00:00:00.000 - 00:00:36.000

[Music] Is being good, good enough? Dr. Ruth W. Thielman gives you his answer. [Music]

00:00:36.000 - 00:01:10.000

Let us continue in our worship by giving attention to the reading of the gospel for the evening. The gospel according to Mark, the tenth chapter, beginning at the verse number 17. And as Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

00:01:10.000 - 00:01:35.000

And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments. Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother." The young man said to him, "Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth."

00:01:35.000 - 00:02:06.000

And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him and said to him, "You lack one thing. Go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me." And may the same spirit of God that inspired these words illumine our hearts so that we might understand it.

00:02:06.000 - 00:02:35.000

Pray with me. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Is being good, good enough?

00:02:35.000 - 00:02:55.000

There's a little bit of the insult in that question. Whenever I contemplate it, I think of the little boy who went up to his minister and said, "What's the least I can do and still be a Christian?" When someone asks, "Is being good, good enough?"

00:02:55.000 - 00:03:22.000

they are implying at least that they want to do what is required of them by God, but no more. The question itself is a very old one, at least 2,000 years old. We have in the scripture reading of the evening a young man, a very successful young man, who comes up to Jesus and he says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

00:03:22.000 - 00:03:43.000

And Jesus says to him, "You know the commandments." And the young man said, "I've kept all these commandments since I was very young. Is being good, good enough?" And Jesus, the scriptures say, looked at him and loved him.

00:03:43.000 - 00:04:10.000

You know, there are only two places in the New Testament where it is noted that Jesus' love is directed to a particular individual, and this is one of those places. Even though this young man is asking a question which borders on insult, still Jesus loved him. And it seems to me this could say something to us, for whenever we approach anyone who asks this question,

00:04:10.000 - 00:04:43.000

this same love modeled for us by Jesus must be in our hearts. So Jesus loved him, and Jesus answered him, and this is what he said, "No, being good is not good enough. Put away everything that separates you from me, and come, follow me." Now as we echo Jesus in his love for that young man, so we must echo Jesus in our answer to those who say,

00:04:43.000 - 00:05:08.000

"Is being good, good enough?" No, it isn't. The scriptures you see teach that Jesus is not a way and a truth and a life, but the way and the truth and the life. Acts chapter 4 says, "There is no other name under heaven or on earth by which we might be saved than that of Christ Jesus."

00:05:08.000 - 00:05:38.000

And this is the answer which we must offer to those who want to rely upon their own goodness to gain glory. But as we answer this, there must be no arrogance in us. For this providence of God is that it is a providence of God and not of ourselves. The fact that God brings us to heaven by the grace of his Son is God's plan and not ours, and so we can take no credit for it.

00:05:38.000 - 00:06:03.000

There is a very real sense in which we as Christians can never say that we have the truth. The most we can say is, "The truth has us." So when we answer the person who asks, "Is being good, good enough?" we must answer in love and in humility.

00:06:03.000 - 00:06:32.000

I want to look at that question tonight, and I want to look at that question in this spirit, and I want to do it by setting side by side for our mutual examining the moralist and the Christian. Now as I observe the moralist, it seems to me that his views of his own goodness, which he hopes will be good enough, rest principally upon his view of society.

00:06:32.000 - 00:06:58.000

Most of those who think themselves to be good enough have arrived at their appreciation of the mark they've made principally by measuring themselves by the society of which they are a part. We are heirs in our civilization of certain moral and ethical standards. What the moralist often does not recognize is that these standards have come to us by and large

00:06:58.000 - 00:07:19.000

through the Christian faith and Christian tradition. No other book has influenced the course of Western history as has the Bible. So the moralist, even though he might stand outside of faith itself, in the moral and ethical position which is his, is generally a kind of atmospheric believer.

00:07:19.000 - 00:07:46.000

That is, he has received into himself the permeating power of the truth of the faith which is in all of civilization. You will often hear these people say, "My religion is the Sermon on the Mount. Isn't that good enough?" Or, "I live by the Golden Rule. Isn't that good enough?" They are adopting for themselves standards which they have inherited from the faith.

