considered the first bit in which our Lord came to Jerusalem. They made a supper, uh, first at Bethany, and then he came riding on the donkey in Jerusalem as Jerusalem's king. And then how there came certain Greeks, presumably ethnic Greeks, wanting to see Jesus, which led our Lord to say, the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Very soon now, so to speak, in time, would the gospel go out to the whole world, not merely to Jews. And Greeks would come along with Jews and put their faith in him. But with the coming of the Greeks, the hour come for him to be glorified, and now he faces what must be done. His analogy, a grain of wheat, except it fall into the earth and die, it abides alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit. He that loveth his life loses it, and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also my servant shall be. If any man serve me, him will my father honor. He is facing the fact that the cost of this victory will be his death. And confesses in verse twenty seven, now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. That's not a question, it's a statement. But then it's a- added at once, but for this cause I came to this hour. If now he doesn't go through with the experiences of this hour, that is with his arrest, crucifixion, and then resurrection. Then the whole purpose of his coming is frustrated. He therefore says, Father, glorify their name. And the voice came and says, I glorified it and will glorify it again. The crowd thought it thundered. Some said an angel spoke to him. Christ answered and said, this voice has not come for my sake, but for your sakes. To show the crowd that Christ was in touch with the Father and the Father with him. As he now faces his being lifted up. His being lifted up is not just an unpleasant necessity that will lead on to his glorification. It is a part of his glorification, gentlemen. And you responded to my question in an earlier session. That is so in your own estimation. It's not that Jesus was glorified, and therefore I believe in him. It runs with you that it Jesus died for me, and that is the glory in it. And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men to him. That is the very means of his doing it. So far from then the Pharisees, with their intention and Caiaphas leading them, intention to put him to death, to stop people believing in him. His being lifted up and crucified would be the means of people believing in him. Notice, therefore, what he says. Now is the judgment of this world. Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. This is to be the victory over the prince of this world. That phrase he goes on to enlarge upon in chapter sixteen. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world co- come. The Holy Spirit, when he is come, will convict the world of sin. What do you mean by sin? Because they go on drugs too much or get drunk too much. No, no, no. Convict the world of sin because they believe not. This is the cardinal sin. The sin of unbelief. Of course, it was a sin in the Garden of Eden, was it not? The sin of unbelief. You'll say. The sin of unbelief in refusing to believe in Christ. Christ's death and now resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin because they believe not on me, of, uh, righteousness because I go to the Father. Again, that doesn't mean that now we can have a perfect righteousness given us by God through the death of Christ. It means what Isaiah would mean. Or the Messiah speaking through Isaiah of s- of righteousness because I go to the Father. His resurrection and ascension would demonstrate that Jesus was right, and they who condemned him were wrong, of course. You listen to Peter, he knows his stuff by this time, in the Acts of the Apostles, when Christ had risen and had spent on and off forty days with them. And here's Peter going out to the crowd and to the Sanhedrin. You crucified Christ, your Messiah, says he. Wow. And God, the very Christ whom you crucified, he has raised. And the f- the Sadducee and high priest gnashed their teeth. That was the message. This is what Christ is saying. When the Holy Spirit will come, he will convict the world of sin because they didn't believe, and convict them of righteousness because I go to the Father. I am right. The coming of the Holy Spirit will demonstrate it. And you committed the ghastly sin of murdering your Messiah, and God has vindicated me by his resu- the resurrection and ascension. Yes. Of judgment because the prince of this world hath been judged. In what sense has he been judged? Well, of course, he's been judged in this sense, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. The prince of this world, engineering the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Is, of course, his judgment. Colossians two will take it up and talk about the way that Christ stripped the principalities and powers. Yes? So that these three things are involved, and our Lord, uh, uh, foresees it, of course, and says this in chapter twelve. He is now advertising them that he's going to die. