Gooding, David: 4 - Literature

We address ourselves this evening is interpreting the Bible in the light of literature. It is one of the marvelous things about Holy Scripture that it contains within it many, many different forms of literature. There is history in the Bible, there is poetry in the Bible, there are love stories and romances in the Bible. There are prophecies and apocalypses in the Bible. There are sermons, as you might expect in the Bible. There are fables, and there are parables. There are letters, public letters written to the church and private letters written to individuals. The Bible is a veritable library of different kinds of literature. And I do trust, if I may say this by the side at the beginning, that we very soon discover the wonder and the pleasure of the different kinds of literature to be found in the Bible. Some churches that I know spend most of their Bible readings on epistles, and of course epistles are exceedingly important, uh, parts of our Bibles. Some churches spend so much time on epistles that they seem to forget that there are other kinds of literature. There are stories and histories and poetries, and thus and thus it's good sometimes, isn't it, to make a change and to enjoy the wealth of the different kinds of literature in Holy Scripture. But of course, it is important when we start trying to understand, as well as enjoy, the Word of God, that we give attention from time to time as to what kind of literature it is, the particular part that we are trying to interpret. For instance, suppose I read in the Bible about the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun. Well, I shall have to be sure to notice, shan't I, that this is, uh, a poetic expression. It isn't meant to be a scientific description. We know, don't we, that, uh, if the earth goes round the sun. It's the old Earth that's a twizzling round, and that makes it look as if the sun is on the move and, and rises and sets. Well, we know that, but you'll hear even our scientists, when they're talking like ordinary human beings, you'll hear even them talk about the rising of the sun and sunset tonight was glorious. Yes, you don't suppose that they're making a mistake and that they've forgotten that actually it's the earth drizzling round and not the sun. No, because it has come into many languages, that kind of metaphorical, poetic way of talking, and so in the Bible you'll find it. You'll read about the foundations of the earth. Who, says some clever dick, just look at that. Now the Bible has gone and said the earth has got foundations, as if the Earth was built on something, and they didn't know that the Earth isn't built on anything, hangs in space. What a stupid man. Trying to be clever when he isn't. Wasn't talking in scientific terms. This is a bit of poetry. And who wouldn't prefer poetry to science any day of the week if he had the chance? Yeah. Because there are some things that can only be told you in poetry, they couldn't be told you in science. What's forty degrees under like? It was minus forty degrees centigrade. Well, the old scientist boys sitting around here will know that. That doesn't convey a lot to the likes of me, who say if it was so freezing cold that the ice seemed to grip your very lungs with the steely fingers. You say ice hasn't got any fingers. Well, who didn't know that? But you got the idea of what it is when it's so frightfully cold it seems to be tearing your very lungs apart. What? Better than you got it when I gave it in a scientific minus forty dre- degrees centigrade. Yes. So it is important that we distinguish in the Bible, when we begin to interpret, just quite what kind of literature now is it that God is using in this particular chapter to speak to me through. Let's start with fable. There is, uh, to my knowledge, one fable in the Bible. Now, you will be careful to understand what I'm saying, won't you, and what I'm not saying. Some people who don't know much about literature, they're inclined to use the word fable as if it meant something that's a bit batty and not true. But of course, fables, if they're good fables, are very true. Let me tell you a fable that's not in the Bible. See how good you are at fables. What about the fable of the sun and the wind? And they had an argument one day, did the sun and the wind. They watched a man going up the road, and he's got his big overcoat on, tied round with string, and the wind said to the sun, guarantee I could get that man's coat off. Go on, said the sun, I'd do it before you will. So the wind had a go, and he puffed and he huffed and he puffed and he huffed, and he blew his very hardest to try and get the man's coat off, but the harder the wind blew, the tighter the man hugged the coat to him. Then the sun said, you can't do it, can you? Let me have a go. And the sun came out from