(A Divine Visitation) Hope Renewed — Richard Owen Roberts

Sermon Index

Now it's been my wonderful privilege to speak these few days with you along a very definite line. I've been speaking of divine visitations. I don't know why the Lord is so good and so kind to us. I constantly marvel over the fact that an old man who's lost many of his friends in death and others have been forced to retire by health and circumstances, yet I'm privileged to go on proclaiming the Word of God.

I have the happiest opportunities. Recently I was able to give a series of 13 sermons on Romans 8. And my, did I have a good time. And I'm sort of hoping that I'll live long enough to do another real series on the book of Hebrews.

What an incredible book it is. And oh, how relevant to our day because there are so many believers who do not understand that Christianity is not a good beginning, but a marvelous ending. Doesn't matter how you start, it's how you finish that counts.

And Hebrews speaks so profoundly to that particular issue. But these days we've been thinking of divine visitations and most of you know, but a few have slipped in since I had the privilege of speaking on Monday.

And I want simply to trace where we've been before we approach our fourth and final message at this hour. We began by looking that incredibly beautiful song of the priest Zacharias that he sang on the eighth day at the circumcision of his son John the Baptist.

And in which he described in two utterly beautiful terms the visitations from on high. Speaking first of the visit of the horn of salvation. And then the day spring on high or the sunrise from on high will visit us.

I entitled that divine visitations, man's greatest hope. And we were looking on Saturday of last week at the third chapter of the gospel of John. The preparation necessary for divine visitations. Thinking in terms of John the Baptist and his message and his incredible work.

And this week we're looking at that passage in Luke 19 and supplementing that with Matthew 23. And focusing upon the great tragedy of not recognizing our season or time of visitation. But today's message has to do with a second chance.

Repentance as Renewed Hope

A renewed hope. Divine visitations and renewed hope. We're going to read several scriptures. Someone once accused me of reading more scripture in a sermon. And taking more time to do so than the typical sermon length in its entirety.

I hope that's not unfair. But I have read as many as five full chapters in a sermon. And I don't see the problem with it. But that's not the intent this morning. But rather to read three brief passages and then a chapter.

And then following that another brief passage. So let's begin by looking at Luke chapter 3. And let me read one single verse of such incredible consequence. Luke chapter 3 at verse 16. John answered and said to them, As for me, I baptize you with water.

But he who is mightier than I is coming. And I'm not fit to untie the thong of his sandals. He himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And I spoke briefly, that is briefly by my standards, on that matter last Saturday.

And I simply want to restate. That in Luke 3, John the Baptist is drawing contrast. And he contrasts first his person with the person of Christ. And secondly, his baptism with the baptism of Christ. And in the contrast of persons.

Although John the Baptist was the greatest of men born normally of women. John makes it crystal clear. I'm not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals. And as you see the contrast between the person of John and Christ.

It helps to sense then the consequence of the contrast. Between the baptism in water and the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. Now many of us have grown afraid of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have seen so many ridiculous and extreme persons.

And heard such silly statements and claims made. That we just kind of tend to shy away from it. But oh brothers and sisters. As important as baptism in water is. And there's no degrading it. There's no more a degrading of baptism in water in the passage.

Then there is a degrading of John the Baptist himself. But in comparison, baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. Simply cannot really be compared. And I hope, I pray. That all of you will truly understand.

Long for, pray continually. For the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. Not only in your own life. But in the church. And if you pursue the matter at all. I've had the joy of preaching a significant, I believe, in terms of length.

If in no other fashion, series of sermons on this passage. But surely if you pursue it, it is crystal clear. The baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to fire. Or excuse me, to power. And the baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to purity and passion.

I've had the joyful privilege of knowing a great many. Of the men who have labored in the field of revival. Armand Gaswine, for instance, of whom we heard a few moments ago. I count it as a very dear friend.

J. Edwin Orr. Stephen Olford. Leonard Ravenhill. To name a few. All now in the glory. But all men who understood the contrast. Between water baptism. And baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. And all men of passion.

Waiting for Power from on High

And of purity. All would to God. That each one here, without exception. Would know. In increasing fullness. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. The second passage is in Luke, chapter 24. A single verse.

And indeed, a familiar verse as well. Luke 24, verse 49. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of my Father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if, as a result of these several days together. Each one in company with others of like mind. Were to have a tarrying experience somewhere. And meet together and wait for the promise of the Father.

Oh, of course, Pentecost cannot be repeated. But each of us can have our own tarrying time. And our fresh encounter. And our baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire. My dear friend, J. Edwin Orr, frequently when I was with him.