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, otherwise it abides alone, but this method is going to lead to, to thousands of people believing on him. Do you see? It's going to spell the, uh, victory over Satan. And so forth and so on. Righto. So that comes to, um, uh, verse thirty three. By this he said, signifying what manner of death he should die. The multitude therefore answered, we have heard out of the law that the Christ abides forever. How sayest thou the Son of Man must be lifted up? And who is this Son of Man? Jesus said unto them, he doesn't appear to answer what they asked. Yet a little while is the light among you. Walk while you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not. He that walketh in the darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. Our Lord had said the same thing in John chapter nine before he healed the blind man. We must work the works of him that called, uh, sent me while it is yet day. The darkness comes when no man can work. Walk while you have the light. You imagine, gentlemen, the darkness of this world in the three days that Christ lay in the tomb. Walk while you have the light, says he, that you might become sons of the light. Believe in the light. Righto. But then the end of verse thirty six: these things spake Jesus, and he departed and hid himself from them. But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him. And now there follows an analysis of why that happened. The gospel, after all, is written. John is going to tell us at the end of ver- chapter twenty. These signs are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name. Well, if all those signs were meant to lead people to faith, how is it that having done so many signs, they didn't believe? And the great majority of his contemporaries didn't believe. How would you account for that? And if your atheist friend said to you, you cite me all these miracles. Perhaps you didn't, you just gave him the Gospel of John. And your atheist friend to you said, I read that funny book you gave me. Oh yes, what did you think of it? He said, you're very funny. I'm surprised to hear you recommending the fact that Jesus made gallons of wine as a your, as a reason why I should believe in him. That was a very funny thing you, you gave me to believe. And if he added, and the Jesus did all these signs when he was here on earth? Yeah. Oh, they weren't very effective, were they? The multitude of his contemporaries didn't believe on him. Despite the signs, they weren't convinced. What would you say to that? Hmm. Here is gospel writer John now analyzing the reasons why. And having analyzed it himself, he then records the words of our Lord from verse forty four onward. Yet they believed not on him, this is verse thirty seven. that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom hath the law- arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said again, he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them. Now, whatever has happened to John as he suddenly turned extreme Calvinist or something? Whatever has happened to the man. Don't see. That would ask us, wouldn't it, to go back to Isaiah and look why Isaiah said these things in the first place. The first, uh, quotation, uh, who who has believed a report comes, as you remember, later on in the gospel. But for this cause they could not believe. Isaiah says again, he had blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, and so forth and so on, comes in chapter six. Who read the context in Isaiah. This was what the theologians call God's judicial hardening because of Israel persistence in unbelief and disobedience. And when people, and the people of God in particular, persist in unbelief and disobedience, there comes a point when God says, have it your own way then. And he hardens their heart in the attitude that they themselves have first adopt. And if you will say, why did the majority of his co- uh, his contemporaries not believe on him? Well, John won't necessarily tell you in his gospel, Matthew will tell you in his. In chapter twelve, for instance, he will discuss it at great length, and that was halfway through our Lord's ministry. And, uh, our Lord, uh, uh, uh, faces them out with it himself. Our Lord deliberately healed a man on the Sabbath because the time had come to expose them. And they, not being able to deny that he had done this by supernatural power, said, ah, but by BLZ Baba he castes out the demons. By the devil himself, he casts out demons. Now that was so outrageous that you might have expected our Lord to turn on his heel and say, that is talking absolute rubbish, gentlemen, it's not worth talking to you, and walk off. He didn't. He stood and argued with them. We'll talk about the final judgment and what he will