behind the cloud, and he put his pretty face on, and he warmed the man, and he warmed the man to, whoo, the man said, and he took his coat off, see. True or not true? Say, well, I don't think that it's true about the sun saying things. The sun can't speak, can it? And the wind can't speak? No. So that bit ain't literally true. Well, everybody knew that. But what about the message the fable is getting across? You say, what is that message? Well, the message is this, that if you want to get some- a friend to do something, you want to get something out of him, then there are two different ways of going about it. You can use all your brute force and trying to compel him, if you like, and frighten him and, and be savage to him and try and make him do it, but you may find that you don't get anywhere. On the other hand, if you're kindly and warm-hearted and you, you, you, you'll be kind to him, presently you'll begin to fall, you know, and his heart will open to you and he'll give you the fiber or whatever it is that you want. Yes? So, though it's a fable, it ain't true in the literal sense. The sun doesn't have any argument with the wind. They can't speak either of them. Yet, uh, that fable is conveying something that is very true. Now, what about the Bible? Any fables in the Bible? Well, there's one, to my knowledge, comes in the book of Judges, chapter nine. It was spoken by a budding politician, you'll see. And, uh, he went where it was safe to say it to the other boys, uh, so he was ready to run away when he finished the story. And he said, you know, the trees on a day went out to make themselves a king. You see, and the people, they came to the olive tree and they said, you be a king over us. And the olive tree said, well, never on your life, what an absurd thing. Am I going to leave my bearing olives and producing oil and come and be king over you? I should be look a fool, shouldn't I? Of course I can't. So they went to the vine and they asked the vine to be king, and he said, nonsense. I got a real good job to do making wine to cheer people up, so I'm not going to leave that to become king. And they went to the fig tree, and he said the same. At last they went to the old bramble, and the bramble said, yes, I'm a man. I, I was always very good at ruling people. Yes, certainly I'll be king. I can tear them. I'll get them to do what I want. Yeah. What was it, uh, trying to say, this fable? You say, is it true? Depends what you mean by true, doesn't it? Trees don't go around talking to each other in real life, do they? Well, anybody knew that. So did the man who spoke it, his name was Jotham. And when the Holy Spirit inspired the writer to put it in the collection, that is the book of Judges, everybody knew that trees don't go around talking. Of course they did. The thing is a fable. Ah, but the truth that the fable conveys, ah, that is exceedingly right and powerful and illuminating. There are men who love to get power, and they've got nothing to contribute. They're like a lot of old brambles. They tear and they threaten, and they contribute nothing, except they like to be boss. Whereas very often the people that have got something to contribute, something good to enrich society, are the last people that want to boss anybody. And you want to watch it, if you are appointing a king. At any level. There is one fable, I can't think, but that might be my ignorance, I can't think, uh, of any other fable in the Bible. But then nobody's likely to mistake that one, are they? They're not likely to suppose it is meant to be taken literally that trees actually talked. Well, no, they're not likely to make that mistake. So let's move on to a different kind of thing. There are all over the Bible, in many different parts, parables. And you say, well, what difference are they from fables? Oh, well, you see, in fables, in the story bit of a fable, all sorts of things are said to happen that don't happen in real life. Animals talk, the sun and the wind have an argument, trees go and make themselves a king. That's a fable because those things don't happen in ordinary life. But a parable is something different, isn't it? Parables are drawn in the Bible from the ordinary daily affairs of daily life. And the detail that makes up the story of a parable is true to life. Let's give an example. And he spoke a parable unto them, did our blessed Lord. A sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed, some fell on the wayside and the birds gobbled it up, and some fell on the rocks and it sprang up, but it didn't have any root and soon disappeared. And some fell among thorns and it grew, but then the thorns choked it, and some fell on good ground and it grew up, full year, beautiful harvest and fruit. A parable. Now let's look at that. What does it mean? How should we interpret it? Well, now the story