00:07:46.000 - 00:08:12.000

Indeed, one of the most noted atheists of our century, Albert Camus, says in his book The Fall, that moral philosophers, and by this he is referring to non-believing moral philosophers, moral philosophers, he says, are so serious, loving their neighbors and all the rest, nothing distinguishes them from Christians except that they don't preach in churches.

00:08:12.000 - 00:08:35.000

Well, Camus is wrong. There is much that distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian, but he's right at least in this. Most moralists, who are ready to rely upon their own goodness, or are at least thinking of doing so, arrive at their standards of goodness through the society of which we are a part.

00:08:35.000 - 00:08:58.000

And that society has been influenced and permeated by the gospel. This is the reason many moralists, who have already jettisoned their faith, will still send their children to Sunday school every Sunday morning, because they want them to get the moral and ethical foundation, the common decency, they call it,

00:08:58.000 - 00:09:26.000

which is the fruit of the faith. "My religion," they say, is the Sermon on the Mount. And I'll confess to you that I'm very perplexed when I hear that, because the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most incredible utterances in human history. Nowhere is the originality of Jesus and the awesomeness of his demands more evident than in the Sermon on the Mount.

00:09:26.000 - 00:09:51.000

For two thousand years, people have been trying to reach up to the mark Jesus set in that sermon, but they've only been able to touch the fringe of his garment. These people say that they look to Jesus as their moral teacher. Well, looking at Jesus as moral teacher is like a moron looking into the catalog of Harvard University.

00:09:51.000 - 00:10:15.000

It's a very marvelous thing to look at, that even the moron is intelligent enough to realize that he's never, outside of some life-changing miracle, going to be able to get into Harvard University. To contemplate the moral perfection of Jesus as teacher, and then to look at the way we live, the disproportion there is utterly appalling.

00:10:15.000 - 00:10:49.000

Or some of these people will say, "Well, I mean by that that I look to Jesus as my example." Jesus as example? Peter, the prince of the apostles, the premier of the apostles, on seeing Jesus said, "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man." Which one of us, looking at Jesus as an example, can feel that we in any way, shape, or form, have lived up to that example?

00:10:49.000 - 00:11:27.000

Dorothy Sayers, one of the great poets and authors of our age, has one little poem about trying to live up to the example of Jesus, which he completes with these three lines, "Oh cruel pretense, drive me not mad so with mockery of that lovely, unattainable lie." No one has ever lived up to the example of Jesus. Well, they say what I really mean is that I try to live by his spirit.

00:11:27.000 - 00:11:48.000

See, that's the most impossible thing of all. Jesus girded himself with a towel and washed the feet of his disciples. Now, the disciples had seen people do that a thousand times before. But when Jesus did it, there was something about the inner radiance of his person,

00:11:48.000 - 00:12:18.000

some power in him, some inexplicable majesty, which so touched that simple act, that the disciples were utterly broken by what they saw. This Jesus has about him a mysterious illuminating power that is so great that when he breaks bread, it becomes a sacrament. That's the spirit of Jesus.

00:12:18.000 - 00:12:49.000

And which one of us will live up to that? Jesus of Nazareth is the most demanding figure in all of human history. No one can stand before him unashamed, unless that person, unless that person does not understand Jesus in his fullness.

00:12:49.000 - 00:13:14.000

And this, I think, is where the moralist goes astray. You see, when he measures himself against the Sermon on the Mount, or any other teaching of Jesus, he measures himself by external standards, and he doesn't think of the internal applications of what Jesus is saying.

00:13:14.000 - 00:13:38.000

Now, if he were to think about that for a moment, he would recognize the inadequacy of it. All of us understand that you cannot judge the moral worth of a person by looking at the outside of them. We have a saying, "You can't tell a book by its cover." Just so you cannot really tell whether a person is a good person by looking only at their outward behavior.