Would say to people, don't shy away from this baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire. Don't worry about the extremist. After all, the safeguard is in this matter of the Spirit. And especially in speaking in tongues.

There are two great things to keep in mind. Neither command nor forbid. It can't go wrong if you take that approach. But our dear Savior called upon his followers. To tarry in the city and to wait. The third passage, you could almost anticipate in advance what it would be.

The book of Acts and chapter 1. Verses 4 to 8. Acts 1, 4 to 8 in gathering them together. He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. But to wait for what the Father had promised. Which he said, you heard of from me.

For John baptized with water. But you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Not many days from now. And so when they had come together, they were asking him saying. Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?

He said to them, it is not for you to know times. Or epics which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem.

The Miracle and Message of Acts 3

And in all Judea and Samaria. And even to the remotest parts of the earth. And then the fourth of these readings. And the passage upon which we focus this morning. The third chapter of the book of Acts.

And as I indicated earlier, I shall read it in its entirety. So Acts 3, starting at verse 1. Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour. That would be three in the afternoon. The hour of prayer.

And a certain man who had been lame from his mother's womb was being carried along. Whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple. Which is called beautiful. In order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.

And when he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms. And Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze upon him and said, Look at me. Look at us. And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I do not possess silver and gold. But what I do have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk. And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up. And immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.

And with a leap, he stood upright and began to walk. And he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the beautiful gate of the temple to beg alms.

And they were filled with wonder and astonishment at what had happened to him. Now there's a paragraph break at this point. And verse 11 moves along perhaps an hour or two. Verses 1 to 10, when they were entering the temple.

And now verse 11, the service of prayer is over and they are coming out. And while he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.

And when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him.

But you disowned the Holy and the Righteous One, and look for a murderer to be granted to you. But put to death the Prince of Life, the one whom God had raised from the dead, a fact of which we are now witnesses.

And on the basis of faith in his name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know. And the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he has fulfilled.

Repent, therefore, and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. And that he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke in the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times.

Moses said, the Lord God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. To him shall you give heed in everything he says to you. And it shall be, and he didn't say this lightly, and it shall be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.

And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and his successors onward also announced these days, it is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your father, saying to Abraham, and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed, for you first.

God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways. But now there's a problem in this passage. In one sense it almost seems to contradict that portion of Matthew 23, which we looked at briefly on Monday, where our Lord said concerning these people who were to crucify him.

Go on, fill up the measure of the sins of your father. And in a few words I urged you to pay attention to that passage in 1 Thessalonians 2 that discusses and lays out with such crisp and clear truth that every entity is granted a measure of sin.

And when that measure is full, that entity is under the wrath of God to the utmost. So looking on these matters at surface level, it almost seems as if Christ had pronounced the final doom upon these very persons whom Peter is now offering not merely a ray of hope, but an incredible opportunity to repent and to return and to enjoy seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.

Jude’s Three Categories of Sinners

Now I said there would be five scriptures, and I ask you now to turn to the fifth and the last of these in that amazing little epistle of Jude. It has been my happy joy as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ to preach many sermons from the book of Jude.

One time I had the lovely opportunity of preaching 15 sermons from this epistle. Oh, what a happy time I had. But now, dear friends, it's just to a few words in Jude that I draw your attention. Verses 22 and 23.

And I must be quick about this, but one gains great help in the study of Scripture when you are able to enter into the mind of the individual that the Holy Spirit inspired to write. And no one can with any care read the book of Jude without understanding he had a very analytical mind, and he loved systematic arrangement of truth.

And in this little epistle, he gives us not less than a dozen combinations of three. That is his standard pattern, but in one incredible passage, he violates his normal pattern and gives us five. But we focus then just upon these two verses, 22 and 23.

This happens to be one of these several portions where a combination of three appears. Let me read these two verses. And have mercy on some who are doubting. Save others, snatching them out of the fire, and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Jude is helping us to understand that there are three categories of sinners that need rescue. The doubters, the contaminated, and the contaminator. My dear friends, I wonder if you understand that you cannot engage in the ministry of rescue with all personages in the same way.

There are doubters. When I was a boy, there were multitudes of them. And many of these doubters were much better people than the believers around them. They practiced very moral living. They were very diligent in living in a way that was acceptable both to society and to God.

But they were serious doubters. They had no inner convictions that governed them concerning Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection. They didn't live in hope. Their moral purity was not an expression of their great love to the Savior for his deliverance from sin in their lives.