bit, the sower going forth to sow. That's true to life, isn't it? In actual life, still farmers go forth to sow. They may do it with the hand, you know, which is a difficult job. They do it with, uh, combine, you know, whatnot of things that put the manure and the, and the corn in all at the same time, and the man sits around on a seat, you'll see, taking quite a tiring that way. And, uh, but they do it, and it's literal, isn't it? And there are still different kinds of ground on a farm. You can get good ground, bad ground, thorny ground, rocky ground, rich soil. And there are still such things as weeds. Ah, yes, but when you come across this parable of the sower, you say, yes, that's a parable, see. This isn't a lesson in agriculture. I'm not meant to read it at that level. This isn't some advice to me how to go and sow my father's field tomorrow morning and where to put the seed. No, you perceive that the story, as we were told as children, is an earthly story, but it has a spiritual meaning. Yes? So that, uh, the seed is the word of God being sown by the preacher, and the ground is people's hearts, and there's different kinds of ground. When the seed falls into some hearts, alas, they're so hard that it never takes root even, and Satan takes it away. And other hearts, yes, they receive the word with excitement, ah, but uh, it has no root, it's only shallow emotionalism, and the cares of life choke it. Now, some hearts prepared by God's spirit are like good soil. They receive the word, and it grows, endures, and carries on and bring forth the h- brings forth a harvest. Yes, a parable, earthly story, true to life at that level, so it's different from a fable. And yet, the real truth of the parable lies at the higher level of its spiritual and heavenly meaning. Sometimes, however, very occasionally, but on some important occasion, even those who believe the Bible sometimes disagree as to whether a story is a literal story or whether it is a parable. There is one famous instance of that, isn't there? The story our Lord Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus, the poor beggar that was full of sores and the dogs licked them, and he would fain have been filled with the bits of bread that the rich man threw off the table when he'd wiped his hands on them. And the beggar died and was carried into Abraham's bosom. The rich man died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in. And he seeth Abram afar off and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried, Father Abram, send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I'm tormented in this flame. Abram said, no. But you remember in your lifetime you, you enjoy good things and he bad things, and now he's comforted and you're tormented beside anyway, he said. Between us and you, there's a great gulf fixed so that none may pass. Well, then he said, Father Abram, send Lazarus to my brethren so that they don't come to this place of torment. Abram said, no. You see, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. No, he said, Father Abram, but if once somebody rose from the dead, they'd listen to a, a somebody come back from the dead. They wouldn't, said Abram. You see, not if they don't believe the Bible, wouldn't do them any good, sending them a ghost back from the dead. A very solemn story. Now, many people have argued among themselves, is it a literal story, or is it a parable? You see, some people have read down it and they said to themselves, hmm, the rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. That can't be literal, can it? I mean, Lazarus was a grown man. He wasn't sitting on Abraham's lap, was he? How many folks can Abram get on his lap? Surely that ain't literal. Ah, well, that's a very sensible observation. But then they've concluded that because that bit isn't to be understood literally, then the whole thing must be a parable. And they said, no, those flames, I am tormented in this flame. Literal flames. How can we help ourselves when we come to a case like this? Well, by first remembering what kind of a thing a parable is. What did we find a parable to be? Well, it isn't a fable. A parable is always true to life at its lowest level. Man went forth to sow. He sowed seed on different kinds of ground. Yes, that's true to life. You can see the farmers doing it up at Banham McGarrick to this day, you know. That bit's true to life. Only then that bit that's true to life, you then take as a lesson of some higher thing. All right? Righto, let's try it on this story of the rich man and Lazarus. In hell, the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and he said, I'm tormented in this place. You say that must be a parable. Well, let's see if it works. Suppose it is a parable. All right, then it'll be true to life to start with, won't it? Like the sower going forth to