do at the final judgment. To show to them, as they stood there in front of him, that because they were determined to reject him as Messiah, they now had to say... what they knew to be absolutely perverse, and to call that black, which in all other circumstances they would have called white. What do I mean? You say, gentlemen, that I, by the power of Satan and casting out demons, is that so really? Now, um, Satan, I suppose, has turned about destroying his own empire, has he? According to you? Is that your view of Satan? He destroys his own empire. And he's empowering me to cast out his demons or something. You really believe that? Uh, and you know, if it were a question of some tyrant in his castle, and he got a lot of prisoners, and you wanted to release the prisoners, how would you go about it? Would you not have to bind the, the, the tyrant first before you could get the prisoners out? Um, but s- I'm working with Satan, am I? What, to release his prisoners. How absurd can you get, gentlemen? Oh, ah, it occurs to me, says Christ, your sons sometimes cast out demons, don't they? Would you mind telling me by what power they cast them out? Do they cast them out by the power of Satan? Well, no, they wouldn't say that, of course. No, no, no, no, of course, of course, of course they didn't. I see. Aha. Well, why do you say that I'm doing it by the power of Satan when I cast out demons? Well, there was one very good reason why they said it. Their sons didn't claim to be the Messiah. Jesus did. And if he were casting out demons by the power of God, that was an indication that he claimed to be the Messiah was true. And rather than admit the evidence that faced them, they were prepared to be as perverse as they were being. And our Lord warns them. Talk about shades of the f- final judgment. They won't just be cast into hell, you know. It will be demonstrated to them that in rejecting Christ and all the arguments they came up with, they were being deliberately perverse. I knew they were being. That is the lesson of the prophets, and Prophet Isaiah in particular. And of course, the lesson that was, uh, uh, demonstrated on Pharaoh. It was when Pharaoh, first of all, hardened his heart, demanded evidence, and when God gave him the evidence time and time and time again, he refused to believe the evidence. But then God stepped in and said, have it your own way, Pharaoh. And fo- hardened his heart. So here, John is speaking at the end of our Lord's ministry on earth, why the contemporaries as a whole didn't accept him. The story is given us in the other gospels, of course. Notably in Matthew chapter twelve. But then, having said that, you see, but it's seriously enough, there did come a point where God stepped in and said, have it your way, gentlemen. But look at verse forty two. Nevertheless, John adds, even of the rulers, many believed on him. So learn to think and speak as the Hebrews thought and spoke when they said none of them believed on him. Well, they're talking like Hebrews. I mean, the majority didn't, but now they're going to qualify that by saying that even on, even, even of the rulers, let alone the ordinary people, many believed on him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the glory of man more than the glory of God. You might think of the case of Joseph, uh, of Nicodemus, of course, who had come to believe, but in the Sanhedrin tried rather diffidently to, to appeal to their sense of justice and at least giving Christ a hearing. But when our Lord was crucified, then Nicodemus came. He came with Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph of Arimathea, likewise, was a member of the Sanhedrin. He hadn't consented to their deed, but when he saw Christ crucified, then he plucked up the courage and took his stand and went to Pilate and buried Christ. You see, some of the rulers. So that's John's analysis of it, the reason why many of the contemporaries, in spite of all the signs, didn't see the point of the signs, so they said, and didn't believe. A good many did, you see. Now Christ comes. He said, he that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me, and he that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the darkness. And if any man, uh, hear my sayings and keep them not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my sayings hath one that judges him. The word that I spoke, the same shall judge him in that day. For I spoke not from myself, but the Father which sent me. He hath given me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is, uh, uh, is, uh, uh, is life eternal. And things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said unto me, so I speak. Now, this is our Lord's final comment. Rejecting him is not a personal question of his revenge. I have not come to judge the world. What I speak is the Father has, uh, told me to speak, and I know that his commandment is life eternal. I speak the way