00:13:38.000 - 00:14:02.000

The only time in our society when you can be sure that a man is the best man, or that a woman is a maid of honor, is at a wedding. And that only lasts for one day, and it's an etiquette fiction. We can, any of us, if we have any zeal to make an impression, make some kind of list of do's and don'ts, and try to live up to that list, and put up a good appearance.

00:14:02.000 - 00:14:38.000

But the scriptures are within the mark when they say, "It's not outward appearance, but from the very heart that the issues of life come." And Jesus, you see, in his teachings, focuses always upon the heart. In that Sermon on the Mount to which the moralist refers, Jesus not only says that killing is wrong, but even taking murderous thoughts is wrong. Jesus not only says that illicit sex is wrong, but even entering into lustful imaginations is wrong.

00:14:38.000 - 00:15:05.000

Jesus says that not only attacking someone is wrong, but even using cruel and unkind words is wrong. In other words, Jesus takes a candle, and he leads us down the steps into the cellars of our lives. And he explores us on that level. And which one of us is ready to have a picture window built into his soul,

00:15:05.000 - 00:15:31.000

where everyone who walks by can see our innermost thoughts, the things we ponder and mull over? You know, I say to the moralist who wonders if his goodness is not good enough, "Take your hand and put it into your bosom. When you bring it out, will it not be like the hand of any other man, the hand of a leper?"

00:15:31.000 - 00:15:53.000

Nathaniel Hawthorne has a little story about a man named Mr. Smith, who, to all outward appearance, is a very proper and dignified man, widely respected. And one night, Mr. Smith is dining alone, and three ghosts enter the room. The first is the ghost of Fancy, and she carries a box of pictures.

00:15:53.000 - 00:16:20.000

And the second is the ghost of Memory, and she carries a great big book with her fingers stuck into the pages. And the third figure has a veil across her face, but Mr. Smith guesses that this figure is conscience. Fancy walks over, and she takes a picture from her box and puts it before Mr. Smith. He looks at it, it's a moonlight scene, a little cottage in the background, a big tree in the foreground,

00:16:20.000 - 00:16:44.000

and under the tree a man and a woman, and he recognizes the man to be himself when he was very young, and he's standing there with a very scornful, powerful look on his face, and at his feet is the first girl he ever loved, but she's been seduced and ravished. And he cries out and he says, "That picture is a lie! I never did anything like that to her!"

00:16:44.000 - 00:17:12.000

And Memory draws near and opens her book and reads a few words from it into Mr. Smith's ear. And then conscience steps over and unveils her face, draws a dagger, and stabs him in the heart, and he cries out with a pain. And now Fancy approaches again and she puts another picture before him. And this time it's a picture of a room in which there's been a party, and scraps of food and empty bottles are on the table,

00:17:12.000 - 00:17:33.000

and the cloth on the wall says "Midnight," and there's been a murder here. There's a young man lying in a pool of blood on the floor, and standing over him again is Mr. Smith when he was very young, and there's a look of rage and hatred on his face, and Smith cries out, "That's a lie! I've never killed Spencer, my friend, and no other one has ever killed him either!"

00:17:33.000 - 00:17:55.000

But Memory comes forward and opens her book and reads from there about how one night the two of them had been drinking together, and when their blood was hot with wine, they fell into an argument, and at the high point of the argument, Smith threw a bottle at his friend, and he missed him, and hit a mirror on the wall, and it smashed. And later they had laughed about it and shaken hands.

00:17:55.000 - 00:18:27.000

Memory reads to Smith the words that he was thinking as he threw the bottle, and conscience draws her veil and stabs him in the heart again. The fact is that there are killings performed where no one shouts "murder," and there are robberies done where no alarm is sounded,

00:18:27.000 - 00:19:00.000

because the murders are done by glances and the robberies are performed by words. And this not only happens in alleyways and in slums, but in fine homes and Christian colleges, in dormitories and in offices, and even when the children of God get together in churches. These deep, internal, ugly things that we seek, these imaginings of ours.