sow, that's a parable too, but the sowing bit's true to life at the lowliest level. So if the story of the rich man in hell is a parable, then the details are true to life anyway. Oh yes, Hades, you know, is not a parable, but I'm anticipating. I ought to say there is a real institution called Hades, that is the counterpart on the other side to death on this side. One day, that temporary institution shall be scrapped and its place be taken by something far more solid and permanent. But Hades is a fact, you know, just like death on this side is a fact. Death isn't a parable. But come now, suppose this story I say is a parable, and we've got a man in Hades. If that is a parable, what's it a parable of? You see what I mean? If I said to you, the sow went forth to sow. Now that's a parable, so please don't take it. What is it a parable of? Oh, you say, the, the sow going forth to sow? That's a parable of the gospel preacher going out to preach. Full marks. I know. Now, the rich man in hell. You say that's a parable? Well, please, what is it a parable. Parables have always got to be a parable of something. The story of the rich man stops with him. It ain't a parable of anything. That is the story of the man who failed to believe God's word in this life, when he died, was lost. Oh come, that's not a parable. Well, then you say, what are you going to do then, Mr. Mr. Lecturer? What are you going to do with that bit about, uh, uh, uh, Lazarus in Abraham's bosom? You aren't going to say that's literal. Of course I'm not. And now I'm going to ask you to make another distinction. Getting a bit difficult, isn't it, and complicated. Never mind, you'll survive, I suspect. If I said to you tonight that Mr. Carrickon, you know who he is perhaps, he's the Prime Minister in England, if you haven't heard of him. He is Prime Minister. If I were to say to you there are many things that Mr. Carrickon would like to do, but the trade unions have tied him hand and foot. You wouldn't turn around to me and say, I never noticed he had string around his legs. Oh, because you're not supposing that I'm using the phrase tied him hand and foot literally. Nor would you turn around and say, well, now Gooding has started to talk a parable. Carrickon tied hand and foot. Now let's say that must be a parable. Now what's Carrigan a parable of? Well, you might have your ideas. But actually, I should be talking, you know, straightforward English. That isn't a parable. That is a sorry fact. It just so happened that instead of using literal language, I use metaphorical language. That doesn't make what I'm saying a parable. I'm talking about a very real Jim Carrickon, a very real trade unions, and some very real things that they do to Master Carrickon, but that's outside my scoop. The fact, then, that we use figurative language doesn't turn a story into a parable. Oh, doubtless, when the Bible says that, uh, the rich man saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, you're not supposed that's going to be literal. That's a metaphorical way of talking. He's gone to be with the great saints, gathered home with the saints, and Abraham, the chief of the Old Testament saints, and he's comforted. Yes, it's a way of talking in Abram's bosom, not meant to be literal. But the fact that the man was comforted and the fact that he'd gone to be with the saints, that was factual enough. Had it no parallel. I'm tormented in this flame. Literal Literal flame. flames? Some folks have felt, yes, they must be literal flames. I should have to confess to you, I can't see why they think it's so important that the flames be literal. You see, for spiritual sins, the most serious punishment are spiritual consequences, aren't they? You don't make it more serious, if you say that literal way. You make it a little bit less serious. For the most serious consequences of man's rejection of God will be a spiritual torment. If I said to you, my hand is inflamed, would you suppose I meant literal flames, with flames leaping out of my hand? Well, no, you say, of course not. Oh, so because they're not literal flames, that isn't serious. Oh, no, you made a mistake there. More serious, if my hand is raging with a deadly poison, that might be more serious than literal flame mightn't it? And if my conscience be inflamed, that's far more serious than my body being literally inflamed. But then, you know, you will have observed, if I might turn aside just for the moment, that when God speaks to us about the world beyond, he is obliged to speak to us in metaphors, isn't he? Because that great eternal world is a something that goes beyond our understanding, therefore God has to use metaphors. And we should be wise men and women to accept the metaphors. In this life, when a man sins and tries to cover his guilt and suffers with torments of conscience but will not