They just simply were trained to live with high standards. There are still around us today multitudes of doubters. It's the second category where we see great change. There were relatively few in my boyhood who gave overwhelming evidence of living contaminated lives.

You rarely ever met an adulterer, though they existed. I was in my twenties before I even knew there was such a thing as homosexuality. Other than what I had read in Scripture, I certainly had never encountered such vile beings.

But in recent years, there has been this incredible increase of contamination. So most doubters now are not clean and pure in any sense of the word, but badly defiled by gross sin. But still, there is a dramatic difference between those who have been contaminated and those who are the contaminators.

And the passage makes it crystal clear that we must not think that we can reach each of these three categories of sinners by the same means. And indeed, Jude makes it clear, it is dangerous when you're dealing with the contaminators.

You have got to be ever so careful that their commitment to evil and to drawing others into their web of iniquity does not lay hold of you. Now, I mention this passage not because it's my intent to pursue it, but to raise again, you see, the issue to which I have made reference, the statement of our Lord that these men were simply to proceed, to fill up the measure of the sins of their fathers.

They were already under wrath. We noted at the end of Matthew 23 that their house was left unto them desolate, that Christ did weep over the city of Jerusalem. And yet here in Acts chapter 3, we have the Apostle Peter specifically describing the Christ crucifiers and commanding them in the name of Jesus to repent and return and enjoy seasons of refreshing.

Is it not quite clear that those to whom Peter speaks in Acts 3 are those doubters who were contaminated by the contaminators because their religious leaders had set their hearts to destroy Christ. These people who in many respects were doubtless good people had been drawn into this terrible action of saying to Pilate, don't you dare release Christ.

Give us a murderer instead. Crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. We all know at least a little about mob psychology and the ease with which people can be drawn into action that they would have been horrified to contemplate in advance and are ashamed of after it has happened.

What a wonderful thing, though, that even those who helped crucify Christ are offered a second chance. That indeed there is for them this wonderful holy command to repent and return and enjoy seasons of refreshing.

Revival Through the Miracle Worker

Now let's go over the chapter with a bit of care. Obviously, the chapter is introduced by the miracle. Verses 1 to 8. It is a lovely story. It is so easy for me to envision this. Why, right now in my mind, I'm seeing this man laying hold of Peter and John as they came back out of the temple after the service of prayer.

And while hanging on to them as if hanging on to this pulpit, he is having himself an incredible... Oh, man, look at me. Look at these feet. They never did work before. He was full of joy and excitement.

What a marvelous occasion. And there this man, who had apparently for years, right from his mother's womb, been totally unable to walk. Sitting there at the gate, at the most prominent position, apparently, that a beggar could have.

He was a favored man, in that all the other beggars got inferior spots, and his was the commanding place for collecting alms. And when Peter and John are on their way into the service of prayer, and he reaches out to them and begs his alms.

Oh, isn't it a lovely record? Silver and gold, we have none. But what we have, we give to you. I remember as a boy hearing that great Philadelphia preacher, Donald Gray Barnhouse, speak upon this passage.

And he talked about an experience in which he had been at the Vatican with a friend. And the guide, who was showing them some of the Vatican treasures, got somewhat of a smirk upon his face. And he said, well, we can no longer say, silver and gold, have we none.

And Barnhouse's friend said to the guide, Nor can you say, rise up and walk. And we can laugh at somebody else, but is that not pretty much a description of us? Most of us are well-to-do, and certainly by the standards with which our dear brother, Sammy, is observing the world in these many places, where they have virtually nothing.

We are loaded with material blessing, but have lost the power. And what a tragedy if we should come and hear all these beautiful truths this week, and then should return to our lives and our ministries with no more power than that which we brought with us when we came.

This miracle is indeed a very precious account. You can almost see it, can't you, in your own mind? Here's the poor fellow, he's been carried to this position. He's probably laid out on some kind of a pallet.

He reaches up, and Peter takes him by the hand. And even as he commands him, in the name of Jesus, to rise and walk, suddenly the man leaps! Peter doesn't get finished drawing him up, and there he is standing and shouting and enjoying, but also captivating attention.

We often try to capture the attention of the masses by ads and clever stunts and whatever other means we can discover, but oh, oh, for the day when the power of Jesus Christ commands the attention of the masses.

Now, you see, that's what a real revival is. I don't know whether any of you are acquainted with Albert Barnes. He happened to be a Presbyterian minister, also from the city of Philadelphia, like Barnhouse.

He wrote a series of commentaries on the Bible, which have been wonderfully helpful to tens of thousands of people over the years. They're simple, they're straightforward, they're really geared for laymen.