of eternal life. What tremendous words they are from Christ a few hours before his crucifixion. I speak it into the world, what the Father has given me to speak, and I know that his commandment is life eternal. That's why I speak it. It offers life eternal. On the other hand, if you don't believe me, because the Father sent me, that's equivalent to not believing God. No less than that. If you behold me, you are beholding God. He was God incarnate. If you don't re- uh, believe me, you have one that judges you, not so much I judge you, but the word I spoke will judge you. I spoke it because commanded by my Father to speak it. That word, if you disobey it and refuse to believe it, that word will judge you in that day. This is our Lord, therefore, commenting, and it, uh, uh, serves to balance what John has just said. They didn't believe because of their perversity throughout our Lord's ministry, and particularly at that critical point that Matthew records in chapter twelve. Some did, of course, but they didn't come out into the clear until T- until after Christ was dead, and a lot of them till after he was risen again, do you see? Because they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. But some who resolutely, knowing they were perverse, deliberately rejected Christ. God stepped in. Hardened their hearts. They couldn't believe. They didn't want to anyway. But that was that. It is a very serious thing. Knowingly. Not only knowingly rejecting Christ, but making accusations against him, as the Pharisees did, to say it was of the devil. Mm-hmm. So this is, that was John's, uh, account of it, based on Isaiah. Now you have our Lord saying it's non vic- not victi- vindictiveness on his part. It comes from the fact that he was speaking the words of God, that he represented God. It's useless for Pharisees to say, we reject Jesus, but we still believe in God. Factually, they didn't believe in God. If I might illustrate that, what I mean by that remark, take the case of Saul of Tarsus. He hated these Christians. Do you know what they said? That Jesus Christ was the Messiah. What blasphemy that was. Didn't they realize that the Old Testament says whoever is hanged on a tree is cursed of God? And they're saying it's Jesus that was hung up on a tree is the Messiah. Utter blasphemy. For me. And Saul of Tarsus thought he knew everything about God that was worth knowing. He didn't, did he? And when he was struck down on the Damascus road, with that light above the light of the sun, he didn't need telling who it was. He said, who art thou, Lord? Knew enough to know that this was the Shekinah glory of God. Who art thou, Lord? And the reply came, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. Paul thought he knew God before. He didn't, did he? God was infinitely bigger than anything Saul of Tarsus had imagined. Yeah. Therefore, when, uh, Christ spoke the very words of God that God had commanded him, when they saw Christ and saw him behave, the very image of God, when they rejected that, they were rejecting God, says Christ. Mm-hmm. You can't reject Christ and suppose you're okay with God. Mm-hmm. That's not anti-Semitism. A lot of fuss is made these days, and in certain quarters I should be in grave trouble for saying what I've said today, that Pilate wanted to release Christ, and it was the Jews that secured his crucifixion. I should be accused of the anti-Semitism that led to Hitler's gas chambers. That the real account is that, um, uh, uh, the Jews wouldn't have crucified Christ. It was the horrible Romans that crucified him, thinking he was a political insurrectionist. But that is not true. John says it's the other way round. Pilate would have released him. And that's why a lot of scholars don't like the fourth gospel, I might tell you. And as for the epistles and John's gospel be anti-Semitic, well, have a go at Isaiah and read a few chapters of Isaiah and see whether he's anti-Semitic or not. And if you think he's pretty okay, well, read some Jeremiah then. And their denunciations, and Ezekiel. Were they being anti-Semitic? Well, that's nonsense. They were Jews. So was the writer of the fourth gospel. Accuse him of being anti-Semitic is rather silly. But it wasn't vindictiveness. Christ didn't instigate Hitler to gas Jews. The issue at stake is, did Jesus properly represent God? Did Jesus properly represent the words of God? Was what he said true? Is it therefore true that if you reject him and reject his word, you are rejecting God. Christendom would be divided over that these days, wouldn't it? But that is the issue. Now, having said that, I must guard myself. I haven't forgotten Romans nine, ten, and eleven. And I hope I've listened to the warning, don't be high-minded, but fear. Israel, the many branches were cut off because of unbelief. Be careful, you, lest you also be cut off. That is to say, Christendom was be careful, for Judaism as a whole, many of the