confess his sin to God and seek the Savior, very often that very guilt has effect on his body. It did on King David, didn't it? When he sinned and wouldn't confess it, he began to develop psychosomatic, uh, symptoms. He couldn't sleep at night, and his bones were dried up, and he was ill and went off his food, and he began to waste away. Yes, indeed. Sin is that kind of a thing. That it will reap its consequences not only at the level of your spirit, but your very body as well. When the rich man talked of being in torment in the flesh, doubtless it is predominantly a spiritual suffering. We should be rash men and women to say it didn't involve any physical suffering, though, shouldn't we? What? I quote the example at length, then, uh, not to preach you a sermon, but I, I pray God you take notice of it. It's true. To show an example of how we must distinguish very carefully in our interpretation between different kinds of literature. We've had fable, haven't we? We've had parable. Now we come to plain straightforward story, but story that uses figurative language. Let me just remind you of other descriptions, uh, of the world beyond that use figurative language. John tells us in the Revelation that he was given to see the new heavens and the new earth, and he saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, come down out of heaven. Oh, it was delightful, he said. God, look at the pearls on the gates, good on foundation, all those jewels, streets of pure gold, oh wow. And for very many people, their concept of heaven has been in the form of some lovely city with pearly gates and golden streets. A Belfast, but Belfast considerably improved. Uh, I wouldn't like to rob anybody of the comfort of that rich, beautifully rich, beautifully rich language. But God knows how to talk to our hearts, doesn't he? He has prepared for us a city. You know, he's not ashamed to be called our God, says the Bible, because when we get home and see this city that he's prepared and walk around its bulwark, so to speak, none of us will be disappointed. We should, none of us be able to turn around to God and say, poor God, I don't think much of this. I was expecting something better, and God be ashamed of himself. No, it will never happen. When we get home with all the saints and walk, walk around the city, God will say, now what do you think of that? And he's not going to be ashamed of what he's prepared. But if we dig a little bit deeper, we shall say to ourselves, now half a minute, this heavenly Jerusalem thing, is it, you know, a super duper Belfast, uh, uh, golden streets instead of tarmac, you know, but streets? Well, listen again. I saw New Jerusalem come down out of heaven. A bride adorned for her husband. Bride of the Lamb. What say. The Lord Jesus is a person, isn't he? Do you think his bride is going to be a city of streets and houses? No, you say that can't, no, no, that can't be true. No. Well, then who is the bride of Christ? What do we mean when we talk about the bride of the Lamb? Well, you say, people, of course. That's right. People, redeemed people. You know, like Christ loved the church, like a man loves his wife. When we speak of the bride of the Lamb, we're not speaking about a, a literal city, we're speaking about people, the redeemed of the Lord. Yes, that's right. Now you're coming near it. That great city. It's a picture, isn't it? Of the redeem. Who you say you have disappointed me, Mr. Preacher? I haven't had much rings down here, or jewelry, or necklaces, and sapphire diamonds, and brooches, and topazes, and things to wear on my fingers. Uh, and I've had to put up with ordinary, you know, china, spode, and a little bit of dolton here and there. I was hoping that heaven would be, you know, all the beautiful gold and silver to have my meals on. You were. Well, you won't be disappointed when you get there. Well, I could tell you some better jewels than that. I can tell you something more precious than gold. Ooh, I can indeed. I could point you to some good elderly Christian women, for instance, and what they've come through in life for God's sake and for Christ's sake would almost defy description. They've come through it. Faith unbroken. Faith now purified. Still trusting the Savior. Do you know God says their faith, it is much more precious than of gold. I think it is. Eh, the jewels of that great community that is the bride of the Lamb, the jewels of people. Find here by the grace of God and by his Holy Spirit, and fashioned. So when they arrive home, they'll be like sparkling jewels. Their personalities will reflect and refract the light of God's very presence and interpret God to men. Yes? In other words, you'll find a lot of the revelation is talking to us in symbols, in metaphor. And, uh, that doesn't mean it isn't true, but it's not necessarily just literal. It is