What You Know Affects What You Believe — Richard Owen Roberts

Now there's not much point in my going up on the platform. You're much too far away for that. And so will somebody be kind enough to move that podium down here for me? I'll appreciate it. Thank you very much.

Now I want to ask you to consider this question. Do you think it's God's intent that the world get more and more evil and the church gets weaker and weaker? Do you think it's God's intent that churches like this should be turned into Muslim mosques?

That's what's happening. We live, as has been said, in Wheaton. And on our way home today, as is always the case, we'll go by what was built as a church, but is now a Muslim mosque. So in what used to be called the Evangelical Vatican, or the Holy City of America, Wheaton, Illinois, there's a Muslim mosque.

And at the rate you're going, this will soon be a mosque also. When I was a boy of about 14, a banker was talking to me one day. And he said, remember, mergers are never a sign of strength, but always a sign of weakness.

Well, no, I'm not speaking against your merging with another church. As I said to a couple of men earlier this morning, it takes a whole lot more grace to close a church than to open one. And all across America, there are tens of thousands of dying churches.

It would do well to close, but a merger will help them to stay open for a little while. And I'm asking you this question. Do you think it's God's intent that everything get worse and worse and worse? Do you think it's God's intent that when Christ comes back to claim his chosen bride, he'll get the filthy, rotten mess of today's church?

Nobody could define today's church as the virgin bride of Christ. And the fundamental question we need to face is, what is God's intent? And is it that things get worse and worse? And I am convinced that the answer to that is no.

But there is a reason why things are getting worse and worse. And you've got to be out of your mind to pretend that they're not getting worse. Now, it doesn't take a brilliant person to look up front this morning and to see that the guy that's speaking is old.

It may not be apparent to you, but the old man that's speaking this morning has been doing this for more than 70 years. And in those 70 years, I have seen a phenomenal change occur in America. Now, when I was a boy growing up in the state of New York, we had what we then called liberal churches and evangelical churches.

The liberal churches were dead, and the evangelical churches were alive. But now, we still have liberal and evangelical churches. But now, the liberal churches are dead, and the evangelical churches are dead.

And again, there has to be a reason. And if it's not the will of God, there still has to be a reason. And we would be very wise, before it's too late, to ask, why do we have the rotten mess we've got today?

Why is it that the church has lost its significance? Now, I'm not pretending that when I was a boy, everybody was godly. That's not true. But people were afraid to sin openly. Not that sin didn't exist, but at least it existed behind closed doors and under the cover of darkness.

But that's not the way it is today. The statistics tell us that the homosexual rate in the church, in the so-called evangelical church, is actually greater than it is in the world. Now, I don't compile the statistics, and I don't know whether the statistics are true or false.

I just know what the statistics say. I know that the divorce and remarriage rate is greater in the so-called evangelical church than it is in the world. And yet, my God says, I hate divorce. And it's quite clear he hates homosexuality as well.

Isn't it amazing that if the world is, we'll say, 5 ,000 years old, we don't really know how old it is. But if it is 5 ,000 years old, for 5 ,000 years, it was understood that there were two sexes, male and female.

And now that's not understood at all. It's as if there are two plus. And the plus seems to be getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. And again, I'm indicating there's got to be a reason. And so we would be wise to discover what that reason really is.

Do you know offhand why the church is failing? Do you know why sin is increasing? Do you know why, as I said already, both liberal churches and evangelical churches are dead? Now, I want to read the passage to you.

This is not the text. The text this morning is from the Gospel of John. But still, this passage needs to be looked at. And I think some of you who brought the Bible would do well to look this up yourself and make sure that I'm not lying to you and that I didn't make these words up, that I'm actually reading from the word of God and I'm turning here now to 2 Timothy.

And some of you, at least, will understand that the apostle Paul wrote two letters that have been published and preserved for us to young Timothy. And they're naturally 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. And it's 2 Timothy we're looking at now.

And check up on me now as I read. Remind them of these things. Now, that's chapter 2, verse 16. Remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words which are useless.

Now, let me interrupt the reading and tell you very plainly, I believe that's part of the problem. Now, I'm going to address these folks sitting right here. You can see I'm older than you are. And I'm not pretending to know how old you are.