If you need a good Bible commentary, there's a recommendation for you. But he also wrote a little book, which is very obscure and almost totally unknown, entitled The Theory and the Desirability of Revivals.

And the thesis of his book was that metropolitan areas are moved by colossal events. And this is way back about 1840 when this book was written, but the situation then is as now. We live in a suburb of Chicago, and it's amazing to us how that whole city is gripped by sensational events.

I mean, often in Chicago, it's some political scandal. They're unceasing. But sporting events, I don't have an interest in the world in any of those things. But almost everybody, you can't go anywhere but what they're talking about their team and the latest event and the last victory or the last defeat.

The nature of large metropolitan areas is they are moved by colossal events. And the theory and desirability of revival makes it crystal clear. The ordinary outreach ministry of the church scarcely touches the city.

It's a colossal move of the Spirit of God in revival and arouses the entire city and sets everybody to talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of the blessed aspects of these mass evangelistic crusades.

People's attention is focused for a change upon the eternal and upon the almighty. And there is nothing like a true revival to arouse the attention. In a season of revival, it seems no one escapes a knowledge that God is moving and working and stirring.

And if you came here with an inadequate longing or heart cry for revival, face this solemn fact. Our cities will not be reached adequately by any normal means. But, oh, when God visits his people, there, there we have hope for the masses.

And I don't see how we can fail to be stirred by that. If you can't think of any other reason to have a heart cry for revival, that ought to do it. There are plenty of other reasons, but I dare not get into those or else I'll cheat on the time factor here today, which I'm trying very hard not to.

The Miracle’s Impact and Peter’s Preaching

The miracle is what drew the incredible crowd. Now, personally, I don't think the day of miracles is past. I don't really think we ought to focus upon the miracle, but upon the miracle worker, upon the Lord himself.

I love the ministry of A .B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian Missionary Alliance. He wrote a wonderful poem entitled, Himself, in which he made it crystal clear he once sought the blessing, but now the one who blesses.

And he went through a whole series of stanzas making it crystal clear that our focus is upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and certainly in a heart cry for revival conference. It's Christ in our midst that we're focusing upon.

Our hearts are hungry, not so much for what he can do, but for who he is. Our longing is for his presence in our midst. Well, we have the issue of the miracle. We have to think, too, in terms of the impact, verses 9 to 11.

The magnitude of the miracle was quite obvious. You could scarcely miss it. All the people saw this man walking and praising God. Isn't it marvelous that the very man that God chose to touch, through the words of Peter and John, was the most prominent beggar on the temple compound?

Everybody knew him. You couldn't get in without passing. That's why I said he was given this prominent spot. So when he began leaping and dancing and shouting and praising God and jigging around these two precious brothers, everybody said, Oh, my word, that's the beggar.

That's the fellow that always is laid out there with his hand out. He's never walked. We've known him for years. And now look what has happened. That's why often in revivals, the first prominent converts are apt to be notorious sinners, persons who the whole community is aware of, persons who are known to have wasted their lives on riotous living.

The man here, instantly recognized, and thus wonder and amazement grips the people, and a huge crowd immediately gathers. And so Peter has the opportunity to speak. And these are the issues Peter deals with.

Number one, who did this? And he makes it crystal clear, certainly not me, not my brother John. Men of Israel, he says, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

But the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, that's the one you need to focus upon. That's the one who you need to understand is responsible. And then he deals with the question, why did God do it?

And he makes it crystal clear. He did it for the sake of his servant Jesus, whom he has glorified. And he did it for your sakes, so that you would know that the Father has glorified his Son, the one whom you delivered up.

Now, I'll come back to this in a few moments. But over and over, as I watch men preach and pay close attention, that all that's going around me, I discover that the vast majority of our preachers know nothing about preaching.

Maggie and I have had a relatively large antiquarian theological book business. I had it when she married me, so she's had it all her married life. We have somewhere around 200 ,000 books in our stock, and have had, over the years, contact with most of the major theological booksellers in the world.

And we were very well acquainted, bought tens of thousands of books from the most prominent bookseller in England. And out of the blue, one day, he called me, and he said, I'm going to make a trip to America.

I wonder if, Maggie, you would be willing to have me as a guest in your home. I had often been a guest in his home. It was a very proper thing for him to call and ask. Oh, I said, we'd be delighted. Now, I had often sought to witness to this man.

His wife was tenderhearted. I had many a serious conversation with her, but I never was able to speak to him, though he was a thoroughly educated theologian. I never met a bookseller who knew more about theology and the books he was selling than this dear man.