symbols of bigger things. And you see, while I'm on that, there are passages of scripture, aren't there, that you mustn't, please, you mustn't, you mustn't interpret them literally, because you'll make a nonsense of them. Our Lord spoke a, a, a command at one stage. He said, if your foot offends you, cut it off. If your eye offends you, pluck it out. Do you know there were some Christians that took that literally and cut off various of their members? What a tragedy. But that didn't help anyway. Well, you know my evil desires, they don't start in my fingers, do they? They start in my heart. I cut the old hand off, but that doesn't stop the desires. Now, if you're going to be responsible and take God's word seriously at that juncture, you mustn't take it literally and cut your hands off, your feet off. Now, our Lord again is using figurative language. He's meaning, if your hand leads you astray, you must impose the severest discipline on it. Err on the other side. Make it inoperative, rather than let it be the occasion and the means of sin. Now we come to another matter. We've had fable, and we've had parable, and we've had story with metaphor, and we've had symbol. Yes. Now I come to another matter. In literature, there's a form called myth. Very often in popular circles, these things are confused. People very often speak as if they didn't know the difference between a fable and a myth. That's important to distinguish because myths are not fables, and fables are not myths. We'll see. Myth is technically the name that you would give to a pre-scientific imaginative attempt to explain phenomenon. For instance, let me tell you a myth. It was told me by an Irishman, so I think it must be true. And I hadn't long been in Ireland. They they they sped me up the coast road to show me its wonders, and at length they brought me to the Giant's Causeway. You'll see. And there they showed me those curious formations. Well, the stories they told me about those formations, nobody's business. And then as that, that, that wasn't enough, they pointed, uh, to Loch May when we were on the way home. They said, you know how that happened. Je- Jerry Fit? No, no, no, no, no, no. No, some, no, some other. Finn McCool, I saw. Yes. Finn McCool it was, who grabbed a great bit out and threw it into the middle of the sea, and it became England or something, or somewhere else. That's a myth. A pre-scientific, imaginative account of some phenomenon. Was never meant to be a parable and never meant to be a fable. Wasn't meant to, to, to convey some spiritual truth, some higher meaning. It was just an a- you know, an attempt to account for this great big spit of water, uh, in the middle of Ireland called Loch Day, you see. How do you account for it? Well, you make up an imaginative kind of pre-scientific affair, and you say it was old Finn McCool who grabbed it up and threw it across in the middle of the Irish Sea. You will perceive that myths, by their very nature, are not true at any level. Ah, but now we are told by some people that, of course, the Bible is full of myths. That's just not true. Fable, where one fable, parables, yes, there are no myths there. For instance, we're told that by Saint Peter, we have not followed cunningly devised myths. Oh, Peter may have been a fisherman, but he knew what a myth was. And he tells you straight. Look, what we are talking, I, Peter and John and Paul, when we have talked to you about the power and coming of the Lord Jesus, please, we want you to understand, this is not a myth. The ancients would need to be told that because they all knew, what most people knew if they could read at all, what a myth was, and if they studied their Plato, they would have found the great learned philosopher Plato deliberately using a myth to try and picture what life beyond the grave is like. He uses myth. And therefore, some people might have thought when they read that what Paul said and Peter, how the Lord Jesus came down from heaven and was born in a manger, how he was buried, and he rose again the third day and went to Olivet and from Olivet he ascended up into heaven. They might have scratched their heads and said, well, now do tell us, is that a myth you're talking about? Or is this meant to be historical fact? And the answer comes back, it is not a myth. We have not have not followed cunningly devised stories, fables, if you like, Northwise version. That's a pity because that never was a fable. The real word is myth. We've not followed cunningly devised myth. What the apostles are telling you, they are telling you as historic fact. If they're wrong, they're wrong, but you won't make them right by saying, ah well, poor chaps, they really meant it as a myth. They didn't mean it as a myth. Why do I make so much fuss about it? Well, because the children here, perhaps one of these days, will