00:19:00.000 - 00:19:18.000

It is out of this that the scripture says that the heart of man is desperately wicked, that all we like sheep have gone astray and there is none righteous, no, not one, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Two biblical images come immediately to mind, one from the Old and one from the New Testament.

00:19:18.000 - 00:19:38.000

In the Old Testament, Ezekiel tells us about a group of very apparently respectable men who every night under cover of darkness slip out into the streets and stealthily move to a hidden gate in the temple wall, and unlock that gate and go inside and lock it behind them,

00:19:38.000 - 00:20:05.000

and then go through winding, circuitous passageways until they come to a room into which they believe not even God can see. And drawn on the walls of this room are loathsome pictures, and here these men enter into unspeakable acts dedicated to unthinkable God.

00:20:05.000 - 00:20:35.000

Well, God does see into that room. God comes with the searing searchlight of his omniscience, and he sees what's written on the walls of our imagination. If our deeds are purer than what of our words, and if our words are purer than what of our thoughts, and if our thoughts are immaculate, then what of our dreams?

00:20:35.000 - 00:20:53.000

And in the New Testament, Paul speaks of the sin which is clinging to him, and he describes it as a body of death. "Who will deliver me," he says, "from this body of death?" The figure is from Roman military history.

00:20:53.000 - 00:21:18.000

When a Roman soldier was a coward or a traitor, the way in which he was punished was to have the body of an enemy soldier, dead body, tied to the front of his living body. Dead eye to living eye, dead mouth to living mouth, dead body to living body. They were lashed together, and they were left that way

00:21:18.000 - 00:21:52.000

until the rotting putrefaction of the dead body infected and killed the living one. Paul, who did not think his own goodness to be good enough, said of sinning in his life that it was like that dead body, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, flesh to flesh. "So much so," he says, "that the good I want to do I don't do, and the wrong I don't want to do is the very thing that I do, infected," he says.

00:21:52.000 - 00:22:15.000

Infected. That's the state of men. And to act over against that is being good, good enough. The Scripture says no, and our experience, at least when we're honest enough to read it internally as well as externally, says no.

00:22:15.000 - 00:22:47.000

And Christ says no. Christ is so offended by sin to any degree that in that same Sermon on the Mount, to which the moralist so easily alludes, our Lord utters one of the most heart-shuddering metaphors of his ministry. He says, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

00:22:47.000 - 00:23:19.000

If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it from your body. It is better to be maimed than to sin." The sin which is tied to us, our deeds, our words, our thoughts, our dreams, is being good, good enough? None of us are good enough.

00:23:19.000 - 00:23:51.000

Please turn your cassette to the other side. Is there no hope for us then? Well, there certainly is no hope in moralism. Gilbert Hayek says in his remarkable book, The Immortal Profession, that any intelligent person who views the history of man recognizes that man is not making significant moral progress.

00:23:51.000 - 00:24:16.000

The First World War was bad. The Second World War was worse. Any of our prognostications with regard to the Third World War suggest that it will be worse still. He says no angel could ever put a sign up over the earth which says moral progress is being made here. Not only that, but the moralists, in trying to advance man through man's own efforts,

00:24:16.000 - 00:24:40.000

almost invariably slip into a kind of downward spiral of moral expectation. You see, because they want to believe that man can save himself, when they see that that doesn't happen, they begin to lower their standards so that man will at least look better, and the myth of man's ability will be maintained.

00:24:40.000 - 00:25:06.000

That's the reason in our own day you will find people who will even throw the sermon on the mouth away. Not being able to live up to it, they jettison it and stand for some smaller, lower challenge. One of the most interesting debates in the field of international letters right now is between Alexander Solzhenitsyn and David Sokharov. They're both dissidents in the Soviet Union.

00:25:06.000 - 00:25:32.000

Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Prize-winning author, has been exiled from the Soviet Union, living now in the United States. Sokharov, a Nobel laureate in physics, a man who did so much of the theoretical work and the laws of thermonuclear fission, he is an internal exile, isolated within the Soviet Union. And these two men, in a series of letters which are part of the current Russian Sami thought, are discussing moral reform.