So he came to see us, and we sought repeatedly during the few days of his visit to bear witness, but without any success whatsoever. But he told us that he had decided to come to America because he was longing to hear some of the great American preachers.

That flabbergasted me. I didn't suppose he'd have any interest whatsoever. So after a few days with us, he went on and made his American tour. Shortly after he returned to England, I was at his home and buying books again.

But the first thing I said to him, you told me you had come to America to listen to great preachers. Now, tell me what you found. We were seated at the dining room table. He was a large man with a giant fist and a very placid type of an individual normally.

But he folded his hand and he pounded on the table so that all on the table leaped, dishes and silverware, etc. And he looked at me with a great deal of earnestness. He said, I never heard a single preacher in America.

I said, what happened? Were you ill or something after you left? No, he said. I went to all the places I had selected in advance. I never heard a single preacher. I said, what did you hear? He said, teacher.

They don't know how to preach. So naively I said to him, well, in your mind, what's the difference between a teacher and a preacher? He got outraged. I mean, if I thought he had pounded the table the first time, I hadn't yet seen his capacity.

And he said to me, it's not a matter of my opinion. It's a thoroughly established fact. To preach is to move people. To teach is to inform. He said, the great problem in America is that your preachers have soaked people in truth, which they cannot live up to and don't wish to.

What a word from an unsaved man. How many here who call themselves preachers have never moved anybody? He made it so clear. This is where the people are. This is where they belong. And it's the preaching under the power of the Holy Spirit that moves them from where they are to where they belong.

Now, Peter, Peter was a preacher. And what about you? Let's be honest with ourselves. One simple way of analyzing even ourselves is to ask, what do people say when I get finished preaching? Oh, pastor, that was interesting.

I never thought of that. Oh, what a lovely insight. Or do they come by the door, tears trickling down their cheeks, and saying, I have got to repent? I cannot keep pushing Christ away. Do they cry out, help me?

Or are they merely instructed? So the question, why did God do it? He did it for the sake of his servant, Jesus. He did it for your sake so that you would know that the one whom you delivered up, the one whom you disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had already decided to release him, that even though you disowned the Holy and the Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you, despite the fact that you put to death the Prince of Life, he wanted you to know that he is the one whom God raised from the dead.

I don't believe those people missed the message. I think they felt deeply their role in the crucifixion of Christ. They understood that Christ was raised up for them. But how many people understand these truths when you get through with your little plover on Sunday?

And then Peter deals with the issue, how can you know that I'm speaking the truth? And I am here, says Peter, to say to you, this is a fact of which we, John and myself, are witnesses. This miracle that you are now wondering concerning was based on faith in his name.

It is the name of Jesus that has strengthened this man whom you see and know. It is the faith that comes through him that has given this man perfect health in the presence of all of you. What a sermon.

Repentance, Sanctification, and the Finished Work of Christ

But then he confronts them with the issue of their own ignorance. You acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also. And then he adds a matter of incredible importance. You didn't realize it. You thought you were eliminating a problem.

You thought you were getting rid of this fellow who was under your skin and making life extremely difficult to bear. And all you did was to fulfill God's purpose. For from the beginning, if you had known the Scriptures, you would have understood that it was God's will that the Messiah should suffer.

You thought you had resolved a matter. You got rid of one, and now you've got 3 ,000 on your hands. And in a few days, 5 ,000. And before very long, tens of thousands. You never win against God. And when God has purposed in his heart to allow his only begotten Son to suffer, that's all that can be managed.

Nothing more. No one ever goes beyond what God has intended. And Peter is helping these people to understand they merely served as pawns in God's plan. And we all have to deal with this as well. But now we come in verses 19 and 22 to the precious message of repentance.

Repent, therefore, and return, that your sins may be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. So the command to repent is before us. The command to return is right in front of us.

But read as well verse 22. Moses said, The Lord God shall raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren to him. You shall give heed in everything he says to you. Repent, return, obey. And the beautiful, beautiful part of this is the repentance is a gift from God.

The return is God's enabling. And even the obedience was purchased for us by the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of you came to this conference sensing how often you have been defeated in your determination to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

May I tell you, brothers and sisters, the one who died and was buried is the one who rose again. Do you know these precious words from 1 Corinthians 1 .30? But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God was made unto us wisdom.

That is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. You see, the problem with many of us is we believe Christ is our justifier and we are struggling to be our own sanctifier. And it's a mighty discouraging task I can't imagine anything more tiring than trying to be good.