be taught in school, come from rather cheap sets te- textbooks, that the story, for instance, of our Lord's death and resurrection and his ascension from Mount Olivet is a myth, and that to get the value out of it, we in this scientific age must becomes more unsound and tottery than ever it was before. You are not obliged to teach it as the sure results of literary criticism. There are some of us, and we think it is exceedingly poor as literary criticism, let alone anything else. And if you have any self-respect left as a teacher of literary criticism, you would be very wise to take those source theories with very large grains of salt. And if you want a helpful bibliography, uh, on the matter, up to date and modern, if you want to see what some leading scholars and literary critic- critics have thought in recent times about those source theories, you could do w- do worse than get that book that I recommended to you a week or so before by Josh McDowell, More Evidence That Demands a Verdict, his closing pages that cite you scholars like Cyrus Gordon and the late Professor C. S. Lewis are exceedingly well worth reading, even if you're concerned merely for literary criticism and not the deeper things of the spiritual truth of scripture. Scholars on all sides are beginning to doubt and have very grave reservations about these old source theories, but alas, it gets taught in the schools as though it were gospel truth, and it's a terrible big pity. Finally, the Bible is literature, yes. Literature to be enjoyed. One of the marvelous things about the Bible is that though it be literature, the central figure of whom it talks is not just a literary figure, is he? I bid you, as you go away, think of this miracle. That the person Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the center of New Testament literature, as he is the center of the prophecies of the old, is not just a literary figure, he is so real to millions of men and women that they would actually lay down their lives for him. True? Well, that's true because it's been proved in history. Millions have already laid down their lives for him. Now consider what that means in terms of literature. You've got to be a marvelous, absolutely super duper author to produce a bit of literature, a novel or something, and to produce a character that when people read, is real to them. Oh, there are one or two folks like that in literature, aren't there? I wish I could write like that, like old Willie Shakespeare. He, he created a, a, a character called Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Well, he's passed into ordinary common talk, isn't he? If you call a man a Shylock, you know exactly what you mean. You can almost picture the old chap, can't you, demanding his pound of flesh, yeah? Brilliant literary creation. If I were to suggest to you that he was a real man, and that you could have fellowship and communion with him, I think I'd gone daft. All right, well, he isn't. He is merely a literary creation. He could have been founded on some character that Billy Shakespeare knew, but in the play he's a literary creation, and that's that. Jesus Christ. Millions of folk who've only known him through this book. Why, to them he is so real. They couldn't live life without him. They'd lay down their lives for him. Here I say, suppose old Peter just made it all up out of his own head. Well, that would be some going, wouldn't it? For you do remember Peter was only a fisherman. Suppose Matthew made it all up out of his own head, this, this, this person of Jesus Christ, and it's all just a story, a fiction, a novel, a myth. He just made it up out of his own head one day. Well, no insult, but Matthew was only an income tax inspector. How did he come to have this genius to create a figure that millions worship and would die for? It just wouldn't make sense. That would be such a colossal miracle in literature- literary terms as you couldn't believe it. The answer is, while this Bible is literature, superb literature, the person who is at the center is a real solid man, a real human being. His feet actually trod the earth. He died, he was buried. He rose again. It's no fairy story nor myth. He ascended, he's gone back to heaven, but he's alive. And as the hymn puts it, lives with me, walks with me, talks with me. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart, for he's God's son, my creator, my savior. I trust what I have said has helped you. If perchance there's somebody here and it hasn't helped you and has confused you, and you think I'm casting doubt on holy writ, then pray forgive me, because it's a late hour and I may have put things badly. I wish to suggest no doubt whatsoever upon God's word. I believe it as the inspired word of God from beginning to end. I stake all my time and all my eternity on it. Thank you very much.