00:25:32.000 - 00:25:50.000

And Solzhenitsyn says there can be no moral reform for man. It's caught up within sin and man cannot help himself. And Sokharov suggests that all that's needed is for the world of science to reform itself morally. And in responding to this, Solzhenitsyn says, "It is interesting, Sokharov,

00:25:50.000 - 00:26:14.000

that you, a scientist, will fly in the face of all the evidence of human history, all the laboratory testimony that we have, and will say that you believe that man can save himself, can rise to a level of moral purity so noble

00:26:14.000 - 00:26:32.000

that if the Soviet Union and the United States were to become friends, all problems would be solved." Solzhenitsyn says it is not so, for the Soviet Union and the United States are both shot through with sin. And they would simply cross-fertilize, that's his word,

00:26:32.000 - 00:26:50.000

they would cross-fertilize each other with their evil. And the result would be worse than that which we now know. Translated into the vernacular, that's simply this, no combination of rotten eggs will make a good omelet.

00:26:50.000 - 00:27:10.000

And all the intellects in the world recognize that. Look at the decay of our art, look at the decay of our literature, look at the decay of our drama. Our finest and most productive minds are saying to us that man is going down the tube. And the very people that 40 years ago scorned the Christians' judgment and announcement about sin

00:27:10.000 - 00:27:31.000

are the ones today who are throwing up their hands in hopelessness and despair. They laugh at the doctrine of the Fall. But the Christian holds to the doctrine of the Fall of man, and he does it for two reasons. First of all, because it's true to his experience.

00:27:31.000 - 00:27:54.000

And second of all, because the doctrine of the Fall is a very optimistic doctrine. You see, anything that's fallen can rise again. If you were walking down here and you crossed over Rainbow Bridge, and you looked over the edge and you saw down there in the filthy slime of the Wolf Creek waters,

00:27:54.000 - 00:28:21.000

you saw a little puppy struggling, you would know immediately that that puppy fell in there. He is not one of the black and slimy creatures that live in that black and slimy water. And you would go down there and you would try to lift that puppy out, while at the same time you would make no effort to lift up those black and slimy things that live in that black and slimy water.

00:28:21.000 - 00:28:37.000

You would lift that which has no place there. Just so the Christian understands when he announces the Fall, that the lifting power of God's grace is always being extended to fallen man. Let me put that in another way.

00:28:37.000 - 00:28:57.000

There have been two great forks in the tree of human history. The first fork is when the animal and the vegetable kingdoms separated. Now the vegetable kingdoms advanced very quickly to great production, stately trees, green grass, beautiful flowers.

00:28:57.000 - 00:29:25.000

But having advanced to that place, it leveled off and there has been no other development. The branch, the animal branch, has been a lot longer, a lot more painful, a lot steeper, harder, bloodier. But out of that has come by God's planning providence man, that God says in Psalm 8 is but a little lower than himself.

00:29:25.000 - 00:29:46.000

Now at just this point where man stands comes the second great branch, the great fork in the tree of development. And this fork is between those who follow after Christ and those who turn away from him. Now those who follow after Christ will, like the plant kingdom, advance for a while.

00:29:46.000 - 00:30:20.000

And the results might be very spectacular. But it ends in that same stagnancy, that same decay, that same lack of productivity, that same final hopelessness. While those that move after Christ, those rise above these things into a new level of being. These are those who pray the most profound and yet the most simple prayer that anyone can pray.

00:30:20.000 - 00:30:36.000

"Oh God, help." You've prayed that prayer. When temptations were overcoming you, when your view of yourself was falling so far short of what you wanted to be,

00:30:36.000 - 00:30:52.000

when the situation you confronted was one you couldn't answer, when there was blackness and you were looking for light, you've prayed that prayer, "Oh God, help." And that prayer, you see, does not rest upon any personal claim of goodness.