branches cut off because they continued not in belief, you see. Christendom, dear, oh dear, where has Christendom got to? As a whole, it too will be cut off because of unbelief. Darkness, blindness has happened, hardness of heart has happened to Israel temporarily. It shall eventually be removed. But now I mustn't allow myself just to wander on. It is what old men do, you know, wander on, and I must bring it to a close. Thank you for your patience and, uh, sympathy in all the tribulation you have thus endured. If anybody has time to stay for a few minutes for a few questions, we now have a mic so they should not use it. I was wondering, just on this last portion of the, um, practically speaking with... speaking to people who would fall into that category of believing something true about God, and yet either completely rejecting Jesus or believing many false things about him. How do we go about trying to show them the truth? I'm thinking especially as, I mean, you mentioned, um, of course, the Jews are primarily in view here, but Christians, but it also strikes me that Muslims would fit into that category, having some, holding on very firmly to their monotheism, and yet they won't have it by any means that Jesus is the Son of God or in any way, any special relation, anything but a great prophet. Mm. Is, and is, is Saul, I guess strikes me, is Saul something of a, is there something there that would show us to somehow just, as best we can, to reveal Christ to them, and what ways we're given to do that, and let that speak for itself? Or maybe you can Mm. offer something. Yeah, a very important question, and a right, uh, uh, uh, balance to my extreme statements, you see. But, um, it is important to notice, isn't it, that, uh, this pat- chapter John, in John chapter twelve, in the second half, is talking about Christ's contemporaries. It isn't necessarily talking about all the Jews that ever have been since then. Do you see? That blindness in part has happened to Israel, yes, that is tr- true, but there is a present remnant, says Paul. John is talking about the contemporaries that had heard Christ speak and knew what he said and heard his claims and rejected him for the reasons that are listed, do you see? A lot of Jews haven't got a clue about what Jesus said or taught. They've been taught all sorts of funny things by their rabbis. They don't have a clue as to what Jesus taught. As for Muslims, they also, uh, uh, thousands of them, just accepted what the, uh, mullahs have told. They haven't read the New Testament. They don't know really what Jesus said or taught. Do you see? They hang on to what they have heard. Do you see? That's another story. Uh. As for multitudes of men and women around this world, there are multitudes of them that so far have never heard the name of Jesus anyway. And Christ is on record in John's own gospel, it is, of saying that people will never be condemned for not believing wasn't what wasn't there to be believed. Yeah? So how do we go about, uh, helping people like Jews who are, are, uh, against the, uh, uh, faith? And how do you go about helping Muslims who have their, uh, uh, traditional notions about Jesus? If you start with Muslims, for my own part, I would tend not to talk to them about the deity of Christ. Because if you say to them that Jesus is the Son of God and you must believe this, do you see? They have been taught by their mullahs that Jesus being the Son of God, Christians believe that God came and had sexual relationships with Mary, and the result of it was born a child that is called the Son of God, and they find that so hideously, hideous morally, that they think that Christians are a disgusting crowd. We know that isn't what it means anyway, but that's what they think. If you try to tell them that Jesus is the Son of God, they think you are perpetuating this, to them, blasphemy. You see? It is better to talk to them about the person of Jesus and get them to read some things about Jesus, simply because his, the description of Christ in the Gospels and his words show him to be marvelously attractive as distinct from Muhammad as a character. And getting Muslims to think about what Jesus said and did, and his attitude. You won't find Muhammad saying, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Not Muhammad. So getting, uh, the, the, the Muslims to, to, um, uh, think about Christ as a person. Then the other thing that could be useful is to raise with them the matter of Jesus's death. If they are serious Muslims, they themselves will raise it anyway. I was in Jordan with David Dodd, uh, at one stage and his fellow medics invited me to a dinner along with David, and they were prominent medics, specialists, and consultants in various disciplines, and one, uh, famous architect had built buildings all around the world, New York, London, and goodness knows where else. And very gracious they are, Jordanians are, they're not