But as was announced, I am the president of what's called International Awakening Ministries. I've traveled this nation for years and years and years. And you know what's happened to me countless times when I've addressed churches like this on the subject of holiness?

I've been told face to face by jillions of people, you're just illegal. Holiness is regarded now by the bulk of the church as completely inconsequential, not at all in keeping with the plan and purpose of God.

And any old duffer like myself, unwise enough to speak upon the subject, is told he's a legalist. Now, I don't intend to wrangle with you. But I don't hesitate to remind you that we don't describe God as great, great, great, or wise, wise, wise, but as holy, holy, holy.

And God himself has said, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Now, that isn't just something that's applicable in the days of the apostle. That's something that's applicable today. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord.

So the great burden of the church, you would suppose, is how do we become holy? But no, we live at a time that mocks old men who still speak about holiness and call them ridiculous idiots and legalists.

Now, let us understand. In this word of instruction to Timothy, it says, remind them of these things and solemnly charge them in the presence of God. In speaking to you about holiness, I'm not talking about some subject to be quibbled over.

I'm talking about God. And I'm telling you plainly, as God himself has, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. You can sing all the little ditties you like and pretend that you're saved. But Christ didn't come to save us from hell.

Let that sink in. Let me repeat it to you. Christ did not come to save us from hell. That would be ridiculous if he did. Because after all, God created hell as a place to incarcerate forever the unholy.

And why would he then turn around to save us from that which he created purposefully? Christ did not come to save us from hell. He came to save us from ourselves, from our sin. So you understand holiness is not the subject that you can quibble about.

Holiness is a demand that God makes. Well, let me read onward here. Remind them not to quibble about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

Now listen, we have millions of men and women who call themselves Christians, who pretend to be handling accurately the word of God, who are mocking holiness as ridiculous. If your head is working, and I honestly think by the grace of God mine is, sometimes the body fails, but the mind, by the grace of God, still focuses accurately.

Let me read on here. I want to reread something I just read. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. Now look, your task is not to get the approval of your church or your pastor, but of God himself.

And there are vast numbers of men in ministry who got the approval of their church, but they don't have the approval of God. I know hundreds and hundreds of pastors who are much more afraid of people than they are of God, and who would rather have the approval of their congregation than of God himself.

Now suppose after the service this morning, every single person here says, what a ridiculous idiot spoke this morning. Is that going to have any impact on me? It hasn't. In all these years, it hasn't had any impact.

I don't believe it will now. I didn't come here for your approval. It's God's approval that concerns me. And that ought to concern you as much as it does me. So verse 16, avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness.

Now I want to pause there and say, that's what's happening. There are thousands of people who will be in church this morning who will be worse off for having gone to church than if they didn't go, because they'll hear some lie and believe it.

And I want to make it very clear, I'm convinced that our nation is dying, because the church is no longer the salt of the earth or the light of the world. And it's a terrible thing, but very accurate to say.

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people are leaving the churches because they've got the understanding that it's better not to waste their time going to listen to the ridiculous stuff that's being taught and preached.

In verse 17, it adds that talk will spread like gangrene. And among them, he names two persons who were having that effect at the time he wrote. He describes them in verse 18 as men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.

Now personally, I don't know anybody who's saying the resurrection has already passed. But as I've told you, I've met countless people who are saying Christ came to save us from hell. And we don't have to concern ourselves with holding it.

And in many ways, that's far more dangerous than saying the resurrection has already passed. If you don't know why Christ came, you may be old enough to be an elder, but you're not fit to be one. But let me read further.

Verse 19, nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. Now let those words grip you. Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands. This is the seal. And two incredibly important things are said.

Number one, the Lord knows those were his. And number two, let everyone who names the name of the Lord abstain from wickedness. Now, what does the bulk of the church say? Oh, that salvation is up to me, and that Christ saves us from hell and not from sin.

Now, in the light of what the apostle says here, look at verses 20 to the end of the chapter. Now, in a large house, there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor.

Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. Now, flee from youthful lust and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart, but refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.