00:30:52.000 - 00:31:20.000

You do not say, "Oh God, help me because I am good." You simply in desperation say, "Oh God, help." You are relying not upon any goodness you might have, but rather upon God's love. That prayer comes from a person when they recognize that God is a Father and not a quality control engineer.

00:31:20.000 - 00:31:42.000

That as a Father pities his children, so God pities those who love him. You see, words like "good" or "better" or "best," they apply to ties and baseball teams and cheese and which blouse goes best with which skirt. But they're not family talks.

00:31:42.000 - 00:31:59.000

You never heard a father say, "This is my third best daughter," or "This is my least best son." A woman who had a lot of children was asked once which one of her children she loved the most. She said, "I love the one that's lost until he's found. I love the one that's sick until he's well.

00:31:59.000 - 00:32:08.000

I love the one that's down until he's up. I love the one that's sad until he's happy." Now that's family talk. And that's gospel talk.

00:32:08.000 - 00:32:24.000

And that's God talk. It's your relationship, not your records. Christ, you see, isn't just teacher. If that, we're lost.

00:32:24.000 - 00:32:39.000

For example, if that, we're lost. Or spirit, if that, we're lost. He's Savior. That's what makes all the difference.

00:32:39.000 - 00:33:03.000

This was brought home to me most powerfully two summers ago when I stood at the bedside, the dying bedside, of the greatest man I've ever known. He was a great teacher. There is not a week that goes by that I do not remember his words in the classroom.

00:33:03.000 - 00:33:20.000

And he was a great minister. Countless souls have been saved and blessed by his words and his example. And he was a great scholar. His book on the ceramic vocabulary of the New Testament

00:33:20.000 - 00:33:36.000

is still the definitive study in biblical archaeology in that field. And he wrote articles and journals and reports on digs which have affected the whole course of biblical archaeology ever since he wrote them. And he was a fine husband.

00:33:36.000 - 00:33:49.000

And his wife stands strong today in her widowhood because of the love which he gave her so many years. And he was a marvelous father. He had one daughter, and she was burned to death at a very, very early age.

00:33:49.000 - 00:33:59.000

And he took all that father love that was in him, and he gave it to all of his students. I've received that. I know how wonderful that was.

00:33:59.000 - 00:34:18.000

Now I was standing by his bed on the night he died. "Feel me," he said as I came through the door, "old chap. "You've come to help me die." It's hard to hear from one he loved so much.

00:34:18.000 - 00:34:36.000

And I knew it was untrue, for he was ready to die. He needed no help from me. Our talk that night was long, and the words we shared amongst the most precious possessions that I have.

00:34:36.000 - 00:35:01.000

One sentence I share with you tonight. He looked straight up, and he said, "Oh, feel me. "I'm taking my final exam, "and I find that I don't know the answer to a single question.

00:35:01.000 - 00:35:26.000

"I couldn't even write my name on the paper if it wasn't for Jesus." That's what Jesus said to that young man. "No, your being good isn't good enough, "but put away everything that separates you from me,

00:35:26.000 - 00:35:45.000

"and come and follow me. "I'll make sure your name is on the paper." So the question of being good good enough is a very serious question, and I've tried to deal with it very seriously tonight.

00:35:45.000 - 00:35:59.000

You know, there have been people who have lived who never heard about Jesus. They wrestled with questions of goodness but never knew of him, people like Socrates and Confucius. And there have been people who've lived and heard of Jesus,

00:35:59.000 - 00:36:13.000

and finally, after pursuing him intellectually, have turned away from him. And they have died outside of the faith, people like John Stuart Mill or Bertrand Russell. I do not worry about these people,

00:36:13.000 - 00:36:33.000

because I believe that God's skill and God's mercy is great enough to include them. But when someone comes to me and says, "Is being good good enough?" That person is like neither of these people. They've heard of the faith. They're not like Socrates and Confucius.