aggressive Muslims, you see. So they told me after dinner, you see, this all this de- strife of killing and Christians killing Muslims and Muslims killing the Christians, it's absolute nonsense, you see. We all, why can't we live in peace? We all believe exactly the same thing, they said, you see. So we all believe the same thing, don't we? Except, of course, you say that, uh, uh, Jesus died on the cross. Well, of course he didn't die. You'll change the Bible for that, and to make it say that he died, and, uh, he didn't die. That's what they've been taught. And my reply to that was to say, I see, so we've changed the Bible. I- I- I asked permission to read from the Bible, you see, so I read them from Isaiah fifty three And said, look, um, what I'd like to read you was written, hmm, six hundred years perhaps before, uh, uh, Christ was born anyway. So we Christians didn't write it, and we certainly haven't changed it. So I read them, Isaiah fifty three, And when I finished, they said, you're going to say that's Jesus, aren't you? Well, I said I will do eventually, but I wasn't going to say it just now. Because... I said, this is, we didn't write it, we haven't changed it, we the Christians didn't, but this is God telling through Isaiah, six hundred years before Christ was born, what would happen to him. He died. And I said, you know, the Old Testament, they're supposed to believe the Old Testament, you see, uh, had a system of sacrifices. When you sinned, you had to offer a sacrifice. I said, you really think that the blood of those animals really put away sin? Well, they didn't think that at all. I said, well, what was all that about then? Were they symbols of something? So, yeah, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, it is helpful sometimes not to try and prove that Jesus is the Son of God, but to get them reading the story about Jesus. He is such an attractive character. And then, of course, to get them reading the gospels about his death and why he died. This in spite of their, uh, uh, thing that that Jesus didn't die on the cross. And as for Jews, I have not a lot of experience with Jews, but I did take some extramural classes in, in Queens at one stage, and some enthusiasts brought a Jew along, and I got to know him, and came, he came to dinner several times, poor boy, and he managed to escape Hitler from, uh, Vienna just by the skin of his teeth. And he would constantly say to me, it's you wicked Chri- you Christians who taught the Sunday school children that the wicked Jews, uh, uh, murdered Christ, and this is what has caused the, the Holocaust. It's your fault. Do you see? I said to him, Otto, my good man, I said, as I, uh, uh, uh, I would never think of accusing Jews of having murdered Christ. Uh, I said, well, in this sense, I said, who do you think killed Christ? Why did Christ die? Well, why did he, he says. I said, well, I killed Christ. What do you mean you killed Christ? Well, I said, we Christians believe that when Jesus died on the cross, it was because of our sins. So it was my sins he was done for. I wouldn't accuse you of, of, of, of crucifying Christ any more than I would accuse myself. I was responsible for his death. He died for me and for my sins. He died for you, God, and your sins as well, oh God. You see? That began to get home to him. He told me eventually he could see that there were different kinds of Christian. He said, that's like some Jews are, you know. They profess to be, uh, Jews, they're not really. And some, I can see some of these Christians, uh, uh, you're different from some of these Christians. They, uh, perhaps they're not really Christians or something, says he. So then I said, my dear Otto, my boy, do you pray for the dead? Yes, he said. Well, I knew that he did, of course. I said, what do you pray for the dead for? He said, so that God, uh, you know, it's, he says it's a, it's a nice way of re- re- remembering them, you see. I said, come off it, Otto, you do more than that, don't you, when you pray for the dead? Well, he said, yes, we do, really. We pray that God would let them out of the bad place, you know, and bring them to the good place. I said, I don't know, I, I, I don't understand you, Motto, I said. I, I, I, I'm an old gentile, you know. I, I, I, I've been brought to believe. I don't believe in just any old God. I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you know. I said, and the one that led me to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the Jew that you won't have. I said, you tell me of another Jew that has brought millions of Gentiles to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Well, he couldn't. There is none. And I said, Otto, boy, I don't understand you. I said, take that beautiful psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I said, you know how it ends up, Otto? Sorely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I said, Otto, I believe