And the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

You have in front of you an old man who believes that the churches, by and large, have been taken captive by the devil and are teaching sheer nonsense. And the nation has unfortunately come under the influence of the church, and so as the church has gone astray, so has the nation.

And the answer is not what an old man like me can do, but what God himself alone can do. I can plead with people to repent, and they won't. But when God gives the gift of repentance, the person changes.

The hold that Satan has over them is broken. And that's why I came today. Not because I thought I was young enough and strong enough, but because I believe God can even use old men like myself. And so the question is, will you persist in being in the grip or in the snare of Satan, or will you heed the word of the Lord?

And in the passage, we read about vessels. And the passage had some made of gold, some of silver, some just clay pots, some for garbage, and some for exalted use. And ask now, how would you like to be a useless vessel?

Now, the text. As I told you, this is simply an introduction. If you brought your clock, your time clock, the sermon is about to begin. So get it started. We're reading from the Gospel of John, chapters 1 and 2.

Not in entirety, but a piece of each. I invite you to turn then to the text that the Lord has put upon my heart for this morning. One of the advantages of getting old, as you know, is that you don't have much by way of inner saliva works.

You get dry. I don't mind being dry as a person. I just hope what I'm sharing with you is not dry. So we're looking now at the Gospel of John, at chapter 1. And a number of you will remember that toward the end of the second or the first chapter of John, there's some details about persons who were called.

But we're going to pick up the reading at verse 44. Now, Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. You got that, didn't you? John, chapter 1, verse 44. Verse 45, Philip found Nathanael, and he said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Now, look, I'm going to interrupt because I don't want you to pass over this lightly. When Nathanael is told, we found him of whom Moses and the prophets wrote, he immediately raises a very sound objection.

Don't miss that. Look at what it is that Nathanael says. We have the record of it in verse 46. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Now, look, as I urge you, don't just pass over that as if it's of no consequence.

Philip is saying, come, we found the one of whom Moses and the prophets have spoken. And Nathanael knows enough to say, that's ridiculous. If you told me you found somebody from Nazareth, you didn't find the one of whom Moses and the prophets were speaking.

They weren't speaking about somebody that would come out of Nazareth. Well, Christmas isn't that far away. We've been through it fairly recently. We know that Jesus didn't come from Nazareth. The Old Testament prophets and Moses himself, they weren't describing someone out of Nazareth.

And so how does the friend reply to the friend? Why? He says to him very plainly, well, come and see. Now, Nathanael wouldn't have been out of order if he had simply said, I don't have time to waste on such nonsense.

But that's not what he said. He went along with his friend Philip. And then verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him. And he said, behold, an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile or in whom there are no fishhooks.

Did you hear what I said? Him in whom there is no guile, in him in whom there are no fishhooks. Did anybody here ever go fishing? Did you have a friend at one point say to you, let's go fishing on Saturday?

And you said, oh, I'm glad it's Wednesday. That'll give me time to go to the printer. And he'll know how to do this. I won't. But I'll ask the printer to print up a sign that's waterproof in fish language that says, beware, what you see is not what you get.

Well, if you've ever fished with hook and line, you know what I'm talking about. You don't dangle a hook. You dangle a crawdad or a minnow or a worm, something that disguises the hook because you intend to take that fish by guile.

So Jesus sees, walking toward him, Nathaniel. And he says, behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile. Now, I wonder if Jesus would say that about you. Or have you made a specialty of concealing the fish hooks?

So now, how does Nathaniel respond? Jesus makes it clear. I see coming toward me an Israelite in whom there are no fish hooks. And Nathaniel says to him, how do you know me? Now, look, it's terribly important to observe exactly what's said.

Nathaniel does not say, you say I'm an Israelite in whom there's no guile or fish hook. That's preposterous. No, no, he says, how do you know me? And Jesus gives a very straightforward answer. While you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Now, look, let's use our heads. Do you think that Nathaniel found a very public place under a fig tree? Well, you can think that if you like to think foolishly. It's much more reasonable to suppose he found a very secret place where nobody would see him at all.

And so when Christ says to him, I saw you under the fig tree, what's Nathaniel's mind saying to him? There are two peons in all this world who know that I was under a fig tree and two who know what I was doing there under that fig tree.