00:36:33.000 - 00:36:46.000

And they've not yet arrived at a conclusion. They're not like Bertrand Russell or John Stuart Mill. They're still wrestling. It's an unsettled matter, and they must keep wrestling.

00:36:46.000 - 00:37:03.000

For if they turn away in indifference, they are rejecting Christ. Not out of ignorance as Socrates and Confucius, and not out of intellectual conviction as Mill and Russell, but simply out of indifference.

00:37:03.000 - 00:37:23.000

And that's a totally different kind of rejection. To do that is to lose one's intellectual virginity. C.F. Lewis says, quoting Luke chapter 12, "Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of God, it shall be forgiven him."

00:37:23.000 - 00:37:43.000

That takes care of Mill and Russell. But the person who deliberately rejects Jesus when he's never settled the issue in his own mind and heart concerning him, the person who leaves the telephone of his spirit off the hook

00:37:43.000 - 00:38:02.000

just so he won't hear Jesus' call, the person who won't open his mail, let Jesus be writing to you. Well, one can understand how a person can be uncertain about Christ,

00:38:02.000 - 00:38:27.000

but one cannot understand how they can be uncertain about honesty. They must at least be honest enough to confront him and to arrive at conclusions with regard to him. They must pursue the truth

00:38:27.000 - 00:38:48.000

until in their heart of hearts they're sure they have it. And if something that I've said tonight has challenged you to believe that Jesus is the truth he claims to be, then I invite you tonight or no later than tomorrow

00:38:48.000 - 00:39:04.000

to seek out some mature Christian on the campus and be introduced to this Jesus. Because I want you to know what good really is. Good, you see, isn't something that's just limited to this world.

00:39:04.000 - 00:39:16.000

It also goes into the world beyond. It's like a mountain which starts here, but it goes up into the hereafter. And the Christian and the moralist stand at the bottom of the mountain, and Jesus extends his hand to both, and the Christian takes it.

00:39:16.000 - 00:39:31.000

And Jesus begins to lift him up that mountain. And the moralist says, "No, I shall go on my own, and he may climb very well." And eventually they reach the clouds, which is as far as you can go on this earth.

00:39:31.000 - 00:39:54.000

And that's as far as the moralist will be able to travel. He'll die there in the cold and the clouds and the icy loneliness. But the Christian will lay aside his pick and his ropes and his climbing gear, and in that moment be given wings by Jesus.

00:39:54.000 - 00:40:17.000

And he will rise up into a dimension of existence that is goodness beyond what we can imagine. Goodness beyond anything that we can measure or define. And he will get there because he has wings.

00:40:17.000 - 00:40:44.000

And he will get the wings because he heard Jesus say, "Put away everything that separates you from me, and come and follow me." And he did. We will introduce you to many people at this college.

00:40:44.000 - 00:41:12.000

We will introduce you to King Priam mourning amongst the ruins of Troy. And we will introduce you to Hamlet as he holds the lifeless body of Ophelia. And we will introduce you to Einstein as he walks in quiet triumph at the carpet of his own study. And we will introduce you to Faust as he wrestles out the great matters of moral satisfaction.

00:41:12.000 - 00:41:44.000

And we will introduce you to Michelangelo as he so touches stone that it becomes almost like flesh. And we will introduce you to the great souls of Lincoln and Washington and Jefferson. The greatest one we will introduce you to is Jesus. For he's the one who shows us what good is.

00:41:44.000 - 00:42:09.000

He's the one that gives us wings. He's the one that sets us flying. Now. Let's get right into the very arms of God.

00:42:09.000 - 00:42:42.000

Let us pray. Our problem, Father, is that we're not good, let alone good enough. Grant to us sufficient honesty to acknowledge that. And sufficient integrity to follow after Jesus until we find out the truth that he is the truth.

00:42:42.000 - 00:43:17.000

And the way and the life. And when we've got wings, welcome us for his sake and for our own. And the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

00:43:17.000 - 00:43:33.000

The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give to you and to all those whom you love and to all those whom nobody loves his peace.