that. I'm absolutely sure of going to God's heaven. I said, how is it you're not sure? Don't you believe it? It's your Bible anyway, Otto. Yes. What John is talking about, and then our Lord in his epistle, is Christ's contemporaries, in particular, who though who had done many signs, persisted in their unbelief and then engineered his crucifixion. You see, the principle that there comes a point when, as our Lord put it, people commit the sin against the Holy Spirit, and with their eyes open, and knowing they are being perverse, they reject the witness of the Holy Spirit. Well, that's another thing. For God doesn't have any extra power beyond that of the Holy Spirit, does he? So that's what, what I mean is. And I don't, I, I don't think it's a, a wise thing to say to, and you trust Christ tonight, for this is, you know, you mightn't get another chance. Well, that is perfectly true. You might get run down by a bus tomorrow. That is perfectly true. But to say that my spirit shall not always strive with men, and if you don't trust Christ tonight, God's spirit might not strive with you again. Well, that is a thought, isn't it? But it's complete misinterpretation of the very verse that they're quoting from Genesis chapter six. That should read, my spirit shall not always abide in man. Why not? Because he rejects the gospel? No, because he is flesh. And what that means, it's twenty past four, I must, I mustn't start that. What that means is what Genesis is talking about. That man is made of two bits, his flesh and his spirit. And God calls it his spirit. And my spirit shall not always abide in man. Notice the reason why not. Because also he is. Not because he rejects the gospel, but because he is flesh. Talking about man's constitution. And when men rejected the gospel, God drowned them. He didn't burn them up, you know, like he burnt up Sodom and Gomorrah at Noah's time. He burned them, he he he drowned them, and you know what happens when you drown somebody. Not that you do it every day, but if you you put you put them underwater, you don't have to keep them there very long. But if you put them underwater for five minutes and you bring them out, well, know what's happened now then. Because the body's still there, the flesh is still there. What's happened now? And then they start to go rotten. That's what Genesis is talking about. My spirit shall not always abide in man, not judge, might plead with man. My spirit shall not always abide in man, because he is flesh. But I wonder, I mustn't, I should wonder all sorts of funny things. Just one other question, really linking to what you've just been talking about, about, uh, Christendom Mm. having accused the Jews of killing Christ. There is also the reference in, in Luke's gospel to the words of Christ on the cross, or as he was being crucified. Lord, lay not this sin to their charge because they know not what they do. How do we interpret that? Oh. Well, to be, uh, to be true to Luke's account, and it's Luke that records this. So you tempt me to repeat my exhortations. Wouldn't it be marvelous to be able to get up and expound the details of each story of the four records of the crucifixion in their context. You see, Luke is concerned with the moral issues involved in the, in the crucifixion. You see, when our Lord said, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do, he was talking of the soldiers that had just nailed his hands and feet to a cross. They certainly didn't know what they were doing. They were just carrying out their orders. If they hadn't have done it, they'd have been executed themselves. So, Father, forgive them. Stephen, when he was being stoned to death, said, lay not this sin to their charge. He personally didn't hold it against them, what they were doing. And we are allowed to take that view before God. I don't hold this against them, Lord. So please don't lay this charge against them. But to put that in its context, what Luke says, do you see, that seems to me to be very important. Um, our Lord was going on the way to crucifixion and, uh, uh, carrying his cross, and the women came out of Jerusalem, dear souls, and they were moved to tears, rang ahead, oh, poor young man, he's gonna be crucified, and he's such a nice young man. And they were weeping, do you see. Our Lord said, stop that. You can stop that right now, says he. Don't you weep for me. It's not I that's got the wrong end of this stick, it's you. For the days will come when they will cry to the mountains to fall on them, and which they will congratulate women that never had any children. For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in a dry? If in a society that had more or less stable government and, and moderately decent laws, they are prepared to execute and crucify an innocent man. What do you suppose will happen if that kind of thing goes on, what will happen in a dried tree? You see, Peter tells us that our Lord, when