I know what I was doing there. And God knows what I was doing there. Just those two, no more. If it had said, I saw you under the fig tree, and that was all that was said, then you could observe it might have been in a public place and Christ just happened to see him there.

But that's not what's said. First it is said, an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile. And then it is said, I saw you under the fig tree. Now, if God wanted us to know what Nathaniel was doing under the fig tree, he could have told us, but he didn't.

So we obviously don't know, but some of us at least have heads that are working. And we know that whatever it was that brought Nathaniel under the fig tree, it was very important to him. And it demonstrated that he was a man without fishhooks.

And you did observe, didn't you? Perhaps you've known this for some time, what the response on Nathaniel's part is. Jesus is asked, how do you know me? And Jesus answered before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.

Then verse 49, Nathaniel answered him, Rabbi, you are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. Now, that's a mighty important matter. You are the son of God. You are the king of Israel. I meet a lot of people who call themselves Christians, that can't join Nathaniel.

They're not sure that Christ is God. Now look, use the good head God gave you. Why would a person believe that Jesus Christ was God and teach others non-lordship salvation? I've known jillions of men who pretended that you can accept Christ as your savior and deny him as your lord.

That indeed, you don't have to accept Christ as your lord to be saved. Now, that's one of those devices of Satan that has deceived literally millions of people. Maybe it has deceived you, but it didn't deceive Nathaniel.

Nathaniel immediately knew that Christ was the son of God, the king of Israel. I think it would be appropriate for me to ask you, do you know that Christ is the son of God, the king of Israel? How would anybody in their right mind say that you can accept Jesus Christ as lord and still tell him to go mind his own business and to leave you alone?

I'm going to do as I please. Now, the bulk of the church is teaching that you can accept Christ as your savior and do as you please and still be a Christian. That is sheer nonsense. But that's the very reason why the nation is in decline.

The average person who has heard a witness, has heard a witness from somebody, they know very often somebody who works right next to them. And they know that the person that's urging them to accept Christ as their savior is a liar.

They know that that person swears. They know that that person delights in dirty jokes. They know that that person fornicates. And why should they pay any attention? Because every worldling knows that if there's a savior at all, he'll do better than save me from some eternal mess.

If he doesn't save me here now, what's the sense of any of it? But you see, Nathanael immediately, knowing what he was doing under that fig tree, and knowing that Christ knew what he was doing under that fig tree, immediately recognizes this is the Lord.

Now, let's just give some careful thought to that. How can a person be described as being without fish hooks or guile, who is pretending some sham issue, like being a Christian and not walking in holiness?

Well, now, some of you are saying to yourself, well, I know the old man means well, but that's a lot of gall for him to pretend that he's perfect. His wife is with him, I understand. Let's sneak around afterward and ask her, is your husband perfect?

Well, you know perfectly well what she's going to say. No, most certainly not. Well, now, if I pretended to you that I was perfect, there's a fish hook for you. I don't make any pretense like that. I can tell you that Christ took away my relish for sin.

When I sin and know it, I'm so disgusted with myself. I think the most magnificent thing that I can conceive of is to be in heaven where there is no sin. It's not that I'm perfect. It's just that I've got a savior who has the power to take away the attraction of sin.

But I know many people who call themselves Christians who have never lost anything of the attraction of this or sin. So look, this is what I've got to ask you. Can you join Nathaniel in absolute certainty Jesus is God?

Isn't that the thrust of this passage? That because of a revelation that Christ makes Nathaniel, he understands this is not a mere man. Philip didn't ask me to come along and just meet another fellow a little better than us.

No, he invited me to come and to meet the savior. Who is the Lord. But now with that wonderful thought in mind, let's move to the second chapter. Chapter 2, John. On the third day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee.

And the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited and his disciples to the wedding. Now look, I've urged you already today to use your head. And if you've got a real brain, it's not tired out yet.

You can still follow this next suggestion. Ask the question, what were they all doing at the wedding? Let's remind ourselves now of who we know was there. We know Jesus was there. We know Mary was there.