he suffered, he didn't threaten. Why not? He committed himself to him that judges righteously. Our Lord went to Calvary, not calling down curses on people, but he committed the whole thing to the judge who one day would judge righteously. So says Peter. Do you see? And because he was content to g- uh pass uh hand it over to God to judge righteously, then he was free, uh, himself to bear our sins in his body on the tree, that we might pass away from sin and live unto righteousness. But he w- did it in the confidence that one day God would judge righteously. Then there were two uh, brigands crucified with him, you see. And one said, you're the Christ, get us down from here. That typical worldly, you see. If you're the Christ, get us free of the penalty, uh, uh, that and the punishment that we have, uh, ourselves brought on ourselves. Then we'll believe in you. But Christ didn't attempt to bring them down. Christ wasn't there just to rescue people from the temporal punishment of their misdeeds, emptying the prisons and say people shouldn't be punished. That's all nonsense. The other criminal, who at first had joined in, then came by gradual stages to repentance, and he rebuked the first chap, and he said, dost not no- dost not thou fear God? Why should he? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation. The same condemnation as who? Well, not as the f- uh, his fellow, uh, criminal. Why don't you fear God, seeing you are in the same con- uh, uh, judgment as this man here, in the middle of us? For this man has done nothing amiss. Well, how is that the ground for fearing God then? Well, think, gentlemen, think. If it is the fact that there is a God at all up in heaven, and here is an innocent man that's done nothing wrong and has been crucified by the authorities. If there's a God at all, there will be a judgment, a final judgment. If in a world where the innocent suffer and very often c- uh, killed and persecuted by violent sinners, there's going to be a judgment. If there's a God at all. And you know what? This second criminal began to wish there was going to be a final judgment. He hadn't done that most of his life. But you see these rotters down here, these priests and other hypocrites and all the rest of them go by here. When Nemes had put him on the cross anyway. What a scoundrels they were themselves. I think he began to hope there would be a final judgment, because if there wasn't, these chavs won. If there's no final judgment, Hitler won, didn't he? You say he shot his brains out. Well, so he did, but he won, got away with murder, millions of them. There's going to be a final judgment, says the second thief. And then he had a spectacular thought. Is Jesus... Yes, he's the king of the Jews. He will come in his kingdom. There's going to be a life after death. And having heard the Lord pray, Father, forgive them. He ventured to request it, and he didn't say, Lord, forgive my sins. He said what for him was a remarkable thing. Lord, would you let me come into your kingdom? That was a conversion, wasn't it? He hadn't been anybody's kingdom. He'd been a free boot or a brigand and a, a, and a political a- anarchist. Now he's asking the favor of being allowed to come into the kingdom and rule of Christ. That is repentance, you know. Luke's gospel is very heavily concerned at the story of the crucifixion with the moral issues involved in it. Yeah? And then there came a good counselor, you see, and he hadn't been consenting to the whatnot that the others did. And he was a righteous man. Well, yes, he was. How do you would you know that? Because now, at the cross of Christ, he saw that the time had come when he must make his stand. The highest authority in his land as a Jew had sentenced Christ to crucifixion. He hadn't agreed with them, but he'd remained in the shadows. I couldn't do it any longer. He was a just man. He must come and take his side with Christ. And he went and asked permission of Pilate and buried him. How was that for taking a stand against the Sanhedrin? And as for the ordinary five-eighths of a centurion, well, they were big men, weren't they, in their way, and some of them were very wealthy. One of them had built a synagogue for the Jews out of his own spare cash. They were quite wealthy, and they were the backbone of the Roman army, were centurions. And the man in charge, when he saw that he so cried out, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. Well, somebody could do that when the earth was quaking. He said, this is, this man is right. He'd met a lot of religious people, you know, seen a lot of people that die had this into it, the way he died. He said, this man is right. Luke is concerned with the moral issues that are raised by the crucifixion of Christ. Well, at least that's me. You mustn't, well, you won't anyway, so I don't need to say it. I was going to say you mustn't take my word for it, but they're suggestions.