We know the disciples were all there. And we're asking the question, why? Why were they there? Now look, if you've studied your Bible, you know that of the disciples, there was only one who was described as coming from Cana of Galilee.

At the end of this gospel, John 21, it makes it clear. Nathanael was from Cana of Galilee. Now we're not told this, and so obviously there's some eyes on our part. But I surmise that they were all there because it was the wedding of Nathanael himself.

I don't think it's an accident that he's a major feature at the end of chapter 1. And obviously, when we come to the wedding of Cana of Galilee, where the first recorded miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ occurred, it is in Cana of Galilee.

Isn't that a beautiful thing to remember? I'm not trying to prove it to you. I'm just telling you good sense says that's a strong possibility. But now this is the thing that I'm greatly concerned about.

You're aware of this, and we'll read it, but I'm sure most of you already know this. Verse 3. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him... Now that would be, of course, the servant. No. And yes, both.

She did speak those words to the servant. But who was the servant? Well, somebody that some of us know very well. The Lord Jesus Christ himself. The Savior and the servant. And so the mother says to her son, they've run out of wine.

Now, I know that you could pass over that quite quickly, but there would be some sense in pondering the situation. Now, I know all of you have at some point attended a wedding. Maybe not a wedding where there was a great deal of wine served, but we've got the setting here.

We'd better get it straight. They have run out of wine. That means they already had it. We are not told at what point in the wedding this occurred, but we are urged to use our heads and understand that the wedding was already, the festival, we'll say, already underway.

And they run out of wine. Now, for some of us who didn't have any wine at our wedding, it's not a very significant issue, but we all know that in Cana of Galilee, at the time of Jesus Christ, wine at the wedding was important.

But Mary informs her son that they've run out of wine, and then we read in verse 4, Jesus said to her, Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come. Now, look, let's not just pass over that.

You won't mind my having a drink of water, will you? Let's not just pass over that. What is it that Jesus is saying to his mother? Is it a mean, is it an insulting remark? Is he saying to her, Will you mind your own business for a change?

No, no, there's nothing crude or mean. It's a very significant thing he says. Mom, oh, thank God that you care. But, Mom, you know my time hasn't come yet, and I can almost hear Mary's brain running, and she says, No, I know perfectly well that you're on a schedule.

But I know every schedule has to start somewhere. So then the important thing, I really am very concerned that you observe in this passage is after Christ tells her his time has not yet come, Mary, the mother, says to the servant, Whatever he says to you, do it.

Will you let those words grip you? Whatever he says to you, do it. Now, you see, those are not words that are idly spoken by a silly woman. These are words spoken by a woman who knows who her son is. You do understand that, don't you?

When she said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it, she spoke as a mother who knew who her son was. Her son has made it clear, Mom, my time hasn't yet come. Mary is alert to that. But now, I don't want to embarrass anyone here, but, you know, sometimes being old, you know some things that you might not have known when you were a child.

I know that there's not a mother here in the room who could say to the servants what Mary said to the servants. You might foolishly have a lot of hope and aspirations for your son, but Mary's not in the grip of hope and aspiration.

Mary's in the grip of knowledge. Now, let's review something we all know perfectly well. After Mary and Joseph were engaged to Mary, Joseph discovered something about Mary he didn't like. He found out the girl was pregnant.

Now, I know there are exceptions to this, but as a general rule, men don't want to marry a pregnant woman. And I think there's good, sound reasoning behind that. But here's Joseph, face-to-face with the fact that he's supposed to marry a girl who's already pregnant.

Now, Joseph has limited knowledge. He knows he didn't have a sexual relationship with Mary and that the child is not his. But he doesn't know whose child it is. And not knowing whose child it is that she's bearing, he's a good man, he doesn't want to embarrass her and shame her in front of the whole community.

So he's trying to find a way to secretly put her aside. And while he's in the midst of that kind of serious thinking, he has a dream. And in the dream, he has this very, very clear picture of what he's supposed to do.

In the dream, he is given an absolute command. Marry this girl because that which has been conceived in her is not the result of a relationship with a boy or a man. This is God's doing. And after you marry her and the child is born, here's the name that you're to give him, Jesus.

For he shall save his people from their sin. Now, that settles the issue for Joseph. Rightly, he doesn't want to marry some girl that's been entangled with some man. But when he's told this child is not the result of a sexual relationship, but it's the result of an act of God.

And when the child is born, he'll not just save people from hell, but he'll save them from their sin. That settles it with Joseph. But we still got Mary. And I wonder how many of you mothers have ever faced this squarely.

I don't believe there's a normal girl or woman anywhere in the world who gets pregnant. But what she knows, in some measure, she may not know exactly who, but she knows it's a result of a relationship with some man.

Now, here's a situation where Mary could not be deceived. If she had slept with some man, she would have known it. And she knew that she was a virgin. And yet she knew she was pregnant. And she herself had had a visit from an angel.

In fact, some of you will remember that the very angel who visited Zacchaeus when he was in the temple, involved in his ministry, and told him he was to have a son who would be the forerunner of the Messiah, that very angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was to have a child.

Now, look, you may shrug your shoulders and say, so what? But I don't see how a mother who gives an order to the servants, whatever he says to you, do it. I don't see how you can shrug your shoulders at that.

That's a mighty important thing. I've got two children. I never told anybody. Whatever my son says, do. My son is the son of his father, and his father's done lots of dumb things in his lifetime. I can imagine my son has also.

But Mary, Mary spoke with complete conviction. Whatever he says to you, do it. And we don't want to forget the setting. When Christ speaks up, he calls attention to some water pots that are there, and he commands that those water pots be filled up.

Now, look, I don't want to labour this matter, but still, it is important. There were six of these pots, we're told, and we're told that they contained, on an average, of 20 to 30 gallons apiece. Now, I'm a simple fellow, and my math isn't exactly perfect, so not knowing which pot was 20 gallons and which pot was 30 gallons, I'm just going to make it easy and suppose it.

They averaged 25 gallons per pot, and there were six of them. Sir, you correct me if I'm wrong. I multiply 6 by 25, and I come out with 150. Does that agree with you? 150 gallons of water, and then the servant is commanded to dip into one of those pots and carry a sample of what he got to the fellow who's in charge of the occasion, and the fellow takes a good-sized drink, and he says, wow, something crazy's going on here.

Usually, after the wedding has been underway, and everybody's been drinking some, then they serve some lousy wine, and nobody knows the difference, but this is top-notch stuff. This is the best you can get.

Now, look, I don't suppose you need to be informed of this, but this is no little occasion. I mean, can you imagine a wedding where after the thing is well underway, they still consume 150 gallons of wine?

But I don't want to labor that point. The point that concerns me is those words that Mary spoke. Whatever he says to you, do it. Now, that's what Christianity is, obedience to the Lord God Almighty. If you're one of those silly people who thinks you can be saved from hell, while living in your sin and enjoying it, you're wrong, completely wrong.

You've been led astray by Satan. Here's a fundamental issue of Christianity. It bears the seal of God himself. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord abstains from wickedness. Now, if we had time, I know you're not used to listening as long as I'm used to preaching, so even though it may not seem like it, I do think it appropriate for me to have a bit of mercy.

I had thought maybe we would run through all the evidences that are given of what Mary knew. Instead, I'll just remind you. Mary had a friend, apparently a relative much older than herself, and she went to visit this friend, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth made a statement, truly extraordinary and exciting.

Elizabeth said, how does it happen that the mother of my Lord visits me? Did you ever notice those words? How does it happen that the mother of my Lord visits me? Well, you could look at what the angel Gabriel said to Zechariah.

You could look at what he said to Mary. You could review again what the angel said to Joseph. You could study once more what the shepherds said, what was told then while they were still in the field watching their flocks.

You could remind yourself of what the magi said. Every single one of those 12 incidences gloriously recorded where individuals were told, it is the Son of God who's to be born, the Lord, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.

And because Mary knew that, she said, whatever he says to you, do it. Now, that's Christianity, and anything short of that is fraudulent. And although it may be thought I'm in no position to tell you this, ever since Brother Scott invited me to come today and informed me that you were considering a merger, I was thinking about what would happen with a new beginning where the resolve of the church was everything he says to you, do it.